00:00:05
up next
00:00:06
a young boy is the only witness to
00:00:09
murder but he didn't see the man's face
00:00:12
whoever came there came there with a
00:00:13
specific purpose to kill the killer did
00:00:16
almost everything right the serial
00:00:18
number on this weapon was obliterated
00:00:20
until he made one small mistake that
00:00:23
masking tape was of the same color as
00:00:25
the masking tape that was wrapped around
00:00:27
the homemade silencer it was a crime
00:00:29
that defied a simple explanation
00:00:33
the goriest crime scene i've ever
00:00:35
witnessed in my 17 years in law
00:00:37
enforcement if they had not found the
00:00:39
big bag of evidence this crime may never
00:00:41
have been solved
00:00:43
[Music]
00:00:50
four-year-old johnny huffman was usually
00:00:53
driven to preschool by a family member
00:00:56
on this morning he ran to school wearing
00:00:59
only his pajamas and a pair of boots
00:01:02
[Music]
00:01:11
when he got to his classroom an hour
00:01:13
late
00:01:14
he was covered in blood
00:01:16
and told his teachers some horrible news
00:01:19
about his great grandparents
00:01:26
police were immediately called to
00:01:28
johnny's home
00:01:29
i ended up entering into the myers
00:01:32
bedroom where i found jack and linda
00:01:34
myers lying in bed and both were
00:01:36
deceased as a result of gunshot wounds
00:01:38
to their heads apparently the killer
00:01:40
used some sort of silencer it was
00:01:44
quilting material used to make quilts or
00:01:45
baby blankets had masking tape on one
00:01:48
end and some black powder on it it was
00:01:50
shaped in the form of a
00:01:52
cone-shaped thing the murder weapon was
00:01:55
a 12-gauge shotgun and it was apparent
00:01:58
that jack was killed before linda
00:02:00
because her injuries were not just to
00:02:03
her head but also to her hands so she
00:02:04
may have
00:02:06
started to wake up and raise her hand
00:02:08
because it showed an injury
00:02:11
to the hand as well as to her her face
00:02:14
this raised the possibility that jack
00:02:17
myers was the primary target
00:02:19
the motive didn't appear to be robbery
00:02:22
no money or valuables were missing
00:02:25
there was a deposit bag in plain view in
00:02:27
the kitchen it was the money from the
00:02:29
pizza business that they ran there was a
00:02:31
significant amount of cash in that
00:02:32
deposit bag hadn't been disturbed hadn't
00:02:34
been taken the medical examiner
00:02:37
estimated that the time of death was
00:02:39
between 4 and 6 a.m
00:02:42
police canvassed the area
00:02:45
and one of the neighbors saw a minivan
00:02:47
in the myers driveway as she left for
00:02:49
work around 4 30 in the morning
00:02:52
she wasn't familiar with either jack or
00:02:54
linda having a minivan so it struck her
00:02:56
as very odd that a minivan would be
00:02:59
backing out of the residence at that
00:03:00
time of the morning
00:03:02
the neighbor could not provide a
00:03:03
detailed description of the van or the
00:03:06
driver
00:03:08
outside the meyer's home
00:03:10
the phone lines had been cut
00:03:12
and the basement window had been removed
00:03:15
investigators also found shoe
00:03:18
impressions in the dirt
00:03:20
casts were made for later analysis it
00:03:22
was a partial print of the shoe we did
00:03:25
not find a complete full impression of
00:03:27
the entire shoe just a partial print
00:03:30
four-year-old johnny was the only other
00:03:32
person living in the house
00:03:34
his great-grandparents had custody
00:03:36
because his mother was a teenager and
00:03:38
too young to care for him
00:03:41
when questioned johnny told police he
00:03:43
didn't hear any loud noises like
00:03:45
gunshots during the night
00:03:48
only that he found his
00:03:50
great-grandparents in a pool of blood
00:03:53
when he woke up he had taken a kleenex
00:03:56
and he tried to wipe the blood and he
00:03:57
reported to us that the blood was just
00:04:00
too much and he couldn't do anything
00:04:01
about it
00:04:02
but johnny was able to tell
00:04:04
investigators one important thing
00:04:08
he said
00:04:09
sometime during the night he saw
00:04:12
a green monster in his bedroom did this
00:04:15
mean that johnny saw the killer
00:04:22
just before dawn
00:04:24
an unidentified gunman broke into a
00:04:26
farmhouse in bradford ohio and killed
00:04:28
the owners jack and linda myers
00:04:39
it was clear to investigators that the
00:04:41
double homicide had nothing to do with
00:04:44
robbery
00:04:46
nobody appeared to have ransacked
00:04:47
through drawers or closets or anything
00:04:49
looking for anything so it appeared to
00:04:51
the investigators that whoever had
00:04:53
entered the home had obviously done it
00:04:55
because they intended to kill jack and
00:04:57
linda myers
00:04:59
the couple had been married for seven
00:05:00
years and each had children from
00:05:02
previous marriages
00:05:04
even though
00:05:05
my mom met jack at a later time in her
00:05:09
life that was her soulmate that was her
00:05:11
night in shining armor
00:05:14
investigators knew that the couple ran a
00:05:17
pizza shop but they found no indication
00:05:20
they had problems with business
00:05:22
associates
00:05:24
however
00:05:25
jack's side businesses raised concerns
00:05:29
jack started a car business he would buy
00:05:32
cars repair them and sell them to people
00:05:35
and a majority of these vehicles would
00:05:38
be sold on payments you know to help
00:05:41
people out
00:05:42
not surprisingly some of these people
00:05:44
were unable to make the payments we had
00:05:46
learned that if people weren't paying
00:05:49
their car payment on time he had no
00:05:51
problem going and seizing that vehicle
00:05:53
repossessing it and taking it back
00:05:56
the myers also owned some rental
00:05:58
properties and had recently evicted
00:06:00
tenants who were behind in their rent
00:06:03
and we had to look at that as a motive
00:06:05
for the murder
00:06:07
when investigators asked family members
00:06:09
if there were any relatives who wanted
00:06:11
to do jack and linda harm they all
00:06:14
identified the same person
00:06:16
andrew huffman
00:06:18
andrew huffman is the biological father
00:06:21
of the four-year-old little boy that
00:06:23
jack and linda have custody of linda and
00:06:26
andrew huffman's relationship was
00:06:28
strained from the beginning
00:06:30
huffman had refused to pay child support
00:06:32
for johnny andrew did not like my mother
00:06:36
she made him very angry because she
00:06:39
would not let him be around johnny it
00:06:42
escalated to
00:06:43
just a heated argument and he threatened
00:06:47
to kill her
00:06:48
that's why he was a suspect
00:06:50
because that is motive right there
00:06:55
after an exhaustive search
00:06:57
investigators found andrew huffman in
00:06:59
another state we were able to put a
00:07:01
timeline together he was placed at his
00:07:03
own residence in kentucky would not give
00:07:06
him enough time to get up to
00:07:08
greenville ohio
00:07:10
so huffman was eliminated as a suspect
00:07:14
another family member holding a grudge
00:07:16
was jack meyer's 25 year old son greg
00:07:20
greg was divorced and going through some
00:07:23
financial difficulties
00:07:25
he was missing work due to some drug and
00:07:28
alcohol problems
00:07:29
his house was about to be foreclosed so
00:07:32
he asked his father for help
00:07:34
he didn't come out and say no i'm not
00:07:36
helping you it's like greg stay off the
00:07:39
drugs and alcohol go to work every day
00:07:43
pay your bills and you can save your
00:07:45
house
00:07:46
and police learned that greg stood to
00:07:49
inherit his father's farmhouse in the
00:07:51
event of his death
00:07:53
greg myers denied having any involvement
00:07:55
in the murder of his father or
00:07:57
stepmother
00:07:58
he worked 30 miles away at a local car
00:08:00
parts factory and punched in at 5 23 a.m
00:08:05
we spent a considerable amount of time
00:08:08
at his place of employment searching a
00:08:09
number of dumpsters there but a search
00:08:11
of those dumpsters at that manufacturing
00:08:13
plant revealed nothing
00:08:16
police obtained a warrant to search
00:08:17
greg's house
00:08:19
and came up empty we were never able to
00:08:22
locate a 12-gauge shotgun at greg's
00:08:23
residence we were also looking for any
00:08:25
12-gauge ammunition slugs or that sort
00:08:28
of thing we never found any of those
00:08:30
items at his residence
00:08:32
and they also learned that greg wore
00:08:34
shoes two sizes bigger than the shoe
00:08:37
impressions found at the crime scene
00:08:39
the inability to find a matching shoe at
00:08:41
greg's residence was extremely
00:08:43
frustrating to the investigators
00:08:45
and police found
00:08:47
no green overalls or hunting outfit
00:08:50
like the one johnny described seeing on
00:08:53
the night of the murders
00:08:55
with no other viable suspects police
00:08:58
were starting to worry that the murders
00:09:00
might never be solved
00:09:06
the medical examiner estimated that jack
00:09:08
and linda meyers were murdered sometime
00:09:11
between four and six a.m the prime
00:09:14
suspect jack's 25-year-old son greg had
00:09:17
an alibi for at least part of that time
00:09:22
he said he was at work 30 miles away and
00:09:24
had a stamped time sheet to prove it i
00:09:27
remember specifically i think 5 23 a.m
00:09:30
do you remember the exact time he
00:09:31
supposedly clocked in on that day other
00:09:33
than that
00:09:34
you know he denied going near his
00:09:36
father's house
00:09:37
but greg myers did have a motive he was
00:09:41
in financial trouble and he would
00:09:43
inherit his father's farmhouse in the
00:09:45
event of his death
00:09:46
basically everybody's a suspect i've
00:09:49
seen that this stuff that
00:09:51
as far as like law and order stuff clear
00:09:54
tv that
00:09:55
family is always good
00:09:57
first suspect
00:09:58
there wasn't a significant amount of
00:10:01
cash that was going to come to greg
00:10:03
it was mostly assets
00:10:05
that he would receive and that asset was
00:10:07
in the form of property
00:10:09
on a hunch
00:10:11
investigators and volunteers searched
00:10:13
all known traffic routes between the
00:10:15
crime scene and greg's workplace
00:10:18
systematically we're going to all the
00:10:20
bridges along all the known routes
00:10:22
there's only so many you can take in and
00:10:24
get in there in a reasonable amount of
00:10:25
time
00:10:26
it took five days to search the 30 miles
00:10:30
of roads and bridges and they had come
00:10:33
up empty
00:10:34
but they still had one more place to
00:10:37
look the suggestion was made by a deputy
00:10:41
and a division of wildlife officer
00:10:43
that there was another location that
00:10:45
they felt might have been used or
00:10:47
another bridge that crossed the
00:10:48
stillwater river
00:10:50
and it was there in the shallow portion
00:10:53
of the stillwater river that
00:10:55
investigators got their first break
00:10:58
there's a 12 gauge winchester pump
00:11:00
shotgun it had masking tape around the
00:11:03
barrel that masking tape was of the same
00:11:05
color and the same width as the masking
00:11:08
tape that was wrapped around on the
00:11:10
homemade silencer device left at the
00:11:11
crime scene
00:11:13
it also had the serial numbers scratched
00:11:15
off
00:11:16
my initial impression was we're never
00:11:18
going to get these numbers up and if we
00:11:19
do we might get one or two at best
00:11:22
the stillwater river bridge was just
00:11:25
nine miles from the crime scene
00:11:28
about a half mile downstream police
00:11:31
discovered a black plastic bag that had
00:11:34
floated down the river and become caught
00:11:36
in some overhanging branches
00:11:43
it only makes sense if a guy was going
00:11:44
to throw the shotgun in the river he's
00:11:46
also going to show the other forensic
00:11:47
evidence in the river
00:11:48
inside police found a pair of latex
00:11:51
gloves two spent shotgun shells a green
00:11:55
hunting jumpsuit and quilting material
00:11:58
similar to the stuffing for the homemade
00:12:00
silencer we also found other items of
00:12:04
clothing
00:12:05
in addition to a stocking mask that
00:12:07
appeared to have been used they also
00:12:09
found tennis shoes which were compared
00:12:12
to the shoe impressions found at the
00:12:14
crime scene
00:12:15
examination of the cast taken at the
00:12:17
scene and comparison of those with the
00:12:19
shoes revealed that they were consistent
00:12:21
in tread design
00:12:23
but the ten issues were two sizes
00:12:25
smaller than the shoe size of their
00:12:27
prime suspect greg myers
00:12:29
so again there was nothing in the bag
00:12:32
which linked greg myers directly to the
00:12:34
murders they were certainly concerned
00:12:36
that a murderer could go free unless
00:12:39
they did a lot of work to put the case
00:12:41
together after that point
00:12:44
since the serial number on the shotgun
00:12:46
had been ground off
00:12:47
investigators sent the gun to forensic
00:12:50
scientist timothy door he knew that
00:12:53
scratch marks usually weren't as deep as
00:12:56
the original engraving the serial number
00:12:59
may only be a few thousands of an inch
00:13:01
but the compressed metal goes a lot
00:13:02
deeper into the metal
00:13:04
to restore the serial number
00:13:06
doer applied an acid solution which only
00:13:09
works at one level and goes no deeper
00:13:14
it'll actually eat away and you can
00:13:17
actually burn past the point of
00:13:18
compression reacts differently between
00:13:20
the compressed and uncompressed metal
00:13:22
the compressed being the serial number
00:13:24
the acid solution removed the top
00:13:26
surface
00:13:27
leaving the bottom or compressed metal
00:13:30
virtually untouched
00:13:32
upon utilizing the restoration
00:13:34
techniques on this shotgun i was able to
00:13:36
restore five of the eight digits in the
00:13:39
serial number
00:13:40
those restored were
00:13:42
l
00:13:43
three
00:13:44
one
00:13:45
four
00:13:46
five but there was no shotgun with those
00:13:50
serial numbers registered to greg myers
00:13:54
was this another dead end
00:13:57
[Music]
00:14:01
investigators had no proof that the
00:14:03
shotgun and clothes dumped in the
00:14:05
stillwater river belonged to their prime
00:14:08
suspect greg myers
00:14:10
one of the things we suspected was that
00:14:12
he probably sought out a firearm through
00:14:14
a classified ad which also means that
00:14:16
there's no atf paperwork to connect greg
00:14:19
to the firearm
00:14:21
on a hunch investigators subpoenaed
00:14:23
greg's cell phone records and look for
00:14:26
any unusual numbers
00:14:28
detectives basically went through those
00:14:30
records on the time period for the week
00:14:33
or so before the murders first
00:14:34
eliminating repetitive calls looking for
00:14:37
individual numbers that stand out
00:14:39
two numbers belong to individuals who
00:14:42
advertise shotguns for sale in a local
00:14:45
newspaper
00:14:46
one seller recalled making a sale that
00:14:49
week eugene adams had advice of
00:14:51
detectives that point that yes someone
00:14:53
had called his number came and purchased
00:14:55
the shotgun from him
00:14:57
adams told investigators that a man who
00:15:00
identified himself as greg myers bought
00:15:02
a 12-gauge winchester shotgun
00:15:06
adams
00:15:06
identified meyer's picture from a photo
00:15:09
lineup
00:15:11
adams also had the serial number of the
00:15:14
gun he sold to myers
00:15:17
it matched the serial number of the
00:15:19
shotgun found
00:15:20
in the stillwater
00:15:24
river but prosecutors needed to find a
00:15:27
way to definitively tie greg myers to
00:15:31
the evidence found in the garbage bag
00:15:34
and to do that
00:15:36
scientists looked once more
00:15:38
at the pair of latex gloves
00:15:41
most fingerprints are perspiration and
00:15:44
perspiration is 99
00:15:47
water
00:15:48
i didn't hold much hope that we were
00:15:49
going to get any fingerprints because
00:15:50
this bag had already been in the water
00:15:52
for several days submerged in water so
00:15:55
the chance of fingerprints was very
00:15:56
minimal
00:15:58
but just to be sure
00:15:59
they used ultraviolet light both inside
00:16:03
and out
00:16:04
the light will basically reflect off the
00:16:07
surface and basically i think the
00:16:08
light's actually absorbed by the
00:16:09
fingerprint itself
00:16:11
amazingly inside houston found what
00:16:15
scientists might call an anomaly but
00:16:18
laymen call a miracle
00:16:21
this is the only case i can remember
00:16:23
i've ever had a print to come up to this
00:16:25
quality that had been in the water for
00:16:27
over three four or five days
00:16:29
it was a partial print of an index
00:16:31
finger and it matched
00:16:34
greg myers
00:16:36
oh man i tell you what i was jumping up
00:16:38
and down to be real honest with you i
00:16:40
was like this is awesome
00:16:42
it survived most likely
00:16:45
because he touched skin oil first
00:16:48
it's possible that greg myers wiped his
00:16:50
forehead before he put his hand inside
00:16:52
the glove the oils from the forehead
00:16:53
area would maybe transfer to his finger
00:16:56
making that more of an oil-based type
00:16:58
latent print
00:16:59
with all the planning that he tried to
00:17:01
do to avoid leaving evidence he ends up
00:17:04
leaving a fingerprint inside the glove
00:17:06
with the right index finger which would
00:17:08
be his trigger finger
00:17:10
lastly police canvassed gun stores in
00:17:13
the area and found an invaluable piece
00:17:16
of surveillance tape
00:17:18
that videotape conclusively showed greg
00:17:21
myers while he was accompanied by his
00:17:23
own two small children purchasing the
00:17:25
ammunition
00:17:26
it was federal brand ammunition the same
00:17:29
used in the murders and that happened
00:17:32
just
00:17:33
two days before the crimes were
00:17:35
committed
00:17:37
greg myers was arrested and charged with
00:17:40
two counts of murder
00:17:44
prosecutors believe greg bought
00:17:46
undersized shoes overalls to protect his
00:17:49
clothing and what he believed to be an
00:17:52
untraceable shotgun
00:17:54
[Music]
00:17:58
he fashioned a homemade silencer
00:18:01
then
00:18:02
headed to his father's house around four
00:18:04
o'clock in the morning
00:18:11
he staged the scene to make it look like
00:18:13
a break-in
00:18:15
and left his shoe impressions evidence
00:18:18
he wanted police to find
00:18:20
[Music]
00:18:22
according to the autopsy
00:18:24
he shot his father first
00:18:28
his stepmother woke up raised her arm to
00:18:31
protect herself and he shot her too
00:18:35
greg then went upstairs
00:18:37
to check on johnny
00:18:40
who must have pretended he was asleep or
00:18:42
else
00:18:43
he may have been killed too
00:18:47
although johnny didn't recognize his
00:18:49
uncle's face he certainly remembered the
00:18:52
green overalls
00:19:00
it was greg's van that the neighbor saw
00:19:03
leaving the house around 4 30 in the
00:19:05
morning
00:19:08
[Music]
00:19:10
his way to work greg threw the shotgun
00:19:12
into the stillwater river
00:19:16
he put everything else in the garbage
00:19:18
bag and threw that into the river as
00:19:20
well
00:19:29
the next morning tragically
00:19:31
four-year-old johnny woke to find his
00:19:34
great-grandparents dead
00:19:38
incredibly he ran over a mile to his
00:19:41
preschool
00:19:44
[Music]
00:19:51
no one knows how he possibly found it
00:19:54
but he
00:20:04
did he got there
00:20:07
he described the scene in the only way
00:20:10
he could by simply explaining what he
00:20:13
saw
00:20:14
i walked into my grandparents room and i
00:20:16
found the mountain
00:20:19
i was very angry very sad he took my
00:20:23
mother and my stepfather by murdering
00:20:27
both of them he was supposed to be my
00:20:30
close brother
00:20:32
it
00:20:33
saddened me sick and me angered me
00:20:37
a jury found greg myers guilty of two
00:20:40
counts of aggravated murder
00:20:42
he was sentenced to two life sentences
00:20:45
with no possibility of parole for all
00:20:48
his careful planning he never realized
00:20:52
two things
00:20:53
first that the police could raise the
00:20:55
scratched serial number and tie the
00:20:58
shotgun to him
00:21:00
and second that he left his fingerprint
00:21:02
inside the latex glove that tied him to
00:21:06
everything in the garbage bag
00:21:10
when we found that shotgun it was just
00:21:12
amazing it was
00:21:13
it was it was a a sense of relief that
00:21:17
we had some physical evidence we could
00:21:19
get our hands on that i was hoping was
00:21:21
going to connect him
00:21:23
mr myers attempted to commit the perfect
00:21:25
crime he planned
00:21:28
he schemed he
00:21:29
purchased
00:21:31
he had it all thought out but in the end
00:21:33
it didn't it didn't work out in his
00:21:35
favor thankfully it worked out on the
00:21:37
side of justice
00:21:44
you
