00:00:05
the song is called the cheater here Bob
00:00:07
cubin and the
00:00:08
inmen in the 1960s for lead singer
00:00:12
Walter Scott the cheater became both his
00:00:16
signature song and a hit
00:00:19
single but like so many others Walter
00:00:22
Scott was a on hit wonder never able to
00:00:26
repeat the success with another song
00:00:30
after 14 straight years of performing on
00:00:33
the road mostly one nighters Walter
00:00:36
Scott
00:00:38
disappeared many believed that the
00:00:40
lyrics watch out for the cheater weren't
00:00:43
just words but an omen
00:00:50
[Music]
00:01:21
the famous Arch in St Louis missou
00:01:24
stands as a symbolic Gateway recalling
00:01:26
its role as the last stop for Pioneers
00:01:29
before heading
00:01:31
west later St Louis became a well-known
00:01:34
stop along America's music Corridor
00:01:36
which included meis and New
00:01:40
Orleans pop Legends Chuck Barry and Tina
00:01:43
Turner launched their careers here as
00:01:46
did a local boy Walter
00:01:50
[Music]
00:01:53
Scott for the
00:01:56
cheater make way for the CL Walter Scott
00:02:01
was the lead singer for the rock and
00:02:02
roll band Bob Cuban and the Inman in
00:02:07
1966 the group started recording and
00:02:10
gained national attention thanks to
00:02:12
Walter's stage presence and vocal
00:02:15
range I can't get over how he can
00:02:17
remember all those words in those in
00:02:20
those songs cuz I couldn't do it he was
00:02:23
really good at that he loves singing
00:02:25
though he really loved it when he was in
00:02:27
the bathtub the neighbors next door used
00:02:29
to come out and sit in their yard to
00:02:31
listen to Wally saying Wally's taking a
00:02:33
bath Wally could have been doing the
00:02:34
showrooms in Las Vegas let's put it that
00:02:36
way his chops were so good that last
00:02:39
rehearsal we had I couldn't believe it I
00:02:41
mean the guy just blew me away I had no
00:02:43
idea his voice had gotten that good
00:02:45
eventually the band's signature song the
00:02:48
cheater reached number 12 on the
00:02:51
Billboard
00:02:52
Chart along with the notoriety came the
00:02:57
women well that's true he was quite a
00:03:00
lady and man you take a good-look guy
00:03:03
and he's like a like a movie star back
00:03:04
then you know to to a lot of women I'm
00:03:07
sure and uh you know he he liked the
00:03:10
ladies throughout the 1970s and 80s
00:03:14
Walter continued to sing with various
00:03:16
bands throughout the United States doing
00:03:18
what are called one
00:03:20
nighters this kept Walter away from home
00:03:23
for most of the time anyway this song
00:03:26
Sold over main copies in my way of
00:03:27
saying thank you to sing it for you it's
00:03:29
now it wasn't long before Walter's Life
00:03:32
mimicked the lyrics of his hit song
00:03:34
watch out for the
00:03:37
[Music]
00:03:43
cheater while Walter was married to his
00:03:45
first wife Doris he was having an affair
00:03:48
with the girl he met while on the road
00:03:50
Joanne Kolkata it wasn't long before
00:03:53
Walter divorced Doris and married Joanne
00:03:57
although his family didn't approve Jo
00:04:00
was false she was false from day one
00:04:04
everything was joying joying
00:04:05
joying I still didn't feel like I could
00:04:09
trust her and I didn't think she was
00:04:11
good for Wally but I what could I do
00:04:14
ladies and gentlemen Miss
00:04:15
Susan with Walter's travel schedule his
00:04:19
second marriage didn't work out any
00:04:20
better than his first and he got
00:04:22
involved in a sexual relationship with
00:04:24
one of his dancers Suzanne
00:04:27
Flynn not surprisingly Walter wasn't the
00:04:31
only one cheating his wife Joanne was
00:04:34
having an affair with an electrician Jim
00:04:37
Williams whom she met while he was doing
00:04:39
some work in her home her and I just
00:04:42
kind of HD it off you know we just
00:04:45
really liked each other's conversation
00:04:47
she was really down about Walter being
00:04:49
on the road a lot because he was on home
00:04:51
like about 10 12 weeks out of the Year
00:04:54
Jim Williams was cheating too he had
00:04:57
been married to his wife Sharon for 20
00:05:00
years it was like Payton Place everybody
00:05:02
was running around with each other's
00:05:04
wives
00:05:06
husbands in October of
00:05:09
1983 the Williams family received some
00:05:12
terrible news Sharon Williams had been
00:05:14
in a serious automobile accident her car
00:05:18
had run off the road and down an
00:05:21
embankment just a few miles from her
00:05:25
home when help arrived there was a grass
00:05:29
fire of foot high burning beside the car
00:05:32
Jo I got a victim here I got a female
00:05:34
Vic
00:05:36
car pretty good we Sharon was on the
00:05:38
floor of the car she was unconscious and
00:05:41
barely alive give me
00:05:45
hand I got it I got
00:05:47
it somewhere around 7:30 in the evening
00:05:50
I get a call from the uh Sheriff's
00:05:53
Department told me that my wife had been
00:05:55
in a bad car
00:05:57
accident not to leave the house an
00:05:59
officer would come out and pick me up
00:06:02
there was only minor damage to the car
00:06:04
but Sharon had received a serious head
00:06:06
injury okay I got a pul county got to
00:06:09
get she was rushed to a local hospital
00:06:12
there wasn't much that could be done her
00:06:15
skull was fractured she never regained
00:06:19
Consciousness the doctor comes to me he
00:06:21
said we can pull the plug and let her go
00:06:24
or you can leave the plug plugged
00:06:27
in and
00:06:29
keep her like this for years well what
00:06:32
are you going to do Jim Williams took
00:06:35
her off life support the following day
00:06:38
no autopsy was
00:06:42
performed 2 months later there was more
00:06:45
bad news this time for Walter Scott's
00:06:49
family it was Christmas time and Walter
00:06:52
Scott had just returned home from his
00:06:54
concert tour to spend the holidays with
00:06:56
his wife and
00:06:57
children friends said said that Walter
00:07:00
didn't appear to be himself that he was
00:07:03
distracted 2 days after Christmas Joan
00:07:07
Scott called police to report Walter
00:07:10
missing she said he had left for a
00:07:13
garage to get a new battery for his car
00:07:15
and that he had not returned home the
00:07:18
owner of the garage said Walter never
00:07:22
arrived the next day the police found
00:07:25
Walter's automobile abandoned in a
00:07:28
parking lot at the St l Lewis
00:07:30
airport but none of the flight manifests
00:07:33
listed Walter Scott as a
00:07:38
[Music]
00:07:45
passenger when Walter Scott was first
00:07:48
reported missing his father wasn't
00:07:51
terribly concerned Walter had a
00:07:53
reputation for taking quick trips out of
00:07:55
town I didn't figure nothing wrong with
00:07:58
it but my wife says
00:08:00
something wrong with wal Ah hell here'll
00:08:02
be home here come here we come showing
00:08:06
up the next day Walter's parents visited
00:08:10
their son's home and were surprised by
00:08:13
what they saw okay Jim Williams was
00:08:17
sitting at the kitchen table going
00:08:19
through Walter's jewelry case how you
00:08:21
guys he looked as if he was a valuating
00:08:24
the quality of Walter's jewelry about
00:08:26
the gun two of Walter's guns were
00:08:29
sitting on on the edge of the table his
00:08:31
third a 22 caliber pistol was missing
00:08:35
are those waterers
00:08:38
guns yes what are they doing there I was
00:08:42
just looking at and police learned that
00:08:45
Jim Williams car had been parked in
00:08:47
front of Joanne's home the entire night
00:08:51
before Joanne insisted the Jim had slept
00:08:54
on the
00:08:56
sofa Walter was missing for only 24
00:09:01
hours before Joanne called Walter's
00:09:03
manager cancelling his performances for
00:09:06
the next nine weeks
00:09:08
can two days later Jim Williams and Joan
00:09:13
Scott drove to Pennsylvania where they
00:09:15
looked through the band's trailer for
00:09:17
any personal items Walter may have left
00:09:20
behind while there they shared a motel
00:09:24
room we stayed in a motel together she
00:09:27
was in this bed and I was in this bed
00:09:29
she you never took her clothes off I
00:09:30
took my shirt off I had a t-shirt under
00:09:33
the search for Walter Scott continued
00:09:36
throughout the spring and summer no
00:09:38
family member or fellow musicians had
00:09:40
seen or heard from him the trail had
00:09:44
turned
00:09:45
cold I had doubts I I really did I had
00:09:48
doubts that we would ever find him I
00:09:51
held out I thought that Wally had taken
00:09:55
off the last thing in my mind was that
00:09:58
something had happened to him
00:10:00
desperate for any help she could find
00:10:03
Walter's mother even consulted a psychic
00:10:06
and he told me that he's in cold cold
00:10:09
water it's not moving
00:10:12
water and there's a big red
00:10:16
Barrel or something Red by the side of
00:10:19
the road where he's at and he's not far
00:10:21
from home it was then that Mrs Noti had
00:10:25
an inkling of where Walter might be
00:10:29
and Jim Williams had a red door on his
00:10:32
house police searched Jim Williams
00:10:35
property but found nothing suspicious 9
00:10:38
months after Walter disappeared Joanne
00:10:41
filed for divorce citing abandonment and
00:10:45
adultery Joanne then married Jim
00:10:50
Williams at about the same time there
00:10:53
were some big changes being made at the
00:10:55
medical examiner's office in St Louis a
00:10:59
forensic pathologist was hired to
00:11:01
conduct autopsies on all suspicious
00:11:04
deaths Dr Mary case was the new forensic
00:11:08
pathologist so they asked me if I would
00:11:11
look at an old case that they had and
00:11:13
they brought me this it was like a twft
00:11:15
stack of material it was the Sharon
00:11:18
Williams automobile accident case the
00:11:22
car accident was rather a minimal
00:11:25
front-end collision and there was no
00:11:27
explanation for why she should have any
00:11:29
kind of impact injuries to the back of
00:11:31
her head there were a number of
00:11:34
suspicious elements in this accident the
00:11:37
driver's side door was wide open the
00:11:39
driver's seat pushed back as far as it
00:11:41
could go yet Sharon Williams was not a
00:11:44
tall woman there was no damage to the
00:11:47
car's fuel line yet a grass fire burned
00:11:50
near the car and in the emergency room
00:11:54
nurses reported a strong smell of
00:11:57
gasoline on Sharon's body body with so
00:12:01
many unanswered questions Dr case
00:12:04
ordered Sharon Williams body exume for
00:12:08
an
00:12:09
autopsy the body told a far different
00:12:13
story than the accident report there
00:12:16
were two blunt impacts to the back of
00:12:19
her head that caused vertical
00:12:21
lacerations and very massive skull
00:12:24
fracturing this is not consistent with a
00:12:25
head-on collision of a very minor nature
00:12:28
so um her death was then considered a
00:12:33
homicide Dr case believes that a pipe or
00:12:36
crowbar caused these head injuries not
00:12:40
the automobile
00:12:41
accident but who had orchestrated
00:12:44
Sharon's death to look like an accident
00:12:48
I didn't kill Sharon Williams but police
00:12:52
weren't too sure
00:12:54
[Music]
00:13:02
once Sharon Williams death was ruled a
00:13:04
homicide her ex-husband Jim became the
00:13:07
prime
00:13:08
suspect police also suspected that
00:13:11
Walter Scott's disappearance was somehow
00:13:14
connected by this time Walter had been
00:13:17
missing for 3
00:13:18
years when police heard that Jim
00:13:21
Williams AR strange son jimy was serving
00:13:24
time in a Florida prison for an
00:13:25
unrelated crime they decided to pay him
00:13:28
a a
00:13:29
visit during questioning Jimmy Jr made
00:13:33
some provocative statements about the
00:13:35
3year search for Walter Scott's
00:13:39
whereabouts he was kind of sarcastic he
00:13:42
I guess was kind of making fun of the
00:13:44
police making comments like you guys
00:13:46
aren't smart enough to figure this out
00:13:48
it was cold it the rivers were frozen
00:13:51
the Lakes were frozen you couldn't the
00:13:54
the ground was
00:13:55
frozen where would my dad get rid of a
00:13:58
body
00:13:59
he was very very suspicious that his
00:14:02
father built a flower box over the
00:14:05
sistern and that sistern has been
00:14:07
exposed his whole life police took out a
00:14:11
warrant to search Jim Williams home at
00:14:14
5647 gutmouth Road the sistern was in
00:14:18
the backyard covered with
00:14:21
concrete there was a flower box on
00:14:25
top upon taking the cover off the flower
00:14:28
box
00:14:29
we immediately noticed that the sistern
00:14:31
was full of water after looking down
00:14:34
inside the sistern we could see what
00:14:36
appeared to be a body floating on top of
00:14:37
the water in the same type of jogging
00:14:40
suit that Joan had reported Walter
00:14:42
wearing the last time he was
00:14:44
seen after the body was removed the
00:14:48
sistern was drained there were several
00:14:51
large concrete blocks at the bottom
00:14:53
along with a sealed plastic bag with
00:14:56
Walter's credit cards and driver's
00:14:58
license
00:14:59
Walter's body was bound with a yellow
00:15:03
rope the wrists were bound the knees
00:15:05
were bound and the ankles were bound and
00:15:07
there was a length of that rope
00:15:09
extending from the body that had a large
00:15:11
loop tied in it surmising that it was
00:15:14
tied do some bricks that were in the
00:15:16
bottom of the system Walter Scott's
00:15:18
autopsy revealed he had been shot in the
00:15:22
back what I could see on the X-ray was
00:15:25
what we call a snowstorm effect tiny
00:15:28
little fragments of Leed where a high
00:15:30
velocity bullet has kind of shattered in
00:15:32
the body and that's a very typical thing
00:15:35
that allows um a forensic pathologist to
00:15:37
say well that's a high velocity gunshot
00:15:40
wound because of the severe
00:15:42
decomposition it was impossible to
00:15:45
determine what type of weapon was used I
00:15:49
didn't kill Walter Scott if I'm going to
00:15:51
kill a man I'm going to shoot him right
00:15:52
between the eyes I ain't going to take a
00:15:53
chance of missing the heart shooting
00:15:54
them in the
00:15:56
back Walter's family believes that he
00:16:00
was murdered at home now I'll tell you
00:16:03
the reason why every time he'd come in
00:16:05
the house he took off his
00:16:07
shoes when they found his body he was
00:16:11
fully closed even his socks were still
00:16:13
on his feet but no
00:16:16
shoes Jim Williams was arrested and
00:16:19
charged with the murder of both Walter
00:16:21
Scott and his wife
00:16:23
Sharon Joanne Williams was also charged
00:16:26
in Walter's
00:16:27
murder k and Walter notti inomed their
00:16:31
son at the Valhalla mosum in St Louis
00:16:35
after 3 years and a sistern under water
00:16:37
they wanted to keep his body above
00:16:40
ground with Jim Williams and their
00:16:42
ex-daughter-in-law awaiting trial they
00:16:45
believed the worst was behind them or so
00:16:49
they thought
00:16:53
[Music]
00:16:59
Jim Williams and Joanne Williams were
00:17:01
tried separately for murder Jim Williams
00:17:04
trial was
00:17:06
first this house Liv prosecutors believe
00:17:10
that on October 19th 1983 Jim and Sharon
00:17:14
Williams got into some kind of argument
00:17:16
possibly about Jim's affair with Joanne
00:17:19
yeah well who is the [ __ ] anyway why
00:17:20
don't you bit some other time all right
00:17:22
I'm out of here and you're going to go
00:17:23
back to don't you worry about where I go
00:17:26
[Music]
00:17:29
the argument at some point turned
00:17:32
violent she was hit twice in the back of
00:17:35
the head fracturing her skull causing
00:17:37
massive internal
00:17:41
bleeding to make the death look like an
00:17:43
accident prosecutor say Jim placed
00:17:46
Sharon's body in her car and drove down
00:17:48
the embankment
00:17:51
[Music]
00:18:04
he then Set Fire to the grass nearby and
00:18:07
fled the scene before police
00:18:14
arrived with Sharon out of the way the
00:18:17
only one standing between Jim and Joanne
00:18:21
was
00:18:23
Walter the forensic evidence shows that
00:18:26
Walter was shot in the back with a high
00:18:28
velocity
00:18:30
[Music]
00:18:36
pistol Walter's body was placed in the
00:18:39
sistern on Jim Williams
00:18:42
property there were no
00:18:44
eyewitnesses the murder weapon was never
00:18:48
identified the Rope which bound Walter
00:18:51
Scott did not match rope in the Williams
00:18:54
Garage however Witnesses saw Jim
00:18:58
Williams pouring concrete over the
00:19:00
sistern and building the flower box a
00:19:03
few weeks after Walter's Disappearance
00:19:05
in 20° weather during a
00:19:08
snowstorm no one knows how Walter
00:19:11
Scott's car found its way to the
00:19:15
airport or how williams got home after
00:19:18
his wife's
00:19:20
accident Jim Williams said he was
00:19:23
innocent and took the stand in his own
00:19:26
defense for the first time he revealed
00:19:29
he had seen Walter on the night he
00:19:31
disappeared I went on into Ken's aut
00:19:34
Supply and come out and I seen Walter
00:19:36
standing over there with some guy a big
00:19:39
guy you know a big black coat and a
00:19:41
black hatat you know they were talking
00:19:43
well the guy was in in the coat got in a
00:19:46
in a Cadillac a black
00:19:48
Cadillac and Walter pulled out right
00:19:50
behind him but Williams had no
00:19:54
explanation for how Walter's body
00:19:56
mysteriously found its way
00:19:59
into the
00:20:00
sistern Jim Williams was convicted of
00:20:03
two counts of capital murder and was
00:20:06
sentenced to life in prison without
00:20:10
parole with only circumstantial evidence
00:20:13
against Joanne Williams her trial never
00:20:16
made it to
00:20:17
court in a plea agreement prosecutors
00:20:21
dropped the murder charge against Joanne
00:20:23
in exchange for a guilty plea to the
00:20:26
felony charge of hindering the prosec
00:20:28
ution it was a decision I made along
00:20:31
with my
00:20:32
family Joanne was sentenced to 5 years
00:20:35
in prison and a $5,000 fine she was
00:20:39
released after serving only 18 months as
00:20:42
far as I'm concerned there still is no
00:20:45
justice she would have been tried with
00:20:47
Jim Williams uh I believe she would be
00:20:50
in prison also for the same
00:20:52
offense in his first television
00:20:55
interview since his arrest Jim Williams
00:20:57
still maintained his innocence and now
00:21:00
says his son may have had something to
00:21:02
do with Walter's murder how did my son
00:21:06
know he was back there Jimmy says it was
00:21:09
a
00:21:10
guess awful good
00:21:13
guess to send the cops to the right
00:21:16
place right on the
00:21:17
button Kay and Walter no ties are
00:21:20
appalled that their former
00:21:22
daughter-in-law served only 18 months in
00:21:26
prison there's only one person
00:21:29
that would ever get close enough to W to
00:21:31
to kill him without him even suspected
00:21:34
it and that would be
00:21:37
joyan and that's the reason I think that
00:21:40
Joanne was the one that shot
00:21:42
Wally Walter Scott is missed by his
00:21:45
family friends and those who loved his
00:21:48
talent his wit and his
00:21:51
spirit I listen to his records all the
00:21:54
time and golly when you walk in the
00:21:56
stores and they're playing the songs
00:21:58
that he sang all the time it used to
00:22:00
bother me but it doesn't now makes me
00:22:03
feel good he really made it good on and
00:22:06
uh in the music
00:22:08
business and but I still don't
00:22:10
understand how he can remember all those
00:22:14
words the who used to build you up to
00:22:18
let you
00:22:21
[Music]
00:22:31
one
00:22:34
[Music]
00:22:46
[Applause]
00:22:48
[Music]
