S16 Ep2: Justice for Carla, Part 2

Small Town Dicks

Audio 99

True Crime, Paul Holes, History, Small Town, Yeardley Smith, Society & Culture, Police

4.7 • 9.4K Ratings

🗓️ 25 April 2025

⏱️ 55 minutes

🔗️ Recording | iTunes | RSS

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Summary

In the conclusion of this two-part case, Paul Holes turns to DNA evidence in the search for Carla Walker’s real killer. But decades-old lab errors and missing samples threaten to derail the investigation. Despite the obstacles, the case finally reaches a definitive conclusion—answering the question once and for all: Who killed Carla Walker?

Paul Holes is a bestselling author, podcaster, television host and retired cold-case investigator with the sheriff’s and district attorney’s offices in California’s Contra Costa County. During his 27 years as an investigator, Holes used his behavioral and forensic expertise in such notable cases as the Zodiac murders, Golden State Killer, and Jaycee Dugard kidnapping. In May 2022, Holes published Unmasked: My Life Solving America’s Cold Cases – which became an instant New York Times bestseller. Paul teamed with the FBI and Sacramento DA to help identify Joseph DeAngelo as the Golden State Killer, the most prolific serial predator in U.S. history. In 2019, he teamed up with Oxygen to host ”The DNA of Murder with Paul Holes” and in November he’s launching a new original series with HLN called, ”Real Life Nightmare with Paul Holes.”

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Transcript

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0:00.0	Hey, Smalltown fam, it's Yardley.
0:04.5	I want to remind you that if you want access to bonus episodes and regular episodes a day early and ad-free,
0:11.5	and our community forum and other behind-the-scenes goodies, you got to go to smalltowndicks.com
0:18.2	slash superfam, and then in the top right hand corner hit that little tab that
0:25.5	says join and then listen to the end of today's episode for a sneak peek at today's new bonus episode
0:33.8	Hey small town fam it's yardley welcome to part two and the conclusion of justice for
0:45.5	carla when we left off paul was well into the reopened investigation of the 1974
0:52.8	brutal rape and murder of 17-year-old Carla Walker.
0:57.9	Carla's boyfriend, Rodney, had been under the cloud of suspicion pretty much from day one
1:03.5	until Paul had an idea.
1:07.0	He got a car that was the same make and model as the one Rodney was driving, the night he and Carla were on a date and Carla was abducted.
1:15.6	Then Paul had Rodney reenact everything he did when the attacker began his assault on the couple.
1:23.5	During this reenactment, Rodney leaned across the car to close the passenger side door,
1:29.4	which had been left open when Carla was snatched.
1:33.0	This small detail was everything,
1:36.6	because now Paul had an explanation for how Rodney's blood had dripped all over the passenger seat
1:43.2	that Carla had been sitting in.
1:46.0	There's loads more, of course. Here's Paul to bring us up to speed.
1:52.1	The front passenger door whips open, and a man with a pistol sticks his head in, grabs Carla.
2:01.9	There's a big search out for this abducted 17-year-old girl, and three days later, her body is found.
2:11.4	Carla was abducted around 12.20 a.m. Rodney doesn't show up at the Walker residence until 150 a.m.
2:20.3	An hour and a half later. The whole set of circumstances are suspicious.
	...

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