This podcast details true crime cases. It contains adult themes and may contain descriptions of violence.

It is not intended for children. Listener discretion is advised.

Thank you for joining me for today's episode of Once Upon a Crime. We're in the series Missile Toe and Murder, where I detail crimes that occurred over the

Christmas holiday season. This time, I'll tell you the story about a group of teens who went

on a killing spree over three days and nights, beginning on Christmas Eve Day in 1992.

This is a case that seemingly occurred for no real rhyme or reason.

Some would call it a case of thrill killing.

Others would point to juvenile delinquency, dysfunctional family issues, or just plain bad kids.

The identified ringleader would fit none of these stereotypes and yet made the decision to go on a murder spree that would shock his community and those who knew him as a good kit.

This is Chapter 2, Marvellous Keene, the Christmas murder spree.

In Christmas Eve, December 24, 1992, Homicideives in Dayton, Ohio, were called away from their families and holiday festivities to a homicide scene at 517 Neal Avenue.

When detectives Doyle Burke, Wade and Tom Lawson, and Sergeant Larry Grossnickle arrived after 10 o'clock that evening, they found shell casings and a bloody crime scene left behind at a phone booth in front of a convenience store.

The victim, 18-year-old Danita Galette, had already been transported to Grandview Hospital. She had been shot five times

and would be pronounced dead when she arrived at the emergency room. Her shoes and jacket had been

taken along with a backpack. It appeared to be a robbery turned deadly. Detectives didn't know it yet,

but it would be the deadliest three days in Dayton's history beginning that cold Christmas Eve. They also didn't know it yet, but it would be the deadliest three days in Dayton's history, beginning

that cold Christmas Eve. They also didn't know that Danita was not the first victim. Another

murder had occurred earlier that day, but that crime would not be discovered until December 26th.

The killing spree began with two teens, 19-year-old Morvellus Keene, and his 16-year-old

girlfriend, Laura Taylor. Morvalis had been hanging around downtown Dayton's Courthouse

Square on Christmas Eve, December 24, 1992, and had been living on the streets and at a known

teenage crash pad and cracked in near the center of the city.

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