00:00:06
when a popular high school teacher was
00:00:08
found dead of a gunshot wound
00:00:11
investigators believed it was an
00:00:13
accident
00:00:16
but an audio tape recorded by the victim
00:00:18
just three days before his death
00:00:21
raised serious questions that required
00:00:24
answers
00:00:26
[Music]
00:00:37
[Applause]
00:00:39
[Music]
00:00:45
[Applause]
00:00:52
historic durham north carolina is both a
00:00:54
big city and a small town
00:00:57
best known as the home of duke
00:00:59
university and its world-famous medical
00:01:02
center
00:01:04
but it is also a close-knit southern
00:01:06
community where families stay for
00:01:09
generations
00:01:10
great place to raise a family you look
00:01:12
around for communities throughout the
00:01:14
country that have wonderful school
00:01:16
systems great parks great recreational
00:01:18
facilities for children and families and
00:01:20
you'll find that here
00:01:22
at durham high school russell steger was
00:01:24
a popular baseball coach and driver's
00:01:27
education teacher
00:01:28
a man respected by faculty and students
00:01:31
alike
00:01:33
jennifer joyner was one of russ steger's
00:01:36
students
00:01:37
all the kids who needed advice or
00:01:40
needed someone to talk with about their
00:01:43
problems coach steger his door was
00:01:45
always open and
00:01:48
he just meant a lot to the kids there
00:01:51
after college russ steger married his
00:01:54
high school sweetheart joe lynn
00:01:57
russ was a very
00:01:59
gentle
00:02:00
compassionate
00:02:02
caring full of life
00:02:04
human being he embraced life um he had a
00:02:08
very tender heart
00:02:10
unfortunately stiger wasn't as
00:02:13
successful in his personal life as he
00:02:15
was in his professional life
00:02:17
after four years of marriage russ and
00:02:19
joe lynn divorced
00:02:23
less than a year later
00:02:25
russ married a 31 year old widow barbara
00:02:27
ford he adopted her two sons brian and
00:02:31
jason
00:02:32
he took in barbara's sons as his own he
00:02:35
loved them he cared for them
00:02:38
and treated him like like they were his
00:02:40
own sons
00:02:41
barbara worked as a secretary at duke
00:02:43
university medical center
00:02:45
russ continued to teach and coach
00:02:49
he worked weekends in the national guard
00:02:52
and with his new wife barbara taught
00:02:54
sunday school in their church
00:02:57
by all outward appearances russ and
00:02:59
barbara steger lived a storybook
00:03:02
life but all that changed in the early
00:03:06
morning hours of february 1st 1988
00:03:14
just as the night shift was ending
00:03:16
police got an emergency call of a
00:03:18
shooting at the stager home
00:03:22
russ steger was found sprawled on his
00:03:24
bed with a bullet wound to the back of
00:03:26
his head
00:03:28
he died three hours later in the
00:03:29
hospital
00:03:31
she kept saying she kept making the
00:03:33
comment i kept telling him about those
00:03:35
damn guns i kept telling him about those
00:03:37
damn guns
00:03:40
[Music]
00:03:46
barbara steger said that russ slept with
00:03:48
a 25 caliber pistol under his pillow
00:03:51
because of some recent burglaries in the
00:03:54
neighborhood
00:03:55
[Music]
00:03:59
just before dawn
00:04:00
barbara said she was awakened when one
00:04:02
of her sons went into the bathroom
00:04:05
barbara was worried that russ might
00:04:08
mistake her son for a prowler
00:04:11
so she tried to remove the pistol from
00:04:13
underneath russ's pillow
00:04:16
[Music]
00:04:20
when she did the gun accidentally fired
00:04:23
shooting russ in the back of the head
00:04:27
the death was ruled an accidental
00:04:30
shooting
00:04:31
he was a mentor he was a baseball coach
00:04:34
he was a likable guy to so many children
00:04:37
at a durham high school
00:04:38
and they felt a sense of loss they felt
00:04:42
a sense of shock they felt a sense of
00:04:44
disbelief what has happened to the guy
00:04:47
that we loved when i first heard it i
00:04:49
couldn't believe it i was like no not
00:04:51
coach steger he was a great coach and
00:04:53
everything
00:04:54
learned wanted the news i felt sorry in
00:04:56
my heart
00:04:57
history had unfortunately repeated
00:04:59
itself in a bizarre coincidence
00:05:02
barbara's first husband had died in a
00:05:05
shooting accident too
00:05:07
he was cleaning his 25 caliber pistol
00:05:09
when it accidentally went off shooting
00:05:11
himself in the chest
00:05:18
barbara steger was now a widow once more
00:05:22
because
00:05:23
of a shooting mishap
00:05:27
[Music]
00:05:30
a few hours after rustager's death
00:05:32
detective rick buchanan went to the
00:05:34
stagger home to ask some routine
00:05:37
questions
00:05:38
[Applause]
00:05:40
when he got there
00:05:41
barbara steger's father was removing the
00:05:43
bloody sheets pillow and bed spread
00:05:47
since the death had been ruled
00:05:49
accidental the bedding was not
00:05:51
considered evidence
00:05:52
[Music]
00:05:55
it was buchanan's first interview with
00:05:58
barbara steger
00:05:59
she was a little withdrawn perhaps but
00:06:01
she was not overly friendly she was not
00:06:06
boo hoo and all way through the
00:06:07
interview
00:06:08
barbara steger repeated her account of
00:06:11
her husband's death saying the gun went
00:06:13
off accidentally as she pulled it from
00:06:15
under her husband's pillow
00:06:17
she told buchanan that her nine years of
00:06:20
marriage to russ had been happy that he
00:06:22
was a great father to her two young boys
00:06:25
something wasn't right i couldn't put my
00:06:28
finger on it
00:06:29
i didn't know exactly what it was
00:06:32
but it still wasn't enough
00:06:35
to to indicate anything other than
00:06:37
accidental shooting
00:06:38
the news of russ steger's death was
00:06:41
particularly troubling to his first wife
00:06:44
joe lynn
00:06:46
my reaction was it was no accident and
00:06:49
that's what i said to my parents
00:06:52
and i remember my dad said you you can't
00:06:54
know that it was no accident you can
00:06:56
suspect but you can't know and i said no
00:06:59
i know
00:07:00
that it was no accident
00:07:04
joe lynn wrote a letter to police
00:07:06
because russ often confided in her
00:07:10
russ told her that barbara removed large
00:07:12
sums of money from their bank account
00:07:15
and that he suspected barbara was having
00:07:18
sexual affairs with other men
00:07:22
he had once caught her kissing another
00:07:23
man in a parking lot
00:07:27
when investigators looked into barbara
00:07:29
steger's background
00:07:31
they learned some surprising information
00:07:34
about her first marriage
00:07:36
her first husband had died in bed
00:07:39
and was killed
00:07:42
at the business end of a 25 caliber
00:07:44
pistol
00:07:45
and so now we have um a lady
00:07:48
who's had two husbands killed in bed
00:07:51
with a 25 caliber gun
00:07:53
and on both occasions she was present
00:07:56
barbara's first husband larry ford had
00:07:58
been cleaning his 25-caliber pistol when
00:08:01
it accidentally discharged shooting him
00:08:03
in the chest
00:08:05
although the death of larry ford had
00:08:07
been ruled an accident his family
00:08:10
vigorously fought to have the case
00:08:11
investigated as a possible murder
00:08:14
but the ruling was never changed
00:08:18
barbara inherited larry ford's entire
00:08:20
estate
00:08:22
and suspicions remained
00:08:24
investigators now had another suspicious
00:08:28
death and more questions about the same
00:08:31
woman
00:08:32
i desperately wanted to know that truth
00:08:36
i wanted a full-blown investigation
00:08:39
if it was accidental i wanted that to be
00:08:42
known
00:08:43
but if it was not accidental as i so
00:08:46
suspected i wanted that to come out too
00:08:50
90 of what we do
00:08:52
is common sense and then we apply the
00:08:55
other ten percent to law
00:08:58
and if it looks like a duck walks like
00:09:00
quacks like a duck by god it's gonna be
00:09:02
a duck
00:09:03
was it possible
00:09:05
that barbara steger was not unlucky at
00:09:08
all
00:09:09
but was in fact
00:09:11
a serial killer
00:09:18
the death of barbra stiger's first
00:09:20
husband larry ford by an accidental
00:09:23
self-inflicted gunshot wound to the
00:09:25
chest had officially been declared an
00:09:28
accident
00:09:29
and after 10 years the case had long
00:09:32
been forgotten
00:09:33
but shortly before his death it had
00:09:36
clearly been on the mind of russ staker
00:09:39
barbara's second husband
00:09:42
russ steger told his ex-wife joe lynn
00:09:44
that he feared for his own life
00:09:47
he also knew that her first husband had
00:09:49
died
00:09:50
under somewhat mysterious circumstances
00:09:53
and so when he put all of that together
00:09:55
i think he
00:09:57
he was a little concerned for his safety
00:09:59
but it would
00:10:00
mostly he felt paranoid
00:10:04
according to barbara steger
00:10:06
the gun under her husband's pillow had
00:10:09
gone off accidentally as she tried to
00:10:11
remove it
00:10:14
barbara said the gun had a hair trigger
00:10:16
and that she had barely touched it
00:10:18
before it went off
00:10:21
firearms expert eugene bishop performed
00:10:24
what's known as a trigger pull test on
00:10:26
the gun
00:10:28
weights are attached to the trigger in
00:10:30
one pound increments to measure the
00:10:32
force required to pull the trigger
00:10:35
the gun had a four pound trigger pull
00:10:38
which is no hair trigger
00:10:43
deliberate force would be required to
00:10:46
fire the gun
00:10:48
a contradiction of barbara steger's
00:10:50
story
00:10:51
in the autopsy
00:10:53
medical investigators discovered another
00:10:55
discrepancy the trajectory of the fatal
00:10:58
bullet was not consistent with barbara
00:11:01
steger's account
00:11:02
the bullet struck rustager's head in a
00:11:05
downward angle
00:11:09
barbara claimed that the gun fired as
00:11:12
she pulled it from under the pillow
00:11:14
which would have sent the bullet in an
00:11:16
upward trajectory
00:11:18
the angle of the trajectory
00:11:21
would indicate that
00:11:23
she was above and behind russ when the
00:11:25
shot was fired
00:11:27
so it was the autopsy was inconsistent
00:11:30
with the story she was telling
00:11:33
the spent shell casing was found just
00:11:35
inches from the gun near russ steger's
00:11:38
head
00:11:39
eugene bishop test-fired the pistol and
00:11:42
found that it ejected shell casings to
00:11:44
the right and rear of the shooter which
00:11:47
meant
00:11:48
if barbara's version was correct
00:11:50
the shell casing should have been found
00:11:53
somewhere in the middle of the bed
00:11:56
as far as the story concern was not what
00:11:59
she was saying her story did not
00:12:00
coincide with my findings
00:12:03
looking at the crime scene pictures of
00:12:05
the cartridge case itself where it was
00:12:06
laying on the bed it could not have been
00:12:09
fired as she said it was fired
00:12:13
when any firearm is discharged dust oil
00:12:17
and gunpowder are expelled from the
00:12:19
barrel
00:12:21
if barbara's version was correct powder
00:12:24
burns would have been present on the
00:12:26
sheets
00:12:27
the sheets had been removed by barbara's
00:12:29
father immediately after the shooting
00:12:31
and had been laundered
00:12:33
but powder residue can be identified
00:12:36
even after fabrics have been washed
00:12:40
when the sheets were examined
00:12:42
scientists found no evidence of
00:12:44
gunpowder residue
00:12:47
with all of these contradictions
00:12:49
detective rick buchanan asked barbara
00:12:52
steger to demonstrate on videotape what
00:12:55
happened on the morning of the accident
00:12:58
oh i'm standing face-to-face with killer
00:12:59
i know it but she don't know i know it
00:13:03
with the detective playing the part of
00:13:04
russ staker barbara steger recreates her
00:13:08
version of the story and i don't know
00:13:11
how it was in my hand i have no idea if
00:13:13
i touched i don't know i don't know and
00:13:16
almost immediately she realizes there
00:13:20
are inconsistencies
00:13:24
well wait a minute that one's quite long
00:13:26
okay
00:13:29
and then i start getting up okay that's
00:13:31
how that's how it was to start getting
00:13:33
up with it in my hand but i don't know
00:13:35
how i had it in my hand
00:13:37
okay
00:13:38
she's repositioning the body
00:13:41
in the bed with her trying to make it
00:13:43
fit her story
00:13:44
and she can't do it
00:13:46
she's a lying ass [ __ ]
00:13:50
and that was probably vocalized
00:13:53
as i watched the video
00:13:55
and replayed it and replayed it and
00:13:57
replayed it
00:13:58
there was no doubt at all
00:14:01
that she
00:14:02
intentionally
00:14:03
shot and killed russ steiger
00:14:06
no doubt
00:14:07
whatsoever
00:14:09
[Music]
00:14:12
police also doubted that russ steger a
00:14:15
member of the united states national
00:14:16
guard with weapons training would have
00:14:19
placed a loaded pistol under his pillow
00:14:21
with the safety turned off and cocked
00:14:25
with a round already in the chamber
00:14:28
this along with barbara steger's
00:14:31
videotape recreation was enough to
00:14:33
convince investigators that russ
00:14:36
stager's death
00:14:38
was no accident
00:14:40
but investigators were not prepared for
00:14:43
the next clue in the case
00:14:45
a message
00:14:46
from the victim himself this is russ
00:14:49
steger this is january 29th 1988
00:14:54
10
00:14:56
minutes i started to get up to get it
00:14:59
out from under there
00:15:01
heard the noise
00:15:03
shocked
00:15:05
evidence was mounting that russ steger's
00:15:07
death was not the accident claimed by
00:15:10
his wife barbara but if she had killed
00:15:12
him in cold blood as police suspected
00:15:15
they needed to find the motive
00:15:18
for that they looked into the couple's
00:15:20
financial records
00:15:22
though the staggers had a modest income
00:15:24
russ was a school teacher barbara a
00:15:26
secretary barbara was known for spending
00:15:30
extravagantly
00:15:31
and the couple was deeply in debt
00:15:34
we learned that barber had
00:15:36
become involved in some debt
00:15:38
and this apparently was without russ's
00:15:40
knowledge uh it appeared to be credit
00:15:42
card debt among other things
00:15:45
records of the stigers bank transactions
00:15:48
were sent to forensic documents examiner
00:15:50
derwood matheny
00:15:52
he compared russ steger's known
00:15:55
signatures to signatures found on that
00:15:58
second bank loan as well as his will
00:16:02
which had been revised only months
00:16:04
before his death they brought to me a
00:16:07
will they brought me some checks and
00:16:09
other documents
00:16:10
that were signed with the name russell
00:16:12
steger
00:16:13
that it was not his signature
00:16:15
on the wheel i determined that it was a
00:16:18
simulation of the signature other words
00:16:19
someone trying to make it look like his
00:16:20
signature
00:16:23
if russ steger hadn't signed these
00:16:26
documents
00:16:27
who did
00:16:28
there was actually forged checks where
00:16:31
russ steger's account was being drawn
00:16:32
upon and the money was being deposited
00:16:34
in barbara steger's account so all the
00:16:37
financial evidence tended to show
00:16:39
that barbara was in debt and russ did
00:16:42
not know about it
00:16:43
the beneficiary of the forged life
00:16:45
insurance policy with the payout of 170
00:16:48
thousand dollars was none other
00:16:51
than his wife barbara steger
00:16:53
[Music]
00:16:56
the final piece of evidence in the case
00:16:59
came from a most unlikely source
00:17:04
at durham high school
00:17:06
one of rustager's students was cleaning
00:17:08
a gym locker when he came upon a
00:17:10
cassette tape
00:17:12
the voice on the tape
00:17:14
was one he recognized immediately
00:17:18
this is uh russ steger
00:17:22
this is january 29th
00:17:24
[Applause]
00:17:25
1988
00:17:27
10 minutes
00:17:29
she stood there the tape was recorded
00:17:32
just three days before rustager's death
00:17:35
on the tape
00:17:36
he confided his belief
00:17:39
that his wife barbara
00:17:41
was planning to kill him
00:17:43
last few nights
00:17:45
barbara has worked me up
00:17:47
and gave me what she said was too
00:17:49
aspirin she stood there to see if i took
00:17:52
it
00:17:53
i did not take it
00:17:55
russ steger went on to question the
00:17:57
allegedly accidental death of barbara's
00:18:00
first husband
00:18:02
the first one
00:18:05
i don't know what happened but according
00:18:07
to his parents
00:18:08
there was some foul play going on
00:18:11
he
00:18:12
supposedly accidentally shot himself
00:18:17
in their bedroom
00:18:18
my question is
00:18:20
did
00:18:22
her husband
00:18:23
larry ford
00:18:25
accidentally shoot himself sometimes i
00:18:28
wonder
00:18:30
listening to that tape was surreal
00:18:33
i had never
00:18:34
ever
00:18:36
experienced anything quite like that in
00:18:38
prosecution
00:18:39
where
00:18:40
you try a case a person for homicide and
00:18:43
yet the victim
00:18:45
who you represent
00:18:46
who has no voice in the courtroom
00:18:49
is now telling you what he is feeling
00:18:51
experiencing
00:18:53
and worried about immediately prior
00:18:56
to his execution so to speak
00:18:59
investigators now had both evidence and
00:19:03
motive
00:19:04
barbara steger was arrested on a charge
00:19:07
of first degree murder
00:19:11
here these will help you sleep
00:19:13
prosecutors believe that barbara steger
00:19:16
had been planning her husband's death
00:19:18
for weeks
00:19:21
first with poison
00:19:23
and when that was unsuccessful
00:19:25
with the gun
00:19:27
shortly before dawn
00:19:29
prosecutors believe that barbara removed
00:19:32
the 25 caliber handgun from its usual
00:19:35
place in the dresser drawer
00:19:39
walked over to her sleeping husband
00:19:42
and fired into the back of his head
00:19:45
the bullet entered at a downward angle
00:19:49
she was also standing above the bed
00:19:52
which explains the lack of powder burns
00:19:54
on the bedding
00:19:56
to stage the scene
00:19:58
bob replaced the spent shell casing just
00:20:00
inches from her husband's head which was
00:20:03
a mistake
00:20:04
if the gun went off as she pulled it
00:20:06
from under the pillow as she claimed
00:20:08
the shell casing would have ejected to
00:20:10
the right
00:20:12
towards the foot of the bed
00:20:14
the angle of the bullet the placement of
00:20:16
the shell casing the lack of powder
00:20:19
burns the forged will and life insurance
00:20:22
policy and
00:20:24
most damning of all
00:20:26
russ steger predicting his own murder on
00:20:29
audio tape
00:20:30
made a compelling case to drawers
00:20:33
without the forensics
00:20:35
of this case
00:20:36
there would have been nothing but
00:20:38
theory and speculation
00:20:41
and you can't prosecute
00:20:43
theory and speculation
00:20:45
you've got to have
00:20:46
physical evidence
00:20:48
that's where the forensics came in
00:20:51
barbara steger was found guilty of first
00:20:54
degree murder and was sentenced to death
00:20:57
her sentence was later reduced to life
00:20:59
in prison after an appeal i think
00:21:03
those of us who cared so deeply for us
00:21:05
ran it and raved and
00:21:07
felt this was so unfair
00:21:10
to take someone so special and so kind
00:21:13
and
00:21:15
you there's there's never an answer to
00:21:17
why there's there's never an answer to
00:21:20
why
00:21:21
evil wins sometimes
00:21:24
prosecutors also suspect that barbara
00:21:27
steger was responsible for her first
00:21:29
husband's death
00:21:31
but with her current life sentence
00:21:34
they see no need for further prosecution
00:21:37
this case was a terrible tragedy
00:21:40
a good man
00:21:41
not just one but two are gone
00:21:45
and
00:21:48
they're gone forever because of the
00:21:50
criminal conduct of barbara steger
00:21:53
and
00:21:54
our court system worked it uncovered the
00:21:57
truth
00:21:59
a verdict was rendered and justice was
00:22:01
done
00:22:02
[Music]
00:22:12
[Music]
00:22:18
[Music]
00:22:21
so
00:22:23
[Music]
00:22:33
you
