Slim Turkey: The Unsolved Homicide of Richard Aderson Lee Purchase

On February 5, 1997, Richard Aderson and an unknown motorist had a minor collision on eastbound I-84 in New York state. Soon after stopping to access the damage, Richard had been shot once in the chest and was left to die on the side of the road. Miraculously, he willed himself to crawl back to his vehicle and call 911, where he remained on the phone with an emergency operator for 9 minutes! Sadly, Richard died while being transported to the hospital but he left untold clues in that 911 call that continue to remain hidden from the public view 21 years later.
 



This podcast may contain information that some may find disturbing.
 



Thanks to:
 
“Burning Sunshine” by Lobo Loco is licensed under CC BY-NC-ND 4.0
 
“Thinking It Over” by Lee Rosevere is licensed under CC BY 4.0
 
And a special THANK YOU to The Mountain Goats, Ryan & Mike for allowing us to use:
“We Do It Different On The West Coast” by The Mountain Goats from Goths

Richard Aderson may have been the first official road rage fatality in New York state after the term road rage seemed to gain popularity in the mid 1990s but he was far from being just a statistic. He was a husband, a father, a brother, a son, a friend, a teacher and so much more than just a number on a sheet of paper. In this episode, we discuss the enormous impact his death had on his family.
 
This podcast may contain information that some may find disturbing.
 
Thanks to:
 
“Agnus Dei X - Bitter Suite” by Kevin MacLeod is licensed under CC BY 4.0
 
“Forever Blue” by Fabrizio Paterlini & March Rosetta is licensed under CC BY-NC-ND 3.0
 
“Forever In Between (The Warrior's Misfortune)” by Amy Annelle is licensed under CC BY-NC-ND 3.0
 
“Prelude No. 14” by Chris Zabriskie is licensed under CC BY 4.0
 
 
Brewington, Brian. "Uncommon and Monumental Acts of Courage Happen in 12 Seconds or Less." Medium.com: 6 Dec 2017; Accessed 14 October 2018.
 
Legacy Staff "Coping With a Sudden Death." Legacy.com: Advice and Support, 2008; Accessed 14 October 2018.
 

Was Richard Aderson's death a clear case of "road rage?" Or had some in the media rushed to judgment and mistakenly hyped Richard’s death as the first fatal "road rage" incident in New York? In this episode, we’ll dive into both sides of the argument and see what we learn.
 
This podcast may contain information that some may find disturbing.
 
Thanks to:
 
“Fluffing a Duck” by Kevin MacLeod is licensed under CC BY 3.0
 
“Turkey Time” by Monk Turner is licensed under CC BY-NC-ND 4.0
 
Buck, Stephanie. "Road rage was invented 30 years ago this summer in LA, when gunplay came to the freeways." Timeline.com: July 6, 2017; Accessed 8 November 2018.
 
Daryl F. (1987, August 23). Highway Hostility Must Be Stopped: L.A. Needs a Return to Civility, Drastic Moves on Congestion. Los Angeles Times. Retrieved from http://www.latimes.com
 
Fumento, Michael. "'Road Rage' Versus Reality." The Atlantic: Aug 1998; Accessed 8 November 2018.
 
Smith, Philip & King, Ryan. (2013). From Road Rage to Everyday Automotive Incivility: A Routine Activities Approach to Low‐Level Deviance. The Sociological Quarterly, 54(3), 476-500.
 
Safire, William. (1997, September 3). Road Rage in Paris. The New York Times. Retrieved from http://www.nytimes.com
 
Extra THANKS to William J. Harris for allowing us to use his poem, "A Guy in a Black SUV."
 
And a special THANK YOU to Pepper & Shaun for allowing us to use:
“Drive” by Pepper from Pink Crustaceans and Good Vibrations
 

The investigation into Richard Aderson's homicide has been kept under tight wraps by the New York State Police for the last two decades. Initially the police appeared to be transparent, seemingly sharing information with the media. But as time has passed, the New York State Police have become increasingly stingy in releasing any information related to Richard's investigation.
 
Why have the police withheld seemingly harmless information? And what are their motives? In this episode, we'll begin to tackle the question of WHY the police have monopolized that information.
 
This podcast may contain information that some may find disturbing.
 
Thanks to:
 
“Carry Me Again” by GeeNerve is licensed under CC BY-NC-SA 3.0 US
 
“Turkey Time” by Monk Turner is licensed under CC BY-NC-ND 4.0 
 
Extra THANKS to Lee Farber for composing the outro track, "Road Rage" for the episode
 
And a very special THANK YOU to Slightly Stoopid & Chris for allowing us to use:
“Thinkin Bout Cops” by Slightly Stoopid from Slightly Not Stoned Enough To Eat Breakfast Yet Stoopid

The New York State Police have not only withheld critical information but they may have also intentionally circulated misleading sketches of the suspect in Richard's Aderson's homicide to further divert the public from learning the true identity of the killer.
 
In this episode, we conclude our two part examination of the police investigation and determine whether the police have remained complicit in concealing the truth.
 
This podcast may contain information that some may find disturbing.
 
Thanks to:
 
“Liar Liar” by Vienna Ditto is licensed under CC BY 4.0
 
"Swan Dive" by Waxahatchee is licensed under CC BY-NC-ND 4.0 
 
“Turkey Time” by Monk Turner is licensed under CC BY-NC 4.0 
 
"Hellidays (b/w Christmas in Hollis)" by The Impossebulls is licensed under CC BY-NC-SA 4.0
 
"The Ballad of Albany" by WPTR Radio
 
Conger, Cristen. "How Police Sketches Work." HowStuffWorks.com; Accessed 21 December 2018.

Cissy Taylor, the crime reporter for New Hampshire's Union Leader, covered the Richard Aderson homicide and subsequent investigation with great dedication and persistence. But why did this Manchester based reporter dedicate herself to writing eleven articles about a New York homicide over the course of a year and a half? That’s a lot of coverage by any measure. Did Cissy know something about Aderson’s killer that she did not or could not reveal?
 
This podcast may contain information that some may find disturbing.
 
Thanks to:
 
“Hey Go” by Lobo Loco is licensed under CC BY-NC-ND 4.0
 
"Hush Hush" by Rabbit Rabbit is licensed under CC BY-NC-ND 3.0 US
 
“Hush” by The Moto-Gators is licensed under CC BY-NC-ND 3.0 US
 
 And a special THANK YOU to The Shins & Tiff for allowing us to use:
“Caring is Creepy” by The Shins from Oh, Inverted World