I Don’t Like Mondays - Brenda Ann Spencer

Suzanne: Warning. This episode may contain graphic and disturbing content listener discretion is advised.

June: Hi y'all and welcome to Crime With My Coffee. I'm your fabulous hostess with the mostess, June. 

S: And I'm Suzanne. We're going to tell you some stories you've heard.

J: Some you haven't.

S: And some you wish you hadn't. 

J: All with a Texas twang.

Welcome back. I'm glad you joined us. My brew of the day is the classic k cup. That's what I buy a lot of. Just makes it easier, for me. The breakfast blend, by the way, and French Vanilla creamer because that's what I like. So I go through a lot of that. How about you?

S: Yeah, I've got classic Folgers in my coffee pot. Yes, I still have a coffee pot. I drink that much coffee by myself. And I use the Dunkin Donuts Extra Extra creamer because I use almost no sugar in my coffee when I use the Extra Extra creamer. It just makes it creamy and smooth.

J: Nice. I don't usually put sugar in my coffee at all. As long as I have the flavored creamer. I'm good with it. That's enough sugar I feel. Took me a while to get there, but that's where I'm at. So let's just jump right in this. Today, I will be speaking of a Brenda Ann Spencer. Yeah, she was born back in the day on April 3, 1962. I couldn't find a lot on her parents, but they were Wallace and Dot Spencer. They lived in a small town in California. It was a small town like inside San Diego, you know, little town called San Carlos. In the 1960s, apparently to the census then, the population was only about 21 - a little over 21,000. 1970s it it had grown a little bit to about 25 almost 26,000 so you know, not bad. I did look and last year in 2019, the population was just over 30,000 so it's grown a little bit, you know, even though it's just like a little suburb city inside a city. She did have a couple of older brothers. So she was the youngest. The family lived across the street from a what's called a Grover Cleveland Elementary School. Unfortunately, when she was young, her parents did divorce in 1972. And I'm not sure if her brothers and her lived with her father. I know she did. My understanding mom was not really in the picture a lot. She wasn't really involved much. But Brenda, so I know that Brenda did live with her father who did like the alcoholic beverages. 

S: Hey, nothing wrong with a little brewski every now and then. 

J: Hey, hey, I like alcohol just like the next person. So, 

S: But I don't abuse it. 

J: Okay, me neither. When she was about 15 so it'd be about 1978. She was having some issues with school - playing hooky, acting up in class, things like that. So she did have to go to a facility for troubled teens. Who hasn't been there? I'm just saying. And the staff did say that that they tended to think she was maybe a little bit suicidal, maybe needed some therapy. Dad was not for it. Nope, can't do it. Can't do it. So during the summer, that year, she you know, acting up again, shooting windows out of the, out of the school across the street. She did tend to burglarize things.

S: Isn’t that what everyone does on summer break?

J: Yeah, pretty much.

S: Just saying.

J: So come along December, same year, she, you know, of course, has been in trouble, you know, acting up and everything like that, so now she has a parole officer. So they did a psychiatric evaluation and the parole officer did note that she showed some signs of extreme clinical depression and wanted her to be admitted to a facility but again, what'd her dad say? Nope, not gonna do it. Okay. Oh, if you care about the kid, wouldn't you want them to get help? But, ya know.

S: Kind of what I'm thinking. This dad sounds like a douche. 

J: Dad was a douche. I've got a few things we can go into about that a little bit later on. So 

S: Oh, then I'll just put a pin in it and make a note for later.

J: Okay. All right, 'cause I do have a few questions about the dad. For Christmas that year, she did ask for a radio, I guess maybe to give her something to do and so her loving father instead bought her a .22 Ruger.

S: Wait, what?

J: Yeah, yeah. 10/22. So, bought her that, 500 rounds of ammo. And she's like, well, she was quoted as saying, you know, "I asked for a radio, and he bought me a gun. I felt like he wanted me to just go ahead and kill myself." Yeah, does definitely sound like she's depressed. But it doesn't say -

S: Definitely depressed. 

J: Doesn’t sound like her father's wanting  to help her much. So, anyway, so But the thing is, she was interested in guns. So by the time that she got this gun, she was a very, very talented shooter. A lot of people have said that. Even though that's not what she asked for, she knew how to use it. But unfortunately, she knew how to abuse it as well. Unfortunately, after a wonderful Christmas break that they have, on January 29 of 1979. You can imagine California, it was a little dreary. But Brenda, Brenda Ann, decided to go ahead and get her gun. And about 8:30 when everybody's outside waiting for school to open and go in, she starts shooting.

S: At the school? 

J: At the school, at the children. 

S: What a douche. 

J: Yes. So the shooting did last for about 15, 20 minutes. Wasn't, you know, it didn't last long, thank goodness 'cause it could have been a lot worse. She did far about 30 rounds in that 15 minutes. So that's about one every 30 seconds that she was taking aim at. The principal kind of realized what was going on. The principal's name was Burton Wragg. He went outside, along with the custodian, who was Mike Suchar, I believe is how you say his name, that was 56. They tried to get children in when they realized what was going on. But unfortunately, these two gentlemen trying to save kids lost their lives. Brenda Ann did shoot them and killed them. Officers arrived, of course. One of the first officers to arrive was a Robert Robb, who was 28 at the time. He was shot in the neck. Fortunately, he did survive. Thank goodness. 

S: Hey, there's that. 

J: Right. But Brenda, with all the shots that she had shot, had unfortunately, shot and killed two students and eight other children. These are elementary school kids. 

S: They’re babies. 

J: Exactly. They are babies. Anyway, she was heard saying that it was pretty easy to shoot at them because she was aiming with like aiming towards the children in like the blue coats and red coats so it was just easier for her to shoot at them that way. 

S: Why is she shooting at children, babies, tiny little babies, in the first place? 

J: No, you know, people scrambling around, people trying to, you know, figure out what's going on. Reporters and police officers and stuff are calling the houses in the neighborhood, you know, trying to find out what's going on. WTribune,ell, a reporter from the San Diego Tribune, did contact the Spencer's house. And he asked if they knew where the shot, shots were coming from. And she stated, yeah. Who do you think's doing the shooting? 

S: Oh, what? What? 

J: What? Yes, yes. And he's like, why? She's like, I don't like Mondays. And this just kind of livens up the day. What is wrong with this girl? 

S: I think the shorter list would be what isn't?

J: Yeah. Fortunately, you know, the police got a garbage truck when they found out, you know, where the shooting was coming from, blocked the pathway of the bullets going from her house to the school with the garbage truck. So this kind of kind of created a standoff between her and the police. 

S: I never would have thought to use a garbage truck. That's pretty brilliant. 

J: Pretty ingenious. I'm glad they were thinking fairly quickly. So it lasted about six hours. She did end up surrendering, coming out quietly and peacefully, pretty much because the cop, cops offered her a burger from Burger King. 

S: Hey, I might have come out for one of their original chicken sandwiches. 

J: Yeah, I do like Burger King, so. She was charged as an adult. And, you know, they were afraid that she was going to plead the insanity plea going court. It never went to court. She went ahead and pled guilty to two counts of murder in the first degree, and one count of assault with a deadly weapon. The funny thing is she was officially charged on April 4, 1980, just two days after her 18th birthday. Serves her right. She did get 25 years to life with possibility of parole after 25 years. 

S: Nah. She should rot there forever.

J: I tend to agree. She claims that she was high smoking marijuana, doing  angel dust, when all this was going on. But they did do a toxicology report when they arrested her and at the time, nothing. She was sober. 

S: She was crazy 'cause she had fucked up daddy. 

J: Yeah, yeah. So at one of her hearings in 2001, she claimed that, you know, she was molested as a child and as a teenager. It was never proven, but she did claim it. But she waited till 2001 and this happened in 1979? 

S: Yeah, that's 

J: Yeah,

S: okay. 

J: Yeah. But but in the police reports and everything. When they went into the house, of course there was, you know, alcohol containers everywhere and everything. There was only one mattress, in the living room, that apparently they both shared. The dad says this was not true. But that's what's reported being there. 

S: By the police? 

J: Yes. 

S: Who are going to make this up for 

J: Yeah. And 

S: what reason? 

J: That was from '79. And but she didn't say anything about being molested, but that's what they found way back then. So I mean, it is possible. It is very 

I'm just saying it sounds pretty probable, not just possible. God, he's a douche. 

Yes. Oh, and it gets better because after she was arrested, one of the girls that she once shared a room with at a facility that she was at looked a lot like her. And guess what? The dad married her. 

S: What? 

J: And this girl was like a year younger than Brenda Ann, but nothing went on. Nothing went on. It's what he says. It's what he said. And this girl looked enough like her that the police actually were questioning why she was out.

S: Oh, that's crazy.

J: So, very crazy, very, very crazy. But I mean, I did see an interview with the dad, and he and he refused to talk about the marriage. They are no longer together, but he refuses to say anything about the marriage. So she is still serving currently at a California institution for women in Chino, which is in Riverside County. It houses about 1,800 prisoners, and she repairs electronic equipment. Good. I'm glad she's doing something. But while she has been in custody, they have done tests on her and everything like that. It does show that she had some injury to a temporal - her temporal lobe, that is from a bike accident when she was a kid. They also diagnosed her with epilepsy and depression, which she is receiving medication for. So, time goes on 2005. She's at another parole hearing. She says she has no memory of the shooting, and if she gets released, she's going to be a productive member of society. Ha. San Diego DA cited, Yeah, I don't think so, because you know, just like four years ago, when your girlfriend from in here was released, you know, you were showing psychotic and, and just acting a fool. And I've heard two different stories where she scratched herself or she tattooed herself with Courage and Pride, you know, doing some self harm stuff, because her girlfriend got out. So he's like, Yeah, I don't think you're fit to get out. 

S: Yeah, she sounds, certi-frickin-fiable. 

J: Yeah, I agree. I do agree. So 2009 she did put in her application for the parole, but parole refused it and said it's going to be another 10 years before before if you're considered again. So I am thinking 2009 10 years. It's 2019. She should have been up for parole hearing. I think maybe she was but I'm not sure. I couldn't find anything on that. But I did find that she is eligible for parole suitability hearing in September of 2021. There there was a plaque and a flagpole erected at the school at the Cleveland, Grover Cleveland Elementary School in memory of the shooting. Even though the school is closed, it does close down because of a decline in enrollment. But it has been leased throughout the years to charter and private schools. Like I said, She's still serving and will probably never get out which I hope she doesn't. But you know,

S: Yeah, right there with you. I hope she doesn't.

J: Well, now she's 56. She was 16 when this happened, she's 56 now. But she has been inducted into the Golden Girls Club at the prison, which you know, you have to be 55 or older to, to get in, and it comes with some special privileges, but I'm not real sure what the privileges are. So, you know, I don't know. I know that after after this happened in January, a UK band named the Boomtown Rats, the lead singer Bob, I think it's Geldof, and a, you know, another guy in the group, Johnny Fingers did write and release in July of that year in 1979, a song called I Don't Like Mondays. It did top top the charts over there for I mean, it was number one for over four weeks. It never made it to the top 40 here in the States, but over there, they were killing it. Oh, yeah I probably shouldn't say that. But

S: Yeah, probably a poor choice of words, there.

J: Probably is, probably is. A good song. I've listened to it. A lot of people say it's in bad taste, they don't like it. I like it. I know that Deadly Women has done an episode about Brenda Ann Spencer. I think it was season 2 episode 1 that they have done. And also if you ever watch Killer Kids, they have an episode about her as well, which is season 3 episode 19. So that's my case on Brenda Ann Spencer who I believe should just go ahead and stay in jail. 

S: Yeah, I can't believe she's made it this long in prison. 

J: I know. I know. 

S: I’m just saying. 

J: Exactly because don't normally people who hurt children, other criminals don't like that. 

S: And in a prison with a bunch of women who are moms who are super not okay with that. 

J: That’s what I would think too. But now she's a Golden Girl.

S: That’s crazy. It's crazy.

J: And that's my case.

S: That’s a crazy case. 

S: Thanks for listening today. Be sure to tune in next week for another episode of Crime With My Coffee.

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