The Peggy Hettrick Case - Part 1

Summary

Summary of “48 Hours” Episode: The Peggy Hettrick Case - Part 1

Podcast Information:

• Title: 48 Hours
• Host/Author: CBS News
• Episode: The Peggy Hettrick Case - Part 1
• Release Date: February 19, 2025

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Introduction

In this gripping installment of “48 Hours,” CBS News delves into the complex and haunting case of Peggy Hettrick, whose brutal murder in 1987 shook the quiet community of Fort Collins, Colorado. Hosted by Anne-Marie Green, the episode navigates through the layers of investigation, wrongful conviction, and emerging doubts that have lingered for decades.

The Crime Scene

On the early morning of February 11, 1987, the lifeless body of Peggy Hettrick, a 37-year-old woman, was discovered in a field near her home in Fort Collins. The grotesque nature of her death left the community in shock.

• Investigator (01:11): “She was walking down the curb line. She had no clue that the attack was coming. He circled around, came up behind her, stabbed her.”

• Homicide Detective (01:34): “One deep stab by a long knife into her back, which killed her very quickly.”

The scene was gruesome, featuring a bloody trail and signs of sexual mutilation.

• Investigator (01:44): “You could see a bloody drag trail in the furrows, the body been displayed. Then there was sexual mutilation.”

Peggy’s death was not only violent but also sexually motivated, intensifying the panic within the small town.

• Homicide Detective (01:55): “Fort Collins in 1987. It very much had a small town feeling. So when Peggy Hettrick was killed, it was shocking to this community.”

The Suspect: Tim Masters

Tim Masters, Peggy’s 15-year-old neighbor, quickly became the prime suspect. His proximity to the crime scene and peculiar behavior drew immediate suspicion.

• Homicide Detective (02:24): “I was called on the case within the first hour that it occurred. I was the one who tied Tim Masters to this case.”

Tim’s reluctance to report finding Peggy’s body and his disturbing personal drawings further implicated him.

• Tim Masters (02:54): “I didn't do nothing. Would we bring you in here without.”

• Investigator (02:58): “This was a kid. When we searched his residence, that had all kinds of graphic drawings, mutilation, dismemberment.”

Despite his denials, the evidence against Tim remained purely circumstantial, relying heavily on his unsettling artwork.

• Homicide Detective (03:20): “There was not enough evidence to make an arrest.”

However, the persistence of Lieutenant Broderick kept the investigation focused solely on Tim.

• Peggy Hettrick's Brother (03:25): “Through the years they focused on Tim Masters. The Hettrick homicide was opened and closed. Went cold. It was Lieutenant Broderick that reopened the case.”

The Trial and Conviction

In 1999, after years of interrogation and mounting pressure, Tim Masters was arrested and put on trial for Peggy Hettrick’s murder. The prosecution's case was built on psychological evidence rather than concrete physical proof.

• Homicide Detective (12:16): “Tim Masters had informed a friend about Peggy’s mutilation.”

• Expert Witness (26:48): “Tim Masters is symbolically killing his mother. I have absolutely no doubt in my mind that Tim Masters was the killer.”

Despite the lack of physical evidence tying Tim to the crime, his eerie drawings and behavioral patterns were presented as indicative of his guilt.

• Prosecutors (30:01): “The jurors didn’t see the skinny little 15-year-old kid. He’d grown into an imposing figure, looking fully capable of the crime.”

The jury found Tim guilty within a day and a half, sentencing him to life without parole.

• Tim Masters (32:43): “I didn’t think for a minute that I would lose a trial. I didn’t think it was possible to be convicted for something I didn’t do.”

Doubts and an Alternate Suspect

Years following Tim’s conviction, emerging evidence and testimonies cast significant doubt on his guilt. Peggy’s brother, a former policeman, highlighted the absence of exculpatory evidence that could have exonerated Tim.

• Peggy Hettrick's Brother (04:03): “There was evidence at the crime scene that eliminated Tim Masters and it was not told to the jury. Every single piece of exculpatory evidence is withheld.”

An alternate suspect, Dr. Richard Hammond, a prominent eye surgeon living near the crime scene, came into focus. His disturbing voyeuristic behavior and possession of surgical tools resembling those used in Peggy’s murder aligned ominously with the crime's specifics.

• Expert Witness (37:04): “He had meticulous records. Some of the 300 tapes of these victims...”

Despite these troubling correlations, police failed to adequately investigate Dr. Hammond, dismissing him as unrelated.

• Peggy Hettrick's Brother (37:27): “Nobody else had a motive. Nobody else had the opportunity. Nobody else had the weapons. This is the guy.”

Hammond’s sudden suicide following his arrest only deepened the mystery, as it eradicated any chance to connect him directly to Peggy’s murder.

• Expert Witness (37:28): “I don't know that I ever... Will be over it.”

Systemic Failures and Concealed Evidence

The episode sheds light on significant systemic failures within the Fort Collins Police Department. Critical evidence linking Dr. Hammond to the crime was destroyed, a decision orders by Lieutenant Broderick, leaving unresolved questions about Peggy’s true murderer.

• Peggy Hettrick's Brother (40:34): “They were destroyed. And we should talk about why they were destroyed. You’ve got all these victims that are on those tapes...”

This deliberate destruction of evidence prevented a comprehensive investigation, ensuring that both Tim Masters' innocence and Dr. Hammond’s potential guilt remained unaddressed.

Conclusion

“The Peggy Hettrick Case - Part 1” masterfully uncovers the intricate web of suspicion, wrongful conviction, and overlooked evidence that has haunted the Fort Collins community for decades. As the narrative unfolds, it becomes evident that the quest for justice in Peggy’s murder is far from over, setting the stage for further exploration in the upcoming second part.

• Peggy Hettrick's Brother (42:44): “Stay tuned for part two tomorrow.”

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Notable Quotes:

• Peggy Hettrick's Brother (02:07): “She was a highly intelligent person, very artistic. Peggy was my older sister. She traveled all over the world. Just an amazing person.”

• Tim Masters (04:16): “I’ve been locked up for 10 years.”

• Homicide Detective (12:35): “He definitely needed to be looked at. Yes, definitely he did. And it was very easy for everybody, kind of a pack mentality to start focusing on him.”

• Expert Witness (37:08): “I look for specificity of links between Tim Masters and the facts of the homicide itself.”

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This episode serves as a poignant exploration of a case fraught with unanswered questions and systemic oversight, highlighting the profound impact of investigative focus and the dire consequences of neglecting alternative leads.

Transcript

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[Peggy Hetrick's Brother]

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[Investigator]

I think he'd seen her quite a bit before this night. It had been building up for a long time. It was late at night, coming home probably 1:00 in the morning or later. She was walking down the curb line. She had no clue that the attack was coming. He circled around, came up behind her, stabbed her.

[Homicide Detective]

One deep stab by a long knife into her back, which killed her very quickly.

[Investigator]

You could see a bloody drag trail in the furrows, the body been displayed. Then there was sexual mutilation.

[Homicide Detective]

Fort Collins in 1987. It very much had a small town feeling. So when Peggy Hatrica was killed, it was shocking to this community.

[Peggy Hetrick's Brother]

She was a highly intelligent person, very artistic. Peggy was my older sister. She traveled all over the world. Just an amazing person. Really an amazing person.

[Investigator]

A bicyclist spotted the body early this.

[Peggy Hetrick's Brother]

Morning in a field on the south.

[Narrator]

Side of Fort Collins.

[Homicide Detective]

I was called on the case within the first hour that it occurred. I was the one who tied Tim Masters to this case.

[Investigator]

This is just a 15 year old kid. He lives right next to the crime scene. He discovered the body. He never reported it.

[Peggy Hetrick's Brother]

The investigation basically centered around Tim. Mass, it's important you tell the truth. I have told the truth.

[Tim Masters]

I didn't do nothing. Would we bring you in here without.

[Peggy Hetrick's Brother]

Some kind of proof?

[Investigator]

This was a kid. When we searched his residence, that had all kinds of graphic drawings, mutilation, dismemberment.

[Advertiser Host]

I remember being overwhelmed with a sense of oh my God, this is the guy that killed Peggy Hetrick. This was more than just a passing fancy of a teenage boy. This is a Window into his mind.

[Homicide Detective]

There was not enough evidence to make an arrest.

[Peggy Hetrick's Brother]

Through the years they focused on Tim Masters. The het trick homicide was opened and closed. Went cold. It was Lieutenant Broderick that reopened the case.

[Investigator]

He was a suspect in my mind from the very first day. And nothing ever changed.

[Peggy Hetrick's Brother]

This was a single minded investigation. There was one man after one suspect.

[Tim Masters]

Year after year. It was like a personal vendetta for him to come after me.

[Investigator]

He was told it wouldn't end, that we'd continue working this case.

[Tim Masters]

I didn't think it was possible to be convicted for something I didn't do when there's not even any physical evidence.

[Peggy Hetrick's Brother]

There was evidence at the crime scene that eliminated Tim Masters and it was not told to the jury. Every single piece of exculpatory evidence is withheld.

[Tim Masters]

I've been locked up for 10 years.

[Homicide Detective]

I'm a police officer. I'm a homicide investigator. And all of a sudden I went. The system failed.

[Narrator]

Drawn to murder.

[Peggy Hetrick's Brother]

Tonight's 48 Hours Mystery.

[Tim Masters]

Nine years, four months, 21 days so far.

[Narrator]

Tim Masters went to prison in 1999 and for much of that time lived in this cramped, dreary cell. Sentenced to life for a grisly murder he swears he did not commit.

[Tim Masters]

I'd be laying in my bunk and it still astounded me that I was there. I couldn't believe.

[Narrator]

Just didn't seem real. No, nor does any of this seem real.

[Expert Witness]

Fort calls police. You don't have a secret file.

[Narrator]

That is over.

[Investigator]

That's their assertion.

[Narrator]

They're in because after years of hearings and petitions and unsuccessful appeals, it is.

[Peggy Hetrick's Brother]

Clearly a concerted effort to hide evidence.

[Tim Masters]

It's mind boggling.

[Narrator]

A judge at last is about to make a ruling that could set Masters free.

[Peggy Hetrick's Brother]

People of the state of Colorado versus Timothy Masters.

[Tim Masters]

To me, it's not over yet. I'm still dressed in orange. I'm still in a jail. It'll be over when I walk out the door.

[Narrator]

If he does, he'll have a small army of unlikely support to thank.

[Peggy Hetrick's Brother]

He's been innocent. And then they put an innocent man in jail.

[Narrator]

Not just his gigantic extended family.

[Advertiser Host]

I couldn't find that piece of evidence.

[Investigator]

That told me how this kid got convicted.

[Narrator]

But also lawyers.

[Expert Witness]

I'm convinced in my mind Tim Masters didn't do this.

[Narrator]

Even former cops, all of them claiming they've been sure for years now. Tim Masters didn't do it.

[Peggy Hetrick's Brother]

Nine and a half years he spent in prison. He's been under this cloud of suspicion for 20 years.

[Narrator]

Masters, 37, has walked in the shadow of this murder since he was 15 years old. On the morning of February 11th of 1987, the half naked body of a 37 year old woman named Peggy Hetrick was found in a field in Fort Collins, Colorado, a stone's throw from Tim Masters house.

[Homicide Detective]

There were a lot of people who really felt strongly that Tim Masters was a very viable suspect.

[Narrator]

And among them back in 1987 was veteran cop Linda Wheeler.

[Homicide Detective]

I think it was like 7:13 in the morning. The body had just been discovered.

[Narrator]

The passerby who spotted it first mistook it for a mannequin.

[Homicide Detective]

The body was very clean to look at it. I mean, there was no blood on the body.

[Narrator]

There was a deep stab wound to Peggy Hedrick's upper back.

[Investigator]

You could see a bloody drag trail in the furrows. It was pretty apparent that the victim was dragged out to the final resting point.

[Narrator]

When Officer Jim Broderick arrived at the scene, he was struck by footprints along that trail leading back to a pool of blood by the curb. And he was struck by the body itself.

[Investigator]

The positioning of the body is something to pay attention to.

[Narrator]

Her pants were pulled down to her knees, her shirt pushed up to her chin. Part of one of her breasts had been removed.

[Investigator]

It was in fact a sexual homicide.

[Narrator]

The prospect of a madman sexually mutilating his victims created near panic. And Jim Broderick and the Fort Collins police went into overdrive. Among the early persons of interest, Peggy Hetrick's one time boyfriend, Matt Zollner.

[Peggy Hetrick's Brother]

I think she was seeing somebody else. She had mentioned it.

[Narrator]

Zollner was questioned for hours, even took a polygraph.

[Peggy Hetrick's Brother]

Are you the one who stabbed Peggy Hetrick?

[Narrator]

No. Then was released. Police meanwhile, were canvassing every house near the crime scene, talking with businessmen, housewives, even with a prominent eye surgeon, Dr. Richard Hammond. Years later, Dr. Hammond would figure in this case. But back then he was just another neighbor who'd seen nothing suspicious. But Linda Wheeler was sure someone must have seen something.

[Homicide Detective]

And the first house I went to on the corner was Clyde Masters, home.

[Narrator]

To clyde and his 15 year old son Tim, who had few friends but no history of trouble.

[Homicide Detective]

He was a very quiet kid, a very introverted kid.

[Narrator]

Tim's mother had died four years earlier when he was only 11 years old. Usually Tim cut straight through the field to catch the school bus. But his father told police that on that morning he'd seen his son hesitate.

[Homicide Detective]

And had veered to the left. As he was walking through the field and had stopped for a few moments. It became very obvious to me that his son must have seen the body.

[Narrator]

Tim's footprints were in the field, but he hadn't reported a thing.

[Investigator]

We need to focus on him.

[Narrator]

A few hours later, police appeared at Tim's high school and yanked him out of class for questioning. As Broderick recalled in this interview in.

[Investigator]

2000, his explanation for not reporting it was that he thought it was just a mannequin and somebody was playing a trick.

[Tim Masters]

And I didn't believe it was real. I was a 15 year old kid, but all morning long as I'm at school, I was thinking about it. Well, what if it was really a body?

[Narrator]

The passerby who called in the crime also first thought he'd seen a mannequin. But police weren't buying that story from Tim. Broderick searched the master's trailer and hit pay dirt.

[Investigator]

And there, on his dresser, he's got seven knives. Six of them survival knives, all sequentially displayed.

[Narrator]

And one of them, Broderick assumed, could be the murder weapon.

[Investigator]

This is a similar size knife as the knife that killed Peggy Hetrick.

[Homicide Detective]

Tim Clyde.

[Tim Masters]

I wonder if either one of you.

[Peggy Hetrick's Brother]

Would have any problems if I talked with Tim alone. No, I don't.

[Narrator]

With Tim's father's permission, Roderick and a team of cops interrogated the 15 year old for more than 10 without a lawyer.

[Peggy Hetrick's Brother]

Can you tell me what happened?

[Tim Masters]

I don't know what happened.

[Investigator]

I think you know some more than what you're telling right now.

[Tim Masters]

Do you think that I did it?

[Peggy Hetrick's Brother]

Well, everything's pretty much looking that way, Kim.

[Tim Masters]

Right away they started saying, I know you did this. Just fess up to it. Asking the same questions over and over.

[Peggy Hetrick's Brother]

You sure you've never seen this lighter before? You feel sorry for that girl? Yeah. Huh?

[Tim Masters]

Yeah.

[Peggy Hetrick's Brother]

Was there a lot of blinks?

[Narrator]

I don't know.

[Investigator]

Was she walking by?

[Tim Masters]

Was she driving by?

[Homicide Detective]

What happened?

[Peggy Hetrick's Brother]

I don't know. She's dead. That chick died. Thank God we got you here.

[Investigator]

I have a hard time believing that you didn't know it was the body.

[Peggy Hetrick's Brother]

Did she fall?

[Advertiser Host]

Did she trip into the night?

[Peggy Hetrick's Brother]

What happened?

[Advertiser Host]

I don't know that.

[Peggy Hetrick's Brother]

Neither do I. Yeah, you do.

[Tim Masters]

I don't know.

[Peggy Hetrick's Brother]

Yeah, you do.

[Tim Masters]

It was you.

[Peggy Hetrick's Brother]

I didn't do nothing. I didn't do it. I didn't do it. I'm telling you, you did it.

[Narrator]

They gave him a lie detector test yesterday.

[Peggy Hetrick's Brother]

Did you murder that girl?

[Investigator]

No.

[Peggy Hetrick's Brother]

Are you the one who stabbed that girl?

[Narrator]

No. The official report of the test results is lost today, but Broderick says Tim failed.

[Homicide Detective]

He definitely needed to be looked at. Yes, definitely he did. And it was very easy for everybody, kind of a pack mentality to start focusing on him.

[Narrator]

And leading the pack was Jim Broderick.

[Investigator]

The victim's gonna pass right there where he lives. Perfect opportunity under the COVID of darkness to go out there and commit the crime.

[Narrator]

And Broderick was about to find evidence that, for him, erased all doubt. Tim Masters killed Peggy Hetrick.

[Investigator]

Every single notebook had some sort of horrific drawing in it.

[Tim Masters]

Still, getting around to that fix on your car. You got this on ebay.

[Peggy Hetrick's Brother]

You'll find millions of parts guaranteed to.

[Tim Masters]

F. Doesn't matter if it's a major engine repair or your first time swapping your windshield wipers.

[Peggy Hetrick's Brother]

Ebay has that part you need. Ready to click perfectly into place for.

[Tim Masters]

Changes big and small, loud or quiet.

[Peggy Hetrick's Brother]

Find all the parts you need at prices you'll love. Guaranteed to fit every time. But you already know that. Ebay. Things people love. Eligible items only.

[Tim Masters]

Exclusions apply.

[Peggy Hetrick's Brother]

This episode is brought to you by Shopify. Upgrade your business with Shopify, home of the number one checkout on the planet. Shop. Pay boosts conversions up to 50%, meaning fewer carts going abandoned and more sales going cha ching. So if you're into growing your business, get a commerce platform that's ready to sell wherever your customers are. Visit shopify.com to upgrade your selling today. Do you think that I did it? Well, everything's pretty much looking that way. Tim. She's dead.

[Narrator]

Fort Collins police began their intense interrogation of Tim Masters the very day Peggy Hetrick's body was found.

[Tim Masters]

You guys think that I did it?

[Peggy Hetrick's Brother]

It's past that guy. It's past that we know that you did it.

[Narrator]

And that evening, another officer miles away in Florida quietly made his way to the Hetrick family home.

[Peggy Hetrick's Brother]

The gentleman looked real somber. I mean, he big guy. He had to been all of 6, 4, 6, 2. I remember him huge.

[Narrator]

Towering there to break the terrible news to her father and brother.

[Peggy Hetrick's Brother]

And he looked down and he took a moment and he looked up and he said, your daughter is expired.

[Narrator]

At those words, he says, time stopped.

[Peggy Hetrick's Brother]

You think, no, we can maneuver this back and have him say something else. Because you think in that moment of time, that second time, you have the power to maybe change something, that this is not. This can't be happening to you.

[Narrator]

The gruesome details were doubly hard to grasp, he says, because his older sister had been such a force of nature.

[Peggy Hetrick's Brother]

Yep, that was her prom night.

[Narrator]

And this is in Libya.

[Peggy Hetrick's Brother]

That's in Libya, Yes.

[Narrator]

The Hetricks had lived all over the world, moving, as Mr. Hetrick's job in the oil business required. How many different countries did you live in?

[Peggy Hetrick's Brother]

Oh, my goodness. Libya, Malta, for a short time in Spain, Hawaii. Just everywhere.

[Narrator]

Peggy was red haired, independent, and, he says, delightfully eccentric. Out west, she developed a keen interest in Native American culture, especially the Hopi.

[Peggy Hetrick's Brother]

Indians, and she really lived and breathed it.

[Narrator]

What she was not interested in, he says, was getting married. Although she'd had boyfriends. Among them, her ex, Matt Zollner.

[Peggy Hetrick's Brother]

I remember asking the policeman, do they have the boyfriend?

[Narrator]

Zollner's on again, off again relationship with Peggy had been stormy.

[Peggy Hetrick's Brother]

At times, you think immediately that it may be somebody close. That's the first thing that my dad and I both thought. We suspected the boyfriend right off the bat. Your whole evening.

[Narrator]

Base Equipment Police did question Zollner. His date confirmed his story that he'd been with her until around 3am however, he was among the last people to see Peggy alive. He'd run into her in a bar parking lot at around 12:30, he said, the first time he'd seen her since they'd broken up a week before. And she'd not been happy to see him on a date.

[Peggy Hetrick's Brother]

Then I offered to give her a ride home. I knew she was on foot. She goes, no, I'm just going to wash it.

[Narrator]

Police believe it was on that walk in the early morning hours that Peggy Hetrick's murderer struck.

[Peggy Hetrick's Brother]

I didn't do it.

[Narrator]

And despite hours of denials from Tim Masters.

[Peggy Hetrick's Brother]

It's important you tell the truth. I have told the truth.

[Narrator]

Detective Broderick was growing more certain Masters.

[Investigator]

Did it, dragged her into the adjacent field, and then there was sexual mutilation to her body.

[Narrator]

Police were shocked to learn at autopsy that that mutilation also included what amounted to a female circumcision. All part of Master's deliberate plan, Broderick thought.

[Investigator]

But you can actually see the body laying out there in the field by viewing through his window. And I think he positioned the body so he could then see it from his bedroom window.

[Narrator]

The knives police found lay on the dresser. One had a scalpel inside the handle and there was another scalpel on a table nearby. But there was no trace of Peggy's blood on any of them. Nor did they find her blood on any of Tim's clothes or shoes. They even searched the drains. Nothing.

[Investigator]

There's a misconception by a lot of people that because there's a lot of blood at a scene, it means the suspect's gonna get a lot of blood on them, and that just isn't in the case.

[Narrator]

By contrast, there was no lack of blood in the ghoulish drawings in master's High school notebooks found in his room backpack and school locker had all kinds.

[Investigator]

Of graphic drawings and narratives about murders, violence against women. And we find a drawing where a body is being dragged from under the arms with blood dripping from the back.

[Narrator]

Much as Peggy had been dragged, he thought. But as incriminating as the drawing seemed, the case was completely circumstantial. Weeks, then months passed with no arrest. The evidence consisted essentially of the drawings and the fact that he hadn't reported the body.

[Homicide Detective]

Exactly.

[Narrator]

Anything else?

[Homicide Detective]

No.

[Narrator]

Any hairs, fibers, fingerprints, blood?

[Peggy Hetrick's Brother]

Nothing.

[Homicide Detective]

No, there was never anything that ever tied him to it.

[Narrator]

Nothing at all? Not a smidgen of forensic evidence that tied him to it?

[Homicide Detective]

No, there was nothing.

[Narrator]

Police finally ginned up a plan to get the evidence they lacked. Peggy Hetrick had been murdered almost exactly four years after Tim's mother died. The theory was that Tim had killed out of rage at losing his mother. And so the cops thought, when that day rolls around again, maybe he can be goaded into doing something Incriminating expectations.

[Peggy Hetrick's Brother]

Were that Timothy Masters would go berserk, Go crazy, if you will.

[Narrator]

Then Patrolman Troy Krenning was among the dozen or so officers on the 92 member force assigned to watch Tim Masters. He was not pleased.

[Peggy Hetrick's Brother]

It was a 247 operation that lasted for about a week. We're out chasing these goofball theories that a 15 year old kid's gonna go berserk and start killing people.

[Narrator]

They first scouted out vantage points at neighboring houses, including that of the eye surgeon whose home overlooked the crime scene.

[Peggy Hetrick's Brother]

It's pathetic. It's embarrassing.

[Narrator]

Krenning watched Tim's house from a construction trailer.

[Peggy Hetrick's Brother]

Most of the time he wasn't there. He would get up and go to school, come home, go to bed.

[Narrator]

Others staked out Peggy Hetrick's grave.

[Peggy Hetrick's Brother]

I remember at this briefing, one of the things that was talked about was that he might go down to the grave and revisit Peggy Hetrick's grave and maybe even lay on the grave. What lay on the grave? You know, what kind of silliness is that?

[Narrator]

But the plan went still further. At one point, police duped a newspaper reporter into writing a phony story saying an arrest was imminent.

[Peggy Hetrick's Brother]

Looking back, you almost have to be ashamed to admit that you participated.

[Narrator]

They even left a copy of Tim's mother's obituary on the windshield of a friend's truck.

[Peggy Hetrick's Brother]

That's torture.

[Narrator]

Tim's former attorney, Eric Fisher.

[Peggy Hetrick's Brother]

They're trying to get this poor kid to relive his mother's death. They're trying to make him snap. It's a psychological experiment to try to make him snap.

[Narrator]

And what did this elaborate psychological experiment produce? Zero.

[Homicide Detective]

He didn't do anything.

[Tim Masters]

I still remember to this day them planning the newspaper articles on my friend's truck and in my driveway. But I didn't know they were watching me when they did it.

[Narrator]

At that point, it wouldn't have mattered. He says the investigation already had wrecked his life.

[Tim Masters]

So now everyone in the school thinks I'm a murderer. I only had one friend that stuck with me the whole time. I mean, I had lots of people come up to me and say, I don't think you did it, but they still weren't going to go to the prom with me.

[Narrator]

He remembers thinking that someday, surely everyone would understand that this had been a terrible mistake. But he'd not counted on one very determined cop. Four years after the Hetrick murder, Tim Masters thought he had finally rescued his reputation.

[Tim Masters]

When I joined the Navy, I figured it was all behind me. I was going on with my career. I thought my life was going well. I'd just gotten a promotion. I thought it was over.

[Narrator]

But back in Fort Collins, the case had gone cold.

[Homicide Detective]

It sat there until 1991.

[Narrator]

Linda Wheeler learned she'd been picked to reopen the case, and her marching orders were clear.

[Homicide Detective]

See if you can't put enough of the puzzle together to arrest Tim Masters.

[Narrator]

She worked for a year with Masters in her sights before she stumbled on that apparent missing piece of the puzzle, something Tim had mentioned to a friend.

[Homicide Detective]

Tim Masters had told him that he knew that Peggy Hetrick's nipple had been either cut off or bitten off.

[Narrator]

She was sure it was a detail police never had made public.

[Homicide Detective]

And I went, all right, we got him.

[Narrator]

In July of 1992, armed with an arrest warrant, Jim Broderick and Linda Wheeler hopped a flight to Philadelphia, where Tim's ship was in port. They grilled him again for a day and a half.

[Tim Masters]

So when they were interrogating me, I told them how I knew what I knew. And they.

[Narrator]

He told them that their big secret was, in fact, common knowledge at the high school because incredibly, police had enlisted the help of students, explorer scouts, to search the field for body parts.

[Tim Masters]

And one of them scouts just happened to sit at my table in art class. And one day, she says, they had been looking for Peggy Hetrick's nipples.

[Narrator]

To the detective's Complete shock. The former scout confirmed Tim's story.

[Investigator]

What was thought to be a nice incriminating piece of information really was pretty diluted.

[Homicide Detective]

My key piece of the puzzle had got blown out of the water.

[Narrator]

For Linda Wheeler, that was it.

[Homicide Detective]

I started having my doubts.

[Narrator]

The cop who'd been first to tie Tim Masters to the crime now was the first to think she'd been wrong.

[Homicide Detective]

I was very verbal about, I'm not sure we're on the right track. I am not comfortable with Tim Masters as a suspect anymore.

[Narrator]

Okay, when you said that, what did your superiors say?

[Homicide Detective]

I wasn't very popular with that opinion.

[Narrator]

Wheeler wanted to reinvestigate, start from square one, enlist the help of the FBI.

[Homicide Detective]

I was told I could not take it to the FBI. I was not able to look at other alternate suspects. By the end of 93, I was back on patrol.

[Narrator]

She says she was fed up and ostracized. She quit the Fort Collins police in 1995. Jim Broderick, meanwhile, had been freshly promoted to supervisor, and he soon reopened the case, focusing on his favorite suspect.

[Investigator]

It always been an interest of mine anyway, and now I was in a position to actually do something about it.

[Narrator]

He had no new evidence, but in 1997, he found an ally, someone who put a new spin on the best evidence. He did have Tim's eerie drawings and what they meant.

[Peggy Hetrick's Brother]

He was preoccupied with violence, with sexually sadistic images, with images of domination and degradation of women.

[Narrator]

Dr. Reid Malloy is an internationally known expert on sexual homicide, interviewed here in 2000.

[Peggy Hetrick's Brother]

In my 18 years of doing this kind of work, I have never seen such voluminous productions by a suspect.

[Narrator]

A 15 year old's twisted musings, bizarre artwork and stories about violence, torture and death. Disturbing, sure, Tim said, for a nerdy kid trying to get attention, that was the point.

[Tim Masters]

My peers seemed to approve of them. They liked those drawings. They would offer suggestions. So that encouraged me to draw even more. And we would draw horrible, gruesome scenes and share it with the guy. And they go, oh, that's cool, and pass it back.

[Narrator]

That's all this was. But Dr. Reid Malloy saw much more.

[Peggy Hetrick's Brother]

I look for specificity of links between Tim Masters and the facts of the homicide itself.

[Narrator]

He says he found hundreds of links, but two drawings stood out. One shows how he believes Tim Masters moved Peggy's body.

[Peggy Hetrick's Brother]

In this particular drawing, we have what appears to be a person dragging another person under their arms from behind. And we also have what appears to be blood dripping down from the person.

[Narrator]

And the other graphically depicts what Dr. Malloy thinks Tim did to her.

[Peggy Hetrick's Brother]

Immediately I thought that it was an image of a vagina being cut. The knife appears to be like the one that was used in the crime.

[Narrator]

Malloy concluded that this was a textbook sexual homicide, an outgrowth of Tim's fury at being abandoned at 11 when his mother died.

[Peggy Hetrick's Brother]

Timothy Masters is symbolically killing his mother. I have absolutely no doubt in my mind that Tim Masters was the killer.

[Narrator]

Jim Broderick felt that finally he had his man.

[Investigator]

Well, I actually felt really good.

[Narrator]

He headed for California, where Tim was working, honorably discharged from the Navy and now 27 years old.

[Tim Masters]

And I get a pounding on my door early in the morning on a Monday morning. A guy shows up there at the door with a suit and tie on and he says, tim Masters, you're under the arrest for the murder of Peggy Hetrick. This is unreal. Unbelievable.

[Narrator]

When Broderick searched the house, he found guns, knives and drawings similar to what he'd found in 1987. A few months later, police brought Tim back to Colorado.

[Investigator]

To me, I think it all came together really nice.

[Narrator]

He went on trial for the murder of Peggy Hetrick in March 1999.

[Investigator]

We had all sorts of theories at the beginning.

[Narrator]

Theories, but no physical evidence. Prosecutors Terry Gilmore and Jolene Blair admitted soon after the trial they thought their case was pretty thin.

[Advertiser Host]

There were times when Terry and I were looking at each other like, what are we doing? There's no way we're going to prove this crime. We got nothing. And that's when Broderick would say, wait a minute, come on, guys, this is what we needed to do. And it was the right thing. And there was never any doubt in his mind.

[Narrator]

Tim's changed appearance helped their cause.

[Advertiser Host]

The jurors didn't see the skinny little 15 year old kid.

[Narrator]

He'd grown into an imposing figure, looking fully capable of the crime. Have you ever had any doubt that Tim Masters was innocent?

[Peggy Hetrick's Brother]

No, I've always felt he was innocent.

[Narrator]

Eric Fisher defended Tim at trial.

[Peggy Hetrick's Brother]

I really did not think Tim Masters could pull this off and leave not a single shred of physical evidence.

[Advertiser Host]

The most compelling argument for me was, who else could it possibly be? Nobody else had a motive. Nobody else had the opportunity. Nobody else had the weapons. This is the guy.

[Narrator]

Their best evidence, those incriminating drawings and star expert witness Maloy's interpretation of what they meant.

[Advertiser Host]

We drew a lot of similarities between the drawings and our crime scene to such an extent, the defense thought that we were crazy.

[Tim Masters]

My stories and drawings were gruesome. Violent, but no one was stabbed in the back, no one was sexually mutilated.

[Narrator]

As for that one incriminating drag drawing, Tim has always said he made it after seeing the body.

[Expert Witness]

She didn't get a nail driven through her tongue. She wasn't a skeleton. She wasn't Freddy Krueger, she wasn't a dinosaur.

[Narrator]

David Wymore, who represented Masters, said the state built its case not around evidence, but around fear.

[Expert Witness]

You bring in the psychologist to basically just scare them to death with these drawings that Tim did, you know, oh, this is evidence of a sexual homicide and be scared. And they were scared.

[Advertiser Host]

Terry Gilmour, in his rebuttal clothes, held up the photograph that we had of Peggy Hetrick's vaginal area that showed the mutilation to it. And then we blew up the little drawing that he did and put them side by side. And the resemblance was uncanny. I mean, the jurors were just bowled over.

[Narrator]

More than a decade after the crime, it took the jury just a day and a half to convict Tim Masters of first degree murder.

[Tim Masters]

I didn't think for a minute that I would lose a trial. I didn't think it was possible to be convicted for something I didn't do.

[Narrator]

He was sentenced to life behind bars without parole.

[Tim Masters]

There's no holidays in prison, no birthdays, no Christmas.

[Narrator]

But many birthdays would go by before a startling revelation that would challenge Tim's conviction.

[Expert Witness]

You have a full blown sex offender who lived 200 yards directly across from where the body was found. He's a pervert, he's a voyeur.

[Narrator]

Was there a much more likely suspect?

[Advertiser Host]

Nobody else had a motive, nobody else had the opportunity, nobody else had the weapons.

[Narrator]

Prosecutors were delighted with the guilty verdict in the Tim Masters case.

[Tim Masters]

Which way are we going?

[Advertiser Host]

Who else could it possibly be?

[Narrator]

The answer to that was right under their noses, according to Tim's lawyers. At a house in Tim's old neighborhood, also bordering the field where Peggy Hetrick's body was found four years before Tim's arrest, police were summoned there to another mind boggling crime scene.

[Homicide Detective]

I saw what had gone on inside the Hammond house and saw what he did and I was shocked.

[Narrator]

Then patrol officer Linda Wheeler helped search the home of a prominent eye surgeon, Dr. Richard Hammond.

[Homicide Detective]

Highly educated man with a very sick perversion that I just don't understand.

[Narrator]

A perversion with some eerie similarities to the Peggy Hetrick case secretly played out in the guest bathroom of the Hammond house.

[Homicide Detective]

There was a young college student who was house sitting. And as she's sitting on the potty she thought that it was strange that there was a lot of lights in there. She thought she could see something in the vent right in front of the toilet.

[Narrator]

She was right behind that vent and two others. Dr. Hammond's bathroom video cameras were whirring away.

[Expert Witness]

When you walk in the bathroom and hit the light, it activates the camera.

[Narrator]

Each of them, says Masters lawyer David Wymore, positioned with loving care.

[Expert Witness]

It shows shower cam and toilet cam. So you sit on the toilet, and this camera is directly across from your crotch. And he would calibrate this so that he could actually read the fine print on a Lysol can.

[Narrator]

You mean when he was trying to set it up?

[Expert Witness]

Yeah, he's setting it so that he could get a really good close up.

[Narrator]

Why did he put the toilet roll there?

[Expert Witness]

He couldn't really figure out who's on it unless he could get you to lean over to go for the toilet roll and stick your face in the camera.

[Narrator]

Apparently, auto focus was the doctor's undoing.

[Peggy Hetrick's Brother]

I was a policeman in Fort Collins when it happened.

[Narrator]

David Michelson says that when the puzzled house sitter heard an unmistakable sound, she started investigating.

[Peggy Hetrick's Brother]

She moved her hand and she heard it go zzz. And then she moved it back and it was zzz. And then when she got down on the floor and looked in the louvers of the false heat duct, then the camera would go z to focus in on because she's so close. Then she knew it was a camera.

[Narrator]

Aghast, she called the police.

[Expert Witness]

This is the inside of that secret room.

[Narrator]

In a locked room next to the bathroom. They found an elaborate taping system in a nearby storage locker. An estimated $13,000 worth of pornographic material.

[Expert Witness]

Yeah, he had kept the receipts.

[Narrator]

And everywhere, detailed files and stacks of videotapes.

[Expert Witness]

These are some of the 300 tapes of these victims.

[Narrator]

He's keeping records of every single one.

[Expert Witness]

Meticulous records. He would rate them. He would make a compilation tape so that if you came over to the house, he would splice on you would have your own tape so as you grew, he could follow you.

[Narrator]

A file for each victim. House sitters, family, friends. 78 victims in all, Wymore says, among them, this woman. His daughter and I went to high school together, who asked us to obscure her face. I felt sick. I felt physically sick. And I just thought, oh, my God.

[Advertiser Host]

I'm not over it.

[Narrator]

I don't know that I ever.

[Advertiser Host]

Will be over it.

[Narrator]

After his arrest, Dr. Hammond spent several days in a psychiatric unit and then was released on bond. Days later, he checked into this Denver motel, hooked himself up to an IV filled with cyanide and committed suicide. Have you ever seen anything like this? I mean, you've been doing this for a long time.

[Expert Witness]

No, this guy's a over the top, obsessive voyeur, pervert.

[Narrator]

But the most astonishing thing Masters lawyers say is that Police never investigated Dr. Hammond in connection with the Hetrick murder. So could Dr. Hammond see the location of the body from his house?

[Homicide Detective]

You could oversee the figure where Peggy Hetrick's body was.

[Narrator]

Dr. Hammond, a voyeur with surgical skills, obsessed with female body parts, who lived as close to the crime scene as Masters did. Despite this handwritten note in the Hammond file, look into Hetrick. Broderick was running the show.

[Peggy Hetrick's Brother]

I talked to Broderick in the house because we looked out the master bedroom.

[Narrator]

And did you say the words Peggy Hetrick? And my God, this is. Look at this. How can this not be related?

[Peggy Hetrick's Brother]

Numerous times. And he said no answer.

[Narrator]

Special prosecutor Don Quick, who years later would review this entire case, says that camera receipts provided by Hammond's wife show he'd started the taping years after the Hetrick murder. No reason police should have linked the two.

[Investigator]

There's no physical evidence tying Dr. Hammond to the crime.

[Narrator]

The same could be said about Tim Masters. But when it came to circumstantial evidence.

[Peggy Hetrick's Brother]

Dr. Hammond wasn't standing next to the body the morning that she was killed. Dr. Hammond didn't then go to work and not call the authorities. Dr. Hammond's briefcase wasn't opened up in a picture of a person being dragged with blood coming from their back and.

[Investigator]

Heels on the ground, much like the victim was dragged.

[Peggy Hetrick's Brother]

Dr. Hammond, when you go back to his house, they didn't find grisly drawings.

[Investigator]

Of people being stabbed and slashed.

[Expert Witness]

You have a full blown sex offender lived right across the street from where her body is found, who has an obsession with the most intimate parts of the vagina and breasts. And you have a body in the field missing those parts. And he's an eye surgeon, and you're acting like it doesn't connect.

[Narrator]

Whether or not Dr. Hammond really had anything to do with Peggy Hedrick's murder, probably never will be known. In part because of what police did here at the Larimer county landfill. Just six months after Dr. Hammond's suicide.

[Peggy Hetrick's Brother]

They'Re out at the landfill mashing up with a grater. All these tapes, they destroyed all the.

[Narrator]

Evidence, Every bit of it. Why?

[Peggy Hetrick's Brother]

Past Broderick. He's the one that ordered it.

[Investigator]

They were destroyed. And we should Talk about why they were destroyed. You've got all these victims that are on those tapes that were calling us and had legitimate concerns about the transfer of those images, which is a real issue in today's digital world. It had nothing to do with the Masters case or the murder of Peggy Hetrick. There's no connection between the two. Two of them.

[Peggy Hetrick's Brother]

When I found out they were going to destroy him, I just. I lost it.

[Narrator]

Because Detective Michaelson wondered, what if Dr. Hammond had been secretly videotaping years earlier than police thought? What if, in all those hours of stored videotapes, you thought Peggy Hetrick might be on those tapes?

[Peggy Hetrick's Brother]

Yes. I wanted to watch. Every one of the tapes ceased because I thought she could have been there.

[Narrator]

Anybody do that?

[Peggy Hetrick's Brother]

No.

[Narrator]

Why not?

[Peggy Hetrick's Brother]

I don't know. He was taking pictures of what was removed from Hetrick.

[Narrator]

But at the time of Tim's trial, his lawyers had never even heard of Dr. Hammond. And Eric Fisher isn't surprised that prosecutors didn't enlighten him.

[Peggy Hetrick's Brother]

If we have a pervert living across the street, their complete argument that nobody.

[Tim Masters]

Else could have done this, which is.

[Peggy Hetrick's Brother]

Their whole closing argument, goes away. They cannot make that argument, and their case falls apart.

[Narrator]

Fort Collins Police kept the specifics of Dr. Hammond's activities from the public. His name never was brought up in court. That alone, Tim's outraged attorneys say, justifies.

[Expert Witness]

A new trial comparing Tim Masters to Dr. Richard Hammond. Dr. Richard Hammond would be a super suspect. Tim Masters would be a ridiculous suspect.

[Narrator]

Convincing a judge of that is Tim Masters only hope for freedom.

[Peggy Hetrick's Brother]

Stay tuned for part two tomorrow.