Show Notes
Two women strangled in two days by the same man in Jacksonville, Florida -- one killed at a motel on Christmas night, the other a beloved teacher murdered in her own home the next morning. This episode features real interrogation footage and court audio. Leah Kline's life ended on December 25, 2019. She and Zebulon Perkins had been staying at a Westside Jacksonville motel when an argument turned violent. Perkins strangled Kline and disposed of her body in a dumpster behind the building. She was 38 years old. Her remains would not be discovered for days. The following morning, December 26, Perkins drove to the Cedar Hills home of Vivian James, a 49-year-old chemistry teacher at Atlantic Coast High School. James had once been his teacher. According to court records, Perkins went to her looking for guidance -- and when James told him he needed to turn himself in to police, Perkins beat her and strangled her with a cord inside her home. Vivian James had spent years in a classroom shaping the futures of Duval County students. Colleagues and former students described her as someone who gave her time and attention freely, a teacher who saw potential where others saw problems. The fact that a former student came to her door in crisis -- and that her instinct was to counsel him toward accountability -- speaks to who she was. On December 28, a friend stopped by James' home and found her body. The friend called Jacksonville Sheriff's Office and reported James' car missing. Investigators located the vehicle at the same Westside motel where Kline had been killed. Perkins was inside. When officers searched the car, they found Perkins' bag containing sweatpants stained with James' DNA, along with her camera and three laptops. Two of James' televisions and her computer monitor were recovered from the home of Perkins' mother. DNA recovered from beneath James' fingernails matched Perkins. In March 2024, Zebulon Perkins pleaded guilty to two counts of second-degree murder. He was sentenced to 70 years in Florida State Prison. The interrogation footage played during court proceedings showed detectives confronting Perkins about the evidence against him -- a man who, according to investigators, showed no emotion when asked about either death. This episode features interrogation recordings and court audio. Listener discretion advised. Support Obscura: Patreon: https://www.patreon.com/obscuracrimepodcast/ Website: https://www.mythsandmalice.com/show/obscura/ Apple Premium: https://podcasts.apple.com/us/channel/black-label/id6443660911
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More from Obscura: A True Crime Podcast
SOURCES : COURT RECORDS • State v. Draper, Idaho Supreme Court, September 2011 • State v. Adamcik, Idaho Supreme Court, January 2012 • Adamcik v. State, Idaho Supreme Court, December 2017 • Adamcik v. Ramirez, U.S. District Court for the District of Idaho, November 2019 • Adamcik v. Ramirez, U.S. Court of Appeals for the Ninth Circuit, March 2022 • Stoddart v. Pocatello School District No. 25, Idaho Supreme Court, 2010 • Miller v. Alabama (2012) and Montgomery v. Louisiana (2016), U.S. Supreme Court • Appellate briefs, Idaho Supreme Court Records and Briefs, University of Idaho College of Law Digital Commons • Bannock County trial exhibits (videotape recordings and transcript), released February 2023 under the Idaho Public Records Act NEWS • Idaho State Journal, "Murdered girl's funeral draws 500: Family, friends remember Stoddart," October 2006 • Idaho State Journal, "Tapes shown at murder trial," April 2007 • KBOI 2 News, "Draper convicted in teen's death," April 2007 • Idaho State Journal, "Adamcik guilty of murder," June 2007 • Idaho State Journal, "Draper, Adamcik get life," August 2007 • The Spokesman-Review, "Teenage killers chatty on ride to prison," August 2007 • The Spokesman-Review, "Judge refuses to reduce life term for teen killer," March 2008 • KXLY, "Supreme Court tosses civil case in student slaying," 2010 • Idaho State Journal, "Adamcik: 'I want to apologize to Cassie's family,'" July 2015 • Idaho State Journal, "Remembering Cassie Jo: Brother opens up on 10th anniversary of grisly murder," September 2016 • Oxygen, "Brian Draper, Torey Adamcik Kill Teen Cassie Jo Stoddart," Dateline: Secrets Uncovered • Biography.com, "Where Are Torey Adamcik and Brian Draper Now? All About Cassie Jo Stoddart's 'Scream Murder' Killers," February 2026 • Obituary of Anna Maria Price, April 2022 TELEVISION, VIDEO AND PODCASTS • It Is What It Is! (YouTube channel), "The other side of a killer. My interview with Brian Draper"
The murder of Cassie Jo Stoddart occurred on September 22, 2006, in Pocatello, Idaho.
Michael D. Parks pleaded guilty to the murder and decapitation of his wife, Hope Parks, in Crawfordsville, Indiana.
Extreme Audio Warning: Towards the back half of this episode, it features audio involving children and a mother in extreme audible distress.
Paul John Knowles, famously nicknamed "The Casanova Killer," was an American serial killer who terrorized the United States during a brutal, four-month cross-country crime spree in 1974.