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Cathy Nameth /// Part 2 /// 528

October 13, 2021 / 47:25

This episode covers the murder of Kathy Namath, the embezzlement scandal in Elcho, Wisconsin, and connections to local drug dealers. Hosts Nick and the Captain discuss the timeline of events leading to Kathy's murder in October 2002, including her husband David's involvement in the embezzlement scandal and the investigation's challenges.

Kathy was set to speak with police about the embezzlement just two days before her murder. The hosts highlight the suspicious circumstances surrounding her death, including the involvement of her husband David, who was also charged in the scandal.

They explore the connections between the embezzlement case and local drug dealers, including Matthew Becker, who was charged with embezzlement and had ties to Kathy. The episode discusses the secret hearings held to investigate the murder and the potential links to drug activity in the area.

The hosts also mention the mysterious death of a local drug dealer, Dan Zahn, who had information about Kathy's murder but died before he could share it. The episode concludes with a discussion on the ongoing investigation and the hope that DNA evidence will eventually lead to answers.

Listeners are encouraged to reflect on the complexities of the case and the various theories surrounding Kathy Namath's murder.

TLDR

Kathy Namath's murder ties to embezzlement and local drug dealers, raising questions about connections and ongoing investigations.

Episode

47:25
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so [Music] [Applause] [Music] welcome to true crime garage wherever you are whatever you're doing thanks for
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listening i'm your host nick and with me as always is a man that ponders the mysteries of the universe asking himself
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are we human or are we dancer ladies and gentlemen here is the captain yeah dancing my way into your hearts it's
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good to be seen and good to see you thanks for listening thanks for telling a friend
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[Music] today we are sipping on this fine lager from unplugged brewing company muni lot
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lager it's a smooth clean and delicious lager with some malt and a little caramel abv five percent garage grade
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four out of five bottle caps and you know who else is smooth and clean well our garage friend's right here first up
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a nice southern cheers to melody in pensacola florida and a big we like your jib to casey and sunnyville texas here's
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a double cheers to rudy and adrian and beautiful rancho cordova california and a big shout out to lindsay in seattle
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washington next up here's a cheers to kelly in mechanicsville virginia and let's give a cheers to kelsey in keller
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texas and last but certainly not least captain we have cheyenne and jacob in wichita kansas big ups and big thank you
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to everyone who contributed to this week's beer fund tall cans in the air yeah bw double are you in beer run and
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be patient folks because the beer fun we're behind light years behind but announcement for everybody in parts
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unknown make sure you get your halloween posters they are on sale now and a limited number of those are available so
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that's enough of the business all right everybody gather round grab a chair grab a beer let's talk some true
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crime [Music] i got you [Music] at the time of kathy namas murder october of 2002 local authorities and
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officials were already aware of the embezzlement scandal going down at the fire department
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one of the fire department's employees as of that same month had already been charged in the embezzlement scandal this
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was matthew becker who was the former fire department executive board treasurer he was fired from the fire department
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after he admitted to police in an august 2002 interview that he had embezzled at
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least three thousand five hundred dollars from the fire department's account the criminal complaint stated becker
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stated that he did this because he needed the money and felt that the town of elcho owed him the
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money because of the [ __ ] he put up with becker faced charges of felony theft misconduct in public office and
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possession of drug paraphernalia eventually he pled no contest to felony misconduct in public office and was
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sentenced to four months in jail the wausau herald reported on october 17th quote rumors have spread throughout this
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small town that the problems at the fire department and namuth's death i wish they would put namus murder may
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have been connected in some way but police say they have so far found no link sheriff dave stagger admitted that
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anything was possible and said that investigators were weighing the embezzlement lead equally
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with other unrelated leads but others downplayed the likelihood dismissing any connection
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as local gossip el cho town chairman richard elsin said to the newspaper quote my answer to
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that is that's extremely unlikely why would somebody get killed over a lousy few
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thousand dollars my personal feeling has been all along that she was just in the wrong place at
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the wrong time a random act of violence in no way connected to the political situation in el cho
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everything about this whole thing is strange none of it makes any sense which is even more unsettling to the locals we
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are like any other small town things like this don't happen end quote yeah but why
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would anybody risk their job for a measly few thousand dollars i mean people have been killed for less now
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david namath kathy's husband was charged in the embezzlement case and later david
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was fired for this situation just three months after kathy's murder ultimately david was facing seven criminal charges
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some of them felonies basically david was illicitly paying himself out of the fire department's account
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writing himself checks during the time period of 1999 to 2001 and then he lied about it to the
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embezzlement investigator david pled no contest to theft disorderly conduct and obstruction in
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may of 2004 so david was on the take stealing money from the fire department fund over
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at least a three-year time period now it's not clear how much he took but the complaint states that in 2000 and 2001
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he paid himself amounts in excess of that authorized by law in other words he paid himself more than his salary
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allowed when the whole thing came out in late 2002 early 2003 he was fired as fire
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chief as well as criminally prosecuted despite david being charged it does not seem that investigators were able to
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connect the embezzlement and kathy's murder they reached out to the fbi for assistance in the case and took
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suggestions on how to proceed with the investigation but nothing was resolved and authorities
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were frustrated that they couldn't figure out or solve this murder but there was something else here captain in
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this case now we have lieutenant baker who told the wausau herald one very important
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thing katherine namath was a subject of the investigation as well but lieutenant baker declined to
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speculate on whether she too would have been charged and he pointed out that while the embezzlement's
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connection to kathy's murder has always been rumored no connection had ever been identified
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publicly according to the herald okay so kathy our murder victim not just her husband david was being investigated as
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possibly involved in the embezzlement scandal as well which is more than fair because as we're
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going to see as i'm about to tell you here she was in fact involved that's right she alongside of her husband was
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taking money from the el cho fire department we foied the complaint against david namath
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and as we just laid it out for you it alleges that he overpaid himself for three years and then lied about it liar
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liar fireman's pants on fire who else received excessive funds from the fire department that's right it
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was kathy namath as well so kathy and david co-signed a check written on the el cho fired apartments account on
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november 15th of 1999 in the amount of 1 500 payable to kathy namath but that's not all the complaint alleges that in
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2000 and in 2001 david not only overpaid himself from the fund but he was overpaying his wife as well i guess
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there's a chance that maybe she was unaware of any of this but to me it doesn't seem very likely it
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seems much more likely that she was simply involved in this whole situation he could have started doing this and
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maybe she's in charge of the family's checkbook or maybe she went into the bank account was like we have a little
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bit more money than we should or wow david made a little bit more money than he normally does
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and started questioning him and then he goes well yeah i'm taking a little bit on the side but hey i'll give you some
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as well yeah i'm not going to speculate on how she became involved or or what went down and
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look it wasn't just the two of them it's it's clear that there were several people that were not only aware of what
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was going on but were involved and in on the take as well well at least they're equipped to put out their pants on fire
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so kathy herself was being investigated in connection with the embezzlement scandal
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and literally two days before she was supposed to talk to police she gets murdered i'm not a
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big conspiracy theorist but you just play one on tv i don't usually like conspiracies in
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these types of situations because most of the time the the simplest explanation is usually correct
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but this is just too big of a coincidence to to dance around it right it's too big of
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a coincidence to not take a look at it and throw it under the microscope and say okay are these things
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related and then one thing that's very difficult to believe is that kathy just happened to be killed less than 48 hours
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before the meeting where she was supposed to go and tell police what was going on
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when she was being investigated captain she told police look i i will cooperate and i will tell
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you everything that i know right now that could have just been saving face or that could have just been making herself
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look good in the course of that investigation we don't know because she never got the chance to speak with them
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to tell them whatever she was intending to tell them she was killed instead well
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they haven't been transparent and her involvement like you said and then embezzlement we don't know because she
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was not charged so there is a possibility your husband is the chief if he says hey come into my office i i
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have this check and i need you to sign it what's it for and he gives her some hook
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line and sinker and she buys it and then he cashes the check she might not have been
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like you said we don't know what her level of involvement was or how much she knew and maybe she had a bunch of
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questions herself and once she's now going to trial or going to this meeting to say hey this is what i know and this
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is what i've seen going on this could be the nail in her husband's coffin and other people's coffin and there would be
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reason for somebody to not want her to talk and again when people say well it's just
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a few thousand dollars no you you possibly could go to prison and on top of that you're losing your
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job which is your livelihood right and the thing that i think that is difficult here though when we when we analyze the
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murder or how ever this went down whoever's responsible or why it happened to begin with
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you you weigh that against the other things that are going on right especially when you have this
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embezzlement thing that's so close to the murder investigation but it's one of those things that i kind of lean a
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little bit more toward what the local chairman was saying as well that it's not a ton of money it's just a
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couple of thousand dollars she seems to have been involved herself the charges themselves don't carry with
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them lengthy prison sentences we're talking about months in jail and fines that would be
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paid of course any of these things are uncomfortable and things that nobody wants and consequences that probably
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nobody wants to face but it seems awfully risky to me to jump from what would be felony charges that are
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ultimately reduced to misdemeanor charges and misdemeanor type consequences to something as
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premeditated murder and so i i tend to share some of the same feelings that the the chairman was stating there now
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that doesn't mean that they're not connected in some form or fashion they absolutely could be
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there's also some rumor that possibly drug money may have been involved now this could be
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this could push this to a heightened level here so this might get a little complicated here so i am going to ask
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that you bear with me there is a fine we will there is a local drug dealer in the
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langled county named daniel j zahn all right in march of 1999 the county authorities received an
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anonymous tip that a large drug transaction was about to go down at the kempster inn tavern
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police staked out the area and pulled over a drunk driver her name was denise enterson
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who proved to have marijuana on her person she had gotten it she said from a david
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zaun whom she met earlier at that kempster inn tavern according to denise zhan told her that
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he had at least a pound of marijuana in his possession and he had been dealing in the area for over a year she had seen
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large amounts of pot at his house and purchased from him in the past this was enough for the county deputies
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to get a search warrant for zahn's house where they found a bunch of pot they arrested zahn now zan would not give up
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his sources meaning the persons who sold him the bulk amounts of marijuana that he turned around and then sold to
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private individuals in smaller transactions he pled guilty to possession with intent to distribute
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before too long it became apparent who zan's sources were zan had been getting his supply from two
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milwaukee-based dealers these are partners named donald kostelski and brian schnarsky
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he admitted this in a court well in this area captain there's going to be a lot of skis
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he admitted this in a court proceeding on july 31st 2003. kastelsky and schnarsky operated out of
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milwaukee but also had a local apartment that was the hub of their langled county
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distribution network police put together a case against pastelski for being the supplier for the 1999 deal
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that had resulted in zahn's arrest in march of 2005 a criminal complaint was filed against kastelsky
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charging him with possession with intent to deliver eventually he pled out to recklessly endangering public safety in
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january of 2008. all he got for this was two years probation okay so what would this have to do with kathy namath and
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her murder as said it's a little complicated but kaskelsky would end up facing more charges and
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they were related to kathy's case so let's back up and explain a little bit to try to get
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to the bottom of whether kathy's case and the embezzlement case were related investigators held a series of closed
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secret hearings we've discussed this in some other cases that we've covered it's
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a pretty rare thing here but it does go down and these are called john doe hearings
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the wsaw news 7 says that these hearings quote they're typically used when an investigation is being thwarted or
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impeded and can be used to force witnesses to testify in a secret hearing it helps us get testimony or information
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from people who may not be willing to come forward closed door hearings on kathy's homicide
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case were held by the district attorney starting on january 24 2008 but the purpose
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scope and outcome of these hearings has never been made public there was clearly
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some connection being explored between kathy's case and the drug dealing going on in the area the fbi and the wisconsin
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department of justice and division of criminal investigation were all cited in these matters so some bigger agencies
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being involved and somewhat loosely tied to kathy namas case we were able to find
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out about these closed-door hearings only by foia request and this was based off of criminal
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perjury charges that stemmed from one of the drug dealers donald kostelski lying under oath
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at these hearings drug dealer and a liar imagine that wow i only trust a truthful
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honest drug deal i only get my drugs from honest drug dealers and with the with the current state of marijuana and
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pot and all that it it almost like these things seem a little silly to go back and kind
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of circle around them like vultures but but it's important to this case so kastelski the dishonest drug dealer
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was called to testify as an unwilling witness and he is fresh off of his 2008 conviction that reckless endangerment
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conviction that we spoke of and he lied his ass off on the stand we don't have transcripts as they are
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all under seal and we certainly don't know most of what was testified to but we do know that on the stand
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kostelski was asked about whether he had ever hunted in langley county okay so the department
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of natural resources records showed that he had yeah you can't handle the truth they also wanted to know if he owned a
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gun and whether he had ever sold drugs to dan zhan and on the stand kostelski was
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asked if he had ever sold drugs to matthew becker remember that name he was the guy that was already being charged
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in the embezzlement scandal at the same time that kathy namath was murdered yes kitsuki so matthew becker
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was the first employee of the el cho fire department to be charged in the embezzlement scandal in 2002. he was a
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co-worker of cathy and david nemes kastelski denied selling drugs to becker but authorities had plenty of witnesses
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including becker's wife who said that this in fact did happen so becker was getting his drugs from the
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same person daniel zahn was getting his supply from donald kastelski why were this prolific
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local drug dealer was donald kastelski and his partner brian schnarsky called to testify at hearings trying to get to
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the bottom of kathy namas murder well we know that kathy was on the verge of talking to investigators about the
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whole embezzlement ring and matthew becker her co-worker was involved in that along with her and was
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also connected to the drug dealers but there's more kastelski and schnarsky were also connected to david namath her
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husband this is from the same news outlet that we've cited all day and all day yesterday and their
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report says deputy john shunk says investigators have looked at the case every which way possible they even took
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advantage of a court proceeding known as john doe hearings during the secret of proceedings
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prosecutors found that two men who they asked to testify and who knew david namath were not being truthful
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investigators believe they know more than they are letting on kathy may have known these people obviously we can't
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completely confirm that schunk said the pair were buddies of matthew beckers and police say had knowledge of the
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elcho area having spent time there hunting police say they have a theory as to why kathy was murdered but without
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enough evidence to charge anyone with her murder they won't say what their theory is yeah that's pretty good that
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news release to me captain is incredibly interesting because what were they saying before all of these court
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proceedings was that we're not sure who murdered her or why yeah but then after these court proceedings and after they
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become aware of these two drug dealers that were known to hunt in this area and then later lied about any knowledge
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of the area being in the area hunting in the area owning guns got them guns son now police are saying we have a theory
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but without any evidence without enough evidence to charge someone we're not comfortable with presenting what our
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theory is as to why and how kathy namath was murdered [Music] [Music] i got you [Music]
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cheers to you wisconsin cheers to everybody in the back in the front and everybody around the campfire
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cheers so this newer information tells us that authorities seem to believe that there was in fact some connection
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between david cathy matthew becker and the drug dealers these guys the drug dealers had guns and
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frequented the area and are in fact sketchy criminals but we have no idea what if anything was
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uncovered because the information has never been made public we don't know the relationship between these men and david
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and we don't know whether they knew kathy or she knew them well it seems to me like this and by embezzlement was a
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little more in-depth than just oh i took some money here and there slap on the wrist there there could have
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been more involved there's been whole police departments that are stealing drugs stealing evidence when
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they arrest somebody if there's money on that person they just take the money because and then use that money to have
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drug houses so where it seems like it's just a simple oh i'm overpaying myself here and there it could be way more
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complex than that possibly but what i see when i look at this thing is a situation where
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it very likely could simply be that david and kathy were embezzling money so the tie between the the two
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drug dealers and becker is this middle man zahn who is a much lower level drug dealer
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so you have this situation where multiple people are embezzling money and are aware of
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what everybody's doing but you may have some people in that circle i believe it was a total of five
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people that they were investigating for the embezzlement kathy included but you may have two of
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them david and kathy who were just simply paying themselves a little extra taking
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a little off the top where this becker character may have been involved in some other
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situations outside of that his tie to the nameths is that he's involved in this embezzlement scandal as
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well right now what we do know is that kastelsky and schnarsky were both prosecuted for perjury after
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those john doe hearings they both lied on the stand and the d.a knew that they were lying and ended up proving it well
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starsky is a known liar so kastelski was prosecuted for perjury a felony and convicted in september
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of 2010 after agreeing to a plea agreement for two years probation pursuant to the plea agreement per
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wsaw news a judge ordered him to tell the truth to investigators or risk going to prison
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there was a new sheriff that took over in that county and this is sheriff greening who says that he doesn't know
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exactly how costelski may have been involved in kathy namus murder but he does think that he has information so
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the new sheriff not necessarily saying that this kostelski character right committed the murder
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but the sheriff is on record as stating he's pretty confident that kastelsky knows something has some kind of
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information that the sheriff's department does not have now your buddy captain brian schnarsky
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was prosecuted as well and you were right he he is a liar and the court of law says so right he
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was found guilty of perjury after a jury trial and as a condition of his probation was required to give a dna
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sample again this all ties back to the kathy namath murder right now i couldn't find
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this is what i wanted to figure out was kastelsky the other liar pants on fire was he was
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a part of his conditions of the pro plea agreement to give a dna sample as well i'm guessing so i would think so
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and that makes sense in this case because what we learn in kathy namas murder investigation
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relatively quickly after this or about the same time is that they do confirm we suspected it at the beginning of the
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investigation but it was later confirmed that in fact they did have suspect dna in her murder this comes from a february
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2007 news report that stated that wisconsin state crime lab was able to isolate a male dna
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profile from evidence found at the kathy namath murder scene now whether this was
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dna on the knife remember they recovered the knife uh the knife handle yeah or this or on
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her person because she put up a fight that's right or blood you know maybe they found some blood that they could
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confirm was not kathy's at the scene as you said put up a fight maybe there's maybe perhaps dna under her fingernails
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well in this case if i'm law enforcement right i'm looking at this case i go look
00:28:04
how many people are going to know where her parents cabin is located right that's that's the first
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now we have people saying look nobody knew she was going to go out there that night
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and then we have this embezzlement thing that's connected with her husband look if this guy's willing to
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steal a little bit of money from his work and because he thinks he heart he earned it or
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whatever reason if he's willing to steal and lie maybe he's willing to cheat on his wife
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who knows but if i'm law enforcement and i'm coming into this case i have all those questions right away
00:28:44
okay now we have a victim that struggled with her attacker with her murderer and
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we have physical evidence first person i'm testing is her husband and what we have here
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captain is the new sheriff bill greening told the media in late february of 2007
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that the sheriff's department had already conducted 12 samples or i'm sorry had already collected 12 samples
00:29:09
from quote persons of interest for comparison to the suspect dna sample that they had now by march of 2008
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so about one year later they go on record the sheriff's department goes on records saying that
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24 persons had been compared to the suspect sample with no luck so we've we've tested 24
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people collected their dna and tested it against what we have the suspect dna and
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we've not been able to make a match yet now the sheriff did say that that 24 the 24 samples that they had
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included some persons of interest but did also include some emergency personnel who were responding to the
00:29:56
scene right you got to do your due diligence and make sure you clear them so that you're actually
00:30:02
testing and comparing for suspect dna that makes sense and as you said captain look we have david namath and i don't
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have every bit of information on where he was what he was up to but it seems to me
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he must have an iron-clad alibi because we know that kathy radioed about a scruffy looking man who she didn't
00:30:26
know who it was and then later david is responding to the scene with their son they must know where he was and feel
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confident about where he was prior to him arriving at the murder scene yeah but just to do your due
00:30:42
diligence i think he would test him as well because he's there before emergency workers are there
00:30:50
so if you're going to test them why not test him as well correct i'm not suggesting you don't i'm i'm just saying
00:30:57
that they i think we could com presume that yes they have that they have tested i agree i agree then let's
00:31:04
circle back to the drug dealers because this is going to kind of come full circle well we wish
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that it would go full circle maybe we would have some answers but in 2008 there was a tip
00:31:17
in february of 2008 dan zahn the drug dealer from the 1999 deal contacted the sheriff's office with a
00:31:25
tip dan zahn told officials that he had information about the kathy namath murder and who was involved
00:31:34
so they set up a meeting to talk in person on february 22nd unfortunately zan died before this
00:31:41
meeting according to all the reports that we could find zan passed away from quote unquote natural causes at the age
00:31:49
of 42 on february 20th perhaps he was ill someone posted on a message board that
00:31:57
he had cancer and might have wanted to clear his conscience before passing but then pass
00:32:03
before he could do so the timing is really interesting to me i mean you think he could have wrote it down or
00:32:11
something well not only that like why not meet with him as soon as possible right
00:32:17
i mean right i'm not i don't want to question anybody or what they were doing and maybe they didn't take him serious
00:32:23
who knows maybe he didn't have good information we don't know because he was unable to deliver the information but
00:32:30
it's just weird to me that that these things seem to be that something like this happened and
00:32:36
this thing whatever information he was going to give to them could have broke this
00:32:42
case wide open now the sheriff's office did do their due diligence by going out and getting a search warrant
00:32:49
and seizing his computer his camera and other items from his home the day after he died
00:32:58
if they found anything on of interest it's not been released to the public so just to sum that up dan
00:33:05
zhan the drug dealer connected to the other drug dealers connected to the namus through an unknown relationship
00:33:14
but through this becker guy that they worked with basically through the embezzlement he
00:33:19
said he had information about cathy's death but doc but died before he could relay it
00:33:25
so anyone's guess is a good guess as to what information he was going to give to
00:33:31
authorities but doesn't this kind of prove it in your mind that her death is connected
00:33:37
to this embezzlement i feel like i i don't know that the embezzlement is the catalyst for her murder
00:33:44
i think it's probably just one more thing that's involved in in something else that we may not be entirely aware of
00:33:53
that somebody in this circle is involved in now not to throw a big fat wrench into the whole thing
00:34:02
but i found this to be an interesting angle here captain we'll try to throw a medium-sized wrench
00:34:10
someone posted on a wisconsin website and this is this is uh what they posted it says
00:34:17
kathy namath's murder investigation wasn't conducted properly and is being revisited the hardest part of the
00:34:24
investigation includes tracking down the people who were partying up at one of the cabins on loon lake that weekend
00:34:33
they were never questioned to begin with so tracking down who they were has been incredibly difficult
00:34:41
so this makes it sound like one of the cabins up at loon lake that weekend if this anonymous tipster
00:34:48
or poster is correct and being truthful and has good information that there was some kind of party going
00:34:55
on at one of those cabins and this person seems to have reason to believe that these people were not investigated not
00:35:05
questioned right away after the murder and so now that the case is being revisited remember we do have a new
00:35:12
sheriff in town that tracking down anybody that could have been there that night or in that
00:35:18
general area is incredibly difficult because this is years after the fact and not to go like
00:35:24
too far off base but this kind of reminds me of something maybe like bundy would do and the sense of like oh
00:35:34
if i'm going to go up and hang out with my buddies and we're going to party here
00:35:38
i'm now around this small lake that has all these other occupants i mean it's pretty far-fetched
00:35:45
i'm just saying that's basically what it seems like this internet poster is or this internet sleuther is
00:35:55
um presenting is that somebody at the party is responsible for her murder yes somebody at one of these parties or and
00:36:04
then you gotta wonder like okay if you can tie these drug dealers to that area which it sounds like the prosecutor did
00:36:11
that's how they got the perjury convictions is it crazy to think that they weren't
00:36:16
there for a multitude of reasons right that they're there because of kathy or they're there because of this
00:36:23
party and and didn't really know kathy at all i mean it gets it's a very confusing murky situation
00:36:31
and it's it's a situation where they've not released a lot of information so it makes it very difficult to
00:36:37
to really kind of grab a hold of a theory and run with it like i think there's a lot of good theories out there
00:36:45
the husband could have been involved you always got to consider that and then you
00:36:48
you put the icing on the cake with the husband that he's involved in illegal activity anyway with the embezzlement
00:36:55
scandal but then again i keep going back to it's not a ton of money kathy's involved
00:37:01
another guy the investigation was already like very active so much so that another dude
00:37:07
was already charged right so it almost seems to me like if you were looking to cover up the embezzlement thing to begin
00:37:13
with or to silence kathy namath that you would have done it well before this day
00:37:20
that it seems a little late in that ball game to be taking her out to shut her up well
00:37:26
what's interesting in this case to me is that they tested all these individuals for
00:37:31
the dna and and i think it's very responsible to go hey we're going to test the emergency responders so we know
00:37:38
that okay we know whose dna is on her so i think law enforcement has to be sitting pretty and going hey we have dna
00:37:46
that we believe is 100 the killer of missed amith so if they have that why not start testing
00:37:55
that dna and put it through the systems and and maybe you find you know a relative of somebody well
00:38:01
that wouldn't be putting it through the system but i hear you yeah the i would guess that by this point they've already
00:38:07
put it through codis and that would be the system so that would be connecting it to any known
00:38:12
offender dna that you already have on file so put it through that system which we don't
00:38:18
have any statement you're right captain we don't have any statement that says in
00:38:21
fact that they did that i'm guessing that they would have once they've already started testing emt workers and
00:38:27
people that responded to the scene and then persons of interest but you're right this
00:38:33
if you do think that she was targeted i keep circling back to the idea that there wouldn't have been a ton of people
00:38:39
that would have known that she would have been there at that time on that day so your suspect list cannot be that
00:38:46
long if you're really locked in on that theory and now you have at least 24 people that
00:38:53
you've cleared as far as not being a match to the dna well but if i'm law enforcement
00:39:00
this this case is frustrating because there's not a ton of information i mean you know maybe there's way more behind
00:39:07
closed doors that we don't know about this has gone on for so long and it's pretty popular case at least in
00:39:15
that area known around loon lake test the dna well and we are sitting here recording this episode in the garage
00:39:27
exactly 19 years to the day that she was murdered so 19 years have gone by and i don't know that we're any closer
00:39:36
to this than we were at the initial stages of the investigation the thing that i think
00:39:42
is a real big kick in the in the pants here is that this dan zhan passed away right
00:39:48
and apparently he had some kind of information that he felt was necessary to pass along to police
00:39:55
literally literally 19 years ann perkins the thing with this case captain was i was excited to look into
00:40:05
this one because i was suspicious of the husband because i was aware of the embezzlement scandal
00:40:12
on the surface i was aware that he was involved right and then quickly learning that she was involved as well
00:40:19
made that angle of it not so of such great importance to me i really thought that what we would be able to
00:40:26
see here is take a look at him and his son responding to the scene what her words were on that radio
00:40:33
transmission and basing that off of look if you're responding to the scene and you
00:40:40
you killed her or you had someone kill her it's not ideal that she's still alive
00:40:47
once first responders are showing up and may be able to give up the goose right and so i wanted to be able to look at
00:40:53
that situation in that portion of this case and be able to roll him in or out but it looks like
00:41:01
even with the information that we've talked about for the past hour or so i'm nowhere closer to knowing whether he
00:41:09
was involved or not like you said back in the last episode i think his alibi is probably pretty solid
00:41:17
and then also by him taking his son to me that leans more towards innocent because
00:41:24
you have the possibility if you were involved somehow or she recognized the person and that
00:41:32
person was connected back to him that she if she was still alive she would be she would have the capability of giving
00:41:41
that information to her son and it's really unclear about the information that she was able to
00:41:48
tell her husband or not tell her husband you know what i mean we have to sit here
00:41:52
and go well where the authorities just kind of taking his word for it that he arrives on the scene and she says yeah i
00:41:58
don't know who the guy was i didn't you know i didn't recognize him i don't know who my attacker was
00:42:04
or did she say hey i recognize who the person was and her husband knows that he's connected
00:42:11
loosely to this embezzlement that and that ties him together with this person and so he doesn't say anything to
00:42:19
protect himself the other thing too is we have the statement of police saying that it appears to them that
00:42:25
or they have evidence it's not that it appears to us we have evidence that she was running from her attacker
00:42:32
and it put up a big fight and tried to get away from him doing everything she could you know it sounds
00:42:39
to me like things were disturbed in the area that would give them evidence that she was fleeing
00:42:45
this guy and i know that when you look at footprints and compare footprints you can tell when somebody's running rather
00:42:52
than walking and the other thing you would have is you would have his footprints running after her
00:43:00
to kind of confirm that what we don't have is we have very bad reporting on and this is no one's fault
00:43:08
because it's not the police's job to distribute this information to everyone but
00:43:13
we don't have great reporting about the crime scene itself right that's the reporter's fault we're told
00:43:19
yeah but they what information are they going to get if the police won't tell them anything
00:43:24
what what we have here is we have the statement of well we don't think she made it into the cabin we don't think
00:43:29
that the cabin was burglarized we think that she fled the attacker that there was some kind of chase involved but
00:43:37
we have really no information when it comes down to the crime scene itself that's what i really wanted to get my
00:43:42
hands on in this situation i wanted to know about her vehicle when she sees this weird dude we know that there was
00:43:50
something off-putting about him or his actions or his look or whatever that was alarming enough to her that she
00:43:56
felt the need to radio out to everyone but why not jump in your vehicle and flee
00:44:02
the scene why not try to barricade yourself inside the cabin or hide behind the chainsaw
00:44:08
why did those things not happen maybe she attempted to do one or both of those in the course of being attacked
00:44:14
it's again we just don't have enough information about the murder scene to really come to any type of strong
00:44:23
conclusions in this case it's it's really a sad case and i what i'm hoping is that
00:44:31
the sheriff the current sheriff is correct and right the dna will solve this case
00:44:36
and thank god that they do seem to have suspect dna in this case because it might be the only thing that they do
00:44:42
have you know i'm hoping that this case does not go cold there's not been a ton of movement on it
00:44:48
in the recent years and regardless of the embezzlement or whatever look none of us are perfect angels
00:44:55
but whatever happened to kathy was horrible and despicable and whether it was random or targeted
00:45:02
it's very sad there likely is a very bad man on the loose that's capable of stabbing someone to death
00:45:13
[Music] want to thank you guys so much for joining us here in the garage and joining us every week make sure you
00:45:33
subscribe to the podcast and make sure you check out our website true crime garage for everything true crime
00:45:41
colonel do we have any recommended reading how about a little recommended listening captain look we were off a
00:45:47
couple of weeks ago and i got several emails from some of our beautiful weekly listeners that said hey
00:45:53
where's this week's episode true crime garage is my favorite podcast and i don't have anything to listen to and my
00:45:59
reply was the same each time sent them the following questions are you subscribed to our other show the show
00:46:05
that is sweeping the nation off the record next week we are releasing off the record episode number 140 140 episodes
00:46:15
so not only do you get a new off the record episode every other week but you'll also have a back catalog of well
00:46:22
over 100 episodes to listen to make sure you check out off the record you can find that
00:46:28
by going to truecrimegarage.com click on the off the record link and start listening today thanks to everyone
00:46:36
for joining us this week here in the garage cheers to you captain cheers to all the wonderful listeners out there
00:46:41
make sure you join us back here next week for a new case until then be good be kind and don't listen
00:46:56
[Applause] [Music] you

Badges

This episode stands out for the following:

  • 70
    Most heartbreaking
  • 60
    Most shocking
  • 60
    Most intense
  • 60
    Most unpredictable

Episode Highlights

  • Secret Hearings
    Closed-door hearings were held to investigate connections between Kathy's murder and local drug dealers.
    “These hearings are typically used when an investigation is being thwarted or impeded.”
    @ 16m 46s
    October 13, 2021
  • Murder and Embezzlement
    Kathy Namath's murder coincides with an embezzlement scandal involving her husband.
    “Kathy was on the verge of talking to investigators about the whole embezzlement ring.”
    @ 20m 13s
    October 13, 2021
  • The Embezzlement Connection
    David and Kathy were likely embezzling money, complicating the investigation into Kathy's murder.
    “It could be way more complex than that possibly.”
    @ 24m 00s
    October 13, 2021
  • The Mysterious Tip
    Dan Zahn, a drug dealer, had information about Kathy's murder but died before sharing it.
    “He passed away from natural causes at the age of 42.”
    @ 31m 49s
    October 13, 2021
  • DNA Evidence
    Suspect DNA was isolated from the murder scene, raising hopes for a breakthrough.
    “Thank god that they do seem to have suspect DNA in this case.”
    @ 44m 40s
    October 13, 2021
  • A Bad Man on the Loose
    Discussion about the implications of Kathy's situation and the potential threat in the area.
    “It's very sad there likely is a very bad man on the loose.”
    @ 45m 02s
    October 13, 2021
  • Listener Engagement
    Listeners express their love for the podcast and inquire about new episodes.
    “True crime garage is my favorite podcast!”
    @ 45m 55s
    October 13, 2021
  • Join Us Next Week
    The hosts encourage listeners to return for the next episode and promote their other show.
    “Make sure you join us back here next week for a new case.”
    @ 46m 41s
    October 13, 2021

Episode Quotes

  • It's good to be seen and good to see you.
    Cathy Nameth /// Part 2 /// 528
  • Things like this don't happen.
    Cathy Nameth /// Part 2 /// 528
  • It's too big of a coincidence to not take a look at it.
    Cathy Nameth /// Part 2 /// 528
  • This case is frustrating because there's not a ton of information.
    Cathy Nameth /// Part 2 /// 528
  • 19 years have gone by and I don't know that we're any closer.
    Cathy Nameth /// Part 2 /// 528
  • It's very sad there likely is a very bad man on the loose.
    Cathy Nameth /// Part 2 /// 528

Key Moments

  • Murder Investigation02:57
  • Cheers22:45
  • Embezzlement Scheme24:12
  • New Sheriff25:44
  • DNA Profile Found27:27
  • Frustrating Investigation39:00
  • Community Concern45:02
  • Listener Love45:55

Words per Minute Over Time

Vibes Breakdown