What is going on to crime fans? I'm your host Tee. And I'm your host Daphne. And you're listening to going west. Howdy everybody. Hope you're having a wonderful day and wonderful week. Thank you so much for joining Heath and I for yet another episode of going west. Good to have you here.

Here today is episode I found sometime this year and I have been waiting to cover it. I felt like just because it's Friday the 13th and kind of like a spooky topic. It'd be good to cover in October.

Because what a bizarre story we are about to discuss. And also today we're going to talk about my favorite horror franchise which is Friday the 13th. I'm a huge Jason Voorhees fan and it actually has a lot to do with this case today.

Yeah, which is what makes it so insane and so disturbing and disgusting. So things again in advance for tuning in. And also if you guys want more episodes we just released a brand new Patreon bonus episode on the murder of Martha Moxley.

That takes place in Connecticut on the night before Halloween. Was that not an insane story? Yeah, super, super crazy with lots of different twists and turns and suspects as well.

Yeah, and as I was researching it, I almost wanted to stop and discover ongoing Weston said because it's not just crazy because of what happened to her but because of the family history of her alleged killer and how he is connected by marriage to the Kennedys and just all this like you're saying corruption and CD family history of the alleged killer.

And it's just wild. So if you want to listen to that story and like 75 others on our Patreon head over to patreon.com slash going west podcast. Also don't forget to check out the new dark parts episode that is going to be out on Thursday. That's going to be our Halloween episode.

So definitely go subscribe and listen to that one. Oh, yeah, it's going to be a good one. Yeah, definitely. All right, guys, this is episode 247 of going west. So let's get into it.

In October of 1988, an 18 year old man in Massachusetts dressed as Jason Voorhees and set off to kill a young woman obsessed with the horror franchise Friday the 13th.

He wanted to impersonate his favorite character and commit a murder. So he did. This is the murder of Sharon Gregory and the story of the Friday the 13th copycat killer.

Sharon Gregory was born on March 26, 1970 and she was the daughter of Barbara and Edward Gregory and she had a twin sister named Cheryl.

The girls grew up in Greenfield, Massachusetts, which is a city of about 13,000 people and it's two hours west of Boston. Sharon was very active in her school's community and was a member of the flag core in her sophomore year.

And in her junior year, she was a member of the distributive education clubs of America or Deca. And many of you probably know what Deca is or perhaps were even involved in it when you were in high school. But if you don't know, it is an international organization for high school and college aged students with the purpose of fostering leadership in the fields of finance, management, hospitality and marketing.

Damn, I could have really used that in high school. Right. And teachers about any of that sounds very useful. So Sharon also received a certificate for participating in Greenfield High School's peer education counseling program. And she was a member of the school newspaper staff in her junior year.

So she was doing a ton of stuff and she majored in college preparatory studies in high school and after graduating from Greenfield High School in 1988, 18 year old Sharon began attending Greenfield Community College, majoring in Liberal Arts with a concentration on art.

She was fascinated with psychology and had been enjoying the psychology course that she was taking in her first semester, which is something I love about colleges, being able to take different courses that you're interested in because she might not have realized her interest in psychology had she not taken a class since that's not what she was going to school for.

Very true.

So Sharon also worked part time in the food service department at nearby Franklin Medical Center and had worked at a local nursing home in the past. She loved and valued helping people above all else. And Sharon and Cheryl lived at home with their parents in Greenfield while they completed their studies.

Shortly before Halloween in 1988 Sharon, a generally happy kind and well-adjusted person, was embroiled in some difficulties with a former classmate, 19 year old Mark Branch.

Sharon needed to complete an assignment building a profile of someone struggling with mental illness and Sharon had asked Mark for his assistance.

Now Mark, who had been struggling with his mental health anger and aggression since his adolescence, obliged and even gave her physical documents detailing his condition and his diagnosis.

I feel like this seems like a really touchy assignment.

...