Transcript
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The following is for mature audiences only, so if you aren't cool with dark, disturbing
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and depraved, you might want to keep it moving.
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Welcome to 10 Minute Murder.
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10 Minute Murder.
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You know there's something comforting about a locked door.
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It's the universal sign for "mind your business."
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There's nothing weird happening behind here.
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But what if I told you a story about where every door and every window was locked, the
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valuables were untouched, and yet someone still ended up very, very dead.
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Today we're diving into the baffling case of Theodore Coney's, a man who didn't just
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live off the grid, he lived in the walls.
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His health was bad, his luck was worse, and his decisions were they were uniquely terrible.
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As a tale of desperation, a closet trapped door the size of a shoebox and a murder that
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left Denver police scratching their head.
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This one has it all, eerie noises, a face at the window, and an attic that's less spacious
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loft and more coffin with insulation.
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But before we get into that story, if you like your true crime brief and bingeable, you
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found the right podcast.
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Tap the follow button now for access to at least two episodes per week.
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Let's get into it.
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Most of us stand at our refrigerators, pondering snacks or leftovers blissfully unaware that
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such a mundane moment could mark the end of a life.
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But from one man in Denver, Colorado, it did.
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His final moments unexpectedly tied to a figure named Theodore Coney's.
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In November 1882 in Illinois, Theodore's life was an unrelenting uphill battle.
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From his first breaths, he faced challenges that would define him.
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The great depression loomed far in the future, but Theodore was convinced he would not live
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to see it.
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He entered the world with a body that seemed destined to betray him.
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His lungs were weak, his heart weak, or still.
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Doctors delivered grim forecasts to his parents.
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Avoid physical activity at all costs, if he hoped to survive even a fraction of a normal
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lifespan.
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No running, no school, and maybe more devastating for a boy of his age and era, no baseball.
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Confined to the indoors under his mother's watchful eye, Theodore spent his days battling
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illness after illness.
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Despite her tireless care, doctors remained unflinching in their predictions.
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Theodore would be lucky to see his 18th birthday.
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His ominous shadow shaped Theodore's psyche.
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While most kids dream of futures with possibilities, Theodore saw nothing but an impending void.
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Resentment festered.
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Each day he watched other children run and play.
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Their carefree laughter cutting like glass.
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He hated them.
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Not for their joy, but for their normalcy.
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The normalcy that he would never know.
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The Coney's family dynamic was one of desperation.
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His parents worked tirelessly to protect the son they feared they'd lose at any moment.
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But fate already cruel had more heartbreak in store.
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And then tragedy struck.
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When Theodore Coney's was still young, his father Thomas passed away.
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The loss left Isabella Coney's Theodore's mother to juggle the impossible, caring for
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a chronically ill child while scraping together a living.
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With no better options, Isabella packed up her fragile son and followed work across the
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country, landing in Denver, Colorado.
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She took a job as a housekeeper, balancing long hours and meager pay with the constant
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vigilance required to keep Theodore alive.
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With Theodore was often alone, isolation became his constant companion, fostering a toxic
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brew of bitterness and boredom.
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Against all odds though, his 18th birthday came and went.
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The bad heart, the frail lungs, none of it had yet claimed him.
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This unexpected longevity brought its own cruel twist.
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Theodore had always believed he'd die young, so he never really prepared for adulthood.
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No school, no trade, no plan.
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Now with his mother also gone, he was left floundering, unequipped for the harsh realities
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of independence.
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Theodore drifted through odd jobs, bookkeeping, advertising, sales.
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This sickly appearance and frequent absences sealed his fate at each attempt.
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He was pale, thin, and unreliable in the eyes of employers.
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Time and time again, Theodore found himself back where he started, unemployed and increasingly
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destitute.
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Eventually, the streets became his home.
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Alleyways, doorways and bridges offered scant shelter, but Theodore was not alone in his
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despair.
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The Great Depression had uprooted lives across the nation.
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Yet, while many managed to claw their way back, Theodore simply didn't have the tools,
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or health, to recover.
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For years, Theodore survived on the kindness of others.
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One such kindness came from Philip Peters, a retired railroad worker and family man.
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Philip and Theodore had first crossed paths through the Denver Guitar Club decades earlier
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when Theodore was just seventeen.
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Over the years, their connection had evolved into an occasional lifeline.
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The pattern was simple.
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Theodore would appear at Philip's doorstep, desperate, and starving.
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Philip, generous to a fault, would feed him, sometimes slip him a little money and send
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him on his way.
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It was a quiet, active charity that spanned decades.
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But in 1941, at the age of 59, Theodore turned up at Philip's home once more.
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This time, however, the encounter would not follow their usual script.
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Instead, it would spiral into an event that neither man and no one in Denver could have
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imagined.
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In 1941, Philip Peters found himself in a challenging season of life.
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His wife was in the hospital, recovering from hip surgery, and Philip divided his days
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between visiting her and relying on his generous neighbors, who ensured he had meals and companionship.
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One evening, when Theodore Coneys came knocking at Philip's door, the usual routine took a
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dark and unexpected turn.
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Philip wasn't home.
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The door was unlocked as it often was in those days.
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Theodore, desperate and sick, and weary of the streets, let himself in.
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"I went in and stole some food.
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I was in bad shape.
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My lungs were giving me a lot of trouble, and I was at the end of my rope.
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Fall was coming on, and I couldn't face another winter on the road.
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I had to have a place to stay.
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I found the hole in the closet, climbed through, and slept, and slept."
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The hole Theodore mentioned was a trapped door in the closet, barely larger than a cigar
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box lid.
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It led to the attic, a cramped, suffocating space that he decided to make his new home.
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For the next five weeks, Theodore lived undetected, surviving on stolen scraps of food and the
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unsettling thrill of hiding in plain sight.
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Then came the night when Theodore's clandestine existence collided with Philip's daily routine.
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Theodore, believing Philip was napping, crept downstairs to raid the kitchen.
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To his shock, Philip appeared instead.
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It had been nearly 30 years since their last face-to-face meeting.
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And Theodore wasn't sure Philip even recognized him.
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Any potential for a calm exchange vanished as the situation escalated into violence.
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At 73, Philip Peters was still in better health than his sickly intruder, but Theodore
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hardened by years of hardship, and now accustomed to the physical exertion of hoisting himself
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into the attic, had surprising strength.
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Philip grabbed his walking stick and attacked, but Theodore retaliated.
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He wielded an antique gun he'd found in the house, striking Philip repeatedly into the
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gun shattered.
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Fueled by desperation, Theodore grabbed a metal poker from the fireplace and delivered
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the fatal blows, killing Philip in his own kitchen.
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Philip had been expected for dinner at a neighbor's house that night.
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When he didn't arrive, the concerns neighbor went to go check on him.
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She knocked, but received no answer.
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Worried, she gathered a group of neighbors and a young girl in the group found an open
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window and climbed inside.
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Moments later, her terrified screams filled the night air.
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Philip Peters had been found, but the scene that awaited the neighbors and police was
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nothing short of horrifying.
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When investigators first combed through Philip Peters' home, they uncovered no signs of robbery.
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Philip's watch and money were untouched.
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Even more puzzling, every door and window was locked, even some bolted from the inside.
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The scene defied logic, leaving police with one unnerving conclusion.
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It seemed as though Philip had been killed by an unseen force.
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The trap door to the attic was discovered during the investigation.
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However, its very small size convinced authorities that no human could have possibly used it, and
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they dismissed it as irrelevant.
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After Philip's murder, his wife was finally discharged from the hospital.
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Despite the tragedy, she returned to the home where she had raised her children and spent
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over 50 years of her life.
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But something had shifted in the house.
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Something she couldn't explain.
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Strange noises plagued her nights.
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The walls seemed to rattle, objects inexplicably moved, and footsteps echoed in empty hallways.
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One night, she was so startled that she fell out of bed, re-injuring her recently repaired
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hip.
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Unwilling to leave her beloved home, Philip's wife hired a live-in nurse to care for her.
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But the nurse too began hearing rattles and whispers.
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One night, she caught a fleeting glimpse of a figure vanishing around a corner.
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A moment, she would later describe, as seeing a ghost.
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The police, who had been keeping tabs on the house, investigated again but found nothing.
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Still, the disturbance is persisted, growing more unnerving with each passing day.
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The breaking point came one night when the nurse heard a sound in the kitchen and rushed
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downstairs.
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There at the base of the stairs stood a figure, his shaggy hair hung in wild tangles.
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His clothes were in tatters, and his skin was ghostly pale.
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Convinced she was face to face with a specter, the nurse screamed.
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The figure disappeared and so did the nurse.
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She quit on the spot, refusing to return.
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Soon after, Philip's wife moved in with her son, leaving the house vacant.
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Neighbors, however, reported strange happenings.
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Lights flickered on and off.
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A face, pale and gaunt, was occasionally seen peering from the windows.
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During a routine police check of the now abandoned home, officers heard a faint clicking noise
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coming from upstairs, following the sound that discovered the closet's trapped door slightly
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at jar.
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As one officer opened the door, he saw two legs disappearing into the attic.
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Without hesitation, the officer grabbed a hold of the intruder and dragged him down.
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Because of filthy, tattered clothing tore away as the man struggled.
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At the station, the mysterious figure revealed himself to be Theodore Coney's.
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He confessed to everything, including Philip's murder and the months he spent living undetected
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in the attic.
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Quote, "Whenever I heard Philip downstairs, I kept real still.
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Then I got bolder and used to shadow him from room to room.
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It was sort of a game.
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It gave me a thrill.
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It was the first time in my life I'd ever had anyone at my mercy, but I didn't want to
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hurt him."
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Investigators climbed into the attic where Theodore had been hiding.
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The space was no larger than a coffin, covered in cobwebs and dust.
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His bed was cobbled together from an old ironing board and stacks of magazines.
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Quote, "A man would have to be a spider to stand it long up there."
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One officer remarked.
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Theodore Coney's dubbed The Denver Spider-Man by the press was sentenced to life in prison.
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He spent the remainder of his days behind bars dying at the age of 84.
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That's 10-minute murder for today.
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Brief and bingeable true crime.
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I'm Joe, I'm the host.
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And thank you for taking the time to listen.
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If you're off to binge more episodes, don't let me stop you, but if you're a brand new listener
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to the podcast, welcome.
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Make sure you hit right now, subscribe, wherever you're listening to this podcast.
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And then connect with me on social media.
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You'll find all the links on my website, 10minuteMurder.com.
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And that's your episode for today.
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Thank you again for listening along to 10-minute murder.
