I'm your host, Mark, and I'm Courtney, and today we want to tell you a story that actually
happened here in our backyard of Beckley, West Virginia.
Two prominent residents of Beckley that were murdered and left behind 75 years of un-entered
questions.
This is the story of Nellie Rand and Elmer A. Bailey.
On November 4, 1947, Beckley, West Virginia, on Lover's Lane, also known as Right Road,
100 yards from the Black Knight Country Club.
Both Nellie May Rand and Elmer A. Bailey were shot with a.38 caliber pistol.
The bullet entered the inner gray skull on the left side of his head slightly above his
left ear.
The bullet traveled through his skull and exited through the right side of his head,
killing him instantly.
Another shot was fired and pierced his right thumb, and this was not mentioned in his death
certificate.
Nellie was shot at a range close enough to leave a visible powder mark around the entry
wound on her right cheek.
The bullet then traveled downward, coming out on her left side of the neck and passing
through a portion of her left shoulder.
After the two shots were fired, the gunmen slipped into the driver's seat of Ray's car
and began their final journey to Pembroke Road.
So begins the mysteries of the murders at the Country Club.
Let me start with a little info on the two victims.
Elmer A. Bailey was born June 19, 1897.
He was a lifelong resident at Beckley, West Virginia.
A veteran of World War I.
Ray worked at the Beckley Hardware and Supply Company located in Uptown, Beckley.
In 1922, he married Irene Martin and they had two daughters, Daisy Dean, 19, Diane, 16.
By 1947, Ray was promoted to the furniture department buyer and manager.
He was a member of the Black Knight Country Club, and Irene was a member of the Beckley
Women's Club.
Nellie May Combs was born July 3, 1908 in Winston-Salem, North Carolina.
In 1929, she married Dr. Kenneth Rand in Welch, West Virginia.
By 1932, they had moved to Beckley, West Virginia and built a home on Harper Road.
By 1947, they had two daughters, Kira, 13, and Carolyn, 11.
Both Nellie and Dr. Rand were well-known in Beckley, members of the Lions Club, Els Club,
and the Beckley Swimmons Club.
The day of November 4, 1947 started as a typical day for both Nellie and Ray.
Nellie had a bridal shower to attend that evening, so she had her hair shampooed and
waved at a beauty parlor in Uptown, Beckley.
She was talking about the bridal shower she was attending for her friend, Ermelo.
After leaving the beauty parlor, Nellie went to pick up a gift for Ermelo at a nearby gift
shop.
She picked up two pieces of china to match Ermelo's set.
She had them individually wrapped because one was from her sister, Helen, who would be
missing the bridal shower.
After leaving the gift shop, Nellie walked to her husband's dental office, which was
located in the new Lily building in Uptown.
She told him that she would be taking the family vehicle later that evening.
Nellie returned home around 5pm where she had dinner with her daughters and her sister
Helen.
During dinner, she was cheerful and she was talking about the upcoming bridal shower.
Dr. Redden said to have last spoke to Nellie on the phone around 5.30pm.
He told her that he would be attending the Lines Club meeting.
Then he would be going to a movie at the Lyric Theater as he did every Tuesday night.
He asked her to pick him up one block away from Main Street around 11pm.
So to paint a picture for you and our listeners, the Lyric Theater was probably at 300 Neville
Street which is now just a parking lot across the street from the Cardinal statue and where
the former Beckley Hardware and Supply Store was located.
After dinner, she got dressed in a blue silk dress and a matching rhinestone necklace and
rings.
She completed her look with a gray fur coat saying goodbye to her sister and daughters.
Nellie left her house around 7.30pm to attend the bridal shower.
Ray worked at the Beckley Hardware Supply Store throughout the day.
The Hardware Store was located at 100 Huber Street.
It is now a law office.
Around 5.30pm, he had dinner with his wife and daughters.
His wife said he was in an upbeat mood because he was going to buy a new family radio.
After dinner, he showered and shaved and lived his house around 6.30pm to 7.
He told his wife he was going to go back to work and finish a few things before he had
left.
He had $400 in his pocket to buy a new family radio.
Ray was just seeing at 7pm at the corner shop on the corner of Johnstown Road and Canal
Street and purchased some gas.
The attendant James Fleshman put pumped his gas and gave Ray a change from the $10 bill.
Mrs. Bailey actually called the Black Knight Country Club at 7pm and asked if Ray was there.
Sadly, he wasn't.
Irene and Dr. Rand both had suspicions that the affair was hitting back up.
Over the past year, Dr. Rand confronted Nellie about her affairs.
Yes, there was more than one.
He raised the possibility of divorce, which was frowned upon back in 1947.
Nellie promised to end her affairs right then and there.
The rumors that the affair only grew when Ray moved out of the family home into a place
of his own.
However, things did die down in October when he moved in right before the wedding of his
eldest daughter.
From what we know, Nellie and Ray met on the right road around 8pm.
Nellie got out of her car and into the back of Ray's.
At 8.15pm, three shots were heard.
No one would ever see Nellie or Ray alive again except for the murderer.
Pula, Clana Han, reported zeroing shots at 8.10pm on South Canaw Street.
A group of boys heard the shots and went running in the direction of them.
When they got to the road, they only saw Nellie's light blue Chrysler Fordor sedan parked on
this side of the road.
Basically after this, both Nellie and Ray went missing until the morning of November
5th.
So hear me out.
We both have been told that Chrysler has never made a Commodore, which is basically the
car everyone says Nellie had.
Which I mean, it's true, they didn't make one, but we've done a research personally
from like crime scene photos and photos of just like other Chryslers.
We believe that it was basically just a Fordor sedan.
There were different makes and models, but from the closest one I have been able to see.
So I'm going to send you a picture of the car that was left on our road.
Which you really can't see much from it, but from what I can see they match.
Absolutely, they do match.
I mean, if anything we've learned, the Commodore was actually a boat in Hudson, Austin made
a Commodore.
Things right here could possibly be like a New Yorker on what the car definitely disappeared
to look.
So as we said before, Dr. Rand was attending a meeting at the Lions Club, which took place
from 6th Tape P.M.
He told investigators that after the meeting he had some extra time, so he went back to
his office.
Around 9 p.m. he walked to the Lyric Theater to catch the Tuesday night movie.
However, this part is a little sketch.
The mayor, Walter A. E. Burr, was actually the ticketmaster that night.
And however, he does remember Dr. Rand going to the movies every Tuesday night.
He honestly doesn't remember Dr. Rand telling Dr. Rand a ticket that night.
Around 11 p.m. he walked to Main Street, where him and Nellie both agreed on meeting.
When Nellie and Dan arrived by 11.30 p.m., he accepted to arrive from his neighbor, Mrs.
Lorenzo Torrine.
Ms. Torrine said that Dr. Rand didn't seem any different, that he chatted comfortably
the entire way home.
When Dr. Rand arrived home, he was happy to see that lights were on and when he entered,
he found out that his sister-in-law, Hale, and turned them on.
He also learned that no one has heard from Nellie since she left the house at 7.30.
When she didn't return by 12.30, he began to make phone calls to friends.
One of the calls was to the home the bridal shower was Hale.
He soon found out Nellie never made it to the party.
When Nellie didn't arrive home by morning, Dr. Rand called the Beckley hardware store
to talk to Ray.
When Earl Bepp told Dr. Rand that Ray had not shown up for work that morning, his fears
grew worse.
Hoping that the two could be found, Dr. Rand called the Beckley police department and reported
the family car as missing.
Little did he know that around the same time, Ray's brother Earl made the same report for
Ray's car.
With police looking out for the cars, they thought it wouldn't be long until the two
were located.
On the other side of town, the mystery of Nellie and Ray was already unfolding.
Around the time Dr. Rand was filing his report, State Trooper R. L. Tabscott was on his way
to Coleridge to serve a warrant.
When he passed Old Raleigh Ballfield, which is located at the Two Brothers Collision,
going down Raleigh Hill now, he noticed a dark green 1941 Buick roadmaster parked on
the north side.
Around 11 a.m. when he returned, he noticed that Ray's car was still there.
He decided to pull over and investigate.
Looking into the abandoned car, he spotted a large pool of blood in the rear floor.
He also noticed the three bullet holes in the back seat.
Nellie's gray fur coat and Ray's top coat were laying in the seat.
In the back window above, in the back window above the back seat laid Ray's hat and Nellie's
purse.
The keys to Ray's car were still in the ignition and the car was still turned on.
Using his handkerchief to protect fingerprints, evidence, State Trooper Tabscott closed the
windows, locked up the car, and returned to police headquarters.
Colonel H. C. Fullmer was having a busy morning also at the State Police Headquarters.
It all began with reports with two stolen cars from prominent citizens of Beckley.
On the same time, Trooper Tabscott returned to headquarters.
O.G. Goodson and his son Raymond arrived at the State Police Headquarters to tell them
about the two dead bodies they found on the old Penman Road a few miles away.
Goodson and his son, along with Colonel H. C. Fullmer, Trooper Tabscott drove out to
the remote Penman Road.
Now, upon a lot of our research that we have done, and we're just like our listeners who
know that we have researched this for two months, we had a lot of sources helping us
out.
Penman Road actually started where the Southern Regional Jail in Beckley is, and basically
just made like a big huge loop around.
And basically where the bodies were located is now where the federal prison is in Beaver.
So Tommy Dinkin, you come across like some maps or something, I may help you with some
maps of Penman.
I did, we're going to call him John Doe, but he did.
There was about 49 houses and basically a bunch of buildings.
From what I've heard, which we'll get on to it later, is that the bodies were found near
the powerhouse.
To me, looking at the new maps and that map, the road kind of matches the same way it does
today.
To me, the powerhouse is located where a dermatologist office is located at today.
And the maps will actually be up on our social media.
Everyone can look at that.
Yeah, if you guys change, go up there and look at the maps.
So to get back to our story, about that time, the Raleigh County Coroner Douglas Brown was
contacted and told to meet them there.
When they got there, the scene that met them on the embankment was nothing less than gruesome.
Roughly 20 feet off of the embankment laid the bodies of Nellie Rand and Ray Bailey.
However, Nellie's identity wouldn't be figured out until later.
However, Ray had a card in his pocket that could connect the homicide to the car that
Rupert Habscott found earlier.
Nellie was found face down with her head on Ray's legs.
Ray was also found face down.
Both were covered in a large amount of blood.
But looking at the grass, it looked like the bodies were either carried down or rolled
down an embankment.
Along the embankment, officers found Nellie's shoes and her underwear that had a few blood
stains on it.
Sadly, these items were taken off of her before she was taken down the embankment.
So I'm not sure why her underwear was off.
To me, I'm not sure if it was like a prize if someone tried to do something with her
after she was murdered.
We really just aren't sure why.
Her shoes were spaced out.
What was it?
Like six feet from each other?
I can only hope and pray that nothing happened to her, that someone didn't try to rape her
or anything of that nature.
Both Nellie and Ray were dressed in formal attire, which made them completely out of
place in their surroundings.
A small amount of money was found in Ray's pockets.
An expensive rhinestone necklace hung around Nellie's neck.
On first sight, officers didn't think robbery could have been the motive.
It soon became apparent that Nellie and Ray were killed in a different location and dumped
on Penman Road.
Tire tracks along the road showed that a vehicle, possibly Ray's, stopped at the embankment.
Then drove 30 feet and turned around and left the area.
Now we have seen reports on the bodies being dumped next to the old powerhouse.
Now we're not exactly sure of the location of the powerhouse, but we're going to ask
John Doe's some more information to see if we cannot find out exactly where the powerhouse
is.
Which I mean, we were told it is on the map somewhere, but I'm leading more towards like
where the, how the roads match.
It's near the dermatologist's office.
Yeah, and the dermatologist's office is very, very close to the federal prison now.
Very, very close.
Bailey drove a dark green 1941 Buick Roadmaster and it was towed to the police headquarters.
There were footprints next to the car that officers took a plaster cast of.
Sadly due to rain earlier that morning, the cast would be useless.
Police traced the footprints through some brush up to the northern edge of the unused
Raleigh Ball Park.
The prints led them to the road that circled the field and then ended.
The bodies of Nellie and Ray were removed from Penman Road and taken to Rose Mortuary
where autopsies were performed.
Now we have seen death certificates and like we stated earlier, it really doesn't mention
that Ray was ever shot in the thumb.
So allegedly we were told after the bodies were originally dumped, two men walking on
Penman Road.
They were I think looking for bottle caps, bottles.
And they found the bodies.
However when they found the bodies, Nellie was still alive apparently trying to climb
up the embankment.
However, when they called the cops and the cops got there, the cop that showed up told
them that he would handle it from here.
We were also told that Nellie was shot twice after that.
We have a lot of theories on this that we'll get to here in a little bit.
At 4pm, a Bayley police officer radioed in to report that Nellie's car was found.
Her car was on an axis road about 100 yards from Black Knight Country Club.
It didn't take them long to put the pieces of the puzzle together to find out that this
was the crime scene.
20 feet from the back of Nellie's car, police found a small puddle of blood measuring 12
inches in diameter.
Next to the puddle of blood, they found Nellie's watch with a broken band.
With the time of 8.15 frozen on it, this gave officers an idea of what time the murders
happened.
We have like so many questions of like, oh why there was such a large puddle of blood.
We want to know what if they were both in Ray's car.
How did Nellie's watch get on the ground?
And did Nellie actually attempt to run before she was murdered?
Exactly because I mean, from this, they would have killed Ray first.
100%.
So, I mean Nellie could have tried to run, but with three bullet holes being in the back
seat of the car, there's really no way unless she would have tried to run after she was shot.
I mean, that's the only reason I could think there could be blood on the ground.
So get this.
The murder didn't happen in Nellie's car.
But police did find a small amount of blood on her rear fender.
Other than that, the car was basically cleaned and gave back to Dr. Rand.
The cars were actually found within one half mile of each other.
However, the bodies were found 5.7 miles away from the country club.
Basically 12 minutes today.
Because I mean, we have, we've drove this road so many times.
We've kind of mapped it out at the same time the murders have happened.
And we have timed it to be 12 minutes, especially with beaver traffic today.
Absolutely.
The boys who heard the shots quickly ran into the direction of them.
Here's my thing.
How can there be a group of boys allegedly playing golf at 8pm in November?
Even right now in October, we both know how dark it gets at the country club.
It's basically on the right road.
100%.
There's no way I believe they were actually playing golf.
No, but we were told by one of our sources that there was a gambling match going on that
night.
And I want to say I heard there was an event going on at Black Knight that night.
That's what I've heard also.
When they got to where they heard the gunshots, they only saw one car, which was Nellie's.
But the time it took them to run from the country club to where the cars were, the killer
had already hopped in the front seat, a race car, and sped away.
Also on the night of November 4th, a pair of hunters who were in the area reported hearing
a car coming up the old Piedmont Road.
However with them hunting out of season, they hid in the woods.
They heard the vehicle and then lead the area.
We're not sure on the amount of time that the vehicle was there on Piedmont Road.
The hunters report 11 p.m. with the two hunting out of the season.
They were scared that the vehicle may have been the game warden, so they were nervous
about coming forward.
Sadly, they didn't see the vehicle or anyone in it because they were hiding to keep out
of sight.
So the estimated time is two hours for all this stuff happened from the in being shot
to the bodies being dumped.
So why is there a reported 18 mile trip?
And those raised wife didn't drive.
So I've been wondering if she possibly could have known the mileage on the car or if his
daughters could have known.
That's one question I have today because I mean if she would have known but I mean she
didn't drive so she probably just didn't pay attention to it.
I don't know if his daughters were driving yet or not.
So I just don't understand where they get an 18 mile trip out of this.
Because I mean we both know we can do this trip in 15 to 20 minutes tops.
However, I feel like the person or persons that killed Nellie and Ray try to cover their
tracks a little bit.
Let's say it was a robbery gone wrong and the killer wanted to find a good woodsy area
to dump the bodies.
I mean it could also have been someone that was hired to murder them and the person who
hired them wanted to see the bodies dead.
So I mean that could have been a thing that happened.
Absolutely.
Later in the day of November 5th police has ruled out the option of it being a robbery
gone wrong.
However Dr. Wren reported that Nellie had three rings missing and the gifts from the
party she was going to attend were missing.
The rings were valued at $2000.
I ring reported that Ray had about $400 on him before he left the house.
We know he spent $10 to put gas in his car which would have left him with $390.
And I've tried to do research on this but what radio in 1947 would have been $400.
I mean I know they didn't have TVs then or anything like that but it just blows my mind
that a radio could have been $400.
And I honestly did not believe that it would have cost that much.
One of the things we did notice when we were doing research on this and looking at old
newspaper articles is the fact that you could buy a whole living room suit for like $100
or maybe a little over $100.
I mean my god I mean there would have been like an amazing radio to cost that much back
in the day.
A local pawnbroker named Steve Boshuda reported a black man had pawned a diamond ring which
fit the description of Nellie's.
When police found the man that the store reported pawned the rings off they found out that he
actually applied for a job as a chef at the country club at just 5pm which would have
been three hours before the march.
Let's talk about this for a second.
We boasting this in multiple newspaper reports and everything.
This basically just bothers us to know when.
Police didn't rope off the area the murders took place.
So the next day after the murders were reported November 5th employees reported that most
of their day was actually spent directing traffic in the direction of where the murders
took place.
So who's to say that the guy who applied for the job just didn't drive up that road and
see the rings and just grabbed.
Another thing is too it irritates me to know we in because I feel that a lot of the evidence
was majorly contaminated.
By the fact that there were so many people going up and down the crime scene that day
and another thing is there's actually a photo.
We're going to definitely put it up on the on our socials of a man standing right next
to the puddle of blood there and it irritates me so so bad on this.
So so bad.
Oh gosh it irritates me.
So the man who supposedly on the rings his name was Vernon Mitchell and he was actually
taken into custody at the country club and he maintained his innocence and that he wasn't
the person who committed the crime.
On Saturday November 8th he was driven to Morgantown where they performed a lie detector
test.
After the test he was taken back to Beckley.
He was put in jail under the name John Doe.
When Mitchell's wife learned of his return and that he was in jail she got into contact
with an attorney James Rowland.
Rowland filed immediately a right of habeas corpus when he spoke to on his constant tension.
His detention is one of the most damnable things that could have ever happened in the
community.
The rest of the black man with no more evidence than they have.
This man is a property owner, the father of several children, the husband of a school
teacher, all of who are held with highest respect in this community.
Rowland said that if he was forced to take this matter to trial that he would subpoena
many of Beckley's most prominent citizens and ask them under oath if they had ever had
an affair with Nellie.
Burnham Mitchell was soon released.
With the lawyer saying he would ask prominent citizens of Beckley this shows that Nellie
has had multiple affairs with men in the city.
We know of one alleged that was going on with a bartender at the country club.
We aren't sure of his name but we do know that he was African American.
And I've actually wondered if he was one who might have the answer to the phone when Mrs.
Bailey called and he knew exactly where Nellie would have been that night.
Could he have murdered the two?
I mean that's why I've been thinking here lately.
I mean in all honesty we don't, if there was ever a time that I could go back it would
be November 4th.
If I could ever go back in time it would be that night.
You know we would be together right there.
Then 100% we would have and I would also like it to be told that Burnham Mitchell passed
his lie detector test.
Also too the officers wouldn't have to wait long until their first confession came to
light.
On November 23rd the state police received a message from Cincinnati, Ohio.
21 year old James Richardson of Crabb-Orchard confessed to the murders of Nellie and Wreck.
Richardson was arrested for a Wreckless driving charge.
He signed a detailed statement where he described his motives for the murders.
Beckley police officers followed up with every single lead.
Someone from the West Virginia State Police went to Cincinnati and brought Richardson
back to Beckley for questioning.
However they would soon find out this lead was far from what they were looking for.
Richardson told officers that he used a.32 caliber pistol when it was really a.38 caliber
pistol that was used.
Officers took him to the spots where the murders happened and where the bodies were found.
Richardson was unable to prove where the vehicles were and where the bodies were actually found.
Officers soon find out after a comment Richardson made that his confession was actually false.
He said his confession was due to a fungus infection in his eardrums which often caused
his mind to go blank.
He also said they loved detective and mystery magazines.
Instead, Richardson was charged with stealing and driving the vehicle in Cincinnati.
The longer the case went on, the more the facade of small town innocents faded away.
The area of the murders was actually a popular lovers lane with couples who were having affairs.
A lot of robberies actually occurred there.
However they wouldn't go reported due to couples having affairs.
On the night of November 4th, a neighbor in the area reported seeing a suspicious man in the area.
It turns out that that man was just looking to have a hookup.
Two years went by and the murders were still the topic of conversation in the small community
at Beckley.
In April of 1949, 20 year old Charles Brown was captured by police in Cleveland, Ohio.
What is up with all the confessions coming out of the state of Ohio?
I've always wondered that.
I do too.
I mean literally every confession came from Ohio.
I know.
I mean Cleveland and Cincinnati, I mean it's a good distance.
A very good distance.
But I mean too it was crazy.
Yes.
After he attempted to hold up a taxi driver, he told officers in Cleveland that he committed
the murders a nilly enray during another attempted robbery.
He said to have sold the murder weapon at a hardware store in Bluefield, West Virginia.
Here's the thing about Brown's confession.
It had one major flaw marked.
He was actually in jail in Raleigh County the night the murders took place.
He made it to confession hoping to escape the charge on him in Ohio.
I mean that's one way to try.
But I mean if you're in jail, you're in jail.
I mean there's no like oh the accidently you know put their own name to their own person.
No, like you are there.
Exactly the same Alcatraz.
I know right.
From there the investigation of the double murders sadly went cold.
With no new information the case sadly faded away.
However, people in the city of Beckley still talk about the murders of Nellie and Ray to
this day.
No matter who you talk to you always find out new information.
After 75 years Nellie's rings and the gifts she bought for the party have never been found.
So after 75 years just like any other person in Beckley we have our own theories on this
case.
We spent two months doing research on this.
We've actually visited Nellie's grave and actually just the other day we found Ray's
grave just by driving by and just risking it on a Bailey rave.
I can honestly tell you the first time that we visited Nellie's grave it was late in
the evening.
The moon that night was just something.
It was a full moon and it wasn't even supposed to be a full moon.
No, it was a full moon that night.
We actually searched for her grave for about 45 minutes before we found it.
We went from like the far end to we went end to end of sunset.
Looking for this grave and we walked every single grave and all this time we had been
passing her grave every time that we drove to work.
We 100% passed it and the first time that we were out there visiting it was the most
overwhelming feeling to ever come over you when we done it.
I'm a crier.
This is very one name between us.
I'm a crier.
But I could not control my emotions that night.
It's just an overwhelming feeling of sadness when you go to her grave.
Ray's, you really didn't feel anything?
No, you didn't.
I can honestly say when we were at Ray's grave I just felt a sense of anger when we
were there.
And the craziest part about is Dr. Ran and his second wife are buried in sunset.
In the Muslim, the main Muslim, which we couldn't get into because they closed the
doors early.
Yeah, we can't get in there.
Nellie and her daughter, Caroline, are buried side by side and Ray and Irene are buried
side by side and it's all within a very close proximity to each other.
Held the grave for her.
It's almost like in a triangle.
It makes a triangle.
It really does.
It makes a triangle.
Nellie's though is the farthest away from anyone of them.
The farthest is.
But the craziest thing happened the night we went.
Mark is also a photographer and Mark had his Polaroid that night along with two or three
more other cameras.
And he had put in a new canister, a Polaroid film.
And tell what happened when you took a picture.
I took two pictures and just stuck them in my pocket for them to develop and everything.
The pictures of Nellie's grave didn't develop.
They were black.
Never had that happen before.
And the crazy thing is, took a Polaroid in the car just to test it.
It developed.
It 100% developed.
And before anybody thinks, oh, you didn't have the flash on.
The flash was 100% on.
And I mean that flash, it automatically goes off.
I mean it's brighter than like nothing else.
It 100% that film did not develop.
And even the next day we were out running around together and the film was still in
the car and it still was black.
Nothing ever happened with that.
And I mean when we say we've been investigating this case for months, we've drove the spot
they were murdered.
We've parked in the black night park.
They probably know my car by now.
They're like, oh, there's, you know, those two again, just, you know, parking here.
They're probably just going lovers lane or whatever.
Not the case.
We're just, you know, investigating this because in all honesty, like it's such a sad
case that it's, you know, basically went on for 75 years with no answer.
And the crazy thing is too is we have been all over the place trying to find PM Moon
Road.
We, from a video we've seen, which we will link in the show notes for you guys to watch
it, it's a very good video.
We for some reason thought it was in Stanford.
So we actually thought it was in Glade Creek, which I mean, isn't far from Stanford whatsoever.
And technically from where the mines was, it had the bail things.
I'm not sure what they're called.
The bail things.
And it actually ended up going down through Glade Creek to connect to like the trains
and all this so they could get coal out of Penman.
And another thing is too, when we were trying to find PM Moon, we had multiple, multiple
people we were contacting.
Have you ever heard of PM Moon?
Where's this at?
Where could it be?
We were asking every single question imaginable how to where this place could be.
I mean, doing endless research online.
And within an hour, we had three different people tell us the same exact location on
where PM Moon is.
And I mean, for anyone who wants to drive it, it's industrial drive now in Beaver.
You can do the entire loop, but you can't actually go to where the town of PM Moon is.
Because the federal prison is sadly, you know, they have a gate and Courtney was like, oh,
how can we get in there?
And you have me like, I don't know, do tax fraud or something.
I mean, I'm literally over here thinking of ways that we could get in to where the prison
is.
But I will also say too, because you don't know exactly where the bodies were located
at.
I hate when people say where the bodies were dumped.
Yeah.
I absolutely hate that.
Where their bodies were located at.
I will tell you, though, you do get an incredible sense of sadness driving down the airport,
you know, at any given place that is where their bodies could have been located at.
And we're just going to say this, driving it at night.
Even during the day, it's creepy, but at night, so much creepier.
It is.
I mean, it is just it is incredibly it is pitch black out through there.
I mean, even the parking lots aren't very well lit and all out through there.
And we have done this drive when we say multiple times, we have probably done this drive two
times, two, three times a week for like a month and a half now.
We have done this because we have really put this in there in all honesty.
If there's two people that deserve justice on this to which now it would be hard, but
still answers definitely, you know, these questions need to be answered.
Nellie and Ray both do.
They both deserve to have answers.
We actually at one point, we actually wanted to reach out to Nellie's daughter.
We have found out she is still alive.
And we actually wanted to reach out to her, but we decided not to because we didn't know
if that could possibly bring up some trauma for her and everything.
So we opted against that.
And another thing with this case, I'm sure a lot of people in town, we believe it was
a major cover up.
We've heard that Nellie was allegedly having an affair with the police officer who has
a very prominent name in Beckley.
We won't say what name we think it is, but we have seen.
We have seen names and there's actually two or three names on there that are very prominent.
Very, very prominent.
That being said, they think the police officer actually was the killer.
And all we know is that this alleged person was very prominent in town.
The family is still, still very, very prominent in Beckley.
Yes.
So to go back to where we were talking about going to Nellie and Ray's grave, two other
very distinctive things came besides the emotions that came to us.
Number one, when we went to Nellie's grave, the first night that we were there, we actually
smelled a very floral scent.
And it was almost, it was actually dark, the moon was out.
The sunset that night was also incredible.
I mean, anytime that we had been up there close to sunset, we had honestly been blessed
with some of the absolutely most gorgeous sunsets ever.
We had good sunset to sunset.
It's true.
But we did smell a very heavily floral scent.
And this time of year, there is no fresh flowers on them graves.
And it was only at her grave that we smelled that floral scent.
And it was nothing alarming.
It was a very calming, it was an innocent, beautiful smell that came about.
And all honestly, it was very welcoming innocence.
It really was.
I mean, just the emotions were there.
It was a scent of floral that I had never smelled before.
It was like one of the most beautiful scents of roses that you could have ever smelled.
It's not like a scent that is like your typical rose smell that you're going to get by roses
from the grocery store or from a florist.
It was just like one of the most purest floral smells that there was.
However, when we discovered raised graves, and when we say discovered, we mean we were
literally driving by it.
And Court was like, Oh, there's the Bailey.
Stop the car.
We got out and we least covered the names.
So we took a stick to like, and I found Irene's grave first.
It was Irene's and we went over to the left and there was raised.
Yeah.
And then the smell that came from there was a very cinnamon musky type of smell.
And at first I thought, Oh my God, Courtney, you're just losing it.
It's just the stick that you have in your hand.
I even smelled the stick.
I mean, this is how I am, folks.
I smelled the stick and I even asked Mark, I said, Do you smell this?
And he was like, I smell a cinnamon.
I smell a musk and everything.
And I spent the whole rest of the evening wanting to know what a cinnamon, what a cinnamon
musk smell meant there.
But it was, I still haven't found the answers.
I want it means.
But when I say that, I had a sense of anger come over me at his grave.
I was 100% had a sense of anger that came over.
I mean, I don't know if you felt anything that day or not.
No.
I just knew I felt anger and then we left where the Baileys were buried at and we went
over to Nellie's and the exact same emotions came over me again.
I started sobbing.
And then we know we said this before, but after we left Nellie's this time, we went
to the muslin, which I mean, it was daylight all this.
And yeah, the doors were locked.
So we could.
And the crazy part about it too is like we looked and they have a sign on the door that
said that they would lock the doors at 430 p.m. until eight and you had to go to the
office to get the key to get in.
This was 2 30 in the afternoon.
And we could not get into that mausoleum to save our life.
No.
And the creepy thing is there was a door open and you could see like a wood wall.
Yeah.
So that was just some of the things that we have experienced dealing with this case.
I will say I'm very grateful for our sources that have helped us on this case.
But the crazy thing is it's just like any it's just like a lot of times like you're
able to get information.
This right here has been one of the most difficult cases to get any type of information about
just like when you think that you're starting to find something and you're starting to get
on a good track and find this something you're going to find something out and you're like,
oh my God, we might be able to get some info.
Boom.
That door is closed.
No information.
And literally when we say like no pun intended, but this is like cold like it went cold.
Like every single time.
I mean every single time and like you hear all kinds of information out about it and
everything and like nothing ever matches up.
Like there's only been a few things in this case on research wise that we were able to
like look at and everything actually like hooked up in the sense on it and everything.
I mean, there's one newspaper report where it says the coroner said Nellie was shot twice.
Ray was only shot once.
Then it says Ray was shot twice.
Nellie was shot once.
But with the report of us hearing that Nellie was actually shot twice, it really makes you
wonder if the death certificate is correct in what the saying is.
And another thing is too is the one newspaper article talked about the way she was shot
saying that she was shot in the head and everything.
But then after that, it said, what was it?
It was something crazy like she was shot in the head.
She was shot in the temple like Ray.
Yes.
However, her death certificate literally states that she was shot in her right cheek with
the bullet exiting through her neck.
He was shot in the right cheek.
He was shot in the left temple.
So I mean, we can basically put them in the car today.
I mean, he was in the backseat on the driver's side.
She was in the backseat on the passenger side, just going off how they were both shot.
And the reason why we're saying that they were sitting in the backseat was simply on
the way that Ray was shot.
He had to be sitting straight up for that bullet to enter through his left temple and
exit out the right.
Now we know a lot how things are perceived today, how a lot of things are wrote today
in newspaper articles.
But some of the main questions that we had was number one, with Ray being shot in the
head, wouldn't there be some sort of brain matter in the car?
Wouldn't there be some bone fragments or something?
I mean, questions of that nature.
We've also questioned with the position that Nellie was shot at.
I mean, for her to be shot through her right cheek to come out the left side, I mean, that
Gomet had to be pointed at a very heavy angle.
I feel like, and I also wonder too, if it could not have hit her jugular.
Now this right here is one of the biggest things that Mark and I do differ on on this
case is I 100% believe that they were not killed on Lover's Lane.
I feel that they were killed offsite, brought up there, bodies were transported to another
car, whatever, and then drove back off.
That is my theory and Mark's theory is...
They were shot there and all that.
Like I believe Nellie could have possibly tried to get out of the car.
That's why there was blood on the ground.
The only thing I really do question is how did blood get on the back fender of her car?
It really is.
I mean, the only way we could really just put the pieces together is if some chance we could
get the police report, but we have tried for two months.
Non-stop.
Sadly, it's not going to happen.
I know that there is ways to get police reports today, but sadly, this one is locked up.
And also, anytime that you go to Google, this online is such limited information that's
on there.
It really is.
And even with the newspapers that are scanned and put on the internet on this site, they
totally differ from the newspapers that are scanned and put on the machine at the library.
We even went to the library on this to search it.
And I mean, that's where we found out that the crime scene wasn't roped off and all of
this stuff.
And the whole other thing is too is we were at the library so long that they actually
came over to us and told us that they were closing.
We had about, what, 15 minutes before they closed?
I'm not like that.
The girl was like, hey, I'm just letting y'all know that we're going to be closing in about
15 minutes.
Yeah.
We did what y'all need to do, whatever, and everything.
But basically get out.
Yeah.
That was basically the entire thing.
Another thing is too that was very interesting about all of this is the fact that one of
the newspaper articles that we found spoke about how a journalist for a newspaper in
Bluefield actually found the murder weapon.
It's the only time we've ever saw it.
That is the only time that that was ever mentioned.
Other than anything else that you ever see about it has been said that no murder weapon
has ever been found.
Nothing of that nature.
I mean, one might be questions is too, when, like I know now, like if a piece of jewelry
or something comes up missing, and especially if it's reported as stolen, all the pawn shops
are reached out to.
I just wonder if the pawn shops back in the day were notified the way that they are today
about that?
Like dealing with like missing rings, China, and I would just like to say too, you're talking
to a girl who absolutely loves a good bridal shower and all that stuff.
China is still to this day a very expensive thing.
And even back then, it was an extremely expensive thing.
And it was considered a very big gift to be gifted with a place setting of China, especially
and I certain China's calls, China patterns cost more than others.
And especially dealing with the material, especially if it was considered like what they
call a bone China.
And that is a very expensive piece.
And it just makes me wonder if the pawn shops weren't notified to be on lookout for China
or, you know, what if they weren't, what if this was somebody for her and that they took
the China place settings for a piece of payment or along with her rings?
Because I feel that the rings would have more value than what her rhinestone necklace would
be.
Also, another thing that we were talking about last night, we were talking about this a little
bit more, was about her watch.
And I kind of came up with the theory that for that to have stopped at approximately
a 15 that the little pin handle on the side or whatever it's called, would have to be
pulled out.
I mean, with the band being broken and on the ground, the watch would have been ripped
off for rest.
I mean, there would have had to have been bruising.
100%.
And you never hear nothing about the bruising on her.
Nothing.
I mean, the death certificate literally just says homicide, that she was shot through the
right cheek, exited through the left neck.
That's pretty much it.
I mean, that's all you know about this.
And it kills me to this day.
It really does.
Because this is our biggest thing, is our theories.
I mean, we have got so many theories and we have came up with so, so many theories.
In reality though, at the end of the day, a wife lost her husband, children lost her
father, a husband lost his wife, their daughters lost her mother, brothers and sisters were
affected by this.
And at the end of the day, you had two lives lost.
Stay tuned for our next episode dropping on November 18th, the missing case of the soldier
on Bolt Mountain, James Lee Haines.
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For all of our source material, check out our website, mountainstaymysteriespodcast.com.