Henry McCabe

Criminology

The episode investigates the baffling 2015 disappearance and death of Henry McCabe in Minnesota. It traces his final known movements from a

Key takeaways

• Henry McCabe's body was discovered in Rush Lake approximately two months after he went missing.
• A highly disturbing voicemail containing sounds of distress and moaning was recorded by his wife, Corrine.

Main topics

• The disappearance of Henry McCabe
• Mysterious voicemail evidence

Notable quotes

I believe he was murdered.

Conclusion

The case remains a profound mystery because the forensic evidence of d

Transcript preview

Speaker 6 (0:00) The Wonderland murders shocked Los Angeles and exposed a dark underworld of drugs, betrayal, and violence hiding behind the glamour of Hollywood, later inspiring books, films, and decades of speculation. But Speaker 7 (0:13) the real story Speaker 6 (0:14) is even darker than the movies. They Speaker 7 (0:17) thought it was a robbery gone wrong. What detectives found inside this small house on Wonderland Avenue. was a bloodbath so brutal even seasoned investigators were shaken. Four people Speaker 6 (0:30) dead, no forced entry, and one name that kept surfacing, John Holmes. Join us every week on Unlawful Acts as we uncover the people who seem ordinary at first, but reveal something far more dangerous underneath. This is the podcast for people who crave the full story without the filler. Subscribe now to Unlawful Acts wherever you get your podcasts. Speaker 5 (0:54) Criminology is a true crime podcast that may contain discussion about violent or disturbing topics. Listener discretion is advised. Speaker 4 (1:31) Hello, everyone, and welcome to episode 427 of the Criminology Podcast. I'm Mike Ferguson. And this is Mike Morford. Morf, what's going on this week, buddy? Not too much. What's going on with you? I don't know. It's getting cold here, man. It's high in the 60s. And I don't feel it, but my family's like sitting in the living room freezing. They're all bundled up. Speaker 3 (1:55) Well, I know you've got a Nor'easter heading up there this weekend. And I think down here it's supposed to get into the 60s at night. So I'm probably going to have the sweatshirts out too. Speaker 4 (2:05) Well, 60s at night is cool. I'm good with that. That's good sleeping weather, man. Speaker 3 (2:10) And not once you get that Florida blood. Oh, yeah. That 60 feels like Speaker 4 (2:14) 30. It does change you. I'm sure it does change you. Let's go ahead and give our patron shout outs. We had support from Alexis Witt. So that's amazing. We really appreciate it. Speaker 3 (2:25) Yeah. Thank you so much, Alexis. That really helps us out. And for anyone else that wants to support the show, head over to patreon.com slash criminology Speaker 4 (2:32) to get started. All right. It's time to jump into this week's case. And, you know, every once in a while we have one of those cases that just doesn't make a lot of sense. And it makes you scratch your head, almost like you're putting a puzzle together without all of the pieces. And that's what this case is like. The case involves a lot of strange details, a weird and unsettling voicemail. And while the case is technically closed, we really don't know everything that happened. We're talking about the bizarre 2015 death of a man named Henry McCabe. Henry McCabe was born and grew Speaker 3 (3:09) up in Liberia. During unrest in that country, he and his family left for Ghana, where he completed high school. After high school, Henry immigrated to the U.S. in 2003, where he was excited to start the next chapter of his life. He settled in California. It wasn't long before Henry would find love in his new state. In 2004, he went to a party where he met the woman he would marry, Corrine. They had a lot in common, including the fact they were both from Liberia, and they really hit it off. By 2015, a decade later, the couple was married with two young daughters who were 10 and 2. By this point, the family had moved to Moundsview, Minnesota. Henry worked there as an auditor with the Minnesota Department of Revenue. Corrine was an author. By all accounts, the couple had built a nice life for themselves and were looking forward to the future. But in September of that year, a puzzling tragedy would unfold that would derail their future. Speaker 4 (4:05) On Sunday, September 6, 2015, Henry was alone because his wife, Corrine, had gone back to California to visit her family and had brought the couple's two children with her. Some reports indicate that she was making plans to move back there, and speculation has ranged from she was going to separate from Henry or that the family had financial issues. It's not clear what she had in mind. But officially, police would describe her as going to California on vacation. One thing that is clear is that while his wife and kids were away in California, Henry appeared to be bored and maybe a bit lonely. That's when he decided to call a friend of his named Jonathan Thomas, who goes by JT. When Henry called him, JT was at a barbecue at the home of a mutual friend. Henry was upset. that no one had invited him to the barbecue. So he called the host and they told him he could come over if he wanted to. So he did. Once Henry got to the party, he met up with another man named William Kennedy, who went by Papoose. Papoose and Henry were not close friends like Henry and JT were. They were more like acquaintances. And more, if I kind of understand this, you know, I've had stretches where my wife and the kids were away. Sometimes they go on vacation by themselves. I'm working. I can't go. It does sometimes get boring when you're at home for a week by yourself. Normally, the first day or two is awesome. You just have all this freedom. You can do whatever you want. And then very quickly, you start missing everybody and you get bored. The thing I don't understand is calling up, you know, the person who's having this party and you're kind of like, why wasn't I invited? And then what are they going to do? They say, hey, if you want to come, come. I don't know. I would kind of feel awkward. Like they didn't invite me, but I'm basically inviting myself. Speaker 3 (6:18) Yeah. And it's interesting point. We don't know the full relationship between. Henry and the homeowner, we know that his good friend was there, JT. So it could have been one of those things where, you know, the homeowner didn't really know Henry, but he knew JT. But, you know, he maybe felt guilty and said, yeah, come on over. And I think for Henry, this was an important group of people because I think most of them were Liberian and he probably felt close to them. and had a special bond, so hanging out with them would probably be something that would make him happy while his family was gone. Speaker 4 (6:55) But maybe even a little more strange that he wasn't invited. Speaker 3 (6:59) I don't know. And it makes you wonder, could there have been something, you know, that we don't know about that was going on that he wasn't invited? As far as anyone could tell, nothing strange or unusual happened at the barbecue. It was just friends hanging out, talking, and having fun. The barbecue ended sometime between 10 and 11 p.m. It was Labor Day weekend, and the next day, a Monday, was a holiday. So after the barbecue, Henry wanted to keep the party going. First, he and Papoose went back to Henry's apartment. Papoose went because he wanted to go to the club later and had to kill time before he went, because if he went home, he'd have to stay there with his wife. So it was just the two of them at the apartment until they left for the club, although Henry's nieces were there at the time. Speaker 4 (7:43) When they left, Papoose drove. Just before 1130, Henry walked up to the drive-up ATM at TCF Bank in Northtown. He withdrew $200 from his account. Surveillance cameras would reveal that he was visibly unsteady as he walked, and he actually urinated in the corner and then ran across the parking lot out of frame. We know he wasn't running away from anything or anyone. Because this is not when he disappeared or met any kind of harm. And no one else was captured in the footage. After the ATM withdrawal, Henry and Papoose ended up at Club C'est La Vie, which was inside a bar called Pavliski's on Highway 65. So it sounds to me more of that, you know, just based on the description of him in the surveillance footage. You know, he was. Probably pretty intoxicated by this time. I mean, he had been at a party. a barbecue, most likely drinking. Now it's, you know, getting close to midnight. He's visibly unsteady. He's urinating, you know, near this bank ATM somewhere. Safe to say that, that he probably had some alcohol in his system. Speaker 3 (9:07) Yeah. We don't know how regularly he drank or partied, went out to clubs, that kind of thing. But it was, you know, The weekend, a holiday weekend, he didn't have to work the next day, presumably. His family's gone. So, I mean, I can see him letting off some steam, having a little bit of fun and, you know, sleeping in the next day, maybe something along those lines. Henry called his friend JT and talked him into coming out to join them at the club. JT took him up on the offer and headed to the club along with his girlfriend. When JT and his girlfriend got there, Henry was in the VIP section. And Henry apparently gave JT his wallet, saying he deserved it. because he had missed JT's birthday. A bit later, he told JT to pay for a round of drinks with the card in his wallet. When JT tried to pay, the purchase was declined, so JT used some of the cash that was inside the wallet. At that point, JT went to tell Henry about the card declining, but he couldn't find him. This was around 1.30 a.m. Now, it doesn't seem like something nefarious had happened to Henry. It was more likely a case of a busy, dimly lit club where it's hard to find someone. Speaker 4 (10:12) And, you know, back in the day when I used to drink, I don't really drink much anymore, but, you know, when I did go to clubs and all of that, we would go, you know, as a group, friends at a certain point, once there's enough alcohol involved, you got a busy club, it's dark. It can be very hard to find people. You know, I remember times where we just lost someone, but it's because. They left, they went with somebody else, they did something and they just didn't tell the rest of the group. Speaker 3 (10:48) Yeah, it's been a long time since my club and drinking days, too. I was never really a fan of the club scene because of the lights, the music, the, you know, some of them are packed and you're rubbing elbows with people. And it was just too loud and too chaotic for me. And if you did want to leave and you were looking for your ride or your friend to say, hey, let's. cut out of here half the time you couldn't find them because it was so you know dark and busy and you know it seems like this was a situation there so Speaker 4 (11:21) basically what you're saying is you were old when you were young well Speaker 3 (11:25) i guess yeah i was a a little bit of a fuddy-duddy when it came to yeah To the club scene, I Speaker 4 (11:31) guess. Oh, say that again. When it came to the club scene, I guess. At 1.40 a.m., another friend that was there that night, Calvin Johnson, saw Henry and Papoose leave together. This is the last time anyone other than Papoose saw Henry McCabe. At 1.50, Henry's phone called JT's phone, but JT didn't hear it and missed the call. Shortly after that, JT left the club. JT was driving home. when just after 2 a.m., Henry's wife, Corrine, called him from California. She said Henry was acting weird, and she was worried about him, and asked JT to see if he was okay, and JT assured her he would. JT then called Henry's phone, and Henry answered. JT explained to him that Corrine was worried about him, but Henry said he was almost home and not to listen to Corrine. JT then called Kareem back and told her everything was fine because Henry was almost home. On the surface, you know, this all seems like a case of someone just having too much to drink and maybe not being totally coherent. But since Henry was almost home, you know, JT wasn't all that worried. And this is definitely something I remember more from my drinking days, my clubbing days, whatever you want to call it. You know, when people. get a bunch of alcohol in them. You know, some people just don't handle it that well. And obviously, depending on how much you