*Two young Hispanic women are seated across from each other, separated by a beige platform in a dimly lit studio. Overhead, stage lights illuminate the scene, while boom sets are positioned in front of the women to amplify their voices.*
*Podcast theme music plays in the background*
Gina: Hello, everyone. Welcome back to another episode of our podcast, Crime Sisters! We're your hosts, the Casarez sisters. I'm Gina Casarez.
Jessa: And I'm Jessa Casarez, Gina's cooler, better-looking sister. *Jessa chortles like a snooty noblewoman, to which Gina shoots her sister a dirty look and shakes her head*
Gina: *in a sarcastic tone* Teehee, charming. *Gina quickly remembers that they are being recorded and puts her big smile back on* Anyways, tonight... we have a pretty crazy case to cover.
Jessa: Oh, totally! When we went over the details of this case, the only thing that I was thinking was, "This sounds like a friggin' movie, man". Don't ya' think this sounds like something out of a movie, sis?
Gina: *nods her head* Indeed, we're talking some Crocodile Dundee stuff in this case.
*Both sisters chuckle good-naturedly*
Gina: This case takes place in the Australian Outback in the year 1990, so about 34 years ago. The perpetrator behind this case is a man known as Percival McLeach. He was a notorious poacher wanted in both the United States and Australia.
Jessa: For those of you who don't know, poaching is where you illegally hunt animals for profit with the intent to sell them on the black market. Often, the animals hunted are an endangered species or just simply protected under law. It really does some damage to ecosystems.
Gina: So true, sis. But unfortunately, some people only care about lining their pockets than preserving biodiversity.
Jessa: *nods her head* Yeah, and unfortunately, that's exactly what Mr. McLeach did with his time.
*Beat*
Gina: McLeach was on a quest to poach a very rare kind of eagle named Marahute. Marahute was a mother eagle famous for being much larger than the average eagle out there.
Jessa: She was probably as big as our station wagon! Think about that! Just picture an eagle but then imagine it 3 times the usual size. That's how big this Marahute eagle was. Nuts!
*The sisters chuckle*
Gina: In all seriousness, though, Percival McLeach is probably one of the most evil men we've ever come across. Right, Jessa?
Jessa: *nods her head* Yeah, and that's really saying a lot given that we've covered plenty of despicable people on this podcast.
Gina: What Percival McLeach does in this case to get his own way will make your blood boil. Because it's not just poor little animals that he victimized in his money-chasing schemes.
Jessa: He also harmed children too. In particular, an innocent young boy named Cody got pulled into the sick and twisted world of Percival McLeach. * Jessa shakes her head disapprovingly*
Gina: Indeed. Poor Cody. The boy was just minding his own business when he had the misfortune of encountering Percival McLeach. What he goes through is every parent's worst nightmare.
*Jessa shakes her head again. She grits her teeth as she does so*
Gina: Before we dive into the case, we'd like to give a word to our sponsor, and that is Mooncat.
Jessa: For those of you who know us pretty well, Gina and I are pretty big connoisseurs of nail polish.
Gina: *grinning widely* Yep, we get our nails done whenever we can. *She holds up her hand to reveal that her nails are colored a unique blend of blue, pink, and purple*
Jessa: That's why we love Mooncat. They're a US-based business that sells all kinds of incredible and unique nail polishes.
Gina: You can't get these polishes at Walmart or any dollar store. You can only get these funky shades at Mooncat.
Jessa holds up a nail polish bottle colored a stunning cobalt blue*
Jessa: This shade right here is called House of Hades. I've never seen such a beautiful color before; it's so eye-catching.
Gina: For all of you who love blue nail polish, House of Hades is the perfect shade to try out.
Gina holds a bottle containing nail polish colored dark blue and baby pink*
Gina: This crazy shade is called Treachery in the Blue. Get this, this shade actually changes color depending on the temperature of your surroundings!
Jessa: *feigns shock by placing a hand over her heart* What?!
Gina: I'm serious! This nail polish changes between dark blue and baby pink depending on how warm or cool the temperature is. If it's warm, your nails will be pink. If it's cool, your nails will be dark blue.
Jessa: Nuuuuttttssss!!!!
Gina chuckles, knowing that her sister is obviously only pretending to be surprised*
Gina: *holds up another bottle containing the very shade she's wearing* This shade right here is called Mercury's Tears, and it is such a beautifully eye-catching shade like I've never seen before. * holds up her hand to reveal her nails again* It's also the very shade that I'm wearing. I just love this blend of periwinkle blue, pink, and purple here!
Jessa: Wow, three colors in one shade. Absolutely crazy. *chuckles* But that's exactly why we love Mooncat so much; they're always pushing the envelope when it comes to nail polish.
Gina: Uh-huh. As their slogan goes, "we're not nail polish, we're wearable art".
Jessa: *nods her head in agreement* We strongly recommend you check out Mooncat now. Trust us, you won't regret it when you "abandon the ordinary" as they say.
Gina: Unlike Percival McLeach, Mooncat has never harmed cute little animals.
Jessa: Yep. Mooncat is completely vegan and cruelty-free, so you don't have to worry about using nail polishes that were tested on cute little baby squirrels.
Gina: We see all you vegans out there. *looks in the direction of the camera with a cheeky expression*
Jessa: Mooncat polishes are also 10-free. This means that they're free of harsh chemicals and other harmful substances.
Gina: So, I guess that means you don't have to worry about… hand cancer? *Gina shrugs, to which Jessa chuckles*
Jessa: Whataya waiting for, go on down to Mooncat's website and get to shopping for your unique "wearable arts" right now!
Gina: With that, let's dive into the crazy case of Percival McLeach and his ruthless quest for those sweet poacher bucks.
Jessa: So, Percival Clinton McLeach was born on June 30th, 1935. *Sighs in irritation*. According to the Zodiac chart, that makes him a Cancer.
Gina: *Grimaces* Ugh, that's a real buzzkill to know. For those listening at home, Jessa and I are July babies. We were born on July 10, which makes us Cancers too.
Jessa: I'm disgusted to have the same star sign as this demon of a man.
Gina: As fellow Cancers, we don't accept him as one of us. We are kicking him out of the club. Just get the freak out. *Gina makes a shooing gesture*
Jessa: Um-hmm, agreed. We don't usually speak on behalf of Cancers, but in this case, I think we can.
Gina: The only kind of cancer this man is is the disease kind.
*The sisters chuckle and high-five each other*
Jessa: Anyway, Percival Clinton McLeach was born on June 30th, 1935... regrettably. He grew up in a small town in Indiana called Crystal Lake.
Gina: It's one of those small towns that you're probably familiar with. The kind where everyone knows each other. They know your business, probably know your family too.
Jessa: It's also one of those places with a pretty low crime rate too. The most crime had there is some ten-year-old kid stealing bubblegum from the corner store.
*The sisters chuckle*
Gina: And if you get pulled over for speeding in this town, the police officer is most likely someone you know. It's probably your Uncle Ricky.
Jessa: Psst. I've never had that luxury when getting pulled over. *Jessa makes a pouty face, to which Gina rolls her eyes*
Gina: This town, Crystal Lake, Indiana, is where Percival McLeach grew up during his formative years. He lived there with his single mother; a woman named Patricia. Patricia McLeach.
Jessa: Percival's father, meanwhile, was never in his life. In fact, his dad walked out on his mom when she was seven months pregnant. So literally, before she even gave birth, her man just went "Sayonara" and ran out on her.
Gina: Ugh. I can't stand men who do that kind of thing. Like, if you don't want to be responsible for raising a kid, then don't get a woman pregnant! It's not that hard!
Jessa: Amen, sister! I'm really glad that my son's father, my ex, continues to be involved in his life. We may not be together anymore, but I respect him for at least trying to be a part of his little boy's life. So, I absolutely feel for Patricia McLeach here, being a single mother myself.
Gina: At least you're a single mother in this time period. Being a single mother in the 1930s, meanwhile, was super hard. That was a time when there was a lot more stigma surrounding single parenthood.
Jessa: Indeed. Plus, this was during the Great Depression as well. That time when the economy was crap, and everyone suffered for it.
Gina: Indeed, Patricia did struggle due to the Great Depression, especially since she had a kid to feed and support all by herself. However, the biggest challenge this woman faced was dealing with Percival at all. Unfortunately, Percival was a nightmare child from Hell. You know what I'm talking about when I say "nightmare child from Hell"?
Jessa: Yeah. That one kid that nobody wants to deal with. The kid that is always acting out, throwing tantrums, picking fights with other children, and is disrespectful to authority figures.
Gina: You hit it right on the nail there, sister. As an elementary school teacher, I regularly deal with some kids like that. However, none of them are as bad as Percival McLeach though. He was just a straight up demon child.
Jessa: Indeed. Percival was showing signs of serious aggression when he was just a toddler. He didn't just go through "the terrible twos" as we call them.
Gina: He was someone who didn't seem to like other children, or people in general.
Jessa: Those who went to elementary school with Percival said that he was a massive bully. He pushed other kids around, would shout horrible things at them, steal others' belongings. He would even be very destructive in the classroom.
Gina: He was that kid who was always taking the others kids' school projects and destroying them just because he could.
Jessa: Ugh. What a prick.
Gina: I know, right? Some of my students have done similar acts. There was one instance in my class where a girl took a boy's well-done replica of an Egyptian tomb and smashed it to bits. The reason? She couldn't stand how much better it was than her sub-par replica, which was just a bunch of paper towels and duct tape thrown together.
Jessa: Oh my gosh! That girl sounds like an entitled brat who takes others doing better than her as a personal insult.
Gina: *She laughs* You hit it right on the nail right there. This girl definitely has an entitlement issue. Not gonna say no names, of course.
Jessa: *She laughs* With Percival though, he seemed to do stuff like this simply for his own amusement. Though he might've had instances where he was mad that someone else's school project was better than his.
Gina: *Snickers* I wouldn't put it past him to have done that for that exact reason given his personality type.
*Beat*
Jessa: There was one pretty extreme example of his bullying and destructive behavior. He was riding on the school bus one afternoon. There was a girl that was sitting in front of Percival. For some reason, this girl was annoying Percival.
Gina: In response, Percival pulled out a pair of scissors and stabbed the girl in her shoulder and the back of her neck!
Jessa: Yeah... we know... Pretty extreme behavior.
Gina: That's not typical bully behavior there. That's straight up psychotic.
Jessa: Agreed.
Gina: Even the students in my school who pick up others would look at this and be like, "Nah, man!"
Jessa chuckles*
*Beat*
Gina: After that incident with the scissors, Percival was banned from riding on the school buses. Thank God.
Jessa: Yeah. Obviously, he can't be trusted to ride on the buses if he's gonna do crap like that to his classmates.
Gina: Indeed. That poor girl, though. Supposedly, she was annoying him. But honestly, she probably wasn't even doing anything.
Jessa: Yeah. Even if she was making him angry, like maybe she called him a stupid doodoo head or whatever insults kids used back then, it's not a good reason to stab her with scissors. There's nothing worthy of being stabbed with scissors.
Gina: Agreed. That's just an extreme reaction to a minor inconvenience.
*Beat*
Jessa: It wasn't just at school that Percival was a little terror. He was that way at home too.
Gina: His mother Patricia didn't know how to handle a kid like Percival, but you probably guessed that already.
Jessa: Every time she tried to discipline him, he would attack her in response because he didn't want to do as he was told.
Gina: Poor Patricia was frequently seen with black eyes and bruises as a result of her own son beating her up. I can't imagine how the neighbors responded to seeing her like that.
Jessa: Given that we're in the 1930s and 40s here, I doubt the neighbors really thought much about it. In this era, abuse wasn't taken all that seriously. I mean, this was the era where it was common to use physical discipline on children. Fathers hitting their kids with a belt was not unheard of during this time. *Jessa does beating gestures as she's talking to demonstrate her point*
Gina: So true. In some cases, it was even considered normal for husbands to hit their wives if they weren't doing their "wifely duties" like they were supposed to. So, a child abusing their parent might not have been taken seriously either. They probably thought Patricia just needed to take a firmer hand with Percival.
Jessa: *She rolls her eyes and shakes her head* So dumb.
Gina: Yeah. Luckily, we're long past thinking that kind of stuff is ok.
*Beat*
Jessa: Another thing that Percival was known for being other than a massive bully to his peers and mother is he was a massive liar too.
Gina: Yep. He was that kind of kid who would regularly fake being sick in order to get out of doing his work. If he had to do chores, he had a stomachache. If he had to do schoolwork, he had a headache. He would even pretend to faint whenever a teacher called on him to answer a question.
Jessa: Ugh. That must've been so infuriating for his mom and teachers.
Gina: Oh yes. It probably was. I know that I regularly deal with students who do crap like that. I can't stand laziness in my students. When you come into my classroom, you don't just get to sit your butt down at a desk. You gotta get your butt to work.
Jessa: Plus, constantly lying about being sick only makes it harder for the kids who are actually sick to let their teachers know about their issues.
Gina: Absolutely, sis! In my students' cases, though, they're not very good at faking it. Percival sounds like he was a master faker. I mean, he at least went with mundane illnesses like stomachaches and headaches; stuff that's pretty easy to fake and is more believable. Meanwhile, my students come up with the most absurd excuses. For example, telling me that they have diphtheria.
*Jessa bursts out into laughter*
Jessa: Oh my gosh! That's so dumb!
Gina: I know! These kids probably don't even know what diphtheria is. They probably heard the word somewhere and thought it sounded scary, so they decided, "Ah, I think I'll fake having that. This should get me outta doing long division".
Jessa: *Chuckles* Kids...
*Beat*
Gina: Faking illnesses was not the only thing that Percival would lie about. He would also tell his peers and teachers crap like his family was involved with the Mafia so he could scare them into submission.
Jessa: I can see that. Sounds like something a kid would probably say in order to impress or intimidate their classmates. "Oooh, my family is scary! They're involved with the Mafia! So you better watch out!"
Gina: Yeah, that sounds very much like something a kid would lie about. Again, not to throw shade at my students, but some of them love to exaggerate or lie about their lives so that they can seem more impressive. It's kind of adorable how they think saying they know the President of the United States or the prime minister of Japan will make them seem so impressive.
Jessa: Kids say the darnedest things sometimes.
Gina: Yep.
*Beat*
Jessa: Because Percival was such a bully and a habitual liar, nobody liked him in school. He didn't like them in the first place, so they didn't like him in return.
Gina: Eventually, Percival's teachers got fed up with his obnoxious and destructive behavior. It turns out that he never made it past the third grade.
Jessa: He got expelled because the teachers just had enough of him. His peers had enough of him. So, the best thing to do was kick him out.
Gina: Well, it sure took the school long enough to expel his sorry butt. Why they didn't just do it sooner is just wild to me.
Jessa: I guess they were trying to give him chances to shape up and he blew all of his chances. So, out he went.
Gina: That seems like a likely scenario.
Jessa: What do you all listening think happened to Percival after he was expelled from school?
Gina: If you answered, "he was homeschooled by his mother", you would be wrong.
Jessa: Because Percival was such a problem child, Patricia had grown scared of him. He had gotten to where he was threatening to kill her if she tried to tell him what to do.
Gina: Yikes. I bet that had her locking her bedroom door at night.
Jessa: Yep. I mean, would you be able to sleep at night with your door unlocked if your kid was threatening to kill you?
Gina: * Shakes her head* No, I wouldn't, especially if said kid has proven to be capable of hurting me.
Jessa: Same. I'd be pad-locking my door every friggin' night if I were dealing with a kid like Percival.
*Gina chuckles*
Gina: Because of how afraid Patricia was of her own son, she pretty much decided to leave him to his own devices. Homeschooling him was definitely not on the table for her if he was just going to defy her and threaten her life.
Jessa: Basically, rather than going the homeschooling route, Patricia went the "unschooling" route, where Percival is just meant to figure things out on his own.
Gina: As you can imagine, this only made Percival's behavior worse.
Jessa: Something we haven't touched on with Percival is he was also one of those kids who enjoyed harming and killing animals for fun.
Gina: No surprise there, though, given what he goes on and does.
Jessa: After Percival was expelled from school and was "unschooled" at home, he really started escalating his fascination with hurting animals.
Gina: Trigger warning, we're about to talk about instances of animal cruelty. If you don't want to hear this stuff, it's best you mute the audio for a few minutes.
Jessa: So, there's your TW for you.
Gina: Percival had been harming animals for a while. It started out with him finding frogs and snakes in his back garden and taking them into the shed where he would torture and kill them with power tools. That's pretty horrifying, especially given that his age is still in the single digits here.
Jessa: However, after his expulsion, his cruelty to animals ended up escalating to cats and dogs. There was one time where Percival shot a BB gun at a dog that was just roaming around the neighborhood. Another time, he threw rocks at some stray cats that were just scavenging around some trash cans.
Gina: This next bit of cruelty, however, is just awful. *Gina fans her face in distress* Oh gosh... One day when Percival was around 9 years old, he managed to lure a neighbor's cat into his backyard.
Jessa: Once the cat was in the backyard, Percival took a meat cleaver and beat it to death. Then he took a power tool and drilled into the poor kitty's belly.
Gina: Oh gosh... *Gina covers her face with both hands* As someone who owns 3 cats, this just turns my stomach in 50 different ways. I can't imagine the amount of pain that poor cat was in when Percival beat and tortured it to death.
Jessa: Yeah, poor little kitty cat. It never did anything to Percival, yet it got brutalized by him for no reason. * Gina fans herself a little more and runs her hands down her face*
Gina: Imagine how the neighbor who owned that cat responded to seeing this horrifying act.
Jessa: Yeah. The neighbor who owned the cat lived next door to the McLeach house; she was an older lady named Letty.
Gina: She was just out in her backyard tending to her plants when she heard Percival laughing like a psychopath next door. She went through the gate to the McLeach backyard to tell him to quiet down. However, that's when she saw to her horror Percival holding her cat's lifeless body.
Jessa: Poor woman was screaming and freaking out, probably even fainted too.
Gina: I know I would faint too if I saw some psycho holding the dead body of my kitty cat. I'd also beat the ever-loving crap outta him because I'll soon die before I let anyone harm my kitties. *Gina holds up her fists in a defensive position, to which Jessa snickers*
Jessa: I bet you guys listening are all wondering what the heck happened to make Percival like this? Why was he so mean and aggressive?
Gina: At first glance, it might seem like Percival's behavior is just typical fatherless behavior. His dad wasn't in his life and he's acting out and being a menace to society, so surely it's because he doesn't have a strong father figure in his life. That's where you would be wrong.
Jessa: It's likely he had a condition known as antisocial personality disorder.
Gina: This is a mental disorder that makes a person very dangerous to be around. Signs of this disorder include aggression, lack of empathy or remorse for one's actions, constantly lying and manipulating others, breaking the law, disregarding people's rights and safety.
Jessa: Now everything is starting to make sense, right? Everything he had been doing so far in this story: the bullying, the aggression toward people like his mother and the girl on the bus, the cruelty to animals, the constant lying to worm his way out of things. All of that definitely points to him being a sociopath.
Gina: Oh yes. Even if Daddy McLeach was around to parent Percival, it probably wouldn't have done much to curb his behavior. Heck, there's even a chance his ASPD came from his dad. Sometimes, the disorder is genetic.
Jessa: I can see that. I mean, this man did ditch his pregnant wife. Sounds like something someone who has no empathy would do.
*Gina nods her head*
*Beat*
Gina: When Percival was around 15 years old, a significant shake up happened to him. And that was he left his family home.
Jessa: It's unknown why he left his family home at such a young age, but I'm pretty sure that it was because Patricia finally had enough of him and kicked his sorry butt out.
Gina: *She giggles* I can see that. It's likely Patricia got fed up with him always bullying her, hitting her, and threatening her. Not to mention, having to sleep with her bedroom door locked every night. She just couldn't take it anymore.
Jessa: Normally, I feel sympathy for people who get kicked out of their homes while they're still minors because it's never ok to disown your kids, especially if it's over something really stupid. However, because this is Percival McLeach we're talking about and the way he was treating his mom, I don't feel sorry for him whatsoever.
Gina: Well said, sister.
*Beat*
Jessa: After Percival was possibly kicked out of his home, he became a young drifter for the next 6 years.
Gina: During that time, Percival floated around different parts of Indiana. He took on a few odd jobs to get by. Strangely, there were no reports of him causing any trouble during this time. In fact, people who came across him during this time described him as "charming and charismatic".
Jessa: Sounds like he was putting on his good ol' ASPD fake charm to fool people.
Gina: Yeah, probably. That's what a lot of people with ASPD do, manipulate and mask their true selves in order to get people to let their guards down.
Jessa: *She shivers* Imma be real here, this truly is terrifying. Forget things that go bump in the night, this is the kind of stuff that keeps me up at night. The idea that someone who is seemingly nice and charming is actually a conniving sociopath or is hiding some other kind of dark secret.
Gina: Oh, absolutely! From this podcast, we learned that the boogeyman doesn't look like a scary monster under your bed. The boogeyman looks like your parents, your siblings, your children, teachers, co-workers, politicians, businessmen, pastors. The boogeyman looks completely normal, not like something out of an H.P. Lovecraft novel.
Jessa: Yeah. That's why you can't just always trust people's first impressions. Little did any of Percival's acquaintances during this time know that this "charming and charismatic" guy brutalized a cat when he was only 9 years old.
*Gina recoils at the mention of the cat killing. However, she swallows down her discomfort to stay focused*
Gina: When Percival reached the age of 21, another notable event happened in his life.
Jessa: He actually got married. Yeah, you heard that right, Percival McLeach managed to convince a woman to marry him.
Gina: Who was this woman who agreed to become Mrs. Percival McLeach? Well, that was a young woman by that name of Rhonda. Rhonda Weatherford.
Jessa: She was a dancer at a local honky-tonk.
Gina: A honky-tonk is a country western bar, for those not familiar.
Jessa: It was at this honky-tonk that Rhonda had the misfortune of meeting Percival McLeach.
Gina: Percival won over Miss Rhonda by turning on the charm and dazzling her with cash. It worked perfect, naturally.
Jessa: To Rhonda, unaware of what he was really like, Percival seemed like he was the perfect guy for her.
Gina: *Shakes her head* This is classic manipulator tactics here. Act all charming and flash a little cash as a way of luring the prey into the spider web.
Jessa: Yep. Pro-tip to all of our listeners. If someone you're seeing seems too perfect whenever you first start seeing them, run the heck away! That's a major red flag for an abuser.
Gina: Indeed. That's how abusers get their claws into you in the first place. They turn on the charm and dazzle you and act like the most perfect person you could find. Once you're in a relationship with them or married to them, the mask comes off and they show you their true colors.
Jessa: Yep. That's our little PSA for ya'. Trust your gut on these things.
*Beat*
Gina: So, after Rhonda and Percival first met and he dazzled her, they had a whirlwind romance. Eventually, it culminated in them getting married 2 months later.
Jessa: Again, another classic abuser red flag, moving too fast in the relationship. They only dated for 2 months and already they decided on the M word. *Jessa shakes her head and facepalms*
Gina: As you can imagine, once the honeymoon phase wore off between them, that's when Percival started to take off his mask.
Jessa: Percival was an absolute prick to Rhonda. As the marriage went on, he gradually became more and more abusive to her.
Gina: He first isolated Rhonda from her friends and family by moving them to a house in a remote area about 15 minutes outside of the city of Kokomo.
Jessa: He claimed that he wanted to "be closer to nature" and "live off the land", but that was a friggin' lie.
Gina: As mentioned before, he just wanted to isolate Rhonda from her loved ones.
*Beat*
Gina: Next, Percival made Rhonda quit her job at the honky-tonk.
Jessa: This way, she would now be financially dependent on him. And we all know that money tends to be a huge factor in abusers maintaining control over their victims.
*Gina nods*
Jessa: The next thing he did was he started to control Rhonda's every move. For example, he started telling her what she could wear. Rhonda used to wear lots of really beautiful and colorful dresses. She was a real fashionista.
Gina: After marrying Percival, however, that stopped. Instead, she wore a lot of baggy and colorless clothes.
Jessa: Obviously, Percival couldn't have her looking too good, or else she might attract other men. *She rolls her eyes and shakes her head*
Gina: Next, Percival started restricting Rhonda's movements, when she could or couldn't leave the house. Though, Rhonda was almost never allowed to leave the house. Not that she really had any place to go given that they were living in a remote countryside area.
Jessa: The closest neighbors they had claimed that they barely recall Rhonda ever being outside while they were living there. However, they didn't really think much of it because they assumed that Rhonda was just reclusive. But little did they know that she was basically being held prisoner in her own home.
*Beat*
Gina: Then Percival started being verbally abusive to Rhonda.
Jessa: He would yell at her, humiliate her, call her every name under the Sun anytime she stepped out of line or displeased him in some way.
Gina: Percival and Rhonda also argued a lot, mainly courtesy of Percival.
Jessa: However, Percival would always gaslight Rhonda into thinking that the arguments were always her fault. He would then "forgive her" for making him angry. * Jessa rolls her eyes and sighs*
Gina: Yeah, that's always such an infuriating tactic, gaslighting victims. This makes victims have a hard time realizing when they're being played. It also makes them easier to control if they start doubting their own judgment and reality.
Jessa: I know how Rhonda feels all too well, unfortunately. *Jessa furrows her brows and clenches her jaw*. I have an ex who used to treat me that way. By ex, I'm not talking about Danny, the father of my son. I'm talking about a relationship I had before him.
Gina: Oh yeah, I remember who you're talking about, that one slimeball you dated for about 3 months.
Jessa: Yeah, him. *Jessa growls a little bit* He was such a typical narcissist. He was always humiliating me, yelling at me, demanding that I report my every movement to him. He was especially angry if I had other plans outside of hanging out with him. Anytime we fought, he would always make me feel like I was the problem rather than him. But then after the arguments, he would lovebomb me so that I wouldn't leave him.
Gina: Ugh. I absolutely detested that ex-boyfriend of yours. I remember even telling you that I got weird vibes from him.
Jessa: *Jessa grits her teeth and casts her eyes downward* Yeah, I remember, sis. I still feel stupid for all those times I didn't listen to you.
Gina: It's ok, sis. You've grown since that relationship and now you know how to spot red flags. I'm proud of you for that.
*Jessa smiles sheepishly*
Gina: Going back to Percival and Rhonda, their marriage eventually got to that point where Percival was getting physically abusive as well as psychologically and emotionally abusive.
Jessa: There was one particular incident that's pretty horrific. * Jessa's face is white as a sheet*
Gina: The couple got into a pretty heated argument about where they were living. Rhonda had told Percival that she didn't want to live in this remote house anymore, that she thought they should live a little closer to town. Percival absolutely lost it on Rhonda.
Jessa: The argument they were having escalated to the point where Percival actually picked up the phone, cradle and all, and hurled it at Rhonda!
Gina: The phone ended up hitting poor Rhonda in the face. In fact, it hit her so hard that it broke her nose.
Jessa: Ouch! That seriously had to hurt.
Gina: Yeah, especially considering the kind of phone he threw at her wasn't a little smartphone; it was one of those big ol' rotary phones that they used back in the 50s.
*Jessa grimaces and feels at her nose*
Jessa: Not even my abusive ex did something so extreme like that to me.
Gina: Yeah, and thank God for that.
*Beat*
Jessa: Shockingly, after that horrific incident with the phone, Percival actually took Rhonda to the hospital.
Gina: That is shocking. You'd think with his kind of personality, he would just let Rhonda suffer with her broken nose. But instead, he decides to do something nice and get her medical attention.
Jessa: Psst. I think I know why he did this. He was trying to lovebomb Rhonda so she stayed on his side. Him taking her to the hospital was his way of making her think that he was sorry about what he did in order to manipulate her.
Gina: Makes sense. I bet when they got to the hospital in Kokomo, Percival probably told the doctors that Rhonda fell down the stairs as a cover story. Probably even made Rhonda back this up too.
Jessa: Ugh. I believe that. *She shakes her head* Disgusting behavior. I absolutely hate it when abusers hurt their victims and then they're all, 'oh, I sowwy' but then later hurt their victims again. Bruh, you're not sorry, you're just saying that so you can keep your victim stuck in your little spider web.
Gina: Amen, sister! I too am fed up with that crap too. It's nothing more than classic manipulator behavior there.
Jessa: Unfortunately, lovebombing was exactly what Percival did to Rhonda after he was a butthead to her. He went from hitting her, screaming at her, and calling her names to being all cuddly-wuddly and telling her how sorry he was and that she was such a beautiful and magnificent woman and ughhhhhhh...!
*Jessa faceplants on the table*
Gina: The sad thing is Rhonda herself has said in interviews that she actually looked forward to those lovebombing sessions. According to her, those were the times she got to see the man she originally fell in love with.
Jessa: Wow, that is sad. Imagine being abused every day and you only put up with it because your partner acts all sweet and cuddly toward you afterwards.
Gina: Yeah. This is why Rhonda stayed married to Percival for 5 years. Even though he was being a complete butthead to her and holding her prisoner in her own home, she always loved it when he would lovebomb her because she saw it as a spark of hope that he was going to change.
Jessa: Unfortunately, Percival never did change his ways, but we all knew that.
Gina: Eventually, Rhonda got to that point where she couldn't take Percival's abuse anymore. And you know what? She actually got up and left him.
Jessa: Of course, she had to do it without Percival knowing about it.
Gina: One night, when Percival was fast asleep, Rhonda made her move. She quietly took what she could carry on her back, crept out the door, and just ran down the road. She didn't take the car, she just went on foot. Amazingly, she managed to make it all the way to Kokomo.
Jessa: Wow! That's incredible!
Gina: Yeah! It makes sense why she opted not to take the car. I mean, she was trying to be all sneaky, and so the sounds of the car starting would've just alerted Percival to what she was up to.
Jessa: I see.
Gina: Yep.
Jessa: It takes a lot of strength to leave an abusive relationship like that.
Gina: Yeah, and it takes even more strength to get to the nearest city on foot from a remote countryside house.
Jessa: If your life depends on it, then you gotta do what you can to survive.
*Gina nods*
Gina: I can only imagine how furious Percival probably was when he woke up and saw that his wife had left him.
Jessa: *She bursts into laughter* Yeah, I betcha he had the biggest tantrum ever when he woke up and saw that Rhonda was gone.
Gina: Oh, he definitely had a tantrum, alright. He was all, "how dare she leave me and not put up with my BS!"
Jessa: *She rolls her eyes* Of course he did. Abusers don't like it when their victims don't just lie down and take their crap.
Gina: Meanwhile, back with Rhonda, she filed for divorce and moved in with her sister. Thank God she had that support she could go to.
Jessa: Yeah. That's good. It's always great when you got family to go to after escaping an abusive relationship.
Gina: However, even though Rhonda was able to escape from Percival, that doesn't mean that he was about to give up on her. Although, we just described Percival as "throwing a tantrum", he still technically posed a danger to Rhonda.
Jessa: Yeah. When it comes to abusive relationships, victims are the most in danger during the breakup process.
Gina: Absolutely, sister! During this process, the abuser realizes they're losing control, and it makes them lose their minds.
Jessa: They basically go the "if I can't have you, no one can" route in that case. Thankfully, Percival didn't go that route, surprisingly.
Gina: Instead, Percival started stalking Rhonda and trying to sweet talk her into taking him back. He somehow figured out that Rhonda was living with her sister.
Jessa: He probably got a private detective to track down Rhonda.
Gina: Seems likely. He wouldn't have figured it out on his own. * Jessa nods her head* Once he figured that where she was, that's when he began stalking her and trying to woo her back by claiming he was a changed man for real this time.
Jessa: There he goes again, doing classic abuser tactics. Once the victim leaves, the abuser acts all apologetic in order to make the victim think he or she has changed. In reality, they haven't changed a bit. It's just a tactic to lure you back into their prison.
Gina: Yep, but thankfully, Rhonda didn't fall for his charms this time. She had pretty much clocked on to his lovebombing strategies, and so she knew that he was full of crap.
Jessa: That's good. It's always great when abuse victims finally wake up and realize they're being manipulated.
Gina: Once Rhonda made it clear that she wasn't going to give their marriage another chance, Percival finally gave up and stopped bothering her.
Jessa: That's good. He's finally a distant memory for her.
Gina: Unfortunately, though, this only means that Percival is on the hunt for a new victim he can torment.
Jessa: In the summer of 1962, just a year after his marriage to Rhonda broke down, Percival did in fact come across a new victim.
Gina: Her name was Kim Fairchild. Oh my gosh, poor poor Kim.
Jessa: Yeah, if you thought Rhonda had it bad while with Percival, Kim probably had an even worse time.
Gina: Compared to Rhonda, Kim wasn't quite as strong-willed.
Jessa: In fact, Kim didn't have the best self-esteem despite growing up in a loving family.
Gina: As you can imagine, this made her the perfect victim for Percival and his manipulative ways. He probably could pick up on the fact that she had low self-esteem, and was rubbing his hands together thinking, 'Perfect, this is my next target'.
Jessa: Just like with Rhonda, Percival dazzled Kim with money and nice things and turned on the charm.
Gina: Playing on Kim's low self-esteem, Percival made her feel so special and beautiful, which she ate up like a sandwich.
Jessa: She was thinking to herself, "Who is this perfect guy with all this cash?" Before you know it, Kim is in love with Percival McLeach. She worshipped the ground he walked on and he ate up her admiration.
Gina: Ugh, just disgusting. Poor Kim, she doesn't even know how much she's being manipulated here.
Jessa: Yeah. All she sees is this perfect charming guy with money who will take care of her. So sad.
Gina: Just like with Rhonda, Percival and Kim had a whirlwind romance that moved way too fast.
Jessa: Before long, they were married.
Gina: He moved her into his little remote house outside of Kokomo.
Jessa: Again, he did that purely to isolate her from her loved ones.
Gina: Once Kim was moved in with him, that's when Percival's cute little mask started to fall off.
Jessa: He started controlling Kim's movements, saying horrible things to her to break her down, gaslighted her into thinking that she deserved his mistreatment, humiliated her.
Gina: Before long, he started to beat her black and blue whenever she displeased him in any way.
Jessa: Percival expected Kim to wait on him hand and foot. This meant that she was the one expected to do all the cooking and cleaning around the house. All the while Percival mostly just sat on his butt with his feet up.
Gina: If Kim didn't do something to his liking, Percival would shove her, punch her, hit her with objects like spatulas or wooden spoons. And all because his eggs were a little too runny. *Jessa rolls her eyes and clenches her fist*
Jessa: The ol' "get in the kitchen and make me a sammich, woman!" attitude. Makes my blood boil.
Gina: Tell me about it. Unfortunately, given the time period this is taking place in, such attitudes would've been pretty normalized.
Jessa: Yeah, sadly.
Gina: Now you can imagine how awful Kim must've felt with Percival treating her this way.
Jessa: It was a complete shock to poor Kim. She never saw her father treat her mother that way. So, she didn't understand why Percival was treating her this way.
Gina: Poor woman thought that maybe she was doing something wrong. That she deserved everything that was happening to her.
Jessa: That's awful. Poor Kim. Her self-esteem really is beat into the ground at this point. It was already pretty beaten down, but Percival only has made it worse.
Gina: Yeah. This only made it easier for Percival to keep his hooks in her.
Jessa: An extra layer of sad to this is Percival was Kim's first relationship ever. She never had a boyfriend or a husband before him. He was her first of everything.
Gina: Because of that, she didn't really have anything else to compare her relationship to. She didn't know that how Percival was treating her was not ok. *Jessa shakes her head and cups her chin in her hands*
Jessa: Much like with Rhonda, Percival would lovebomb Kim after pushing her around and calling her the B word. You know what word I'm talking about. The one that rhymes with "pitch".
Gina: *Gina giggles and rolls her eyes* I know what word you're talking about, sis.
Jessa: And again, like with Rhonda, Kim loved it whenever Percival would lovebomb her because this was when he was being nice to her and she got a glimpse of the perfect guy she first met.
Gina: And just like before, Kim also took these moments of intermittent affection as a sign that Percival was going to change. If he was apologizing for yelling at her and smacking her with a wooden object, then it must be a sign that he promises to be a better man.
Jessa: Noooo. He's just playing her so that she'll want to stay.
Gina: And that's exactly what Kim did. Though thankfully, she wasn't with him for too long. She was only with Percival for about 2 years. What eventually pushed her to leave him was something pretty horrific.
Jessa: In mid-1964, Kim fell pregnant with Percival's child. Yeah, that's a huge development in the story.
Gina: When Kim found out she was pregnant, she was actually pretty excited about it. She wanted to have a little family of her own like many women back in the day did. And, she thought that maybe having a baby with Percival would help calm him down and treat her better.
Jessa: *She shakes her head* No, it didn't make things better. Because Percival would only have one more thing to use as leverage against Kim.
Gina: Yeah, that's probably why Percival got her pregnant in the first place. So that she'd have a reason to stay with him other than the moments where he was lovebombing her.
Jessa: However, he would never get the chance to use this baby as leverage against Kim.
Gina: Unfortunately, a terrible tragedy would happen.
Jessa: One day, when Kim was 3 months along in her pregnancy, so just at the tail end of the first trimester, she was just sweeping the floor. Again, while Percival was just sat on his fat butt like the lazy prick he was.
Gina: As Kim was sweeping the floor, Percival suddenly lost his temper at her like usual.
Jessa: He was screaming at her, claiming that she was sweeping wrong for some reason.
Gina: He started to throw things at her like vases and other ornaments they kept around the house.
Jessa: Kim begged and pleaded with him to stop, saying that she was sorry for upsetting him. However, none of her begging and pleading seemed to calm him down. Instead, he just got angrier and more irritated.
Gina: Percival jumped up from the couch and lunged at Kim. He started beating her up and screaming, "You stupid B! You're useless! You're a filthy pig!" Disgusting stuff like that.
Jessa: *She starts to fan her face in distress* Percival ended up beating Kim so hard that she ended up having a miscarriage. *Jessa covers her face with her hands*
*Gina, noticing her sister's distress, places a comforting hand on her shoulder*
Gina: I know this is really distressing for you to hear, sis. I'm so sorry.
*Jessa raises her head to reveal that she has tears in her eyes*
Jessa: This hits me harder than it needs to. I can't imagine how traumatic that must've been for Kim to lose her baby.
Gina: I know, right? It's always devastating to lose a child, especially through something like a miscarriage.
*Jessa covers her face again. She has now descended into sobs*
Jessa: I can't... *Jessa slumps over in her chair, continuing to sob. Gina frowns and rubs on her sister's arm*
Gina: It's ok, sis. Just go take a break for a few minutes; I'll handle things for a bit.
*Sniffling and wiping her eyes, Jessa raises up her head and nods her head*
Jessa: Thanks, Gina.
*Jessa gets up from her seat and walks over to a corner of the studio. Gina glances over toward the camera looking somber*
Gina: Poor Jessa. She's pretty sensitive to anything in these cases involving baby loss. So, we'll just let her give herself a little TLC for a few minutes.
*Beat*
Gina: Continuing the story, Kim was absolutely devastated by her miscarriage. She was inconsolable, in fact. So much so that she actually started to question her desire to be with Percival. Obviously, her hope that having a child with Percival would improve their marriage didn't take. Instead, he killed their unborn child in a fit of unjustified rage. So, it was at this point that Kim considered leaving him. However, she knew that this would probably make him really angry if he knew that. So, in the middle of the night, Kim crept down to the phone in the living room and took the phone over to a nearby closet. Kim made sure that Percival was dead asleep before doing this. Once she was hidden in the closet with the phone, that's when Kim made a call to her mother. She told her mother that she wanted out of her marriage to Percival because she was terrified of him and because of the miscarriage he caused. Kim's mother, Claudine, was very understanding and sympathetic to her daughter's plight, especially in regard to the miscarriage situation. Claudine could even pick up on how scared her daughter was in this situation given that she was speaking to her in a whispery tone inside of a closet, indicative of the fact that she clearly didn't want Percival to hear her. So, the two women constructed an escape plan for Kim.
*Gina glances over toward the corner where Jessa is to check on her. Jessa is still sitting in the corner taking deep breaths and wiping her eyes with tissues. Gina presses her hand to her chest in sympathy before glancing back toward the camera*
Gina: The plan that Kim and Claudine hatched was that Claudine and Kim's father Alfred were going to drive down to the house and pick Kim up to take her away from that house as quickly as possible. Claudine instructed Kim to stay hidden until she and Alfred got there. Alfred and Claudine arrived at the house at around 3:00 am, about half an hour later. The moment that Kim saw her parents' car outside, that's when she ran out of that house and she gave them the biggest hug she had ever given them. She was so happy to see her mom and dad again after 2 whole years of being isolated from them, as you can imagine. Knowing that they didn't have a lot of time for further affectionate gestures, Alfred and Claudine quickly ushered Kim over toward their car.
*Jessa comes back over to the platform. She looks much more composed now and is ready to get back to telling the story*
Gina: You ok now, sis? *Jessa sniffles but flashes a weak smile and nods*
Jessa: Yeah, I'm doing a little better now. Just did a few breathing exercises, and now I'm good to go.
Gina: That's good. You're here just in time for a pretty intense moment that turns into a moment of awesome.
Jessa: *Smirking* Sweet. * Jessa takes her seat next to Gina once more* So where are we in the story?
Gina: Kim's parents have just arrived to take her away from Percival and they're about to attempt a clandestine escape.
Jessa: Ooh, that sounds really suspenseful. Let's dive right in. *Gina grins*
Gina: As Kim was being bundled into the car, something absolutely scary happened. Percival had actually woken up and saw that Kim was escaping. Like usual, he flew into a rage.
Jessa: Oh no! * Jessa presses her hands to her face*
Gina: Yeah. Percival stormed outside of the house, the whole time looking like a bull ready to charge and smoke coming out of his ears.
Jessa: Yikes!
Gina: Yeah. He came at Kim and her parents wielding a hammer, ready to smash them all. And as you can imagine, Kim was absolutely terrified cuz he was clearly ready to kill her. However, Alfred, Kim's father, grabbed a baseball bat from out of the car and brandished it at Percival.
Jessa: Wow, dude clearly came prepared.
Gina: Yep. Alfred Fairchild was said to be a pretty tough dude who took nobody's BS. But for all his toughness, he clearly treated his wife and daughter well.
Jessa: That's good.
Gina: Yep. With that baseball bat, Alfred swung at Percival, knocking him over while threatening him to never come near his daughter ever again.
Jessa: Wow! Awesome! *She claps her hands* Can we have a round for Alfred, please? We need more men like him as fathers.
Gina: I agree, Jess. With today's epidemic of deadbeat dads, a guy like Alfred Fairchild would be a breath of fresh air.
*Jessa nods*
Jessa: After Percival was down for the count, that's when Kim and her parents took off into the night.
Gina: You guys are probably thinking, "Great! Percival has been divorced for the second time! Hopefully, he took the L". But no, of course not.
Jessa: By now, you should know that Percival McLeach is not one to give up. Just like with his first wife, Rhonda, Percival kept bothering Kim to come back to him.
Gina: Instead of turning up at her house, he kept sending letters to Kim. And these letters…. *Gina shakes her head and facepalms* Oh my gosh, they were full of some of the most lovebombing language you could imagine.
Jessa: He would tell her he was so sorry for how much of a jerk he was, that he was sorry about the miscarriage. He told her she was beautiful and ethereal. That when he envisioned the perfect woman, he thought of her. * Jessa puts her finger in her mouth and gags* Could he be any mushier with this crap?
Gina: The most manipulative part of the letter however was Percival promised Kim to give her a new baby to make up for the one lost to the miscarriage. He was playing on her desire to have a family with the white picket fence.
Jessa: Ugh. Disgusting. Disgusting! Disgusting!
Gina: The way he was referring to "giving her a new baby", you'd think he was talking about an object he broke rather than a living child he murdered.
Jessa: That tells you a lot about how Percival truly views lives around him. To him, they're just his playthings for him to use.
Gina: I know, right?
*Beat*
Jessa: When Kim got those letters from Percival, her parents told her to ignore them. They could see that he was trying to manipulate her into taking him back.
Gina: We would love to say that Kim did as her parents asked and ignored Percival's attempts to woo her back. However, that's not what happened.
Jessa: Unfortunately, Kim's low self-esteem reared its ugly head once more. Despite her parents' warnings and all the hell Percival put her through, Kim ultimately ended up going back to him around May of 1965. Since then, Kim was never seen or heard from again.
Gina: The last time Alfred and Claudine heard from Kim was supposedly from a letter addressed to them from her. However, they didn't believe that this letter was actually from their daughter.
Jessa: For starters, the letter was riddled with so many spelling and grammar mistakes. Meanwhile, Kim was known to be a stickler for perfect spelling and grammar.
Gina: Plus, the overall tone of the letter just didn't sound like Kim. It was way too gruff and too impersonal. Kim was known to be very warm and inviting, but nothing about this letter was very warm and inviting.
Jessa: Then there was the fact that the handwriting in the letter looked nothing like Kim's handwriting. Her handwriting was very neat while this handwriting was atrocious.
Gina: So, it's widely speculated that the one who wrote that letter was actually Percival.
Jessa: I mean, the poor spelling and grammar and messy handwriting makes sense if you remember that Percival only had a third grade education.
Gina: *Nods* Absolutely, Jess.
Jessa: To this day, Kim Fairchild remains a missing person. Though many strongly believe that Percival may have killed Kim.
Gina: The fact that it was after she went back to Percival to rekindle their marriage that she disappeared, it makes you wonder if he's responsible for her death.
Jessa: However, with no body found, it can't be determined if Kim is actually dead.
Gina: It's always sad when people go missing and don't get found.
Jessa: Yeah. That's just life though. Some people get found while others meet an unknown fate.
Gina: *Shakes her head ruefully* Poor Alfred and Claudine, though. They had just rescued their daughter from that monster only for her to run right back to him and never be seen again.
Jessa: I know, right? Those two were such good people; they didn't deserve to lose their daughter to a monster. Though the fact that her disappearance remains a cold case still gives some hope that she might be alive somewhere out there.
Gina: I dunno, sis. She went missing in 1965; it's now 2024, nearly 60 years later. The chances of a missing person turning up alive after such a long time are slim, though there are some exceptions.
Jessa: Kim was 22 years old when she went missing. If she's still alive today, she'd be an old lady in her 80s. If she's not dead now, she will be soon.
Gina: Meanwhile, Alfred and Claudine have both since passed away. Claudine passed away in 1994 of cardiac thrombosis, while Alfred passed away in 2001 of stomach cancer. Up until their deaths, however, they never stopped trying to find their daughter and worked feverishly to keep her cold case on people's radars.
Jessa: That's really sweet to know. It shows just how much they cared about Kim.
Gina: Yeah. It's sad to know that they died before getting any kind of closure.
Jessa: If Kim is dead, then they at least reunited with her in Heaven. They would know for sure what happened to her that way.
Gina: * Nods her head somberly* True true. Still, there needs to be at least some answers for what really happened to Kim. Hence why it was important for us to bring up her cold case.
Jessa: Consider this our way of honoring Alfred and Claudine's wishes to keep Kim's memory alive and maybe getting her cold case finally solved.
*Gina clenches her fists*
Gina: If Percival McLeach truly is responsible for Kim's death, then there's definitely a special place waiting for him.
Jessa: Agreed, Gina. As far as it's concerned, Percival took two lives. Kim's life and the life of their unborn child.
*Gina nods her head somberly*
*Beat*
Gina: After his two failed marriages, and the possible killing of Kim, Percival decided one day that he was bored of Indiana. He didn't wanna live there anymore; it was time for a change of scenery.
Jessa: In 1968, Percival moved out of his remote house outside of Kokomo and started up his previous drifter lifestyle of just floating around different places.
Gina: He went about travelling between different states. For example, he went to Ohio, Michigan, Kentucky, Texas, Florida, Georgia, Missouri, the Carolinas, the Dakotas. Any place that looked interesting to him.
Jessa: During this second drifter period, Percival started engaging in various petty crimes. For example, he started robbing banks and gas stations. At one point, he was wanted for an armed robbery of a gas station in Dallas, Texas.
Gina: The dude was arrested and thrown in jail several times for these crimes. But for some reason, they kept letting him out.
Jessa: And yet law enforcement was always shocked whenever he reoffended.
*Jessa shakes her head and rolls her eyes*
Gina: The justice system really needs to get their act together and realize that there are some criminals who are just unwilling to change and are a danger to society.
Jessa: True true. Percival McLeach was definitely one of those people.
*Gina nods*
Gina: Probably one of the most infuriating crimes he committed during this time was when he was in South Carolina in 1978. He kidnapped a 7-year-old girl from outside of a department store. He did this by lying to her about his dog going missing and asked her if she would like to help him find it.
Jessa: Oh my gosh! *Jessa sighs and facepalms* That's one of the most common lies that kidnappers use on kids. "Oh, I lost my poor ol' doggy! Would you help me find him?" Ugh! I mean, why the heck would a grown man be going up to a small child and asking them for help on this?
Gina: Exactly, sis! A grown man wouldn't ask a random child to help him find his dog, he would simply put up missing posters and go looking himself.
Jessa: That poor little girl didn't know any better though. She took him as he was and believed him. *Both sisters shake their heads ruefully*
Gina: Percival took this little girl and brought her to a wooded area. There, he attempted to strangle her. But thankfully, she fought back against him.
Jessa: She bit, she scratched, she screamed. She did anything she could to get Percival off of her.
Gina: She wasn't able to get him off of her, but she was thankfully saved when this man who was out for a jog in this area saw the altercation that was going on. This man immediately rushed over and punched Percival in the face, knocking him off the little girl.
Jessa: Awesome! *Claps* Props to that man for not just succumbing to Bystander Syndrome.
Gina: Yeah. First Alfred Fairchild, and now this jogger man. It seems like there's a lot of men standing up to Percival in this story.
Jessa: Yeah, it's incredible, and I love it.
Gina grins*
Gina: After that little girl was rescued from Percival, the police once again arrested him. He was sentenced to 30 years in prison, which is the maximum sentence for kidnapping charges in South Carolina.
Jessa: *Grits her teeth* Infuriatingly, he only served 5 years of his sentence. Somehow, the criminal justice system thought it was a good idea to let this man out.
Gina: That's because around 1983, the prison he was in was starting to experience overcrowding issues. So, they decided to release some of the inmates.
Jessa: Well, if that's the case, they should've just let out the inmates who were guilty of things like stealing or fraud or marijuana charges, stuff where there's no permanent damage to other people. Don't let out violent criminals who do things like kidnap a child and nearly strangle them to death!
Gina: I agree, Jess. It's pretty messed up how people who were arrested on weed charges are in jail longer than people who have murdered.
Jessa: Like I said, the criminal justice system needs to get its act together with how they handle dangerous criminals.
*Gina nods*
Gina: If it makes you feel better, Percival didn't exactly have a fun time during his 5 years in prison. Since his crime involved a little girl, he was bullied by the other inmates.
Jessa: *She laughs* I can see that. As we know, people who harm kids tend to be hated by their fellow inmates because even they think harming children is too far.
Gina: That's true. Percival was regularly confronted and beaten up by other inmates over his kidnap and strangulation of that little girl.
Jessa: Kind of ironic how the guy who was a bully in school and to his wives is now getting bullied himself.
Gina: Yep, it is. And as you can imagine, he was unhappy about that.
Jessa: Hmmm, it's almost like he can't take what he dishes out.
Gina: *Laughs* True that!
*Beat*
Jessa: After his little release from prison, Percival went about his way. However, things were really not looking good for him.
Gina: Yep. Remember how earlier in the story, Percival would take on odd jobs to earn money? Well, because of his now criminal history of robbery and kidnapping a child, no one wanted to hire him.
Jessa: His little fake charm had no effect here. These odd job people knew what he was really like, and so they didn't want that kind of negative energy around them.
Gina: Because he couldn't work due to his criminal record, it wasn't long before Percival was dead broke. Not a penny to his name.
Jessa: Again, I usually feel sorry for people who are in that kind of situation. But again, this is Percival McLeach we're talking about. He dug himself a hole, and now he must lay in it.
Gina: Yep. Usually, when people get to this state in their life, they reflect on themselves and what all they did to get to that point. Not so with Percival.
Jessa: Being a guy incapable of remorse, of course he had no reflection time. All he could think about what, "how can I get money again?"
Gina: This was when, in 1985, Percival discovered the world of poaching.
Jessa: We're finally getting into the type of crime that Percival McLeach is most infamous for.
Gina: Remember how Percival used to harm and kill animals for his own amusement as a child? Well, poaching allowed Percival to rediscover this "passion" but also get paid for it.
Jessa: By this point, the Endangered Species Act of 1973 had long since been made law of the land. However, this did little to curb poachers who didn't care about the law.
Gina: Percival saw that the poaching industry was quite lucrative. So, this is when he decided to throw himself into it.
Jessa: In early 1986, Percival learned about the various game that could be found up in southern Montana. There was the pronghorn antelope, whooping crane, the black-footed ferret, prairie dogs, jackrabbits. Lots and lots of animals.
Gina: These animals are found primarily in the Crow reservation. For a little history lesson, the Crow are an indigenous people group native to the state of Montana. They have their own reservation in the south-central part of the state and are recognized as a federally protected indigenous tribe.
Jessa: Places where indigenous people live tend to have more protected classes of animal species due to their beliefs.
Gina: But like that really matters to money-hungry poachers like Percival McLeach.
Jessa: Hearing about the abundance of wildlife in the Crow reservation, Percival found himself a double barrel scope shotgun from a pawn shop.
Gina: With this scope shotgun, Percival McLeach would begin his career as a commercial poacher.
Jessa: While in the Crow reservation, Percival hunted several of the pronghorn antelopes that roamed the area. Apparently, they were worth thousands of dollars in Montana's poaching ring at the time.
Gina: Sadly, Percival was able to make that money from his kills and live the high life again.
Jessa: But thankfully, his activities didn't fly under the radar with the Crow people. They noticed that there was a notable decline in the pronghorn population.
Gina: In fact, one Crow member was out roaming the grasslands of the reservation when they spotted Percival wielding his shotgun and pointing it at a pronghorn that was galloping about.
Jessa: This Crow member immediately intervened and chased after Percival with the intent to turn him into the authorities.
Gina: However, this Crow member wasn't fast enough to catch Percival and he managed to flee. But thankfully, the Crow member got a good look at Percival's face before he could flee.
Jessa: With this picture of Percival's face committed to memory, the Crow member was able to report this to the authorities and they were able to create a sketch of Percival's face. This report ended up flagging something in the system as well.
Gina: This flagging alerted Montana authorities to who Percival McLeach was. That he was a guy with a criminal record of robbery, kidnapping, attempted murder, and now was involved in the poaching of endangered species.
Jessa: So, a warrant went out for Percival's arrest.
Gina: When Percival learned that there was a warrant for his arrest, he did what all cowardly criminals do when they don't want to face up to their crimes. He decided to flee the country.
Jessa: After his unpleasant time in the South Carolina prison, Percival didn't want to go back to jail. So, he thought the best way to avoid prison time was to get out of the country altogether and go hide out in some place where he not only good get a fresh start, but where there would be even more lucrative opportunities for his poaching game.
Gina: That's when he fled to the land down under, Australia.
Jessa: Since Australia is well-known for its exotic wildlife, a poacher like Percival McLeach would basically be like a kid in a candy store in this place.
Gina: Yep.
Jessa: At this point, we're going to take a little break. But when we come back, we'll dive right into Percival McLeach's adventures in the land down under.
Gina: Plus, we'll finally be able to dive into the background of Percival's main victim of this story, Cody.
Jessa: We'll be right back.
To Be Concluded...