This episode, contains descriptions of violence and is not suitable for everyone. Please use discretion. We took a little drive about a I'll from our house. And she parked in ASL park area, and she said: I'm not your birth mother. But I am your mother and I love you as if you were my own daughter, but you came from a clinic in Georgia, and the doctor was selling babies and so we paid money for you I just didn't really understand what she was telling me, except for the fact that, she loved me, and I was her dog. Regardless this is Melinda Dawson describe in a conversation she had with her mother due

Johnson in nineteen, seventy when Melinda Just seven years old, had your mother I had a hard time getting pregnant herself and she and your been trying to get pregnant and having any luck until kind of came to adoption through that right. She was well that she was not able to have children. Because of an assault that she I'm heading toward. At a young age and uhm. Yes, they tried, and so she in a baby very badly, and That's where I came in and assess her mother and father have booked into adopting a baby through official channels. But it was easy or cheap to meet the requirements back in the 60s. You could be turned down if you'd ever been divorced. You often needed to own your own home and that's when they heard about it

Nick in Georgia that didn't ask any questions, a lot of people in and around Akron, oh Melinda's, Father in and father worked in the tire business. This is the home Goodyear Goodrich Firestone and someone at Goodrich was acting as an intermediary between the clinic and people looking to bring home a newborn, and Let people know that if they wanted to get a baby that they should call this number and talk to Doctor Thomas Hicks. In Mccaysville Georgia, and I guess they. Made the decision to be put on the list, and didn't know when they were going to get a call just waited and. She told me that the instruction things were to get to Georgia within twelve hours once they were called um come in the front door, sign the bursa

Tiff Ocate and head out the back door and get out of town as quickly as possible, and that's exactly Melinda's adoptive parents did in February of nineteen sixty three for a long time. Melinda's mother wouldn't tell her how much it cost. But eventually, when Melinda was an adult, her mother told her they'd paid Doctor Hicks one thousand dollars, we had a discussion- and she said we paid one thousand dollars for you and back in the 1960s It was a lot of money and it didn't matter to me if they would have paid it dollar. For me, none of that made a difference to me ever as Melinda grew up. She asked more questions. Her mother did everything she could to answer them. They both assumed that Melinda

was one of a few babies who couldn't for one reason or another, be kept, and that when this happened, Doctor Hicks quietly paired them with couples who couldn't can if they had no reason to think otherwise until Melinda went to the county courthouse in Mccaysville Georgia and ask for a copy of her birth certificate. Uhm. I noticed that the clerk of courts was very um No almost like a movie like there was a script spotlight on her and she was like a ha. There was a ha moment for her and there was a full list of birth certificates in this one particular file drawer uh, because I told her- that I was born at the clinic at all ha moment came to her like. Oh, this is one of the babies and uh? She gave me my birth certificate and ask if I could talk with the Probate court Judge Linda Davis,

Judge Davis had already notice something very odd about the birth certificates coming out of the Hicks Clinic, though is one telltale sign if you're a Hicks baby and it is that your birth certificate says that you were born at the Hicks Clinic and on the left side of it it'll say non resident, like you in Akron and you're, going to travel all the way down to Mccaysville to- little little clinic can give birth and go all the way back to Akron, that's just absolutely ridiculous. So, oh when they filed the birth certificates, they would put it as these people were at the clinic gave birth and they were a non resident. That's the tell tale sign that your hips baby, talking with Judge, Dave, Melinda discovered the scale of the operation. She was a part of she's. One of at least two hundred babies that were legally sold to couples in six states from nineteen. Fifty one to nineteen sixty four

and when you're very arrival in the world is marked with a fake birth certificate. You learn that you can't believe everything that you see, I'm Bajaj Judge. This is criminal. Melinda said she grew up, really happy her mother. Did everything in the world to make sure she felt like part of the family I have natural red hair, and so she dying her hair red. So You know she was very funny. I gotta tell you: she was about five foot tall maybe one hundred pounds. You know and when I started growing up on five foot ten. Nowhere near one hundred pounds but she never made me.

None of my family ever made me feel like I was an outsider. I mean they were my family. She was my mom. I was her daughter, and proud of it. Her mother and Father eventually divorced and her mother Later remarried in the second marriage, her mother was actually able to become pregnant. In spite of what she been told and she gave birth to Melinda's younger sister In nineteen. Eighty one Melinda got married herself to a man named Clarence Elkins and they had two children and when she had children of her own, she got curious about her biological families, medical history. There are some health issues that couldn't be explained by this time. Doctor Hicks was dead. The clinic was long closed and of course, there are no records. All anyone knew was what they've been able to piece together with the help of Judge Davis and the more questions they asked. The more complicated

the story God some of the parents that purchased the babies were told that the mother had died. Edit, when in reality the doctor was also telling them uh. For that. The baby had died and he would care of the funeral, and then he would sell Baby here's what we know about Doctor Hicks hex Jay Hicks got his medical degree from Emory in nineteen. Seventeen and opened the Hicks Community Clinic in may Hayesville Georgia in the 1940s. After completing a federale sentence for selling drugs just over the border in Tennessee. That conviction cost him his medical license, but only in the state of Tennessee. So we just crossed the border into Georgia and opened a new practice, The Hicks community clinic became a thriving abortion facility during a time. One

Fortune was illegal and birth control was basically nonexistent any of his patients were wealthy out of towners, so much so that a private airstrip was built nearby, so the rich could fly in and out for their appointments. The locals knew about the abortions too, but Doctor Hicks was regarded as an upstanding figure. He was he in some in charming his wife taught Sunday school at First Baptist church. They were very well liked in town one moment even told the New York Times quote: he gave the most terrific Halloween kit he did a lot of good things. For the town, and so the townspeople are very They have. They hold him in a high regard, and you know my mom did too because she said, if had you know how he not giving me you I

and have you, and so she held him in a really high regard. Now we know a lot about doctor Hicks over the years that we've been doing our research and yeah. He was a very good guy, but he had a dark side as well and once The practice of selling the baby and getting the money became. On a roll, as you can say, he profited big time. On selling us to our parents, Melinda beliefs. Doctor Hicks was purely profit driven. But the truth is, we just don't know some of the adoptive parents, told the one thousand dollars payment covered, the cost of the Bio logical mothers, mother's care thousand dollars, back then comes out to about eight thousand dollars today, but the only way for the Hicks babies to figure out

whether their biological mothers were help or exploited by doctor Hicks would be to find them and ask in May of nineteen. Ninety seven, an article came out the Akron Beacon Journal, telling Melinda story and describing the efforts by Judge Davis and another Hicks baby, Jane Bosio, to create a birth registry, matching babies with biological mothers, the majority of the babies were sold to Akron couples because That was where the money was being made in the rubber industry. So when this like liaison between Doctor Hicks and the potential buyers, that's where it was targeted and either from you know. You worked at Goodrx which Goodyear or Firestone a lot of babies. Parents worked in those industries, so when it came,

about an in Akron Beacon Journal, a lot of people? still lived in the area and some of those people were mad. Judge Davis told the La Times quote. There are some people who are very opposed to this whole thing being brought to light. There's an air of protectiveness about Doctor Hicks, the Hicks babies around Akron try to work as a group to manage the story, but eventually they splintered into two camps. Those who thought they should come up with one man surgeon stick to it. That faction called itself silent legacy and those like Melinda and her mother, who said hey. This is our story. We can talk about it, however like here they are in the Maury Povich show in nineteen. Ninety eight

today. We are talking to women who were all told they were orphans, they were all adopted when they were babies. What they didn't know was that they may have been sold illegally on the black market Judith. Is an adoptive mother who is here with her daughter Melinda, give us a picture of exactly what happened, because you would go down in this small town in Georgia Right leave Oct in and then they wrote out the bursar typic. They did not write it out in the mothers name. They wrote it out in my name, so the name on the birth certificate is yours. When it comes to parents by she'd ever had a ride header, you know, there's no way an was What is your daughter being born then, or had you already been born? You had already been born. Tells you what she at the time of the day but a day all, but we got there and started back. So after the show you know the local news picked up on this and yeah I will call my mom and say: are you? Are you? The

lady that was on the tv or were you? Are you the lady? That was on the news, and I got something to tell you and you know, could you is something so illegal an and you know you Should be punished, for that and we didn't know what that meant. I mean and the threats were from people who were saying. How dare you do something like this primarily or or you know how dare you put doctor Hicks in a bad light and I think that maybe we were kind of a target because we were out there more and so accessible and so that's you know when I I told my mom: we we need, you know, have a much put on our house- and you know that's that's what tear

find me so much when I I mean that was my first thought. When they told me she had been murdered, that it had something to do with the Hicks babies. On June seventh, one thousand nine hundred and ninety eight Melinda was at home. When are all Son came to her and said that there were a lot of police cars outside their house and uh. No, I'm screaming it's done what is going on. I mean you can Imagine seeing police run out of the woods, in full swat gear, an running towards your house and you don't know where your husband and your oldest son are and then they're coming through the front door in starting. You do to come outside and he but I I'm going to tell you what's going on, but I don't want to tell you in front of your boy. My younger son was twelve at that time. In my oldest son was fifteen and the deputy.

Ask me what my mother's name was an I said Judy why the deputy told Melinda that the police Department had gotten a call early that morning that Judy had been fatally stabbed inside her home, and that I mean this is all in one sentence and he says his It's real nice is saying that it was her uncle Clarence. That's your husband. And I remember that feeling or you just kind of ball up into a fetal position, because that that that pain was Unb Herbal and I just screamed an. You can't wrap your head around that you just cannot, and I I remember snapping to and saying you guys are crazy. He would never have done something like the

Because you know they had him in handcuffs in the back of a patrol car, so it's Point you know they took him and he never came back home no Not only was Melinda's husband, Clarence Elkins, charged with Link his mother in law to death. He was also charged with the rape, attempted murder and assault of Melinda's six year old. Now, nice. My niece was staying. The night my mom on June six Saturday night and um. After the attack she, my niece had made a phone call that picked up by a. Answering Machine Ann. And her message to my mom, the trend was that somebody help hold her mam all and she needed help the sick. She rolled then went next door to ask for help and reportedly told the next door neighbor the

The man who had assaulted her and killed her grandmother looked like her. Uncle Clarence so not only was your mother stabbed, but your niece was could have been killed as well. Yes and. I I later come to find out but my mom was not stabbed, but she had and so brutally beat and that it appeared to be like stab wounds? Oh that's hard. It's hard to say mean I mean how do you, even how do you even split your brain enough at that moment, to be able to process the fact that your mother, has been murdered and your husband is being taken away from her. How do you just? How do you even function? What we who's your mind to go. I

cannot even explain how that is because it's it's such a Surreal, virtual uh event, because your your back and forth. Oh my gosh, my mom, oh my god, my husband, oh my god, my nice, oh my god, my mom, I mean it was just it was whore. Poulan and and uhm I mean my first thought- was that there's no way it's him. I wonder I wondered if it had something to do with the hex adoption, because things were getting crazy and you know once your life goes public, your game right, you're, you're, sitting duck for for some things, and I really thought and was terrified that they would be coming after me. Next it it only

in two months since Melinda and her mother appeared on the Maury Povich Show. He'd been getting more and more angry phone calls, and so this is where Melinda's mind went. She tried to process what happened to her mother niece. She truly believed someone wanted to shut them up and try to get the police to consider what she was saying, but there just wasn't evidence of any connection. It was a horrifying coincidence and if it wasn't related to Hicks who did do it and why? What did you know about what your husband had been doing? the night before then. Even before the murder happened. Did you know Lucy with you? Well, yes, for the night. He was with me the other part. He had a bonfire in our front yard. He went to one of the local

watering holes with some of his friends. So he was never. You know alone. You know I gotta say we were married for seventeen years at that point right and I know that there are people in this world that can manipulate others to think that there are some way and they're really not, but I mean we were right at eighteen years. Old we basically grew up together, an. I knew him in and out right and we did. I have a great marriage, but he was got a violent, sadistic. Serial killer like they made him out to be, I mean it. It was just ridiculous. I could not even. I think that that made me what fuel hold my anger the most besides the fact that my mom had someone attack

fully done that to my mom and my niece, the other part, you know they're not out there. Looking for the true killer. They're they're trying to put their story together and make him guilty money is not did they have anything to say, that he was near your mother and niece? No, nothing. No, we lived an hour away. There was no physical evidence. And there was an eyewitness and she was six years old. He said it looked like him, but I only seen him in the dark. I only seen the back of his head. That was that was that yeah. That was uh the evidence, the evidence that was it she said, And she hadn't seen him for over a year and she was six. Anne had been brutalized and traumatized, and she tell that she was she

wasn't sure because she kept saying well, it was dark and I only seen the back of his head. And uh the prosecutor was like. Well, thank God. She doesn't remember this too, Melinda's family apart. Her sister wouldn't speak to her and no one wanted her anywhere near her niece Clarence Elkins was charged with aggravated murder, attempted aggravated murder, rape and felonious assault. Melinda's niece testified to what she'd seen and Elkins Defense attorneys said: he'd been in local bars until two hundred and thirty am and arrived home at two Forty am went for a walk with his wife and then went to bed. When I got on the witness stand to testify for him. Uh wow, I mean They, they tried to make me look like the biggest liar, an some

dumb country heck that was standing by her man. The jury deliberated for three days and on June fourth, one thousand nine hundred and ninety nine they reached. The decision and I will watch. The jury walk in. And I watch them. Look at Clarence and I knew that it wasn't good. How did you know that take give him a lot of the men on the jury gave him a look like you're disgusting. You freak here. You know just hateful. And then a couple of the women jurors were crying and- and the judge reads Correct and uh he oughta. He was sentenced to two life sentences guilty on three counts of rape and two counts of assault, and so

I remember the prosecutor telling me: well, you not going to see your husband for at least fifty four years, and I remember looking into Into the news, camera names- and I said you want to bet- we'll have the rest of Melinda story in our next episode. My niece had had said that it was not Clarence that was there that night. She was just saying what everybody was telling her to say when everybody was expecting her with say, Criminalist. Used by Lawrenceport Nadeea. Wilson and me all. You mix by Rob Byers, Alice, Wilders, our intern Julie,

Alexander makes original illustrations for each episode of criminal. You can see them at our website. This is dot com and learn all about our fall, tour will be Mdc: Durham, New York, Boston, Chicago Minneapolis, Iowa, Seattle, Portland, San Francisco, Toronto, all stories, told live in some sub prizes. We hope to see you criminal is recorded in the studios of North Carolina public Radio, W Unc, where proud member of Radiotopia from Prxa a collection of the best pie, cast around radio topia from Prx is so order by the Knight Foundation and Mailchimp, celebrating creativity, chaos and teamwork, and thanks to add Cirque for providing their ad serving platform to radiotopia. I'm Phoebe judge. This is criminal.

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