Texas Wine and True Crime
We review Texas wines and discuss Texas true crime.
Texas Wine and True Crime
Deadly Deception: Unraveling the Tragic Murder of Retha Stratton
Was Retha Stratton's tragic murder the deadly climax of a serial rapist's reign of terror? This episode explores the brutal killing of the 18-year-old in River Oaks, Texas, and suggests her murder may have been a desperate act to silence a potential witness. As we unravel the chilling details of Retha's last moments, from the stab wounds to the defensive injuries, we grapple with the implications of a predator escalating from assault to murder within a tight-knit community. We also delve into the psychological terror unleashed by a series of unsolved sexual assaults that had already placed River Oaks on edge.
Join us as we navigate the twisted path of Wesley Miller, the man who shocked River Oaks with his violent tendencies. Through an anonymous tip and disturbing evidence, we piece together how Miller's dark history and lack of remorse led to Retha's untimely death. We scrutinize the justice system that handed down lenient sentences for his past crimes, and the community's struggle to come to terms with the seemingly inadequate justice served for Reetha's murder. This episode seeks to understand not only the tragic events but the broader societal issues revealed by the case of a serial offender left unchecked.
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Welcome all of you wine and true crime lovers. I'm Brandi.
Speaker 2:And I'm Chris.
Speaker 1:And this is Texas wine and true crime. Thank you for being here, friends, for this week's episode nightmare in River Oaks. Tonight we are sipping on a 2022 dry muscat from our friends at Texas Wine Collective and Chris, we did pair this one with a dish this week.
Speaker 2:We did.
Speaker 1:Thank you, first and foremost, to Texas Wine Collective for sharing your wines with us this January as our featured winery of the month, and we're able to share it with all of our listeners. So thank you, texas Wine Collective. Chris, what did you pair this 2022 Dry Muscat with?
Speaker 2:So this was a Dry Muscat and so I was looking at kind of what to expect as far as the notes, which could be a little orange blossomy and citrusy acidic as well, and so I chose to pair an Asian dish with this, and so, from my understanding, asian dishes and Indian food, spicy foods, can kind of go well with this wine, and I think it worked out really well. I made a cashew shrimp with sesame, soy, sesame roasted asparagus.
Speaker 1:It went perfectly with this wine. Good choice on that. Again, texas Wine Collective, thank you for sharing your wines with us this January. But please go see our friends in the heart of Fredericksburg Texas Wine Collective. You can't. They have club membership, chris. They have a full events calendar. They support local non-profits, they do all kinds of stuff, and not only that they have wine, but they also have cider. So people can go onto their website at texaswinecollectivecom check out all their wines and ciders. And again, thank you, texas Wine Collective. So please go visit our friends at Texas Wine Collective in Fredericksburg and tell them your friends at Texas Wine and True Crime sent you All right. Chris, are you ready to jump into this week's case?
Speaker 2:Absolutely.
Speaker 1:All right, friends, it's time to sip some wine and talk some crime. Okay, so we are going to be talking about the murder of Rita Stratton. This was back on January 21st of 1982. So, just to give an idea, this is in River Oaks.
Speaker 2:That's a suburb of Fort Worth.
Speaker 1:That's correct? Yeah, I think so. Back in like 19 this time. I would say the population was maybe about 5,000 people. It's pretty small. So the high school, the people who live in River Oaks, they all know each other, they all kind of hang out with one another and they grew up together. So they had a circle of friends from the time they were elementary school kids up until high school. And then Aretha Stratton, who had just finished her high school year, moved into a new place with a friend on January 21st 1982. Chris, she is found stabbed 38 times with a kitchen knife that was still embedded in her chest. Both of her wrists had been cut but no bleeding came from the wrist. So they know that this was done after death.
Speaker 2:You have to wonder what the purpose of that was Just. I mean, if you've been stabbed 38 times, you certainly could not simulate that someone had committed suicide.
Speaker 1:That's right, and actually that was not the reason. I'll give that in just a little bit. But there was a reason for it, chris. Not only they weren't just sliced, this person had literally almost cut her wrist off. I mean the the examiner's report said it was basically cut halfway through.
Speaker 2:I guess, making sure that they would hit an artery making sure they're dead, right?
Speaker 1:yeah, all right. So they believe she put up a fight. She had defensive wounds on both of her ham hands. It definitely was an attempted sexual assault. There was no forced entry into the home, no broken windows, so police believe she knew the perpetrator. So police had been dealing with a serial rapist in River Oaks for several months and it's at that moment that the death of Reetha Stratton police realized they have a big problem on their hands. Has this person now? Did this girl fight for her life and he was not able to do the assault and so the next thing to do is to kill her to do the assault, and so the next thing to do is to kill her. Was she able to maybe get the pantyhose off his face? Because we knew we know that from the reports of the sexual assaults that this person was wearing a pantyhose or something to disguise his face? Did she reveal that and could she have id'd him? And that's why he killed her?
Speaker 2:So the 18-year-old. This leading up to these rapes had not resulted in murders, correct that's?
Speaker 1:correct. Yeah, this is she's murdered, but yeah, there were no other murders related to these assaults. So the 18-year-old Ritha was described as friendly, upbeat, she did well in school. She was a cheerleader. After graduating from high school she did move into that house with a close friend, so she was living with someone at the time of this and she's the one who actually found her.
Speaker 1:Sadly, now the sexual assaults we're talking about took place between 1980, 1981, and then leading into 1982 when Reetha was murdered, and then leading into 1982 when Reetha was murdered. So what they did find out, based on all the assaults that they started to collect information clearly. So now you have someone, now you have a young girl who has died, you have multiple sexual assaults that have not been solved in this area, and what they started to learn was some of the similarities that they believed it was the same person. So every time this happened, there would be a phone call that would come into the house and they would ask for someone who actually did not live at that address and whether this was to see if they were home alone, whether, if this was to see well, one to make sure they're even there, right To see if they pick up the phone.
Speaker 2:You talked about knowing they were alone. I don't know how you could ascertain that just by a phone call, unless they asked if anybody was there. But that would be an odd question for a stranger to ask whomever they're calling, especially asking for an alternative name of someone who doesn't even live there.
Speaker 1:Yeah, but there was a reason for these phone calls and because we know now that this person knew all of their victims personally, that they believe there was a motive behind the phone call. In fact, I they believe the perpetrator actually knew most of the schedules of the assault victims and whether who was home, who wasn't home, because we're going to talk about one of the cases when the mother was actually there, and this happens, ok. But three of the victims, chris, were cheerleaders from the same high school, which is very targeted, and you know, these girls know each other. And so you have, in one of the assaults, the police did not take her to the hospital and do an appropriate rape kit. You know this is, this is the early eighties, you know, so um.
Speaker 2:I was going to say it today. Even having this sort of thing like that too, yeah, they do.
Speaker 1:I mean you could take them to the hospital I mean in in the 80s.
Speaker 2:So to have a um, I mean it's very standard now but, follow that what protocol they were using to even evaluate rape victims.
Speaker 1:Well, and I also think that a lot of people showered after. You know, yeah and I that's just a way to cleanse, I think, and sometimes they didn't think about that, so I I think it's probably both.
Speaker 1:That still happens now, though, of course, yeah, okay, so one of the assaults took place when one of the girl's mothers was home, like I mentioned, but her mother was dealing with a degenerative disease that affected her, basically her cognitive abilities to actually speak. So the victim, in this case after she's assaulted, peeks out of her bedroom door after the assault and she sees him remove the pantyhose from his face, so she's looking at the back of his head. But he did this as he was walking by her mother to leave the home no-transcript, and so police quickly realized that this person must know these people somehow, because he was, you know yeah, but you gotta think though, even though she's not able to speak, um I mean no, she was like a mobile but she can write right.
Speaker 1:Yeah, but it's almost like her processing. She can't process who she just saw, because her daughter, I believe. When the mother sees him leave, she basically says who was that or who is that?
Speaker 2:And police believe that that mother had actually known the guy. My point is is that that's risky in his case to assume that she wouldn't be able to identify him.
Speaker 1:That's right.
Speaker 2:More or less speak on his the nature to identify him, that's right. More or less speak on his the nature of his presence, that's right.
Speaker 1:And not only that talk about the risk. Talk about the risk. I mean you're talking about a very tight small community and not a lot of people.
Speaker 2:I was going to say everybody knows one another.
Speaker 1:Well, yeah, and you're sexually assaulting cheerleaders from the same high school. Everybody knows one another. Well, yeah, and you're sexually assaulting cheerleaders from the same high school, like you know. So they're looking very close at who would be doing this and targeting these young girls. The next day, the next day after this assault, when the mother is home, another cheerleader is sexually assaulted, directly across the street from the victim the day before. I mean, he just went right across the street the next day. So the two girls, after this happens, they start talking to each other about this assailant. And this is also when they realize, you know, this must be the person in both assaults. And I'm going to get to you. I'm going to get in a little bit. Actually, let's get to it now.
Speaker 1:Police were basically. I mean, you have a terrified community. The girls were either in their homes or they went out in groups. They did not separate. Police were being accused, chris, of keeping information away from the public and they felt they weren't doing enough to protect the community. You know the people think why aren't police telling us anything? Do we have something to worry about? Are these targeted? Am I next? And they were basically questioning how they were handling this investigation. You don't want to. You know, spread fear. But maybe there's a little bit of fear to spread, considering how small this community is and considering that he's willing to take the risk to sexually assault one girl and then go across the street the next day and do it to another, no doubt. So you have a lot of questions coming from this community.
Speaker 1:So Rita was dating a man named Dale. He was a little bit older than she was. Police talked to him. He had an appointment to go to get his hair cut that evening around 630. I think he was even going to meet Ritha to go do this. He ended up getting off work at four goes home. He lives at his parents' house. He had actually had come home from work just to kind of change and get ready for the evening. He then had to go to the cleaners. So this is sort of his alibi, this ticket of him at the cleaners. His parents can verify. The only time he was not home is when he ran the errand to the cleaners and once they kind of piece it all together they realize he cannot be involved because the time that Reetha was killed is the exact same time he's at the cleaners. So he is cleared and then they can move on now with their investigation. He is cleared and then they can move on now with their investigation. But a tip comes forward and says a red truck was seen parked at the end of the street and it just looked like kind of a messy parking job. So that's why it stuck out to this one particular person. These are people in the community on the street. They soon realized the only person they know in the neighborhood that drives a red truck is a fellow friend named Wesley Miller. Well, by this time rumors had already swirled that the serial rapist looked very similar to football player, boyfriend, friend, confidant, wesley Miller. Right, hey there, wine lovers and true crime fans.
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Speaker 1:Okay, chris, well, people dismissed this early on that Wesley was involved. They know this guy. People like there's no way. He's quiet, a little reserved, he's always smiling. He's dating a very popular girl. At the time that these crimes took place Just an all-American boy that lived in the neighborhood Nobody really thought that it could be him. But once police start talking to people who actually did see this truck, they knew Wesley Miller. Chris was now at the top of their prime suspect list.
Speaker 2:Yeah, that seems like such an obvious vehicle to be driving and parking anywhere close proximity to these crimes. That's right.
Speaker 1:Well, and this is, like I said, a very small community. In fact, when they're talking about this, he's literally the only person that popped in their head that drove a red truck.
Speaker 2:And that key said it stands out Small town. And then how many red trucks were there?
Speaker 1:Yeah, and he's one of the group. So I think when you're thinking of people you know again. That's probably why he came to mind so quickly as well was just the fact that he did drive a red truck that he did drive a red truck. So a non-animous tip comes into police and this person says that Wesley Miller's girlfriend at the time had washed his bloody blue jeans. On the evening of January 21st this is the same day Ritha is found stabbed to death as she lay halfway into her bedroom closet. Chris, there was blood on his jeans, blood on his shoes, he told his girlfriend blood came from football. That was all over his clothes. So police, bring her in.
Speaker 2:That would have had to have been a lot of blood. I can only imagine it was.
Speaker 1:I saw pictures of the pants. I don't know why someone would think that was done by football, but she did. So she tells police that he gets to her house around 545. Chris, it's her birthday. It's his girlfriend's birthday this day. He tells her about the blood. So police are kind of putting the timing together, right. They know that, you know. They know that Dale was at the cleaners around the time she's killed. Then they look at the time stamp of when the girlfriend says that he came over there and then you have the time that the roommate found her body. And it's all starting to come together for them. And once they start to put this timeline together, they are ready to put an arrest warrant out for Wesley Miller and bring him in for questioning.
Speaker 1:Police describe him, chris, as a sociopath with violent sexual tendencies towards women.
Speaker 1:He lacked empathy, sympathy and everything in between. When they questioned him about the murder of Rita Stratton, he basically said nothing and then, after a period of time, he tells the officer he is ready to talk about what happened. So of course he doesn't tell the truth, he lies. He actually says they had a prearranged meeting, that him and Aretha were meeting because they were seeing each other on the side without anyone else knowing about it. He says they started arguing and basically he says he lost his cool and killed her.
Speaker 1:So police don't believe any of this. They don't believe she was having a rendezvous with him or having an affair or any sort of relationship outside of her relationship with Dale. And frankly, just his nonchalant statement of what happened, you know it, just it just didn't make any sense to them and they realized he was so nonchalant about his comments that it's kind of freaking them out, like they kind of know they're dealing with someone who's not right in the head. But then they ask him about slitting the wrist and you know, basically they said that they had to make, he wanted to make sure she was dead.
Speaker 2:Yeah, just bleed out.
Speaker 1:I mean that's but we know she was dead because there was no bleeding from the wounds on her wrist. The community cannot believe it.
Speaker 2:One of their own, but once the other women that had been assaulted, she would have had to have been there for a little while in order to cut her wrist, and no blood came out, so she had to have been bleeding for quite some time by the time he did that.
Speaker 1:Oh yeah, and I you know, I believe, and just based on the research and what these women had gone through, this seems like it probably happened very quickly. I think he quickly was able to. You know, he went to assault her, I think very quickly. He probably knew the roommate was going to be home.
Speaker 2:No, but I mean I'm just speaking on the fact that all the blood had exited her body by the time he cut her wrist, so that's got to take some time.
Speaker 1:Well no, because Well right, If you're dead, though, that's why they're not going to bleed, Not because you don't have any blood left.
Speaker 2:No, you could still ooze.
Speaker 1:I don't know. I mean, I thought post-mortem wounds, you don't bleed out of them. Well, either way, she was dead when he was cutting her wrist.
Speaker 2:That could also be two like the point two. She could have had blood out as well.
Speaker 1:I mean 38 times, 38 times.
Speaker 2:What do you mean, 38 times?
Speaker 1:I mean it was a and there was blood splatter pretty much all over the walls, so they knew that there was. This was a in and out. You know, in a serrated kitchen knife I mean 38 times and then you leave it in. I mean just just terrible, yeah. So the community is stunned by this and you know it's shocking to think that one of the young girls that he assaulted, chris, was the sister of his then girlfriend.
Speaker 2:I mean, he ends up sexually and raping his girlfriend's sister yeah, you'd think how she wouldn't um had recognized anything about him I mean you mentioned risk earlier.
Speaker 1:I mean this guy has to be on another level of a risk, like it's just it's kind of mind-boggling, to be honest with you, the chances he took and to stay in his own community. But this guy we're going to learn is has not been a model citizen any of his life. So, um, court wanted a life sentence. Jury could not know about any of the pending charges the assaults, chris. So when he went to trial for retha's death, the jury did not know about all the other sexual assault charges that were pending against him. Um, and he had a. He had a good defense attorney and the defense attorney basically asked the jury you know, can you spare this guy's life? You know, give him a chance. He's young. And they listened, chris.
Speaker 1:They only handed down a 25-year sentence for this crime, which is kind of the minimum. It's 25 to life. So justice was not served. According to this community. He was brought to trial for one of the assaults and received a concurring 20 year sentence, but that basically means he is serving no additional time for the assault. No justice was served for that young woman. That's not very long. No, that's not very long at all and it's not like an additional sentence. It doesn't turn into 45 years, like it should have. I mean, basically this guy should be had been sentenced to over 100 years based on all of his actions, but he wasn't. He got a 20 year concurring sentence and a 25 year jail sentence. So no justice served for that young woman with the 20 year. No justice served for any of the other assault victims, since the DA never pursued additional charges against Wesley Miller. So maybe they just thought that this guy, whether it was they probably just thought they were going to.
Speaker 2:He's was going to go away for a long time.
Speaker 1:And that's right.
Speaker 2:They already knew they had the evidence versus, um you know, circumstantial evidence, possibly any other crimes.
Speaker 1:Um. But as life is, chris, and always will be, you get out of it what you put in. And between 1992 and 2018, wesley Miller was released from prison six times. Each time he violated the conditions of his parole and was sent back. So even if he got another chance, he screwed up six of those chances. Today, wesley Miller lives under mandatory supervision at a secure treatment facility for violent sex offenders in Littlefield, texas. Chris, the community has vowed to never let him be a part of a normal part of society, ever again, and to keep Reetha's memory always in their hearts. Until next time, friends, stay safe, have fun and cheers to next time. Cheers, thank you.