Guilty Google Search Murder - Winchester, Indiana

Small Town Murder

This episode explores a series of violent crimes in Winchester, Indiana, centered around the actions of Monty Joseph Cook. It details Cook's

Key takeaways

• Monty Joseph Cook was responsible for a $7.5 million arson at the Mastercraft factory in 2003.
• Cook's motive for the fire was suspected infidelity between his estranged wife and a plant employee.

Main topics

• Winchester, Indiana crime history
• Mastercraft factory arson

Notable quotes

I will burn this motherfucker to the ground.

Conclusion

A chilling look at how a single individual's escalating pattern of ven

Transcript preview

Speaker 1 (0:00) In 2010, a family of four in California goes missing, and the clues left behind send investigators on a years-long search. Is this a family on the run, or is the truth far more sinister? From ABC Audio in 2020, this is What Happened to the McStaves, coming August 11th, wherever you get your podcasts. Or subscribe to 2020 True Crime Plus on Apple Podcasts for ad-free episodes, early access to new episodes, and so much more. Speaker 2 (0:45) Hello, everybody, and welcome back to Small Town Murder Express. Yay and choo-choo! Yay indeed, Jimmy. Yay indeed. My name is James Petrigallo. I'm here with my co-host. I'm Jimmy Wissman. Thank you, folks, so much for joining us today. Thank you so much. We are super excited to be here, all aboard the murder train, pulling away from the station. I apologize for sounding like this. The Midwest hasn't sickened me, and there's nothing I can do about it. Walking around in the rain for days and something got in there and it's bad. It's crazy. We're going to work it out, though. That's all right. I'm hopped up on Sudafed. I'm ready to go. And you need to head over to ShutUpAndGiveMeMurder.com. Absolutely. Get your tickets for live shows. We just finished up in Milwaukee and Minneapolis. And, man, let me tell you, awesome. Thank you, Milwaukee. Thank you, Minneapolis. Minneapolis, that might have been one of the hottest for longest crowds I've ever seen ever. Two hours. From start to finish, they never stopped laughing. They were just amazing. Milwaukee, too. Two Speaker 3 (1:45) plus. Speaker 2 (1:46) Yeah, that was crazy. They Speaker 3 (1:47) made it so long. They made it Speaker 2 (1:49) longer because they wouldn't stop laughing. So, hey, that's fine with us. So it was a good time. Man, did we have a blast. So thank you for doing that. Next up, October 3rd, Dallas. Get your tickets right now. We are doing a special episode for Dallas that will be from the Dallas suburbs. So get in there. It's local. And then next up, the 16th and 17th of... October in San Jose and Sacramento. Those will be different shows. So if you go to both, you'll see two different shows. And then Tarrytown is almost sold out on November 13th. And then Medford by Boston there, November 14th tickets available. Shut up and give me murder. Dot com is where you get all of those. Now, Patreon, you want that? Speaker 2 (2:29) Patreon.com slash crime in sports, which is the name of the other show that we do that you should check out. You don't have to like sports. Trust us. So do that. Anybody $5 a month or above, you get everything we put out. Everything. As soon as you subscribe, you're going to get like. about 400 back bonus episodes you've never heard before immediately. Then you get new ones every other week, one crime and sports, one small town murder. This week, what you're going to get for crime and sports, it's a murder story. It has nothing to do with sports. So the person's family who was murdered happened to be an athlete. That's how it's crime and sports. So there you go. And then small town murder, we're going to do the trick-or-treat murder. It's an old-timey murder from like the 50s, but it is a crazy, twisted, weird story of a Halloween night murder. That basically was, they used Halloween to disguise the whole thing. It's pretty wild. So we'll check all of that out and more. Patreon.com slash crime in sports is where you get all of that. And you get everything we put out. Your stupid opinions, crime and sports, both small town murders, all ad free with that Patreon as well. Can't beat that. And you get a shout out at the end of the regular show. So, I mean, that's all we can give you. That's all we have. I'm looking. I got a box behind. Nothing else in there. It's all empty. My bag's empty. That's what we got there. So, yeah, do that, Patreon. And then I'd say, it's time, everybody. What do Speaker 3 (3:47) you Speaker 2 (3:47) say? Here, let's all clear the lungs. We need to do that. I need to do them a lot here. Arms to the sky. This is as clear as they're getting today. Arms to the sky. And let's all shout. Speaker 2 (4:02) Shut up and give Speaker 3 (4:04) me Speaker 2 (4:05) murder. Let's do this, everybody. Okay. Let's go on a trip. Yeah. Let's do it. Well, we're going to Indiana this week. Speaker 3 (4:14) Here Speaker 2 (4:14) we go. Winchester, Indiana, like the rifle there. Yeah. I guess it's within the township of White River, but it's its own town also. I hate when they do that. It's very confusing. A lot of states do that. It happens like in the East Coast states a lot, the Northeast. So much. This is actually, it's a hamlet in a township inside of a, it's like enough already with that shit. This is in eastern Indiana, about an hour and a half to Indianapolis, about an hour 15 to Dayton, Ohio, and about two hours and ten minutes to Columbus, Indiana. Our last Indiana episode, episode 693, Poison Pudding Problems, which I went a little crazy with the alliteration, and I don't regret it. That's fine. Poison Pudding Problems. This is in Randolph County, area code 765. Population here, 5,016. So decent-sized town inside of another town. Median household income is almost about $20,000 below the rest of the country in terms of average. It's $51,985. But that's not bad when you look at the median home cost. You go, oh, okay, that fits. Median home cost here, $118,000. Wow. Which is from another. century, those prices. That'd Speaker 3 (5:31) be amazing Speaker 2 (5:31) to get Speaker 3 (5:31) a middle-of-the-road home for $120. Speaker 2 (5:34) $118. It's got nicknames that are wild. The first one I really don't get, the world's fastest half-mile. There's no racetrack here, Speaker 3 (5:45) but Speaker 2 (5:46) it's Indiana. I get it, Indiana's into the racing, but it's not here. There's no racetrack that I can find, anyway. The other nicknames are even stupider. One is Dub C. And then in parentheses, WC, Winchester. No. No. Nope. That's not what I think of for that. You can't do that. Nope. That's the water closet we've established. Yes, exactly. Oh, we're in water closet Indiana. Then the other one is even grosser. Sugar cream pie capital. They have the word cream pie capital in their fucking town motto. A sugary one. Sugary cream pie. Speaker 3 (6:24) Or the Speaker 2 (6:24) cream pie and your sugar. What have you been eating, sir? Gross. Is that just sugar or cream pie for you? How about that? A little bit of history of this town. Man, it was laid out in 1818 as the county seat. It was the county seat of Randolph County. Five early settlers donated land for the purpose of the town. And they're pretty sure it was named for Winchester, Virginia, because I think one of the people was from there. That's what they do. It became actually notable in the mid-1800s because Randolph County was a major spot for the Underground Railroad. Wow. Yes. Now, Indiana is famous for being one of the Klan-heaviest cities or states in the country. They had a huge—I mean, they controlled all their politics and police forces. Oh, in the 20s and early 1900s? But here, it was big in the Underground Railroad, big in the abolition movement before the Civil War. So that's pretty cool. Then they had oil and natural gas and other resources they found in about the late 1800s. And Winchester transformed from a farming community into an industrial town after that. Yeah. Factories and, you know. Black's not so bad, is it, Indiana? That's right. Speaker 3 (7:39) When it Speaker 2 (7:39) comes to oil. When Speaker 3 (7:39) it Speaker 2 (7:39) comes from the ground, it's Texas tea right there. Speaker 2 (7:43) So all of this enabled the glassmaking industry to thrive here. So a lot of glassmaking here. That was the big deal here was the glassmaking. And they had the fuel from the natural gas and oil to be able to burn those furnaces because you've got to get a pretty high temperature to burn and melt glass. Tornadoes, they've had a couple of those. In 2024, which very recently, a quarter-mile-wide EF3 tornado hit Westchester. Speaker 3 (8:10) Holy. Speaker 2 (8:10) Sounds big. Hit Winchester? Or Winchester. What did I call it? Yeah. Westchester. Westchester. I live near Westchester. I apologize. Yeah. Severe damage was dealt to the Goodwill, the Goodwill store. So we're fine still. That dumpster outside spread people's garbage clothes they don't want everywhere. There Speaker 3 (8:29) it is. Severe damage to somebody else's trash. That's it. The lodge at Speaker 2 (8:35) Summers Point. Okay. And a strip mall. Just a strip mall wiped out, so the subway is gone. The Freedom Life Church and the Taco Bell were flattened. They flattened the Taco Bell. That's tough. Where are we Speaker 3 (8:49) going Speaker 2 (8:50) to get diarrhea now? This is bad. Speaker 3 (8:52) The good news is it didn't break anything that wasn't already there. No, it Speaker 2 (8:57) didn't break one shell. They were already cracked on the bottom. Speaker 3 (8:59) They were already fucked. Speaker 2 (9:01) 38 were injured and three were critically injured, and one of the three died weeks later. And then June 2024, three months later, the remainder of the strip mall was demolished. And subsequently, I think they rebuilt something into a Wendy's, and then Taco Bell underwent repairs and reopened. So there you go. It's back. Reviews Speaker 3 (9:22) of Speaker 2 (9:22) this town. Here's five stars. I think Winchester is an excellent place to raise a family and a perfect place to settle down and put roots. Speaker 3 (9:30) Yeah. Speaker 2 (9:31) It's a very cozy small town that feels like home. This place will always be my home. I grew up here. I have no interest in the outside world whatsoever. I Speaker 3 (9:41) don't have Speaker 2 (9:41) any doubt. Nope. Wow. Winchester will always have a special place in my heart. Here's three stars, and this is the perfect review for three stars. It's your average town in the middle of a cornfield. Easy to miss. Everyone knows just about everyone there. Not sure if that's a really nice thing or terrifying. Middle of the road. This is a three-star review. People take notes. This is how it works. Great place to take Speaker 3 (10:07) an F3 to the chest. Speaker 2 (10:08) Not bad. Well, at least the Taco Bell takes one to the chest. What's nice about this little town I think most can agree on is that you know it like the back of your hand, and it has a little diner that's known for miles around. Oh, well, then everything's fine. It's not much, but it's home. It's not much, but it's ours. That's something. Three stars. Winchester has a cute little hometown feel to it. I grew up in Winchester. That's probably why it feels like a hometown to you because it's yours. Because it's your hometown. It's your hometown. But recently it has fallen victim to a lot of major drug use, and I would definitely like to see that change as I have lost loved ones to this horrible disease. And then finally, two stars. It's not a good place to raise a family. It traps. I guess traps you in the town. Yeah. I suppose. You're stuck in that. Yeah. Cyclical Winchester lifestyle. Yeah. Things to do. Two things. One makes sense and the other one makes none. So that'll be fine. Nothing. No sense. First is the Westchester. See, I almost did it again. Winchester Main Street Festival. Yeah. Normal festival. It says it's an attempt to embrace a Mardi Gras theme and to infuse. Hoosier life with Southern flair. Oh, yeah, I forgot they're Hoosiers. Yeah. What does that mean? No goddamn idea. Speaker 3 (11:31) Wear an I and a U on your chest. That's Speaker 2 (11:33) it. Even when people abuse kids, you love them. As long as they wear a red sweater. You can say whatever you want to these fucking kids. Speaker 3 (11:40) Whatever you want. Speaker 2 (11:42) So they have normal things. Parades, shit like that. Family night with fireworks. Carnival blowout. Normal shit. Then is the one that doesn't make sense. The Hawaiian Steel Guitar Festival in Speaker 3 (11:55) eastern Indiana. Speaker 2 (11:57) No idea why they chose this to, I don't know. Speaker 3 (12:01) The manufacturing plant must be somewhere nearby because they're nice guitars. I've got one right Speaker 2 (12:06) there. No, they're very nice, but it says, I don't know why they would have a Hawaiian guitar festival in eastern Indiana. It's a strange place. It's a brand. I get it, but they're doing Hawaiian music. You know what I mean? Oh, they're doing Hawaiian music too? Winchester, Indiana's Hawaiian Steel Guitar Festival brings together musicians from across generations and cultures. I can't stop laughing. Yeah? I'm Speaker 3 (12:29) not hearing anything about Hawaii yet. Speaker 2 (12:31) Welcoming native Hawaiian artists alongside performers from across the continental United States. What do you think I wrote this down? Do you think I didn't fucking know what Speaker 3 (12:39) it Speaker 2 (12:39) was? Speaker 2 (12:41) Performers include the Williams twins, 96-year-old twin sisters who've been singing and playing guitar together at the festival for nearly 50 years. 96? Wow. They can play guitar at 96? That's amazing. I can barely Speaker 3 (12:55) turn wrenches. I have so much arthritis, and I've Speaker 2 (12:59) never played guitar a day in my life. Well, maybe that's the key. Maybe it keeps you loose. Maybe so. I got to learn this shit. I Speaker 3 (13:06) was going to say, Speaker 2 (13:06) you're not playing that fucking thing. It's sitting there, but you're not doing anything with it. I tried so hard, and I quit already. Alan Akata, a member of the Hawaiian Music Hall of Fame and one of the foremost masters of the Hawaiian steel guitar. 22-year-old Miley Lyman, one of the brightest rising stars in Hawaiian music. I mean, it's a Hawaiian festival, not just the guitar. Wow. It's a whole festival, which is crazy. Anyway, that said, let's talk about some murder. That is shocking. I don't know why. I was like, just let me tell you. Speaker 3 (13:38) I feel bad Speaker 2 (13:39) now, but I'm like, if you let me read one sentence, all of this will be explained. That's so funny. So Speaker 3 (13:47) it's Speaker 2 (13:47) just Speaker 3 (13:47) the music. That's interesting. I Speaker 2 (13:49) can totally see where you're coming from. You're like, but I have one of the guitars. It's Speaker 3 (13:51) a Speaker 2 (13:51) guitar. I have one. It's right there. All right. Murder in this town. Let's go back 2018. Not very far. No, real recent. We're getting eight years. Not bad. Those ladies were still in their 90s. They're fucking, yeah, still. Well, almost. Almost. They were pushing. So let's talk about a guy here, David L. Brumley. L-E-Y, by the way. He's born February 13th, 1957 here. So getting up there. an age here, so I'm 61 years old. He's the son of Robert and Dolores Brumley. He has a brother named Tim. He graduated from Winchester High School in 1976. He is Mr. Winchester. Still lives there. Lives on West South Street in Winchester. Been there all the time. He works for Omega Enterprises, whatever the hell that is, but that's what he works for. Now, in the neighborhood, he knows everybody. He's from this town. It's a small town. If you grew up here and you're 61, you pretty much know everybody. It's a long time. Speaker 3 (14:54) Yeah, Speaker 2 (14:54) you have to know everybody. So he knows all sorts of people, has all sorts of friends that are, like, described as childhood friends all the time. So he still knows them. Seems like a lot of people are born here and they die here. You know what I mean? They are happy about it. So good for them. I guess. Or at least content. Yeah, there you go. At least content. He has a friend of his across the street from him, actually. Well, right kind of near right across the street. A buddy of his he's known for his whole life. So that's kind of fun. And his buddy kind of helps him out with stuff a little bit, as we'll talk about. He's got a car that he's real into that his buddy helps him out with. This is Monty Joseph Cook. Okay, Monty Cook. He's born September 59. They went to high school together. They know each other. Grew up there. They remained friends as adults always. Now, we'll talk about it, but Monty wasn't around for about 15 years. Speaker 3 (15:51) Where'd he go? Speaker 2 (15:52) He was local pretty much, but not available. Put it that way. Oh. He wasn't available to hang out at the time. You could see him, but he couldn't really make plans to see you. From Speaker 3 (16:04) time Speaker 2 (16:04) to time. Yeah. At very certain times on very certain days, you could see him. A couple of hours. Very specific hours. So, yeah, they grow up and Monty would help David Brumley with projects around the home sometimes. You know, and not even like for money. Like, you know, they just help each other out. He liked doing stuff. And he liked turning a wrench or fixing something and doing shit. He also hung out with Brumley in the garage. Brumley's got a little house with a detached garage where he's constantly working on and polishing and making better his prized show car, which is a 2006 Mustang. Speaker 2 (16:48) Oh. Now, there's some debate over whether it's 2004 or 2006, but I'm 99 % sure it's 2006, and it's the same body style from, like, 0108, so it really doesn't matter. Speaker 3 (17:00) It's not really a classic, but it's his prized Speaker 2 (17:03) possession, and that's okay. Speaker 3 (17:04) Well, Speaker 2 (17:04) yeah, he's got it jacked up, too. It's Speaker 3 (17:07) a Speaker 2 (17:07) GT. It's, like, maroon with the black stripes on the hood, and it's got the big black scoop on the hood and all that shit. Like, he's got it all. Okay. Speaker 3 (17:17) Yeah, Speaker 2 (17:18) I think they stopped making the Cobra by then. I believe so, yeah. It also has the chrome pins in the front of the hood. It's like making it look real race. Real race car. What you would do in Grand Theft Auto if you had tons and tons of money and you get a car and go to the shop there and hook it up. That's pretty much what he did to it. Speaker 3 (17:36) The Mustang's a fine car, whatever. Speaker 2 (17:38) Yeah, it's Speaker 3 (17:38) all Speaker 2 (17:38) right. I used to have one. They're fine. But yeah, a lot of people hate them. despise them. Speaker 3 (17:44) It's just the only car that Ford ever built that's really fast, except for the Shelby shit. Speaker 2 (17:49) And the GT, of course. That's a whole different issue. That's a Mustang, though. No, the Ford GT. The hell is that? The 500 GT. That's a totally different thing. That's like a fucking $400,000 car or whatever. So if you want that. Speaker 3 (18:06) It's on a Mustang platform, isn't it? Speaker 2 (18:08) I don't know about the engine, but it's a down-low lower. It doesn't look anything like a Mustang. Oh, Speaker 3 (18:15) were you talking about the... I know what you're talking about. That's the Shelby Cobra, right? Speaker 2 (18:20) No. They're newer ones. Was it the 500 GT, is it called? What the hell is it called? I knew a guy who had one. They're insanely expensive. Yeah, they're really like crazy expensive Fords. Like, it's wild. Yeah, I thought that was, Speaker 3 (18:32) I thought that that's the Mustang built. It doesn't matter. It doesn't matter. Speaker 2 (18:36) It's really irrelevant to the story. I'm Speaker 1 (18:37) going Speaker 2 (18:37) to. Much like the Hawaiian guitars, really irrelevant to the story. So, now. Monty, by the way, has a job. He delivers campers and RVs. That's his job. Speaker 3 (18:48) A Speaker 2 (18:48) lot of RV stuff is made around here, as we'll talk about. So the Mustang is this guy's prized fucking possession. Okay? And he takes it to car shows. And, I mean, he's... This is David Brumley's prized possession here. Yep, he's got a license plate RSP 657, and here we go. Now, a little background on Monty, his buddy across the street. They hung out a lot in their younger days. They were real close, but in the late 2000s, in the late aughts and 2010s, they weren't hanging out because Monty was a little busy, and let's find out why. In July of 2003, At, what is this, July, I believe, 5th, at 2.23 a.m., state and federal agents began an investigation of a fire that caused $7.5 million in damages to a factory. Speaker 3 (19:45) Oh, a factory. It's a 35 Speaker 2 (19:47) ,000-square-foot factory burndown. Huge. And everything inside. Everything in it. Gone. Wow. So they said, quote, by seven hours into the call, we had a lot of resources here to use, saying, you know, that this was the first. The fire chief said this was the first time since he's been in fire that the Federal Department of Alcohol, Tobacco and Firearms and Explosives were to be involved in an investigation. He goes, those guys showed up. We were like, what? What are you guys doing here? ATF. ATF is there. The president of the company that – it's all – this warehouse or factory had one company. It's called Mastercraft. Oh, yeah. So boats. They make shit for boats and RVs. They make furniture for boats and RVs. That's where it comes from here. Yeah. So they said the – Cliff Reynolds, who's the president of that company, said he's confident the business will return someday to full production when they obviously have a place to put it. He said our main focus is to take care of the customers and our employees. So they make upholstered furniture and mattresses for the RV industry, and I guess boats too, from what I understand. Oh, the Speaker 3 (20:56) boats are insane that they build. Speaker 2 (20:58) I bet. So they say it was destroyed by fire. Now, this was originally a smaller building, and I found in the newspapers where— They added on every couple of years. They build another part and build another section. They've grown and grown and grown for like 30, 40 years in this area. Now it's ashes. Yeah, it's a pretty nice story, you know, of a local business growing like that. So employees had not worked in the buildings the last three days because they had a three-day weekend for the Fourth of July holiday. So they went off for a three-day weekend. Turned out