00:00:12
Whoever went into this house, they went in there with one motive to execute the people that were inside.
00:00:25
There were three victims shot >> each with single shotgun blast. The shooter comes to carry first fires.
00:00:37
>> He was a wonderful husband. He was a wonderful father and he was just a good man.
00:00:44
My name is Robin Height and my husband Carrie Height was murdered and it's been really, really hard.
00:00:53
>> The shooter leaves Carrie, proceeds to the parents' bedroom. The second shot was to Philillip.
00:01:02
>> Carrie and Mr. Phillip were very, very close and they saw each other every day.
00:01:09
>> Linda was the mother. She's coming out of the bathroom to see what's going on
00:01:13
cuz she doesn't have a clue. >> I opened the bathroom door and went in and said, "Phillip."
00:01:19
And then I saw the blast as the gun was turned on me. >> The left side of her face was
00:01:26
extensively damaged and then the shot continued through her right shoulder. >> I remember waking up and I was on the
00:01:34
floor and I prayed. I remember very distinctly saying, "God, if we're going to do this, I need your strength because
00:01:42
I have none of my own." >> Effingham 911. >> Shot. >> You're shot. >> Get James 10:18. Hurry up.
00:01:55
>> Stay with me, ma'am. Keep talking to me. >> God took over. He was showing me what to
00:02:01
do and telling me what to do. Whoever shot Linda meant to kill her. So, I was very concerned for her safety,
00:02:08
>> but everybody here feels like Robin had something to do with it. And what part
00:02:13
does she play in this? >> I think she was the catalyst that caused all of this to happen.
00:02:21
>> What is your view on Robin's role, if any, in this whole awful thing? >> I really would rather not comment on
00:02:30
that. And I don't really worry about what people say. >> Does she or doesn't she know?
00:02:39
>> I had a secret and once that secret was exposed, hell broke loose. Family affair. Tonight's 48 hours
00:02:52
mystery. August 25th, 2008, hours before dawn. >> James 1018. >> Sheriff Jimmy McDuffy was called to a
00:03:50
house on Springfield, Egypt Road. He braced himself for what lay ahead. >> Somebody had been killed, at least two.
00:04:00
I did not know who it was. They just gave us an address on the page. At some point, and I don't remember where that
00:04:07
was at. It was like, "Oh my god, that's got to be Philip's house." Philillip was Philip Height, a man to be
00:04:15
reckoned with in Effingham County, Georgia, and a pal of McDuffy's. >> I knew Philillip ever since I came to
00:04:21
the county back in probably 87, 88. Height was a successful real estate developer who'd made millions in the
00:04:29
sprawling county, which is about an hour north of Savannah. Patriarch of a close-knit family, he'd
00:04:36
been married to wife Linda for 42 years. We met at the county fair in Savannah, and he stole my heart right away.
00:04:46
And um things weren't always easy, but you know, there was love. The couple had three sons, Craig, Chris, and Carrie.
00:04:57
>> Good men, fine men, churchgoing men. They had values and they believed in each other.
00:05:05
>> We all got along well. >> Chris Height was the middle son. >> Uh we were families. Nobody was perfect,
00:05:11
but we we grew up uh very close together. Each of us had our own personalities. Were the brothers very different?
00:05:20
>> They're all three pretty different. Yeah. Um Chris and Craig are the most alike. They both like to hunt outdoors,
00:05:28
things like that. And Carrie was the baby of the family. >> It was Carrie who followed his dad into
00:05:34
real estate, becoming his business partner. And he and wife Robin had three kids of their own.
00:05:41
>> Carrie and I met in high school our senior year in English class. >> You got a big smile when you said that.
00:05:47
>> Yeah. Um, we were really good friends in the beginning and realized that I was in
00:05:52
love with Carrie and not long after high school we got married. >> When he asked you to marry him then this
00:05:59
just seemed like this was meant to be. >> It was definitely meant to be. Yes. The height clan was turning out just as
00:06:08
its patriarch had hoped. >> Philip wanted the family to be perfect. Good Christian family, good folks. Uh,
00:06:16
Philip was just he was a man of the house. >> Popular. >> Popular. Extremely. >> Murder just didn't fit with the
00:06:23
seemingly perfect family the sheriff knew so well. Too well for him to oversee the case. He decided. So that
00:06:31
first day, he turned it over to the GBI, the Georgia Bureau of Investigation. >> I arrived at the scene at approximately
00:06:39
8:45 that morning. In charge was agent Eugene Howard, who quickly realized that the crime scene was not what it seemed.
00:06:49
The scene was staged to look like it was a burglary. >> The killer had cut the phone lines and
00:06:55
smashed a pane of glass in a door. >> There was nothing of note taken. Jury was still present. Nothing was rummaged
00:07:06
through. There was money left out. No impression that anything was taken from the residence.
00:07:12
>> So you think that's just because the person panicked and fled before they had
00:07:16
a chance to take anything or >> No, robbery wasn't the motive. Murder was the motive.
00:07:22
>> Both of the men had similar injury wounds. That is shotgun wound to the face.
00:07:28
>> Based on those injuries and the pellets found at the scene, medical examiner Dr.
00:07:33
James D says the shooter used a 12 gauge shotgun. up close and personal. >> How close roughly are we talking about
00:07:45
here? >> Based on what I see at the the scene, looking at the photographs, my estimate
00:07:50
was something like 2 feet. You're 2 feet away. My goodness, you don't really need to aim. You just kind
00:07:58
of point and shoot. To get an idea of the damage a 12 gauge shotgun does at such close range, we
00:08:09
asked the sheriff's firearms instructor, Ed Mrick, to demonstrate. >> What exactly do we have here?
00:08:15
>> This is the uh Remington 870. This is their most popular shotgun. >> The gun is similar to the one used by
00:08:22
the killer. Loaded with the same type of 3-in shells and the same type of buckshot.
00:08:28
>> If you're going to fire that at someone, it's a deadly force incident. Jeez. Oh my god.
00:08:36
>> Given the close range, Linda too probably would have died instantly had she not turned her head at the moment of
00:08:44
impact. >> It's amazing that she did survive because basically it looks like she was
00:08:49
left for dead. >> But almost as if the power of those shotgun blasts wasn't enough, the gunman
00:08:57
next drenched the entire house in gasoline. A lot of gasoline, >> gas fumes out by the road was just
00:09:06
horrific. >> You could even smell it from the road. >> You could smell it from the road.
00:09:10
>> I wrote down in my journal that I knew what hell smelled like. >> What hell smelled like?
00:09:15
>> Gasoline and gunpowder. >> Wow. >> I remember smelling the gas. Yes. >> You had gasoline on your clothes?
00:09:21
>> Yeah. Well, I was sitting on the floor, so I knew they were wet. >> But the killer never set the gas ablaze.
00:09:30
perhaps panicking when he heard Linda's desperate call to 911. >> Where are you, ma'am?
00:09:37
>> Where are >> news of the murders spread quickly in this rural southern community and so did
00:09:45
fear. >> They must have thought a killer was out on the loose. >> They did. >> Investigators checked the alibi of a
00:09:52
local drug dealer but quickly ruled him out. They next turned their attention to
00:09:58
the Heights real estate dealings. >> Every time Philip had had an argument with somebody, you know, we had to go
00:10:04
and investigate and talk to those folks, see what was going on with it. >> They found no motive and no suspect. But
00:10:12
then McDuffy recalled an unsettling conversation he'd had with Carrie Height only a month earlier.
00:10:20
>> He knew that his wife was running around on him. Oh. But he did not tell me who
00:10:26
it was with. >> That must have been something of a shock. >> It was because every time you saw them
00:10:31
together, it was just like the the perfect family. >> Hardly. As the whole county soon would
00:10:37
learn, not only was Robin having an affair, it was with none other than Craig Height, her husband's own brother.
00:10:47
>> I am definitely a woman in the center of a storm. Only hours into the height murder
00:11:08
investigation, as Linda Height fought for her life, the whispers began. Rumors that this
00:11:15
seemingly perfect southern family was anything but. It's not something that I'm proud of,
00:11:25
but it's a mistake that anyone could make. Robin Height's mistake was having an affair. That happens, but with your
00:11:34
husband's brother. Robin admits she made the first move on her brother-in-law, Craig.
00:11:42
>> I told him that I had feelings for him that were more than, you know, brother
00:11:46
and sister-in-law feelings. and he said that he shared the same feelings. It just took off from there.
00:11:55
>> Craig Height, self-described black sheep of the family, was divorced, owed child
00:12:01
support, was unemployed, and lived off disability checks. And Robin found him irresistible.
00:12:09
>> What? You were head over heels in love? >> I was infatuated, not love. >> You still loved your husband?
00:12:16
>> I did. Where did you think this was going to go? >> I wasn't really sure. I was really
00:12:23
confused and I told Carrie about it two weeks into the affair. >> Was he prepared for this?
00:12:31
>> No, he wasn't prepared and Craig did not want me to tell Carrie. >> Why did you?
00:12:36
>> I just couldn't hide it from him. He knew that something was wrong with me and that I wasn't acting like myself.
00:12:42
But telling her husband about the affair didn't stop Robin from pursuing it. Never mind that brother-in-law thing.
00:12:50
Never mind her three children who at that point were 10, seven, and three years old.
00:12:57
>> I definitely wasn't thinking about my children when I did it. How it would affect them.
00:13:03
>> The relationship got more intense with Robin and Craig often sneaking off to this isolated hunting cabin.
00:13:12
Whenever people hear about these situations, they say, "This is why there's divorce." You know, people just
00:13:17
sometimes these things happen and people get divorced. >> It was very complicated because Carrie
00:13:23
was very dead set against a divorce. >> Sickness. >> He told me when we got married that he
00:13:31
that we were going to be married for life. Her husband was distraught, but he was no fool. A few weeks before he died,
00:13:39
Carrie Height changed his $3.5 million life insurance policy, removing Robin as the beneficiary.
00:13:47
>> I did not find out until after Carrie passed away that he had the life insurance money put into a trust fund
00:13:54
for our three children. >> And his father, Philip, told Craig flat out, "Knock it off with your brother's
00:14:01
wife or lose your entire inheritance." There was a lot of tension. Very heated conversations.
00:14:09
Several very heated conversations. I got to tell you, Robin, this is a mess. It was a very much mess.
00:14:19
The weekend before the murders, August 2008. Once again, Robin was at Craig's cabin.
00:14:26
>> So, I had a few drinks there and ended up staying that night. She and Craig get a rude awakening the
00:14:39
next morning. >> We heard a helicopter that sounded like it was very low. >> Philillip had tracked them down,
00:14:45
enlisting a friend with a helicopter to take photos to get hard evidence of Robin's infidelity.
00:14:53
>> I looked at Craig and I said, "That helicopter is here watching us." >> And what was Craig's reaction to this?
00:15:00
>> Very angry. and that Carrie and Philip better watch out or he was going to play
00:15:05
old school on them. >> Which means what? >> I wasn't sure. I wasn't sure what that
00:15:10
meant. >> She then went home where she and husband Carrie had a nasty argument. And how did
00:15:18
this end? >> Him leaving and he said, "I'm going to go stay with mom and dad tonight."
00:15:22
>> Had he ever done that before? >> No. Everyone was very upset, very on pins and needles, not knowing what to say or
00:15:30
what to do or how they could help. >> And how did you expect this was going to be resolved? I thought that Carrie and
00:15:41
Robin would probably divorce and then if the situation between Craig and Robin still worked out that they
00:15:52
would be together. Later that Sunday, Robin called her lover Craig. >> I told him that Carrie had left and he
00:16:00
asked me where he had gone and I said that he had gone to um his parents and he said, "Okay."
00:16:08
>> It was the night of the murders. >> When did you find out what had happened? >> Um around 5:00 in the morning on Monday
00:16:22
morning. I was asleep and um I heard knocking on the door. >> Detectives gave Robin the news.
00:16:35
>> I'm just kidding. >> And the detective asked me if I knew of anyone that would have wanted to hurt
00:16:47
Carrie and Phillip. And I just said, I can't I mean, I just can't think of anything right now. I
00:16:53
just I was just in shock. >> Craig doesn't just instantly occur to you. >> No. >> As many fights as they'd had and as much
00:17:03
bad blood as there was at this point. >> It did not. It did not come in my mind right away.
00:17:09
>> But she confronted her lover that afternoon. >> I walked right up to him and I said,
00:17:15
"Did you do this?" And he said, "I can't believe you would ask me that." I said, "I need a yes or no. Did you do
00:17:25
this?" And he said, "No." >> And you believed him. >> I did cuz the Craig Height that I know
00:17:35
couldn't commit such an act. >> Investigators weren't so sure. As Linda Height slowly recovered, they all
00:17:43
wondered the same thing. >> She's the only surviving witness of the crime. Could she identify the killer?
00:17:54
>> Crime scene investigators have yet to leave the scene of the Heights home on Springfield Egypt Road. Philip
00:18:01
>> By noon the day of the murders, Robin Height had admitted to investigators that the shocking rumors were true. Yes,
00:18:09
she was having an affair with her brother-in-law, Craig. Why are we getting indication that you
00:18:17
had sexual relations with Robin? >> But Craig was having none of it. >> I am not having sex with Robin.
00:18:25
>> He says flat out, "No affair." >> He denied that there wasn't an affair at all.
00:18:30
>> I know that it looks bad, but I'm going to tell you something. I couldn't do that to my brother.
00:18:36
>> How'd that make you feel? >> I can't even describe how it made me feel sick. Over the next few days, when talking
00:18:44
with police at the crime scene, Craig made several more startling statements. >> He pointed out to the officer that was
00:18:52
present that was doing security that his shotgun was missing. >> Had the officer asked about his shotgun?
00:18:58
>> No. He later said that his boots were missing. >> Hadn't asked about that either.
00:19:02
>> Hadn't asked. And through conversation with both Craig and his brother, they said at one point that they thought a
00:19:08
gas can was missing. A shotgun, boots, a gas can. All missing. All possibly related to the crime and all tied to
00:19:20
Craig Height. >> Did he have an alibi for that night? >> No. Actually, he was the only one that
00:19:26
did not have an alibi. >> Prosecutor Michael Muldrew. >> He lied about things that he didn't even
00:19:31
need to lie about. It's just his character. >> I swear to you my mama's life. >> He lied, says Moldrew. even when taking
00:19:41
a lie detector test. What questions did he fail? >> It was something to the effect of, were
00:19:46
you holding a shotgun when your parents were killed? I believe >> that's a pretty significant question.
00:19:50
>> Yeah. >> And when agent Howard asked Craig directly had he killed his father and
00:19:56
brother and shot his mother in the face, Craig said he didn't know >> if he did it. He had no recollection of
00:20:04
it. >> He actually said that >> basically. Yes. >> Do suspects often say this? >> No. And we commonly call that in law
00:20:11
enforcement just the wrong answer. >> But the answer investigators most wanted was from the grievously wounded Linda
00:20:19
Height. Could she identify the killer, though improving in a Savannah hospital, she was still unable to talk? And then
00:20:27
one day, an officer guarding Linda saw something that set off alarm bells. Craig had entered the room, put his hand
00:20:36
on his mother's and said, "Mom, this is Craig." And her blood pressure went from, I believe was 98 and skyrocketed
00:20:44
to about 140. Her eyes got really wide, and it appeared that she had been shaking as if she was afraid.
00:20:50
>> James Dingle was on duty that day. >> What did you take from that? >> I took that she she was scared for a
00:20:56
reason. >> Linda Height says that is ridiculous. >> How do you interpret that? What do you
00:21:02
think was going on? >> I don't know. Maybe it was from hearing talk that was going on around me.
00:21:09
>> Not a fear response. >> No, not a fear response. >> Weeks later, investigators finally were
00:21:18
able to interview Linda. >> Could you identify the person? >> I didn't see a face or anything. I did
00:21:26
not see Craig in that room. I did not see anyone in there. The blast was what I saw. Can you be absolutely certain
00:21:34
that it was not Craig? >> Yes, I can. I know my child. I know the man he is. I know the heart he has. He
00:21:42
does not have a coldblooded heart. And I can be certain that Craig did not do this to our family.
00:21:49
>> Have you ever looked him in the eye and said, "Craig, son, did you do this?" >> Yes, I have. And he's looked me right
00:21:57
straight in the eye and said, "No, mama. I did not do this. I couldn't do this. >> But investigators zeroed in on Craig
00:22:06
Height early on and their case got stronger when agent Howard followed up on a colleagueu's hunch.
00:22:14
>> Investigator John Bradley with the sheriff's department mentioned, "I wonder how his arm looks."
00:22:19
>> Now, why would he say that? >> Typically, that type of ammo shot from that weapon will leave a bruise.
00:22:26
>> You'll get a big kickback. >> Yes. So Howard asked Craig to take off his shirt.
00:22:31
>> There was two bruises on his right bicep and one on his left. There were three shots at the home that
00:22:41
night. One that killed Carrie, one that killed Philillip, and the one that wounded Linda. So those bruises were
00:22:49
significant. >> So even an experienced hunter >> Mhm. >> would be bruised using anything that
00:22:55
big, >> I would think. This one right here is about 48 to 50 lbs of pressure on your
00:23:01
shoulder of recoil. >> So that a giant wallup. >> It is. Yes. >> Wow. >> There's no question you'd be bruised. Is
00:23:09
there any way to avoid it? >> I don't see how. No. >> But Craig insisted the bruises came not
00:23:15
from a shotgun, but from a freak fall, a misstep in the shower that sent him headirst over the toilet.
00:23:24
>> It was laughable. Not only was it laughable, it was scientifically and physically impossible.
00:23:34
>> The bruises, the affair, the lies, the missing items, all were circumstantial,
00:23:41
and investigators wanted a stronger case. So, the GBI just kept watching Craig Height and Robin. And so did
00:23:49
everyone else in town. >> It was very, very difficult. He was being, you know, basically treated as
00:23:59
the murderer and me as a conspirator right there along with him. And then four months after the murders,
00:24:09
Craig Height moved in with his brother's widow and their three kids. >> What did you think when you heard this?
00:24:17
>> I think the most of the community thought it was like a slap in the face. >> It didn't do anything for Craig. his
00:24:24
appearance of innocence for him to be staying there. >> It was not smart. It was definitely not
00:24:30
smart. And my family was telling me, you know, do you know how this looks? I mean, then I was like, I don't really
00:24:37
care what people think. I believe that he's innocent. >> But now prosecutors had their motive.
00:24:44
Craig wanted not just his brother's wife, but his brother's life and had killed to get it. He is living
00:24:53
in his dead brother's house, sleeping in his dead brother's bed next to his dead
00:24:58
brother's wife, is taking his dead brother's children to school, and he's driving his dead brother's truck. He has
00:25:05
become, for all practical purposes, Carrie Hike. Nine months after the Height family
00:25:28
murders came bombshell news. Craig Height was about to marry Robin, his dead brother's wife.
00:25:37
>> You were going to get married to Craig, take the kids, get out of Effingham. That was the plan, the future plans.
00:25:44
>> The community had some questions. Why aren't y'all putting him in jail? I had
00:25:49
one lady even call me and tell me I need to go see the governor and make the governor make GBI make an arrest.
00:25:58
>> Finally, in May 2009, the GBI made its move, arresting Craig Height for the murder of his brother.
00:26:07
>> Did that shake your faith in him? >> No. I was convinced he was innocent and that he was being treated unfairly.
00:26:16
Craig also was charged with killing his father, Philillip, and attempting to kill his mother, Linda.
00:26:24
But she is convinced that her oldest son is innocent, denying suspicions that she
00:26:30
secretly knows otherwise. As a mother, I could not sacrifice the son that was killed and my husband that
00:26:38
was killed to protect another son if I really thought that that son did that. >> And brother Chris is just as sure.
00:26:48
>> It took a coward to walk in 3:00 in the morning into a dark home and do what they did uh to our family. That's not
00:26:57
Craig. Craig's not a murderer. But prosecutors think a jury will decide that's exactly what he is. On December
00:27:07
1st, 2010, the murder trial of Craig Height begins here in the Effingham County Courthouse.
00:27:14
>> We're here today in the case of the state of Georgia versus Craig Height. >> When you sit down and dispassionately
00:27:21
look at the evidence, it couldn't be anybody but him. District Attorney Michael Moldrew argues
00:27:28
that the shooting made perfect sense if you thought about it as Craig did. >> The only way I'm going to have Robin
00:27:36
Height and have peace is mama, daddy, and Carrie have to be eliminated from the equation. He wanted the big house.
00:27:45
He wanted the kids that adored him. He wanted to drive around in the nice truck to live the life of leisure of a
00:27:52
southern gentleman, so to speak. Craig's lawyer, Dao Bonds, says the public perception that Craig somehow was
00:27:59
trying to become his brother is completely distorted. >> The first thing I noticed about Craig
00:28:05
when I first met him is what a genuine person he was and what a gentleman he was.
00:28:09
>> Almost entirely circumstantial, conjecture, speculation, theory. >> What shocked me was just a clear lack of
00:28:18
physical evidence linking him to the murders. There was no DNA. There was no fingerprints. There were no
00:28:25
eyewitnesses. There were no confessions. >> Perhaps the prosecution's strongest physical evidence are the bruises on
00:28:34
Craig's arms. >> I was specifically asked to look at injuries to the right arm. >> To the medical examiner, Dr. DS, the
00:28:44
explanation is obvious. >> I think they're very consistent with someone who had fired a shotgun.
00:28:51
I stepped out of this tub like this right here. >> But Craig sticks to his story that he
00:28:56
got the bruises in that bizarre bathroom tumble onto the toilet. >> It fell like that right there and landed
00:29:04
on a commode like that right there. >> An event he recreated with himself in the starring role.
00:29:11
>> Craig, are you okay? What in the world happened? Well, here I am naked, you know. And I said, "No, don't come. No,
00:29:17
nobody come in here." The video was made before Craig Height had a lawyer. >> If I had been representing him at that
00:29:24
time, I would have said, you know, don't re a reenactment is not a good idea. >> So, you hit right up in here.
00:29:30
>> I guess I mean, I know that whenever I wound up, >> if you look at what Craig was thinking
00:29:35
at the time he did that, he was trying to assist them in their investigation. He was cooperating with them.
00:29:41
>> It just all happened so fast. That's just how I wound up, you know. Prosecutor Moldru shows the video in
00:29:47
court, telling the jury Craig could not possibly have gotten those bruises falling on a toilet.
00:29:53
>> To have happened like that is truly impossible. >> They started calling me tidy bowl man.
00:30:00
>> Most people that saw it literally laughed at this reenact when he did. >> They laughed.
00:30:04
>> They laughed. It was silly. >> Brother Chris Height was not laughing then or now. The position of the bruises
00:30:12
on Craig's body were actually impossible to make from a shotgun. >> Chris says a shotgun would have to be
00:30:19
held at a ridiculous angle to get those bruises, and Craig knew better, but in the heat of murder,
00:30:26
>> it can come off this way. >> Firearms expert Mrick thinks a shotgun easily could slip.
00:30:33
>> And if it does, it's going to get more on my arm, which is going to leave more
00:30:36
bruising and it's going to hurt me more. So, in an ideal world, if you were shooting, the bruising would be here.
00:30:42
>> Correct. >> But if you're maneuvering around something or in a hurry or whatever, you
00:30:46
can also suffer bruises on more toward the outside of your arm. >> Exactly. If this gun slips at all, it
00:30:52
will fall towards your arm and it will definitely tear you alive. >> What do you believe Craig Height did
00:31:03
that night? >> It's not really a matter what I believe it is. That's what I know he did.
00:31:08
>> For Maldru, the key to the case against Craig is quite literally a key. >> He knew something that very few people
00:31:16
knew, and that is the location and presence of another key, an outside key, which people commonly have.
00:31:25
>> The prosecutor thinks Craig smashed the pane of glass to fake a burglary, when
00:31:30
in reality, he simply opened the door with that spare key. He knew where that key would have been
00:31:37
located. He took that key, opened the door, went in. >> The cops later found that key
00:31:45
in the door. Once inside, according to Muldrew, Craig methodically went room to room, shooting
00:31:53
his brother, his father, and his mother. All for the love of Robin. Do you think their affair had anything
00:32:06
whatsoever to do with the murders? >> She's definitely responsible for Carrie being in the home that night, 100%. If
00:32:15
Carrie was living happily at his house, he'd have never been at my mother and father's that night.
00:32:22
>> His mother and brother stand by him. >> Let's hide, if you would please come to
00:32:26
witness stand. But if Craig Height thinks his former lover and sister-in-law is still with him, he's
00:32:32
about to get a nasty shock. >> When I looked at him, I just felt disgust. Disgusted at the affair.
00:32:39
Disgust at just him, period. Let's hide, if you would please come to the witness stand.
00:33:00
>> Only seven months after she planned to walk down the aisle to marry Craig Height, Robin Height instead walked to
00:33:07
the witness box to testify against him. >> You got? >> Yes, I do. >> Murder charges will do that.
00:33:15
>> I wasn't comfortable with the relationship anymore. After some soularching, Robin says she realized the
00:33:22
man she'd once loved just might be a murderer. >> And I would finally allow things to come
00:33:28
into my mind and in my heart. You know, this there is, you know, there is this chance that that he could have done
00:33:35
this. >> She knew he was lying to her. She says, especially when he said he and Carrie
00:33:41
had patched things up before the shootings. The only things coming out of Car's mouth about Craig were negative.
00:33:50
>> But the jurors apparently were getting that same negative vibe about everything
00:33:55
Robin said. >> The way she threw him under the bus just I mean that told you right there. She
00:34:01
just used him. >> And these jurors weren't ready to throw Craig Height under the bus without
00:34:07
something anything that directly linked him to the murder scene. blood, fingerprints, uh, DNA. Where's
00:34:16
the gun? Nobody wanted to put a man away for life, you know, without it. >> That was precisely the message defense
00:34:23
attorney Dow Bonds wanted to get across. >> In every single critical bit of evidence, they want you to make a leap
00:34:31
of faith. This is a court of law. This is not a time to take leaps of faith on another man's life here. But the defense
00:34:39
had no qualms about appealing to the jury's emotions. >> Please look at this letter. Do you
00:34:45
recognize the handwriting on that letter? >> Yes, it's Phillips. >> Asking Linda to read a letter her
00:34:51
husband had written two weeks before the murders. Proof. Bond said that Craig had
00:34:57
made peace with his dad and had no reason to kill him. >> Son, I appreciate everything you do.
00:35:04
Remember, family is important and we will always be there for each other. Love, Dad.
00:35:11
>> Prosecutors pointed out the letter never was sent. >> This man desperately wanted his son to
00:35:17
start behaving correctly. >> And although certainly heart-wrenching, they called it irrelevant.
00:35:23
>> I'm sure at the time he wrote the letter, he hoped that this might somehow resolve itself so that the family had
00:35:30
torn apart. Craig Height never took the stand. And on day eight of the trial, the case went
00:35:37
to the jury. >> The first vote, I voted not guilty. >> I was leaning toward a guilty vote, but
00:35:44
you know, I guess I wanted to make sure that we we looked at everything as closely as we possibly could.
00:35:51
>> Initially, the jury split 8 to four, not guilty. >> Ladies and gentlemen of the jury, the
00:35:56
courts informed that you breached the verdict. But after just six hours, that changed.
00:36:02
>> We the jury found the defendant Craig Height guilty. >> The verdict was guilty. The jury
00:36:08
convicting Craig Height on all 11 counts of murder, battery, burglary, and attempted arson.
00:36:17
>> Assault with a deadly weapon. >> What went through your mind when you heard those words?
00:36:22
>> Oh my lord. No way. This can't be happening. I've got to see if I can see Craig tonight.
00:36:30
So, I did. I went to the jail and saw him. >> And how was he? >> Very emotional.
00:36:37
>> So, what made the jury convict? >> Once I seen the bruises, that was like, yeah, he's guilty.
00:36:44
>> It was his gun missing. And to me, that was the hardest evidence. Well, >> was the constant lying about everything
00:36:51
and, you know, telling things before they were even asked. Craig and his family were devastated and
00:37:04
frustrated, insisting he didn't get a fair trial. >> In my opinion, and in a lot of the
00:37:11
community's opinion, the trial should have never taken place in Effingham County.
00:37:16
>> The judge sentenced him to the maximum, two life terms plus 85 years, making parole almost impossible.
00:37:26
So, how did you find out the verdict? >> A friend of mine told me >> and the sentence.
00:37:31
>> I felt like it was fair. >> Two life terms plus 85 years. >> Mhm. >> You felt like that was fair.
00:37:40
I mean, there has to be a part of you that was heartbroken over this. >> Well, I'm not rejoicing,
00:37:45
but I feel like they have the right person. >> But do authorities have all the right
00:37:53
people? Even today, some jurors aren't sure. >> Robin Height was a manipulative person
00:38:00
who stopped at nothing to get what she wanted. >> I think Robin played him like a fiddle.
00:38:07
>> Is there any real evidence to link Robin to the crimes? Where along the spectrum
00:38:13
do you think her actions fall? I have to go by the evidence and based upon her testimony she gave against him or did
00:38:21
not appear at the time that she was participating in any plan >> and you believe her.
00:38:28
>> I didn't say that. I said we have we have to go by the evidence. >> Today, life in Effingham County has
00:38:35
returned to normal or as near normal as it can be in a small community where so many suspicions linger.
00:38:43
>> Do you see much of Robin these days? Seems like we run into her quite often around the county.
00:38:48
>> And how would you describe the community's take on her right now? >> That the community still wants to know
00:38:55
when we're going to arrest her. >> Well, are you going to arrest her? >> If we find evidence that she's done
00:39:00
something wrong, by all means. >> Robin says that never will happen because there is no evidence to find.
00:39:08
>> I know I didn't do anything. I didn't conspire with Craig. I didn't wish any harm on Carrie or Mr.
00:39:16
Phillip or Miss Linda. >> You've forgiven yourself. >> I have and I know that God's forgiven
00:39:22
me. >> Do you think the family has forgiven you? >> The height family? >> I'm not really sure. You'd have to ask
00:39:29
them. >> What is your view on Robin's role, if any, in this whole awful thing? >> I really would rather not comment on
00:39:39
that. For Linda Height, healing has been a much slower process. >> When you look at the future now, and I
00:39:49
assume you're doing your best to look ahead, um, what do you see for the Height family?
00:39:55
>> I see life. I see hope. I see love. I see truth. I see justice. And one day, peace.
00:40:52
This has been a Hampton County story. This has been a Hampton County scandal. >> A jury found the disgraced South
00:40:59
Carolina attorney guilty of murdering his wife and his youngest son. This has been the downfall of a family dynasty.
00:41:06
>> Today is not the end. It's the next step in a long road to justice for every person who has been victimized by Alex
00:41:13
Murdoch. >> Justice for Steven Smith. Alex, >> Steven Smith was another body in this
00:41:20
orbit of the Murd family. Steven was a gay young man in the low country of South Carolina. That is courageous in
00:41:28
and of itself. I can't imagine the terror he was in that night. >> In the early morning hours of July 8,
00:41:37
2015, 19-year-old Steven Smith was found dead in the middle of a rural road. >> There was an autopsy that basically said
00:41:47
it's a hit and run. >> There was no vehicle debris, no broken headlight, paint scrapes or or anything.
00:41:55
>> You never believed it? >> No, not at all. He never would have been walking in that
00:42:00
road. Not voluntarily. >> Do you believe Steven was murdered? >> I do. >> An investigation of some sort took place
00:42:08
that led nowhere. >> And then it went cold. >> I wanted a second opinion. >> Sandy Smith is unique in this whole
00:42:20
story. She doesn't know who killed her son. She doesn't know why. People in town really believed that it was
00:42:27
connected to the Murdoch in some way. The name Buster Murdoch kept coming up. >> I never had anything to do with his
00:42:34
murder and I never had anything to do with him on a physical level of of any regard.
00:42:39
>> The rumors also suggest uh a cover up. >> We are aware of no evidence today that
00:42:45
would suggest that any Murd played any role in Steven Smith's death or played any role in trying to cover up the
00:42:52
investigation into his death. All I want is peace in knowing what happened to my
00:42:57
son. He's my world and I'm going fight to the end. >> This is a woman that has fought this
00:43:03
battle alone since 2015, screaming as loud as she could with not a lot of people listening.
00:43:11
>> CBS News confirming that the South Carolina Law Enforcement Division is now investigating Steven Smith's death as a
00:43:17
homicide. The Murdoch case >> brought Steven's Cole case to life. >> Somehow someway in the Murdoch murder
00:43:27
investigation, a new thread was opened up into Steven Smith. >> Our primary function right now is to
00:43:32
have that body exumed, have a true independent set of eyes look at it and tell us once and for all what really
00:43:37
happened to Steven Smith. >> The gash was from part of this eyebrow across here. The injuries can tell us so
00:43:45
much about what happened. And in this case, they did. >> I did >> set the scene for me on July 8th, 2015
00:43:54
here. >> Steven was was somewhat right here in the road. >> How confident are you that you know what
00:44:04
happened to Steven Smith that night? I'm as close to a degree of scientific certainty as I've ever felt.
00:44:57
like his Mother Sandy Steven Smith was born a fighter. >> He was a preeie. He weighed 2 lb 12 oz.
00:45:04
>> A twin. >> Yeah, twin. >> Born at 27 weeks with his sister Stephanie. Sandy says Steven couldn't
00:45:12
breathe on his own. After several months, she was told he might not make it. And she was finally allowed to hold
00:45:19
her baby for the first time. >> How was that moment? >> Oh my gosh, it was amazing. It was
00:45:25
supposed to be my goodbye. But he started breathing on his own cuz he felt you. >> Yeah. That's why he was my heart.
00:45:35
>> Sandy never dreamed she'd one day be fighting for answers in her son's death.
00:45:41
>> How would you describe the journey that you've been on for justice? >> It's been a hard journey just living day
00:45:47
by day and fighting day by day. On July 8th, 2015, Steven was found dead on a country road in Hampton County, the same
00:45:56
county where three generations of Murdall men had held the top prosecutor job for nearly a century. The Murdalls
00:46:04
still loomed large over small town life. Alec Murd coached Steven's baseball team
00:46:10
at one point >> when they were little. I think Steven was like seven or eight. Steven and
00:46:15
Stephanie were also classmates of Mydall's older son, Buster. Before Steven went to nursing school, with
00:46:22
dreams of one day becoming a doctor, >> he wanted to be a doctor, but it was more expensive, so he just started with
00:46:29
nursing school. He loved dealing with medicine and he just loved it. >> You must have been so proud.
00:46:36
>> Oh, it was. >> But instead, Sandy says those dreams were buried with her son. You decided to
00:46:42
bury him in his scrubs. >> Scrubs. Dr. Steven Smith. He had everything he needed in his pocket. He
00:46:48
had a stethoscope and everything he needed. Steven had just completed a semester of school and was taking summer
00:46:55
classes, shuttling back and forth between his parents, who lived apart. He had visited Sandy a week before he was
00:47:02
killed. >> A storm started brewing. I told him that he needed to hurry up and get back to
00:47:06
his dad's house. So, when he made it, he texts me and says, "I made it safe, Mom.
00:47:11
Mama, I love you. >> Sandy says those were Steven's last words to her. Days later, she would hear
00:47:18
the news that would alter the course of her life. >> July 8th, I was on my way to work and I
00:47:24
was listening to a local radio station and I heard that they had found a body. >> Sandy called her daughter Stephanie
00:47:32
right away. >> She said, "Mama, did Steven stay with you last night?" Because he didn't come
00:47:37
home last night. Then my stomach dropped and I knew it was him. >> Sandy says Steven's father, Joel, went
00:47:46
to the sheriff's office for confirmation that it was Steven. That's when she says
00:47:50
they received a call. >> I was on the phone with Joel the whole time while we were waiting
00:47:56
for the sheriff to come out and that's when Joel asked me to hold on because Randy Murdo was calling. Randy Myrtle is
00:48:04
Alec Myrtle's older brother and had been representing Joel Smith in a workers's comp case, but now he was calling about
00:48:12
Steven. >> When Joel got back on the phone, he said Randy asked if that was our Steven and
00:48:17
that he wanted to help proono. >> Did you think it was strange that Randy offered to help proono?
00:48:24
>> Well, I did, but Joel thought it was a nice gesture. Later that morning, Sandy says she was
00:48:31
surprised again as she drove past the scene where Steven's body had reportedly been found.
00:48:37
>> There was Alex and Randy standing on the opposite side of the road. >> Murdoch.
00:48:42
>> Murdoch. >> A few minutes later, Sandy says Randy Myrtle called again >> and asked if that was me that passed by.
00:48:51
He said, "I wish you'd have stopped so I could have met you." Randy Murd declined
00:48:55
our request for an interview, but through his attorney, he provided a written statement to 48 hours in which
00:49:01
he said, quote, "I was not aware of Steven's death until Joel told me they wanted my involvement and I contacted
00:49:08
law enforcement on their behalf." Murdall said he went to the scene with a private investigator after meeting with
00:49:15
Joel and Stephanie, adding quote, "Claims that I visited the scene of Steven's death with my brother Alec are
00:49:21
false. Joel Smith passed away three months after Steven. But Stephanie and Sandy told us they
00:49:30
never asked the Murdals for help. And there were other things about Steven's case that didn't sit well with Sandy
00:49:37
from the moment the sheriff confirmed the body was Stevens. At first, he told them Steven had been shot.
00:49:44
>> What were you thinking? >> Who would shoot him? It made no sense. I lost it. Then I left my job and just
00:49:50
drove back to Hampton and we just mourned together. We just couldn't understand why or who. It was just the
00:49:58
biggest shock of our life. >> Within hours, Steven's cause of death was suddenly changed to a hit and run.
00:50:07
>> Toward the evening time, we were contacted by the sheriff's office. After his autopsy, there was not any type of
00:50:13
bullet or bullet fragment found in his head because his body was in the roadway. It was being ruled to hit and
00:50:20
run. >> Retired South Carolina Highway Patrol Lieutenant Thomas Moore was the onseen
00:50:26
supervisor. >> I was told that the medical examiner made that ruling and I reached out to
00:50:31
her. It became a little bit heated. Give me an answer medically that would lead you to believe he was hit by a car.
00:50:39
There was no medical reason. >> Did you see any signs of a hit and run? >> No, ma'am. None. Any type of debris, any
00:50:46
kind of glass, car parts, it's plastic, anything that looks like it may be related to a vehicle.
00:50:53
>> Also unusual for a hit and run. Steven's clothing was intact and his shoes, which
00:50:58
were loosely tied, were still on. >> Generally, clothes are torn or unraveled and shoes have come off. And Steven's
00:51:06
car keys and cell phone were in his front pocket unharmed. And Moore says Steven's body appeared staged.
00:51:13
>> His body was laying like it had been placed in a certain position, not what you would typically see. And it looked
00:51:20
like somebody had hit him in the head with some kind of object. >> Meanwhile, Steven's wallet was still in
00:51:24
his car, which investigators found 3 miles away with the doors locked and the gas cap hanging open. In all the years
00:51:33
I've worked, a car sitting on the side of the road with gas cap off is not normal. I thought it was staged like his
00:51:41
body was staged in the roadway. >> Sandy says she wondered if Steven might have been the victim of a hate crime.
00:51:48
>> Did you think that it was possibly because of his sexuality? >> I did think that. I know he was teased a
00:51:53
lot at school, but he still held his head high. >> But Sandy says in the days leading up to
00:51:58
his death, Steven was worried about his safety. He'd called his sister Stephanie
00:52:02
for help the day before he was killed. >> Stephanie said the battery cable was loosened on his car. So she had met him
00:52:09
and then she tightened the battery cable and she asked him to get out the car and
00:52:14
help her and he said, "No, I'm not getting out." >> Like he was scared, >> right?
00:52:18
>> But he never said why. Despite what Lieutenant Moore felt were suspicious circumstances, he says once
00:52:25
Steven's death was ruled a hit and run, it became the Highway Patrol's job to solve the case instead of the Hampton
00:52:32
County Sheriff's Office or SLED, the South Carolina law enforcement division. >> I felt like the case, for lack of a
00:52:39
better word, was being pawned off on us. No matter what we said, we were going to
00:52:43
be the ones investigating that case. As we were getting started, certain names started coming up.
00:52:49
>> Which names? Murdoch. Soon after Steven Smith was killed, Hampton County Guardian managing editor
00:53:07
Michael Dwit says he began hearing persistent rumors all over town. >> What are the rumors? that at least one
00:53:14
Murdoch child was in a vehicle with other boys and allegedly somebody in the vehicle struck the young man with a
00:53:20
baseball bat and killed him. >> Sandy says those same rumors hit her doorstep as soon as Steven's body was
00:53:29
taken for an autopsy. >> It made no sense to me. >> At any point did you think that someone
00:53:36
in the Murd family was involved? Well, the longer it went on, the more I was asking myself questions,
00:53:45
but I just couldn't find the connection. Powerful family, and then you got Steven, who was just Steven.
00:53:52
>> Sandy couldn't help but think back to her last conversation with Steven a week
00:53:57
before he was killed. >> Somebody was messaging him a lot. He told me that he was going deep sea
00:54:03
fishing and he said, "Ke West." And I said, "Well, who are you going with?" He said, "Well, I can't tell you."
00:54:09
>> That make you pause. >> Yeah. He said, "You'd be surprised." It's kind of like a prominent person.
00:54:15
And then all I could say was, "Well, I hope you have fun." >> Sandy says Steven had become more
00:54:20
secretive the last couple weeks, but it never crossed her mind he might be talking about a Murdoch.
00:54:27
>> The original rumor was that Steven was planning to go away with Buster Murdoch
00:54:31
and his family, that they were together romantically. Liz Frell is the writer and co-host of the Murdom Murders
00:54:38
podcast. >> There's no evidence of that that we know of. >> And 48 Hours found no evidence to
00:54:43
support the rumors. Retired Highway Patrol Lieutenant Thomas Moore says the mere mention of the
00:54:50
Murdals made it difficult to get help from local agencies. >> We tried to hand that case file over to
00:54:56
the sheriff's office and they physically would not take it from our hand. The Murdoch name was still very powerful,
00:55:03
very well connected in law enforcement, and the rumors suggested, well, the local cops aren't going to dig into it.
00:55:11
>> Instead, the case was handled solely by the highway patrol's multidisciplinary
00:55:15
accident investigation team called Mate, which specializes in complex vehicle crashes.
00:55:21
>> The Mate team was from out of town and we wanted outside eyes involved in this.
00:55:28
The Murdall name appears dozens of times in Mate's 2015 case file, which we obtained through a Freedom of
00:55:36
Information request. In his audio notes, Corporal Michael Duncan makes it clear he doesn't think Steven's death is a hit
00:55:44
and run. >> There is no body trauma other than to the head area. Does not appear to be, in
00:55:49
my opinion, struck by a vehicle. >> Another investigator, Todd Proctor, goes further. Typically, you don't see the
00:55:57
highway patrol working a murder, and that's what this is. >> He hints at a conflict of interest for
00:56:02
the local sheriff's department. >> There's a reason why Hampton County Sheriff's Department is not handling
00:56:08
this, and I'll leave it at that. >> In this interview with Proctor, local teen Taylor Dobson shares a detailed
00:56:16
version of that story about several young men in a truck. >> I heard that these two, maybe three
00:56:22
young men were in a vehicle. They were riding down 601, saw the car on the side of the road, I guess, saw the boy
00:56:29
walking. Um, they turned back around, then stuck something out the window. >> He offers a name reluctantly.
00:56:36
>> He goes by Buster Murdoch. >> Dobson says he grew up with Buster. >> Kind of out of character to who I knew.
00:56:43
It was just strictly hearsay from all I know. Proctor reassures him the dolls are
00:56:50
already aware authorities want to speak with Buster. >> They know that he's on our radar. Matter
00:56:55
of fact, I talked to one of their guys yesterday and and told them, you know, I'm I'm going to talk to Buster here
00:57:01
soon, you know, and they said, "Okay, that's fine." >> But according to the case file, a call
00:57:05
to Buster Myrtle in October 2015 was never returned. And in December, following a front page story in the
00:57:13
Hampton County Guardian, mate received a tip called in at the direction of Randy
00:57:19
Myrtle, Buster's uncle. A man named Daryl Williams called a Hampton Police officer to report the tip, which
00:57:25
involved two teens, Shawn Connelly and Patrick Wilson. In a recorded phone call, the officer relays to Corporal
00:57:32
Duncan what Williams told him. >> Daryl called me and he said, "Patrick, come over here to the house." He said
00:57:39
that Shawn Connelly was drunk and hit something. He went back the next day to see what it was he had hit and he seen a
00:57:52
lot of police out there. Patrick was crying telling him and after he got finished telling the story, he walked
00:57:58
outside his house and threw up. >> Did he go into any detail about how it happened?
00:58:03
>> Supposedly, he had fixed his mirror, one of the mirrors up on the truck. The side
00:58:08
mirror story matched Steven's original death certificate. For reasons that are unclear, there is no record of Duncan or
00:58:16
Proctor ever speaking to Connelly or Wilson. Wilson had no comment to 48 hours. Messages to the Hampton County
00:58:23
Sheriff's Office, Williams and Connelly have not been answered. Sandy Smith says
00:58:28
she asked Shan Connelly point blank if he killed Steven. >> And he said, >> he said, "No, ma'am, I did not. I give
00:58:36
you my word. But I promise you I never killed your son. >> Do you believe him? >> Yeah.
00:58:42
>> If he lied to you, if that turns out to be the case, >> it won't be the first time I'm lied to.
00:58:47
But you know, if you did it, you need to pay. >> In September 2016, fed up with what she
00:58:55
calls the lack of an investigation, Sandy began a letterw writing campaign that included the FBI.
00:59:02
>> What did your letter say? I was just letting them know that my son was murdered and there's no progress being
00:59:08
done and I think it had something to do with the Murdoch family and please help.
00:59:14
Just please help me. >> Sandy also told the FBI she believed someone was deliberately trying to
00:59:21
derail the investigation. >> Did you ever get a response from the FBI? >> I did and I had two agents come to my
00:59:27
house. >> She asked them to unlock Steven's phone and they did. Do you know if anyone
00:59:33
actually was able to read Steven's text messages or see where he might have been
00:59:37
based on cell phone evidence? >> What I heard from the FBI agent, there was a a lot of interesting information
00:59:44
in the phone that needed to be looked at. >> But she says that didn't prompt local or
00:59:50
state authorities to pursue the case further. >> There's something in that phone that
00:59:56
nobody wants out there. By late 2016, the investigation into Steven Smith's death went cold. What do
01:00:05
you think it took for Steven's case to finally get the attention it deserves that you wanted?
01:00:11
Somebody else had to die. The murders of Paul and Maggie Murdall in June of 2021 caused a seismic shift
01:00:30
in smalltown Hampton and gave Sandy Smith a lifeline she desperately needed. >> It took this to get Steven's name back
01:00:41
out there so somebody would start paying attention. In a strange twist of fate, while
01:00:46
investigating the murders of Paula Maggie Murdall, Sled announced it had stumbled on a new lead in Steven's death
01:00:53
and would be taking over the case. They did not say what that evidence was. >> It seems like all roads lead to the Murd
01:01:01
family around here. >> Yes. >> Is that coincidence or is there a reason for that?
01:01:08
>> Around here, it's natural. It would be another 2 years while authorities focused on getting a
01:01:14
conviction against Alec Murd. But Sandy now has a high octane legal team in her corner.
01:01:20
>> After 8 years of waiting for your turn, Sandy Smith finally just had enough. >> Ronnie and I are like arsonists. We
01:01:27
started the fire. >> Ronnie Richter and Eric Bland are representing Sandy pro bono. Our sole
01:01:33
goal was to rekindle the interest in Steven's death. >> And they turned up the heat on SLED. In
01:01:41
March of 2023, Sled publicly acknowledged it was treating Steven's case as a homicide. The same week,
01:01:48
Buster Murdall released a statement through his father's attorney, saying, quote, "These baseless rumors of my
01:01:54
involvement with Steven and his death are false. I unequivocally deny any involvement in his death and my heart
01:02:01
goes out to the Smith family. >> Those words are now in cement. I take him at his word that he had nothing at
01:02:07
all to do with Steven's death. >> Rather than old rumors, Bland and Richtor say they're focusing on a new
01:02:16
investigation made possible by $130,000 in GoFundMe donations from Sandy supporters. The resources were made
01:02:24
available for us to do some private investigative work. That's going to start with hiring a pathology team.
01:02:32
>> They were also able to have Steven's body exumed, something Sandy had wanted for years.
01:02:37
>> Our primary function right now is to have a true independent set of eyes look
01:02:40
at it and tell us once and for all what really happened to Steven Smith. >> In April of 2023, Dr. Michelle Dri, a
01:02:47
former investigator and forensic pathologist who's performed more than 3,000 autopsies, oversaw the examination
01:02:55
of Steven's body. >> The injuries can tell us so much about what happened. >> And in this case, they did.
01:03:01
>> They did. >> Dri says the autopsy confirms Steven died from a single blow to his forehead,
01:03:08
severely fracturing his skull. >> That's a big gash. >> That's 7 and 12 in almost. There would
01:03:14
be another gash in this posterior area from hitting the pavement so hard. It literally split his
01:03:23
skull >> and split his skull. >> They were also able to put to rest some rumors, including the one that Steven
01:03:30
had been beaten with a baseball bat. >> It wasn't a baseball bat. >> No, those type of injuries would cause
01:03:36
something that we call pattern injuries, and we don't see that here. This is a linear fracture um as well as this is
01:03:42
here. Just as important is what they found, Dri says, is what they didn't find. >> We didn't find fractures of any part of
01:03:50
the body except for the head. There was a little road rash, which you would expect.
01:03:55
>> Any signs of a struggle? >> No. >> Any signs of a beating? >> No. >> Any injuries below his head other than
01:04:02
the road rash? >> None whatsoever. >> She says that eliminates the possibility Steven was hit by a car head on. Dri
01:04:12
says the findings also refute early theories that Steven's body might have been staged.
01:04:18
>> Were you able to determine whether Steven was struck and fell or he might have been struck and then placed there?
01:04:24
>> We don't believe that he was placed there. We believe that whatever happened happened right there. Dr. Kenny Kinsey
01:04:30
agrees. >> We think he was killed right here. >> Right there. a crime scene expert and
01:04:36
star prosecution witness in the Murd murder trial. Kinsey worked with DRI to analyze Steven's case. He says the
01:04:43
evidence at the scene is clear. >> That's a massive amount of blood. And if he had that kind of injury somewhere
01:04:50
else, it wouldn't be that uniform. >> Due to their sensitive nature, we created versions of the crime scene
01:04:57
photos in which the blood and body are shown as graphics. The quantity of blood, the direction of the flow in the
01:05:05
road, and then the direction of all the the blood on his person led me to the only conclusion.
01:05:13
>> Kinsey is convinced an object attached to a vehicle traveling at high speed caused the single fatal blow to Steven's
01:05:20
head. >> But whatever hit him was fast and it was large. >> So, a hit and run, but an atypical hit
01:05:25
and run. >> Yeah, very atypical. >> A hit and run with no vehicle debris at the scene. It's a conclusion no one was
01:05:32
expecting. >> How confident are you that you know what happened to Steven Smith that night?
01:05:37
>> I'm as close to a degree of scientific certainty as I've ever felt. >> What no one can say with certainty is
01:05:45
whether Steven's death was accidental or not. But still, Richtor points out he was left there to die.
01:05:53
>> Someone left him in that condition in the roadway and that is a very serious felony.
01:05:59
Steven's body was found about three miles from his car. Kinsey tried to retrace his steps.
01:06:05
>> I wanted to walk every possible path that Mr. Smith may have taken. >> Steven's family has always insisted if
01:06:13
Steven had car trouble, he would have felt safer walking through the woods. So, where was Steven's car?
01:06:19
>> Steven's car was located, if you look at this gate here, it was not grown up then. you could access that gate but in
01:06:26
this area really close to the woods. >> But to cut through the woods, Steven would have had to scale a fence that was
01:06:32
8 ft tall. >> And from what I understand from interviewing neighbors, it's been there
01:06:38
for well over a decade. >> Kinsey theorizes Steven was walking along the road trying to flag someone
01:06:45
down for help. >> He is walking this direction in the in the lane facing traffic.
01:06:52
whatever was attached to the vehicle or hanging off of the vehicle. Whenever it struck Stephen, he went down in in this
01:07:00
area somewhat on this line here. The vehicle that struck Steven was coming toward him
01:07:11
just like that vehicle in the photograph. >> Like this? >> Yes. Going that direction. Kinsey says
01:07:17
the evidence suggests the driver saw something in the road and changed lanes. >> And sometime before it struck Steven, I
01:07:25
believe it changed into the oncoming lane. >> That's when he says an object from the
01:07:32
passenger side struck Steven. >> What kind of object could it be? >> It could be anything. It could be a
01:07:38
ladder hanging off the back of a work truck. It could be a extended side mirror, the metal type that you see on
01:07:47
some farm vehicles or some larger vehicles. >> That scenario matches up with the tip
01:07:52
from 2015 involving Patrick Wilson and Shan Connelly, which Kinsey calls plausible.
01:07:58
>> That certainly would be possible. That would be one of the places I would start.
01:08:04
SLED has kept its investigation close to the vest, but Bland and Richtor say a grand jury was impanled and is issuing
01:08:11
subpoenas. They're honing in on specific individuals, and I think there's about five or less that SLED believes has
01:08:19
information regarding Steven's death. >> We don't know who those individuals are.
01:08:25
In an interview on Fox Nation in August of 2023, Buster Mydall again denied the rumors of his involvement. I never had
01:08:33
anything to do with his murder and I never had anything to do with him on a physical level of of any regard.
01:08:40
>> He also provided an alibi. >> The night Steven was killed, I was at our Edestto Beach house
01:08:46
>> with your family. >> With my mom and my brother. >> Sy's team says it's turned over all of
01:08:53
its findings to sled, but Kinsey says it's still going to take someone coming forward.
01:09:00
>> Somebody knows. >> Oh, they know. Yes, ma'am. As a grand jury zeros in on potential
01:09:15
suspects in Steven Smith's death, the legal wrangling hasn't slowed down for Alec Murd.
01:09:21
>> You've got local charges, you got state charges. The legal civil cases are going
01:09:26
to go on for years. >> On November 17th, 2023, >> I am guilty. Yes, sir. >> Murdal agreed to a plea deal
01:09:33
encompassing all of the state financial charges he faced for defrauding and stealing millions from clients and law
01:09:40
partners. He had previously pleaded guilty to 22 federal conspiracy, wire fraud, and moneyaundering charges. Alex
01:09:50
prayed on the vulnerable whom he also thought would never figure out his schemes.
01:09:54
>> Correct. It's people that are at the worst times of their lives where you need a lawyer to be the best for you,
01:10:01
not the worst for you. >> Perhaps none more so than Elena and Hannah Plyer who are now represented by
01:10:08
Blandon Richtor. >> Who are the Plers? They were two young girls from uh Colombia.
01:10:16
>> They were just 12 and eight when they survived a deadly crash due to a faulty
01:10:21
tire. They killed their mother and 14-year-old brother in 2005 and became the youngest of the financial victims to
01:10:28
whom Myrtle admitted he lied and stole from when questioned at his murder trial.
01:10:34
>> What loss did they suffer? Who died? >> Uh, their mother. Their mother did. >> He only mentioned your mom.
01:10:41
>> Yeah, that bothered me because you don't remember that a 14-year-old was killed
01:10:47
in that wreck. Alec got a very good paycheck off of my brother's death. >> Both women are now mothers and Elena is
01:10:55
a detective with the Lexington County Sheriff's Office. >> Since all of this has come out, there's
01:11:01
a lot of pain that's still there. >> Elena was old enough to remember the details of the last road trip she and
01:11:08
her sister would ever take with their mom and brother. >> My brother and I had gotten into an
01:11:13
argument. I wanted to start sitting in the front seat. We fought about it and fought about it and finally mom was
01:11:19
like, "You know what? Justin's going to ride on the way to Columbia and on the way back home, Elena gets to
01:11:27
ride up front." And I was so happy. >> Elena and Hannah, who were still sitting in the back seat, survive the crash.
01:11:34
>> So, you must think about that all the time. >> I do. I actually had a lot of guilt for
01:11:38
several years. That guilt is something she says she's learned to let go as she recounts her
01:11:45
and her little sister's harrowing survival. >> We hadn't been on the road too long.
01:11:50
Hannah was sleeping and I was listening to Usher and I remember mom saying, "La,
01:11:56
you awake?" And so I remember pulling my headphones down. I said, "Yeah, mom." Within seconds, I heard this loud pop.
01:12:03
And then I immediately heard my mom scream. I looked out the window and my usher CD was spinning on a train limb.
01:12:14
>> Their mother Angela and brother Justin died instantly. Elena realized she was
01:12:19
trapped and couldn't move and had to send Hannah for help. >> I said, "I need you to get out of the
01:12:25
car and I need you to go to the top of the hill to the interstate." >> And you're only 12.
01:12:31
>> I'm 12, right? So many things could have went worse. >> 8-year-old Hannah climbed up to the
01:12:37
interstate. >> There was an 18-wheeler and I was able to flag him down and I think by that
01:12:44
point an ambulance had came and they had taken me to the hospital. >> Elena waited alone until a fire rescue
01:12:53
team arrived and cut her out of the wreckage. She watched as they removed her mother and brother. And so I watched
01:13:01
them put them in a black body bag. >> She was then airlifted to a hospital and would need numerous surgeries. What was
01:13:08
the moment like when you were able to see each other again after that? >> I remember it. I remember hugging her
01:13:17
and thanking her for not dying, for not leaving me. And then from there, I was just in the hospital bed with you. You
01:13:24
You couldn't keep us apart. The sisters say they were passed around to live with
01:13:29
family members. >> We didn't have a bedroom. >> We just had each other. >> Just each other. Yeah. We lived at a
01:13:35
little plastic bend. >> When a family friend referred the Pilers to Alec Myrtle. He promised to change
01:13:42
all of that. >> Do you remember the first time you met Alec Myrtle? >> Yeah. I remember when he walked in, he
01:13:48
seemed really arrogant, like a bulldog, just tall, almost intimidating in a sense. He told us, "They took your
01:13:56
family from you and we're going to make this right. They're going to pay." >> To two young girls who had lost
01:14:02
everything, Murd seemed larger than life. >> I always felt at peace when I got to
01:14:08
talk to Alec. People listened to him. You could tell there was a lot of control there.
01:14:13
>> How did he earn your trust? >> Really, with his words, he was a smooth talker and he made you feel special. But
01:14:22
once the case settled, the special treatment stopped. >> He pretty much checked out. He had
01:14:28
explained that the case had settled. We won. Big money. >> Elenia's case settled for $4.7 million.
01:14:35
You know, Hannah's for right at $3 million. Uh that money was then entrusted to Russell Lefit. Lefit was
01:14:42
the CEO of Palmetto State Bank in Hampton and a close friend of Murd who' handpicked Lefit to manage the funds as
01:14:49
conservator until the girls turned 18. >> So these two very wealthy prominent men
01:14:56
basically helped themselves to these kids piggy bank. >> Any money they needed had to be approved
01:15:01
by Lefit and a judge. >> Even if it was a dollar, we had to have a receipt for it. When you and Eric took
01:15:09
on their case, what did you discover? >> Russell was making loans to Alex. Alex would be overdrawn 50,000, $100,000,
01:15:18
$300,000 in his personal account, and he needed money to cover those shorts. >> RTOR says that at Mydall's direction,
01:15:25
Lefit transferred nearly $1.5 million from the Plyers's money to Alec Murdall and himself.
01:15:33
When it came time for these young ladies to turn 18, the money was supposed to be
01:15:37
there. So, Alex had to go out and steal new money from different clients and put
01:15:43
that money back. >> Murdoch was never charged for Hannah and Elena's case, but Lefit was convicted on
01:15:50
federal charges for his role. >> But still, there's that toll of how do you trust going forward? People were put
01:15:59
in a position of trust on their behalfs when they were just children. And then to learn as an adult that the entire
01:16:06
time they saw you as nothing more than a checkbook. >> While the plers can begin to heal, Sandy
01:16:12
Smith still waits for her day of reckoning. >> All this sweeping drama. There's answers
01:16:20
and there's closure for everybody else, but not for Sandy Smith. It's time to put the spotlight on Steven Smith.
01:16:36
Months after his blockbuster trial, >> Alex Murdo, >> verdict, guilty. >> Convicted double murderer, Alec Murdall
01:16:44
and the crime of the century are still Hampton's biggest attractions. >> Almost every day, somebody's coming by
01:16:50
taking a picture of the law firm or riding out the Moselle taking pictures. They just can't get enough.
01:16:57
The Myrtle craze was on full display at an auction for the family's personal items from their Moselle property. The
01:17:05
infamous leather couch set, where Alec testified he took a catnap while his wife and son were murdered, sold for
01:17:12
$30,000. And Maggie's dog, Bubba, who helped prosecutors prove Alec was actually at
01:17:18
the crime scene, has become a local folk hero. If that rambunctious yellow lab hadn't have been doing what labs like to
01:17:26
do, chase birds, we might not have solved this case and we might not have gotten a conviction. Come here. Bubba.
01:17:34
>> Alex voice calling Bubba was caught in the background of phone video Paul took
01:17:38
minutes before he was killed. >> Bubba and the other dogs at the kennels. They were witnesses to a very horrific
01:17:47
event. Bubba now lives a quiet life with the Mydall's housekeeper. Meanwhile, Alec
01:17:53
Murdal is serving two life terms in a maximum security prison. Do you think Alec Murdal still thinks he can try to
01:18:01
play the system? >> 100%. >> Now, Mnall's attorneys are hoping their latest motion will be a get out of jail
01:18:09
free card. >> We're focused on getting him a new trial. In September 2023, Dick Harbutian
01:18:15
and Jim Griffin announced their motion for a new trial based on allegations of jury tampering by the Colatin County
01:18:22
Clerk of Court, Becky Hill. >> What we had filed today supported by sworn testimony of jurors is that the
01:18:30
clerk of court had improper private communications with the jurors. >> The state versus Richard Alexander
01:18:36
Murdoch defended. They argued that Hill violated Murdall's right to a fair trial
01:18:41
when she allegedly told jurors not to be fooled by his testimony and to watch his
01:18:46
body language as Alec was about to take the stand. >> I'm Alec Murdock. >> In a signed affidavit, Hill denies all
01:18:54
of the defense allegations and voluntary statements from a majority of the jury support Hill's account. Rick Duran
01:19:02
Blland say even a new trial can save Alec Murd. >> If the motor convictions overturned then
01:19:10
you have the financial crimes. >> According to the plea deal with prosecutors on the state crimes could be
01:19:17
sentenced to nearly 30 years for those charges alone. >> So yes, there's a theoretical universe
01:19:24
in which Alex Murd could see the sun again, but it's theoretical only. is it's like rearranging the the deck
01:19:31
chairs on the Titanic. It's feudal. >> If you were to write a made for TV southern legal drama, you you couldn't
01:19:42
have done a better job than this. >> Dit writes about it in his book, The Fall of the House of Myrtle, which he
01:19:48
ends with Steven Smith. >> It's kind of interesting and tragic that the oldest story remains unsolved.
01:19:58
solving his murder. I think this will be the end of this sweeping saga. >> As SLED continues its investigation of
01:20:07
the Smith case behind closed doors, what investigators found after the Murd murders remains the subject of intense
01:20:15
speculation. Do you have any idea what the new evidence that may be presented to the
01:20:21
grand jury is? >> No. Uh, I do know that Sled has Steven's phone. I know that they have Steven's
01:20:29
tablet. >> Could Steven's phone reveal the identity of the prominent person with whom he
01:20:35
told Sandy he'd planned to go deep sea fishing? >> That'll be interesting. What sled has
01:20:41
found out and what the grand jury is going to determine whether the person that he was going to go away with deep
01:20:46
sea fishing um had anything to do with his death or has knowledge of his death. How has this fight for justice been? Oh,
01:20:57
>> it has been a long road, but it's worth it. >> Sandy is keeping the faith and keeping
01:21:04
Steven's memory alive. She recently established a college scholarship in his name.
01:21:10
>> We are starting this scholarship fund so other children won't have it as hard as
01:21:16
Steven did. and she's offering a $30,000 reward for information leading to an arrest.
01:21:23
>> And now it's your turn that if you know something that you say something. >> What do you miss most about Steven?
01:21:32
>> Just I miss everything about him. >> What do you think Steven would think of your fight where we are today in his
01:21:40
case? He said, "Oh, mama, you would do that for me." >> Yep. >> Yep. I would over and over.
01:22:27
Hey, hey, hey. Something pretty disturbing happened in Circleville. Starting small and
01:23:01
flourishing over decades. Residents began to receive letters that accused the citizens of being
01:23:12
involved in some pretty terrible things. Embezzlement, domestic violence, affairs, and even murder.
01:23:20
The Circleville letter writer knew everything about everyone and knew everyone's secrets.
01:23:29
>> They were vicious and ugly. somebody with some severe psychological problems. I would hazard
01:23:35
the guess. >> The threatening anonymous letters kept coming, hundreds of them. Most were
01:23:43
postmarked from Columbus, Ohio, about 30 miles north, which is where I grew up and where I was living in March of 1977,
01:23:53
when small town Circleville began to feel under siege. when just a walk to the mailbox could trigger terror.
01:24:01
Especially in the case of one woman who lived here, a school bus driver by the name of Mary Gillespie. Mary Gillespie
01:24:09
goes out to her mailbox. She receives a letter. She opens it. It's an anonymous letter, distinct handwriting,
01:24:18
and it's telling her to end the affair with the superintendent of the school there, Gordon Massie.
01:24:27
Mrs. Gillespie, stay away from Massie. I've been observing your house and I know you have children.
01:24:33
>> It's your daughter's turn to pay for what you've done. I shall come out there
01:24:38
and put a bullet in that little girl's head. These letters were being sent to newspapers, elected officials, private
01:24:50
citizens, >> and they're all saying the same thing that basically Gordon Massie, the
01:24:56
superintendent, he needs to be exposed. He needs to be fired. Her husband, Ron, begins to receive them as well. Mr.
01:25:03
Gillespie, your wife is seeing Gordon Massie. You should catch them together and kill them both. He doesn't deserve
01:25:10
to live. Well, he got letters saying that if he didn't do something about this affair,
01:25:16
his life would be in danger. >> We know what kind of car you drive. We know where your your kids go to school.
01:25:23
>> By August of 1977, everything changes when Ron Gillespie gets a call late one
01:25:29
night. Enraged, he picks up a gun, gets in his truck, and drives off >> and told the daughter that he was going
01:25:37
to confront the letter writer. He was traveling at a high speed, lost control of the truck,
01:25:47
went off the road, hit a tree, and was killed. The letter writer had made threats to Ron Gillespie that he could
01:25:54
end up dead. Then he ended up dead. >> Was Ron Gillespiey's death an accident or was he murdered?
01:26:01
>> Murdered. >> This case has really left its mark. >> Yeah. And it's destroyed a lot of
01:26:07
people. I think there was a big cover up. >> Turned out to be quite a mystery. >> Do you think you know who wrote those
01:26:18
anonymous letters? >> Yes, I do. Circleville, Ohio has the look and feel of a quaint Midwestern town.
01:27:13
>> In many ways, it's sort of an all-American town. Still has a pretty rural character to it, and some families
01:27:21
have been there for decades. Its major attraction, says journalist Martin Yant, is the annual pumpkin show.
01:27:33
Let's give a big hand of love. >> Well, it was a good place to live. Fairly peaceful till all this stuff
01:27:41
started. >> Janet Cassidy is talking about that barrage of anonymous poison pen letters
01:27:49
that began arriving in mailboxes all over Circleville in 1977. Small towns have big secrets buried deep under
01:27:58
those freshly mowed lawns. >> It caught the attention of Marie Mayhew, who researched the story for her
01:28:05
podcast, Whatever Remains. >> This anonymous author was hellbent to expose every little ugly secret in
01:28:12
Circleville. >> At first, the writer seemed fixated on the married school district
01:28:18
superintendent. Gordon Massie was a wellthought of man in Circleville >> and his rumored relationship with a
01:28:27
school bus driver. >> Mary Gillespie was a wife and a mother. They were accusing her of adultery.
01:28:34
>> You've got the superintendent, possibly having an affair with a school bus driver. Wasn't that kind of the talk of
01:28:41
town? >> Yeah, it was definitely. June Whitehead grew up in Pickaway County with her sister Janet.
01:28:49
>> Have you seen Mary's picture? >> She was Miss Jackson. >> She looks really attractive there.
01:28:55
>> Yes, she was. >> Mary married her high school sweetheart, Ron Gillespie. >> And you wouldn't find a better person
01:29:02
than Ronnie Gillespie. >> The couple had two children and settled in Circleville.
01:29:09
I mean, this had to be very awkward for Mary Gillespie, for her children, for Gordon Massie, for his wife, for his
01:29:18
son. It must have been awful. I mean, it was just sort of this all-invasive poison. There was nobody that was off
01:29:26
limits to this letter writer. >> And it wasn't just a campaign of letters. There were phone calls and
01:29:32
offensive signs that began appearing along Mary's bus route. Ron would have to go out and he would
01:29:39
have to find and pick up all the signage about his wife and kids around Circleville.
01:29:44
>> Determined to stop the rider, the Gillespies brought their letters to the sheriff's office.
01:29:50
>> There was an ongoing investigation. They were tapping phones. They were watching
01:29:56
houses. They tried to work with the USPS to check the mail. But the letters continued and small town Circleville was
01:30:04
consumed with speculation. Was the writer male or female? Did the writer live in town?
01:30:13
Then in August 1977, Mary left her husband and children at home and drove to Florida with her sister-in-law.
01:30:21
>> Ron had told her he knew who the letter writer was and he was going to take care
01:30:26
of this problem while they were in Florida. They were in route when they learned that Ron had crashed his truck
01:30:33
into a tree after getting that mysterious phone call. The coroner ruled his death an accident.
01:30:41
But Ron's brother-in-law, Paul Freshau, believed he had been murdered. >> Although a number of people told me that
01:30:48
he was not a heavy drinker, he had almost twice the legal limit of alcohol in his blood. Also suspicious, under
01:30:58
Ron's body, police found a 22 caliber revolver. >> The gun had been fired once. So then the
01:31:06
question was, was he shooting at the letter writer? The sheriff didn't give that any credence at all.
01:31:12
>> But Paul Fresh Hour kept pushing the Pickaway County Sheriff to take a closer
01:31:17
look. Pam Stanton was close to the fresh hours. >> He wanted the truth about Ron's death.
01:31:24
He wanted to know who was writing the letters to. >> The attacks on Mary Gillespie and Gordon
01:31:30
Massie didn't stop. Now letters were also being sent to local businesses, government offices, schools, and people
01:31:39
who lived in the area. >> This person was at that point pretty unbound, not afraid to say anything. And it scared a
01:31:48
lot of people, you know, is he coming after me or she coming after me? Mary had always denied having an affair
01:31:59
with Massie, but after Ron's death, she says they began seeing each other. And that's when the threats against her
01:32:06
became even more vicious. >> Everyone knows what you have done. If you don't believe us, just make them mad
01:32:15
and find out for yourself. Robin Yokum writes mysteries, but back in the early 1980s, he was a crime
01:32:25
reporter for the Columbus Dispatch. >> There were obscenities and and threats to uh do harm to Mrs. Gillespiey's
01:32:33
daughter. It's your daughter's turn to pay for what you've done. On February 7th, 1983, Mary Gillespie
01:32:45
was driving her empty school bus heading to pick up kids. It's 3:30 p.m. She's about to turn left
01:32:53
here on Five Points Pike when she looks over there and sees a handmade sign on a
01:33:00
fence. It talks about her 13-year-old daughter, and it's obscene. So, she pulls the bus over here. But when she
01:33:09
goes over there to try to pull the sign off the fence, she realizes that it's rigged to twine in a box. She says she
01:33:17
takes that box home. She then opens it and gets a shocking surprise. >> It was a gun and it was ready to go off.
01:33:28
When Mary brought the box to the sheriff's office, investigators quickly realized it was a booby trap. Yokum was
01:33:36
in the newsroom when word got out. >> And I remember the excitement from a newspaper perspective. It's a great
01:33:44
story. A woman who had been the target of all these letters finds a a booby trap with
01:33:50
a 25 caliber handgun rigged to it. All reporters would want to cover that story,
01:33:57
>> especially if there was a dramatic twist. >> And when did Paul Fresh Hour become the
01:34:04
suspect? >> Pretty quickly. There's small town intrigue. A seemingly omnipresent unknown villain
01:34:30
extracting revenge on the people of Circleville by uncovering their secrets. A mysterious death and elaborate
01:34:38
attempted murder. To this day, there's a fierce debate about who that villain is or was. So,
01:34:47
we'll take you back through the evidence and the theories, and you could decide.
01:34:54
This sounds like something out of an Agatha Christie novel, doesn't it? >> It does. There's a cast of characters.
01:35:01
The letters would keep coming and then the inevitable attempted murder, but it is very much an Agatha Christie feel to
01:35:07
it. >> And just like one of Christiey's mysteries, the gun found in the booby trap provided the first clue. Firearm
01:35:15
examiners at BCI, Ohio's Bureau of Criminal Investigation, were able to restore the partially filed off serial
01:35:23
number. >> And when they traced the gun, it came to a coworker of Paul's. He said, "Yeah, I
01:35:32
sold that to Paul Freshour." On the surface, says Martin Yan, it was shocking because Paul Freshau and his
01:35:40
wife Karen Sue had been close to Mary Gillespie and her late husband Ron, Karen Sue's brother.
01:35:46
>> It was kind of an extended family that seemed to socialize together. >> But by 1983, when sheriff's
01:35:55
investigators went to talk to Karen Sue, the fresh hours were in the midst of a contentious divorce.
01:36:02
>> Karen Sue gave them quite an earful. She told investigators that Paul had become
01:36:07
infuriated with Mary. >> Karen said that Paul had thought the world of Ron and Mary before Ron died.
01:36:14
But after his death, Paul hated Mary. Hated her over the Massie deal. >> And then Karen Sue told them that her
01:36:22
estranged husband was behind Circleville's anonymous letters. She had found one letter torn up in a
01:36:33
commode and she had found a couple of other letters hidden in the house. >> When investigators went to see Paul
01:36:42
Fresh Hour, Marie Mayhew says he was very cooperative. Did he demand to have a lawyer?
01:36:49
>> No. He answered all of their questions and readily admitted the gun belonged to
01:36:54
him. Well, they asked him how the gun ended up in the booby trap, and he said, "I don't know."
01:37:01
>> Fresh Hour told investigators his gun had been stolen weeks earlier and allowed them to search his house and his
01:37:08
car. He even gave them samples of his handwriting. >> It definitely does seem like he has
01:37:14
absolutely nothing to hide at that point. >> He denied being the letter writer and
01:37:18
said he had nothing to do with the booby trap, but he failed a polygraph. So Paul
01:37:24
Fresher was arrested for the attempted murder of Mary Gillespie. >> Were you surprised when he was charged
01:37:36
with attempted murder? >> Yes. >> Yeah, I was. >> This was the man Pam Stanton called
01:37:43
Uncle Paul and says their families were so close she thought of him as a second father.
01:37:50
>> I mean, was he worried? So his life was on the line. His freedom, yeah, he was
01:37:55
scared anybody would be. >> Fresh hour was never charged with sending any of the threatening harassing
01:38:02
letters. But in Circleville, there was an assumption that the letter writer was finally behind bars.
01:38:11
On October 24th, 1983, Paul Fresh went on trial at the Pickaway County Courthouse in Circleville.
01:38:19
>> It was a big deal. Robin Yokum didn't cover the trial, but he followed all the
01:38:24
news coverage. >> You know, he was the mastermind behind this alleged booby trap, but almost
01:38:31
everything focused on the letters. >> First up was the intended victim, Mary Gillespie. She testified about finding
01:38:39
the booby trap and then over defense objections, she was asked about the anonymous letters she had received.
01:38:49
How damaging was that to Paul Fresh Hour at his trial? >> That was very, very damaging.
01:38:56
>> The defense argued there was no direct threat to Mary's life in the letters, so
01:39:01
they weren't relevant to the case, but the judge allowed in 39 of them. It was a break for the prosecution who claimed
01:39:10
the writing on the booby trap shared similarities to those letters. the letter and the writing that was on the
01:39:18
2x4 was the same block handwriting, sort of the same cadence and the same message
01:39:23
as the anonymous letter writer. >> The state brought in the BCI handwriting analysts who compared the writing on the
01:39:30
booby trap to the letter sent to Mary and then to samples of Paul Freshhower's handwriting. They had handwriting
01:39:38
analyses that indicated that the letters could have been written by Paul Fresh Hour.
01:39:44
>> And a second expert, originally a defense witness, agreed. I mean, that's pretty damaging, isn't it? When a
01:39:52
witness hired by the defense, ends up testifying for the prosecution. >> I can only imagine it was something
01:39:57
you'd want to avoid. It was far more difficult for the prosecution to prove Fresh Hour made the
01:40:05
booby trap. Was Paul Freshau's fingerprints found on the gun or the box that held the gun?
01:40:13
>> No. And they didn't have a whole lot of evidence about the booby trap other than
01:40:18
he admitted that was his gun. >> There was circumstantial evidence. Fresh Hour had taken the day off from work the
01:40:26
same day the booby trap was found. And that box that held the gun, an industrialsized chalk box like this one,
01:40:34
was easily found at Annheiser Bush where Paul worked. >> They had his gun in the booby trap
01:40:42
and they had the chalk box, so they thought they had plenty of evidence, >> but no one saw Fresh Hour near the booby
01:40:50
trap. >> He had a pretty good alibi for most of the day. Paul Fresh Hour didn't take the stand,
01:40:57
but multiple defense witnesses testified to seeing him at home. He was having work done on his house. The reason he
01:41:05
said he took the day off. >> As the trial progressed, I'm thinking a lot of this stuff just doesn't add up.
01:41:13
You know, where are the fingerprints? Where's the physical evidence? >> But it was enough evidence for the
01:41:19
jurors. They found Paul Freshau guilty of attempted murder. How did you hear the verdict?
01:41:39
Even after all this time, it's still hard, isn't it? I got home and everybody was just
01:41:49
a basket case. They were crying. Everybody was upset. He received the maximum sentence, 7 to
01:42:01
25 years in prison. When Paul Fresh was convicted, did everybody in town breathe this sigh of
01:42:11
relief? The letter writer is caught. It's over. >> I think that's that's a fair assessment.
01:42:18
They've linked him to the letters. They linked him to the booby trap. We're going to get this guy out of our
01:42:24
community. Get him in prison. Everything will kind of go back to normal. Except it didn't because the letters never
01:42:32
stopped. Paul was living a a pretty good life. Had never had any problems with the law.
01:42:56
Basically, he lost everything. Lost his home, lost his job, went to prison. It was inconceivable to Paul Freshhower's
01:43:05
family and friends that the man they so admired could be convicted of attempted murder.
01:43:11
>> It's just preposterous. There's no way. >> He wasn't dumb enough to put his own gun
01:43:15
in a booby trap and anybody could have gotten that gun. >> And even today, former investigative
01:43:23
journalists Martin Yant and Robin Yokum question whether Fresh Hour's verdict was fair. Can I tell you a I'm 100% sure
01:43:33
that he didn't do it? No, I can't. But I can tell you had I been sitting on that
01:43:37
jury, I I would have never sent a guy to prison based on that flimsy evidence. >> The more I got involved in the case, the
01:43:44
more I saw, there were just too many question marks. >> At trial, the prosecution had branded
01:43:50
Paul Freshau, the Circleville letter writer. But once he was locked up, how did menacing anonymous letters keep
01:43:58
coming? >> I'm not talking about one or two letters. There were hundreds of letters
01:44:02
that went out after he was in prison. >> The Pickaway County Sheriff couldn't say
01:44:08
how Fresh Hour was able to write and send those letters, but he was certain Paul was responsible. The prison warden
01:44:17
disagreed. >> His warden insisted that would be impossible. They kept him in isolation.
01:44:23
They did not allow him to have pens or paper. >> He was strip searched. All his incoming
01:44:28
and outgoing mail was inspected. There is absolutely positively no way Paul Freshau was writing those letters and
01:44:36
smuggling him out from prison. No way. >> After Yokum and Yant wrote articles about Paul Fresh, they also received
01:44:43
letters. And inexplicably, so did Paul Fresh. behind bars. The >> letter writer bragged about setting him
01:44:51
up. He said, "When we set him up, we set him up." Good. >> And who did Paul think had set him up?
01:44:57
>> Karen Sue. >> His ex-wife. >> His ex-wife. >> Paul Freshour's lawyer raised that very
01:45:03
possibility during his closing argument. Who hated Paul enough to try to get him
01:45:09
into trouble? If you read the divorce decree, who stands to profit financially if Paul is convicted goes to prison?
01:45:18
Pam Stanton says that during that divorce battle, Karen Sue lost her home, custody of their daughters, and was
01:45:26
living in a trailer on Mary Gillespiey's property. If Uncle Paul's out of the picture, she got it off.
01:45:33
>> And Karen Sue was one of the first to link Paul to the anonymous letters. Remember, she told investigators that
01:45:41
she found some at their home, including that one in the commode. >> Karen tried to piece it back together
01:45:48
when Paul was not at home and said she could make the name of Gillespie out on the letter.
01:45:54
>> Could she show them these letters? >> No. She didn't keep the letters. >> Does that make sense?
01:46:00
>> Not to me. Why wouldn't she run off right away to the sheriff's office and say, "Look, this is from my husband.
01:46:08
He's the letter writer. She didn't do any of that until after the booby trap was found.
01:46:13
>> Do you believe that Paul Freshhower did set up the booby trap and tried to kill
01:46:19
Mary Gillespie? >> Nope, I don't. I think somebody stole his gun to set him up and it worked.
01:46:29
In the early 1990s, when Martin began investigating Fresh Hour's case, he discovered evidence in police reports of
01:46:37
an alternate suspect. >> There was another bus driver who saw what I think is very significant. It was
01:46:45
something that never came up at trial and it points in a whole different direction.
01:46:50
>> Investigators never followed up, but Yant did. The female bus driver told him that 20
01:46:58
minutes before Mary found that booby trap, she had driven by the same spot. >> She said she saw a man standing beside
01:47:09
an elamino >> that looked like this one, >> but the man turned away from her and
01:47:16
acted like he was going to the bathroom. So, she didn't get a good look at him. >> The description didn't seem to match
01:47:22
Paul Fresh Hour. She said he was a large man with sandy hair and Paul was not large and he had very dark hair.
01:47:31
>> And wasn't Karen Sue at that point dating a man who was large with sandy hair?
01:47:38
>> Yes. >> And what about the El Camino? >> There's no evidence that any inquiries
01:47:45
were made about who might have an El Camino. Didn't in fact Karen Sue's brother have an El Camino?
01:47:54
>> That's what I've been told. >> But Marie Mayhew believes trying to connect the booby trap to Karen Sue is
01:48:01
tenuous at best. >> There's someone who looked like the man she was dating driving a car that looked
01:48:09
like it could have been her brothers. None of that points back to Karen Sue. I don't believe that she framed her
01:48:16
husband for this or was responsible for it. >> 10 years after Paul Fresh Hour went to
01:48:21
prison, the intrigue surrounding the case caught the attention of the television series Unsolved Mysteries.
01:48:29
But in December 1993, before filming even began, the show received a postcard with an ominous
01:48:37
threat. >> Forget Circleville, Ohio. If you come to Ohio, you elikos will pay. The
01:48:43
Circleville writer. >> It didn't deter the show from going to Circleville. Even Paul Freshour, who had
01:48:50
just been released on parole, agreed to talk. >> I'd really like to see someone really
01:48:56
look at this case on the letters, reopen the letter part of it, and get in, find
01:49:00
out who wrote the letters. Pam Stanton says Karen Sue was not happy that Unsolved Mysteries was in town or that
01:49:09
Pam agreed to be interviewed. I got a phone call and her telling me it would be in my best interest not to go.
01:49:16
>> Karen Sue didn't participate in the program, but according to Pam, she kept track of everyone who did. She sat in a
01:49:24
car on the other side of the the intersection and took pictures of everybody going in and out for the
01:49:31
interviews. If true, Marie Mayhew says that doesn't prove anything. What's more, Karen Sue has never been
01:49:40
considered a suspect by police. >> I think she's a very convenient villain. >> We reached out to her, but she did not
01:49:48
respond to our request for an interview. There are so many twists and turns in this case. All of a sudden, something
01:49:55
will surface, makes you rethink what you were thinking. >> Martin Yant is right. And there's
01:50:02
another twist to come. >> After Paul Fresh Hour went to prison, how do you think the letters continued?
01:50:20
It took nearly 20 years, but in 1994, the Circleville letters abruptly stopped. When Paul Fresh was released from
01:50:32
prison, did people when he got out still think he was the letter writer? >> Yeah, there. Yeah.
01:50:41
>> He was very hurt and he was hurt with what it did to his family. A very univil
01:50:47
war had been raging for years between Paul Freshhower and his ex-wife Karen Sue. Even their two daughters were
01:50:55
divided over their dad. And caught in the middle was their son Mark. >> He was so loyal to his mom, but he loved
01:51:03
his dad, too. But with Sue, you were going to be her son or his son. Pam Stanton says Mark chose his mom and
01:51:12
never once visited his father in prison. >> He wouldn't tell me why. He just said he
01:51:18
couldn't. >> It was Paul Fresh Hour's gun discovered in the booby trap that helped land him
01:51:25
behind bars. >> He did tell some people that the gun had been stolen. >> According to Martin Yant, Fresh Hour
01:51:32
strongly suspected that the thief was his own son. And I did interview one man that said he
01:51:41
specifically told him that he thought it was Mark the son. >> And this was before there was any talk
01:51:49
of a booby trap. >> Before the booby trap. >> Fresh hour kept his suspicions about his
01:51:55
son to himself, says Yant. >> Family loyalty meant more to him even though his son had totally rejected him.
01:52:04
>> Why didn't he say more? Why didn't he point the finger at his son? >> Paul get his son in trouble? Oh, no.
01:52:12
Uncle Paul never done that. >> But he knew he would he could go to prison. >> I don't care. Uncle Paul would have died
01:52:17
before he'd have seen Mark go to jail. All this destroyed Mark. The divorce, the letters, it all destroyed him in a
01:52:27
way that could never be fixed. Just before sunrise on September 11th, 2002 in Portsouth, Ohio, a man's body
01:52:39
was found floating in the Sciota River. It was 39year-old Mark Freshhower he had
01:52:48
shot himself. His mother, Karen Sue, later told police her son had suffered for years from
01:52:55
depression. And I firmly believe when Mark took his life, he could not deal with the guilt
01:53:03
any longer. >> If Paul Freshhower actually had nothing to do with the booby trap,
01:53:12
is it also possible he had nothing to do with the letters? >> As he told me, I didn't write the
01:53:18
letters. I didn't do this. Even after he got out of prison, he approached the FBI and asked them to
01:53:26
investigate the case. >> The FBI never responded, said Jeant. But today, nearly three decades later, one
01:53:34
of its former star profilers agreed to examine the Circleville letters for 48 hours. Mary Aleno Tulle has explored
01:53:43
some of the darkest criminal minds. From the Green River killer, >> sir, you >> to the uniomber. Whoever the writer is,
01:53:54
they're flying under the radar screen, coming across as very normal, and people would not suspect them.
01:54:01
Who was the Circleville writer, or were there multiple writers? Ul believes one solitary author churned out every
01:54:11
letter. When you have one person and one person only who has that secret, that person can take the secret to the grave.
01:54:19
Number one, do you think it's male or female? Can you tell? >> And I knew that would be one of your
01:54:25
first questions. When it comes to a letter writer, gender is very difficult to discern.
01:54:30
>> That's because the writer was clever, consistently deceptive, and manipulative, says Oul.
01:54:37
>> You see the manipulation continue throughout these letters. She went all the way back to the writer's first
01:54:43
letters in 1977, hunting for hints about gender and found some. The letter writer kept referring
01:54:51
to I'm the boyfriend of a woman. They wanted to make you believe I'm not a woman, I'm a man.
01:55:02
And seeing how they were trying to hide who they were makes me think there could
01:55:06
be a good possibility it's a female. Altogether, Otul inspected 98 letters, finding the word choices and the grammar
01:55:18
revealing. How educated is this writer? Can you tell? >> I would say this is not a highly
01:55:25
educated person because of the quality of the sentences and how they were put together.
01:55:33
Significant, says Oul, considering that Paul Freshhower had a job as a manager at Annheiser Bush and a master's degree.
01:55:42
She says there were other identifying clues from the anonymous writer. And as you read these letters, you can see the
01:55:49
letter writer is really having a good time. >> What does that say about that person?
01:55:55
The letter writer is pretty callous and this person would have to know I'm hurting people and that's okay with me.
01:56:06
>> A sign the writer might have been suffering from a personality disorder says Oul meaning that he or she knew the
01:56:14
difference between right and wrong but simply chose wrong. So that would suggest to me that in their regular
01:56:23
everyday life they sought ways to be a bully, to be intimidating. >> If that's the case, Pam Stanton says
01:56:33
that does not sound like her uncle Paul. Did he have a like a dark side to him or
01:56:39
anything? >> Never. Uncle Paul was never bitter, never angry. >> Do you think the letter writer was Paul
01:56:47
Fresh Hour? Right now, I have my doubts. Sitting here today, I'd say I can't rule
01:56:52
them out. But I'm looking at other reasons that tell me it it might in fact be somebody different.
01:57:00
>> And Oul does not believe the secretive writer would risk exposure by setting a
01:57:06
booby trap in a public place. >> That suggests to me that may have been done by somebody else who took advantage
01:57:14
of this situation. The mysteries seem to only deepen, but one expert is convinced she does know
01:57:23
the identity of the Circleville rider. >> 100% sure. >> Could there have been copycat letter
01:57:35
writers? See the letters for yourself on Facebook at 48 hours. When the 1980 Robert Breford prison
01:57:56
drama Brewbaker needed extras in the Columbus area, Paul Fresh Hour channeled his experience as a former prison guard
01:58:04
to play one on the big screen. Little did he know he'd eventually serve a decade for attempted murder. And
01:58:14
although never charged with terrorizing Circleville with the letters, he had to live with people believing he was the
01:58:21
writer, but not sisters Janet Cassidy and June Whitehead. What is one thing that you really want to see corrected?
01:58:30
>> I don't think Paul is guilty. I think he served those 10 years in prison. And I
01:58:35
don't think he was guilty of the attempted murder and I don't really think he was the letter writer.
01:58:42
>> And with former FBI profiler Mary Ellen Tulle believing the writer could be someone other than Paul Freshhower, it
01:58:50
calls into question the testimony of those two handwriting experts at his trial, linking him to the letters.
01:58:59
So 48 hours turned to forensic document expert Beverly East looking for her independent analysis.
01:59:07
>> I don't want to hear the story cuz the documents tell me the story. >> That story says East begins by
01:59:13
identifying distinct writing patterns in Paul Freshour's known writing. In this case, letters he wrote to a friend.
01:59:22
>> The G in Grimmer is a very unusual dream. Looks like a six, a number six. And that's unusual.
01:59:29
>> That's very unusual. >> She then studied a selection of 49 of the anonymous letters spanning from when
01:59:36
they first started in 1977 through the 1990s and found that unusual G shaped like a number six in several of
01:59:47
the Circleville letters, including one sent while Paul was in prison. So, Gillespie, Gillespie, getting
01:59:55
Gillespie and Gordon. You've got that number six. >> E says, numbers can tell a story of
02:00:02
their own. >> Numbers don't lie. Numbers don't lie. >> Pointing to this zip code written by
02:00:08
Paul. There's this ambiguous number three that might also be a two. It's like he's not sure if it's 42112
02:00:18
or 43113 in the anonymous letters on the zip code. I found the same mistake. >> While E admits that there are writing
02:00:29
patterns in the anonymous letters that don't look like Paul's. After showing us almost 100 examples of
02:00:37
his distinct quirks that she was able to identify, she's convinced one person was
02:00:44
responsible. >> I would go into court and swear on the Bible on the evidence that I found.
02:00:51
>> And when you say you'd swear on the Bible, what would you say? >> I would say one person wrote all of
02:00:57
these and the one person is this person, >> Paul Fcher. >> Paul Fresher. And if you saw that a document examiner
02:01:07
today thought in fact he did write those letters, would that change your mind? >> No.
02:01:14
>> And there is historical basis for skepticism. >> You know that some document examiners
02:01:22
have been wrong in the past. >> I cannot speak for others. There are always going to be times where people
02:01:29
are inaccurate and it's not because the science is not accurate. It's because that particular examiner has not done
02:01:35
due diligence to arrive at the opinion that they should do. You can't be wrong. You cuz somebody's life
02:01:45
and livelihood is at the end of your opinion. So I am not wrong. While studying the thousands of pages in
02:01:54
the case file, Marie Mayhew made a discovery that supports E's findings. Investigators have found Paul Fresh's
02:02:03
fingerprints on about a dozen letters postmarked while he was incarcerated. Those fingerprints are there and they're
02:02:12
his. >> Do you think that Paul Fresh is the Circleville letter writer? >> Yes, I honestly do.
02:02:21
Former FBI profiler Mary Elano Tulle says she cannot explain those letters, but she also cannot ignore that during
02:02:31
Fresh's decade in prison, the phantom writer mailed hundreds of letters. If a crime continues on and you have someone
02:02:40
in custody for a long period of time, you have to say somebody else is sending these letters. They're not happening by
02:02:47
magic. Somebody else is writing the letters. If in fact Paul Fresh Hour was the letter writer, is it possible that
02:02:55
he mass- prodduced letters, went to prison, and then had somebody else send them while he was in?
02:03:03
Anything is possible. That would have to be investigated and ruled out. >> Paul Fresh Hour died June 28th, 2012 at
02:03:13
age 70. Still fighting to prove his innocence. Instead, what's left behind is an unfinished portrait. Was Paul
02:03:23
Fresh Hour the successful, loving family man he appeared to be or a cruel, even dangerous criminal mastermind?
02:03:34
Whatever your conclusion, Paul Freshhower predicted when interviewed by writer Robin Yokum 35 years ago that his
02:03:43
notoriety as the Circleville letter writer would long outlive him. >> When I'm dead and in my grave, people
02:03:51
are going to believe I'm sending those letters. Unfortunately, Paul died and we'll never
02:03:59
know. We'll never know. A modern-day Indiana Jones hid a treasure chest and left clues.
02:04:19
>> If you've been brave, I give you title to the gold. >> But was the cost of the quest too high?
02:04:24
>> This treasure hunt did claim at least five lives? If >> he could have stopped this madness, it
02:04:28
wasn't worth it. >> 48 Hours. Next on CBS, streaming on Paramount Plus.