Welcome to Criminalea, a production of Shondaland Audio in partnership with I-Heart Radio.

Lester Brocklehurst Jr. was the president of the local Mormon church's young men's mutual

improvement association and he was a Sunday school teacher. He was often described as

quote wholesome. The eldest son of Lester Senior

and Edith Brocklehurst, who were both upstanding members in their community, by all accounts

he was what many would call a promising young adult.

He was generally and genuinely known as a, quote, good boy.

But in his early 20s, he picked up a new nickname, Crime Tourist

after he and his girlfriend Bernice Felton pulled off multiple robberies and

killed three men during a six-week crime spree that spanned

across more than a dozen states in 1937.

Welcome to Criminalia, I'm Maria Tremarki.

And I'm Holly Fry.

They were caught on the afternoon of May 13th, 1937,

when New York State Trooper Joseph Hunt spotted a Chevrolet with only one license plate

driving through Dover Plains, New York.

By law, the car should have had two.

New York State followed and still follows the two plate law,

which means that drivers must ensure they have a license plate secured at both the rear and front of their vehicle.

It was a minor violation, but Hunt, a motorcycle cop, gave chase.

And little did he know what he was about to find.

When he pulled the car over a curly-haired freckle-faced young man behind the wheel handed

...