11. Cobalt Killer

[00:00:20] and welcome to Murder Link. We're back after a little break and you may notice that we are on video. We have done a video episode before but it was at a professional podcast studio in London. It's episode five I think if you want to check it out. This time we're shooting from our home, our homes because I'm in the UK and my dad is Atlanta based. And when we record these episodes

[00:00:45] we get to see each other's faces so we thought why not just share with everyone right like let's just connect a little bit more. And dad it's been I want to say three or four weeks since we've recorded. So it's so great to see you and happy Valentine's Day. I hope that you and mom are celebrating somehow. Oh yeah, we're having a good time. We're going to eat lobster today. I'd like to say happy Valentine's Day to you and to all our listeners.

[00:01:12] But also today's story is really unbelievable. I watched this story unfold as it happened. But now that I've done this research into it, the details of it I did not know. And the ruthlessness, the coldness of this murder, of this case. Oh, I just it's just unbelievable. I just I can't put words to it. Yeah, that's right. So today's episode is a little bit different because it's actually my murder link. So I'll be going through the story with everyone.

[00:01:42] But I did want to say just a little bit of a disclaimer, because there's some details of how the murder occurred that are quite graphic. And we usually put this detail in our show notes. But just in case anyone hasn't read them, if you're a bit sensitive to those things, you may want to skip certain parts of the episode because it is tragic. And it is something that went on for quite a few years. And it's a well known story where we lived,

[00:02:08] which is Ellenwood, Georgia. This story is based in Rex, Georgia, which is only like 15 minutes away. And Rex, Georgia is where I went to middle school. I went to Adamson Middle School. I keep thinking that's the wrong name of the school, Dad. It's been so long, but I'm sure it was because there was Anderson, Adamson and then Mara. So yes, Adamson's the name. Yeah. It was red. No, it wasn't. It was blue and orange kind of school. And the mascot was

[00:02:36] an Indian chief, if I remember correctly. And I met my best friend in middle school, Corey there, who is my connection to this, this murder. Corey was like, just kind of like my sidekick. And I was his all throughout middle school. We were thick as thieves, very good natured kids that never got in any trouble, I must say. But always hanging out, going to the mall, going skating, listening to pop music.

[00:03:03] We were addicted to TRL with, God, what's that guy's name on MTV? I can't remember who used to run it. But anyways, we were just like really, really great friends. And we went to different high schools. So suddenly the everyday conversations turned into every week conversations, but we always stayed in

[00:03:28] touch for the big moments. And one day he called me because his neighbor had been arrested for murder. And that is the story that I'm going to be sharing today. And dad, you said that you kind of watched this story unfold because it happened over around a decade, I think. Yes, from 1994 to 2005, where he was convicted. It took 10, almost 11 years to get a conviction on him.

[00:03:57] Right. So that's what we're covering with you today. And this is the story of the murder of Shannon Malindy.

[00:04:05] So on March 26, 1994, 19-year-old Shannon Malindy, who was an Emory University student in Atlanta, Georgia,

[00:04:30] vanished from her part-time job. She was working in DeKalb County as, you know, someone that worked at a softball complex. And this particular day, she was doing the scorekeeping for a softball game. She was last seen at the complex leaving for lunch. And when her family and friends realized that she wasn't coming back, it was reported to police that she was missing. But police kind of, you know,

[00:04:57] realized that she was 19 and maybe she just did something else. She's an adult. She's allowed to do that. They didn't necessarily immediately put this as something that was foul play. Her family, on the other hand, knew that something was amiss. They knew Shannon's character. She wouldn't have left her job. They would be able to get in contact with her. And so they rallied to put as much effort

[00:05:21] in finding her as they could as quickly as possible. And they arranged for there to be a $10,000 reward and bulletin boards put up with her details so that the public could help find her because they were worried about her. They even got high profile figures such as Andy Garcia, who was an actor at the time and baseball player Bo Jackson involved. And they asked them to make announcements to the

[00:05:47] public to get help in finding Shannon. Shannon had previously worked at the Carter Center, which is President Jimmy Carter's charity, which is based in Atlanta. And the family got him involved as well as Senator Bob Graham to really push the police to take action and to eventually get the FBI involved as well. Now, Dad, I know that President Carter is one of your heroes and anyone that is up on the news

[00:06:16] at the moment will know that he just passed away. So it is a timely story. And I think you can speak to how prolific he's been in the community and how important the Carter Center has been in Atlanta. Oh, yeah. And this case right here gives you an example of the kind of person he was, the fact that he got involved with the Shandon Melendie murder, that he took the time out to help them. So that just tells you that alone tells you what kind of person he was. Absolutely. And when we were doing the

[00:06:44] research for this case, I saw that there was a photo of them that he had like signed to her. So he truly who were desperate for help, right, because their daughter and their loved one, their sister is missing, did everything they could to try and find her as quickly as possible. As I said, she went to the Carter Center as a freshman. She was the first freshman to ever have a paid internship at the former president's

[00:07:09] nonprofit organization. She had dreams of attending law school and joining the Navy, and one day working in Washington, DC. She was originally from Miami, Florida, and that's where her family was based. So they were starting this search from afar. But of course, they came to the Atlanta area to try and try and locate her as soon as possible. As the investigation continued, police questioned everyone

[00:07:33] that was at the softball complex that day. And one of the umpires, Calvin Butch Hinton, the third, stood out. He denied knowing anything about Shannon's disappearance and, you know, anything that was foul play that day that would be of importance to them. But when other employees were questioned, they found

[00:07:55] discrepancies in his alibi, and he also failed a polygraph test. Police searched his home and they found woman's clothing that did not belong to his wife. They did more digging, of course, in their investigation, and they found out that Hinton had served four years in prison for kidnapping and sexually assaulting a 14-year-old girl. Before that, he was also involved in an attempted rape in 1978 in Kentucky.

[00:08:24] Even with this information, the authorities didn't have enough to arrest Hinton for Shannon Melendi's disappearance because there was nothing linking him to her at that time. They just happened to work at the same place. So the next big break in the case came about six weeks later on April 6, 1994, when Emory University's Counseling Center received an anonymous phone call. And the caller said that Shannon was

[00:08:50] with him, and they directed police to a payphone where an item was taped to the payphone so that police could find it. Inside this, well, police went and investigated this, and there was a cloth bag, and inside this cloth bag was a topaz ring. This was a ring that Shannon's grandmother had given to her. And they then filed that for evidence, but there was nothing that traced back to whoever made the

[00:09:17] phone call. They were just able to confirm with the family that it was in fact Shannon's ring. At that time in the investigation, Hinton was still the main suspect, but without a body or any concrete evidence, he just remained a suspect. Two years later, in January 1996, Hinton was convicted of arson and mail fraud because he set his own home on fire to try and collect $185,000 in insurance money.

[00:09:46] He was sentenced to seven years in prison for this. And though it couldn't be proven, the family did blame Hinton for Melindy's disappearance. Finally, in 2004, charges were brought against Hinton for Shannon Melindy's murder. Those charges came about because when Hinton was in jail for the mail fraud and the insurance fraud, he confessed to a number of inmates that he had in fact murdered Shannon

[00:10:14] Melindy. The police were then able to re-examine the evidence, and they found that the cloth bag that was taped to the side of the phone at Emory when that call was made contained cobalt, which is a substance that is used in airplane manufacturing and repairs. And Hinton worked at Delta Airlines, so it made sense that he would have access to this substance. It wasn't until September 2005,

[00:10:40] more than 10 years after Shannon went missing, that he was convicted of kidnapping and murder based on the evidence that was left on that phone booth and his confession to other inmates when he was in jail. Hinton was the first defendant in Georgia to be convicted of murder without having a body as part of the crime scene. It took law enforcement over a decade, but it was like kind of the first case of its time. Did you know that, Dad? I kind of, I didn't know that they did that.

[00:11:10] Until I did the research on this, I had no idea he was the first case to be convicted. Yeah, me too. So unfortunately, even after he was convicted, he continued to fight his conviction. He filed multiple appeals, but when he eventually exhausted all options, he actually confessed. And I think although the Malindi family could never obviously recover from this, I did read that they

[00:11:37] got a little bit of closure in knowing what happened to him. On July 7th, on what happened to Shannon, I should say. On July 17th, 2006, he admitted everything to the prosecutor and the lead detective saying that he couldn't live like this anymore. He actually said, I can't live like this no more. I think it was eating him up inside. Not that I feel any remorse or, you know, it's good that it was eating up inside if he killed her.

[00:12:06] No empathy for the man. I understand. No, no, not at all. So we actually usually just put this detail in the show notes, but I'm about to give his version of what happened. And it's quite graphic. So if there's anyone that doesn't want to hear that, feel free to skip to the end of the episode, please. So according to Hinton, he never intended to kidnap Shannon. That day, he actually planned to rape someone else, but they didn't meet

[00:12:32] him as planned. So instead he went and was an umpire at the softball field where he met Shannon, who was the scorekeeper for the game. He invited her out to lunch and they ate at a Burger King nearby. They were in the same car. And while driving, he pretended to take a wrong turn and he started heading towards his house. She questioned him on this because she knew the right way.

[00:12:56] And he faked that he had a leg cramp and he asked her to drive. Once she got into the driver's seat, he climbed into the back. He pulled out a knife and he forced her to drive to his house. Once inside of the house, he tied her up and he lied to her. And he said, he only wanted to steal her car and that he would let her go as soon as he could sell it. But to establish an alibi, he then went upstairs and he made phone calls to his wife,

[00:13:24] who was out of time for the night and his friends. He then returned to the softball field and left Shannon's car at a gas station unlocked. And he left the keys inside. When he got back to his home, he raped her. And after the assault, he handcuffed her to a bedpost face down and he left. He then went out with his family to see the Mighty Ducks at a movie theater. And when he returned, what? I can't believe that he went to see the Mighty Ducks

[00:13:53] after he murdered this woman. I thought I got the facts wrong. I was just thinking about that, Dad, because Mighty Ducks 2 is like one of the best films when you're a kid. Yes. And so to hear this, I'm just like, I can't believe he went to go see such an amazing film for the time while this woman is tied up after she's been raped and she's being held hostage. And he took his niece and nephew. I mean, come on, what in the world is going on with this guy?

[00:14:21] Yeah, 100%. So after the film, he returned to his home, right? It's 1030 PM and he raped her again before going to bed. So it's interesting because this is his version and I'm sure it's more than the family. I don't know. I've never been in that situation, but I'm sure it's more than they wanted to know. It's tragic. So around 2 AM that morning, he got a necktie from his closet and he strangled Shannon to death

[00:14:48] and his confession. He said, I still can remember as clear as day as she turned pale and stiffened. Once again, it's gruesome. It's unbelievable what this man would do to this woman, this innocent, sweet lady. I'm just, I can't believe it. It does get worse. So by 6 AM that morning, he's taken her body outside. She's, she's been

[00:15:15] murdered. She's, she's dead. She's passed. And he's laid her on a pile of logs and he set her on fire, but it started raining. So he left to get more gasoline and a bow saw from his father, which I don't understand that. Do you think he was going to dismember her? Apparently so. What are the reasons would he have the bow saw for? And I'm not familiar with a bow saw. Is it like, it's a hand saw. It's a, it's a metal hand saw. It's for cutting wood typically.

[00:15:43] Right. Okay. So when he returned home, he said that her body was completely incinerated and then he went inside, got dressed and he went to church. He's a religious man. What can you say? This is a guy who for sure should not get parole. So go ahead and read on. So at 2 PM, um, his wife came home because she had been away and he took her to the olive garden

[00:16:13] and he gave her one of the rings that was Shannon Melindy's telling her it was from a friend who had broken off an engagement. Now he was convicted, remember? And then his appeals were denied. So he was already convicted, but then he confessed to this. So this detail doesn't change his prison sentence at all. It was just more detail that came out because he felt like he couldn't deal with it

[00:16:40] anymore. It's infuriating. That's why he waited till all appeals were exhausted before his conscience took over. Yeah. Yeah. So I'm trying not to swear. I don't know why, but anyways, um, it's just so sick. And then for his wife to have that ring thinking it was like a gesture of love when he's just raped and murdered someone presumably in their bed, definitely in their house. Like it's just

[00:17:11] unbelievable. These are all, all of these stories are always so unbelievable. I believe you forgot one fact before they went to the olive garden. She helped him scrape up the ashes because he told her that a, a landscape crew was coming over and working in the yard. So they scraped the ashes out of the yard and took it, dumped them somewhere. I didn't know that. Yes. She helped him. Obviously not knowing that it was.

[00:17:41] No. Oh, she did not know a thing. No, no. Yeah. Yeah. I'm going to read, I haven't done the research on her yet, but I want to know, did she do any interviews? Like what was her, her take on this? It was such a long time ago. I bet she did it. No, you don't think so? No. Well, I hope she divorced him. Um, right. So she's got this ring, which is sick and he is serving a life sentence,

[00:18:08] but he's actually eligible for parole this month. And I've seen the family, you know, they have a petition to change, um, website basically saying, don't give him parole and we'll post it in the show notes, but I'm unable to find his actual parole hearing date. So I don't know if it'll be too late to sign, but if anyone does want to sign, the link will be there for you. And hopefully we'll get news that he is staying incarcerated soon.

[00:18:34] Now I want to read a quote from Shannon's father, Louis Malindi, who has spent the last three decades fighting for justice, not just for Shannon, but for victims everywhere. He's been outspoken saying if the judge that sinaged, sentenced Butch Hinton to four years in prison, and he only served two when he kidnapped 14 year old Tammy Singleton, which was his third sexual

[00:19:01] offense. If that judge had given him 15 to 20 years instead, Shannon would be alive today. And he goes on to say that we are supposed to trust our lawmakers and our judges, but some of them are not doing their jobs. I can understand as a father, like how he would, he would feel that way because he's right. If the appropriate crime or the appropriate sentence for the crime would have been given, then this man would be behind bars. And that's why it's so important that he continues to

[00:19:30] stay behind bars. Now, I don't even know why he's eligible for parole. I don't either, but it brings up a good point. If her father and mother had not done what they have done to fight, this guy would have gotten out already. There's no doubt. I mean, you just have to look at the Brown McGee and the Dowdy Grimes story that we did. Brown McGee is now a free man after murdering these people. I am very confused about this. Why would you be giving parole to a man

[00:19:58] who has committed these horrendous crimes? This is the third time he's done it. And then the third time he did it, the disposal of the body, everything from beginning to end, what he's done to this woman. It's just unreal. All the way down to his fake confession. Yeah, because he thought he was getting away with it, clearly. And in between all that, he then decided to set his house on fire for insurance fraud. Like he's just,

[00:20:25] what they call in England sometimes a wronged. Like he's just not, he's not someone you want to be around, clearly. He's not redeemable. No, no, he's passed. He was passed redeemable, the first offense. So why give him parole? I just don't understand this. I can't figure that out. And another issue I have with this case that I can't quite understand is that the ring was given to the wife days before the police came and investigated him, came to his house, knocking

[00:20:53] on the door, questioning him. She knew they were questioning him. So it never crossed her mind. The ring he gave me days ago, a ring that he told me came from another woman. She did not think, well, just to make sure I'm going to give this ring to the police and have them investigated and make sure that never crossed her mind. I mean, all I can say is that she was in total doubt. She didn't

[00:21:19] want to admit anything. She did. She didn't want to believe it apparently. Well, I think, you know, that is one theory, but I also think that we need to consider the fact that what kind of house was she living in? If she's living with a man that has committed these types of crimes, I'm not saying it's wrong or right, but like for all, you know, she's domestically abused and scared and not thinking straight. Good point.

[00:21:46] Because he did, he did these horrible, despicable things to people that he didn't really know. So imagine how he's treating the person who loves him more than anything. You hear about this all the time. You know, I'm always fascinated with the psychology behind these things and the women that stay with the men or the men that stay with the women that do horrible things. There's like this

[00:22:07] bond and we can't break it. So I agree with you, but I also think that it was probably a hell hole and she might not be firing on all cylinders. Well, as I said, she probably didn't want to admit it to herself is what it was. If she went and showed him, that would be a way of admitting that he might be this monster. But at the same time, it would have ended the case right then and there. They would have known where their daughter was back in 1994. Yeah.

[00:22:37] It's just sad that one thing did not occur. Yeah. And so, um, it was interesting. I think it really shook up the community when this all came out in the early two thousands. I remember Corey calling and talking about the case and, um, you just can't believe it. You know, like, it's like, it's like this sleepy town has got like, what five roads in it. And this happened there. And then everyone just goes on to continue normal

[00:23:06] life. And I think this goes back to why we created the podcast, because this stuff happens all the time. It can happen to anyone anywhere. Not that you would be a murderer or that you would be the victim, but the spider webs are there and people are connected because this is something that happens within society. Yes. I can remember riding by his house as this was going on when it caught on fire.

[00:23:30] And you could sense how there's woods all beside his house to the left side of his house. So you knew that's how he was able to build that fire at 6am in the morning, if you didn't say that. And, and, uh, I just find it unbelievable. He was able to burn a fire with person, burn their body in a residential neighborhood like that. That is just unbelievable also. Yeah. And like, just to paint the picture of

[00:23:59] that, because I know that we've got listeners, well, as we, as we realized today, all over the world, even in Kathmandu, but, um, in the UK and the US predominantly. So these types of, of yards, you know, they're traditional American houses, they're ranch style houses, two story houses with a long driveway on an acre of land. It's not like what you're seeing in the UK where the houses are all together. So you can have that separation and that space. And it's not the kind of place where

[00:24:27] you go ask their neighbor, what you're doing either. Like it's your own land. You can do what you want. So I think he was just able to keep that hidden. It's one story. It's a, I just, I'm at a loss for it. I feel like that's always the case for both of us because we spend so much time researching the story and then we're like, now we're telling it and we're, it just, I love doing the podcast, but it is quite a sad, sad topic. You know what I mean?

[00:24:52] It stunned you. The, the callousness, the meanness of it all. I just can't understand. I can't comprehend it, but it's, this is America. Yes, but the murders happen everywhere, but yes. True, true. But the, the, the fact that America is the way that it is allows us to have this kind of podcast. Let's just be honest about it. There's a lot of murders that occur here. Well, if you've got your own murder link that you want to share with us, please let us know. Just

[00:25:22] email us at hello at murder link.com or feel free to send us a message on Instagram. We'd love to speak to you. You can tell your story and I'd definitely be interested in anyone that has a story outside of America, just to counter the point that my dad just made. Right. Dad, it's so great to see you again on camera doing the podcast. I'm looking forward to the next few stories. I know that you've been doing your thing. So we'll be back next week with another video episode. I think,

[00:25:50] are you kind of happy with the way that this went? Are you happy to do this again? Of course. I hope the listeners are. That's what matters. Now they can be viewers instead of just listeners. Yes, exactly. So we'll be back next week and we look forward to seeing you then. Thanks so much. Bye everyone.