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Real people, real crimes, real life drama. [music] [music] >> You fell in love with a guitar playing
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gentle soul. [music] what I thought was, "Yeah, Jim was intelligent and he could
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provoke my thoughts and [music] and make me think beyond superficial things." Jim Huden and her were a whirlwind for
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sure. He was very [music] charismatic and she was very charismatic and I think the two of them together were everything
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she probably wanted at the time. I've known Peggy Sue for 15, 20 years. She was my best friend, my confidant. She
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was sexy. She was stunning [music] and was a beauty queen. >> Miz Washington Peggy Thomas.
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>> Jim led two lives. I only knew of the one he led with me. [music] >> I fell in love with the wrong man.
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It's dark, secluded, deadend road, not a lot of traffic. It's a good spot for a murder. My name
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is Mark Plumbumber, the lead investigator in the Russell Douglas homicide investigation.
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The car was in a dark driveway, door open. Russell [music] was inside the vehicle. Jim Huden is the one that met
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him and was able to put a gun right between his eyes and shoot him once in the head.
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>> I could not believe that someone I loved and allowed into my house [music] could
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kill someone. >> I'm convinced she is involved. I believe that her and Jim were on this
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[music] fairy tale roller coaster romance and it was all drinking and drugs and alcohol and I think that they
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thought that they were going to get something. I have no reason to want anybody dead.
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>> I believe she knows a lot more than she has told us. >> I am telling the truth. I have no reason
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to lie. [music] >> It is all so bizarre. It's something that you see in the movies, something
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that some writer dreamt up. >> There's nothing about this other than just a cold blooded [music] killing.
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>> Believe none of what you hear and half of what you see. [music] I'm Peter Vans. Tonight on 48 hours
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dangerous beauty. [music] This is Whidby Island where I grew up from birth until I was 8 years old. Go
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get it. The hard memories outweigh the good memories because I'm accused of a crime I didn't commit.
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Though she didn't pull the trigger, investigators are convinced Peggy Sue Thomas helped set the stage for Russell
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Douglas's murder on the island she knew so well. >> How does a former beauty queen end up at
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the heart of a murder case? >> I don't even know how to answer. I don't know how I ended up here.
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But before she was a murder suspect, 48-year-old Peggy Sue Thomas had already lived a full life. Next, we welcome
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[music] Peggy Thomas. >> Sure, she's a former beauty queen, but Peggy wasn't born with a pageant sash
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across her chest. >> I'm all about proving myself in a man's world. >> Peggy was a trailblazer. In the Navy, a
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very differentl looking Peggy served as an aircraft mechanic during Operation Desert Storm.
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>> Do you see yourself as a patriot? >> I'm very patriotic. Yes. >> Along the way, Peggy married and
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divorced three times, raising two beautiful daughters, Taylor and Mariah. >> My kids are my proudest accomplishment.
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But in the late 90s with her second marriage on the rocks, Peggy physically transformed herself from this
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to this. >> It was amazing. She started working out and the weight just fell off.
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>> Vicky Boyer was once Peggy's good friend. >> To me, I was like, "You go, girl." And
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then someone had approached her about maybe being Mrs. Washington. >> And I was down and a little heartbroken.
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and she said, "Do something crazy." So, I did. >> Contestant number two, Peggy Thomas.
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>> I ended up winning. >> They have chosen as Mrs. Washington International Pageant Physical Fitness
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Award winner, Peggy Thomas. [music] >> I'd rather wear jeans and boots and jump on a Harley than be a beauty queen.
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It's kind of nice to look back when times were more normal. >> In her home, however, Peggy's pageant
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memorabilia holds a special place of honor. >> I think it meant everything to her.
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Everything she needed came from that pageant. >> By 2003, Peggy Sue was living in Las
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Vegas [music] where she worked as a glamorous limousine driver to High Rollers. I
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spoiled my clients and my tips were often in the thousands for one night. It was probably my all-time favorite job
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ever. >> To understand how this beauty queen made yet another transformation to murder suspect, you have to go back
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to a cold, dark night on Woodby Island [music] in December 2003. >> Tonight, Island County detectives have a
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murder mystery on their hands. They're looking for the person or persons responsible for the shooting death of
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32-year-old Russell Douglas. >> We're in front of the the driveway where Russell Douglas was discovered about 30
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yards in as >> right down here. >> Right. >> Detective Mark Plumbberg of the Island
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County Sheriff's Department was called to the scene that night. >> It was a massively traumatic wound.
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>> Russell was the aranged husband of Brena Douglas, one of Peggy Sue Thomas's good
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friends. After we had confirmed the identity of the man in the vehicle as being Russell Douglas, we decided to go
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and speak with the wife, Brena Douglas. >> It was after 1000 p.m. pitch black when
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Plumbg and a colleague came calling. >> Came out and crossed her arms and leaned
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against the doorframe and said, "May I help you?" >> She didn't say, "What's happened? Why
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are you here? It's >> It was suspicious behavior, especially after they told Brena that her husband
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had been murdered. >> Almost no reaction. I would expect at least a slew of questions. Who, what,
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when, where, why, and how. >> And did Brena ask those questions? >> Not one. >> And Brena had even badmouththed her dead
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husband. >> She mentioned that he had had some affairs. She mentioned that he could be
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uh emotionally abusive. She alluded to some physical abuse. >> Brena said their marriage was in
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trouble. They had separated, but Russ was staying with her and their two children over Christmas.
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>> We know from experience that the spouse in a murder is often uh the perpetrator.
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>> Island County prosecutor Greg Banks. >> There was no one else that the police
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could find that had a reason uh to murder Russ. Uh and Brena was the prime suspect. Just weeks into the
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investigation, cops discovered a possible motive. Money. Brena, who owned a hair salon, was in debt. And with
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Russell's death, she would receive a six figure payout. >> There were at least two life insurance
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policies. And that money, 400,000, we've heard 500. That would have cleaned the decks for Brena.
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>> You would think so. Yeah. >> Brena was not arrested. Investigators couldn't link her to the
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shooting. Detective Plumbberg then checked Russell's phone records and discovered
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calls from a Las Vegas number. They came from Peggy Sue Thomas. She had called Russ several times in the days leading
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up to his murder. >> Those phone calls were on the 23rd of December in which we were playing phone
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tag. Peggy explained to cops she was back on Woodby Island for the holidays. She was calling Russ to give him a
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Christmas present for her friend Brena. >> She was very open, answered all my questions. Nothing about her reaction
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made me second guess anything. >> For the next 7 months, the case consumed Detective Plumbberg.
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>> Not one person could tell me a bad thing about Russell Douglas. Certainly not
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anything that would make me think that's why somebody wanted him dead. >> But a mysterious caller was about to
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unlock all the secrets of this murder. A world away from Woodby Island, Washington, [music] it's happy hour in a
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small town on the west coast of Florida. Someone on this stage is Detective Mark
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Plumbberg's mysterious caller. When the informant called, he told us that he played in a band called Buck Naked and
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the Exhibitionist. >> After googling the band's name, Detective Plumbg zeroed in on this man,
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the bass player. >> His name was Bill Hill. lived in Florida in a town called Panagorta.
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>> Hill said a band member, the lead guitarist Jim Huden, had confided in him during a late night drive to a gig just
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one month after the murder of Russell Douglas. >> He needed to tell me something. [snorts]
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I said, "Okay." I didn't know if he was going to tell me he was gay or something.
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>> Instead, Jim Huden told Bill he'd been abused by his stepfather as a child. >> I could sense that it was something that
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was really deep. What Hudin said next was bizarre. That he wanted to seek revenge for his
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stepfather's abuse by killing another abuser. >> He says, "So I started looking for
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somebody that met that mo." >> Jim Huden thought he'd found that abuser, Hill said in Russell Douglas.
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>> Says, "I shot him." I said, "What?" He says, "Yeah, got a gun and shot him in the head."
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>> Hill agonized over that secret, [music] waiting 6 months before he made the call
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to turn in his good friend, Jim Huden. >> Jim Huden, what do you know about this
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guy? >> We knew nothing. >> Hill said that Hudin began naming his accompllices. the first, his own
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girlfriend, Peggy Sue Thomas. It was a huge break in the case. >> Peggy Thomas, the woman I had spoken to,
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works in Las Vegas as a limousine driver. And I said, "Well, so far I can confirm his story. Let's go from here."
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>> Hill then revealed the name of the second accomplice, Brena Douglas, the victim's wife. Bill Hill felt that the
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widow had knowledge, [music] though not necessarily any active part. >> Meanwhile, Plumberg was learning more
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about the relationship between Jim and Peggy. They'd had a long history together, both growing up on Whidby
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Island. >> Had a childhood crush on him. >> But in the early 2000s, Peggy had moved
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on, eventually settling in Las Vegas. Jim and Peggy lived separate lives until June of 2002 when she reconnected with
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Jim at a funeral [music] on Woodby Island. >> Jim and I spoke connected on this level
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of losing someone we both loved. >> Things got hot and heavy right away. I had really strong feelings for her.
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>> But there was a little problem. Jim Huden was married and living in Puna Gorda, Florida with his wife, Jean. At
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the time this was going on. Did you have any idea? >> Not at the beginning. I was so in love
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with him and and so clueless. >> The man she loved was a successful software developer. Jim had even sold a
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program to Microsoft. When he sold this to Microsoft, he made several million dollars.
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>> Uh yes, or close to a million, but he did very well for himself. While Jean ran their business, Jim focused more on
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his band. >> You're married to a rock star now. >> Yes. Or a wannabe rock star. >> But Jean says she started to notice a
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troubling change in her husband after that funeral. >> He was just never the same. He started
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to get very depressed and dark and started drinking heavily and doing drugs and it just wasn't Jim anymore. But Jim
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was finding comfort in his longdistance relationship with Peggy. >> Were you in love with Jim?
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>> I was. >> What'd you love about him? >> His mind, believe it or not. So that's
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when the the double life began. >> Las Vegas became Jim Hudin's home away from home. He'd lied to Jean, telling
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her he was coming here looking for gigs when he was really meeting Peggy. The beauty queen was now making a good
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living driving that limo. >> You're having an affair with a married man? >> Yeah.
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>> Are you a bit of a fem fatal? >> No. >> Are you troubled, Peggy? >> Far from it. Actually,
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>> among the friends who visited Peggy and Jim in Las Vegas, Brena Douglas, who partied with them just 3 months before
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her husband was murdered on Woodby Island. Did Brena ever say to you, you know, I
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wish he was dead? >> Not. No, not that. >> You paused, though. Did she say something close to that?
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>> At one time, she did say something. She's worth more to me dead than alive. >> That's a bit ominous.
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>> It was Brena spoke, I guess, to a lot of people about hers and Russ's marriage.
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>> As Peggy and Jim's fling progressed, she began flying to Florida. Reading Jim's
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emails, Jean discovered the affair and confronted him. Jim swore it was all over. Then in April 2003,
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there was a knock at Jean's front door. >> I opened the door and there's Peggy on
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my doorstep. >> You, the mistress, wants to get together with the wife to confront the husband.
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>> Yeah. Cuz he was lying to both of us and we were both believing him. >> What'd he say?
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>> Said he loved two women. I told him to make a choice. I was like, "You need to
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decide who you want to be with." He said he wanted to be with me. And >> And how did Peggy react?
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>> Oh, she was furious. >> But Peggy's anger didn't last long. The two lovers couldn't stay away from each
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other. And in December 2003, Jim told his wife he was going to spend the holidays with his family back on Woodby
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Island. But it was just another chance for a romantic rendevous with Peggy. I don't think of myself as a stupid
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person, but when it came to Jim Huden, I was a complete [ __ ] >> On the morning of December 26th, the day
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Russell Douglas was murdered, Peggy and Jim were at a house on Woodby Island. >> He said he wanted to go out and get some
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cigarettes. >> What time of day was this? >> Late morning, between 10 and 11, >> just around the time investigators
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believe Russell Douglas was murdered. Tell me about the gym that comes back into the house. What do you see?
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>> The gym I always saw. >> Did he have a handgun with it? >> I did not see again.
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>> No tears, no strange behavior, no sweat coming out of his forehead. >> Not that Not that I remember. No.
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>> And you're telling me the truth, right? >> I'm absolutely telling you the truth.
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>> But Plumberg had an entirely different take. You believe in one way or another
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Peggy Sut Thomas was involved in this plan to murder Russell Douglas? >> Absolutely.
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>> His theory, [music] Peggy lured Russell to that secluded area on Woodby Island to exchange a gift
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for Brena. It [music] was here that Jim Huden lay in wait with a gun. >> Did you encourage Jim to murder Russ?
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>> Absolutely not. >> Did you Did you tell him, look, he's he's a child abuser? >> No. She did not participate in any way,
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conspire to kill him. >> I swear on the love for my children. I swear on my life.
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By August 4th, 2004, Detective Mark Plumbberg had traveled to Puna Gorda, Florida to confront the man he believed
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murdered Russell Douglas. >> I looked him in the face and I said, "Mr. Huden, I know you're the man that
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pulled the trigger and killed Russell Douglas." Later that afternoon, Jim agreed to be
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questioned at the local police department where he denied shooting Russell. >> I'm a son of a [ __ ] but I I'm no
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killer, but I'm a son of a [ __ ] This is quite a frightening experience. >> What is it that you're scared of?
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>> That you guys are you're here. At the same time, cops had just raided Peggy Sue Thomas' home in Las Vegas.
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>> I had at least three police officers with guns to my head, telling me to freeze, freeze, freeze,
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and they take my car keys and put me in handcuffs, shove me in a dark laundry room. Peggy says her house was ransacked
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with police taking computers, photographs, beauty pageant videos, but leaving her Miz Washington sash behind.
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They then proceeded to grill her about the death of Russell Douglas. >> Detective Wallace said, "If you don't
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start confessing now, we'll make sure that you get the death penalty and your kids are going to watch
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you die." How did it come that your lover Jim Hudin shot Russ Douglas in the head unless you
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put him up to it? Well, I thought he didn't know him. I don't believe I could have said or did say anything
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to him to make him go psycho like he did. >> Investigators had a strong circumstantial case against Peggy and
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Jim. Remember those insurance policies? >> I believe there is over 500,000 in insurance premiums.
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>> Jim told Bill Hill how the money would be divided. >> Peggy was supposed to get a certain
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amount and Jim was supposed to get 50,000 for pulling the trigger. >> Absolutely not true. Money is not that
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important to me. >> Did Brena, Russell Douglas's wife, did she know that her husband was about to
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be assassinated? According to Jim, the answer would be yes. >> You know what you've told Bill? He's
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your best friend in the whole world who you told that you killed this guy on Whey Island.
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That's not true. >> Detective Plumbberg presses Jim to see if he'll now implicate Peggy Sue Thomas
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or the victim's wife, Brena Douglas. >> I think the plot for this didn't come from you. I don't think the scheme for
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this came from you. Investigators have Jim right where they want him, but he shuts down.
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>> You got played, Jim. >> That's fine. Um, it's attorney time. >> With no hard evidence against them, both
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Jim and Peggy were free to go. >> At that point, they had nothing to hold him on. They had no warrant, no
00:21:52
indictment. So, they brought him home. Jim had told his wife [music] everything about the murder, including that Peggy
00:21:59
and Brena were involved, but Jean refused to betray the man she loved. >> I thought maybe some warped way that
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this would bring us closer together, you know, if we shared this horrible secret
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that Brena and Peggy and he had planned to kill Russell Douglas. Jean says after his interrogation, Jim
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became frantic. >> At that point, he is just tripping out because he knows it's only a matter of
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time. >> Also tripping out was Bill Hill, who couldn't believe investigators had told
00:22:34
Jim that he was the informant. >> Felt uh totally uh afraid. I slept on the couch
00:22:44
with 357 underneathneath my pillow. In an effort to generate new leads in the case, Island County investigators
00:22:54
went to the media. >> Eight months of investigation have now led officials to two persons of interest
00:23:00
>> and announced that Jim Huden and Peggy Sue Thomas were their prime suspects. They were hoping a tip might lead them
00:23:09
to the gun used to murder Russell Douglas. I assumed the murder weapon would be at the bottom of Puget Sound
00:23:16
and we would never see it again. >> But luck was on Plumberg's side when he received an unbelievable tip.
00:23:24
>> We got a phone call from an investigator in New Mexico who said he had talked to
00:23:30
someone who thinks they might have the murder weapon in the Russell Douglas homicide.
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>> It was this 380 Bersa. A friend of Jim Hudins told police Jim gave it to him at
00:23:42
Peggy's house in Vegas. >> And I took it immediately to our state laboratory who was within hours able to
00:23:49
confirm this fired that shell casing and it fired the bullet that we pulled from
00:23:54
Russell's head. It was almost too good to be true. >> With this new evidence, Island County
00:24:00
investigators flew to Vegas. >> Could you say your name, please? >> Peggy Thomas. where Peggy agreed to
00:24:06
answer their new questions. >> They showed me a picture of a gun and asked if I'd ever seen it.
00:24:13
>> So, prior to February, you never saw a Jim in possession of a gun like that? >> No.
00:24:19
>> And I said, "No." He said, "Well, it's the murder weapon. We've matched it with
00:24:24
the ballistics." >> After the interview, Peggy called Jim to confront him. >> And I said, "The police told me they
00:24:31
have a murder weapon. What's going on?" And he said, "I did it. I killed Russ." And he said, "I'm sorry I got you
00:24:40
involved. Just know that I love you and you'll never see me again." And he hung up the
00:24:45
phone. >> Peggy claims she was in shock from Jim's confession. >> I broke. I broke.
00:24:54
I could not believe [sighs] that someone I loved and allowed into my house could kill someone. I was
00:25:03
hysterical [music] that day. >> Jean Huden says Jim became unstable, threatening to commit suicide, but she
00:25:12
had a better idea. >> I was like, "Run, do something, you know, give a chance. It's not over yet."
00:25:20
>> Jim caught a lucky break when Hurricane Charlie hit the west coast of Florida.
00:25:28
>> The murder suspect was now gone with the wind. August 2004, in the chaos following
00:25:46
Hurricane Charlie, Jim Huden blew out of town. >> Jim disappeared. >> He just falls off the face of the earth.
00:25:55
>> He just disappears. While investigators here on Whidby Island were left scratching their heads,
00:26:02
wondering where Jim Hudin had gone, little did they know that he was more than 2,000 miles away here in
00:26:10
Veraracruz, Mexico. [music] >> Jim loved this place. He would kind of sit here for hours, drink beer, look at
00:26:22
the people go by, listen to the music. Jorge Mabarak was a close friend of Jim Hudin in Verarac Cruz, but he knew him
00:26:30
by a different name. >> Jim Martin. Everybody knew him as Jim Martin. >> Jorge is a famous jazz pianist [music]
00:26:40
in Mexico. He often played on stage with Jim. >> He had emotional [music] insight on people. Everybody like him.
00:26:50
He likes everybody. Never had any problem. >> [music] >> He was a blues player. Definitely was a blues man.
00:26:59
>> Jorge remembers this concert in Veraracruz where Jim was one of the featured [music] performers.
00:27:06
Jorge, a CBS News consultant, says this fugitive from Justice had a soft side. >> If you look at the videos of him, he
00:27:15
looks really mean on the stage, but he was not. He was a very soft guy, very tender, very understanding, and there
00:27:23
was never any any sign of violence or any attitude, an aggressive attitude. Never.
00:27:32
>> But Jim wasn't comfortable talking about his past. >> He told me, "There are things about me
00:27:37
that I'm not going to tell you, so don't ask." >> While reporting this story, 48 Hours
00:27:43
learned about one of Hudin's old hangouts, and we got a tip. He may have left behind some belonging.
00:27:50
>> These two cabinets. >> An old friend of Hudins gave us permission to look. >> This hasn't been opened in more than two
00:27:56
years. Let's see what's inside. This one's empty. There's nothing. >> But we did find something else.
00:28:13
>> Jim Hudin's birth certificate from the state of Washington. This is Jim Hudin's
00:28:17
Florida driver's license. This is his border crossing paperwork. September 10th, 2004. This is when Jim Hudin first
00:28:24
began his life on the run in Mexico. [music] And it turns out Huden had help getting
00:28:31
to Mexico and staying out of sight for more than 6 years. >> I got Jim out of the country. I
00:28:36
supported him for years. I went to Mexico to see him. Jean Huden admits she lied to investigators about Jim's
00:28:44
whereabouts for years. >> It was definitely the wrong thing to do. >> Meanwhile, the other woman in Jim's
00:28:52
life, Peggy Sue Thomas, continued to drive limos in Las Vegas. Despite being a murder suspect, she hit the jackpot
00:29:01
when she met this man in 2007. >> First time I met Peggy was through a limo service. They asked, "Well, do you
00:29:09
want a guy or the ex Mrs. Washington?" I said, "Well, we'll take the ex Mrs. Washington."
00:29:16
>> Mark Allen is a multi-millionaire oil man and thoroughbred horse owner. And this one was the winner of the 2009
00:29:25
Kentucky Derby. >> Spectacular upset. MIND THAT BIRD HAS WON THE KENTUCKY DERBY. AN IMPOSSIBLE
00:29:33
RESULT HERE. >> HONESTLY, did you marry him for his money? I married Mark because I loved
00:29:37
him deeply. >> Mark was madly in love with Peggy. >> Head over heels. >> And Peggy was madly in love with his
00:29:45
bank account. >> Head over heels. >> Vicky Ber worked with Peggy and Mark on their ranch in New Mexico.
00:29:53
>> He was a good man and he did everything she asked him to. >> Vicki had always believed in Peggy's
00:30:00
innocence in the murder of Russell. That is [music] until one night in a bar, a drunken Peggy allegedly joked
00:30:09
about taking care of a problem for a friend and mentioned that she could use her gun.
00:30:15
>> And she looked at me and she said, "Well, at least this time I'll know to throw it in the water." I went home and
00:30:21
I literally just fell apart. I mean, I just like I just started shaking. I was crying.
00:30:29
>> Peggy has denied that conversation ever took place. But for Vicki, the episode
00:30:35
led to a startling realization >> that she did it. That her and Jim did this. >> The murder of Russell Douglas.
00:30:44
>> Yes. I mean, I was sure of it. >> And Vicki wasn't the only person having problems with Peggy.
00:30:51
>> Yeah, it started out good. And uh the more controlling she got, the uh less responsive I got. You know,
00:31:00
I won't be controlled. Not not by anybody. >> After just 7 months of marriage, Mark
00:31:07
was separated from both Peggy and a sizable chunk of change. >> You did get $700,000 in a housebo.
00:31:15
>> Yes, I did. But I can tell you if I was the true definition of a gold digger, we
00:31:21
had a prenap and it entitled me to way more than $700,000 and a boat. Meanwhile, back in Florida, Gene Hudin's
00:31:34
life had fallen apart by 2011. She had become a [music] drug addict, arrested multiple times on charges
00:31:43
ranging from possession to forgery to theft. >> It got to a point where I couldn't do it
00:31:49
anymore. I'm tired of paying for Jim's mistake. Facing serious jail time for multiple felonies, Gan decided to
00:31:59
cooperate with investigators. >> I had to finally tell them where he was. >> And [music] that's when investigators
00:32:06
got the break they needed. Jim Huden was arrested in Veraracruz, Mexico, and returned [music] to Whippby Island
00:32:14
nearly 8 years after Russell Douglas was murdered. One month later, authorities came for
00:32:21
Peggy Sue Thomas. When the detective came up, he said, "You're in some pretty big trouble."
00:32:28
>> And what was that moment like for you? >> Scary. My life became a tabloid story
00:32:34
with headlines [music] about Drop Deadad Gorgeous. I knew I had a battle on my hands.
00:32:54
Miz [music] Washington Peggy Thomas from a beauty queen strut. >> Peggy Sue Thomas looked away from the
00:33:04
cameras as she was led into court this afternoon in shackles >> to a perp walk at the Island County
00:33:09
Courthouse on Woodby Island, Washington. In the summer of 2011, Peggy Sue Thomas
00:33:15
is formally charged with the murder of Russell Douglas. >> These accusations that I'm involved in
00:33:22
this crime have been a lie since the beginning. >> First up for trial is Peggy's former
00:33:28
lover and alleged trigger man, Jim Hudin. Prosecutor Greg Banks says there may have been several motives for
00:33:36
murder. insurance money or that Hudin was out to avenge the abuse he claims he was subjected to as a child.
00:33:44
>> He had experienced abuse and so he was going to wipe this slate clean somehow
00:33:49
by killing an abuser. >> Yeah. I think that's that's what in the warped alcohol pickled drug altered mind
00:33:59
of Jim Huden was the thing that was making sense to him. Cops say they never found any evidence that Russell Douglas
00:34:07
physically abused anyone. At the trial, the star witness against Huden would be Bill Hill, who says Jim confessed to him
00:34:16
about killing Russell Douglas. >> What was that like to testify? >> It was a scary situation. I could not
00:34:23
look at him the whole time I was on the stand. >> Bill Hill was really a hero in this
00:34:29
case. I probably could have rested the case after Bill testified. >> Jim Huden never took the stand, leaving
00:34:36
unanswered what the real motive might have been. After an 8-day trial and 20 witnesses,
00:34:46
the jury took less than 4 hours to reach a verdict. >> Guilty as charged, an Island County
00:34:52
fugitive now faces years behind bars. >> Jim Huden was sentenced to 80 years in prison.
00:35:03
Six months later, it was Peggy Sue Thomas's turn to face justice. And Banks had a witness who was ready to implicate
00:35:11
her. Jim Hudin's wife, Jean. >> Peggy herself told me she was involved in this murder. So, I mean, it doesn't
00:35:20
get much clearer than that. >> Should Jean Huden be believed? No. Absolutely not. There are so many
00:35:29
problems with Gene Hudin's testimony, it actually boggles my mind to know where to begin.
00:35:34
>> Dynamic defense attorney Craig Platt will represent Peggy. He says Gene Huden
00:35:40
is a liability for prosecutors because she changed her story time and time again.
00:35:46
>> It's a road map of inconsistencies. When Gene Huden originally talked to detectives back in 2004, she said, and I
00:35:55
quote, "Jim never told her that Peggy knew." Now, 7 years later, "Oh, I remember Peggy's involved. The one that
00:36:04
stole my man. The one that ruined my life." Yeah, she did it. >> Even Jean admits her memory is a bit
00:36:12
shaky. Couldn't it be that what you said to Detective Plumbberg, >> this was the truth that Jim told you
00:36:20
Peggy wasn't involved in this case >> because your story didn't change for years.
00:36:26
>> Yeah, it's possible. It is possible. I just to be honest, I I honestly don't remember saying that
00:36:34
>> and we know that's not right. Platt says Gene Hudin's changing story demonstrates
00:36:40
how desperate the prosecution is to make a case without credible witnesses or evidence.
00:36:46
>> This is about a confederacy of dunes. This is about misinformation being allowed to grow and be perpetuated and
00:36:55
used against an innocent woman to try to convict her for a crime she didn't commit. Would you like to get Gene Huden
00:37:02
up on the stand with an opportunity to cross-examine her? That would be so much fun. That's almost too much fun for a
00:37:08
defense attorney like me, to be honest. >> That was a big problem for us. Uh, I did
00:37:12
not want to walk away from Peggy Thomas empty-handed. Uh, and the case really hinged on Jean.
00:37:18
>> State versus Peggy Thomas. >> Good morning. Thank you, your honor. >> Just a week before the trial is about to
00:37:23
start, prosecutor Banks folds his hand and offers Peggy a plea deal. four years in prison on a reduced charge of
00:37:33
rendering criminal assistance. Peggy accepts. >> So, what innocent person accepts a plea
00:37:39
deal where you're going to end up in prison for 4 years? >> A person that's smart enough to realize
00:37:46
that in this tiny little community of people who have been fed and fed and fed a story that isn't true, that I wasn't
00:37:55
going to get a fair trial. And remember the first suspect in this case, the victim's wife, Brena Douglas.
00:38:05
Investigators found no evidence that money ever changed hands between [music] Brena, Jim Huden, and Peggy Sue Thomas.
00:38:14
But prosecutor Banks says Brena remains on his radar. >> I mean, she remains a suspect in my mind
00:38:23
to this day. to this day >> after she ignored repeated requests to speak with 48 hours.
00:38:29
>> Hey Brena, Peter Van with CBS News. >> We finally came face to face with Brena.
00:38:37
>> After all this time, investigators still believe you were involved in the murder
00:38:42
of your husband. What do you have to say to that? >> I have to say that you're harassing me
00:38:46
and I already filed a police complaint for you guys following me. So, I want you to leave.
00:38:51
>> I have not followed you. These are questions you should talk about. >> Peggy says that you once said to her
00:38:58
that Russ was worth more to you dead than alive. >> Yeah. >> Brena, talk to us. I'll ask you two
00:39:04
questions and we'll go away. >> Peggy, with this plea deal, did you get away with murder?
00:39:16
>> Absolutely not. I don't want to minimize Russ's death in any way because I grieve
00:39:22
for his family, but I'm also a victim in this. >> I'm actually giving up four years of my
00:39:29
life for something I didn't do. >> But for Greg Banks, [music] the real victim in this case has been largely
00:39:37
forgotten. >> You know, this case is about getting justice for Russ Douglas. I mean, what
00:39:44
did Russ do? He was trying to do the right thing by his wife, trying to get back together. And for that, he got a
00:39:52
bull in the head. >> Just a few days before going to prison, Peggy shared some final moments together
00:40:04
with her daughters. >> See for my girls. Oh, I figure there must be a greater plan at
00:40:12
the end of all of this for me. There's something wonderful on the other side of this. And I don't know what the lesson
00:40:17
is yet, but there's got to be one. [music] >> [music] [music] [music]