We'd like to think that if something terrible happens to us, the truth will come out and justice will prevail. But what if your life is worth only a few years behind bars for your killer, and they're released only to kill again. My name is em William Phelps. I'm an investigative journalist and true crime author dedicated the past twenty years of my life to help in families of missing and murder. Join us. We're crossing the line. Christina Everett, how are you doing this week? Mr? Phelps? I am doing pretty well, enjoying the fall weather. How about you? How goes it over in Connecticut? It's crisp here, very crisp. The frost has showed up. Ava doesn't like it. My laborador, I don't mind it. Do you put sweaters on her? I do not dress up my animals. And people who do that put the whole other episode because I think they're on the same page with that as well. They have natural fur coats exactly, and Halloween costumes and Christmas and you're torturing the poor animal, You're embarrassing them. So I want to share something with you. Actually, I watched perhaps one of the best documentaries that I have seen this year. That's saying a lot. If it's coming from you, I'll tell you that it's called Attica, and it is a harrowing look at the that occurred at the Attica Correctional Facility and up state New York. I just picture al Pacino from the movie absolutely, and and that's what I think a lot of people know, but the story, I don't think people realize what it exactly is. And so this documentary was mind blowing, you know, for those who aren't familiar. The event was a five day standoff between state police and Attica prisoners who rioted and they took control of the prison. They even took forty two members of the staff hostage. The inmates were demanding changes to be made to the prison's court conditions, including just this eaten, outright racism and dehumanizing treatment by the guards. A bloody rate ensued and resulted in forty three deaths, and it remains one of the bloodiest prison rebellions in US history. It has fascinating archive footage in this documentary. I love that, as well as interviews with the surviving inmates who give like a play by play of what happened, you know, and we've discussed this before felps where viewers get really uncomfortable with seeing really graphic images, and this is the warning to anyone who wants to see it. This documentary includes horrific still photographs of the events aftermath, their gory, the groutesque. It's alarming, but I feel it's really important to still see the brutal, inhumane way that the prisoners were treated behind that. If this sounds interesting to you, I've highly recommended. It's been out and select theaters in major cities for a couple of weeks now, but it just also premiered on Showtime over the weekend, so you can watch it at home. Now, Well, there's Everett with another recommendation for a disturbing, bloody, violent thing to watch on true crime television. And how excited she was while she's talking about this. It was so good. It was disturbing and moving, and it's such a big moment in US history. And I think there's been a lot of moments like that in the past couple of years, and so it was another one of those moments, like why didn't they teach us this in school? Like why am I learning about this now through a documentary. Yeah, I'm glad you're learning about it and that the public can learn about it so we can see how people are treated. And I think it has a little bit maybe to do with today's episode. There's the topic of prison reform and police brutality. It's a little connected. Yeah, it definitely is connected. So this week I want to talk about this murder memory I have. Have you ever had one of those? Everett can't say that I have. Now. Really, I almost think everybody has someone in their past, even a couple of degrees separation, who's been murdered. But you know, lately, I can't stop thinking about this. One day in high school. It was April. I was sixteen, a junior. Actually that was the year that I quit high school, but that's for another time. There was this girl who sat next to me in class, Sherry Anne Merton. We were the same age, and we had known each other since like sixth grade at least. Sherry actually had a crush on me in middle school. From what I can remember, we went quote out for a bit. You held hands, well a little bit more, I think, you know, you know how you kind of said, well, you go out with me, and then yeah, check, yes, check now yeah, and then you're going out. You know, I remember that she was this girl that everyone liked. And I don't mean that as the clich neighbor. It was true. She was just a sweet person, positive, happy all the time. Then one day she didn't come to school. Oh no, wait, hold on, what is it with where you grew up with paper ghosts? You grew up in this town where all the girls went missing? What happened to your sister in law? And now your own classmate? You know, I never really looked at it that way, But to summarize a line from this indie band that I really like, Lord Here on the Dead seemed to follow me around. I don't know, I just I noticed more. Maybe I just assume most have similar memories that you know, there's this one person or two people from their childhood or their teenage years that was murdered. No, not for me at least. I mean I don't have anything like yours or your stories, not even a few degrees separation. You don't remember, I mean, you grew up in Hollywood. I also, I feel like I grew up in a bubble. To be honest, it was very protected. I think that's what it is. Yeah, and no offense different generations. Why would I be offended by that because I'm very very young, much younger than you. Yeah. No, you're not away with that. No, but no, there was nothing like that for me. There are like deaths from car accidents and whatnot over the years, but nothing assorted as the stories that I've heard you tell me. I don't think it's regional as maybe you're trying to suggest. I don't think there's any explanation for this other than it just is what it is. You know. I remember this very vividly. I woke up one morning when I was living in Vernon and I was I was young, you know, young team, and I remember seeing my neighbors, my direct neighbors, outside walking the street kind of circling and just they looked day. So I went out there and my neighbor's sister, her husband had stabbed her to death. What. Yeah, No, I've never heard that from you before. That's disturbing. The stabbing didn't occur next door, but it was my neighbor, and it happened not far away. I want to say it was right around the time of this case. The Sherry and Martin case, Well, what ended up happening with your classmate? She left home one night and she didn't come back. I thought we knew right away what happened to her. She was a bit rebellious and prone to taking off. A lot of us kids were at that time, at that age from my area. You know, we just do what we wanted to do. In my case, I had no Oh god, I'm gonna hear about this. I had no parental supervision, you know, So it was easy for me, but others did. So is that what she did? She ran away? This time? She didn't. Sherry's mother reported her missing, said she left her house the previous night about seven thirty and had not returned. And this is even though she was known to run away. The mother thought this was different. There was no word from her, She didn't contact anybody, you know what I'm saying. Yeah, mother's intuition exactly. Trust that. So. Sherry's mother told the police that Sherry was supposed to go over to a girlfriend's house that night but never made it. She had instead been dropped off at these train tracks in a secluded area several miles from her home in Vernon. I lived by these tracks. It's called rails two trails. Now do you know where she would have been going? Then? Yeah, she was headed over to her ex boyfriend's house. So two police officers headed over to the abandoned railroad tracks and started looking around. This is investigation one on one, the last place she's dropped off. They start looking and it didn't take them long to find Sherry's mutilated body. She had been strangled and stabbed several times in the neck. God, I want to say too, I've recently seen these crime scene picks, and honestly, I was distraught afterwards. I had not seen a picture of Sherry in like thirty five years. The photos are extremely comprehensive, specially graphic, and maybe that's because I knew her. It's kind of surreal how I ran into this case again after all these years. I was actually over at the Verona Police Department for us, for you, and I have written. I was looking for something that we needed in the cold case room, and for whatever reason, I mean, her case isn't cold. I'm looking through files and bang, I see Sherry Marton and it just it all comes back to me, you know. And I opened this and one of the first things I see are those eight by twelve photographs of her, and I just it was the last thing I expected to see that morning. Here's the part of this that is bothersome to me. We were on the bus that day, We drove by the tracks that day, and she was right there. We just didn't know it. So were there any obvious people in her life that the police immediately suspected once we heard where she had been dropped off? At this kid's house. We all knew the ex boyfriend. Yeah, his name is Corey Barton. Outcast, I don't think is the right word. Quiet, loner, you know. He always had this disheveled look. He thought he was a badass, always angry. He also was that kid in school who you looked at and said he's stuck in ninth grade forever because he appeared much older. You know what I'm saying. There's always that one kid in high school who is like, yeah, that kid's an adult, you know, and he's still in high school. I used to personally run into him in the woods by my house because it was an area that was between our houses and there was a little tiny lake there, the tank, as we called it. We all hung out there. We drank there, we had fires, you know, we had keg parties. I don't know what Sherry ever saw in him. I wasn't paying too much attention then because of my own life was imploding at the time, but I do remember quite emphatically when she was seen with him. Her girlfriends were like, you know, w TF, I mean, why him? Because he's that weird old kid nobody wanted to go near. I mean, my guess is that she just wanted to go after the bad boy, maybe the rebellious kid. Maybe. I I think part of it is she might have felt sorry for him, and then once she felt for him, you know, she was into him. So then did the cops go question him? Yeah? Of course, as I was thinking about covering this case, I went and got all the official documents to find out exactly what happened, because I just don't want to go on my memory, obviously. So after Sherry's mother gave them Corey Barton's name, the cops called him at school the next day for an interview. And this is what I find interesting In the police report. It describes him as being quote very calm and polite. It says Corey claimed Cherry called him at seven thirty the previous night, but that he was adamant he did not see her that night. Okay, so the phone call at least lines up with what Cherry's mom was saying that she got a call around that time and left her house to go see her supposed girlfriend. Right. There was a family friend who confirmed this to police because he was the one who gave Sherry a ride to her girlfriend's house that night, except he said he had dropped Sherry off near those abandoned tracks around nine pm. The tracks were near the friend's house, and Sherry insisted on being dropped off there instead. Interesting, see, I see both sides to the situation, because like, as a teen, I always had my dad dropped me off down the street around the corner from a friend's house or from the movie theater, because it's just so embarrassing to get dropped off by an adult, you know. But then now as an adult, why get dropped off at such a sketchy kind of place. I understand what you're saying that, and I think that Sherry's parents knew that Corey was a bad boy and didn't want her to see him. So I think that's the reason why she was dropped off up the street at her friend's house. One detail about the crime scene, Sherry's coat was placed over her face by her killer. This immediately tells me that our killer newer. Yeah, it's personal. Yeah, we see this in cases where mothers killed their children. You know, they put a blanket over them or stuffed annibal by their side. So going back to the ex boyfriend, what did the cops do to follow up? Well, they couldn't do much right away because Corey high tailed it out to his father's house in a different town about forty five minutes away from Vernon, So the state police had to get involved. They called him at his father's house. His father tells them that his son is not talking to anyone her his attorney's advice. Yeah, I mean, why wouldn't he want to help? Yeah, I mean, why the funk wouldn't you want to help find someone that you purportedly loved or you know, we're going with, or or worried about. So by now the cops are focused on Corey Barton. They know that he did it. It's pretty damn obvious. And you said earlier that it wasn't a surprise to you right, Yeah, I mean, once we heard she had been murdered where she was found, it's like he did it. I mean, he lives houses away from there. He was going with her. He's a time bomb. Here's the thing. A few people reported that Corey liked to carry around a big knife. I could have myself to that list as well, because I remember him not being afraid to let you know he had a knife when you saw him in the woods. He was that freaky. It was clear in Jim class or whenever he got into a fight. He had this volcanic rage in him. It came out a few times. He would just snap, start screaming and then a burst of anger. Would he ever get into like physical fights with people all the time? Like it makes me wonder now, like was he like that with Sherry exactly? I mean, previous behavior is a good indication of future behavior. The cops learned from a friend of Sherry's that Corey Barton slap Sherry on the day before she was murdered. Two others who knew Corey asked him at school the day after she went missing if he had seen her. His response quote, She's not coming home. She is dead on the tracks, she was hit by a car end quote. What the hell? First of all, how did the car hit you on the tracks? Obviously, the car hit her, and a knife flew out the window and stabbed her four times in the neck. I'd never said that he was the sharpest tool in the in the shed. I never said that. Also, in an interview with police, Sherry's mother recalled the conversation with Corey's aunt in which the aunt stated something to the effect that Corey hated his mother and that Sherry reminded him of her. Oh, guys got ish shoes. So this is telling me that Corey projected that rage and hatred onto an innocent girl, and he knew exactly what he was doing. By April, seventeen year old Corey Barton is arrested and charged with the murder of Sherry Anne Marton. He waved his right to remain silent and began to talk, and I was able to get his taped confession. So we will hear a bit of that after the break. And then there's this major remarkable twist in this case. So I want to give you the quick and dirty about murder confessions. Believe half of what you hear and know that the killer is going to blame their victim and place the onus on the victim. It's always somebody else's fault. They will always downplay their role in whatever they did. In his tape confession to Vernon police, Corey Barton explained that Cherry called him said she wanted to meet up at quote the tracks to have sex and talk. Once there, he said, they had sex, got dressed, started walking. So let's listen to the confession tape and let Corey explain what happened next afterwards when we came down who we're talking about going back out? And I told her that they didn't want to, and she took the knife out. He started and I tried to grab it from hight strangled it. She choked the knife. What were you wearing a night? I wasn't? You will? What do you mean by she took the night? She handed your cool in your coat? How she gave her? I guess she took it from me because I had it up in my room wednesday. If you came over to being a school book. So the guy who's known for carrying around the big knife is now claiming that the victim brought her own. Yeah, sure, buddy, It's absolute bullshit. The knife was his. Corey claimed that Sherry stole the knife from his house and that as she swung it at him, she slipped and fell and he was able to then get on top of her. I can say with clarity from memory that this kid was tough. I would have never fucked with this kid. And I was tough. And what about Sherry? Sherry was petite, I mean she was tiny. She was a tough girl, yes, And for her to swing a knife at him, no freaking way. That wasn't the Sherry that I recall. So he's basically just tampering this all down by trying to position it as if it was like the struggle between him and Sherry was Sherry being the aggressor. He's trying to say it with self defense. And you were fighting over the knife where you're standing shitting laying on the ground, He was standing first. And what she feel when you strangled her? Was she laying on the ground? Were you on tap of her? How were you laying down? Nearly knew body over over her? You stamped her? Was she still striving? Yeah? She still was? Did you pretty called over? Yes? You know it was for just before I left? I did did you stay her before you got the called over? I don't think so. The guyft to called over before I started? Why can do that? I just did? First of all, the three stab wounds in her neck are methodical and nearly perfectly placed one after the other along her jugular. I saw the photos. This wasn't random. He boom, boom boom. And then what happened? Ye left? Did you go directly? Hell? Yeah? Why did you do that when I didn't go to Flashy and Buckleton? What another from my pros? The times that I startled? Yes, I guess us around quarter nine because you were cleaning the night. But you tried to guess where did you watching girls? What did you do it that you brought a climb room? Did he really say that he went home to his aunt's house nearby, searched for nightcrawlers, and then went inside for the night. I mean, those details alone just tell me how weird this kid is. Yeah, Everett, I mean, you stab a girl, you strangle her, and then you go nightcrawler hunting. You're showing signs of being a sociopath. So let's fast forward to Corey Barton's trial. I can't help but think about Sherry's parents, and I've met her parents over the years. But your sixteen year old daughter is murdered. Her killer gets eighteen years as a juvenile, but serves only nine years eight months. What would you then? Be enraged the system? Is that really all Sherry's killer got? He served under ten years for killing Sherry Merton, but not only killing her, violently killing her, stabbing and strangling her. And what does he do? He gets out of prison, moves to another state and then guess what, he kills his new girlfriend. No, are you kidding me? Previous behavior is a good indication of future behavior. You're gonna hear me say that over and over on the show because oh my god, it's true. Did he get time for that? He then pleads down his case from what should have been a capital murder charge to second degree murder, getting him twenty three years to twenty eight years in prison. Unreal. So let's go through some of the case details real quick. So this article from two thousand about the sentencing of Corey Barton for the murderer of his girlfriend. Just before Thanksgiving. Barton became enraged and beat his girlfriend Sally Harris to death with a piece of their baby's crib, and then the guy is gifted two years off his sentence for time served after his second murder arrest. Okay, wait, that's discussing to first find out that, besides the murder, their six month old baby was in the room and saw the whole thing. I mean, that's basically what happened to Dexter as a kid. I'm just saying, well, we could argue Corey Barton as a serial killer. He's killed two over a span of years, and if he gets out again, my guess is he might kill again. Let's take a look at the bigger picture, though, which is one of the reasons I wanted to do this, because our judicial system is really run by idiots in some circumstances who play so little value on human life. It just it enrages me. It's in need of desperate repair. If we are going to honor and place to focus on the victims, I mean, that's what we want to do, right because right now, as we stand, murders, pedophiles, rapists, they get the breaks, not those whose lives they just troy. We see this time and again judges have far too much power to do what they want, which is sometimes not in the victims, family's best interests or the publics. Let's take a beat right now and take a quick break, and we'll be right back. Knowing that we were going to discuss this today, I did some research and found some interesting facts about sentencing from the d o J. Person's sentenced to murder served an average of fifteen years in state prison before their initial release. Most violent offenders released from state prison in two thousand and sixteen served less than three years in prison before their initial release. State prisoners initially released in two thousand and sixteen served an average of sixty two of their sentence if they were serving time for rape or sexual assaults. Yeah, and nine six percent of violent offenders released in two thousand and sixteen, including sevent of those sentenced for murder or non negligent manslaughter, served less than twenty years before their initial release from state prison. And then you have these guys serving life who didn't even do it right. It's really messed up. Look at the numbers you just read. Let's just take a minute and think about that. If you're listening, go back and listen to those numbers again and become enraged about that, because you should be. That is just amazing. Well, here are some interesting counterpoint research that I also found. This one is from Sentencing project dot org. The number of people serving life sentences indoors. Even while serious violent crime has been declining for the past twenty years, one in seven people in prison are serving life with parole, life without parole, or virtual life, which is fifty years or more. So you want to commit murder, and I'm not recommending anybody do that. Please, Connecticut is a state to do it because you will serve even less than the average amount of years people spend in prison for murder. Maybe that's why all the bad things happen around where you live in Maybe you're right. Maybe that's a good observation. Everett. This this article that you sent me about Corey Barton stuff. It's from two thousand, but it says that his release date could be sometime in His projected release date is November twelve, like as in a couple of days from now. That's exactly what The prison website where he's spending his time says that Corey Barton is going to be out of prison after killing two women violently. One he stabbed at death and strangled. The other he beat with a bar from a crib. So this scumbag is going to be out of prison again and walking the streets. So knowing this, like, what can we do besides raise awareness that this is happening, Like, what are some actionable steps we can take? Something needs to change. You murder somebody, you take a life, You give up your life, whether it's in prison or in the ground. If you stab somebody to death, you strangle them, and then twenty years later you do it again and you're walking out of prison. There's something wrong. Can we elect a new people? Hell, yes we can. I think that's what we can do. We're doing our part by pointing this out, I think in this episode and really really just throwing this out there. And I really do blame judges for this. Parole boards too. That ship needs to change. Minorities are in prison on drug offenses for longer than a guy who murders two women. There's something wrong. Something needs to be done. Corey Barton could spend another I think five years in prison, him serving the twenty eight years and not getting out this week. Who's that gonna hurt. It's gonna hurt nobody, you know what, though it could save somebody. That's what it could do. So with my rage back and check. That's all for today. We'll see here next week. Stay classy, Connecticut, and watch your back. The sources for today's episode come from an article from w r a l dot com titled Victims, family and friends outraged by plea bargain sentencing from October two thousand and a time served in state prison report by Daniel Cable from the DOJ's Office of Justice Programs, and special thanks to Sharon Martin's parents, co founders of Survivors of Homicide, a nonprofit group based in Connecticut that provides members free services, including one on one counseling, support groups across the state, and support navigating the often complicated process of hearings, motions, trials, and appeals that make up a murder case. For more information and go to Survivors of Homicide dot com. Crossing the Line is a production of I Heart Radio. It's executive produced by me M William Phelps and Die Heart executive producer Christina Everett. Special thanks to our producer Catherine Law and audio engineer brand and Dickert researches by Marissa Brown, additional thanks to Will Piersonette I Heart Radio. The series theme number four four four is written and performed by Thomas Phelps and Tom Mooney. For more podcasts from my heart Radio, visit the I heart Radio app, Apple Podcasts, or wherever you listen to your favorite shows.

We'd like to think that if something terrible happens to us, the truth will come out and justice will prevail. But what if your life is worth only a few years behind bars for your killer, and they're released only to kill again. My name is em William Phelps. I'm an investigative journalist and true crime author dedicated the past twenty years of my life to help in families of missing and murder. Join us. We're crossing the line. Christina Everett, how are you doing this week? Mr? Phelps? I am doing pretty well, enjoying the fall weather. How about you? How goes it over in Connecticut? It's crisp here, very crisp. The frost has showed up. Ava doesn't like it. My laborador, I don't mind it. Do you put sweaters on her? I do not dress up my animals. And people who do that put the whole other episode because I think they're on the same page with that as well. They have natural fur coats exactly, and Halloween costumes and Christmas and you're torturing the poor animal, You're embarrassing them. So I want to share something with you. Actually, I watched perhaps one of the best documentaries that I have seen this year. That's saying a lot. If it's coming from you, I'll tell you that it's called Attica, and it is a harrowing look at the that occurred at the Attica Correctional Facility and up state New York. I just picture al Pacino from the movie absolutely, and and that's what I think a lot of people know, but the story, I don't think people realize what it exactly is. And so this documentary was mind blowing, you know, for those who aren't familiar. The event was a five day standoff between state police and Attica prisoners who rioted and they took control of the prison. They even took forty two members of the staff hostage. The inmates were demanding changes to be made to the prison's court conditions, including just this eaten, outright racism and dehumanizing treatment by the guards. A bloody rate ensued and resulted in forty three deaths, and it remains one of the bloodiest prison rebellions in US history. It has fascinating archive footage in this documentary. I love that, as well as interviews with the surviving inmates who give like a play by play of what happened, you know, and we've discussed this before felps where viewers get really uncomfortable with seeing really graphic images, and this is the warning to anyone who wants to see it. This documentary includes horrific still photographs of the events aftermath, their gory, the groutesque. It's alarming, but I feel it's really important to still see the brutal, inhumane way that the prisoners were treated behind that. If this sounds interesting to you, I've highly recommended. It's been out and select theaters in major cities for a couple of weeks now, but it just also premiered on Showtime over the weekend, so you can watch it at home. Now, Well, there's Everett with another recommendation for a disturbing, bloody, violent thing to watch on true crime television. And how excited she was while she's talking about this. It was so good. It was disturbing and moving, and it's such a big moment in US history. And I think there's been a lot of moments like that in the past couple of years, and so it was another one of those moments, like why didn't they teach us this in school? Like why am I learning about this now through a documentary. Yeah, I'm glad you're learning about it and that the public can learn about it so we can see how people are treated. And I think it has a little bit maybe to do with today's episode. There's the topic of prison reform and police brutality. It's a little connected. Yeah, it definitely is connected. So this week I want to talk about this murder memory I have. Have you ever had one of those? Everett can't say that I have. Now. Really, I almost think everybody has someone in their past, even a couple of degrees separation, who's been murdered. But you know, lately, I can't stop thinking about this. One day in high school. It was April. I was sixteen, a junior. Actually that was the year that I quit high school, but that's for another time. There was this girl who sat next to me in class, Sherry Anne Merton. We were the same age, and we had known each other since like sixth grade at least. Sherry actually had a crush on me in middle school. From what I can remember, we went quote out for a bit. You held hands, well a little bit more, I think, you know, you know how you kind of said, well, you go out with me, and then yeah, check, yes, check now yeah, and then you're going out. You know, I remember that she was this girl that everyone liked. And I don't mean that as the clich neighbor. It was true. She was just a sweet person, positive, happy all the time. Then one day she didn't come to school. Oh no, wait, hold on, what is it with where you grew up with paper ghosts? You grew up in this town where all the girls went missing? What happened to your sister in law? And now your own classmate? You know, I never really looked at it that way, But to summarize a line from this indie band that I really like, Lord Here on the Dead seemed to follow me around. I don't know, I just I noticed more. Maybe I just assume most have similar memories that you know, there's this one person or two people from their childhood or their teenage years that was murdered. No, not for me at least. I mean I don't have anything like yours or your stories, not even a few degrees separation. You don't remember, I mean, you grew up in Hollywood. I also, I feel like I grew up in a bubble. To be honest, it was very protected. I think that's what it is. Yeah, and no offense different generations. Why would I be offended by that because I'm very very young, much younger than you. Yeah. No, you're not away with that. No, but no, there was nothing like that for me. There are like deaths from car accidents and whatnot over the years, but nothing assorted as the stories that I've heard you tell me. I don't think it's regional as maybe you're trying to suggest. I don't think there's any explanation for this other than it just is what it is. You know. I remember this very vividly. I woke up one morning when I was living in Vernon and I was I was young, you know, young team, and I remember seeing my neighbors, my direct neighbors, outside walking the street kind of circling and just they looked day. So I went out there and my neighbor's sister, her husband had stabbed her to death. What. Yeah, No, I've never heard that from you before. That's disturbing. The stabbing didn't occur next door, but it was my neighbor, and it happened not far away. I want to say it was right around the time of this case. The Sherry and Martin case, Well, what ended up happening with your classmate? She left home one night and she didn't come back. I thought we knew right away what happened to her. She was a bit rebellious and prone to taking off. A lot of us kids were at that time, at that age from my area. You know, we just do what we wanted to do. In my case, I had no Oh god, I'm gonna hear about this. I had no parental supervision, you know, So it was easy for me, but others did. So is that what she did? She ran away? This time? She didn't. Sherry's mother reported her missing, said she left her house the previous night about seven thirty and had not returned. And this is even though she was known to run away. The mother thought this was different. There was no word from her, She didn't contact anybody, you know what I'm saying. Yeah, mother's intuition exactly. Trust that. So. Sherry's mother told the police that Sherry was supposed to go over to a girlfriend's house that night but never made it. She had instead been dropped off at these train tracks in a secluded area several miles from her home in Vernon. I lived by these tracks. It's called rails two trails. Now do you know where she would have been going? Then? Yeah, she was headed over to her ex boyfriend's house. So two police officers headed over to the abandoned railroad tracks and started looking around. This is investigation one on one, the last place she's dropped off. They start looking and it didn't take them long to find Sherry's mutilated body. She had been strangled and stabbed several times in the neck. God, I want to say too, I've recently seen these crime scene picks, and honestly, I was distraught afterwards. I had not seen a picture of Sherry in like thirty five years. The photos are extremely comprehensive, specially graphic, and maybe that's because I knew her. It's kind of surreal how I ran into this case again after all these years. I was actually over at the Verona Police Department for us, for you, and I have written. I was looking for something that we needed in the cold case room, and for whatever reason, I mean, her case isn't cold. I'm looking through files and bang, I see Sherry Marton and it just it all comes back to me, you know. And I opened this and one of the first things I see are those eight by twelve photographs of her, and I just it was the last thing I expected to see that morning. Here's the part of this that is bothersome to me. We were on the bus that day, We drove by the tracks that day, and she was right there. We just didn't know it. So were there any obvious people in her life that the police immediately suspected once we heard where she had been dropped off? At this kid's house. We all knew the ex boyfriend. Yeah, his name is Corey Barton. Outcast, I don't think is the right word. Quiet, loner, you know. He always had this disheveled look. He thought he was a badass, always angry. He also was that kid in school who you looked at and said he's stuck in ninth grade forever because he appeared much older. You know what I'm saying. There's always that one kid in high school who is like, yeah, that kid's an adult, you know, and he's still in high school. I used to personally run into him in the woods by my house because it was an area that was between our houses and there was a little tiny lake there, the tank, as we called it. We all hung out there. We drank there, we had fires, you know, we had keg parties. I don't know what Sherry ever saw in him. I wasn't paying too much attention then because of my own life was imploding at the time, but I do remember quite emphatically when she was seen with him. Her girlfriends were like, you know, w TF, I mean, why him? Because he's that weird old kid nobody wanted to go near. I mean, my guess is that she just wanted to go after the bad boy, maybe the rebellious kid. Maybe. I I think part of it is she might have felt sorry for him, and then once she felt for him, you know, she was into him. So then did the cops go question him? Yeah? Of course, as I was thinking about covering this case, I went and got all the official documents to find out exactly what happened, because I just don't want to go on my memory, obviously. So after Sherry's mother gave them Corey Barton's name, the cops called him at school the next day for an interview. And this is what I find interesting In the police report. It describes him as being quote very calm and polite. It says Corey claimed Cherry called him at seven thirty the previous night, but that he was adamant he did not see her that night. Okay, so the phone call at least lines up with what Cherry's mom was saying that she got a call around that time and left her house to go see her supposed girlfriend. Right. There was a family friend who confirmed this to police because he was the one who gave Sherry a ride to her girlfriend's house that night, except he said he had dropped Sherry off near those abandoned tracks around nine pm. The tracks were near the friend's house, and Sherry insisted on being dropped off there instead. Interesting, see, I see both sides to the situation, because like, as a teen, I always had my dad dropped me off down the street around the corner from a friend's house or from the movie theater, because it's just so embarrassing to get dropped off by an adult, you know. But then now as an adult, why get dropped off at such a sketchy kind of place. I understand what you're saying that, and I think that Sherry's parents knew that Corey was a bad boy and didn't want her to see him. So I think that's the reason why she was dropped off up the street at her friend's house. One detail about the crime scene, Sherry's coat was placed over her face by her killer. This immediately tells me that our killer newer. Yeah, it's personal. Yeah, we see this in cases where mothers killed their children. You know, they put a blanket over them or stuffed annibal by their side. So going back to the ex boyfriend, what did the cops do to follow up? Well, they couldn't do much right away because Corey high tailed it out to his father's house in a different town about forty five minutes away from Vernon, So the state police had to get involved. They called him at his father's house. His father tells them that his son is not talking to anyone her his attorney's advice. Yeah, I mean, why wouldn't he want to help? Yeah, I mean, why the funk wouldn't you want to help find someone that you purportedly loved or you know, we're going with, or or worried about. So by now the cops are focused on Corey Barton. They know that he did it. It's pretty damn obvious. And you said earlier that it wasn't a surprise to you right, Yeah, I mean, once we heard she had been murdered where she was found, it's like he did it. I mean, he lives houses away from there. He was going with her. He's a time bomb. Here's the thing. A few people reported that Corey liked to carry around a big knife. I could have myself to that list as well, because I remember him not being afraid to let you know he had a knife when you saw him in the woods. He was that freaky. It was clear in Jim class or whenever he got into a fight. He had this volcanic rage in him. It came out a few times. He would just snap, start screaming and then a burst of anger. Would he ever get into like physical fights with people all the time? Like it makes me wonder now, like was he like that with Sherry exactly? I mean, previous behavior is a good indication of future behavior. The cops learned from a friend of Sherry's that Corey Barton slap Sherry on the day before she was murdered. Two others who knew Corey asked him at school the day after she went missing if he had seen her. His response quote, She's not coming home. She is dead on the tracks, she was hit by a car end quote. What the hell? First of all, how did the car hit you on the tracks? Obviously, the car hit her, and a knife flew out the window and stabbed her four times in the neck. I'd never said that he was the sharpest tool in the in the shed. I never said that. Also, in an interview with police, Sherry's mother recalled the conversation with Corey's aunt in which the aunt stated something to the effect that Corey hated his mother and that Sherry reminded him of her. Oh, guys got ish shoes. So this is telling me that Corey projected that rage and hatred onto an innocent girl, and he knew exactly what he was doing. By April, seventeen year old Corey Barton is arrested and charged with the murder of Sherry Anne Marton. He waved his right to remain silent and began to talk, and I was able to get his taped confession. So we will hear a bit of that after the break. And then there's this major remarkable twist in this case. So I want to give you the quick and dirty about murder confessions. Believe half of what you hear and know that the killer is going to blame their victim and place the onus on the victim. It's always somebody else's fault. They will always downplay their role in whatever they did. In his tape confession to Vernon police, Corey Barton explained that Cherry called him said she wanted to meet up at quote the tracks to have sex and talk. Once there, he said, they had sex, got dressed, started walking. So let's listen to the confession tape and let Corey explain what happened next afterwards when we came down who we're talking about going back out? And I told her that they didn't want to, and she took the knife out. He started and I tried to grab it from hight strangled it. She choked the knife. What were you wearing a night? I wasn't? You will? What do you mean by she took the night? She handed your cool in your coat? How she gave her? I guess she took it from me because I had it up in my room wednesday. If you came over to being a school book. So the guy who's known for carrying around the big knife is now claiming that the victim brought her own. Yeah, sure, buddy, It's absolute bullshit. The knife was his. Corey claimed that Sherry stole the knife from his house and that as she swung it at him, she slipped and fell and he was able to then get on top of her. I can say with clarity from memory that this kid was tough. I would have never fucked with this kid. And I was tough. And what about Sherry? Sherry was petite, I mean she was tiny. She was a tough girl, yes, And for her to swing a knife at him, no freaking way. That wasn't the Sherry that I recall. So he's basically just tampering this all down by trying to position it as if it was like the struggle between him and Sherry was Sherry being the aggressor. He's trying to say it with self defense. And you were fighting over the knife where you're standing shitting laying on the ground, He was standing first. And what she feel when you strangled her? Was she laying on the ground? Were you on tap of her? How were you laying down? Nearly knew body over over her? You stamped her? Was she still striving? Yeah? She still was? Did you pretty called over? Yes? You know it was for just before I left? I did did you stay her before you got the called over? I don't think so. The guyft to called over before I started? Why can do that? I just did? First of all, the three stab wounds in her neck are methodical and nearly perfectly placed one after the other along her jugular. I saw the photos. This wasn't random. He boom, boom boom. And then what happened? Ye left? Did you go directly? Hell? Yeah? Why did you do that when I didn't go to Flashy and Buckleton? What another from my pros? The times that I startled? Yes, I guess us around quarter nine because you were cleaning the night. But you tried to guess where did you watching girls? What did you do it that you brought a climb room? Did he really say that he went home to his aunt's house nearby, searched for nightcrawlers, and then went inside for the night. I mean, those details alone just tell me how weird this kid is. Yeah, Everett, I mean, you stab a girl, you strangle her, and then you go nightcrawler hunting. You're showing signs of being a sociopath. So let's fast forward to Corey Barton's trial. I can't help but think about Sherry's parents, and I've met her parents over the years. But your sixteen year old daughter is murdered. Her killer gets eighteen years as a juvenile, but serves only nine years eight months. What would you then? Be enraged the system? Is that really all Sherry's killer got? He served under ten years for killing Sherry Merton, but not only killing her, violently killing her, stabbing and strangling her. And what does he do? He gets out of prison, moves to another state and then guess what, he kills his new girlfriend. No, are you kidding me? Previous behavior is a good indication of future behavior. You're gonna hear me say that over and over on the show because oh my god, it's true. Did he get time for that? He then pleads down his case from what should have been a capital murder charge to second degree murder, getting him twenty three years to twenty eight years in prison. Unreal. So let's go through some of the case details real quick. So this article from two thousand about the sentencing of Corey Barton for the murderer of his girlfriend. Just before Thanksgiving. Barton became enraged and beat his girlfriend Sally Harris to death with a piece of their baby's crib, and then the guy is gifted two years off his sentence for time served after his second murder arrest. Okay, wait, that's discussing to first find out that, besides the murder, their six month old baby was in the room and saw the whole thing. I mean, that's basically what happened to Dexter as a kid. I'm just saying, well, we could argue Corey Barton as a serial killer. He's killed two over a span of years, and if he gets out again, my guess is he might kill again. Let's take a look at the bigger picture, though, which is one of the reasons I wanted to do this, because our judicial system is really run by idiots in some circumstances who play so little value on human life. It just it enrages me. It's in need of desperate repair. If we are going to honor and place to focus on the victims, I mean, that's what we want to do, right because right now, as we stand, murders, pedophiles, rapists, they get the breaks, not those whose lives they just troy. We see this time and again judges have far too much power to do what they want, which is sometimes not in the victims, family's best interests or the publics. Let's take a beat right now and take a quick break, and we'll be right back. Knowing that we were going to discuss this today, I did some research and found some interesting facts about sentencing from the d o J. Person's sentenced to murder served an average of fifteen years in state prison before their initial release. Most violent offenders released from state prison in two thousand and sixteen served less than three years in prison before their initial release. State prisoners initially released in two thousand and sixteen served an average of sixty two of their sentence if they were serving time for rape or sexual assaults. Yeah, and nine six percent of violent offenders released in two thousand and sixteen, including sevent of those sentenced for murder or non negligent manslaughter, served less than twenty years before their initial release from state prison. And then you have these guys serving life who didn't even do it right. It's really messed up. Look at the numbers you just read. Let's just take a minute and think about that. If you're listening, go back and listen to those numbers again and become enraged about that, because you should be. That is just amazing. Well, here are some interesting counterpoint research that I also found. This one is from Sentencing project dot org. The number of people serving life sentences indoors. Even while serious violent crime has been declining for the past twenty years, one in seven people in prison are serving life with parole, life without parole, or virtual life, which is fifty years or more. So you want to commit murder, and I'm not recommending anybody do that. Please, Connecticut is a state to do it because you will serve even less than the average amount of years people spend in prison for murder. Maybe that's why all the bad things happen around where you live in Maybe you're right. Maybe that's a good observation. Everett. This this article that you sent me about Corey Barton stuff. It's from two thousand, but it says that his release date could be sometime in His projected release date is November twelve, like as in a couple of days from now. That's exactly what The prison website where he's spending his time says that Corey Barton is going to be out of prison after killing two women violently. One he stabbed at death and strangled. The other he beat with a bar from a crib. So this scumbag is going to be out of prison again and walking the streets. So knowing this, like, what can we do besides raise awareness that this is happening, Like, what are some actionable steps we can take? Something needs to change. You murder somebody, you take a life, You give up your life, whether it's in prison or in the ground. If you stab somebody to death, you strangle them, and then twenty years later you do it again and you're walking out of prison. There's something wrong. Can we elect a new people? Hell, yes we can. I think that's what we can do. We're doing our part by pointing this out, I think in this episode and really really just throwing this out there. And I really do blame judges for this. Parole boards too. That ship needs to change. Minorities are in prison on drug offenses for longer than a guy who murders two women. There's something wrong. Something needs to be done. Corey Barton could spend another I think five years in prison, him serving the twenty eight years and not getting out this week. Who's that gonna hurt. It's gonna hurt nobody, you know what, though it could save somebody. That's what it could do. So with my rage back and check. That's all for today. We'll see here next week. Stay classy, Connecticut, and watch your back. The sources for today's episode come from an article from w r a l dot com titled Victims, family and friends outraged by plea bargain sentencing from October two thousand and a time served in state prison report by Daniel Cable from the DOJ's Office of Justice Programs, and special thanks to Sharon Martin's parents, co founders of Survivors of Homicide, a nonprofit group based in Connecticut that provides members free services, including one on one counseling, support groups across the state, and support navigating the often complicated process of hearings, motions, trials, and appeals that make up a murder case. For more information and go to Survivors of Homicide dot com. Crossing the Line is a production of I Heart Radio. It's executive produced by me M William Phelps and Die Heart executive producer Christina Everett. Special thanks to our producer Catherine Law and audio engineer brand and Dickert researches by Marissa Brown, additional thanks to Will Piersonette I Heart Radio. The series theme number four four four is written and performed by Thomas Phelps and Tom Mooney. For more podcasts from my heart Radio, visit the I heart Radio app, Apple Podcasts, or wherever you listen to your favorite shows.