July 16, 2025
165: Ritual - The Pensacola Massacre Part 02
Listener, the story I am about to tell you is about greed, power and control exerted in the coldest way imaginable. On a normal day in July 2015 in Escambia County, Florida, three members of the same family got up in the morning and set about their daily routine. They didn’t know the brutality that was going to be rained on them, snatching away their lives before the day was done.
Join me on Black Label at https://www.patreon.com/obscuracrimepodcast
Our Sponsors:
* Check out Avocado Green Mattress: https://avocadogreenmattress.com
* Check out Chime: https://chime.com/OBSCURA
* Check out Mood and use my code OBSCURA for a great deal: https://mood.com
* Check out Progressive: https://www.progressive.com
* Check out TruDiagnostic and use my code OBSCURA for a great deal: https://www.trudiagnostic.com
Support this podcast at — https://redcircle.com/obscura-a-true-crime-podcast/exclusive-content
Advertising Inquiries: https://redcircle.com/brands
Privacy & Opt-Out: https://redcircle.com/privacy
WEBVTT
00:06.537 --> 00:07.298
[SPEAKER_00]: Welcome, listener.
00:08.179 --> 00:09.120
[SPEAKER_00]: I'm glad you're here.
00:10.141 --> 00:10.662
[SPEAKER_00]: Take a seat.
00:11.463 --> 00:12.244
[SPEAKER_00]: Next to the fire.
00:15.848 --> 00:19.733
[SPEAKER_09]: Welcome to Obscura where we shine a light on the dark.
00:45.235 --> 00:53.799
[SPEAKER_04]: A construction dumpster and storage units lined the drive in front yard of the Deerfield Drive home, where Bonnie Smith and two of her sons were murdered this past summer.
00:54.400 --> 00:59.502
[SPEAKER_04]: The sheriff called it a ritualistic killing, even saying there were elements of witchcraft involved.
01:00.103 --> 01:08.567
[SPEAKER_04]: Two months later, very little information has been released to the public about the status of the investigation, only that investigators are waiting for forensic test results.
01:09.007 --> 01:11.869
[SPEAKER_10]: Everybody is still uptight because we don't always going on.
01:12.369 --> 01:15.130
[SPEAKER_04]: Willard Meeks has lived in this neighborhood for twenty years.
01:15.150 --> 01:17.031
[SPEAKER_10]: I have no idea what happened back then.
01:17.771 --> 01:20.513
[SPEAKER_10]: Since we said this, so we could clear up the docking house.
01:20.613 --> 01:22.514
[SPEAKER_10]: And as I can do, we still could.
01:23.114 --> 01:26.136
[SPEAKER_10]: In my mind, I said, look, like we could clear this up, so we could be comfortable.
01:26.416 --> 01:35.220
[SPEAKER_04]: We talked to several folks in the neighborhood who didn't want to appear on camera, who say things are slowly starting to return to normal here in the neighborhood, but they're still on an easiness.
01:35.440 --> 01:38.442
[SPEAKER_04]: A fear factor because our arrest has not been made.
01:38.802 --> 01:41.543
[SPEAKER_10]: We're not getting me comfortable and I'm going to this is so.
01:41.863 --> 01:44.624
[SPEAKER_04]: For sale signs have started popping up in the neighborhood.
01:44.724 --> 01:46.285
[SPEAKER_04]: Some say it's because of their motors.
01:46.705 --> 01:49.406
[SPEAKER_04]: Others say they hope investigators will make an arrest soon.
01:49.846 --> 01:54.748
[SPEAKER_04]: So they're quiet little neighborhood will feel more like they're home instead of a crime scene.
01:55.428 --> 01:58.250
[SPEAKER_01]: Less than twelve hours after applying for a search warrant.
01:58.690 --> 02:03.033
[SPEAKER_01]: Detectives arrived at Donald's door, once again waking him from sleep.
02:03.794 --> 02:07.597
[SPEAKER_01]: This time, they came in numbers, and they wanted inside his house.
02:08.457 --> 02:11.779
[SPEAKER_01]: Donald was cooperative, and let the deputies do their search.
02:12.600 --> 02:19.045
[SPEAKER_01]: As deputies moved around his home, they found books and reference materials for practices of Wica and on witchcraft.
02:19.805 --> 02:27.831
[SPEAKER_01]: In one area, there was a dedicated prayer room, with more books and objects related to wicked practices, alongside a Ouija board.
02:28.652 --> 02:32.975
[SPEAKER_01]: Ears perked up, and questions began to swirl, and the minds of detectives.
02:33.836 --> 02:40.521
[SPEAKER_01]: Back at the station, they looked up Wica on the internet to try and get more information on what it was home about.
02:41.002 --> 02:48.707
[SPEAKER_01]: They landed on a website from no nonsense ministries that had material and content across a range of religions.
02:49.508 --> 02:57.216
[SPEAKER_01]: One of those discussed was Wica in witchcraft, as detective scrolled down the page, sentences jumped out at them.
02:58.197 --> 03:01.480
[SPEAKER_01]: Sacrifices, rituals, and worship of the moon faces.
03:02.281 --> 03:06.124
[SPEAKER_01]: The significance of Donald's religion was entering into sharper focus.
03:07.120 --> 03:13.947
[SPEAKER_01]: Looking out the window and up at the night sky from the station, Detective saw a full moon staring back at them.
03:14.487 --> 03:19.152
[SPEAKER_01]: It was the second full moon to make an appearance in the month of July, two thousand fifteen.
03:19.993 --> 03:23.876
[SPEAKER_01]: A second full moon within one month was a special and rare occurrence.
03:24.637 --> 03:26.459
[SPEAKER_01]: Given the label, the blue moon.
03:27.300 --> 03:29.982
[SPEAKER_01]: All eyes were now firmly placed on Donald Hardton.
03:31.063 --> 03:46.211
[SPEAKER_01]: As the crime scene tech started to remove their equipment from the Smith House and seal it up to prevent unauthorized entry, at Donald's home three miles away, investigator in finger took him back to the Sheriff's office for a second interview.
03:46.751 --> 03:48.972
[SPEAKER_01]: It was now the early hours of August first.
03:51.217 --> 03:54.359
[SPEAKER_12]: I just share about the region more than some something else.
03:54.859 --> 03:55.860
[SPEAKER_12]: I do have a reason to go.
03:55.900 --> 03:57.861
[SPEAKER_12]: I don't have a better reason.
03:57.882 --> 04:00.383
[SPEAKER_12]: I do have a reason why I can rent it.
04:00.423 --> 04:01.344
[SPEAKER_12]: Yeah, I'll go with it.
04:01.364 --> 04:01.744
[SPEAKER_12]: I'll go with it.
04:01.764 --> 04:02.625
[SPEAKER_12]: I'll go with it.
04:02.645 --> 04:04.186
[SPEAKER_12]: I'll go with it for about three years.
04:04.206 --> 04:07.768
[SPEAKER_12]: I don't need to go with it.
04:07.788 --> 04:08.669
[SPEAKER_12]: Why don't I go with it?
04:08.689 --> 04:12.571
[SPEAKER_12]: There's a taker that is based on nature.
04:13.392 --> 04:14.773
[SPEAKER_12]: Does that have to do with wine?
04:15.950 --> 04:16.550
[SPEAKER_12]: There's a lot to do with that.
04:16.570 --> 04:18.231
[SPEAKER_12]: Well, it's just sort of time when you have to have a ton of stuff like that.
04:18.251 --> 04:19.491
[SPEAKER_12]: What do you have to have a ton of stuff like that?
04:19.731 --> 04:20.851
[SPEAKER_12]: What do you have to have a ton of stuff like that?
04:20.891 --> 04:24.332
[SPEAKER_12]: What do you have to have a ton of stuff like that?
04:24.372 --> 04:25.372
[SPEAKER_12]: What do you have to have a ton of stuff like that?
04:25.392 --> 04:26.593
[SPEAKER_12]: What do you have to have a ton of stuff like that?
04:26.613 --> 04:28.593
[SPEAKER_12]: What do you have to have a ton of stuff like that?
04:28.613 --> 04:30.654
[SPEAKER_12]: What do you have to have a ton of stuff like that?
04:30.674 --> 04:31.694
[SPEAKER_12]: What do you have to have a ton of stuff like that?
04:31.714 --> 04:33.174
[SPEAKER_12]: What do you have to have a ton of stuff like that?
04:33.194 --> 04:34.314
[SPEAKER_12]: What do you have to have a ton of stuff like that?
04:35.075 --> 04:36.095
[SPEAKER_12]: What do you have to have a ton of stuff like that?
04:36.115 --> 04:38.916
[SPEAKER_12]: What do you have to have a ton of stuff like that?
04:38.936 --> 04:41.636
[UNKNOWN]: What do you have to have a ton of stuff like that?
04:41.676 --> 04:43.177
[UNKNOWN]: What do you have to have a ton of stuff like that?
04:43.197 --> 04:44.237
[UNKNOWN]: What do you have to have a ton of stuff like that?
04:46.304 --> 04:48.966
[UNKNOWN]: And you just thank the God of the God of the God of the Lord.
04:48.986 --> 04:50.267
[UNKNOWN]: You know, we're providing for you.
04:50.648 --> 04:51.368
[UNKNOWN]: You can be safe.
04:51.388 --> 04:52.789
[SPEAKER_12]: I think you have that.
04:53.830 --> 04:54.991
[SPEAKER_12]: You know, a lot of those comments.
04:55.651 --> 04:59.134
[SPEAKER_12]: You know, as I said, you just like to assume the thing is a group.
04:59.354 --> 05:00.775
[SPEAKER_12]: No, that was Omniscient.
05:00.795 --> 05:01.856
[SPEAKER_12]: Everything is Omniscient.
05:01.936 --> 05:02.216
[SPEAKER_12]: Group.
05:03.617 --> 05:07.280
[SPEAKER_12]: Is your mom, the brother, did you also do this now?
05:08.181 --> 05:13.525
[SPEAKER_12]: Do you have anything more in sacrifice or in trouble?
05:14.420 --> 05:18.722
[SPEAKER_12]: Calvary does not recognize the way.
05:18.742 --> 05:21.162
[SPEAKER_12]: We can read it on down to basically.
05:23.403 --> 05:25.344
[SPEAKER_12]: I wanted to add a lot of things.
05:28.265 --> 05:29.545
[SPEAKER_12]: Service is a lot of things.
05:29.565 --> 05:30.506
[SPEAKER_12]: I don't know.
05:31.186 --> 05:42.270
[SPEAKER_12]: It's similar to Saturday or at S.B.A.A.A.A.A.A.A.A.A.A.A.A.A.A.A.A.A.A.A.A.A.A.A.A.A.A.A.A.A.A.A.A.A.A.A.A.A.A.A.A.A.A.A.A-A-A-A-A-A-A-A-A-A-A-A-A-A-A-A-A-A-A-A-A-A-A-A-A-A-A-A-A-A-A-A-A-A-A-A-A-A-A-A-A-A-A-A-
05:44.377 --> 05:51.761
[SPEAKER_12]: On this screen, you can do the fourth one, the north, the east, the south, and the west.
05:53.362 --> 05:57.064
[UNKNOWN]: And I have to go to the fourth order point.
05:58.245 --> 06:01.807
[UNKNOWN]: Did you probably help us to come and do assist you?
06:02.628 --> 06:04.048
[UNKNOWN]: And did you predict about that?
06:04.088 --> 06:04.769
[SPEAKER_12]: That's about it.
06:06.470 --> 06:09.812
[SPEAKER_12]: On our own third, there are more
06:11.695 --> 06:12.815
[SPEAKER_12]: And it's re-model for our complex project.
06:12.835 --> 06:40.085
[SPEAKER_12]: And some of these movement things, especially this time of the year, and the moves of our complex project on this, on this, on this, on this, on this, on this, on this, on this, on this, on this, on this, on this, on this, on this, on this, on this, on this, on this, on this, on this, on this, on this, on this, on this, on this, on this, on this, on this, on this, on this, on this, on this, on this, on this, on this, on this, on this, on this, on this, on this, on this, on this, on this, on this, on this, on this, on this, on this, on this, on this, on this, on this, on this, on this, on this, on this, on this, on this, on this, on this, on this, on this, on this, on this
06:40.697 --> 06:43.659
[SPEAKER_12]: Well, I described it the way that it would have been.
06:43.679 --> 06:45.761
[SPEAKER_12]: It would have been.
06:45.781 --> 06:48.083
[SPEAKER_12]: Yeah, it's very, very rare.
06:48.844 --> 06:52.687
[SPEAKER_12]: Well, it's not interesting what I did.
06:52.707 --> 06:55.949
[SPEAKER_12]: I tried to blow it out of the sacrifice.
06:57.150 --> 06:58.051
[SPEAKER_12]: And then it went ahead.
07:00.833 --> 07:02.274
[SPEAKER_12]: I don't know anything about it.
07:02.294 --> 07:05.857
[SPEAKER_12]: I don't know anything about it.
07:06.157 --> 07:08.660
[SPEAKER_12]: I don't know anything about it.
07:10.529 --> 07:21.558
[SPEAKER_01]: I don't deny having any involvement in the murder of his family.
07:21.578 --> 07:24.941
[SPEAKER_01]: Then it's calm, controlled, and unemotional tone.
07:25.561 --> 07:27.343
[SPEAKER_01]: He repeated that he loved his family.
07:27.783 --> 07:28.564
[SPEAKER_01]: Mubbed his mom.
07:29.104 --> 07:30.666
[SPEAKER_01]: He would never do anything to hurt them.
07:31.781 --> 07:34.823
[SPEAKER_01]: Wicca is often called modern day witchcraft.
07:35.483 --> 07:39.826
[SPEAKER_01]: The books on this topic inside Donald's house highlighted his interest.
07:40.346 --> 07:42.407
[SPEAKER_01]: Donald considered himself to be awakened.
07:42.887 --> 07:55.855
[SPEAKER_01]: The prayer room in his dedicated space, he had to perform rituals in practice Wicca, a pagan religion that celebrates nature with the four elements of fire, water, earth and air holding immense power.
07:56.695 --> 08:04.601
[SPEAKER_01]: In the cycle of the rituals, we can celebrate each year, follows the transitions from season to season, and the different phases of the moon.
08:05.122 --> 08:06.943
[SPEAKER_01]: Donald was a solo practitioner.
08:07.323 --> 08:12.567
[SPEAKER_01]: He didn't practice wicker with others in Covins, and it wasn't a religion shared by his family.
08:13.068 --> 08:20.434
[SPEAKER_01]: In any homicide investigation, the relationships and connections around the victims are the first things to be examined in detail.
08:20.874 --> 08:25.698
[SPEAKER_01]: Donald's older brother Richard was an IT specialist for the Department of Homeland Security.
08:26.218 --> 08:28.460
[SPEAKER_01]: This is the federal agency within the U.S.
08:28.480 --> 08:32.903
[SPEAKER_01]: that exists to safeguard and protect the American people and America itself.
08:33.624 --> 08:41.770
[SPEAKER_01]: After the murders, the Naval Criminal Investigative Services, or NCIS, came out to investigate the crime for themselves.
08:42.570 --> 08:48.215
[SPEAKER_01]: They needed to be sure the horrific murders weren't targeted attack on Richard, connected to his job.
08:49.190 --> 08:59.153
[SPEAKER_01]: Their team concluded there was no link to Richard, and no evidence that suggested his murder, and that of his mother and brother had anything to do with his work for the American government.
08:59.673 --> 09:02.274
[SPEAKER_01]: These murders were all together, more personal.
09:02.854 --> 09:10.137
[SPEAKER_01]: In press interviews across the first week of August, statements were made from the sheriff's office that sent a child on the spine of local residents.
09:10.697 --> 09:16.679
[SPEAKER_01]: They said these murders were wicked ritual killings that were related to the blue moon that rose at the end of July.
09:17.299 --> 09:23.045
[SPEAKER_01]: Witchcraft was suddenly thrown forward as the reason Von Seel, Richard and John, lost their lives.
09:23.785 --> 09:28.670
[SPEAKER_01]: There was a person of interest the Sheriff's Office confirmed, and he was a wicked practitioner.
09:29.251 --> 09:35.617
[SPEAKER_01]: Detectives now hide their attention, firmly placed back onto Donald, and they wanted to know more about the life he led.
09:36.137 --> 09:37.239
[SPEAKER_01]: He was a bit of an oddball.
09:37.859 --> 09:44.082
[SPEAKER_01]: A loner who held down a full-time job, where he was reliable, but a scene to have little in his life.
09:44.602 --> 09:49.805
[SPEAKER_01]: Outside of his three to eleven pm shift pattern, one of his work colleagues was Mark Bailey.
09:50.505 --> 10:00.489
[SPEAKER_01]: They had worked for G-IVS security for seven to eight years, and were, at times, on the same shifts and working together, driving the security vans.
10:01.070 --> 10:03.131
[SPEAKER_01]: They didn't really socialize outside work.
10:03.831 --> 10:05.792
[SPEAKER_01]: but shattered when they were working together.
10:06.473 --> 10:09.455
[SPEAKER_01]: Mark was a member of a local gun club, handed in instructor.
10:10.035 --> 10:15.038
[SPEAKER_01]: They often talked about guns as Donald was interested, but never indicated he owned a gun.
10:15.618 --> 10:22.403
[SPEAKER_01]: Mark invited Donald to the shooting range at his club on two occasions, but Donald politely declined each time.
10:23.283 --> 10:31.526
[SPEAKER_01]: Mark told investigators he remembered Donald talking finally of his mom, suggesting he did a lot for her, and he didn't think his brothers pulled their way.
10:31.546 --> 10:42.570
[SPEAKER_01]: He had given Mark the impression his mom was quite wealthy, and had said that when she died, he would inherit the money, because he was an oldest surviving child.
10:43.570 --> 10:49.295
[SPEAKER_01]: It was at that time that Von Seals extended family members found her will amongst her belongings.
10:49.895 --> 10:54.859
[SPEAKER_01]: It had been written inside in two thousand nine and its contents made for interesting reading.
10:55.380 --> 11:01.325
[SPEAKER_01]: Detectives realize that the motive for these tragic murders may have been much more traditional than witchcraft.
11:01.965 --> 11:03.586
[SPEAKER_01]: The age-old lyr of money.
11:04.226 --> 11:06.527
[SPEAKER_01]: Money has the power to change lives.
11:06.967 --> 11:17.571
[SPEAKER_01]: They can transform people from desperate, sorrowful beings with no hope for the future and to happy, prosperous, and joyous individuals who see the line in every day.
11:17.591 --> 11:19.852
[SPEAKER_01]: A money has an evil twin.
11:20.712 --> 11:23.553
[SPEAKER_01]: Its powerful abilities are so desired by some.
11:24.193 --> 11:27.214
[SPEAKER_01]: They're willing to turn the evil to obtain that wealth.
11:27.875 --> 11:30.055
[SPEAKER_01]: And achieve the transformation it would bring.
11:30.075 --> 11:34.117
[SPEAKER_01]: Peds have been turned towards truly appalling and horrifying acts.
11:35.273 --> 11:44.282
[SPEAKER_01]: Max of violence and depravity against others, all in the name of money, our society built on an architecture that needs money to thrive and prosper.
11:45.042 --> 11:48.846
[SPEAKER_01]: Never more true is the same, that money makes the world go round.
11:49.647 --> 11:57.574
[SPEAKER_01]: For some, brutal murder is just a stepping stone, an acceptable act to gain the freedom that the resulting money will give them.
11:58.415 --> 12:02.798
[SPEAKER_01]: This philosophy takes the concept of selfishness to another level.
12:03.598 --> 12:08.301
[SPEAKER_01]: In a crime scene, like at the Smith House, the forensic evidence is complicated.
12:08.861 --> 12:14.405
[SPEAKER_01]: There are three bodies in a lifetime of DNA, hair follicles and fingerprints all over the house.
12:15.105 --> 12:26.248
[SPEAKER_01]: Then, when another family member who has been in and out of that house for years is the prime suspect, processing the crime scene and deciphering through those forensics as painstaking work.
12:26.948 --> 12:30.209
[SPEAKER_01]: Donald was law enforcement's number one suspect in this case.
12:30.949 --> 12:33.949
[SPEAKER_01]: They didn't feel he was a danger to anyone else or himself.
12:34.610 --> 12:36.070
[SPEAKER_01]: He wasn't about to flee anywhere.
12:36.650 --> 12:40.051
[SPEAKER_01]: The police knew they had the time to wait for the forensics to be processed.
12:40.611 --> 12:44.372
[SPEAKER_01]: Wait for those four results to come back before deciding on their next move.
12:45.252 --> 12:48.495
[SPEAKER_01]: They wanted to be sure of their footing before they took action.
12:49.135 --> 12:58.863
[SPEAKER_01]: The family and friends of Onceo, Richard and John, were left trying to grieve for their loved ones in the knowledge that Donald was the person law enforcement believed was responsible.
12:59.484 --> 13:05.949
[SPEAKER_01]: Richard's co-workers held a memorial for the whole Smith family at the Navy Aviation Chapel in Pensacola.
13:06.830 --> 13:09.411
[SPEAKER_01]: The chapel was full of those who cared for the family.
13:09.431 --> 13:15.973
[SPEAKER_01]: The one wanted to pay their respects, and remember each one of them, while they tried to come to terms with the horror.
13:16.513 --> 13:17.253
[SPEAKER_01]: What had happened?
13:17.893 --> 13:29.176
[SPEAKER_01]: On August thirteen, two thousand fifteen, the funeral of Richard and John took place at Chapel of Cravers' funeral home in Brutin, Alabama, where Vaughan seal Smith was born.
13:29.777 --> 13:33.978
[SPEAKER_01]: The following day, the service for Vaughan seal was held in the same place.
13:34.678 --> 13:41.099
[SPEAKER_01]: The University of Alabama honored both Richard and John by setting up a scholarship in their names.
13:41.739 --> 13:49.241
[SPEAKER_01]: Back in Pensacola, on August twenty first, Donald submitted his resignation from a security guard job at the hospital.
13:50.121 --> 13:55.622
[SPEAKER_01]: He cited the murder of his family and eating time to sort out their affairs as his reasoning.
13:56.322 --> 14:02.944
[SPEAKER_01]: Two months later, on October twenty seventh, three months after Von Seel, Richard and John were killed.
14:03.904 --> 14:06.144
[SPEAKER_01]: Donald Hardton was arrested for their murder.
14:06.164 --> 14:19.027
[SPEAKER_04]: I was after Wayne Hardton's arrest, evidence technician still combed through his house, searching for more clues than answers, and the brutal murders of his mother, Bonnie Smith, and his half-brothers, John and R.T.
14:19.427 --> 14:29.849
[SPEAKER_11]: This is the son of the woman and a half-brother of the two million, and we are convinced and satisfied that the correct charge he was premeditated in our room.
14:30.329 --> 14:39.892
[SPEAKER_04]: Three months ago, the bodies were discovered in separate rooms and their dear field drive home, investigators initially believed that they were victims of a ritualistic killing linked to witchcraft.
14:40.172 --> 14:51.995
[SPEAKER_07]: The fact that Mr. Harton, you know, was engaged in that and the reason why I say that is there was some statements that he had made and there was some evidence found at his home that would clearly indicated that time.
14:52.295 --> 15:01.381
[SPEAKER_04]: Newspot has learned Hartung had a book on which craft in his house, and in one of those initial interviews with authorities, he admitted to practicing the Wicked Religion.
15:02.061 --> 15:08.625
[SPEAKER_04]: Other possible motives include a connection with RT's employer, the Department of Homeland Security, or simply for money.
15:09.005 --> 15:13.787
[SPEAKER_11]: Today was the day that we finally completed everything and obtained a warrant for his arrest.
15:14.107 --> 15:20.469
[SPEAKER_04]: Neighbors that we talked to didn't want to go on camera but say that they're glad that Hartung is no longer one of their neighbors.
15:20.769 --> 15:27.331
[SPEAKER_04]: They also say that he knew something was up earlier today because there were a lot of cars in this neighborhood that didn't belong.
15:27.792 --> 15:31.473
[SPEAKER_04]: Hartung was arrested at his home without incident around eleven o'clock.
15:32.910 --> 15:37.473
[SPEAKER_04]: Late this afternoon, the last of the investigators packed up and drove away from Hartung's house.
15:37.553 --> 15:40.475
[SPEAKER_04]: Now the next phase of the case will begin.
15:40.495 --> 15:49.621
[SPEAKER_11]: I'm glad that we were able to work through this extremely complicated detail crime scene and crime and reached this point.
15:50.702 --> 15:57.206
[SPEAKER_01]: Less than two weeks after his arrest, a grand jury and died of him for three counts of first-degree murder.
15:58.132 --> 16:04.857
[SPEAKER_04]: Cliff and Wanda Hammock haven't spoken to anyone about the crime that took the lives of their Aunt Bonnie and cousin's John and R.T.
16:04.917 --> 16:05.298
[SPEAKER_04]: Smith.
16:05.678 --> 16:08.520
[SPEAKER_04]: When you talk about her, do you know that you smile?
16:08.540 --> 16:11.002
[SPEAKER_04]: Because she makes great help.
16:11.723 --> 16:14.785
[SPEAKER_04]: Now with the arrest of Wayne Harton, they're ready to talk.
16:15.165 --> 16:20.289
[SPEAKER_03]: My Aunt Bonnie was the most loving person.
16:21.290 --> 16:23.732
[SPEAKER_03]: Those two boys, she raised them to wear that
16:25.451 --> 16:28.776
[SPEAKER_08]: If I could raise my kids half the way that she did hers.
16:29.036 --> 16:31.239
[SPEAKER_08]: She was definitely a bright spot for me.
16:31.740 --> 16:36.547
[SPEAKER_08]: And it's a void that no one
16:38.898 --> 16:40.900
[SPEAKER_08]: in the family will ever be able to feel.
16:41.160 --> 16:44.643
[SPEAKER_03]: Three months ago, their world changed while watching the evening news.
16:45.023 --> 16:47.625
[SPEAKER_03]: Wayne didn't even call none of the family.
16:48.145 --> 16:49.787
[SPEAKER_03]: We all follow it on the TV.
16:49.927 --> 16:54.230
[SPEAKER_04]: Words like ritualistic killings and witchcraft colored the investigation.
16:54.530 --> 16:59.775
[SPEAKER_08]: Too much of the narrative has been focused on
17:02.107 --> 17:05.115
[SPEAKER_08]: on wicking or witchcraft or whatever.
17:05.135 --> 17:09.428
[SPEAKER_08]: I think honestly looking at it.
17:11.245 --> 17:18.948
[SPEAKER_08]: that has no merit to me as far as as a motive.
17:19.408 --> 17:25.171
[SPEAKER_04]: They believe the motive is money, but don't know if Harton knew he'd been cut out of the will.
17:25.591 --> 17:33.354
[SPEAKER_04]: The arrest was welcome news, but not surprising even at the funeral they say Harton never showed any remorse or shed a tear.
17:33.714 --> 17:36.535
[SPEAKER_03]: It was devastating to us as a family.
17:38.264 --> 17:41.387
[SPEAKER_03]: And Hitches started like it was no big deal.
17:41.628 --> 17:46.513
[SPEAKER_04]: When it says it's been a car rack that had taken her family, it would be easier to deal with.
17:46.953 --> 17:48.635
[SPEAKER_02]: It's been hard on all of us.
17:49.676 --> 17:57.024
[SPEAKER_02]: And just thank God that whenever they went, they all went together, holding hands and to have them.
17:57.284 --> 17:59.746
[SPEAKER_04]: And that's the only thing that brings her comfort now.
18:00.642 --> 18:05.224
[SPEAKER_01]: Behind bars, in jail, all Donald could do now is wait.
18:05.824 --> 18:11.307
[SPEAKER_01]: Even he didn't know that wait would be almost five years before he would go to trial in front of a jury.
18:11.867 --> 18:13.788
[SPEAKER_01]: For the murder of his entire family.
18:14.549 --> 18:20.191
[SPEAKER_01]: In two thousand nineteen, his defense attorneys tried numerous tactics before the trial did go ahead.
18:20.672 --> 18:27.255
[SPEAKER_01]: They want to evidence thrown out appealing to the judge that Donald's wicked religion should not be allowed into the trial.
18:28.013 --> 18:34.221
[SPEAKER_01]: They also wanted any reference to Von Seals' will, where move from the trial, not be presented to the jury.
18:35.002 --> 18:37.004
[SPEAKER_01]: The judge refused both requests.
18:37.725 --> 18:41.770
[SPEAKER_01]: Donald Harton was assessed and found fully competent to stand trial.
18:42.611 --> 18:46.756
[SPEAKER_01]: The trial day was set for January, eighth, two thousand twenty.
18:47.597 --> 18:50.138
[SPEAKER_01]: Donald was going to get his day in court.
18:50.598 --> 18:53.818
[SPEAKER_01]: And finally, the Smith family could try to get justice.
18:54.538 --> 19:05.481
[SPEAKER_01]: On the first day of trial, right at the start of a brand new year in January, in January, in the year, Donald appeared in a well-fitted suit, an appropriately colored coordinated tie.
19:06.201 --> 19:09.562
[SPEAKER_01]: He looked like a different man to the man in the police interview tapes.
19:10.322 --> 19:12.782
[SPEAKER_01]: Cleaned shaving, neat, and presentable.
19:13.302 --> 19:15.643
[SPEAKER_01]: He looked like he could be going to a business meeting.
19:16.543 --> 19:21.008
[SPEAKER_01]: Instead, he was sixty-three years old and sitting behind a defense table.
19:21.769 --> 19:29.096
[SPEAKER_01]: He was about to have his whole life examine and raked over as he was accused of cold-blooded murder three times over.
19:30.178 --> 19:33.661
[SPEAKER_01]: Listener, Florida is a death penalty state.
19:34.617 --> 19:35.497
[SPEAKER_01]: It's my state.
19:36.257 --> 19:42.738
[SPEAKER_01]: I can't tell you how many cases I've covered the ends in the death penalty from my home state.
19:43.278 --> 19:49.760
[SPEAKER_05]: Florida now has the lowest death penalty threshold in the nation after Governor Desantis signed this bill into law this morning.
19:49.860 --> 19:55.701
[SPEAKER_05]: Juries will no longer need to have a unanimous vote of twelve to recommend a convicted criminal to the death penalty.
19:55.821 --> 20:03.782
[SPEAKER_05]: This new law lowers that requirement to just eight jurors, supporters point to the failed death penalty, jury vote for the Parkland shooter who instead got a life sentence.
20:04.774 --> 20:14.601
[SPEAKER_01]: The brutality of these murders, the clear signs of pre-meditation, and the fact that there were three victims, McDonald Harton, was going on trial for his life.
20:15.422 --> 20:16.322
[SPEAKER_01]: That's not a joke.
20:17.143 --> 20:18.904
[SPEAKER_01]: This was a case of two extremes.
20:19.745 --> 20:25.309
[SPEAKER_01]: A win for the prosecution would put Donald on a direct collision course with Florida's death row.
20:26.230 --> 20:33.015
[SPEAKER_01]: If they were to lose and not prove their case in the eyes of the jury, Donald would walk away from court as any free man.
20:34.106 --> 20:36.226
[SPEAKER_01]: The stakes could not be any higher.
20:37.247 --> 20:48.489
[SPEAKER_01]: Donald had lost a lot of weight between the time of the crime and his court trial, and almost six foot five, he was now thin and lean, accentuating his weight all the more.
20:49.389 --> 20:54.310
[SPEAKER_01]: During court proceedings, he looked down and wiped any dust or particles from his jacket.
20:55.470 --> 20:57.811
[SPEAKER_01]: Image was clearly important to him.
20:59.017 --> 21:05.759
[SPEAKER_01]: An expensive suit couldn't distract from the slow creeping smile that would appear at various points throughout the trial.
21:06.579 --> 21:19.384
[SPEAKER_01]: And with this testimony, with an opportunity missing in the left side of his mouth, his smile held an uncomfortable undertone, quiet and unassuming, yet unmistakably, there was a menacing edge.
21:20.264 --> 21:26.106
[SPEAKER_06]: On Tuesday, July, twenty-eighth of two thousand and fifteen, this defendant went to the Smith home and cooked a dinner.
21:27.907 --> 21:35.333
[SPEAKER_06]: And that Tuesday, July, twenty-eight of two thousand and fifteen is the last day the Smith family is known to be alive.
21:36.034 --> 21:39.076
[SPEAKER_06]: And this defendant was the last person known to be with them.
21:43.940 --> 21:45.381
[SPEAKER_01]: And that's it for this part.
21:45.942 --> 21:49.545
[SPEAKER_01]: We're going to get to the third and final part next episode.
21:50.350 --> 21:53.052
[SPEAKER_01]: If you're a Patreon, that should be very soon.
21:53.873 --> 21:55.674
[SPEAKER_01]: If not, you have another week to wait.
21:56.434 --> 21:58.756
[SPEAKER_01]: Please avoid any spoilers online.
21:59.357 --> 22:01.038
[SPEAKER_01]: Wait for the results with the episode.
22:02.139 --> 22:02.939
[SPEAKER_01]: Thank you, promise.
22:04.040 --> 22:06.602
[SPEAKER_01]: Anyway, I hope you've enjoyed today's episode.
22:07.202 --> 22:10.725
[SPEAKER_01]: I thank you for listening and keep the fire burning.
00:06.537 --> 00:07.298
[SPEAKER_00]: Welcome, listener.
00:08.179 --> 00:09.120
[SPEAKER_00]: I'm glad you're here.
00:10.141 --> 00:10.662
[SPEAKER_00]: Take a seat.
00:11.463 --> 00:12.244
[SPEAKER_00]: Next to the fire.
00:15.848 --> 00:19.733
[SPEAKER_09]: Welcome to Obscura where we shine a light on the dark.
00:45.235 --> 00:53.799
[SPEAKER_04]: A construction dumpster and storage units lined the drive in front yard of the Deerfield Drive home, where Bonnie Smith and two of her sons were murdered this past summer.
00:54.400 --> 00:59.502
[SPEAKER_04]: The sheriff called it a ritualistic killing, even saying there were elements of witchcraft involved.
01:00.103 --> 01:08.567
[SPEAKER_04]: Two months later, very little information has been released to the public about the status of the investigation, only that investigators are waiting for forensic test results.
01:09.007 --> 01:11.869
[SPEAKER_10]: Everybody is still uptight because we don't always going on.
01:12.369 --> 01:15.130
[SPEAKER_04]: Willard Meeks has lived in this neighborhood for twenty years.
01:15.150 --> 01:17.031
[SPEAKER_10]: I have no idea what happened back then.
01:17.771 --> 01:20.513
[SPEAKER_10]: Since we said this, so we could clear up the docking house.
01:20.613 --> 01:22.514
[SPEAKER_10]: And as I can do, we still could.
01:23.114 --> 01:26.136
[SPEAKER_10]: In my mind, I said, look, like we could clear this up, so we could be comfortable.
01:26.416 --> 01:35.220
[SPEAKER_04]: We talked to several folks in the neighborhood who didn't want to appear on camera, who say things are slowly starting to return to normal here in the neighborhood, but they're still on an easiness.
01:35.440 --> 01:38.442
[SPEAKER_04]: A fear factor because our arrest has not been made.
01:38.802 --> 01:41.543
[SPEAKER_10]: We're not getting me comfortable and I'm going to this is so.
01:41.863 --> 01:44.624
[SPEAKER_04]: For sale signs have started popping up in the neighborhood.
01:44.724 --> 01:46.285
[SPEAKER_04]: Some say it's because of their motors.
01:46.705 --> 01:49.406
[SPEAKER_04]: Others say they hope investigators will make an arrest soon.
01:49.846 --> 01:54.748
[SPEAKER_04]: So they're quiet little neighborhood will feel more like they're home instead of a crime scene.
01:55.428 --> 01:58.250
[SPEAKER_01]: Less than twelve hours after applying for a search warrant.
01:58.690 --> 02:03.033
[SPEAKER_01]: Detectives arrived at Donald's door, once again waking him from sleep.
02:03.794 --> 02:07.597
[SPEAKER_01]: This time, they came in numbers, and they wanted inside his house.
02:08.457 --> 02:11.779
[SPEAKER_01]: Donald was cooperative, and let the deputies do their search.
02:12.600 --> 02:19.045
[SPEAKER_01]: As deputies moved around his home, they found books and reference materials for practices of Wica and on witchcraft.
02:19.805 --> 02:27.831
[SPEAKER_01]: In one area, there was a dedicated prayer room, with more books and objects related to wicked practices, alongside a Ouija board.
02:28.652 --> 02:32.975
[SPEAKER_01]: Ears perked up, and questions began to swirl, and the minds of detectives.
02:33.836 --> 02:40.521
[SPEAKER_01]: Back at the station, they looked up Wica on the internet to try and get more information on what it was home about.
02:41.002 --> 02:48.707
[SPEAKER_01]: They landed on a website from no nonsense ministries that had material and content across a range of religions.
02:49.508 --> 02:57.216
[SPEAKER_01]: One of those discussed was Wica in witchcraft, as detective scrolled down the page, sentences jumped out at them.
02:58.197 --> 03:01.480
[SPEAKER_01]: Sacrifices, rituals, and worship of the moon faces.
03:02.281 --> 03:06.124
[SPEAKER_01]: The significance of Donald's religion was entering into sharper focus.
03:07.120 --> 03:13.947
[SPEAKER_01]: Looking out the window and up at the night sky from the station, Detective saw a full moon staring back at them.
03:14.487 --> 03:19.152
[SPEAKER_01]: It was the second full moon to make an appearance in the month of July, two thousand fifteen.
03:19.993 --> 03:23.876
[SPEAKER_01]: A second full moon within one month was a special and rare occurrence.
03:24.637 --> 03:26.459
[SPEAKER_01]: Given the label, the blue moon.
03:27.300 --> 03:29.982
[SPEAKER_01]: All eyes were now firmly placed on Donald Hardton.
03:31.063 --> 03:46.211
[SPEAKER_01]: As the crime scene tech started to remove their equipment from the Smith House and seal it up to prevent unauthorized entry, at Donald's home three miles away, investigator in finger took him back to the Sheriff's office for a second interview.
03:46.751 --> 03:48.972
[SPEAKER_01]: It was now the early hours of August first.
03:51.217 --> 03:54.359
[SPEAKER_12]: I just share about the region more than some something else.
03:54.859 --> 03:55.860
[SPEAKER_12]: I do have a reason to go.
03:55.900 --> 03:57.861
[SPEAKER_12]: I don't have a better reason.
03:57.882 --> 04:00.383
[SPEAKER_12]: I do have a reason why I can rent it.
04:00.423 --> 04:01.344
[SPEAKER_12]: Yeah, I'll go with it.
04:01.364 --> 04:01.744
[SPEAKER_12]: I'll go with it.
04:01.764 --> 04:02.625
[SPEAKER_12]: I'll go with it.
04:02.645 --> 04:04.186
[SPEAKER_12]: I'll go with it for about three years.
04:04.206 --> 04:07.768
[SPEAKER_12]: I don't need to go with it.
04:07.788 --> 04:08.669
[SPEAKER_12]: Why don't I go with it?
04:08.689 --> 04:12.571
[SPEAKER_12]: There's a taker that is based on nature.
04:13.392 --> 04:14.773
[SPEAKER_12]: Does that have to do with wine?
04:15.950 --> 04:16.550
[SPEAKER_12]: There's a lot to do with that.
04:16.570 --> 04:18.231
[SPEAKER_12]: Well, it's just sort of time when you have to have a ton of stuff like that.
04:18.251 --> 04:19.491
[SPEAKER_12]: What do you have to have a ton of stuff like that?
04:19.731 --> 04:20.851
[SPEAKER_12]: What do you have to have a ton of stuff like that?
04:20.891 --> 04:24.332
[SPEAKER_12]: What do you have to have a ton of stuff like that?
04:24.372 --> 04:25.372
[SPEAKER_12]: What do you have to have a ton of stuff like that?
04:25.392 --> 04:26.593
[SPEAKER_12]: What do you have to have a ton of stuff like that?
04:26.613 --> 04:28.593
[SPEAKER_12]: What do you have to have a ton of stuff like that?
04:28.613 --> 04:30.654
[SPEAKER_12]: What do you have to have a ton of stuff like that?
04:30.674 --> 04:31.694
[SPEAKER_12]: What do you have to have a ton of stuff like that?
04:31.714 --> 04:33.174
[SPEAKER_12]: What do you have to have a ton of stuff like that?
04:33.194 --> 04:34.314
[SPEAKER_12]: What do you have to have a ton of stuff like that?
04:35.075 --> 04:36.095
[SPEAKER_12]: What do you have to have a ton of stuff like that?
04:36.115 --> 04:38.916
[SPEAKER_12]: What do you have to have a ton of stuff like that?
04:38.936 --> 04:41.636
[UNKNOWN]: What do you have to have a ton of stuff like that?
04:41.676 --> 04:43.177
[UNKNOWN]: What do you have to have a ton of stuff like that?
04:43.197 --> 04:44.237
[UNKNOWN]: What do you have to have a ton of stuff like that?
04:46.304 --> 04:48.966
[UNKNOWN]: And you just thank the God of the God of the God of the Lord.
04:48.986 --> 04:50.267
[UNKNOWN]: You know, we're providing for you.
04:50.648 --> 04:51.368
[UNKNOWN]: You can be safe.
04:51.388 --> 04:52.789
[SPEAKER_12]: I think you have that.
04:53.830 --> 04:54.991
[SPEAKER_12]: You know, a lot of those comments.
04:55.651 --> 04:59.134
[SPEAKER_12]: You know, as I said, you just like to assume the thing is a group.
04:59.354 --> 05:00.775
[SPEAKER_12]: No, that was Omniscient.
05:00.795 --> 05:01.856
[SPEAKER_12]: Everything is Omniscient.
05:01.936 --> 05:02.216
[SPEAKER_12]: Group.
05:03.617 --> 05:07.280
[SPEAKER_12]: Is your mom, the brother, did you also do this now?
05:08.181 --> 05:13.525
[SPEAKER_12]: Do you have anything more in sacrifice or in trouble?
05:14.420 --> 05:18.722
[SPEAKER_12]: Calvary does not recognize the way.
05:18.742 --> 05:21.162
[SPEAKER_12]: We can read it on down to basically.
05:23.403 --> 05:25.344
[SPEAKER_12]: I wanted to add a lot of things.
05:28.265 --> 05:29.545
[SPEAKER_12]: Service is a lot of things.
05:29.565 --> 05:30.506
[SPEAKER_12]: I don't know.
05:31.186 --> 05:42.270
[SPEAKER_12]: It's similar to Saturday or at S.B.A.A.A.A.A.A.A.A.A.A.A.A.A.A.A.A.A.A.A.A.A.A.A.A.A.A.A.A.A.A.A.A.A.A.A.A.A.A.A.A.A.A.A.A-A-A-A-A-A-A-A-A-A-A-A-A-A-A-A-A-A-A-A-A-A-A-A-A-A-A-A-A-A-A-A-A-A-A-A-A-A-A-A-A-A-A-A-
05:44.377 --> 05:51.761
[SPEAKER_12]: On this screen, you can do the fourth one, the north, the east, the south, and the west.
05:53.362 --> 05:57.064
[UNKNOWN]: And I have to go to the fourth order point.
05:58.245 --> 06:01.807
[UNKNOWN]: Did you probably help us to come and do assist you?
06:02.628 --> 06:04.048
[UNKNOWN]: And did you predict about that?
06:04.088 --> 06:04.769
[SPEAKER_12]: That's about it.
06:06.470 --> 06:09.812
[SPEAKER_12]: On our own third, there are more
06:11.695 --> 06:12.815
[SPEAKER_12]: And it's re-model for our complex project.
06:12.835 --> 06:40.085
[SPEAKER_12]: And some of these movement things, especially this time of the year, and the moves of our complex project on this, on this, on this, on this, on this, on this, on this, on this, on this, on this, on this, on this, on this, on this, on this, on this, on this, on this, on this, on this, on this, on this, on this, on this, on this, on this, on this, on this, on this, on this, on this, on this, on this, on this, on this, on this, on this, on this, on this, on this, on this, on this, on this, on this, on this, on this, on this, on this, on this, on this, on this, on this, on this, on this, on this, on this, on this, on this, on this, on this, on this, on this, on this, on this
06:40.697 --> 06:43.659
[SPEAKER_12]: Well, I described it the way that it would have been.
06:43.679 --> 06:45.761
[SPEAKER_12]: It would have been.
06:45.781 --> 06:48.083
[SPEAKER_12]: Yeah, it's very, very rare.
06:48.844 --> 06:52.687
[SPEAKER_12]: Well, it's not interesting what I did.
06:52.707 --> 06:55.949
[SPEAKER_12]: I tried to blow it out of the sacrifice.
06:57.150 --> 06:58.051
[SPEAKER_12]: And then it went ahead.
07:00.833 --> 07:02.274
[SPEAKER_12]: I don't know anything about it.
07:02.294 --> 07:05.857
[SPEAKER_12]: I don't know anything about it.
07:06.157 --> 07:08.660
[SPEAKER_12]: I don't know anything about it.
07:10.529 --> 07:21.558
[SPEAKER_01]: I don't deny having any involvement in the murder of his family.
07:21.578 --> 07:24.941
[SPEAKER_01]: Then it's calm, controlled, and unemotional tone.
07:25.561 --> 07:27.343
[SPEAKER_01]: He repeated that he loved his family.
07:27.783 --> 07:28.564
[SPEAKER_01]: Mubbed his mom.
07:29.104 --> 07:30.666
[SPEAKER_01]: He would never do anything to hurt them.
07:31.781 --> 07:34.823
[SPEAKER_01]: Wicca is often called modern day witchcraft.
07:35.483 --> 07:39.826
[SPEAKER_01]: The books on this topic inside Donald's house highlighted his interest.
07:40.346 --> 07:42.407
[SPEAKER_01]: Donald considered himself to be awakened.
07:42.887 --> 07:55.855
[SPEAKER_01]: The prayer room in his dedicated space, he had to perform rituals in practice Wicca, a pagan religion that celebrates nature with the four elements of fire, water, earth and air holding immense power.
07:56.695 --> 08:04.601
[SPEAKER_01]: In the cycle of the rituals, we can celebrate each year, follows the transitions from season to season, and the different phases of the moon.
08:05.122 --> 08:06.943
[SPEAKER_01]: Donald was a solo practitioner.
08:07.323 --> 08:12.567
[SPEAKER_01]: He didn't practice wicker with others in Covins, and it wasn't a religion shared by his family.
08:13.068 --> 08:20.434
[SPEAKER_01]: In any homicide investigation, the relationships and connections around the victims are the first things to be examined in detail.
08:20.874 --> 08:25.698
[SPEAKER_01]: Donald's older brother Richard was an IT specialist for the Department of Homeland Security.
08:26.218 --> 08:28.460
[SPEAKER_01]: This is the federal agency within the U.S.
08:28.480 --> 08:32.903
[SPEAKER_01]: that exists to safeguard and protect the American people and America itself.
08:33.624 --> 08:41.770
[SPEAKER_01]: After the murders, the Naval Criminal Investigative Services, or NCIS, came out to investigate the crime for themselves.
08:42.570 --> 08:48.215
[SPEAKER_01]: They needed to be sure the horrific murders weren't targeted attack on Richard, connected to his job.
08:49.190 --> 08:59.153
[SPEAKER_01]: Their team concluded there was no link to Richard, and no evidence that suggested his murder, and that of his mother and brother had anything to do with his work for the American government.
08:59.673 --> 09:02.274
[SPEAKER_01]: These murders were all together, more personal.
09:02.854 --> 09:10.137
[SPEAKER_01]: In press interviews across the first week of August, statements were made from the sheriff's office that sent a child on the spine of local residents.
09:10.697 --> 09:16.679
[SPEAKER_01]: They said these murders were wicked ritual killings that were related to the blue moon that rose at the end of July.
09:17.299 --> 09:23.045
[SPEAKER_01]: Witchcraft was suddenly thrown forward as the reason Von Seel, Richard and John, lost their lives.
09:23.785 --> 09:28.670
[SPEAKER_01]: There was a person of interest the Sheriff's Office confirmed, and he was a wicked practitioner.
09:29.251 --> 09:35.617
[SPEAKER_01]: Detectives now hide their attention, firmly placed back onto Donald, and they wanted to know more about the life he led.
09:36.137 --> 09:37.239
[SPEAKER_01]: He was a bit of an oddball.
09:37.859 --> 09:44.082
[SPEAKER_01]: A loner who held down a full-time job, where he was reliable, but a scene to have little in his life.
09:44.602 --> 09:49.805
[SPEAKER_01]: Outside of his three to eleven pm shift pattern, one of his work colleagues was Mark Bailey.
09:50.505 --> 10:00.489
[SPEAKER_01]: They had worked for G-IVS security for seven to eight years, and were, at times, on the same shifts and working together, driving the security vans.
10:01.070 --> 10:03.131
[SPEAKER_01]: They didn't really socialize outside work.
10:03.831 --> 10:05.792
[SPEAKER_01]: but shattered when they were working together.
10:06.473 --> 10:09.455
[SPEAKER_01]: Mark was a member of a local gun club, handed in instructor.
10:10.035 --> 10:15.038
[SPEAKER_01]: They often talked about guns as Donald was interested, but never indicated he owned a gun.
10:15.618 --> 10:22.403
[SPEAKER_01]: Mark invited Donald to the shooting range at his club on two occasions, but Donald politely declined each time.
10:23.283 --> 10:31.526
[SPEAKER_01]: Mark told investigators he remembered Donald talking finally of his mom, suggesting he did a lot for her, and he didn't think his brothers pulled their way.
10:31.546 --> 10:42.570
[SPEAKER_01]: He had given Mark the impression his mom was quite wealthy, and had said that when she died, he would inherit the money, because he was an oldest surviving child.
10:43.570 --> 10:49.295
[SPEAKER_01]: It was at that time that Von Seals extended family members found her will amongst her belongings.
10:49.895 --> 10:54.859
[SPEAKER_01]: It had been written inside in two thousand nine and its contents made for interesting reading.
10:55.380 --> 11:01.325
[SPEAKER_01]: Detectives realize that the motive for these tragic murders may have been much more traditional than witchcraft.
11:01.965 --> 11:03.586
[SPEAKER_01]: The age-old lyr of money.
11:04.226 --> 11:06.527
[SPEAKER_01]: Money has the power to change lives.
11:06.967 --> 11:17.571
[SPEAKER_01]: They can transform people from desperate, sorrowful beings with no hope for the future and to happy, prosperous, and joyous individuals who see the line in every day.
11:17.591 --> 11:19.852
[SPEAKER_01]: A money has an evil twin.
11:20.712 --> 11:23.553
[SPEAKER_01]: Its powerful abilities are so desired by some.
11:24.193 --> 11:27.214
[SPEAKER_01]: They're willing to turn the evil to obtain that wealth.
11:27.875 --> 11:30.055
[SPEAKER_01]: And achieve the transformation it would bring.
11:30.075 --> 11:34.117
[SPEAKER_01]: Peds have been turned towards truly appalling and horrifying acts.
11:35.273 --> 11:44.282
[SPEAKER_01]: Max of violence and depravity against others, all in the name of money, our society built on an architecture that needs money to thrive and prosper.
11:45.042 --> 11:48.846
[SPEAKER_01]: Never more true is the same, that money makes the world go round.
11:49.647 --> 11:57.574
[SPEAKER_01]: For some, brutal murder is just a stepping stone, an acceptable act to gain the freedom that the resulting money will give them.
11:58.415 --> 12:02.798
[SPEAKER_01]: This philosophy takes the concept of selfishness to another level.
12:03.598 --> 12:08.301
[SPEAKER_01]: In a crime scene, like at the Smith House, the forensic evidence is complicated.
12:08.861 --> 12:14.405
[SPEAKER_01]: There are three bodies in a lifetime of DNA, hair follicles and fingerprints all over the house.
12:15.105 --> 12:26.248
[SPEAKER_01]: Then, when another family member who has been in and out of that house for years is the prime suspect, processing the crime scene and deciphering through those forensics as painstaking work.
12:26.948 --> 12:30.209
[SPEAKER_01]: Donald was law enforcement's number one suspect in this case.
12:30.949 --> 12:33.949
[SPEAKER_01]: They didn't feel he was a danger to anyone else or himself.
12:34.610 --> 12:36.070
[SPEAKER_01]: He wasn't about to flee anywhere.
12:36.650 --> 12:40.051
[SPEAKER_01]: The police knew they had the time to wait for the forensics to be processed.
12:40.611 --> 12:44.372
[SPEAKER_01]: Wait for those four results to come back before deciding on their next move.
12:45.252 --> 12:48.495
[SPEAKER_01]: They wanted to be sure of their footing before they took action.
12:49.135 --> 12:58.863
[SPEAKER_01]: The family and friends of Onceo, Richard and John, were left trying to grieve for their loved ones in the knowledge that Donald was the person law enforcement believed was responsible.
12:59.484 --> 13:05.949
[SPEAKER_01]: Richard's co-workers held a memorial for the whole Smith family at the Navy Aviation Chapel in Pensacola.
13:06.830 --> 13:09.411
[SPEAKER_01]: The chapel was full of those who cared for the family.
13:09.431 --> 13:15.973
[SPEAKER_01]: The one wanted to pay their respects, and remember each one of them, while they tried to come to terms with the horror.
13:16.513 --> 13:17.253
[SPEAKER_01]: What had happened?
13:17.893 --> 13:29.176
[SPEAKER_01]: On August thirteen, two thousand fifteen, the funeral of Richard and John took place at Chapel of Cravers' funeral home in Brutin, Alabama, where Vaughan seal Smith was born.
13:29.777 --> 13:33.978
[SPEAKER_01]: The following day, the service for Vaughan seal was held in the same place.
13:34.678 --> 13:41.099
[SPEAKER_01]: The University of Alabama honored both Richard and John by setting up a scholarship in their names.
13:41.739 --> 13:49.241
[SPEAKER_01]: Back in Pensacola, on August twenty first, Donald submitted his resignation from a security guard job at the hospital.
13:50.121 --> 13:55.622
[SPEAKER_01]: He cited the murder of his family and eating time to sort out their affairs as his reasoning.
13:56.322 --> 14:02.944
[SPEAKER_01]: Two months later, on October twenty seventh, three months after Von Seel, Richard and John were killed.
14:03.904 --> 14:06.144
[SPEAKER_01]: Donald Hardton was arrested for their murder.
14:06.164 --> 14:19.027
[SPEAKER_04]: I was after Wayne Hardton's arrest, evidence technician still combed through his house, searching for more clues than answers, and the brutal murders of his mother, Bonnie Smith, and his half-brothers, John and R.T.
14:19.427 --> 14:29.849
[SPEAKER_11]: This is the son of the woman and a half-brother of the two million, and we are convinced and satisfied that the correct charge he was premeditated in our room.
14:30.329 --> 14:39.892
[SPEAKER_04]: Three months ago, the bodies were discovered in separate rooms and their dear field drive home, investigators initially believed that they were victims of a ritualistic killing linked to witchcraft.
14:40.172 --> 14:51.995
[SPEAKER_07]: The fact that Mr. Harton, you know, was engaged in that and the reason why I say that is there was some statements that he had made and there was some evidence found at his home that would clearly indicated that time.
14:52.295 --> 15:01.381
[SPEAKER_04]: Newspot has learned Hartung had a book on which craft in his house, and in one of those initial interviews with authorities, he admitted to practicing the Wicked Religion.
15:02.061 --> 15:08.625
[SPEAKER_04]: Other possible motives include a connection with RT's employer, the Department of Homeland Security, or simply for money.
15:09.005 --> 15:13.787
[SPEAKER_11]: Today was the day that we finally completed everything and obtained a warrant for his arrest.
15:14.107 --> 15:20.469
[SPEAKER_04]: Neighbors that we talked to didn't want to go on camera but say that they're glad that Hartung is no longer one of their neighbors.
15:20.769 --> 15:27.331
[SPEAKER_04]: They also say that he knew something was up earlier today because there were a lot of cars in this neighborhood that didn't belong.
15:27.792 --> 15:31.473
[SPEAKER_04]: Hartung was arrested at his home without incident around eleven o'clock.
15:32.910 --> 15:37.473
[SPEAKER_04]: Late this afternoon, the last of the investigators packed up and drove away from Hartung's house.
15:37.553 --> 15:40.475
[SPEAKER_04]: Now the next phase of the case will begin.
15:40.495 --> 15:49.621
[SPEAKER_11]: I'm glad that we were able to work through this extremely complicated detail crime scene and crime and reached this point.
15:50.702 --> 15:57.206
[SPEAKER_01]: Less than two weeks after his arrest, a grand jury and died of him for three counts of first-degree murder.
15:58.132 --> 16:04.857
[SPEAKER_04]: Cliff and Wanda Hammock haven't spoken to anyone about the crime that took the lives of their Aunt Bonnie and cousin's John and R.T.
16:04.917 --> 16:05.298
[SPEAKER_04]: Smith.
16:05.678 --> 16:08.520
[SPEAKER_04]: When you talk about her, do you know that you smile?
16:08.540 --> 16:11.002
[SPEAKER_04]: Because she makes great help.
16:11.723 --> 16:14.785
[SPEAKER_04]: Now with the arrest of Wayne Harton, they're ready to talk.
16:15.165 --> 16:20.289
[SPEAKER_03]: My Aunt Bonnie was the most loving person.
16:21.290 --> 16:23.732
[SPEAKER_03]: Those two boys, she raised them to wear that
16:25.451 --> 16:28.776
[SPEAKER_08]: If I could raise my kids half the way that she did hers.
16:29.036 --> 16:31.239
[SPEAKER_08]: She was definitely a bright spot for me.
16:31.740 --> 16:36.547
[SPEAKER_08]: And it's a void that no one
16:38.898 --> 16:40.900
[SPEAKER_08]: in the family will ever be able to feel.
16:41.160 --> 16:44.643
[SPEAKER_03]: Three months ago, their world changed while watching the evening news.
16:45.023 --> 16:47.625
[SPEAKER_03]: Wayne didn't even call none of the family.
16:48.145 --> 16:49.787
[SPEAKER_03]: We all follow it on the TV.
16:49.927 --> 16:54.230
[SPEAKER_04]: Words like ritualistic killings and witchcraft colored the investigation.
16:54.530 --> 16:59.775
[SPEAKER_08]: Too much of the narrative has been focused on
17:02.107 --> 17:05.115
[SPEAKER_08]: on wicking or witchcraft or whatever.
17:05.135 --> 17:09.428
[SPEAKER_08]: I think honestly looking at it.
17:11.245 --> 17:18.948
[SPEAKER_08]: that has no merit to me as far as as a motive.
17:19.408 --> 17:25.171
[SPEAKER_04]: They believe the motive is money, but don't know if Harton knew he'd been cut out of the will.
17:25.591 --> 17:33.354
[SPEAKER_04]: The arrest was welcome news, but not surprising even at the funeral they say Harton never showed any remorse or shed a tear.
17:33.714 --> 17:36.535
[SPEAKER_03]: It was devastating to us as a family.
17:38.264 --> 17:41.387
[SPEAKER_03]: And Hitches started like it was no big deal.
17:41.628 --> 17:46.513
[SPEAKER_04]: When it says it's been a car rack that had taken her family, it would be easier to deal with.
17:46.953 --> 17:48.635
[SPEAKER_02]: It's been hard on all of us.
17:49.676 --> 17:57.024
[SPEAKER_02]: And just thank God that whenever they went, they all went together, holding hands and to have them.
17:57.284 --> 17:59.746
[SPEAKER_04]: And that's the only thing that brings her comfort now.
18:00.642 --> 18:05.224
[SPEAKER_01]: Behind bars, in jail, all Donald could do now is wait.
18:05.824 --> 18:11.307
[SPEAKER_01]: Even he didn't know that wait would be almost five years before he would go to trial in front of a jury.
18:11.867 --> 18:13.788
[SPEAKER_01]: For the murder of his entire family.
18:14.549 --> 18:20.191
[SPEAKER_01]: In two thousand nineteen, his defense attorneys tried numerous tactics before the trial did go ahead.
18:20.672 --> 18:27.255
[SPEAKER_01]: They want to evidence thrown out appealing to the judge that Donald's wicked religion should not be allowed into the trial.
18:28.013 --> 18:34.221
[SPEAKER_01]: They also wanted any reference to Von Seals' will, where move from the trial, not be presented to the jury.
18:35.002 --> 18:37.004
[SPEAKER_01]: The judge refused both requests.
18:37.725 --> 18:41.770
[SPEAKER_01]: Donald Harton was assessed and found fully competent to stand trial.
18:42.611 --> 18:46.756
[SPEAKER_01]: The trial day was set for January, eighth, two thousand twenty.
18:47.597 --> 18:50.138
[SPEAKER_01]: Donald was going to get his day in court.
18:50.598 --> 18:53.818
[SPEAKER_01]: And finally, the Smith family could try to get justice.
18:54.538 --> 19:05.481
[SPEAKER_01]: On the first day of trial, right at the start of a brand new year in January, in January, in the year, Donald appeared in a well-fitted suit, an appropriately colored coordinated tie.
19:06.201 --> 19:09.562
[SPEAKER_01]: He looked like a different man to the man in the police interview tapes.
19:10.322 --> 19:12.782
[SPEAKER_01]: Cleaned shaving, neat, and presentable.
19:13.302 --> 19:15.643
[SPEAKER_01]: He looked like he could be going to a business meeting.
19:16.543 --> 19:21.008
[SPEAKER_01]: Instead, he was sixty-three years old and sitting behind a defense table.
19:21.769 --> 19:29.096
[SPEAKER_01]: He was about to have his whole life examine and raked over as he was accused of cold-blooded murder three times over.
19:30.178 --> 19:33.661
[SPEAKER_01]: Listener, Florida is a death penalty state.
19:34.617 --> 19:35.497
[SPEAKER_01]: It's my state.
19:36.257 --> 19:42.738
[SPEAKER_01]: I can't tell you how many cases I've covered the ends in the death penalty from my home state.
19:43.278 --> 19:49.760
[SPEAKER_05]: Florida now has the lowest death penalty threshold in the nation after Governor Desantis signed this bill into law this morning.
19:49.860 --> 19:55.701
[SPEAKER_05]: Juries will no longer need to have a unanimous vote of twelve to recommend a convicted criminal to the death penalty.
19:55.821 --> 20:03.782
[SPEAKER_05]: This new law lowers that requirement to just eight jurors, supporters point to the failed death penalty, jury vote for the Parkland shooter who instead got a life sentence.
20:04.774 --> 20:14.601
[SPEAKER_01]: The brutality of these murders, the clear signs of pre-meditation, and the fact that there were three victims, McDonald Harton, was going on trial for his life.
20:15.422 --> 20:16.322
[SPEAKER_01]: That's not a joke.
20:17.143 --> 20:18.904
[SPEAKER_01]: This was a case of two extremes.
20:19.745 --> 20:25.309
[SPEAKER_01]: A win for the prosecution would put Donald on a direct collision course with Florida's death row.
20:26.230 --> 20:33.015
[SPEAKER_01]: If they were to lose and not prove their case in the eyes of the jury, Donald would walk away from court as any free man.
20:34.106 --> 20:36.226
[SPEAKER_01]: The stakes could not be any higher.
20:37.247 --> 20:48.489
[SPEAKER_01]: Donald had lost a lot of weight between the time of the crime and his court trial, and almost six foot five, he was now thin and lean, accentuating his weight all the more.
20:49.389 --> 20:54.310
[SPEAKER_01]: During court proceedings, he looked down and wiped any dust or particles from his jacket.
20:55.470 --> 20:57.811
[SPEAKER_01]: Image was clearly important to him.
20:59.017 --> 21:05.759
[SPEAKER_01]: An expensive suit couldn't distract from the slow creeping smile that would appear at various points throughout the trial.
21:06.579 --> 21:19.384
[SPEAKER_01]: And with this testimony, with an opportunity missing in the left side of his mouth, his smile held an uncomfortable undertone, quiet and unassuming, yet unmistakably, there was a menacing edge.
21:20.264 --> 21:26.106
[SPEAKER_06]: On Tuesday, July, twenty-eighth of two thousand and fifteen, this defendant went to the Smith home and cooked a dinner.
21:27.907 --> 21:35.333
[SPEAKER_06]: And that Tuesday, July, twenty-eight of two thousand and fifteen is the last day the Smith family is known to be alive.
21:36.034 --> 21:39.076
[SPEAKER_06]: And this defendant was the last person known to be with them.
21:43.940 --> 21:45.381
[SPEAKER_01]: And that's it for this part.
21:45.942 --> 21:49.545
[SPEAKER_01]: We're going to get to the third and final part next episode.
21:50.350 --> 21:53.052
[SPEAKER_01]: If you're a Patreon, that should be very soon.
21:53.873 --> 21:55.674
[SPEAKER_01]: If not, you have another week to wait.
21:56.434 --> 21:58.756
[SPEAKER_01]: Please avoid any spoilers online.
21:59.357 --> 22:01.038
[SPEAKER_01]: Wait for the results with the episode.
22:02.139 --> 22:02.939
[SPEAKER_01]: Thank you, promise.
22:04.040 --> 22:06.602
[SPEAKER_01]: Anyway, I hope you've enjoyed today's episode.
22:07.202 --> 22:10.725
[SPEAKER_01]: I thank you for listening and keep the fire burning.
