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[Music] our episodes deal with serious and often distressing incidents if you feel at any
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time you need support please contact your local crisis center for suggested phone numbers for confidential support
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and for a more detailed list of content warnings please see the show notes for this episode on your app or on our
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website at around 3:00 a.m. on Sunday August 19 1990 35-year-old Rudy Manuel was awoken by a strange
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sound as the longtime caretaker of the Camp Nelson Lodge a 42 acre bucolic retreat in central California's
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sprawling and isolated sequa and Redwood forests Rudy was intuitively familiar with his
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surroundings when horses in a nearby pasture began stirring restlessly in the middle of the night Rudy sensed
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something or someone was out there Rudy opened the door of The Rustic cabin where he had been sleeping and
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looked outside if something was lurking Rudy couldn't see it through the pitch black
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darkness he closed the door and locked it turned off the lights and crawled back into
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bed Rudy wasn't alone lying next to him was 46-year-old Bonnie Hood the owner and manager of the Camp Nelson
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Lodge 5 minutes later the bedroom light suddenly turned on it took a moment for Rudy's eyes to
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adjust and for him to realize that an unfamiliar person was standing over him the the Intruder was aiming a
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snub-nosed 38 caliber revolver directly at Rudy's head the man ordered Rudy to get off the
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bed and kneel on the floor Rudy defiantly responded if you want me on the floor you're going to have to put me
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down without hesitation the gunman pulled the trigger shooting Rudy in the forehead as Rudy's body slumped to the
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ground the gunman turned his attention to Bonnie Hood demanding where's the money Bonnie replied in a panic it's in
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the lodge Bonnie was then shot as she cowered in bed even though the bullet had pierced
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Rudy Manuel's skull and left fragments in his brain he was still alive blood ran down his face his ears
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rang painfully and the taste of gunpowder lingered in his mouth Rudy pretended to be dead until the
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gunman left he then slowly crawled across the floor into the living area where he reached for a
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telephone using what little strength Rudy had left he dialed 911 [Music] [Music]
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the history of the Camp Nelson Township dates back to 1886 when its founder John
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Nelson built a homestead on the land before long his Ranch became a popular destination for hunters
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fishermen and anyone else willing to make the journey into the mountains by horseback
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by the early 20th century Camp Nelson had grown into a thriving albeit small community with a hotel and a general
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store that Drew an influx of new visitors to the area Bonnie Hood first visited Camp
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Nelson in 1952 when she was 8 years old by then the centerpiece of the town was a massive Stone and Timber Lodge
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built by John Nelson's grandson featuring a a grand dining hall and an impressive great room with two
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enormous fireplaces the Magnificent Camp Nelson Lodge served as the town's de facto Community Center for almost every
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important event Bonnie and her family visited Camp Nelson every summer and she carried on
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the tradition when she started a family of her own however as time went on the lodge
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was plagued by Financial woes leading to its closure in January 1981 in the summer of 1987 Bonnie and
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her husband Jim noticed a for sale sign out in front of the lodge while the couple initially joked
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with each other about buying the property they ultimately decided to make a serious
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offer their offer of $780,000 was accepted and by June 1988 Bonnie and Jim Hood were the new owners of the Camp
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Nelson Lodge even though Bonnie had been visiting the area since she was a child
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many of the town's 180 residents viewed the Lodge's new owners with skepticism to them the hoods were
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Outsiders wealthy Metropolitan Interlopers who threatened to change the fabric of their
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Community others were excited by the prospect of the lodge being restored to its former glory
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in order to revive and operate the lodge fulltime Bonnie relocated to Camp Nelson
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and moved into one of the cabins her husband Jim and their two teenage children remained at their home in
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Newport Beach nearly 4 and a half hours driveway the unconventional Arrangement Drew judgment among towns folk as did
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some of Bonnie's other decisions while the locals were initially thrilled when The Lodgers
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restaurant and bar reopened they were dismayed when Bonnie raised the prices others boycotted The
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Establishment alog together when Bonnie kicked them out for being too rowdy when Bonnie built fences for her
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horses some of her neighbors complained they blocked access to their properties She also caused the stir for
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being an outspoken environmentalist working to expose what she believed were illegal logging practices in the area
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as one employee who worked for Bonnie told the Fresno B Bonnie answered to no one and
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apologized to no one but what upset locals most was Bonnie's plan to turn the lodge into a
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trendy venue for lavish destination weddings and a high-end luxury Retreat catering to wealthy clientele from Los
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Angeles in their view the whole point of going to Camp Nelson was to get away from the fast-paced city lifestyle in
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the first place while some felt bnny harbored a combative La attitude that conflicted
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with Camp Nelson's Breezy Carefree way of life others were less critical of her one local told the Fresno be that
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the majority view of Bonnie was that she was a cheerful outgoing person who spent
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an enormous amount of time money and energy bringing Camp Nelson Lodge back to life on Saturday August 18th 1990 a high
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society wedding and reception was held at the lodge the bride was thrilled with the
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venue and wept tears of joy while complimenting Bonnie on how wonderful everything had been it was welcomed
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reinforcement that Bonnie's vision for the lodge was coming to fruition while the wedding was taking
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place at the lodge its restaurant and bar remained open to the public making it far busier than a regular Saturday
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night when live music Started during the wedding reception some locals at the bar
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joined in the festivities the reception concluded just before midnight but the bar stayed open
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serving locals until 2: a.m. at the end of the evening Bonnie pulled all the tips her weight staff had
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collected during their shifts usually she split the tips evenly before sending her staff home but
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because there was much more money than usual approximately $500 she decided to take the money back
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to her cabin she promised to count it and pay out her employees the next morning just over an hour later First
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Responders arrived at Bonnie's cabin after receiving the 911 call from Rudy Manuel
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they trepidatiously entered and turned on the lights they immediately saw Rudy's body
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on the floor of the living room covered in carpet Burns and blood he had been shot in the
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head a trail of blood LED from where Rudy lay and into the bedroom Ending by the
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bed laying on top half covered by a blanket and sheet was Bonnie Hood she had been f Al shot in the
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head it appeared her body had been posed afterwards with her arms crossed over her chest as if she were laid in a
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casket one of the screens on an exterior sliding door had been cut open the same
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door featured Prim marks indicating the killer had used a tool to force his way inside in the dirt outside was a single
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shoe print left by the Killer aside from this the only other major clue was found inside the
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cabin as Rudy Manuel had clung to life he used his finger to scroll two letters on a wall in his own blood J and
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B police were well aware of a near two decade along feud between Rudy Manuel and a local cattle rancher named Jack
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Burgess Rudy was a Native American who had grown up on a reservation a few miles south of Camp
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Nelson from the time he was a teenager Rudy had been a thorn in Jack burgess's side his cattle ranch bordered the
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reservation and to Jack had accused Rudy of vandalizing his property many times over the years he also once accused Rudy
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of shooting at him Rudy had a checked history with convictions for horse stealing vandalism
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and assault struggling to find employment or a place to live Rudy was given an opportunity to work for Bonnie Hood
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after she purchased the Camp Nelson Lodge in 1988 the following year Rudy was arrested after trying to sell five of
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Jack burgess's cares to another Rancher facing a potential six-month jail sentence Rudy found a supporter in
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Bonny Hood she paid for his defense attorney and the case against Rudy was ultimately
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dismissed this angered Jack burus who expressed his opinion that the police and judge were
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corrupt things only escalated when Rudy smashed the windshield of Jack's truck with a baseball
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bat on Tuesday June 19 1990 exactly 2 months before the shooting Rudy suffered an appendicitis attack
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Bonnie drove him to the hospital and as she pulled into the parking lot she noticed that Jack Burgess happened to be
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there too not paying him any mind she took Rudy into the emergency department Upon returning to her car
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Bonnie noticed a handwritten note attached to her windshield it read it is your head not your windshield
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that I will get payback's a [ __ ] like your sugar mama Bonnie believed that Jack Burgess
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had left the note for Rudy she suspected she was the Sugar Mama referenced in the
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note as she had previously paid for Rudy's attorney during his successful legal stash against
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Jack Bonnie filed a police report accusing Jack of authoring the note although Jack's fingerprints
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weren't found on it detectives wondered if the shooting at Bonnie cabin was the payback the note had
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forewarned miraculously when First Responders arrived at Bonnie's cabin after the shooting Rudy Manuel was still
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alive he was rushed to undergo emergency surgery to remove the bullet fragments from his
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brain right before Rudy was taken into the operating theater a detective questioned him about the attack drifting
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in and out of Consciousness as he spoke Rudy admitted that he and Bonnie were having an
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affair after closing down the bar the previous night Rudy said that he and Bonnie had gone back to her cabin and
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fallen asleep before they were confronted by the gunman Rudy described the shooter as
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looking like a biker he was a stocky white man in his mid-30s with long curly blonde hair and a thin
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mustache Rudy recalled he was wearing a neckerchief with The Branding of us Motorcycle Company
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harleydavidson several witnesses who had been at the Lodge's bar that night recalled seeing a man matching this
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description but no one knew who he was they recalled that at one stage he requested a song from the musician at
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the wedding reception and that he was the last customer at the bar come closing time most interestingly The Stranger was
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within earshot of a heated conversation Bonnie Hood had with one of her employees about not splitting the tips
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until the following morning this meant he was aware that Bonnie was in possession of a large
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amount of cash that she intended to take back to her cabin yet although Bonnie's cabin was
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found in a slight state of disarray it didn't appear to have been ransacked several expensive it it of
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jewelry were left in plain sight and $211 remained in her purse which was visibly resting on a bar
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St Rudy Manuel claimed that the killer had demanded money but nothing in Bonnie's cabin appeared to be
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missing prior to his surgery Rudy expressed his own theory he suspected that the killer was
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a professional Hitman Who had most likely been hired by his longtime rival Jack Burgess when Jack heard about the
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shooting he immediately went to speak with police as he knew he would be considered a suspect due to his volatile
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history with Rudy wanting to set the record straight as soon as possible Jack denied any
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involvement in the crime and expressed his willingness to cooperate fully with the
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investigation although Jack provided a solid Alibi for the night of the shooting it was possible that he'd hired
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someone else to carry out the attack as Rudy Manuel had [Music] theorized Rudy's Sister Christina worked
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part-time at the lodge she recalled seeing the mysterious stranger at the bar the night of the
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shooting curiously she had seen him the weekend before as well she believed he had arrived at camp
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son to carry out construction work specifically to put a new roof on one of the homes in
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town as there were few residences in Camp Nelson and only one had a brand new roof investigators immediately knew
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where to start this new line of inquiry the home belonged to a local attorney who told police that he had
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hired two brothers to do the job their names were Mark and Matthew Stewart and they were from the California City of
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Fresno Police tracked the Stewart Brothers down and were discouraged to find that neither of the men matched
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descriptions of bunny Hood's killer as this lead seemingly reached a dead end investigators were surprised
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when a man arrived at the Stewart brother's home he was a near perfect match for the description of Bonny hood
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and Rudy Manuel's shooter he introduced himself as low and asserted that he had never been to Camp
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Nelson meanwhile Rudy Manel had undergone life-saving surgery and after 3 days recovering he was able to hold a
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conversation again however his brain was swollen and he was delirious and heavily
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sedated while Rudy couldn't offer investigate as much at this time he was shown a photo lineup that included an
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image of Rick l Rudy pointed to Rick's photo and identified him as the man who'd shot him
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and Bonnie the problem was Rick provided an ironclad Alibi for the night of the shooting proving he was nowhere near
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Camp Nelson Rudy Manuel had identified the wrong man as Rudy recovered he provided
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another account of the night of the shooting this time to a psychiatrist his version of events differed from what
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he'd originally told the police prior to his surgery when the psychiatrist asked Rudy
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if he thought he was capable of identifying the shooter Rudy shocked him by replying you are the man that shot
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me when the psychiatrist explained why this wasn't possible Rudy said well you look a lot like
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him it was clear to detectives that Rudy wasn't well enough to be fully relied upon but they began considering the
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possibility that he wasn't the intended target at all given Bonny Hood's reputation with
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various Camp Nelson locals it was possible that someone with a chip on their shoulder had targeted
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her after all the shooting had taken place in her cabin and very few people could have known that Rudy would be
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there this also raised another possible scenario although several towns folk had
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suspected the pair were having an affair there was only one obvious person who might feel compelled to do something
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about it Bonnie met her husband at Jim Hood when they attended University in the
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early 1960s they married in 1970 and both took up work in real estate Jim sold commercial property
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while Bonnie specialized in helping out ofate companies relocate to California the couple were incredibly
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successful becoming multi-millionaires with a Beachside property a boat and luxury
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cars by 1987 Bonnie had reached a point in her life where she was ready to go in
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a new direction for as long as she could remember remember she'd imagined living
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fulltime in a small mountain town when the Camp Nelson Lodge went up for sale the hoods saw it as a viable
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business opportunity for Bonnie it was also the Fulfillment of her lifelong dream the only downside was that Bonnie
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and Jim would have to live apart their children were enrolled in a good school and a gym had business tires
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in Southern California still Bonnie remained in near constant contact with her husband and children
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while living in Camp Nelson she spoke with them on the phone upwards of three times a day and helped
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her children with their homework almost every night twice a month Bonnie visited
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Newport Beach to spend a couple of days with her family and once a month Jim and
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the kids spent a weekend at Camp Nelson when invest vators informed Jim Hood about his wife's murder he appeared
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genuinely shocked more so when he was told that Bonnie was having an affair with the Rudy
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Manu Jim insisted that his marriage was solid and that Bonnie would have never been
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unfaithful he knew that Bonnie had a close friendship with Rudy but refused to accept that the pair were in bed
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together the night of the shooting Jim was certain the person responsible was a Camp Nelson local who
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held a grudge against his wife he claimed that Bonnie had recently confided in him that she feared for her
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safety in addition to investigating a legal logging in the area she had allegedly stumbled upon a cannabis field
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while horse riding Bonnie hadn't notified the police as she suspected several members of
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local law enforcement were involved in the drug operation According to Jim just two weeks before
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she was murdered Bonnie said she'd uncovered information that could potentially impact the outcome of a
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major political election in California Jim said that Bonnie had been keeping files on several members of the
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community who she suspected were involved in il legal activity she had shown it to him during
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a recent visit and he knew she kept it in a locked filing cabinet police permitted Jim to enter Bonnie's
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cabin to collect the dossier he went to her filing cabinet only to find it was unlocked and the
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file was [Music] missing as the weeks passed Rudy Manuel continued to make a steady
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recovery after being released from hospital he straight up confronted Jim Hood asking if he'd hired a Hitman to
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kill him and Bonnie in jealous retaliation of their Affair Rudy claimed that Jim broke down
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in tears asking how he could even think such a thing investigators remained open-minded they had collected all of
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the empty beer bottles from the lodge that had accumulated on the night of the killing and had them tested for
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fingerprints if the elusive stranger seen drinking at the bar was indeed the killer there was a strong possibility
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that he had a criminal record the results revealed that several fingerprints belonged to a known felon
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named Bruce beum his mug shot looked just like Rudy's description of the gunman Rudy was shown another photo
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lineup this time with an image of Bruce beum in the mix Rudy confidently identified Bruce as
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the shooter employees at the LOD also unanimously agreed that Bruce was the stranger they'd seen drinking at the bar
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that night 31-year-old Bruce beum was a Drifter with bike attires who moved across the American West he had
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convictions pertaining to selling cannabis brandishing a gun towards children assaulting his ex-wife and
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driving Under the Influence he'd recently settled in a city an hour east of Los Angeles where
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he work worked as a maintenance Foreman for a shopping complex called Mission Plaza when approached by police Bruce
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admitted he'd recently been to Camp Nelson he said he'd gone there on the weekend before the shooting where he'd
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met a woman and the two had agreed to meet there again the following week he returned on the weekend of Saturday
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August 18 only to find that the woman had stood him up Bruce said he spent the night hopping
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between the only two bars in town on the lookout for her while under the influence of alcohol and
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methamphetamines after Bruce was kicked out of one bar for making an insulting remark to a woman he remained at the
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lodge until closing time he claimed that upon leaving the bar he drove 232 Mi South to a friend's
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house in the city of Fontana arriving there at around 6:00 a.m. Bruce's friend corroborated his
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story stating that they spent the day visiting yard sales together the timing was
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significant the drive from Camp Nelson to Fontana took at least 4 hours Bonnie hood and Rudy Manuel were
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shot a little after 3:00 a.m. investigators replicated Bruce's journey to see if they could reach
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Fontana in under 3 hours they drove as fast as they could and yet only managed to get there in 3
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hours and 45 minutes either Bruce's Alibi was wrong or he was not the killer there was something else when
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speaking with investigators Bruce beum divulged a significant piece of information he was surprised that had
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taken them so long to come and speak with him in relation to the crime after all it was his employe who
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had given him the idea to go to Camp Nelson in the first place Jim Hood Jim Hood co-owned the Mission Plaza
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Shopping complex where Bruce beum worked Bruce claimed that Jim always talked to his employees about Camp
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Nelson encouraging them to go up there and have a good time at the lodge with this Revelation forming an
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unexpected connection between their Prime Suspect and Bonny Hood's husband police searched at Bruce's
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home they uncovered a pair of tennis shoes that were the same brand and size as the shoe prints found outside
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Bonnie's cabin on the night of the shooting Bruce beam was arrested and charged with murder attempted murder
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attempted robbery burglary and assault with a deadly weapon investigators sensed they had
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only uncovered part of a larger narrative with a prosecutor announcing at a pre-trial
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hearing there is a very very good possibility there is a criminal conspiracy there may be other
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suspects the other suspect's point pertained to an individual already known to investigators when Jim Hood was informed
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of Bruce beam's arrest he appeared shocked he claimed that he didn't think Bruce had ever met Bonnie or was the
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type of person to do such a thing despite this it remained possible that Jim Hood had hired Bruce beum to
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murder his wife despite Jim denying any knowledge of his wife's affair with the Rudy
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Manuel the situation was a Timeless motive for murder evidence failed to clarify the
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matter while Bonnie had a $750,000 life insurance policy ballistics on guns Jim Hood owned
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confirmed none of them had been used in the crime there were no Paper Trails indicating that Bruce beum had recently
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received any large sums of money either if the truth was held by either man they weren't
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talking despite facing a potential death sentence Bruce beum refused to implicate
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Jim hood and continued to deny having anything to do with the crime investigators harbored their own
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doubts after all if Bruce had been hired to kill Bonnie why would he visit Camp Nelson over two consecutive weekends
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attend the local bars and interact with the various Witnesses without any evidence emerging
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to the contrary Jim Hood was officially ruled out as a suspect Bruce beum went to trial in February
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1991 6 months after Bonnie Hood was killed by this point investigators had settled on the theory that the crime was
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financially motivated after Bruce had overheard Bonnie talk about the large amount of tips collected from the
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bar given that Bruce knew Bonnie was married to Jim he most likely assumed she would be alone in her cabin that
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night thus an easy target to Rob heavily intoxicated Bruce headed to Bonnie's cabin only to discover another
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man was present Bruce's plan quickly unraveled from there he shot Bonnie and Rudy
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Manuel before fleeing the scene in a panic the prosecution expressed the doubts about the 6 a.m. Alibi Bruce had
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given police saying that it was unreliable his friend that had vouched for him was either lying or
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mistaken in the prosecution's words it was a simple case of robbery that led to murder and attempted
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murder the prosecution's star witness was Rudy Manuel when asked on the stand about who
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shot him Rudy pointed to Bruce beum and announced there's no no doubt he's the one but as soon as Rudy started giving
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his testimony his story contained a number of markedly different details from the story he'd originally given
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police under oath Rudy denied ever having an affair with Bonny Hood he claimed he had visited her cabin that
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night just to talk and had been sitting on the edge of her bed chatting with the
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lights on when Bruce beum suddenly burst through the door Rudy recalled he told me I was a dead
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[ __ ] and he was very rude about it he said to get on your knees and face the floor I didn't want to do it because I
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knew he would shoot me Rudy claimed he tried to kick the gun out of Bruce's hand and that's when he
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was shot in the head he explained then there was a struggle and two more shots I think Bonnie stood up
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on the bed and at this time the defendant fought with her this man right here jumped on the
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bed I believe she was fighting for her life and there were two more shots this was the first time Rudy had
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ever mentioned a struggle taking place prosecutors attributed Rudy's differing Recollections to his severe
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head trauma the defense however contended that he was making up new details to fit
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the physical evidence during the trial it had been revealed that Bonnie's fingernails
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indicated she had struggled with her attacker the defense believed that Rudy was falsifying his story to suit this
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finding as well as other key evidence including the fact that Seaman had been found inside Bonny that couldn't be
00:33:52
linked to anyone in particular from the defenses perspec Ive the Seaman indicated that Rudy wasn't
00:34:01
being entirely truthful about what he and Bonnie did that night testimony provided by the County
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coroner rebuffed Rudy's story further the coroner held the opinion that Bonnie was killed elsewhere and
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then moved to the bed he highlighted the blood spatter from the crime scene specifically the
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neat trickle of blood that ran from Bonnie's ear down her chin and across her neck the coroner claimed this didn't
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coincide with someone being shot while lying in bed explaining when a person gets shot blood
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splatters all about this is the tidiest homicide scene I've seen in 12 years as a
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coroner this is too tidy not what we see in violent death it's not consistent with the struggle Rudy Manuel said occur
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heard the defense told the jury the only conclusion you can draw is that Rudy Emanuel is a
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liar something happened in that cabin that night he's not telling us about after deliberations the jury
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produced the first ever acquittal in a murder trial in the County's history one of the jurors later told a
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reporter we never ever any of us thought Bruce beum was guilty there was not enough evidence to convict
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him as for Rudy Manuel's testimony juror's opinions were overwhelmingly negative while some considered his
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memory unreliable others believed he was deliberately lying upon hearing the verdict Bruce
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beum turned to his lawyer and said thank God thank God they believed us Jim Hood remained staunch telling
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reporters he would never give up looking for his wife's murderer I will be pursuing it he
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remarked before adding somewhat ominously but I don't want to say how upon his release from custody Bruce
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beum started putting his life back together he quickly married a woman named Sharon
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spray a convicted criminal whom Bruce became pimps with while in jail in an interview with the Porterville Recorder
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in the months after his acquittal Bruce claimed he had cleaned up his life and was completely
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sober in reality he and his wife had become frequent heroin users the now unemployed Bruce admitted
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that he'd considered asking Jim Hood for his old job back but didn't think that would go down
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well even though Bruce wasn't working his friends and family noticed that he was rarely short on cash and was often
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seen counting out stacks of $100 bills even his wife had noticed this inexplicable flow of
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money one day when they were low on funds Bruce told Sharon that he was going to pay someone a
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visit 45 minutes later he returned with an envelope containing $5,000 cash in January 1992 a year and a half
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after Bonny Hood's murder Bruce beum recruited his brother-in-law Gary spray to carry out a
00:37:46
Breakin he told Gary his intended target was Jim Hood Gary was apprehensive but Bruce
00:37:54
assured him they had nothing to fear he said that even if they did get caught Jim Hood would never prosecute
00:38:03
them according to Bruce he had something over Jim that ensured his cooperation the two men broke into Jim's
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office at the Mission Plaza shopping center and stole $188,000 worth of construction equipment which they then
00:38:22
hid inside a storage facility when the items were discovered to be missing an advertisement was
00:38:29
placed in the local newspaper offering $3,000 for the safe return of the stolen goods Gary spray called the number on
00:38:39
the advertisement and spoke with the Jim hoods business partner Pat offering to return the stolen equipment for
00:38:48
$6,000 Pat agreed and it was decided that the exchange would take place at the storage locker where the items were
00:38:55
being kept when Gary arrived at the locker police were already waiting as he was placed under arrest he
00:39:05
yelled at Pat you messed up some things from the past will come [Music] out after this Jim Hood began receiving
00:39:17
phone calls from Bruce beum demanding that the charges against his brother-in-law be
00:39:23
dropped on one occasion Bruce left a message on Jim's ing machine that said if you don't start dealing with me
00:39:32
properly I'm going to sink you despite these efforts the charges against the Gary spray remained he
00:39:42
pleaded guilty and was sent to jail for 2 months but the Saga wasn't over Bruce beum continued his
00:39:51
threatening calls against the Jim Hood leading to Jim becoming so paranoid that he began carrying a loaded handgun with
00:39:59
him at all times he slept with it next to his bed while also keeping a loaded 9mm Glock
00:40:07
pistol in the drawer of his office desk Monday March 2 1992 marked almost a year since Bruce beam's acquittal for
00:40:19
the murder of Bonnie Hood Bruce asked a friend to drive him to Jim Hood's office at Mission Plaza
00:40:28
the two men had spoken on the phone earlier that morning and Jim had invited Bruce to his office so they could sort
00:40:34
things out once and for all when Bruce entered the building he moved past the Gym's secretary and into
00:40:42
the private office space where Jim was waiting the door was closed behind them seconds later two gunshots rang out
00:40:53
from the office in quick succession followed by a brief paes then five more shots police arrived at Mission Plaza to
00:41:10
find Bruce beum dead on the floor of Jim Hood's office he had been shot seven times his right hand was clutching an
00:41:20
unregistered blue steel 357 Magnum Revolver Jim Hood was immediately taken in for questioning and over the next 12
00:41:31
hours he explained the deadly confrontation in detail he said that over the past
00:41:38
several weeks Bruce had been making increasingly threatening phone calls to him Jim began actively avoiding Bruce's
00:41:47
calls but that morning Bruce called the office threatening to bury Jim Fed Up Jim finally agreed to meet
00:41:57
him in person to sort their conflict diplomatically he believed the conversation would be about the theft of
00:42:04
the construction equipment and the recent incarceration of Bruce's brother-in-law Gary
00:42:11
spray Jim suspected trouble the moment Bruce entered his office as Jim sat behind his desk he
00:42:19
noticed that Bruce's hands were shaking particularly the left one his eyes were also bulging as if he were about to lash
00:42:28
out Bruce suddenly reached behind his back and pulled out a revolver but before Bruce could fire a shot Jim
00:42:37
reached into his desk drawer drew his own pistol and started shooting the first two shots struck a
00:42:45
Bruce in the chest and he immediately fell to the floor Jim stood up and walked over to
00:42:53
him he noticed that Bruce's head and the arm was holding the gun in were moving suspiciously he proceeded to shoot Bruce
00:43:03
several more times to ensure he was dead if Jim's word was true the situation was clearly
00:43:13
self-defense but investigators could tell from the get-go that not everything was as it
00:43:20
seemed firstly the friend who dropped to Bruce beachum at Mission Plaza said it didn't appear that Bruce Bruce had been
00:43:27
armed with a gun Bruce had told his friend that he suspected Jim had set a trap for him and
00:43:35
he expected to be arrested when he arrived at Jim's office he was carrying a knife which he
00:43:41
left in the car because he didn't want to be armed when the confrontation occurred as far as Bruce's friend was
00:43:48
concerned Bruce exited the car with nothing more than the clothes on his back while Jim hook asserted that Bruce
00:43:58
had been noticeably on edge and irritated when he arrived at the office Jim's secretary described Bruce's
00:44:05
demeanor as perfectly happy even jovial the crime scene itself also didn't align with the Jim Hood
00:44:14
story firstly the lead investigator's attention was immediately drawn to the way Bruce beum was still grasping his
00:44:23
firearm in all his years as a homicide detective the investigator had never seen a murder victim still holding on to
00:44:30
their gun after being shot and falling to the ground especially on a concrete floor secondly the revolver was in
00:44:40
Bruce's right hand yet Bruce was left-handed a smear between two pools of blood indicated that Bruce's Body had
00:44:49
been moved after his death there was also blood on Bruce's right hand as well as on the floor under
00:44:57
beneath it yet the gun itself was clean if Bruce was holding the gun at the time of the shooting this was an
00:45:06
impossible feat it was clear to investigators that the gun had been placed in Bruce's hand
00:45:13
after he'd been shot gunpowder residue recovered on the palms of Bruce's hands showed he had his
00:45:21
hands up in a defensive posture when Jim Hood pulled the trigger with the gim Story falling apart
00:45:29
he was placed under arrest for the murder of Bruce [Music] beum despite Jim's insistence that
00:45:39
Bruce's death was in no way connected to Bonnie's murder the complex case caused
00:45:44
a media frenzy speculation ran wild that Jim had murdered Bruce's payback for killing his
00:45:52
wife shooting Survivor Rudy Emanuel maintained that Bruce beum was the man responsible for attacking him and
00:46:01
Bonnie speaking with the Porterville Recorder Rudy said Bruce beum died the same way as
00:46:08
Bonnie cold-heartedly and Point Blank our family can finally relax and not be fearful of strange cars in the
00:46:20
driveway but investigators weren't so sure that Bruce's murder was motivated by Revenge
00:46:27
they had previously considered the possibility that Jim Hood had hired Bruce to kill Bonnie and he'd only been
00:46:34
cleared due to a lack of evidence at the time police had opted to pursue Bruce first thinking his would be
00:46:43
an easier conviction to secure they'd been convinced that Bruce would be found guilty and he would then
00:46:51
confess to Jim's involvement in exchange for a more lenient sentence one officer
00:46:58
admitted we were biting at the bit to find Bruce beum guilty so we could get on with the case and we were prepared to
00:47:06
do that however when Bruce was unexpectedly acquitted it destroyed the possibility
00:47:14
of Jim Hood facing any charges if he was indeed involved then all those responsible for Bonny Hood's
00:47:23
death had seemingly gotten away with murder two days after Bruce beam's death his
00:47:31
widow Sharon spray told investigators that in the months after Bruce was acquitted for Bonnie's murder she found
00:47:37
an envelope hidden underneath the headboard of her bed it contained $110,000 in cash Sharon confronted Bruce who said
00:47:49
the money was linked to Bonnie's murder Sharon had always believed in Bruce's innocence and it was was
00:47:57
therefore stunned when she asked Bruce if he had killed Bonnie and he said yes according to Sharon Bruce claimed
00:48:06
that Jim Hood had paid him $50,000 to murder Bonnie following his AC quiddle Bruce
00:48:14
faced mortgage stress and was in the throws of a heroin addiction by 1992 he had blown through
00:48:22
the bulk of Jim's money but realized he was in a unique position because of Double Jeopardy laws he could
00:48:30
never be tried for Bonnie's murder again even if he confessed he even sought the advice of a
00:48:37
pargal who confirmed this to be the case emboldened by this knowledge and motivated to profit on his story Bruce
00:48:47
consulted a freelance author about writing a tillor book about what really happened in Camp
00:48:54
Nelson he knew that such a re a would not only ruin Jim Hood's business and reputation but likely result in Jim
00:49:02
being arrested for Bonnie's murder Bruce used this as leverage to squeeze more money out of
00:49:11
Jim he bombarded him with threatening calls trying to extort and blackmail him he demanded that Jim make a wire
00:49:20
transfer to his bank account but Jim was reluctant to leave a paper trail instead Jim told Bruce to meet him
00:49:29
at his office to settle the matter there in the leadup to the meeting Bruce didn't know what to expect he told his
00:49:39
wife Sharon Jim either wants to kill me set me up to get arrested or pay me off Sharon's story was corroborated by
00:49:51
her brother Gary spray who was involved in Bruce's campaign against Jim Hood Gary added that Jim had initially
00:50:00
agreed to pay Bruce $250,000 the $50,000 Bruce had already received was the first of what was
00:50:09
supposed to be a series of installments paid out by Jim every 6 months it was when Jim failed to pay
00:50:17
Bruce as promised that Bruce and Gary hatched their plan to steal the construction equipment from
00:50:25
him investig ERS knew Sharon and Gary spray's testimonies amounted to little more than hearsay and might not even be
00:50:33
admissible in court given their criminal history and drug use a jury would also be less
00:50:40
inclined to consider them credible [Music] Witnesses instead they worked to uncover
00:50:50
more evidence of their claims starting with a solid motive the obvious one was Bonnie's
00:50:58
alleged affair with the Rudy manual residents of Camp Nelson referred to the relationship as the worst kept
00:51:05
secret in town but investigators could only find one witness who claimed to have actually seen the pair acting
00:51:13
intimately a bartender from the lodge said he'd seen Bonnie and Rudy kiss on one occasion hardly enough evidence to
00:51:22
prove a long-standing sexual affair while Rudy had initially admitted to the affair he'd changed his story at
00:51:30
Bruce's trial and denied it ever happened if he changed his story again it would mean admitting that he'd
00:51:38
committed perjury in a murder trial although the truth about the affair remained Up For Debate there was
00:51:48
evidence that Jim and Bonnie's marriage was on the Rocks several people close to Bonnie
00:51:54
claimed that she'd talked openly about divorcing Jim in the days prior to her murder according to Bonnie's bookkeeper
00:52:03
Bonnie had scheduled an appointment with the divorce attorney on Monday August 20
00:52:08
1990 the night before she was killed financial gain was another potential motive Jim had always maintained that
00:52:20
the lodge was breaking even financially but a review of his tax records showed that the business had lost
00:52:28
$550,000 between 1989 and 1990 Jim was also found to have been deliberately overstating the value of
00:52:38
his various real estate holdings although he claimed to be a multi-millionaire in reality he was in a
00:52:46
precarious financial position not long after purchasing the lodge Bonnie Hood had received a
00:52:54
$250,000 inheritance the money would have gone a long way in covering the lodger expenses
00:53:03
but Bonnie refused to put her own money into the business rumors had it that this became
00:53:10
a major source of contention between the hoods in the aftermath of Bonnie's murder Jim was the beneficiary of her
00:53:21
$750,000 life insurance policy it turned out that he'd also collected an additional $2 million from
00:53:28
a separate mortgage insurance policy that he'd taken out on the lodge bringing his entire wi for from Bonnie's
00:53:35
death to nearly $3 million with all of this information coming to light investigators were
00:53:44
certain of their long-standing theory that Jim Hood had hired a Hitman to kill his
00:53:50
wife further digging revealed that Bruce beum had previously proven himself willing and able to do Jim's Dirty
00:53:58
Work in 1989 Jim had apparently paid Bruce $9,000 to illegally cut down 35 trees to give passing motorists a better
00:54:09
view of a Mission Plaza billboard The Hitman Theory formed the basis of the prosecution's case against
00:54:19
Jim Hood when he went to trial in October 1992 although Jim maintained that he'd
00:54:26
killed Bruce beum in self-defense the prosecution argued that he'd murdered Bruce to bring an end to his extortion
00:54:35
efforts the problem was investigators hadn't been able to find tangible proof that Bruce had received any money from
00:54:43
Jim Hood aside from his old paychecks from work the defense accused Sharon and Gary
00:54:51
spray of making their story up so they could file a lawsuit against a JY for Bruce's wrongful
00:54:57
death although Sharon denied this accusation on the stand it was revealed that she had already consulted with
00:55:05
three separate lawyers about filing such a lawsuit Jim Hood took the stand in his
00:55:12
own defense he claimed not to know whether Bruce was involved in Bonnie's murder
00:55:18
and asserted that any bad blood between the two men stemmed from the theft of his construction equipment and the
00:55:25
subsequent prosecution tion of Gary spray Jim maintained that he'd invited Bruce to his office to settle their
00:55:33
differences peacefully and only gunned Bruce down when Bruce went to shoot him first it took the jury 20 days to
00:55:43
announce that they'd reached a verdict only to change their mind the following morning and continue
00:55:50
deliberations in the end they were at an inass tender Ur had settled on guilty verdicts one believed Jim wasn't guilty
00:56:01
and the remaining juror was undecided a mistrial was declared with a retrial scheduled for later in the
00:56:13
year Jim Hood's retrial commenced in September 1993 with the surprising Revelation from
00:56:20
the judge he bed the prosecution from presenting any evidence suggest sesting that Jim had hired Bruce beum to murder
00:56:29
his wife making it clear that this trial would focus solely on Bruce's murder and
00:56:35
not on the murder of Bonnie Hood the prosecution therefore had no choice but to Center their case around
00:56:43
the physical evidence from the crime scene in Jim's office as for the motive they could only
00:56:50
go so far as to assert that Bruce was attempting to Blackmail Jim about something
00:56:57
Jim had already admitted during the first trial that he' paid Bruce to do illegal work for him in the
00:57:04
past this alone proved that Bruce was in possession of some knowledge that he could use against a
00:57:12
Jim Jim Hood took the stand again but he changed several critical details from his original
00:57:20
testimony in the first trial Jim claimed that Bruce's hand and head had moved in
00:57:25
very spefic specific ways after he'd been shot during the retrial however Jim denied that Bruce had moved at
00:57:34
all in order to show the jury that Jim had changed his story The prosecution did something they believed had never
00:57:42
been done in a California courtroom they called jurors from the first trial to testify as eyewitnesses
00:57:51
to what Jim's original testimony had been one by one the former jurors provided irrefutable proof that Jim had
00:58:00
purged himself on the stand completely shattering his credibility after 6 days of deliberation
00:58:10
the second jury returned a unanimous verdict Jim Hood was found guilty of murdering Bruce beum and sentenced to 29
00:58:20
years in prison Jim continued to maintain his innocence in the murders of both Bruce
00:58:27
and Bonnie his two children stood by him believing he was wrongfully convicted and falsely accused for both
00:58:38
crimes in 2012 Jim's ongoing claims of Innocence cost him the opportunity to be released from prison early due to good
00:58:47
behavior he was considered a model inmate having taken courses in Stress Management and conflict resolution
00:58:56
according to prison officials Jim never once violated a single prison rule however in the words of the state
00:59:05
Governor until Jim Hood shows that he has genuinely explored and can give a credible account of the circumstance
00:59:13
that led to his killing of Bruce beum I cannot be persuaded that he would not commit future acts of violence If
00:59:20
released from prison the governor's statements demonstrated The Catch 22 of prisoners
00:59:27
who claimed to be truly innocent Jim's refusal to confess meant he remained in prison for a further 5
00:59:36
years he was ultimately released in 2017 after serving 23 years and has since kept a low
00:59:47
profile authorities remain convinced that Bruce beum killed bnny Hood under Jim's
00:59:53
order in 1996 Bonnie's case was reopened after police received a package claiming
01:00:00
to contain new information about her murder what the package contained or who sent it has never been made
01:00:10
public upon further investigation the sheriff determined the new information wasn't enough to officially close the
01:00:19
case as of 2024 the murder of Bonnie Hood officially remains un [Music] [Music] solved e