Hello! I am Kenna. I'm Koelle. And welcome back to another episode of
Diagnosing a Killer. Are you not gonna do it with me? I was waiting for you to join.
I feel like I always say it with you so I wanted to see what happened if I didn't say it.
Oh, there you go. What? Welcome to Diagnosing a Killer.
I smell like coffee. Sorry, I'm gonna be like breathing into your own mouth. That's kind of weird.
We are back this week. I have a very special new case for everybody.
I'm really excited. I know that you're excited to talk about it.
It's the one that I didn't know and I was like, no, like everything I read was a no way.
Every twist, every turn. The cool thing about it is that the amount of information I found is like
remarkable. There's a lot? Not only is there a lot of information on the crimes,
there's a lot of quotes from the killer that I included in here because I think it's very
important to see his mindset about the whole thing, especially after the fact. So we're gonna
talk about that. That being said, with the amount of detail, this is gonna be a two-parter.
Ooh, saucy. Alright, I haven't done a two-parter in a while.
Yeah, we're gonna do part one today and then probably next week we'll release part two.
Do you have any business we need to talk about? I don't think so.
I don't really think so. I mean, just living life. Christmas was good.
Excited for New Year's. Oh my gosh, I'm not. A lot of life changes that have been happening.
Yeah, I work a double on Friday and then I'm off for New Year's Day and then I work a double on Sunday.
So I'm gonna have not a very fun New Year's, I guess.
I was gonna say, so you work a double the day before New Year's Eve and then you're off
New Year's Eve but then you work a double on New Year's Day. No, I work a double on New Year's Eve.
I'm off on New Year's Day and then I work a double the next day. Oh, I see.
But still, at least you have New Year's Day off. You can go out and have some fun.
That's true. I think you gotta work. Yeah. I don't know what's gonna be open but...
I don't know, that's true. I want to go to the ranch but it's far and I don't think I'm gonna
want to drive all the way up there on New Year's Eve after work. After work, yeah.
Oh well, no one cares about my plans. Get into the cage. What are you doing for New Year's
Eve, guys? Yeah, tell us. So I researched this week for my Tupata, a British case.
So this is set in the UK. That being said, there are some names in here that I might butcher.
So please let me know if I'm saying anything incorrectly. If I do something, say something
incorrectly. I have no problem with you correcting me or listeners. But we're gonna get right on
into it. We're gonna be talking about Alexander Lewis Ranwell. Alexander Lewis Ranwell? No?
You do that all the time when you have a case and you say the name and then you're like,
no, no. Is that, you know, do you know who that is? Any bells ringing? Any bells?
What was his name? Alexander Lewis Ranwell. He has a hyphenated last name.
Is he the guy that he lured young men and killed them in a graveyard? Nope. Okay. I really hope
you don't know this game. Because every time you end up knowing it, like halfway through, like,
oh my god. Alexander Lewis Ranwell was born on March 17, 1991 in Guildford, England. Oh,
he's a baby. I couldn't find the name of his father anywhere. I looked for a while, but I did
find the name of his mom that is Jill Lewis Ranwell. Her name was also hyphenated. What happened
to his dad? His dad, there's nothing happened to him. I just couldn't find the name of him. Oh,
yeah. So he grew up in a relatively wealthy middle-class home. His mom worked as an IT
project manager and his dad was a retired insurance worker. So both, you know, good living, good
jobs. As a child, he attended Seven Oaks Preparatory School. This is a coeducational school, only in
about like 400 kids from the ages two to 13. All in the same school. Yeah. And in the year 2000,
he ended up moving schools to Sutton Valence School, another coeducational, but this was a
boarding school. This was located in Maidstone and educated kids from nursery age to sixth form or
sixth grade, as we call it here. So he just moved schools. Okay. From the ages of two to 13, he just
moved schools, but they're pretty similar. But a boarding school, I feel like, I mean, when you
hear things like that in the US, it's usually because you're a bad kid. Yeah. I don't think it was
anything like that. I think maybe work, maybe took mom somewhere and then the family moved or
something. I don't think it was anything negative. Yeah. It wasn't anything of no, yeah. Now, two
years later in 2002, he left yet again. It didn't say where. I think when it says he left, he just
moved schools again. So I guess he was, he was bounced around from school to school when he was
growing up. At the age of 13, his family moved to Devon, England. This is in the southwest part
of the country. And here he was privately educated at 30,000 pounds a year, which it translates to
roughly like 40,000 US dollars a year for a 13 year old. That's ridiculous. That's a lot of money.
I spent less than that on college. And he's an only child, I guess. No, I didn't see anything about
somebody. I think he is an only child. And then, yeah, then clearly his parents have nice jobs.
Yeah. The school he attended here was called West Buckland. This is in Devon. At this school, he
developed a passion for playing polo. And he really wanted to change his name and wanted to go by the
nickname Albee. So his name is Alexander, but he wanted to be called Albee. Yeah. Why? Because
it sounds more exotic. I guess. I'm going to refer to him as Alexander. But this is just a note.
We're not going to give him that. We're just going to say his name is Alexander. Yeah.
Yeah. He's actually really smart. He went on to gain 11 GCSEs, which are general certificate of
secondary education. Which included? 11? Yeah. Which included seventh grade, although he was only
in sixth. So he was up, he was above his classmates as far as like educational knowledge. So would
that be considered like, like GT? Like GT? Yeah. Like he probably could have skipped a grade if he
wanted to. However, hands it up dropping out of school in sixth form, which again, sixth grade,
saying that studies were quote, pointless. And he ended up becoming what they noted as a casual
worker, probably like blue collar jobs. You know, that's probably what that means. During this time
from age 13 on, he worked a number of jobs. I'm just going to mention them here. We'll talk about
them as they happen. But this was just noted. He worked, they said they named them petty jobs,
including working in a factory. He worked as a fencing contractor at one point. He even traveled
to Australia and New Zealand for work. He was also a scaffolder in London for a short period of time.
Yeah. And he even worked in France at a ski and snowboarding resort. So yeah, like he really kind
of jack of all trades here. Yeah. He was still very much into sports. Like I said, he liked polo
a lot. But during his childhood into early adulthood, he was noted as enjoying playing rugby, polo,
surfing, skateboarding and skiing. Just an active dude. Yeah. And a former friend who actually asked
not to be named, even claimed that Alexander, quote, liked living in a tent and loved to go
surfing and skating. So he was kind of just like a free spirit kind of, I'll just do whatever I want.
Screw school. I don't want to do that. Just a rugged dude. Yeah. And the same friend was also
noted as saying that, quote, he was the most laid back, hippie, sporty, surfer skateboarder type
you could ever imagine. Just seems like a 70s dude, even though he was more than 90s. Yeah.
Just live in life. Yeah. Just seems like he's going out there, live in life and like experiencing
all life has to offer. Exactly. And why shouldn't you? Right? Yeah. So notably, it seemed to be
pretty clear that he didn't have any mental health issues as a child. You know, nothing out of the
ordinary. In fact, nothing but ordinary, you know, except for the dropping out of school part. But
he had a little reason behind that, I guess, in his mind. There was like not a lot mentioned about
his life from the years 2002 to 2014. I think that he just did this. What he's talking about,
you know, he just kind of did his own thing. He worked a bunch of different jobs. But around
2014, he was noted as living in France and living with and dating a woman named Charlotte. I was
going to say any girlfriend. Yeah. So he seems like a pretty adventurous dude. So he's about 23
at this time living in France and dating this Charlotte. In 2016, at the age of 25, he's noted
to be in a different relationship. This time, a woman in her 60s named Dulce. Oh, okay. He's 25.
It's a little herald and mod of you. A little different than, you know, I didn't mention how
old Charlotte was, but she wasn't 60. She wasn't 60. It was notable that this woman was 60. Yeah.
It wasn't notable how old the other one was. This is probably around his age. Yeah. So around this
time when he's about 25, he began to show signs of severe mental illness. Severe? Now, let me ask you
what types of mental illness typically don't present themselves until the early 20s.
Schizophrenia. There you go. He was sectioned under the Mental Health Act of 1983 at this time.
And I'll explain what that means. This act states that somebody that is severely mentally ill
can be taken into a mental hospital and held without their consent for a period of time if
they're thought to be in danger or a threat to others. Okay. So this act is also put in place.
It covers the cost of this mental health visit, which is awesome. And they also cover the cost
to make arrangements for maybe outside things that this person is responsible for if they have pets
or if they have a job, like they take care of all of that for you. In the UK or just Great Britain?
In the UK. Yes. Okay. Okay. So he would eventually be released from this care,
but he would quickly find himself with a second admission to a psychiatric unit. Wow. I'll come
back to that in just a minute, but there are things that happen in between these two visits.
So by- I'm sorry. I just think that's really incredible about that, that act. Yeah. And it's
the act of- It's called the Mental Health Act of 1983. 1983. And it's still in effect. 1983. Yeah.
And we can't even get a single law made. Oh, and we can't get mental health treatment for free.
Yeah. Yeah. It's ridiculous. That's incredible though. I'm good for them. Of course. I mean,
they're definitely progressing. They're also hundreds of years older than our countries.
So that's true. They have the experience. So by 2017, he is now 26 years old. He was noted as
being in a different relationship with another woman in her 40s called Merrill. Not that he was
in two at the same time, but he is now out of the relationship with the 60-year-old and a new one
with the 40-year-old. Okay. With Merrill. Yes. Merrill. Merrill. It was also around this time
that he was admitted to a psychiatric unit for the second time, like I said. So about a year later,
this time he was admitted in Western Supermere. It's another town in England. And again,
he was released. Okay. I read somewhere that he was prescribed medication. I was unable to find
what medication he was prescribed, but it seems as though this visit helped him get on the medication
that would help him. Okay. Still no diagnosis that's noted, but spoiler alert, he is diagnosis
paranoid schizophrenic later on in life. And that's because of the time. That's not my, you know,
the language. Right. Yeah. The language is schizophrenic spectrum. So in the summer of 2018,
he returned to England from a stay in France, and he was living with Merrill, the same lady,
in London. And this is when he was working as a scaffolder. Okay. At this point in his life,
he was said to be making pretty good money. Doctors even noted at this time that his mental
health seemed to be decent. However, as they do in cases like this, things took a considerable
turn for the worse. And by the end of 2018, he found himself single, homeless and broke.
So I mean, I know that that's part of the schizophrenia spectrum too is like when you
have stability and you have routine and you have, you know, these certain things put into place,
that it can help, you know, kind of not control it, but kind of help keep it in. Yeah. And,
and so, yeah, that's really, I mean, you see a lot of transient people that are on the streets
that have schizophrenia. Yeah. And they don't have any structure. You know, they have to survive.
And it just exacerbates that they're deteriorates their mental state. Of course. And then also,
we see this a lot, especially in cases with schizophrenia spectrum, people that take the
medication for it, realize, Oh my gosh, I'm doing so much better. I don't need the medication anymore.
So they either don't take it as often or they kind of try to weigh themselves off of it. And
then sure enough, like you and I know, and most of the listeners, hopefully you, that's something
that you need to be on for the rest of your life. There's no way to cure this disorder. It's,
take the medication and you can manage it. If you don't take the medication, this is what happens,
you know. And unfortunately, that is what happened. He, he seems like he started to become a little
more lenient with his medication. And it definitely took a turn for the worse. Yeah.
Now, by January of 2019, he was living at a campsite in Croyd, North Devon, so again, Southwest
England, and had seized all medication intake. This is when it's noted that he was no longer
taking meds. Probably because he was no longer picking them up from the pharmacy. Well, yeah,
I mean, how do you get around? How do you, you know, how do you know what time it is? Exactly.
During this time, it was noted that this is when his mental health took a terrible turn for the
worse. And he was, this is important. I'm going to mention this, and then I'm going to come back
to it. So he was noted at some point as pointing out a woman in a magazine who had been kidnapped.
But he was, his delusions had convinced him that this woman was Charlotte, his ex-girlfriend.
On the magazine, it said that the woman had been missing for 24 years. Okay. He believed that it
was Charlotte. But remember, they just dated a few years prior. So this really shows how detached
he is from reality. He began to believe that she was the victim of a pedophile ring and was being
held hostage. These delusions very quickly overtook his mind. And he had become convinced that she
was being held hostage in the basement of a specific house on Bonnet Road. Okay. I'm going to come
back to that, but just keep that in your mind. On Thursday, February 7th, 2019, Alexander went to
Lee Meadow Farm in Ilfricome, Devon. And while there, he stole a bicycle and a drill. Okay. Later,
that night, he was seen in a pub and was noted as acting aggressively towards the patrons inside.
Without having anything to arrest him for, police recalled, but they can, of course, take him into
custody. So they spoke with him that night and simply offered him a ride to which- They didn't
have proof of him stealing the bike and the drill. No. They had gotten called to the pub where he
was just acting a little aggressive. Strange. But he wasn't- I see. Okay. He wasn't abused, physically
harming or anything. I see. Yeah. They were just like, move on. They didn't know about the bicycle
and the drill. They offered him a ride to which he refused. That was the first time that he was
kind of involved with police. The next morning, by the way, this escalates very quickly. Okay.
And then he was addicted to porn. Like, yeah. Right? What's his name? Grant.
The next morning, February 8th, 2019, Alexander was arrested after being caught letting animals
out of a nearby farm on purpose. Okay. He had let the- I think it was a pony. He had let someone's
pony out, like, clearly on purpose. While in custody, police noted that he was behaving bizarrely,
but he declined mental health treatment. Okay. He was adamant about the fact that he was not a
threat to himself or to others, although police knew that he had been sectioned twice for psychosis,
as it read in the detention log that was taken. So they take a detention log every time, of course,
when they arrest somebody, detain them. They knew that he had been treated or at least sectioned
before for this. For mental stuff. During the same visit, a nurse was noted as concluding, quote,
I was unable to identify evidence that he lacked mental capacity. Okay. So they're not thinking
that he's mentally ill, or at least not mentally ill enough. To where, yeah, to where he's gonna
hurt someone or something or himself. Later on, and this is just relative to this visit to the
police station, a few months later, he had actually admitted to having been smoking weed since he
was 18 and occasionally taking mushrooms and doing cocaine. But of course, he recognized that they
were all negatively affecting his mental health. So apparently he sees use, but he had, when talking
about this visit, he had mentioned that later. Yeah, he said that he had dabbled in drugs,
but he knew it wasn't healthy for him mentally. So he stopped doing it. But he didn't tell the police
during the talk. I mean, seems like he has a pretty good understanding of what's going on mentally. But
it also seems like he has a pretty good understanding of what will get him out of treatment. Yeah,
at this point. While he was still detained, again, this is his first arrest, his mother Jill actually
called the police station and asked them if they could keep him detained, because one, he was severely
mentally ill and two, he had nowhere else to go because he was living on the street.
Having their hands tied, the police charged Alexander with burglary and causing damage to the
cell that he had been kept in, but he was released in the early hours of February 9th,
the next morning, and taken to a homeless shelter called the Freedom Center. Okay, so they charged
him with burglary causing damage, but they couldn't hold him. Let him go. They just gave him like a
little ticket, like a slap on the wrist. Yeah. All right, have a nice day. So they dropped him off
at the Freedom Center where he had agreed to spend the night there, but he ended up leaving just
two and a half hours later. Manager Andrew Gammon talked to Alexander who said he would now like
to be known as Albie, remember I told you earlier he wanted to be known as Albie. He completed the
forms to stay the night, but he wouldn't go to sleep. And instead he was noted as using the
computer to access Facebook and then chatting with Andrew in his office, you know, just for the
first part that he was there. Okay. Shortly after the police left, however, he began behaving
erratically. It's almost like he can turn it off when he's in the police line of sight and then
when they leave, it doesn't matter, you know. I wonder if there's like a recognition in his
brain for authority. Oh, sure there is. And that's what's interesting about it is that it's kind of,
like you said, it's almost like he can turn it on and off, which of course we're not saying you can
turn on and off your disorders, especially schizophrenia, but his brain somehow recognizes
it's interesting. I'm in a position to where like I have to listen to this authority figure and
pay attention, you know, like your brain's like pay attention, pay attention. And then when you
don't have that anymore, then it's like, okay, go ahead, you know, it seems like it's almost
subconscious. Like he's not even trying to act differently in front of them, but he is. Right,
yeah, exactly. It's very interesting. So he's still at the homeless shelter. This is when he
began behaving erratically after the police left and he was noted as spitting at newspapers,
talking about getting a gun and threatening to kill the staff members on duty at the time.
Okay, so that's when you need to call again and say, okay, well, this is happening now.
It wasn't happening earlier, now it's happening. Yeah, he even told the manager that he could get a
gun saying he could lay his hands on a 410 shotgun. I'm not sure what kind of, I mean,
obviously a shotgun, but 410 shotgun I've never heard of. No, no, no, no, no, 410 shotgun.
Pretty much he was like explaining how he could get a hold of this gun. The manager was later
noted as saying, quote, he threatened to kill me and threatened to kill my cats, even though I don't
have cats. Sorry, that quote is just kind of funny. And your little dog too. Like pretty much, you know.
At this time, Alexander picked up his belongings and just left. Now, just seven hours later,
after this whole incident, Alexander made his way to Silver Spring Farm in Goodlee, only two
miles away, where he was spotted by the woman of the farm, wife of John Ellis, I didn't get her name,
but John Ellis and his wife lived at this farm. And he was spotted by the wife letting their
alpacas out of the gate, you know, his MO. Just close it. He's just a freedom fighter. Yeah,
I love it. She told her husband, John, what was happening. And John came out to approach Alexander,
of course. Alexander was holding a four foot double hand saw in one hand and a wooden pole in the other.
Mr. Ellis noted, once John Ellis got close enough, Alexander began swinging both weapons at him,
attempting to wound or kill him. Wow. Mr. Ellis ran back towards the house. But as he did,
he was hit with the flat side of the saw on the back on his back. And he was later noted as saying,
he was right behind me. That's a quote. Mr. Ellis got behind a gate and tried to shut it behind him.
At this point, Alexander jabbed Mr. Ellis in the chest with this wooden stick. The stick broke
as Mr. Ellis grabbed like the larger end. He managed to fight Alexander off until the saw
handle broke and then he backed away. At this point, it seemed as though Mr. Ellis was out of
danger, but not without suffering a really bad cut on his arm from the saw. So he was fine. Alexander
pretty much backed off at that point, but Mr. Ellis was clearly wounded. So now he is actively
being violent towards people. Yes. I do have a couple of quotes about what happened from John
Ellis's standpoint. standpoint. Point of view. Yeah. So I do have a couple of quotes that John
Ellis was later noted as saying. He said, quote, I saw him holding a saw and he started to approach
me. He was verbally abusing both my wife and I. I can't remember what he said because I was aware
he was holding the saw coming towards me and swinging it. I told my wife to phone the police
now and she ran back. The male was swinging the saw around as I was backing away. He also stated,
quote, he got very close to the point where the saw was head height. I saw the blade coming towards
me and I thought this isn't good. I instinctively put my hand up as I thought he was going to have
my head or cut my throat. Lastly, John Ellis was noted as saying, quote, he asked me if I was a
pedophile. He seemed quite well educated and seemed calm and collected. So now we're going back to
the magazine cover where he noted that he thought Charlotte was taken by a pedophile ring. So it
seems as though he's targeting this man because he thinks that he might be holding Charlotte.
Or a part of the pedophile ring or whatever. That's a really scary account though, to know that
like, I mean, he was purposely swinging that trying to do damage. It's not like he was just doing it
feeling like he was defending himself or something or to scare him. Yeah. Following this attack,
Alexander was arrested yet again on assault charges. So the police had asked what hospital he had been
treated at and he said, quote, the White House hospital and whatever they want to pump fuck you
with. So I guess like they like pump fuck you like the IV maybe they want to put drugs in your
system. They also asked if he was taking medication at the time and he responded with, quote, I would
not mind blasting a big in or two is what he said. Like I wouldn't mind taking like a big pill or two
or like a big I don't know like getting high. I guess. Yeah. Alexander also noted that he had made
suicide attempts in the past but did not want to do that anymore. And lastly, he was noted as saying
that he would like to see a custody health care professional and a mental health liaison and
diversion worker, which is awesome, right? Yeah. He's taking steps to get himself some help. Again,
I feel like he's very aware of his disorder. Yeah. And we'll see that a lot. He has so many chances
to get help. It's almost like an Andre Thomas. Yeah. So essentially during this visit, police
main focus was to get Alexander assessed by a mental health professional. They said that sometime
during this visit, he would agree to cooperate only to withdraw and make accusations of abuse.
His mental health state had clearly deteriorated since the first arrest. At one point, he claimed
that he had, quote, lost his unicorn. I don't know what that means. Maybe his Charlotte.
Maybe Charlotte's unicorn. Maybe. I didn't even think about that. Now get this. During this same
visit, Alexander was noted as acting violently and somehow he managed to get a taser off of the
belt of a nearby officer. He just snatched it right out of his freaking belt. Thankfully, before he
was able to discharge it, he was tackled and subdued. Once in his cell, he was noted as urinating
on the floor and it was at this point that they decided to call a doctor. After all of that.
They've had it. Yeah. Nothing was actually noted or written from the doctor's evaluation of him,
but that afternoon, he spoke on the phone with mental health liaison and diversion for 12 whole
minutes. And the assassin. He got to talk to them for 12 whole minutes on the phone. From the call,
it was reported, quote, potential psychotic symptoms present, including paranoid beliefs,
including thinking that food has been tampered with, that I had stolen his food. He believes I
am stopping him from carrying out his duty of care, which is to protect all animals and sentient
beings in the universe. It's very sad, but that's very clearly schizophrenia. Yeah. I mean,
it's a sweet sentiment, but clearly it's a delusion. And it's escalated so hard. Now, police
were noted as saying that the difficulty with this visit was getting a mental health doctor to
see him in person. I don't know if there was some sort of conflict of interest because he was in a
police station and he had been violent. The mental health professional said that they could not attend,
quote, due to the timeframe, which I'm not sure what that means if maybe it was too late in the
day or maybe he had not been held for a proper amount of time to be evaluated. I don't know.
That's all it said, due to the timeframe. Okay, this is what tells me there's something going on
here. As well as that the on duty approved mental health professional said they couldn't come until
he had been assessed in person by someone else. But they're the mental health, they're the approved
on duty mental health evaluator. And they said that he needed to be evaluated by somebody else.
Yes. It literally makes no sense. It was almost like the like the fucking Pope. I don't know
what to say. Honestly, he needs an exorcism first. It really honestly kind of seems to me as of a
case of like, not my animals, not my zoo kind of thing. Like not my circus, not my monkeys. Yeah,
like kind of turned the other way and it would go away. Yeah. So at this point, their only hope to
get him examined is a forensic medical examiner that was able to get called in. Okay. This is one
Dr. Pichu. So Pichu spoke with Alexander in person for an entire 19 minutes, and then concluded that
he did not need a full mental health assessment, which would have meant a transfer to the hospital.
He later was noted in the trial as telling the court that this was not fully his decision and it
was made only after a phone consultation, which no. What? What is going on? People don't care to
help him. Like, that's so sad. On the basis of this crucial decision by the doctor, police decided
Alexander was safe to release. To release, not even keep? Nope, release. Oh, he's fine. Let him go.
He's a little crazy. Yeah. I'm just gonna go ahead and just let him go. Yeah. On top of this,
an inspector, so a detective, reviewed his file and all he was noted as writing was that Alexander
quote, potentially presents as a serious risk to the public if released. Wait, the forensic guy?
Oh, this is a detective. This isn't even a psychiatrist or a doctor. This is a detective
that's like, hey, bro, like, no, do not release him. He could potentially be caused a serious
fight. Okay. Okay. And everyone else is like, go ahead. There's only so much that he can do,
right? Because I mean, he does his job by saying something. Yeah. And it's these other people's
jobs to enact those things. And evaluate efficiently. Additionally, John Ellis, the guy from the farm,
phoned police and similarly to Alexander's mother asked if the police would keep him in custody
because he was afraid that he would still be in danger pending Alexander's release. It's worth
noting just in case you haven't been able to keep count during these two different periods of
detainment he was seen or at least talked to by five different mental health professionals,
none of which did a full mental health assessment. Oh my God. And they all deemed him as not acutely
unwell. Not acutely unwell. Like that's a bunch of oxymoron. Yeah. He's not not suffering from
something. But he's just not suffering. Yeah, literally. So at this point, it's like, okay,
do we release him? Do we not? There's a bunch of different accounts here. It was at this time that
the police decided to contact the Crown Prosecution Service. Okay. So pretty much they would make
the final decision on whether or not to release him. Okay. And they contacted them about the attack
on John Ellis, to which they replied saying there was not enough evidence for Alexander to be charged
with anything. Even though he cut Mr. Ellis with a saw. With a saw. On his own property. On his
property. Yeah. After letting out his animals. Trying to spear him with a stick or whatever.
2019. So there's probably cameras out there that can show you this. CCTV everywhere. Literally.
Especially in the UK. Yeah. So at 9 32 a.m. on February 10th, Alexander was released.
By 11 a.m. on the same day. Oh no. Determined to find and rescue Charlotte. He made plans to
track her down. Remember, this is going back to the magazine. Yeah. He thinks she's been held captive
for 24 years. Right. He was convinced. Which is only 24. Probably. Sorry. He was convinced that
the man living in the home that he decided to travel to had captured and held Charlotte hostage.
Not. Not. Not John Ellis. Different. Different gentlemen. Well, don't.
Sigh of relief just yet. Before taking off, he was noted as visiting a local market.
Or he ends up having to be escorted out due to claims by Alexander that the cashier was
a victim of abuse. So he saw the cashier back there and delusions told him that she was being
held hostage. Oh no. Seems like he's such a compassionate person. Right. He really just
wants to help. It's really sad. But it's delusional. So he began to make his way to exit her. This is
where the crimes take place. In order to get there, he hopped in a taxi driven by one Johnson
Joseph for the first stretch of his journey. Okay. He offered the driver a hundred euro note,
which is about like a hundred and ten dollars. Okay. US dollars. And managed to get only about
24 miles away when the taxi driver kicked him out because he was becoming concerned about his
behavior. Okay. So he had, I feel like 24 miles is still a bit of a drive. Quite a bit of a drive.
When he had gotten in the taxi, he actually hopped in the front seat, which is not what you do in
a taxi. Maybe an Uber, but not in a taxi. Yeah. The taxi driver later recalled, quote,
he came across as some sort of mental health patient and quote, I just knew he was going to
do harm. He made me feel very scared. Quote, before reaching cobblestone, he asked me to turn off down
a lane. I asked him why. And he said, just drive down the lane. According to the taxi driver,
Alexander then grabbed some rosary beads from the mirror. I guess they were hanging here on the
Ruby mirror and started to tug at them with his fist clenched. So he was kind of like pulling on
them. Kind of like tightening them. He then jumped into the back seat and sat right behind the driver.
Very eerie, right? Oh my God. That's so... The driver said, quote, this made me feel very scared
as I thought he was going to strangle me with it. Yeah. So he kicked him out of the taxi. Yeah.
Taxi driver was fine. And give me my necklace. Yeah. So no longer having access to the taxi,
of course, Alexander then boarded a bus and headed the last 12 miles he had to go to Exeter.
Once he reached the city, he actually got into an argument with a GWR worker, the Great Western
Railway, at St. David's station. He accused a different taxi driver of trying to abduct a woman
who was getting into a taxi. Okay. When the train worker said it was very clear that the woman was
fine and just a passenger, Alexander got aggressive. He told the station worker to quote, fuck off,
and then walked away. I don't know what it meant by he got aggressive, but maybe verbally aggressive.
Yeah. Yeah. So everyone's fine so far. He then walked the 350 yards down Bonnet Road,
I told you earlier, and reached 65 Bonnet Road. This is the address. So, okay, sorry. So from the
beginning, because I want to make sure that's clear in my head, from the beginning, did he know
where this house was? Yes. I have no idea what... How he came across it originally. Yeah. No idea
how he got the address. Yeah. Maybe, I don't know. This is the address that he explains later. It just
popped in his head pretty much. Like, I don't know. Maybe he had been in that area before and didn't
know. Maybe he had family that I don't know. I literally have no idea. He heard about it somewhere.
Yes. Okay. So, as I was doing research, I came across pretty much a direct quote from him about
this entire account. Okay. So I'm going to tell you what's happening, but I'm also going to explain
it in his words kind of side by side, and of course, I'll say quote when it's him and I won't when it's
me. Okay. So, he just started walking down the road and he reached this specific address. He later
said, quote, I remember thinking I was working for the police. It's really confusing. They're all
linked. They're jumbled. When I left the train station, I thought the police were with me,
following me. I thought the moment they knew what I was doing and that I was helping them find the
girl, it's like I'm an investigator, a finder, he said, quote, I guess like a search dog,
I was trying to find the missing girl for them. I can't remember her name, but I saw her in a
magazine. So now he is not thinking it's Charlotte. Now he's worried about this girl that is actually
missing that he saw in the magazine. Okay. Okay. He says, quote, she'd been missing for about 25
years. I was just following my nose, following what I came across. I was on a wander. It was
anything. It was sort of like the path of least resistance. I knew there would be a path that
would take me there. This is the end of the quote. Okay. So when he arrived at 65 Monet Road,
he was met with a note on the front door. The note explained that the man that occupied the
living quarters was in fact an 80 year old elderly man named Anthony Payne. So the note on the door
was saying that, okay, so he was elderly. So is it like, because I've seen those before where
they have like notes on a door that says like knock very loudly or things like that? Yes. I think it
was something like that. It seems to me as if this was like a small little tight knit community.
And maybe it was a, you know, if there's a delivery or if like maybe something happens and police come
or whatever, just so that you know what you're walking into. Or if someone doesn't answer you,
then you know it's probably because he can't hear you or whatever. Yeah. I think it was just one of
those things. Now content warning for this next part. After reaching the door, Alexander proceeded
to go inside and proceeded to bludgeon Anthony Payne with a hammer. What? With a hammer? Did he
already have the hammer or he found a hammer? You know, it didn't say, I think he found the hammer
inside. Okay. I don't think that he was just walking down the street with a hammer. I don't know.
Alexander's personal account of this murder is as follows. Okay. Quote, I was walking down the
street and I went to a house. There was a sign on the door about a man and a cat, something like that,
which makes me think pause, unquote, makes me think that maybe they were saying this man is 80 and
there's also a cat in here. So maybe check on him or if he doesn't answer, like maybe check on the
cat, you know, like there's a living, there's an animal in here too, just in case something happens.
Well, and then, you know, but again, what if there's a fire or what if, you know, whatever,
then, you know, it says, you know, these two occupants live here. Exactly. Back to the quote,
I wanted to talk to the man, but then I saw an outline of a dead dog on the carpet.
Unquote. This is very clearly a delusion. This was not actually happening. Yeah.
You should see nobody could see my eyes, but I was like, what?
They didn't talk about the dog on the note. Quote, it looked derelict like nobody would be in.
It looked like the sort of place someone could be hidden and nobody would know. I thought the girl
might be there at first. He came downstairs. He was drinking cider. I don't know why I added that in.
I hit him in the head with a hammer. Quote, he had a selection of knives and scissors out in a ring.
At least I remember it being a ring. I knew he was using them to torture the girl. I also saw a
really old birth certificate and thought it was hers and he was keeping it as a souvenir. At this
point, I didn't really ask him any questions as far as I remember. I just lashed out. I was worried
about the girl being tortured when he wouldn't answer my questions. I didn't think I would kill
him and then I did. This is still a quote. I believed they were keeping people prisoner like
Fred and Rose West. There's a connection between Kent and Scurry, Shipman and Glaucaster, and Torquay
and police in U-Tree. Then I left. He died. There was no arguing I didn't mean to kill him. I didn't
know what I wanted. I wanted him to stop doing what he was doing to stop the abuse. Someone had
taken my mobile so I had no means to call for help so I had to stop him. He goes on. Quote,
the main thing was to stop the girl being abused. That's what I was thinking about. He needed to be
out of the way so I could get her. End quote. It's a long account of this one murder. So,
I mean, when he talks about the cider and like maybe seeing a deceased dog and I mean,
Cooley was watching him. He was watching him through a window or something.
Well, he said he saw all these things when he walked in. I guess the man had been upstairs so
when he got in it took them a little bit to come downstairs so he's seeing all these things.
He said that he was drinking cider. The man was drinking cider. Yeah, but how did he know?
As he was walking downstairs. Oh, okay. It's just, the thing is is that he's saying all these very
specific things. You can almost see his mind working as he walks in and he's noticing these
little things and he says, he was drinking cider. I don't know why I even put that in there. And
you can see kind of his account and then he's like, you know, I knew what I was doing but I was
doing it for this reason. Yeah. That shows the delusions. The imagery is pretty incredible.
Yeah. And that's someone that experienced it, came out of it and I'm assuming by the time that
these quotes are happening that maybe he's gotten clarity or help at that point and but the fact
that he still remembers it so vividly. Yeah. Is incredible because his brain told him,
this is reality. Yeah. And it's just like, you know, like, oh, yesterday I went to the store
and I had bloody ball for breakfast and I did it and like, that's what my brain showed me.
That's what I did. And then he remembers it so clearly. It's really compelling to the disorder
and how real it can be and how real it can make you feel it is, you know, when you're experiencing it.
And that's why I thought it was important to put all of those direct quotes in there because they
really show the disorder working, you know, or working against the host. Now, after this happened,
his delusions had convinced him that there were still more people involved in this quote,
pedophile ring. And he thought that there was an underground bunker that linked the next
address to the cellar in which this girl was being kept. Okay. This is his delusion.
Alexander's words again, quote, I checked the whole house after I killed that man,
but I couldn't find anything. So I left and went around town for a bit then. Somehow I went to the
other house. I walked. I don't know what led me a feeling. I was trying to get to Halden Hill.
I thought I would go to the racehorse to meet my mom. For some reason, when I get unwell,
I'm attracted to horses. There's something in my subconscious end quote. So he begins
searching for this new address where he believes that people, people who ever
lives in the house is a part of this pedophile ring. Alexander walked into the city center.
His route was wayward and included him stopping at the University of Exeter and St. David's
churchyard. This is important because this shows how many bypassers saw him and he had
interactions with and encounters and nobody did anything to help. I'm sure if he bludgeoned Mr.
Payne, he would probably have blood on him. Yeah. When you think, yes. So wouldn't you think that
someone would call the police? Yeah. So like I said, he had a number of encounters along the way
with strangers. He asked a passerby called Richard McCullum for the keys to the church before
following him along the road all the while trying to hide from view against walls. So he's following
this man down a dark alley and when he turns around, he hides. Isn't that kind of scary? I'm
sorry. It's kind of scary. I don't want to be like, oh, schizophrenic people are creepy. No,
of course not. But this specific situation, that's, it's unnerving. Yeah. It's unnerving. And that
would make me uncomfortable. Yes. Mr. McCullum, of course, became concerned with this behavior and
sprinted off of the street on Drive and managed to lose Alexander. Just running. Keep in mind,
this is the middle of the day. So it is because he left at 11am. I can think it's a couple hours.
At 1.20pm, he was seen by staff at the university pretending to be a police officer. They were
so concerned by his behavior that he had to be escorted from the Northcott Theater. Escorted out.
Once in town, he stopped at the Farmers Union and made his way into Northern Haight Gardens. So he
just like got escorted out and then just left. Like no one decided to. Yeah. Probably just
think he had too much sauce or something. Along the way to the gardens, he struck up a conversation
with one Rose Poulton, who was walking with her boyfriend Tony. They became increasingly frightened
by the tone and questions Alexander were asking them, as they noted that he was extremely fixated
by their shoes, what was in their bag and their camera. So maybe they thought he was going to
rob them or yeah, he was clearly looking at their gear. Well, he's probably very suspicious of the
two of them. Yeah, you know, they felt the same way back. Yeah. So later, when speaking to police
about this encounter, Rose said, quote, I thought something was wrong. He gave me a bad feeling.
It was his eyes. I can't explain why. End quote. So he apparently had shown the couple a piece of
paper, which said he said proved that he worked for the university. But Rose, after he left,
quickly called 999 after the encounter and spoke to police. She said, quote, I was crying and shaking
at this point, afraid he would turn violent and touch me. Alexander even followed the pair into
Pret a manager. It's like the name of a store. I guess it's like a business casual kind of shop
before leaving. Again, the reason I'm mentioning every single encounter, I really want to drive
the point home that this guy had so many people, I think I can count him and like he could have,
people really didn't seem to care or they were too scared to try to think maybe this guy needs
help. Yeah. Alexander recounts this part of his day, quote, I walked up through town. This is a
hazy patch. I remember I found another house. It was just by chance, a hunch. I was meant to find
that house because it was linked. There was abuse happening there. A horse called sugar,
Tate and Lyle smile. They used to make the chimps grin. See, it all links with torture,
pedophiles and bestiality. Kind of out there with those words, right? It doesn't make a lot of sense,
at least to us. So less than three hours later, Alexander had been wandering around and had found
himself in the St. Thomas area of the city. This was only about two miles away from Anthony
Payne's house. Okay. And this is where twin brothers Dick and Roger Carter reside. Okay. Now,
Alexander grabbed a spade from the garden, which is like one of those like tiny shovels that you
used to dig. Hand held jibble. Yeah. And proceeded to enter the residence. Content warning. While
inside, Alexander beat both men to death with the shovel. His statement about these murders is as
follows. Quote, there was something about this house and the state of derelict it was in. He
used that word again. I just thought that was interesting. Me too. I, yeah. Quote, I saw it and
thought there could be a cellar basement or coal bunker where you could have someone without anyone
finding out. I started off thinking there could be a high chance the girl was in that house.
That's when I realized I needed to go in and rescue her. I went inside and saw the two men.
At first, I didn't say anything. I just went outside into the garden, looked around and
picked up a garden spade before going back inside. You know the rest. He followed with, quote,
I know saying it just now doesn't make sense. But at the time I was convinced I knew she was there.
I can see it's just completely deranged. Anyway, I was convinced that they had kept someone and her
life was in danger and that's when I hit them with a spade. I went upstairs and went through all
the rooms into the garden. I thought the police would come after I had left and they would search
it. I thought they would let people know I was working for them. I thought they would let people
know because I was saving the girl from torture. I was working for the police. End quote. Wow.
So he's really trying to drive the point home of I really, truly thought I was helping them and
doing their work. Well, and he had said at Mr. Payne's house that he felt like the police were
following him, that he was like, oh, I'm just going to run in like a hero and just help this girl
and they're going to back me up because he's clearly doing something to her. After the killings
of the twins, Alexander walked up Cowick Hill where he was spotted by multiple people and even
walked up some driveways during his stroll. He mentioned that he stopped to stroke some horses,
which again, he said he did in his stressful time. Remember, he said that he might visit his mom.
He was thinking about visiting his mom at the horse, which I think was really sweet. He penned
some horses. He was noted as visiting three different pubs, Twisted Oak, the Huntsman Inn,
and the Poachers in the nearby city of Ide before retracting his steps and heading back into the
middle of the city. He was seen in several different pubs around town as well, two being the hole in
the wall and the standoff. I just thought the hole in the wall was a cool name. He spent the
night in the ruins of the Exeter Castle where he claimed to, he himself claimed to be sleeping in a
bear pit where he could see the ghosts of the bears that had been killed in the past and were now
haunting the place. I know he loves animals so much. Just so many things going through his mind.
He also claimed to have been bitten by a snake during this time, but that was never confirmed.
It's not clear whether he slept or not, but the next time somebody encountered him, it was 5 a.m.
and he was not done with his violent streak. That's where we're going to stop.
Next in part two, we're going to talk about the end of his violent streak,
of course his capture and trial and all that. That's going to be a doozy. There's a lot of
information about that. In lieu of having a three hour long episode, we're going to do a two-parter.
I mean, of course, my heart goes out to the victims,
but it's like, oh my gosh, this poor guy. It's almost as if he's a victim of his disorder.
It's really heartbreaking. It's so sad. And especially to listen to his account of it.
Again, like I said, he's clearly an animal lover. He clearly has a lot of empathy and compassion.
He thinks he's doing the right thing. And it's all he wants to do is do the right thing.
Yeah, it's a really big bummer of a case. And we'll see how it pans out. But
it's one of those where you're like, God, nobody should, nobody had to die in that situation.
Nobody should have even been hurt, like even John Ellis. He had so many chances to get help.
Even especially the first, what his mom called and was like, I know my son. He is very clearly
mentally ill. Do not release him or at least put him in a psychiatric ward or something. And this
is 2019. It's not like this is the 30s where you can't always say that. I thought we had progressed
enough in the mental health field. And it seems as if they did with that mental health act. But I
guess not enough to wear. Unless someone does something like this, they're not considered
mentally ill. I appreciate the law in that case. But at the same time, you still need people that
are active members of the mental health community to step up and say something and do something
about it. If you just have people that don't really care, then what use is the law? Yeah,
exactly. All right, well, we will see you guys for part two next time. And in the meantime,
you can follow us on Instagram at diagnosingakiller at twitter at killerdiagnosis. You can email us
diagnosingakiller at gmail.com. And if you want to donate to the Patreon, it is patreon.com
slash diagnosingakiller. Anything else? No, that's it. I think I got them all. Yeah.
Yeah, all right. We'll talk once. Okay, love you. Bye.