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I'm Hannah and Saruti and welcome to Redhanded. If this one doesn't put you off hitchhiking, nothing will.

In 1978, 15-year-old Mary Vincent was having a tough time. She'd grown up in Las Vegas. Her mum, Lucy, was a creepier and her dad, her repaired slot machines.

Mary, keen to carry on the family tradition of casino culture, wanted to be a dancer. Her dream was to dance in the Lida de Paris in Las Vegas. Lida de Paris, I believe, was a show, hailed as one of the greatest that Vegas had ever seen.

Mary didn't have too much time for school. She's sguived a lot. And eventually, she left her parents house at the beginning of summer in 1978 to live in her boyfriend's car.

The young couple ended up living out of his car in South Salita, California. A Californian summer in a car does not sound pleasant.

No, it doesn't. Maybe when you're 15, you're just much more accepting of such hardships.

Of the heat. The heat in particular.

Well, it didn't last long anyway. Police apprehended Mary Vincent's boyfriend on rape charges. And Mary was left on her own.

In September 1978, Mary had had enough and decided that she needed to head home.

She left Berkeley, California on the 29th of September 1978. And I say home, but there are a lot of conflicting reports of where she was actually headed.

Some claim that she was headed back to Las Vegas. Others claim that she was on her way to her granddad's house in Corona, California on the outskirts of Los Angeles.

419 miles away from Berkeley. But whether she was headed back to Vegas or to Corona, what's important is that Mary was headed south.

Mary was a confident hitchhiker. Although she may never have taken this particular cross-calfonian route before.

She had successfully managed many others and before Saruti's head explodes.

Hitchhiking was much more common in the 70s in the United States in particular. Much more common than it is now and certainly a lot less frowned upon.

But when I was reading about this, I was like, fucking hell, everyone's at it. Like it just sounds like there are about 10 people on the side of the road at anyone's arm.

I think that is basically what was happening. I mean, it's really similar when we covered the Colleen stand case.

I think during that time period, it was just like a bit more hippie-dippy if you or people had cars but they still had a drive to get across the country and explore and all that and live much more of like a transient lifestyle.

I'm going to hit the road and find my fortune or whatever.

Like Dick Wittinger.

Yeah, with like a stick and a dotted handkerchief hanging off the back.

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