8 Bodies Dismembered and Dissolved in 6 Barrels, Found in Bank Vault, Killer Set Free!

Joseph Scott Morgan (0:10)

From September the 2nd, Missing Women, Philly House of Horrors, Dissolving Bodies and Snuff Films. September the 2nd, the reason I said that is that is our episode for Body Bags with Joseph Scott Morgan that released on that date. Of course, we are referring to this horrible situation that is currently going on and continuing to develop even as I speak right now in the city of brotherly love. But today, I want to talk to you about some other cases that in some ways have a striking, striking similarity. And not so much in maybe the motivation, but the means by which bodies are gotten rid of. I'm Joseph Scott Morgan, and this is Body Bags.

Brother Dave, I reached out to you regarding this topic that we're about to have a conversation regarding, because I was struck by it relative to the, I don't know, it was hard for me to understand the depth and the breadth of the bodies involved in this particular case, just as in Philadelphia. Look, we haven't, I don't even think they've scratched the surface yet, really, with this thing.

Dave Mack (1:42)

In Philadelphia.

Joseph Scott Morgan (1:43)

In Philly.

Dave Mack (1:43)

Right.

Joseph Scott Morgan (1:44)

And when the cases we're gonna be talking about just a bit, kind of landed on my desk, I was sitting there thinking, how, you know, what kind of world are we in right now? And you and I see the most horrific things, and we talk about them every day, and I still could not get the measure of it. Because even as jaded, as jaded as I am, I was thinking, you know, the old comment that my friend used to make, did your mind work?

Because I just can't understand, you know, kind of how authorities arrive at certain certain conclusions or certain outcomes relative to relative to certain cases and how they're disposed of, I think.

Dave Mack (2:35)

Yeah. Well, disposed of probably not the right term to use today. It's probably not. Because these were, you know what, here's what we're dealing with, Bodies in Barrels. All right. Eleven Bodies in Barrels. Well, not eight Bodies in six Barrels, three others and probably more buried in traditional means. If you go traditional for killers, I guess. At any rate, here's what we're dealing with, friends.

We have a serial killer, a mass murderer, however you want to label this individual that is being released from prison after admitting, okay, he pleaded guilty to killing four people, to being involved in the murders of four people. Now we mentioned, look, we could play a math game here and you would go nuts. I was thinking the same thing. Yeah, it's not, this case is much bigger than the one person we're going to talk about today. And we probably will go back at a later date and revisit. But as Joe started off the show, we've been talking about this house of horrors in Philadelphia, where we have murder, mayhem, pictures, videos, and barrels of chemicals for dissolving human beings, probably. And that is what got a lot of people's attention. And in this case, Joe, it got a lot of people's attention. The murders that took place were in the late 90s.

And that's why this person, after 20-something years in prison, is being let out to walk amongst the free, even though he fully admits his involvement in the murder of individuals for money.

And well, they try to play this card of, well, why would you do this? Well, you know, because everybody wants to know, why did you do it? Yeah, in this case, the killers, John Bunting and Robert Wagner are the two headlines here, the killers. The guy we're talking about today is James. Is it Vlassak or Vlassas?

Joseph Scott Morgan (4:47)

I think it's Vlassak, like the pickle.

Dave Mack (4:49)

We will call him Pickle Man, Vlassak. So James Vlassak admitted to participating in the murders of all these people, being involved in one way or another. Bunting and Wagner, they will never be released from prison. They were sentenced to life without parole.

But Vlassak took a deal where he became the state's best witness on the stand in exchange for the possibility of parole after serving a specified amount of time, which in his case was 26 years. Served 26 years and will let you walk.

That was the deal, believe it or not. And that deal has come to fruition. So the Bodies in Barrels, Jo, by the way, this story became the subject of books, articles, movies, at least one movie called Snowtown, right?

Joseph Scott Morgan (5:43)

Yeah.

Dave Mack (5:44)