01x01 - Obsession to Do Evil

[bunniefuu]

[ominous music playing]

[Lori]
What happened that night?

It's the kind of thing

that people don't think
actually happens.

But it's true, and I know
it's true,

because I was there.

[tape rolling]

[sinister theme music playing]

[distorted creaking]

[wolf howl]

[sinister music intensifies]

[sirens wailing]

[screaming]

[Lori] In 1990,

Panhandle was
a typical Texas small town,



It's a primarily farming
community

and was the county seat--
Carson County.

There was
about 2,000 people there.

We're a very Christian,
conservative community.

It was a pretty quiet place.
Nothing ever happens there.

[Ken]
Got one light,

had just the town square

and a few little, you know,
stores around that,

and that was about it.

This is a picture of me
when I was principal

at Panhandle High School.

The high school only
had 250 kids.

[Lori] In high school,
I was a dishwasher

at one of the local diners,

and they were known
for their pies.

And most of my classmates,

I had grown up with
since kindergarten.

[eagle screeches]

[Lori]
Kids were bored a lot.

We drove around.
we would drive downtown,

drag Main Street,

often would go and drink beer
in the country.

I am Tam Terry.

I'm the sheriff
of Carson County, Texas.

We didn't have a dispatcher
after midnight,

but if you called
the police department,

that radio rang at my house.

That night,
on July the 13th, 1990,

I had two kids that were less
than five at home.

We'd planned on going out
to the ranch the next day

and riding some horses.

We were settling in
for the evening,

like normal folks do.

[radio screeches]

[Sheriff Terry]
And just before I went to bed,

one click of the radio,
the base station radio,

something came across
about an as*ault

that had taken place.

[Lori]
That Friday night,

while everyone else
was getting ready for bed.

[Lori]
Jimmy Britten,
he was 41.

He had just gotten home

after a night out,
with some friends...

[popping]

[inquisitive music playing]

[knocking on door]

[Lori]
...and he heard a knock
on the door.

[muffled banging]

[Sheriff Terry]
Well, typically at night,

you don't get people knocking
on your door.

So that was a surprise.

[suspenseful chord strike]

[Sheriff Terry]
So Jimmy looks out,
and it's obvious it's dark,

there's a streetlight
on the corner.

[Lori]
Jimmy saw a teenager there
who was asking to use the phone

because there'd been
a car wreck.

[door squeaking]

Jimmy Britten opens the door,
wanting to help.

[sinister music playing]

[faint popping in background]

[frenzied music playing]

Jimmy was set up for an ambush.

[muffled yelling and fighting]

[Sheriff Terry]
The next thing he knows,

he's dealing with
a kid with a knife.

- [metallic swishing]
- [muffled groaning]

He slashed him
across the chest

and the torso and the abdomen
several times.

- [grunting]
- [glass breaking]

[Lori]
And for the next 15 minutes,

Jimmy was fighting
for his life.

[groaning]

Room to room fighting,
struggling for the knife.

And when Jimmy was afraid
he might lose this fight...

The kid started
vomiting profusely.

Jimmy was able
to shove him out the door

and slam the door
and lock him out.

[pants]

- [line beeps]
- [Lori] He was losing blood,

but he did not want
to take his eyes off

the teenager outside.

Jimmy watched this guy

pace back and forth
outside his home.

Jimmy thought,
"Hey, this guy's regrouping,

and he may be gonna take
another swipe at me."

[Lori]
And that's when he realized

there was another way in.

[Sheriff Terry]
And so he was concerned

that the kid
might get in the back door.

[lock clicking softly]

He got to that back door
and he secured it.

[line beeps]

He was finally able to manage
a call to the police.

[dispatcher]


And when he looked back up
after calling them.

All of a sudden, this guy...

he was gone.

He had vanished into the night.

[Sheriff Terry]
The victim was Jimmy Britten.

We were friends.

He was a meat inspector
for the USDA.

He always has his lawn mowed.

He takes good care of his dogs.

He's always in church.

He's just that guy
that everybody likes.

I heard on the radio
he was being treated by EMS

for multiple slash wounds
to his torso.

He had lost a lot of blood.

It was certainly
a critical situation.

Jimmy gave the officers
the car description

and that there's maybe
a suspect involved

that could be headed back
towards Panhandle.

I wanted to catch this guy,
so I got dressed as quickly

as quickly as I possibly could.
Try not to wake the kids up.

Got out of the house,
in the car, and hauled a*s.

[siren wailing]

[Sheriff Terry]
And I'm probably driving 110,

and you think,
"Wake up, Tim.

"We gotta move.

We gotta get down there."

It's quite the adrenaline rush.

So I went eight miles south

to the intersection of 293

and on to Market road 294

because I was almost certain
he would come through there.

And I pull off
in the bar ditch,

turned off all my lights
and sit there,

thinking that
if a vehicle came through there,

I'm fixing to stop him.

If he wouldn't stop,
I would have shot his tires.

If that didn't work out,

I would've rammed him
with my pickup.

I was determined to get him
stopped and get him captured.

When you're out there
in the dark by yourself,

your greatest fear
is you don't know

who you're looking for.

And you better get ready

because your life
could be in danger.

And I was on edge.
It's terrifying.

- [exhales sharply]
- [heartbeat thumping loudly]

[Sheriff Terry]
But the car that I was looking
for never came by me.

We had no idea where he was.

And trying to find him

was like looking
for a needle in a haystack.

[country music playing faintly]

[Lori] A few hours before,
I had friends who were

at Lake McClellan
for a birthday party.

[party chatter]

[Lori]
They were drinking alcohol,
bonfires, music,

dancing, laughing...

being rambunctious
high school kids.

They did not realize that there
was a k*ller among them.

[suspenseful music playing]

like some predator
stalking his prey.

They were completely oblivious
to what was going on.

They were sitting ducks.

[suspenseful music playing]


[Sheriff Terry] I've been doing
this police work

for 42 years.

These things don't happen
in Panhandle, Texas.

I've been slashed at
with a knife a couple of times.

I've been shot at
a couple of times.

But Friday, July the 13th, 1990,

I will never forget that night.

[banging on door]

[Sheriff Terry]
The teenager had stabbed
Jimmy Britten.

This was
a totally unprovoked attack

on an innocent guy,

and we're looking
for the suspect.

It was scary that we had no way

of letting people in Panhandle
know what was happening.

They're completely unaware
that there's...

a k*ller out there.

[ominous music playing]

[music turns sinister]

[Sheriff Terry]
It's the middle of the night,

People in Panhandle are asleep,
home in bed,

don't have a clue
what's going on.

Their doors are unlocked,
their windows may be open,

and they have no idea
that there might be danger.

When the officers arrived,

they found Jimmy Britten
was bleeding.

He had multiple slash wounds
across his torso.

Even though
he was terribly wounded,

he was conscious.

Jimmy Britten told them
he recognized his attacker.

It was
his stepdaughter's ex-boyfriend.

His name was
Kenneth Glenn Milner,

but he was commonly
called Glenn.

Jimmy thought Glenn Milner
was bad news.

He didn't really want him
around his stepdaughter.

Jimmy prevented them
from having a relationship

because Glenn
had several interactions

with law enforcement
in Panhandle.

He was a person that the school

and law enforcement
were concerned about

hurting people
or k*lling people.

[truck horn blaring]

[Lori]
A couple years ago,

he climbed up
on the water tower

at our city park.

And was threatening to jump off

because his girlfriend
had broken up with him.

[Sheriff Terry]
And police officers were able
to persuade him to come down.

[Lori] Not long after
the water tower incident,

he drove to Palo Duro Canyon
and proceeded to drive off

a cliff in another attempt
to commit suicide.

[Sheriff Terry]
There's a 600 foot drop

and probably
a 10 to 20 percent grade.

And he survived that.

[Lori] Following that,
he was admitted

to a psychiatric hospital.

[cell door buzzes]

[Sheriff Terry]
And he was there for a while.

And he learned to play
the roles, I think,

that the doctors wanted him
to play.

[machine beeping]

But once he got out,
and then, you know,

here we go to July the 13th.

He attacked Jimmy Britten.

You know, we've got to stop
this guy before he hurts

somebody else
or maybe even kills somebody.

We knew where he lived.

And so we went to his house
looking for him.

Parents didn't know
where he was.

You have to be concerned

that they might not have
been truthful.

So it's very possible

that he could've been
hiding in there.

Everybody
had their pistols out.

Most police officers
are very brave,

and valor means a lot,

but that don't mean
they're not scared.

We entered his room.

[door squeaking loudly]

If a mouse had ran across
the floor,

I'd have probably shot
that sucker six times.

[light switch clicks repeatedly]

[Sheriff Terry]
The room was painted black.

[ominous music playing]

And the walls,
you'd expect to see things like

a rock star poster
or a Playboy bunny poster.

And he had slasher movie
posters on the wall.

Just grotesque, bloody,
deadly things.

Plus, there was a bunch
of grotesque masks.

I'm not talking two or three.

I'm talking 12 or 15.

One mask
was modified to show

that part of the facial features
had been blown away.

[sinister music intensifies]

[Sheriff Terry]
You look down and see
what looked like a corpse

laying on the floor.

[sinister strings intensifying]

- [dramatic chord strike]
- Ah!

[Sheriff Terry]
There was a fake corpse
in that room.

It's just a shock
to the senses.

To me, it tells me he's creepy

and that his intentions
are not healthy,

and that he has
a warped sense of reality.

We found something even
more disturbing,

a handwritten hit list

of people
that he planned to k*ll.

That hit list had
high school students.

They had adults.

He wasn't just
after Jimmy Britten.

That was just
his starting place.

We need to catch him

before he marks any more names
off that list.

[Lori]
Frankie Garcia was just 17,

was about to start
his senior year.

He was very sweet.

That night,
Frankie rode to an old barn

out in the country

that we called
"the haunted house."

It was an eerie place.

It was just abandoned,

empty, that had no electricity.

Frankie had to walk up
to the barn

without knowing...

what was about to happen.

[suspenseful music intensifying]

[Lori]
That he was with a k*ller.

[dramatic chord strike]

[eerie creak]


[Sheriff Terry]
After Jimmy Britten got hurt,

we were hoping that things
were settling down.

But, in reality,
things were just beginning.

This vengeance,
this cold-blooded m*rder

going out with intentions
of hurting multiple people.

Glenn's parents told
the officers that Glenn Milner

and Craig Shackelford
were close friends.

[siren wailing]

[Sheriff Terry]
When the officers got
to Craig Shackelford's house,

they could tell
that he was on edge,

that he was nervous.

He said something about Glenn
was not the same

the last time
he talked to him.

His voice even
sounded different,

in that he acted like
something snapped.

So Craig tells officers,

"I've got something you need
to see."

And he goes to the side table

and pulls out
a handwritten note

to Craig from Glenn Milner.

And the note said,

"Don't ask questions,
just do as instructed."

Cryptic instructions to go
to places in the country

and look under
railroad trestles,

and there's a box.

"Open the box
and follow the instructions."

[engine starting]

[Sheriff Terry]
Well, this kid was playing
some sick games.

Well, I'm thinking,

what in the world's gonna
happen next?

The bridge where Glenn
told Craig the box was

is on a dirt county road
about four miles northwest

of Panhandle--
out in the sticks.

[over radio]
Set a roadblock on 221.

[Sheriff Terry]
In the middle of the night,

when you didn't know
what you'd run into,

it could be
a pretty scary place.

We're looking around
under the road, tucked away.

We found a green
ammunition box.

It's risky--
opening that box,

it was scary.

This thing gonna blow up
when I open the lid?

Is it a booby trap?

You don't really have time
to have a b*mb squad

look it over.

So you just man up and do what
you gotta do--

open the thing.

And we were scared to death.

It wasn't a booby trap.

And inside the box,

we found three
handwritten notes

and a tape.

The tone of the letters
was that Glenn

didn't expect
to survive the night,

and that he was somehow
trying to convey them goodbye.

Jimmy Britten's in the hospital,

and that Glenn Milner
put him there.

And I think
they're just thinking,

"What in the world's
gonna happen next?"

The letters were addressed
to specific people.

Craig, Milner's parents,

and Kenja,

who was an intern
at an Amarillo TV station.

This is a picture of me

on the night I graduated
high school in 1988,

and it was during the time
that I dated Glenn Milner.

We dated from around May

through probably
the end of July.

We spent lots of time
at the park

talking about our futures
and what we wanted to do.

He was funny, and fun, and kind.

[bell chiming]

[Kenja]
He always called me "princess,"

but he ended up kissing
another girl,

and I wasn't OK with that.

By 1990, I was really busy
with college.

I wanted to be a news reporter

at one of the affiliates
in New York or Washington.

That was kind of my dream.

We talked on the phone,
probably weekly,

and then eventually that kind
of became monthly,

and then, you know,
every couple of months.

The police told me
that there was a note

Glenn had written to me
along with the tape.

The note said,
"You know, I'm really sorry

"that I've done this,
but on the upside, hey,

here's the story of the decade
for you, princess."

[Ken]
Kenneth Glenn Milner was
a student in my high school.

He made good grades.
He dressed nice.

He carried himself well.

Everything about Glenn,

you thought that he was
going to be successful.

[Lori]
We had a few classes together,

my freshman, sophomore,

which was
his junior, senior years.

Glenn could be charming.
He wasn't unattractive.

He had good hair,
and in the '80s,

we parted it in the middle
and feathered it back,

and he certainly did that.

[Lori]
In theater arts,
using a Styrofoam bust,

he made
the Hellraiser character

with the pins in his head.

He was very talented
in the makeup, and mask,

and the behind-the-scenes stuff
for movie making.

[Kenja]
Glenn definitely had
an affinity for horror movies,

that delicious tingle of being,
you know, scared.

He idolized Ted Bundy,
Manson, Jack the Ripper.

[Lori]
We're a very Christian,
conservative community,

and in the '80s,
there was a big Satanic Panic.

It became very well known
that he was

into satanic activities
and beliefs.

He was reading the book
of "Necronomicon,"

and it gives you ritual things
you can do

to get closer to Satan.

I heard that he was also
drinking cat's blood.

He really believed that
he could be the son of Satan

and be closer to him
by having the name Damion.

I know that he used to call
himself Damion,

but he never showed
that part of himself with me.

And so,
I wasn't afraid, but, yeah,

I probably should
have been.

[ominous music playing]

[bell tolling in distance]

[Sheriff Terry]
Glenn had scripted himself
a horror movie,

where he's the star,
and we're the pawns.

It was apparent that Milner
had nothing to lose,

that he felt like he was
not gonna survive the night,

and that he was not afraid
to die,

and he was going to do
everything he could

to hurt the people on that list.

We felt like time
was running out.

[g*n clicks]


['80s music playing]

[Sheriff Terry]
Glenn Milner expected
Friday, July 13th, 1990,

to be his last day on Earth,

and that he really wanted
to go out

hurting people
or k*lling people,

then that's what he was
gonna try to do.

[siren wailing]

[Sheriff Terry]
We did a welfare check

on everybody on the hit list,

but, because everybody didn't
have a cell phone

in their pocket,

you had to go knock on doors

and talk to people
face to face.

There was a number
of high school students

that Glenn didn't consider
his friends,

or that he felt might have
wronged him in some way.

It's after midnight
by this time,

and the investigators learned

that there had been a party
at Lake McClellan.

Glenn had showed up
at that party.

It's frightening to imagine

those kids are
probably bunched up,

drinking a little beer,
having a good time

around the campfire.

They're completely unaware
that there's a k*ller out there

looking for their next victim.

They'd have been easy targets.

The students said they saw
Milner at Lake McClellan,

but he kind of walked
around by himself

with his hands in his pocket.
He didn't say much to anybody.

Somebody saw him take
some pills.

Glenn was kinda quiet,
observing everyone,

kinda looking around.

He had a few drinks.

[upbeat country music playing]

[gags]

[Lori]
And then he proceeded
to get sick,

was grabbing his stomach.

And the next thing they knew,
he just left.

Well, first thought
is some sort of relief.

He could have done
a lot of damage.

And then we're thinking,
"Hey, this ain't over with yet."

This kid that's hell bent

on k*lling people
is on the loose.

[Ken] Friday the 13th
was a normal day.

You know, I worked.

We had dinner with the kids,
and I think we had hot dogs.

I remember putting my son
to bed that night

in his Ninja Turtle sheets.

And we went to bed.

Life was good.

[clock ticking]

We were laying in bed, asleep.

[ding dong]

[Ken]
And all of a sudden,
the doorbell rang.

I looked at the clock.

It was at 2:45.

And I thought,

"My goodness, who'd ring
the doorbell at this time."

[doorbell rings]

[Ken]
When I went to the door,

I looked through
that little peephole.

All I saw was yellow eyes,
and it just floored me.

I thought, my brain's doing
a trick on my mind.

It can't be yellow eyes
out there.

I kind of blinked my eyes,

and that's when I saw Glenn
standin' there.

[doorbell rings]

Just felt like there's
something back here telling me,

"This is not good,
so don't let him in."

He looked at me, and he said,

"I really need to come in
and talk to you."

And I said, "Glenn,
you're not coming in my house."

I mean,
I could see it in his eyes--

he wasn't the Glenn Milner
that I knew.

That night
when I looked at him,

I knew he was possessed.

I couldn't see his hands.

I said, "Glenn, what do you got
in your hand down there?"

[bang]

[Ken]
The first b*llet felt like
somebody hit me

with a baseball bat in the gut.

And I thought, "What was that?
What hit me?"

[bang]

The second shot blew my leg out
from underneath me.

[crying]

I just thought to myself,
"This can't be happening."

And then my mind changed
drastically, and I was worried

about Patti and my kids.

He was going to k*ll us all.

[Patti] He already had put
his finger in the b*llet wound,

so his hand was falling.

So I just grabbed his hand
and put my fingers in there

with him to try
to plug the hole.

And I told her, I said,
"Honey, I love you."

"And I want you to know,
I want you to go on.

"I'm not gonna live.

I found the police station
phone number

[phone ringing]

[Patti]
...and called them

and told them,
and the whole time

he was telling me,
"Tell them it was Glenn Milner."

The scariest part--
you're laying there

waiting on the ambulance,

and you're not real sure
where he is.

Maybe Milner was still outside.

Maybe he was coming back.

[police sirens wailing]

[Sheriff Terry] That call
came across the radio.

[dispatcher]
Shots fired.

[Sheriff Terry]
I heard from the dispatcher.

In a loud
voice,"Oh, my God,

he just did another one."

I thought he'd taken
another person off the list.

We didn't know where he was.

We didn't know where
he's going next.

And if that won't scare
the bejesus out of you,

I don't know what will.

[indistinct chatter
over the radio]

At this point, the search was
a bunch of police cars driving

back and forth on every street
in town looking for him,

spotlighting down alleys,

looking at the park.

And then I heard
on the radio that...

[police chatter over radio]

...Glenn Milner had been
spotted parked

in front of the Panhandle
Police Department.

And Milner's car was parked
facing the curb.

Glenn Milner was sitting
in the car.

I didn't notice
the p*stol at first.

I should have.

When I got out of the car,

I remember Trooper Davis
saying,

"Watch out,
he might sh**t your a*s."


[sirens wailing]

[Sheriff Terry] Our fingers
were on the triggers...

and we were ready.

Glenn, he was sitting
in the car,

planted himself
in the driver's seat

with the barrel of the g*n

under his chin,
not moving.

So Milner had planted himself
right in front

of the Panhandle
Police Department,

And he was prepared
to k*ll himself

and go out in a blaze of glory.

We were saying,
"Glenn, put the g*n down."

Glenn, put the g*n down.
Put the g*n down."

[tense music intensifies]

And for some unknown reason,

"Here I am, and you've got me."

[indistinct police chatter]

[handcuffs clicking]

[Sheriff Terry]
He was not defiant,
he was just kind of blank.

He wasn't screaming.
He wasn't kicking.

He wasn't bragging
about what he'd done.

Glenn told officers the reason
he didn't k*ll himself

in front of City Hall

was that he forgot the words
to the incantation

that he was required to say
before he k*lled himself

by his satanic beliefs.

And he was afraid to k*ll
himself

without saying
those words first.

[bell tolling in distance]

[rooster crowing]

[Sheriff Terry]
After Milner was in custody,

we all took a big sigh
of relief,

thinking, "Well,

nothing else was gonna happen."

And I'm just thankful
that everybody was still alive.

Nobody had died.

[dispatchers speak indistinctly]

Just then,
somebody called dispatch.

The witness described
a location that's known

as "the haunted house."

and they said,
"We gotta get down there."

[police chatter over radio]

[Kenja]
It was on the edge of town,
and nobody lived there.

It was kind of boarded up
and just abandoned.

[siren wailing]

[Sheriff Terry] It was, kind of,
known to be the dark,

haunted place

that Panhandle kids went
when they wanted to scare

the bejesus out of themselves.

[Lori] The haunted house was
really just a dilapidated barn

that had no electricity.

A lot of kids would go out
there and drink beer,

just hanging out.

It was real creepy.

[footsteps approaching]

[door creaking]

[Sheriff Terry]
When the officers got

into the barn,

it was a dirt floor.

And they found

a pentagram drawn in the dirt.

And, in the middle
of the pentagram,

there was blood
and a wet spot,

and...

a teenage boy face down.

It was an execution.

[sad music plays]

It was a ritual.

We did a welfare check
on everybody on the hit list,

and they were accounted for,
except for Frankie Garcia.

His parents told officers

that Frankie was last seen
with a friend from school,

Glenn Milner.

[tense music intensifies]

[Ranger speaking]

Texas Rangers went in
to interrogate him

about the situation.
He was completely calm.

He was proud
of what he had accomplished.

[Ranger speaking]

In his confession,
Glenn detailed

everything that happened.

Glenn Milner told investigators

that he started the day
on Friday at the barn.

He drew the pentagram.

He placed candles around

in certain areas, and he had
prepared that area to k*ll him.

[blade slashing]

After school that day,
Glenn Milner lured Frankie

to get in the car with him

and told him they'd go riding
around and drink beer

and that
they'd be buddies.

And he took Frankie
to the barn.

He pulled out the g*n
and made him get on his knees,

and Frankie begged
for his life.

He stuck the g*n
in Frankie's mouth.

Glenn Milner stated
that he k*lled Frankie Garcia

because his beliefs were

that he was required
to k*ll a virgin

before he ended his own life.

And that he thought
Frankie Garcia was a virgin,

and Frankie
was compliant with him,

and was an easy target.

Frankie was just
his starting place.

His plans were to k*ll

up to a dozen more people.

[Ken] When we had the hearing,
they brought him

into the courtroom.

When he got on that stand,
he never took his eyes off me.

He had so much hate in his heart
that he didn't k*ll me.

[Patti] Glenn Milner
wanted the death penalty.

So that he could go
to the other side.

They went for the two attempted
murders and one m*rder

instead of capital m*rder.

He pled guilty
and was sentenced

to three consecutive
life terms in prison.

[Sheriff Terry]
When it was over,

he stood right up and made

his fingers into a g*n,
and he said,

"If I ever get out,
I'll finish the job."

And he meant it, and there
was no doubt in my mind

that he would.

Every time
it's a Friday the 13th,

I remember Frankie.

In my nightmares,
Frankie would come to me

and make me watch
him get k*lled.

Every night, repeatedly.

[Sheriff Terry]
Life is precious.

Somebody planning
on the cold-blooded m*rder

of several individuals

is about as twisted
as you can get.

[Ken]
You hear about evil,

but you never think it's going
to affect you.

Our whole town,
they finally realized

that this could happen
in Panhandle.

In Panhandle, Texas?

This doesn't happen here.

Well, let me tell you,
it happens everywhere.

And evil can strike
into your heart at any time.

- [music stops]
- [beeping]

[creepy music playing]

Horror cliche is, it happens
on a dark, stormy night...

...and that's what this was.

That's the thing
about the dead.

When you start pulling 'em
back up,

You never know
what you're gonna find.

[creepy music intensifies]

[woman screams]

Friday, February 13th,
my daughter never came home.

[woman exclaims]

The front door is cracked,
your adrenaline is running.

[woman shrieks]

This is the actual mask he wore.

People described him
as Frankenstein.

He wasn't protecting people,
he was hunting them.

They had his head in a bucket.

He literally peeled
his face off.

[woman exclaims]

[woman exclaims]