” He Came Through The Mirror: The Murder Of Ruthie Mae McCoy”
Bizarre Buffet Podcast
All You Can Eat Weird
The murder of Ruthie Mae McCoy…They say that he came through the bathroom mirror.
Candyman…….Candyman……. you’re supposed to say it five times in a mirror, right? A myth, an Urban Legend, an iconic Horror film. It may come as a surprise to some to learn that there’s more truth to the storyline than one would imagine…dare we say a much more sinister and bizarre truth.
This week on Bizarre Buffet the gang sit’s down to discuss the chilling True Crime story of Ruthie Mae Mccoy, a resident of the ABLA Homes (Chicago Public Housing Authority). Ruthie Mae died tragically when she was murdered by an assailant who broke into her home though her bathroom mirror.
To quote a headline written by Steve Bogira for the Chicago Reader:
” Ruthie Mae McCoy was the type who talked to herself and cursed strangers on the street. When she called 911 to report that someone was coming through the bathroom medicine cabinet of her Abbot Homes apartment, she might have been hallucinating. But she wasn’t.”
Tune in to hear some amazing details about this story, you won’t be disappointed!
Click the link below to read the article ” They Came in Through the Bathroom Mirror: A Murder in the Projects” by Steve Bogira for the Chicago Reader. A truly brilliant and fascinating piece of important journalism that provided us with amazing details for this episode.
They Came in Through the Bathroom Mirror
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” He Came Through The Mirror” – Episode Credits
Hosted By Mark Tauriello , Jen Wilson , & Marc Bluestein.
Original Story & Episode Concept By Mark Tauriello.
Original Episode Art By Mark Tauriello
Show Notes & Research By Mark Tauriello
Episode Production By Marc Bluestein.
” He Came Through The Mirror ” – Show Notes
About Ruthie Mae McCoy
About Ruthie Mae Mcoy: -Born in Hughes Arkansas, one of 8 children. When she was a child her family moved to the south side of Chicago for better work opportunities . However, the opportunities weren’t that great and her father ended up working with coal wagons barely making ends meat.
-Mental illness started to show in her early 20s for she would sometimes talk to her self and burst out with anger unexpectedly.-at 27 gave birth to her daughter Vernita, however, the father didn’t stick around. Daughter lived with other relatives off and on due to her mental illness. Sometimes people were afraid of Ruthie bc she was 5’11 and 251 pounds.She was diagnosed as a residual type schczophrenic
-She worked as a house keeper, laundromat attendant, but her mental health prevented her from accelerating to higher paying jobs.
-Moved to the housing projects bc she didn’t have any choice, it was all the CHA could provide for her. Knowing about the violence in these projects, she took it but not happily. -She was a 53year old mentally ill woman trying to survive life in the projects, and life in a world of racism, sexism, classism, and negative stigmas. When having mental episodes, she was often disheveled looking and would curse at strangers. However, months before her death she was working on creating a better life for her self. She was dressing better, and showed more pleasant behaviors. She was also seen leaving the projects early in the morning to go to school to obtain a GED and had dreams of eventually becoming a nurse. She became a motherly like figure for many in the projects, often opening apartment doors in her hall way and lecturing her neighbors about not locking their doors. By the time Ruthie was murdered, she was 1 of 2 tenants occupying the floor wing which was loaded with vacant apartments.
Months Leading Up To Death
-2 Months before her death she had gotten psychiatric help and was approved to receive Social Security Income and federal aid for the disabled raising her monthly income from $154 to $340 .She has also received a check for $1979 which was retroactive to when she applied. Ultimately, this was her best shot at being able to leave the projects. Unfortunately, since her housing development was a small community that never leaves the concrete barriers, she was seen with a modest but new winter coat seen purchasing very inexpensive household items. Detectives theorize that this could haver been detected by the wrong crowd and targeted her, assuming she had a secret stash of money in her apartment. The money she wanted to use to get out of the projects is what ended up getting her killed. She had a target on her back since people in the projects knew she was mentally ill. Often project criminals would prey on the mentally ill bc they know that even if they get caught, their victim will make poor witnesses and their credibility would be questioned by authority figures.
-Aside from her killers, there were other people after her money as well which include multiple baptist preachers (surprise surprise) sending her personal notes to reach into her pocket book and give the church and offering. One minister from Ohio allegedly sold her “special water” from the River Jordan, and another minister from New York allegedly sold her “sacred wood” for $18 donation. Her daughter , 25 yr old Vernita McCoy was completely against this and saw it as big scam.
So lets get into it…. What exactly happened to Ruthie Mae that is so unusual??
The Murder Of Ruthie Mae McCoy
The Ruthie Mae Murder:-Took place on April 9 1987. She called 911 at 8:45 PM in a panic stating that she was a resident at 1440 W. 13th street and some people next door are totally tearing this down.”The dispatcher assumed this was a burglary and not necessarily a murder. Ruthie then stated that “They thrower down the cabinet. I’m in the projects, I’m on the other side. You can reach-can reach my bathroom, they want to come through the bathroom” “The elevator is working now”
At 9:02PM 911 received another phone call from a concerned neighbor who heard this situation go down. The woman claimed she was walking through the hallway and heard gunshots from the apartment.
2 Minutes later another neighbor had called 911 reporting that they too heard gunshots and hollering from 1109.
3 police cars at this point were in transit to the scene.
Police Arrive At The Ruthie Mae McCoy Murder Scene
The police arrived around 9:30 to which they knocked on Ruthie’s door and there was no answer. They called several times and even got the janitor to use his keys to enter the unit, however, the key did not fit therefore they could not get in.
One might ask, Why wouldn’t they just knock the door down, which is logical. However, the police were often discouraged to do so, especially in the projects for there could be the possibility of the tenant suing the police if they had broken in. Also, if the doors are busted down, police officers will have to get someone to secure them…so with them feeling like this was not much on an incident, they shrugged it off and left the scene.
Police Are Called Back To The Murder Scene
The following day they received another 911 call from a concerned neighbor who said that she was used to seeing Ruthie in the hallway every morning, and wanted them to preform a wellness check. So at 1pm the police arrived back to Ruthies door with a carpenter and drilled though the door lock. Upon entering they found Ruthie in the bedroom lying in a pool of blood with magazines, papers, and coins scattered throughout. The autoposy concluded that she was shot 4 times
This is something that didn’t receive much coverage. Most likely to the fact that this happened to a black woman who lived in the projects who also wasn’t 100% mentally stable. In Cabriniand ABLA, murder was common almost on a weekly basis. So why bother covering this story? 2 Days after Ruthie was found dead, a man was beaten to death outside of the row houses by unknown assailants who used their bear hands and sticks to kill him. 3 Days after that, another resident, 20 year old female, was having an altercation with another resident, to which the argument ended with someone getting stabbed in the chest with a knife and dying. In these towers, babies have been thrown out of windows, teenagers shoved down elevator chutes. Intruders have also been known to literally break down walls to rape and murder various tenants.
Traction In Ruthie Mae Murder Case Begins
So after word got out about the murder of Ruthie Mae, the Chicago Tribune reported a story about it and noted that McCoyrs killers has “entered through her medicine cabinet”. They had removed the cabinet in the adjacent apartment, breaking through McCoys medicine chest, being able to climb in through the wall of her bathroom.
This story shined a light on the world unknown to people living outside of Cabrini Green and ABLA housing and raised questions about the polices neglect. However, the medicine cabinet break in was not the first time this had happened here.
How They Got Into Ruthie Mae’s Apartment
CABINET LAY OUT: To break into ones apartment via bathroom mirror, you can navigate your way from one apartment to another through the pipe chase which creates 2-3 feet of space in-between the cabinets. The cabinets are only secured by a few nails, so it would be quite easy to bust through. In some parts of the towers you can climb these pipes vertically to the units above and below you. Often this trick was used not only for foul play, but allegedly was also used by tenants who were fearful of walking the halls in traveling from one part of the building to another.
An “Underground Railroad” both used for good and evil. Often, gangs would take over multiple apartments that connected, while keeping the bathroom cabinet busted open so they could make a fast getaway if the police were to find them. Since the space was so tight, cops would never fit with their bigger sizes and uniform parts. These bathroom break ins were so common that residents would place furniture in front of their bathroom doors to be safe. The original intent of this design was to make it easily accessible for the janitors to maintain the plumbing,.
ABLA Claims That They’ll ” Fix it”
After the murder incident, the ABLA claimed they were going to “fix” this issue and provide secure medicine chests to prevent this from happening…but months later after a news journalist followed up with the CHA… nothing was provided to the residents.
Where Is Ruthie Mae McCoys Bathroom Mirror?
Her medicine cabinet was removed and the pipes behind it, the system utilized by the killers, were seen, and behind the pipes was adjacent bathroom to apt 1108. Her cabinet was never found, however, the cabinet that belonged to 1108 was taken and is stored away by states attorney as evidence. WHERE IS IT NOW? I want it. Taped to the wall next to the hole where her mirror once stood were pages from religious magazines with stories about miracles. One article saying “God will be your dentist” with a banner of a young girl with her mouth agape, finger on her teeth that god had filled with silver… according to the story.
Two Suspects Were Arrested In Ruthie Mae McCoy Murder
The 2 men arrested for the McCoy murder were both residents of the ABLA and they were Edward Turner, 19, and 25 yr old John Hondras.
-ELEVATORS: Often they would break down, hence why police would be hesitant to show up for a 911 call and would not want to walk up 15 flights of steps. In the elevators, gangs would hide in the ceiling and when someone would enter they would bust through the ceiling and have their way with you. Another way they used the architectural layout of the building to enhance crime.
About ABLA / Cabrini Green
About the ABLA housing projects / Cabrini Green –abbreviated for the Jane Addams Homes, Robert Brooks Homes, Loomis Courts and Grace Abbots homes. They were a Chicago Housing Authority public housing development that was compromised of 4 separate public housing projects near the west side of Chicago. Built in 1942 and demolished from 1995-2011
-Consisted of 3,596 Units that spanned Cabrini street on the north end to 15th street on the south end. No idea what any of this means, I don’t live in Chicago. CHA consisted of several project housing places such as Cabrin Green and the Robert Taylor Homes.
