Ep 33 | Timothy Straeten Transcript
Ep 33 | Timothy StraetenÂ
Transcript
Before we begin this podcast, please be advised that the following episode contains language that some listeners may find offensive and inappropriate. The opinions expressed by the host and guests are their own and do not reflect the views of the podcast producers. Listener discretion is advised.
That's a hell of a story, man. That's before I got into doing anything illegal. First time I got into trouble was having a gun, and I didn't even know what prison was. And that's a really, really loud noise. When that gun went off, that probably scared the shit out of you. Yeah it made my ears ring.
How long did you stand there in front of the body in shock like that? A good couple of minutes and then I left okay.
But you think that you should be a free guy after doing life in prison? How many people change? It's the people that don't change. I feel should not get out.
You are now listening to the podcast Voices of a Killer. I'm bringing you the stories from the perspective of the people that have taken the life of another human and their current situation thereafter in prison.
You will see that although these are the folks that we have been programmed to hate, they all have something in common. They are all humans like us that admit that they made a mistake. Will you forgive them or will you condemn them? They are currently serving time for their murders and they give us an inside glimpse of what took place when they killed and their feelings on the matter now.
Here are the voices of those who have killed.
In this episode of Voices of a Killer, we delve into the tragic murder of South Kansas City, Missouri, local Patricia Bliven. A kind hearted animal lover, and the subsequent events that ensnared Timothy Straeten, a man from Harrington, Texas, in a web of crime and punishment. But there's another layer to this story, one that involves the media's portrayal of Timothy.
As we peel back the layers of his narrative, we uncover a stark disparity between the man himself and the media's depiction of him. The sensationalism and inconsistencies in reporting raise critical questions about accuracy and the rush to judgment. How did the media's portrayal affect public perception, and how did it align or diverge from Timothy's own recounting of events?
Join us as we navigate through the murky waters of crime, punishment, and media representation, all in this episode of Voices of a Killer.
This is a prepaid collect call from Tim Straeten, an offender at the Jefferson City Correctional Center. This call is from a correctional facility and may be monitored and recorded.
To accept charges, press 1. Thank you for using Securus. You may start the conversation now. Hey, what's up, man? Good evening. Yeah, what's going on, man? So, Timothy, where are you from? I'm from Harrington, Texas. You grew up there all your life? Uh, no, I've been we moved to Oklahoma in 1988, and moved up here in July 4th of 1988. How would you describe your childhood growing up?
Pretty good, pretty decent. We didn't have a whole lot of trauma, as some people would call it. Yeah. My dad was a heavy equipment operator, so he was here and there most of the time. Do you have a, still have a relationship with your family? I had a pretty good relationship. Did you ever get into drugs and alcohol as a kid?
I didn't start drinking until I was 17. Yeah. Would you consider yourself an alcoholic? I do. Yeah. What was your drink of choice? Vodka orange juice. What kind of drunk were you? Drank at least three drinks a night. I'd go to sleep when I got drunk or I'd get sick. . Did you get ever get violent? No, I never. I never got violent.
Timothy grew up in Harrington, Texas, a place as stark and unforgiving as his sparse words. Harrington with the sprawling landscapes where the horizon seemed to hold both hope and desolation in its vast embrace, contrasted sharply with the urban sprawl of Kansas City, Missouri to which he later moved, yet Timothy carried with him more than just a few boxes and a change of address.
The troubles that began as a whisper in Harrington grew into a clamor that followed him across state lines. Despite the change in backdrop, the patterns of his life remained the same, as did the specter of alcohol, which seemed to be the one companion he couldn't shake off. One thing must be noted about this case.
Timothy's name is sometimes varied in print. It appears as Timothy l Vander Stratten or Timothy Straeten, as well as various spellings and combinations. Nevertheless, as the pieces of Timothy's story starts to fall into place, it becomes clear that he is behind bars for one reason.
So, Timothy, you're sitting in prison right now for murder. Are you innocent or guilty? I'm innocent, but I'm also guilty. I was there, but I wasn't the one that pulled the trigger. What year was this? 1993. So definitely no door ring bell then to what a camera in the 90s. So who's the victim in your case? A woman, a house sitter named Patricia Bliven. A house sitter? Yeah, she was at a house that was supposed to be empty.
Did you know Patricia prior to this night? No I didn't. Take me back to that day, what were you doing around that, the crime? I was working in a salvage yard, and I was on parole, and I was trying to come up with money to pay for the, doing alcohol classes that the parole officer felt that I needed. How were you going to come up with that money?
Paying for the halfway house and everything else. We and a couple of buddies decided to do a home burglary. Was it the house that Patricia was at? Yeah. Was it just one other person that you were deciding to do this with? No, there was two. Two of them? Y'all had the house that Patricia was at? That's the one y'all chose?
That's, yeah, it was just a random, random choosing. Okay. Y'all didn't know who was in the house though? There wasn't no vehicle, so we kind of thought it was vacant. Okay. There wasn't nobody home at the time. Were y'all driving around the house, looking at it? No, not in the country, we just out riding around.
This house is secluded from everything else? Yeah. And y'all are riding around, y'all saw that one, it looked like it was empty? Yeah, just thought, well, there wasn't no car home, no lights home. What's the discussion, like, there's a lot of crime involving, like, property crime like this. And in your scenarios, probably people wonder, like, what goes on, what's the discussion like when you're passing by and you're all on the same page, like, hey, we're gonna, we're gonna break into a house, what is that discussion like?
Well, we're going around and we're trying to figure out how we can come up with money to pay for our, our drug classes, and our, our shoot to the halfway house, and our paycheck, and our boss is not giving us a full check, and my brother in law, as we called him at the time, we said we'd burglarize the house and take the property and sell it and come up with money to pay for everything.
So we went and nobody thought well, it was going to go bad. Yeah. We didn't assess the, uh, possibilities of what could happen.
The victim in this case was 44 year old Patricia Bliven, also known as Patricia Zumbrunnen. Patricia was a lover of all animals, especially horses. So when her friends, who owned a Cass County farm, asked Patricia to look after their horses for a few days, she jumped at the opportunity.
There, early on October 11th, 1993, she met her fate when she encountered Timothy and his accomplices. Now, my interview with Timothy was fairly short, but thanks to our research and some very detailed news clippings from local papers around the time, we have a lot of detail from the media in this case. However, in this episode, we would like to focus on the difference between Timothy's story and the ones that was portrayed in the news at the time.
This crime occurred in the early 90s, long before the likes of Google and smartphones and all the fast paced news cycle we have today. However, just like today, the media were prone to mistakes. If we just look at one article about Timothy's background, it shows some discrepancies in what we know about him in the lead up to this murder.
To quote, "authorities don't know a lot about Timothy Straeten. Cass County Sheriff Homer Foote Jr. His criminal record did not include anything major. No burglaries, robberies, larcenies, Just traffic and nitwit things Foote said. There's just not that much to put out right now. Authorities said he apparently drifted from Arkansas," end quote.
The first thing to notice is how the media states that Timothy was from Arkansas, when in fact we know he was from Texas. Regarding his criminal record, when we have a look on the Missouri Department of Corrections website, it's clear that Timothy was convicted of possession of an illegal firearm, something that he himself mentions in the podcast, and his reason for being on parole at the time, driven by a need for money to pay for drug and alcohol classes that his parole officer felt that he needed.
Timothy, 24 at the time, roped in his roommate Daniel Williamson, 20. and their friend Justin Unzicker 21 to commit this burglary.
So whenever y'all chose that house, what did y'all choose to do? Did y'all hatch a plan on how to approach getting inside? Or did y'all just get all, park and go in and just aimlessly try to get in?
Well, we pulled up in the driveway and we just had to ring the doorbell and when nobody answered, we figured nobody was home. So we walked around the house and found a way into the basement garage door. So y'all went around to the back of the house and to a basement window you said? Basement garage door, the garage door was half open.
Who went in first? We both walked in at the same time so there was no first. Yeah. What's the first thing you saw when you walked through this door? A horse carriage. A what? A horse carriage. Okay. Did uh, any of you have weapons with you? I had a 38. Why would you carry a 38 in there? Most of the time we carried a 38 because of what I was doing for a living.
What were you doing for a living? I had a lot of confrontation when my boss would ask me to go and pick up a car at a residence when I drove a tow truck. Oh, gotcha. So y'all get in this house and you go through the basement. What's the next move? We look around and see a toolbox and we pick it up. We take the toolbox out of the car and some other tools and then we go upstairs and we're going through the house.
I called the defendant and turned on and took the TV and a woman come out of nowhere. Really? What did she say when she came out of nowhere? Yeah, she screamed and she grabbed ahold of me and we struggled for the gun and the gun came out. She grabbed you? Yeah. What did you do whenever she grabbed you? What did she grab you at? Did she wrap her arms around you? Grabbed you by the?
She grabbed ahold of me face to face. Grabbed on my arm and had her arms around me and I panicked and we grabbed it. She grabbed one her left hand and grabbed the gun and as we were struggling, the gun, one off and killed. Shot her in the head.
It shot her in the head? Yeah. How did your gun wind up pointed at her head? Uh, we struggling for it and there was my, you know, she was facing me, face to face, right here in my face. And we was struggling for the gun. I ended up tripping over the dining room chair and the gun ended up going off and struck her in the head and ended down the side of the head and into the down, like a downward spiral.
Yeah, did it exit or just enter? Yeah, it came out, it went in and out. Did blood splatter on you? No, it actually got more on the dining room table and all kind of off to the right here, or left here inside of it. What was your reaction once you realized you just shot somebody in the head in a burglary? I panicked and didn't know what to do.
What did the other two guys do? Were they standing there watching that? No, they ran out of the house, got in the car. But did they see the shot go off? No, they didn't. They heard it though, I'm sure? When they testified against me, they said they didn't hear nothing. They didn't see nothing, but they knew that I did it.
And that's a really loud noise when that gun went off. That probably scared the shit out of you. Yeah. It made my ears ring. Yeah. Yeah. It scared me more. How long did you stand there in front of the body in shock like that? Uh, a good couple of minutes. And then I left. It took me a minute to realize, Hey, I gotta get out of here.
Did you, uh, steal anything after you killed her? No, we had most of the stuff already out of the house before she ever showed up. Did you bring the gun with you or did you leave the gun? Uh, I took it with me. Was it a revolver that didn't eject shells or was it, how did that work? Yeah, yeah, it was a revolver.
Did you look at the body before you left and see what you did? No, I did not. How did that make you feel, watching that person drop right there in front of you? I was very dissatisfied in myself. When you got back in the car did you tell them what you just did? .
No, I didn't. I didn't say nothing to him. Even though you just killed a woman? Yes. Have you ever said anything to them about what you just did? No I did not.
The struggle that led to Patricia Bliven's tragic death is made even more real when we read an excerpt from an article about her in the Kansas City Star from October 22, 1993. To quote, "Mary Bliven, the victim's mother, said that a few hours before her death, her daughter, I talked about feeding the horses.
Bliven had told her mother that she was supposed to house sit for only a week, but would stay an extra night until the friends returned." End quote. Little did Patricia know that that extra night would be her last. We'll hear more about that after the break.
What was it like driving away knowing that you just took someone's life away? I didn't know what to expect. This was the second time I barely really got into doing anything illegal. First time I got in trouble was having a gun, but before that, I didn't even know what prison was. You certainly do now, though, don't you?
Yeah. I mean, that's a, that's a hell of a story, man. Um, shoot somebody that's wrestling over a gun and they just kill them right there in front of you. That's pretty big. After you drove off, did you go pawn off the stuff? I could, I didn't know what to think or what to do, and I just was living just minute to minute until I got arrested in Texas.
How long did it take till you got arrested? Uh, it happened on October, early morning of October 11th, I was arrested on the 13th. So did you take off running after you did that? I left the next morning. You were running because of what you did? Yeah. No turning back. What was your plan, like, for the future, going to Texas, what was next?
Mexico? I didn't have a future. I was gonna go spend some time with my mom and dad. So, did the marshals come get you? Deputy Sheriff in Austin Cass County, Sheriff Department here. They knew you were, at your parents? I was, I got arrested, I didn't make it, I got arrested in Gray County, Texas for a parole violation.
Yeah, and they extradited you back to Missouri? Did you, uh, tell the police everything you just told me or did you try to act like you didn't do it? I never gave a statement. But you plead not guilty, or guilty? I plead not guilty at last, but guilty almost two years later.
So, Timothy doesn't provide us a lot of information about the aftermath of what happened in this case.
Court records do show us that Timothy was in fact arrested during a routine traffic stop in Gray County, Texas, where he was put in cuffs for his previous illegal firearm offense. After being extradited to Missouri and a long wait in the Cass County Jail, it took Timothy two years to confess and plead guilty to this case.
Now, a lot of this was probably due to the pressure put on Timothy by prosecutors. Initially charged with first degree murder, prosecutors eventually sought the death penalty, which can be used as a bargaining tool. Not only this, but the conditions in county jail are often terrible and inhumane, and this can drive prisoners to extreme lengths to try and get out.
In fact, one news article from October 94 highlights just what lengths Timothy went to to try to achieve this. To quote, "Timothy L vanderstraten, who faces trial in the murder of a South Kansas City woman, allegedly tried to escape Monday night. For During a nurse's visit, Timothy charged through an open door, then tried to use a metal plate to smash a window that leads to the jail's exercise yard.
Detention officers subdued him at the second door." End quote. Unfortunately, I didn't get the chance to ask Timothy about this failed escape, but unsurprisingly, this follows a pattern in this story, particularly when we focus in on Timothy's eventual confession and sentencing. There was a lot of media coverage about what Timothy said in court that contrasts with what he has told us.
According to an article from October 5th, 1995, to quote, "In exchange for a plea, Timothy avoided a first degree murder trial that could have landed him on death row. He was sentenced to life in prison without parole. Timothy told the court that he had shot Patricia Bliven. He admitted that after shooting her twice, once in the head, he dragged her body into a bedroom where he sodomized her while an accomplice disconnected a television set in the next room.
The guilty plea came three weeks before his trial was set to begin." End quote. Further down in the article, it also covers what was said by prosecutors. Quote, "Here's what authorities say happened that night nearly two years ago. Timothy and two other men were cruising country roads looking for a house to burglarize.
They pulled into the driveway of a home about five miles southwest of Pleasant Hill. Residents of the house were away on a business trip, but Patricia Bliven, a friend, was house sitting and asleep in an upstairs bedroom. Timothy suspected someone might be in the house, so he took a 357 Magnum handgun with him.
He also cut the telephone lines leading to the house. He and one of the other men broke inside while the third man was waiting in the car, officials said. Patricia was awakened by the noise and went to investigate. She screamed when she saw the other man, and he ran outside and jumped into the car. The driver backed the car up quickly and crashed into a tree." End quote.
Timothy then told the court, quote, "he sneaked up behind Patricia and put the gun to her back. She resisted. He shot her in the shoulder, then he fired the fatal shot to her head". End quote. Now, regardless of what the truth is, it's hard to ignore some of the discrepancies in this article. Take, for example, the gun used in this case.
In the article, it claims to be a 357 Magnum, whereas Timothy has told us it was a 38. Now, gun enthusiasts among you might point out that these two guns are virtually identical, but it's the small details like this that matter in this type of case. In fact, if we look across the other articles that covers this entire case, we find errors with the spelling of Timothy's name.
Sometimes he's listed as being from South Kansas City and other times he's listed as being from Colorado. If we can find errors like this, it has to leave us questioning the accuracy of how this story was portrayed in the media. At the end of the day, there is one thing that is true about this case. Timothy ended up beyond bars and I want to know just what he thought about his current situation.
What did they sentence you to? Life without. Do you think you deserve life without parole? Yeah, they gave me a life option to take life for the death penalty. So you took the life without over the death penalty? Yes. Do you think for what you did, you deserve life without parole?
Uh, I deserve a lot, but I don't think I should have to do the rest of my life. I believe I should do a lot. I do quite a bit. Enough that we're learned or not, that's not what you do in life. How long have you done so far? October will be the beginning of the 30th year. 30th year, and how old are you? I'm 54.
54, so you could easily do another 30 years. Yeah, 20, 25. Has the victim's family ever out to you any kind of hate mail? Never heard a word from them. Did you see him in the court room? I seen the daughter and the father. What was that like? That was very heartbreaking. Were they looking at you? No, they didn't look at me at all.
They faced the judge on it. Most of it. If you could say something to them now, if they were listening, what would you say? I couldn't ask them to forgive me because I did what I Even though it was an accident, I still I took a life. They'd have to forgive me on their own. I couldn't ask somebody to forgive me for taking a loved one of them.
After the dust is left to settle on this case, there are a few conclusions we can come to with Timothy's story. Firstly, there's a big discrepancy between what was told in the media and what Timothy has told us today. Often this is the case with convicted criminals, not just killers. Media outlets will often grab the most convenient and sensational piece of news to make a story sell.
Not only does this make it difficult for us as third parties to fully understand everything, but it casts doubt on the opinions of all of those directly involved. It is clear that Timothy was under pressure from the threat of the death penalty and that too brings into question the ethics of the plea deal.
Secondly, if the police had the opportunity to know about Timothy's full criminal record and if he had been provided more assistance in attending classes set by his parole officer, perhaps this crime would not have happened. This type of speculation is hard to land on as there's a lot of missing information that we just don't have.
What is true is that Timothy was sentenced to life in prison and his accomplices Daniel Williamson and Justin Unzicker were both hit with 20 years after pleading to secondary murder, all as a result of our third and final conclusion, that of the tragic loss of the life of Patricia Bliven. Regardless of the true circumstances of her death, it was senseless and could have been avoided.
The quote again from the article about her, "Patricia enjoyed riding horses in old fashioned carriages, said Barbara Carr, a long time friend. That's when she was happiest, when she was with the horses. She was bubbly and vivacious and loving, and she wouldn't have done harm to any human being or animal," end quote.
With that in mind, I wanted to finish my conversation with Timothy by asking him one final question.
But you think that you should be a free guy after doing life in prison? Yeah. How believe people change. There's some people that don't change. I, I feel should not get out. Yeah. I can't bring back, I can't. You get what you, once you take, you can't give back. Yeah. I wish I could though. Yeah. It's a very, uh, unfortunate event for sure. But like you said. Once it's done, you can't take it back. So Timothy, I appreciate you opening up to me. I hope that, uh, do your time. Okay. And I appreciate you calling. All right, man.
Take it easy. Bye bye. The caller has hung up.
On the next episode of voices of a killer. It's funny because it's just your voice, just the sound of your voice. You sound like somebody that's. Not a killer. Not every one of us in here are monsters. Light comes on standing, probably five from him, and he, and he's got a gun pointed at me. We're like, let's run.
That was my thought. I took this man from his family. I took myself from my family. I devastated a lot of lives out there. As much as I walked around trying to be a tough guy, in my mind, I was not a tough guy. I was afraid. I thought I was gonna die. That's a wrap on this episode of Voices of a Killer. I want to thank.
Timothy for sharing his story with us today, his ability to be open and honest is what makes this podcast so special. If you would like to listen to the raw recordings of these interviews, you can visit patreon.com/voicesofakiller. By becoming a patron, you can access not only this, but hours of bonus recordings, correspondence, and you can contribute to the way the show is produced.
A big shout out to Sonic Futures who handled the production, audio editing, music licensing and promotion of this podcast. If you want to hear more episodes like this one, make sure to visit our website at voicesofakiller.com. There you can find previous episodes, transcripts, and additional information about the podcast.
Lastly, if you enjoyed this episode, please consider leaving us a review on Spotify, Apple Podcasts, or wherever you get your podcasts. Your feedback helps us improve and reach new listeners. Thank you for your support. And we can't wait to share more stories with you in the future. Thank you for tuning in, I'm your host Toby, and we'll see you next time on Voices of a Killer.