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You're listening to an Ono Media podcast. Hello, everyone. Welcome back to our podcast. This is Murder With My Husband. I'm Peyton Moreland. And I'm Garrett Moreland. And he's the husband. And I'm the husband. Dear Daisies. If you couldn't tell, today's episode is a Dear Daisy. Come on, woo!
All right, let's get into it. This one is from John Paul Walker. Daisy's currently looking at us from across the room. I think she's a little, I think she knows what's going on here. I think she wants to go to bed. This starts, Dear Daisy, I love your show and look forward to Mondays. My kids turned me on to murder with my husband a couple of years ago, and now we all talk about episodes when we're together.
I'm a 55-year-old dad of four. My kids all became true crime junkies because I was always watching FBI files, new detectives, cold case files, et cetera, when they were young. Like many other Dear Daisy stories indicate, I think my awareness of surroundings because of my true crime junkiness might have saved my life.
I live in Georgia. Just this past summer, I was flying out of the Atlanta airport for a business trip. My carry-on suitcase had a busted wheel, so I decided to stop into a Walmart nearby and grab a new one. I was concerned about the time, but figured if I was quick, I wouldn't miss the flight, and having a suitcase that rolled properly was worth the risk. I had a meeting as soon as I landed in Chicago, so I was dressed in a suit and probably stood out a bit in this part of town.
As I entered the parking lot and started scanning for a parking spot, I noticed a woman getting out of the passenger side of a black truck. The only reason I even noticed her was because my son has a similar truck. A peculiar thing about her was that she didn't immediately start walking toward the entrance of Walmart.
She was watching my truck move toward a parking spot I had chosen. I didn't really think much about it because I drive a new electric Rivian truck and people are always staring at it trying to figure out what the heck kind of truck it is. It's important to note that I believe she did not see me see her. I parked and I went inside. I was only grabbing the one thing and then heading out so I was quickly back to the front of the store through the self-checkout and to the front doors. The woman I had seen earlier in the parking lot was hovering just inside the doors near the shopping carts and
And she approached me. She seemed very nervous and she said that there was a man following her through the store and she was scared. I asked her where the man was right now and she looked back toward the inside of the store and said she didn't know but she was afraid he might be outside. Oh, I'd be, if I was a girl and that happened to me, I'd be screaming, he's right here, he's right here. You know what I'm saying? I don't think this is going where you think it's going. I assume that.
because he wasn't screaming. He's right here. Oh, okay, okay, okay. Yeah, yeah. She asked if I would walk her to her car, which, I mean, think about the cases we've done so far. Yeah, I know. I mean, the deer gazes we've done. I would have said yes. I would have said let's do it. I probably would have said stay about 10 feet away from me, but let's do it. He says, I didn't immediately suspect anything nefarious, although my awareness of everything was in high gear.
I asked her if she had contacted the store security and she said she had not. I looked around for security but didn't see any. Especially as a woman confronting coming up to a man. Yeah. Think, hey, can you escort me? Something's going wrong. You're just like, oh, yeah, sure. Right. My flight was on time and I was already cutting it close by stopping. So I decided to just walk her to her car rather than pass it off to the store security. Then it occurred to me.
There was a man in the black truck with her. Why didn't she have him come walk her out? Interesting. We were already walking outside toward the cars when I asked her, aren't you with someone who can help you? She replied no and she pointed to a man coming out of the entrance way over on the other side of the store as being the suspicious man who was following her. I saw him and I immediately didn't believe her.
The man she pointed to was walking with purpose, probably towards his own car. I asked her where her car was parked and she pointed to the black truck that was now parked only two spaces over from my Rivian. And there was no one inside of it. My fight or flight senses spiked and I stopped walking. I was scanning the parking lot for the guy she was with. She turned to me and acted as if we needed to hurry and get to her car. Almost like we were being chased and her life was in danger.
Her urgency was out of place and the whole situation was wrong. I pulled out my phone and I used the car app to sound the car alarm. And as soon as I did, the guy who had been crouched down and hiding behind my truck jumped up and ran towards the black truck at the same time that the woman began running toward the same truck. They both jumped in and sped away.
Wow. Wow.
that's my story other than a potential kidnapping when i was walking down on a rural road in south georgia as a fifth grader nothing like this has ever happened to me i'll save the kidnapping story for later as i know you guys get a lot of kidnapping stories for daisy lol all the best john paul walker also i put three names in there for garrett makes me sound like a serial killer wow they for sure were trying to steal the car right i think or mug him yeah that's
That's what I, I mean, that's what I assume. I mean, I don't think he was getting kidnapped. Yeah, I don't think so. But they could have heard him. For sure. That's crazy. I don't know. I wish we could see it on the cameras. No. But Walmart's like, ah, we don't have to. I'm sure they were just like, we're not going to go through it. Yes, sir. Okay. Yeah, exactly. They're just going to forget it all. But that'd be so cool to be able to watch it on the security cameras. Yeah. That's crazy. I don't know. I always try to think what I would do in those situations.
I mean, that one's hard because they technically were doing the reverse of the scary situation we typically see. I know this isn't the same, but I was running yesterday and it was dark and there's no lights. And the whole time I was thinking, if a mountain lion jumps out at me, am I going to be able to wrestle this or am I dead? The entire time I was running, I was just thinking, because there was a mountain lion the other day in our community.
um in our community in our community there's a mountain lion and there's lots of mountain lions yeah anyways i was just thinking if this thing attacks me right now it's pitch black there's nobody around first of all i'm doing everything that i'm not supposed to be doing and i we have a true crime podcast but could i 1v1 a mountain lion i don't think so pretty sure mountain lion would but i was just thinking okay it jumps at me i could duck and then i could just run up the tree and
That's just what I was going through my head. So I thought I'd give my own little dear Daisy before we move on to the next. Wait, can I tell you something really quick? Go ahead. I was at yoga yesterday. And about a line attack to you? No, the girl who was working the front, I came out of the yoga class and I get a little quiet at yoga. Okay. I'm not very talkative.
And she was telling my yoga instructor, she was talking about like candy in the parking lot or something. And so I started listening because I was like, what are they talking about? Because the yoga instructor was kind of like telling her like, Lacey, you shouldn't be doing that. And the girl was saying that she walked out to her car to get something while she was working. And on her way back, someone stopped her and was like, hey, I'm selling candy. Keep in mind, it's pitch black outside. Like it's nighttime. Someone stopped her and was like, hey, I'm selling these candy bars. Do you want one? And she bought one.
Well, okay. No. It was probably like, you know how kids go around on their football teams and they sell chocolate bars to raise money for the football programs? I don't know. They sold potatoes in my hometown. It was probably them just selling chocolate bars or whatever to raise money for football. In the parking lot? In pitch black? I mean, yeah, I guess it's kind of weird, but it's also something dumb like a...
Like a teenager would do. Be like, oh, I'm just going to walk up to this lady and sell a candy bar. Guess how much her chocolate bar was? Five bucks. Eight dollars. Oh my gosh. She paid for it. She got ripped off. I know. That better be going to football. I didn't say anything as I was walking out. That's insane. As I was walking out, I was kind of like, look inside, decide, like, don't try to come sell me some candy. Jeez. Okay. The next one is called A Dreadful Drive. This one's by Jacqueline.
Dear Daisy, I just want to start off by saying how much I love your show. I'm a huge true crime fanatic, but my husband hated listening to it until you started up your podcast. Now he's the one that starts asking if there's a new episode every time we get in the car together. He's definitely a Garrett head for sure. I'm talking about Garrett head. That's a new one. I always refer to Garrett's followers as Garrett's gremlins. Like when, when I talked to Garrett, it's grim. Don't
You guys, don't let her do you like that. Ignore her. Do not let her do you like that. When I see avid Garrett supporters, like people who are just like avidly supporting Garrett, I just call them Garrett's gremlins. Don't listen to her. It's messed up. All you little gremlins. One time one of Garrett's gremlins told me that I should put a muzzle on my face. When? A long time ago. They said, Garrett deserves more time. Muzzle Peyton. You freaking tell them, guys.
So I have a ton of stories given I had a kind of hard upbringing, but you asked for near abduction stories. So here's mine. I'm actually writing a novel based on these events that is highly dramatized, but here's the gist of it. A few years ago, I decided, that's really cool. A few years ago, I decided to do a solo round trip from Sacramento, California to El Paso, Texas to see my family. That point in my life, I was running every morning. So I woke up at my usual 5 a.m. to catch a run before my shift. Oh, good for you.
By the time I got off work at 3.30pm, I was ready for a nap, but I decided to just pack my car up and head on the road. I ended up leaving at around 5pm. By the time 1am had rolled around, I was barely passing Indio, California and was tired, so I decided to stop at the next rest stop for some shut-eye. When I arrived at the first stop I saw, I drove around the parking lot and noticed just one grey sedan parked near the entrance of the stop.
No cargo trucks or any other passenger vehicles were noticeable. I parked my car the nearest that I could to the bathrooms, but still in clear range of the exit. I turned my car off and closed my eyes before I realized that I had to pee. I ran to the bathroom and just before I entered, I noticed a car was then parking near my car. While I was in the stall, I heard footsteps coming in the woman's bathroom and they stopped before I could see the feet. And after a few long seconds, they walked out.
I was a little scared, so I stayed in the stall, pocket knife in one hand, mace in the other. Wow. Eventually, the censored lights turned off and it got creepier. I convinced myself that I was, okay, how scary if you were like in a rest stop and your poopies was taking a little bit longer than normal and the lights went off.
That's what just happened to her, but she wasn't pooping. I'd be freaking out. I mean, you have your phone flashlight too. True. And maybe all you have to do is wiggle and they would turn back on, you know? No, that's actually... No, that's happened to me where the lights have turned off in the bathroom before. Where? I think it was when I was in Spain. I was in the bathroom one time and the lights turned off and I was like, it's fine. It's okay. Everything's okay in here. You just sat there pooping in the dark? I just sat there in the dark. It was kind of relaxing. Okay.
That's your form of hot yoga. That's my form of hot yoga. All right, let's keep it going. I convinced myself that I was having an irrational fear and that not everything is a murder with my husband episode. So I washed my hands and speed walked over to the car. I took notice that the light in the men's restroom was off and the gray car that was previously parked at the entrance of the rest stop was now parked directly next to my car out of all hundred slots. Panic was fast setting in and I realized that
then that there was a person walking behind me. Amazingly enough, my best friend called me just as I was taking my phone out and I had texted her while I was in the bathroom to have her boyfriend call me and pretend like he was in my car waiting for me.
Bless the Lord he did just that. Hurry up, I'm in the car and I'm ready to go, he yelled out as I put my phone on speaker. I'm walking to you now, don't you see me? I replied loudly as I started jogging towards the car, noticing the footsteps behind me had stopped in their tracks. I ran to the passenger side of the car since the creepy car was on my driver's side. I quickly opened the door, hopped in, and jumped over to the driver's seat, but by dumb luck, my head pushed on the cabin lights and anyone outside could see me now alone switching seats.
I locked the doors and turned the car on as fast as I could. The adrenaline was rushing through me at such high speed that I couldn't physically feel anything. As I backed away and sped away, I noticed a man standing behind the gray car like he had been hiding and another man on the walkway.
The footsteps that followed me in and out of the bathroom was that man. I sped away, nearly pushing 100 miles per hour, not caring if I got pulled over. In fact, I was hoping highway patrol would notice me. I realized that in the process of switching seats, I had dropped my phone on the passenger seat and it was now on the floor. My best friend and her boyfriend were still on speakerphone asking what was going on. That's hilarious. As I tried to explain the events, I noticed a car fast approaching behind me and I couldn't tell if it was the same gray car or not, but I wasn't taking any chances.
So I sped up to join a few cargo trucks en route and squeezed my way in front of a few of them. I figured the truck drivers had radios that can communicate with other drivers or police in case the gray car tried to run me off the road.
The car slowly passed me on the left lane and I figured they were finally going to leave me alone. But instead, they slowed down in the left lane and they drove just behind me next to the cargo truck. I didn't even know where I was going. I couldn't call 911 because I couldn't reach my phone. I tried telling my friend everything, detailing every little bit that I observed so she could call the police for me. It's important to note that my friend was in Germany. The only reason she was awake to talk to me was because the time difference put her late in the morning compared to where I was.
Because she didn't know my exact location, the 911 dispatcher couldn't help her much. She tried giving them my phone number so they could call me and maybe ping my phone, but she was let known that unless I answered, they couldn't track me. And because I was consistently driving, they wouldn't be able to ping my location. This is when I'd be yelling, hey Siri, call 911. You know what I'm saying? Oh yeah. Wait babe, I don't think you should yell that right now. Oh yeah. Oh shoot, where's my phone at? Okay, we're fine. Mine's fine too. Okay.
Oh my gosh, Siri doesn't even work. I know. She tried calling me back, but I still couldn't reach my phone, so all contact with anyone was gone. At that point, I was out of options. I started brake-checking the truck behind me, hoping they'd get mad enough to call the police on me for reckless driving, but it came to no avail. I drove in fear for over an hour until I realized I was driving into Blythe, California, and it might be populated enough to ward off the men in the gray car, but then it hit me. Small fun fact, I've been to Blythe multiple times. Probably ten. Really? Yep.
If my plan failed and it wasn't populated, nobody would ever see or hear from me again. I decided that I would keep driving another 20 minutes since I was near the border of Arizona and...
I knew that they had a loves a populated traveler center and gas station. She says after this, that she pulls into the loves the car follows her in. She starts taking pictures of the car and sending it to everyone. She can, while she calls police and the car stares at her for a minute and then drives away. She says, and as I waited, I went down the rabbit hole of the internet, finding that over a dozen women had gone missing in remote areas of Southern California in just the past few months.
She goes on to say that she safely made it to her destination and then her mom drove her home. She says,
She said, I debated sharing this story thinking I'd write it all up and it wouldn't even get shared. But for the slim hope that it does, I hope it serves as a warning to all of the solo travelers to be more cautious of their environment. Thanks to years of true crime, I became a pretty paranoid person, but I'd rather be paranoid than dead. Anyway, we love your show and can't wait to see where it all takes you someday. I'd rather be paranoid than dead. I'll take that. Okay, we have one short one to end it all. This is called The Time I Waved at a Murderer.
And it's by Anonymous. Let's hear this. Dear Daisy, Peyton, and Garrett, I have one story that just sticks in my mind and I think of it frequently when I'm listening to your podcast. Dear Daisy seems like the perfect way to share it. I grew up halfway between a small Illinois town of about 7,000 people and a tiny rural Illinois village of about 900 people about a half mile south of the border of Wisconsin.
My parents live on five acres in an old farmhouse built in 1845. It made for the best childhood ever. In July of 2014, my parents were preparing to demolish their standalone garage and build a new one as ours was chewed up by horses from the previous owners.
We decided the best way to clean the garage out would be to take the items to the roadside. But since we were on country highways, we couldn't effectively host a sale. So my dad just opted to put a sign saying, pay what you think it's worth. All proceeds go to my daughter's first guitar. Side note, we raised around $400, I think. And I continued to pursue music, even getting my bachelor degree in music and entertainment industry. People actually paid a lot more than these items were worth. Some good old Midwestern kindness.
She says, our method of getting the items out to the roadside was a riding mower towing a trailer, which we loaded up with stuff. This is so, this is so country. I drove the mower because I was 13 and it was exciting to drive something. It reminds me of my grandpa when he used to tow the jet ski with the lawnmower. And back it up into the lake. On one trip toward the road, my dad stayed in the garage to gather more stuff. As I approached the road on the mower, a man was walking by our house on the road. The
This was weird because I said we were on country highways and these roads don't offer the best walking conditions. But he seemed normal and he waved at me. I waved back and then went on unloading the trailer. Shortly after that encounter, I saw a news van, then a police car, and a few more news vans, more police cars, more news, and it just kept coming.
I finally went inside and asked my mom what was happening, telling her I was seeing a lot of news in police vehicles. She did a little Googling and told me the following. A man convicted of three counts of murder had just escaped jail. He'd been on foot until he carjacked one of our neighbors. Oh, my. And led the police on a car chase down these country highways until he eventually hit a tree and was caught. Okay. I wish I could find the articles my mom found back then. That's crazy. But these small towns are so small and it was so long ago, I haven't been able to find the articles. Yeah.
either way the thought of having smiled and waved at a triple murderer still comes back to me sometimes thank you for sharing the stories and sharing your personalities i love your podcast he just smiles when he's back hey how are you doing she's just on the lawnmower at 13 hey how's it going hey he's just escaping prison yeah or jail um i've always thought about i that happening like if someone escaped jail like i'd have no idea and just give to them and
Really? You've thought about that? Yeah, I thought about that. You've never seen those videos on TikTok and stuff where it's like cops just randomly bumping into people who had just escaped prison not even knowing? No. Yeah, that's pretty crazy. I do not. I'm calling bogus. I'll send it to you right now. Pull up. Pull up, Garrett. I know all my gremlins believe me. They're going to come at you now. That's so funny. That's funny.
Dear Daisies are super fun, so everyone keep submitting your story. We have a good time with them. And if you're submitting it, I assume you're alive, so that means you haven't been murdered, and that's why it's a good time. Wait, if you have ever been, like... If you've ever been killed and you've come back to life, submit your story too. If you've ever been in, like, a high-speed car chase like that, or, like, been on the road, or had someone bump you, or, you know, like, bit, or, like, the people who, they go into people's houses...
Maybe it was your neighbor's house or something. Like a robber, you mean? No, like on a car chase, they'll get out of their car and then they'll run through people's houses. I want to know that. I wonder if any of our listeners have ever had that happen. I got you. All right, you guys, that is our Dear Daisy episode for December and we will see you in January. I love it. I hate it. Goodbye.
