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The Raven Knocks
True Crime/Missing Persons/Cold Cases- I decided to begin a podcast regarding true crime because I feel like some of the victim's story never gets told due to it being to graphic or not admissible in court. I also think that Justice is lost in some of these cases and it's not right. I hope I can be a voice for the ones who lost theirs and perhaps make this world a slightly better place, and have you thinking more cautiously.
The Raven Knocks
He Gouged out her eyes because she dared him?
What if the person you trusted most became your worst nightmare? Join me, Amy Prince, as I uncover the chilling reality of Kelly Ann Bates' tragic story. Through graphic and unsettling details, we confront the unimaginable horror Kelly endured at the hands of her manipulative boyfriend, James Smith. This episode takes you through the heartbreaking journey of a young life brutally cut short and the monstrous patterns of abuse that went unchecked. It's a powerful testament to the dangers lurking in abusive relationships and the urgent need for awareness and intervention.
Throughout this episode, I stress the importance of recognizing the signs of manipulation and abuse, urging listeners to take action if they or someone they know is at risk. With a focus on seeking help and prioritizing safety, I provide vital resources like the National Domestic Violence Hotline to empower those in harmful situations. Kelly's story is a haunting reminder of why we must remain vigilant and proactive in the fight against domestic abuse. Tune in for a sobering reflection on this tragedy and a call to action for change.
Hey guys, welcome to my channel. I'm your host, Amy Prince, and this is the Raven's Knock. If you like what you see in here, please like, subscribe and donate to this channel. It really helps me and I cannot continue without your support. We are on all platforms so you can listen to wherever you get your podcasts. For those that have already subscribed and supported me, I really appreciate that. A shout out to all my peeps across the pond we love other countries and, of of course, the US has our fair share of sickos.
Speaker 1:Please note that the content of this recording may contain graphic material, including torture, and explicit language may be used. The opinions are of my own and may be offensive to some listeners. They are my opinions, everyone has them, and if you do not agree, then ignore them like an adult and move on. Listener discretion is strongly advised.
Speaker 1:On April 16, 1966, james Smith reported to authorities that he had accidentally killed his girlfriend during an argument in a bathtub, saying that she inhaled water and died. He had tried to resuscitate her but couldn't bring her back. He also said that she pretended to be unconscious a lot, so he wasn't sure if she was pretending or actually dead. Police came to his home, but it was immediately clear to them that this wasn't an accident, as Kelly's blood was found all over the house. They found 17-year-old Kelly Ann Bates laying naked on the bed in one of the bedrooms. When she got to the morgue, the medical examiner revealed over 150 injuries to her body During the last month that she had been alive. She had been tied to a radiator by the hair of her head, as well as being tied with a ligature around her neck to the radiator and furniture. He found scalding burns to her buttocks and left leg. Burns on her thigh caused by hot iron, a fractured arm, multiple stab wounds caused by knives, forks and scissors. He found stab wounds in her mouth, crushing injuries to both of her hands, mutilation of her ears, nose, eyebrows, mouth lips and her vagina. Eyebrows, mouth lips and her vagina. Wounds that were caused by spade and pruning shears were also noted. Both of her eyes had been gouged out and later stab wounds to the empty eye sockets were found. She was also partially scalped. Now she was alive.
Speaker 1:During all of this torture she was kept in a hole that he had in his house that had previously he had stated to her parents was due to a prior gas leak. For four months he tortured Kelly and she died a horrible death. The medical examiner stated that not less than five days and not more than three days before her death was when her eyes had been removed was when her eyes had been removed. And if that wasn't enough, she was also starved. She had lost 44 pounds during those four months of torture and hadn't received anything to drink in several days before her death.
Speaker 1:The cause of death was drowning after being beaten in the head with a shower head. I cannot wrap my mind around someone causing that much pain to another. I wonder what was going on in her head while this was going on. Did she ever have a chance to escape? Was she brainwashed in staying there? Was she hoping to die to end her misery? That day when he was holding her head under the water was holding her head under the water? The prosecutor would later go on to say in court that it was as if he was deliberately trying to disfigure her, causing the most pain possible, the most stress and degradation. The injuries had occurred over a four-month period of time and were so extensive and so terrible that he must have deliberately tortured her. None of the injuries were consistent with an accident.
Speaker 1:James Smith was born in 1948 and grew up to become unemployed. Every man's dream right. He lived in Manchester, new England. His neighbors stated that he was a quiet man, a Jehovah's Witness, he was house-proud, he was well-groom, groomed and he was a non-smoker. In 1970, he married his first wife. That would be his longest marriage. It lasted for 10 years. She divorced him due to his anger and the domestic violence she suffered at his hands. She was smart to leave him.
Speaker 1:Right after their divorce, smith began dating and married a girl who was 20 years old, named Tina. This marriage would only last two years. She would also go on to divorce him due mainly to the same reasons. She was his punching bag for those two years. She just got to where she just couldn't take it anymore. When he beat her while she was pregnant with their child, she decided she was not bringing a child into this mess. She said it began with a slap, but as time wore on it got more and more violent until he was hitting her with whatever he could get his hands on. He really enjoyed kicking her and kicking her between the legs. He also tried to drown her while she was pregnant. She left the first opportunity she had.
Speaker 1:In 1982, as they were getting a divorce, smith met and began dating a 15-year-old girl named Wendy Y'all noticing anything. 15 year old girl named Wendy, y'all noticing anything, seems. The ages of these women keep getting younger and younger. So Wendy was 15. He was 34 at the time. But now this girl was smart. She didn't put up with his shit. She left him after he tried drowning her by holding her head under the kitchen sink. It did not say how long this marriage lasted. I'm assuming it was very short-lived, because that's all I found about it. But good for her.
Speaker 1:He then met a young girl as she was babysitting for a friend of his. She was wanting to become an English teacher. Her name was Kelly Ann Bates. She was born May 18, 1978, and she was 14 years old. Smith would take the next two years to groom her Once she turned 16, the age of consent at that time in that area. Kelly quit school and moved in with him. She lied to her parents about his age, stating that he was 32, not 46, and that his name was Dave, not James.
Speaker 1:Margaret, kelly's mom stated when she first laid eyes on James, stated when she first laid eyes on James, the hair on the back of her neck stood on end. She said for the first time and the only time in her life she had this overwhelming urge to take a butter knife that was on the counter and stab him in the back. She was taken aback with that thought but now realizes it was intuition and she wishes she had followed through with it. She said she tried everything to get Kelly away from him. She even called police to report violence against James as she saw bruises on her daughter. The police gave her some pamphlets on domestic violence but stated they couldn't do anything because he didn't have a prior record. Kelly wasn't reporting the abuse.
Speaker 1:Now Smith did leave James a couple of times over some arguments, but she always went back. I wonder if he would tell her how beautiful she was, what a good person she was and he was so very sorry that it wouldn't happen again and he couldn't live without her. She just needed to come back home. Some bullshit story Girls out there, that's all. That is a bullshit story to manipulate you into going back home with them. Please don't do it. Once is too much.
Speaker 1:When you meet a man you want to date, let him know up front that if he ever raises his hand out of anger at you or you feel fear, or if he screams at you that you're leaving and you're not coming back, a man should have enough respect to treat you like a lady, to speak to you like a human being. There's no need to yell. You can disagree without yelling. People put up with so much shit that they don't need to Be an adult. If you have anger issues, then you need to go get help and get them under control. There's no sense in yelling, screaming and hitting. That's something a child does when he's pitching a fit.
Speaker 1:In December 1995, kelly became more and more withdrawn. She even quit a part-time job she had. Her parents were still receiving cards from her, but they noticed that they were not being signed by her. Rather, they were being signed by Smith. Her brother went to see her, mainly to calm the fears of their parents, but he too became uneasy when Smith stated she wasn't at home and he didn't get to see her. A concerned neighbor had also asked Smith where she was, as they hadn't saw her in a while, and he just pointed to an upstairs window. It was during these times that Kelly was being tortured to death. I wonder if her brother did see her, or the neighbor if she would have left, then I know a lot of women who never leave, either out of fear, or they have been brainwashed or manipulated in some way, and so they stay, usually until they die.
Speaker 1:I could go on and on about what I would do, but I've never allowed myself into that situation. So, honestly, I can't say I will say. A man grabbed me by the throat and pinned me up against the back door one time and it was then that I actually felt fear for the first time. I had no idea what I was going to do, but I took my two young children and I left. I wasn't going to wait around until that escalated. I had to live with my parents for a time, but I did what I said I would do. I felt fear and I left, but who knows, some may not have the self-confidence to do that. They might not have another family. Regardless, I hope, if this is where you find yourself, that you have the courage and the balls on your chest to leave. No one is worth being a punching bag or a doormat. No one.
Speaker 1:Smith would go on trial for her murder, but he would deny the murder. He stated it was all Kelly's fault that she wasn't here with us any longer. He said that Kelly put him through hell by winding him up. She would taunt him about his dead mother and had a habit of hurting herself to make it look bad on him. I wonder what the jury thought when your exes testified to your violence. I wonder what the jury thought when your exes testified to your violence. And you're the actual adult in this relationship, if you want to call it that. And so why didn't you man up and just tell her that she was going to have to get out and go back to her parents' house? Oh, because then you wouldn't have a toy to torture. Who knows what else went on and what was done to her over time that the medical examiner didn't see.
Speaker 1:I beg you guys, if you're in some relationship like this, even if it's not bad yet please, please leave now. Please, please leave now. Please, please leave now. But I do want you to know that when you leave is the most dangerous time. But you must leave, or I could be writing about you one day. When asked why he had gouged her eyes out and beat her, you know what he said she dared him really. Okay. So like. I want you to take out both of my eyes without any medicine and I'm not high on anything. Just do it while I'm sober and while I can feel the entire thing. I also dare you to stab me in several places, but I want you to be creative and I want you to use a knife, a fork and some scissors. Make sure you stab me in the mouth too.
Speaker 1:And while you're at it, let's make this look really good. I want you to take boiling water and just pour it on my rear end and take an iron and get it really hot and just press it against my thigh. You know, because I've always wanted an iron tattoo. Now you will have to tie me up to do this so you can use my hair and whatever else you find. Now you will have to tie me up to do this so you can use my hair and whatever else you find, but you will also have to crush both of my hands, so I can't try to stop you, okay. And then I want you to mutilate my ears, my nose, my eyebrows, my mouth, my lips, oh, and make sure you do a good job mutilating my vagina. Okay, I won't ever be needing that again, but make sure you're finished with it at first, alright, and before you hold my head underwater where I can no longer take a breath, I want you to scalp me or do the best you can with that. Then, after all of this, I want you to hold my face underwater until I never take another breath again. Yeah, buddy, I'm sure that's how that went. She never asked for any of this. You, sir, are not even worth my words.
Speaker 1:The jury at Manchester Crown Court took one hour to find Smith guilty of Kelly's murder. He was sentenced to life in prison and the judge recommended that Smith should serve at least 20 years. He stated that this had been a terrible case, that he was a highly dangerous person, he was an abuser of women and that he intended, as far as it was in his power, that he would punish him where he couldn't abuse anymore. Now the jury was provided counseling in this case, due to the nature and having had to view photographs of Kelly's body In 2023,. I believe he had his first parole hearing and it was denied. I hope he spends the rest of his life being tortured in his mind of the crimes he has committed and I hope he gets out of prison by only a pine box and that, my friends and weirdos, is another tragic story of a life that was lost way too soon, of a life that was lost way too soon.
Speaker 1:So I hope you enjoyed the show as much as you can in these, these types of episodes. But I wanted to say thank you for those who subscribe to our channel. I want to thank you for the guys that donate to our channel. It means so much to me. I cannot express how much it means to me. I'm trying to put out as much content as I can, just for those people who are like me and like to go on binges, you know, yeah, so, um, I'm hoping to get out as much content as I can, but in the meantime, you guys avoid rest stops and please be safe.
Speaker 1:And if you are in a domestic violence situation, I want you to call this number. It is 1-800-799-SAFE. That's 1-800-799-SAFE. You can also go to the hotline. You can go to their website. Basically, all I typed in was domestic violence. You can chat with them, you can text with them. There is people out there that can help you in your situation, but please do not stay in a situation. Get out while you still can, because, as much as I love doing podcasts, I really don't want to do a situation. Get out while you still can, because, as much as I love doing podcasts, I really don't want to do a podcast featuring you. Until next time, avoid rest stops and be safe.
