Dead West: Thou Shall Not Kill

Summary

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Cold Case Files — "Dead West: Thou Shall Not Kill"

Date: October 28, 2025
Host: Paula Barros
Publisher: A&E / PodcastOne

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Episode Overview

This episode recounts the harrowing story of the 2002 murder of Daniel Levine, a hog farm worker in rural Montana. It examines the tireless work of law enforcement and family, the challenges of a case turning cold, and how perseverance, witness testimony, and community support finally brought Daniel's killer to justice many years later.

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Key Discussion Points & Insights

1. The Crime and Setting

[01:42] Sheriff Cliff Brophy describes the isolation of Stillwater County, Montana—a place where violent crime is rare, but self-reliance is paramount.

• Daniel Levine was found dead on the porch of his farmhouse near the town of Rapelje on May 13, 2002, shot point-blank while apparently reading his Bible and cooking dinner.
• [03:15] Investigator Woody Klonch: “As I got close to him, it was apparent to me that he was dead. There was a large blood trail flowing from his head... There were what appeared to be three spent .38 caliber shell casings.”

2. Victim Background: Daniel Levine

• Daniel grew up in Massachusetts, loved music and the outdoors, and sought a fresh start in Montana with his family.
• Family testifies to his fun-loving, caring nature, battles with addiction, and spiritual rebirth in Montana.
• [05:27] Alice Evangelista (sister): “Daniel loved the outdoors, especially in Montana… It brought him peace and joy.”
• [06:21] Rachel Tooley (niece): “My uncle Dan was a... kick in the pants and just loved family, loved us kids.”

3. Initial Investigation and Suspects

• The primary witnesses were Sherry Westbrook (later Sherry Edwards), the 911 caller, and her boyfriend Richard Edwards, both employees at the hog farm.
• [09:57] Investigator Woody Klonch found both cooperative in early interviews, though suspicious of their sudden departure later.
• An argument with a man named Shawn (a former employee) emerges as a lead, but he's eventually cleared with a verified alibi:
  • [14:06] Sheriff Cliff Brophy: “Sean had threatened Daniel Levine. Obviously, that become very critical.”

4. Challenges and the Case Turns Cold

• With no physical evidence or reliable suspects, and after Sherry and Richard moved out of Montana, the case goes cold.
• Investigators maintain contact with Daniel’s family throughout, offering hope and updates:
  • [26:59] Alice Evangelista: “Those letters meant a lot to me because it showed me that [Woody] never stopped, never gave up.”

5. Tip Breaks Open the Case

• A tip from Ricky Sims, a relative and friend in Missouri, reveals that Richard Edwards allegedly confessed to the murder, and had disposed of the weapon in the hog farm’s manure pit.

  • [22:36] Sheriff Cliff Brophy: “We received information that Sherry’s relative Ricky had heard Richard say that he had killed someone.”

• Despite exhaustive searches—including use of ground-penetrating radar and a dive team—no weapon is found.

6. The Key Witness Comes Forward

• Years later, persistent follow-ups by authorities convince Sherry Edwards to talk.

• In 2009, after nearly seven years, Sherry confesses she was present when Richard shot Daniel, and had been too terrified to come forward sooner:

  • [31:41] Sherry Edwards: “Richard has three personalities... The third one is a psycho. He’s psychotic.”
  • [32:07] Sherry Edwards: “He shot the man. And then he came home and told me what he had done. And then he took me up there, and I seen him lying there. I was scared to death of him.”

• Sherry provides a detailed account:

  • [33:17] Sherry Edwards: “He went to the door. Dan opened the door… and he just... shot him in the head and turned around and walked back to the truck. And there was nothing I could do.”

7. Arrest and Trial

• Richard Edwards is arrested in Texas just days after Sherry’s recorded statement, thanks to a routine traffic stop:

  • [34:47] Investigator Woody Klonch: “He was stopped for speeding in Texas... And his reported comment to the patrolman was, ‘I thought this was over with.’”

• [35:45] Marlo Pronovost (local newspaper editor): “The community was glad and relieved that it was someone from the outside that had been arrested and not one of us, so to speak.”

• At trial, Sherry testifies, overcoming intense fear of retribution:

  • [36:06] Marlo Pronovost: “It was obvious that she was still terrified of this man.”

• Richard Edwards is convicted of deliberate homicide and tampering with evidence; sentenced to 110 years in prison.

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Notable Quotes & Memorable Moments

• [01:05] Sheriff Cliff Brophy: “We were not gonna let it go.”
• [28:04] Investigator Woody Klonch: “Many people are victimized by their spouses. I thought that Sherry was probably totally intimidated by Richard and had been bullied and browbeaten.”
• [37:05] Investigator Woody Klonch (on lack of motive): “Sherry stated that Richard had told her that he wanted to see what it was like to kill a man. That’s... that’s foreign to me and I don’t understand it.”
• [37:33] Alice Evangelista (facing her brother’s killer): “Forgiving someone doesn’t mean you can’t be angry with them or that you’re going to forget what they did... My forgiving Richard Edwards is also part of what being a Christian is. It’s part of our faith.”
• [37:57] Alice Evangelista: “I totally believe I’m gonna see my brother again someday. I’m pretty sure he’s up there singing songs and he sounds good this time.”

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Timestamps for Key Segments

• [01:42] – Rural Montana: Place, culture, and Ravlejay community.
• [03:15] – Crime scene investigation and first physical evidence.
• [06:00] – Daniel Levine’s family on his character and path.
• [09:57] – Early interviews with Sherry and Richard.
• [13:33] – Introduction of “Sean” as an early suspect.
• [16:45] – Detailed focus on Richard and Sherry as persons of interest.
• [20:36]-[21:40] – Case goes cold, family’s reaction, and investigators’ determination.
• [22:36] – Missouri tip and the confession from Ricky Sims.
• [24:06]-[25:36] – Fruitless search for the gun in hog manure pits; procedural details.
• [28:53]-[32:19] – Sherry’s pivotal confession, revealing herself as a terrified eyewitness.
• [34:47] – Arrest of Richard Edwards in Texas.
• [35:45]-[36:42] – The trial, testimony, community response, and conviction.
• [37:33] – Alice Evangelista offers forgiveness at sentencing.

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Episode Tone & Approach

• The episode maintains a reverent and somber tone, capturing the grief, perseverance, and dignity of Daniel’s family, and the relentless determination of rural law enforcement.
• Family members’ recollections are heartfelt, sometimes bittersweet, interwoven with a sense of loss and hope for justice.
• Law enforcement voices balance professionalism with emotional investment in seeking closure for the victim and his loved ones.

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Conclusion

"Dead West: Thou Shall Not Kill" exemplifies how cold cases can defy the odds of ever being solved, thanks to unrelenting investigators and the courage of those closest to the crime. Through community, faith, and persistence—even in the face of years of silence—justice ultimately prevails for Daniel Levine.

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Transcript

[Podcast Host]

Hi, cold case listeners.

[Narrator]

I'm Marissa Pinson, and if you're enjoying.

[Podcast Host]

This show, I just want to remind you that episodes of Cold Case Files, as well as the A and E classic podcasts, I Survived American justice and City Confidential are all available ad free on the new A and E Crime and investigation channel on Apple Podcasts and Apple plus for just $4.99 a month or $39.99 a year. And now onto the show.

[Narrator]

This program contains subject matter that may be disturbing to some listeners. Listener discretion is advised.

[Alice Evangelista]

My brother Daniel loved the outdoors, especially in Montana. Daniel had been murdered. Who would kill my brother and for what reason?

[Rachel Tooley]

My uncle was shot point blank in Raffle J Montana.

[Investigator Woody Klonch]

They couldn't believe it.

[Alice Evangelista]

He was reading the Bible. At the time that his killer came.

[Investigator Woody Klonch]

I was looking for any type of lead.

[Sheriff Cliff Brophy]

We were very frustrated.

[Rachel Tooley]

We hit a dead spot.

[Investigator Woody Klonch]

I was gonna do anything humanly possible to find the killer.

[Sheriff Cliff Brophy]

We were not gonna let it go.

[Sherry Edwards]

I was scared to death of him. The fear that he would kill my family and everyone that I've ever even known.

[Alice Evangelista]

I had faith justice would be found.

[Rachel Tooley]

They will find him. They will find the man who did this.

[Narrator]

There are over 100,000 cold cases in America. Only about 1% are ever solved. This is one of those rare stories. Cliff Brophy is the former sheriff of Stillwater County.

[Sheriff Cliff Brophy]

Montana is a real unique country. It's filled with mountains and prairies. Stillwater county is very rural. Big sky country is unique. Clear, blue open skies at night. You can see a lot of stars for miles and miles. You don't have a lot of city lights that blur out those stars. Most of the towns have just a few hundred people in them. And a lot of those are ranchers that live out in secluded areas on those ranches. A lot of people will come out to the Montana area because there's not a lot of restrictions and rules. So there's a lot of freedom out in these areas. Along with that comes a lot of responsibility for being self reliant and being able to protect yourself and fend for yourself.

[Narrator]

It's May 13, 2002. The sun is setting on the mountains that surround Montana's Stillwater County. The sheriff's office in Columbus, Montana gets a report of an emergency at a hog farm near the small town of Rapplejay. An employee named Sherry Westbrook calls it in from her house not far away. Woody Klonch is a former investigator for the Stillwater County Sheriff's office.

[Investigator Woody Klonch]

On May 13, 2002, at about 7 in the evening I received a radio call from dispatch concerning a man that was down and deceased at a hog farm to the west of Rapple Jay.

[Sheriff Cliff Brophy]

Rapple Jay just sits out in the middle of an open prairie. There's nothing else.

[Investigator Woody Klonch]

I drove to the scene as quickly as I could. I didn't know what I was going into. I didn't know if it was going to be a crime scene. My arrival on scene was at about 7:20 in the evening. It was still light outside, although it was beginning to become twilight. There was a man down on the porch. I got out of my patrol car, scanning the area. As I got close to him it was apparent to me that he was dead. There was a large blood trail flowing from his head and I could see blood settling in his lower extremities. I didn't think that he had been down and deceased for a terribly long time. One of his feet was hooked into the screen door and the front door to the house was open. I noticed that there were what appeared to be three spent.38 caliber shell casings on the ground near his. I believed this incident to have been a homicide.

[Sheriff Cliff Brophy]

It's real rare that you'll have a violent crime like a homicide in Raffle J. But almost everybody has a firearm.

[Investigator Woody Klonch]

As I entered the home I was extremely concerned because I didn't know what I was going to find. I had my duty weapon out. I cleared the house quickly scanning through the home. On the stove was a pan of hot dogs and beans cooking. My initial impression was is that there was too much food in that pan for one person to eat. That indicated to me that possibly he was going to have some company. I came out of the residence and quickly checked several hog buildings. There was nobody in the area. Dawn and Cord Herzog arrived and they owned the ranch and that residence. I learned that the man that was down and dead, his name was Daniel Levine. He was a Hog Farm employee and he lived in that residence that he was laying in front of.

[Narrator]

Dan Levine grew up in farm country in Massachusetts and worked on farms when he was young. Alice Evangelista is Dan's sister.

[Alice Evangelista]

Daniel loved the outdoors, especially in Montana because of the big open spaces. It brought him peace and joy living in Massachusetts. Growing up, there's a 12 year age gap between Daniel and I. Dad died when I was 10 so Daniel would have been 22. Even though he was that much older than me and not home all the time. Daniel and I were extremely close. I used to watch him in the kitchen in our old house where I Grew up, he'd be in that kitchen dancing to Elvis, trying to dance, just like, try to sound like him. But he didn't, you know, but he could move like him. Music was Daniel's love. He loved music. He was always making me sing. Sing this for me. Sing that for me.

[Narrator]

Rachel Tooley is Dan's niece.

[Rachel Tooley]

My uncle Dan was a. He was a kick in the pants and just loved family, loved us kids. He was very. Just fun loving.

[Alice Evangelista]

He was quite the ladies man. The women liked him a lot. I remember quite a few women that he thought, oh, could be the one, could be another one, wasn't. He used to tell me all the time, all I want is a kid. I want a family.

[Rachel Tooley]

He was looking for a different start, but he was still, I think, battling some demons. That kind of held him up a little bit.

[Marlo Pronovost]

And.

[Rachel Tooley]

He was a little bit of a drinker. He was still this fun loving, crazy guy, you know, but it was a problem.

[Alice Evangelista]

My brother Daniel followed us out here to Montana. I would say that Daniel's feeling pretty.

[Rachel Tooley]

My uncle had met some people in his life through church that could help him, and eventually he stopped drinking.

[Alice Evangelista]

He made the choice to be baptized, and he chose to be baptized naturally. Daniel always has to be dramatic and different. He wanted to be baptized in the Yellowstone River. And it was a really great moment.

[Rachel Tooley]

My Uncle Dan trying to turn around in his life and make changes in his life. And then those opportunities were just taken, just completely taken. He was murdered.

[Investigator Woody Klonch]

After I had cleared the house and the hog pens that were near the home, I radioed in for help from other officers. Sherry Westbrook, who was the person who had made the original 911 call, returned to the crime scene. With her was a man named Richard Edwards. I spoke to Sherry, but she was extremely hyperventilating, and she was. She was literally freaking out. I spoke with Richard, and I told him that I would get up with him the next day for interviews of both he and Sherry.

[Sheriff Cliff Brophy]

When I arrived at the location, that was quite a shock. A horrific crime just occurred. There's a time crunch to determine who was responsible for this, apprehend them, stop them before they kill someone else.

[Investigator Woody Klonch]

This was a homicide, and we had an unknown killer in the area. It was time to go to work to identify that killer. You want to contact any family members that may be in the area. It's never easy.

[Alice Evangelista]

I was at work in Billings. Woody proceeded to tell me, your brother Daniel was shot. We don't know who did it. Sorry for your loss and everything. And I was like this just doesn't sound right. What are you talking about? Not Daniel.

[Narrator]

Marlo Pronovost is the editor of the Stillwater County News.

[Marlo Pronovost]

One thing about Daniel, most of Stillwater county would have never even known him, known his name, had this not happened. But by his tragic death, we all came to know him.

[Narrator]

The next morning, Sergeant Klaunch goes out to interview Sherry, the 911 caller, and her boyfriend Richard at the Herzog Hog Farm. They are employees who live in a company house.

[Investigator Woody Klonch]

Richard and Sherry seemed to be forthcoming. Sherry said that she had worked with Dan Levine for several months, helping the sows give birth to the piglets. This will be a recorded interview I obtained from Richard Edwards on May 14th at his residence, approximately 9am and that's west of the crime scene.

[Interviewer]

Take your name for me, please, sir. Richard Edwards. Let me ask you this. Were you and Dan friends? Yeah. Yeah. No problems. And you worked together for the Herzogs? Yes. How do you think he was feeling mentally? Was he happy and upbeat or was he sad or depressed or. Every time I seen him, he was happy. Happy, secret. I mean, he was just happy to go looking.

[Investigator Woody Klonch]

I observed Richard to be real low key. I took him at his word because he appeared to be fairly open with me. Sherry seemed to be a lot calmer the next day than when I had spoken to her on the prior night.

[Interviewer]

Let's go back to Monday.

[Sherry Edwards]

I told her, sheriff, I would run out to people, little piggies real quick.

[Interviewer]

About what time was that?

[Sherry Edwards]

Oh, about seven o'.

[Investigator Woody Klonch]

Clock.

[Sherry Edwards]

And I seen Dan playing out there and I just thought that he had, you know, been drunk and had passed out.

[Interviewer]

All right, now, I know this is upsetting for you. Just take your time. Try not to be upset at first.

[Sherry Edwards]

As I got closer, I could tell that something was wrong because, I mean, he was just all, you know, just.

[Interviewer]

Healthily looking and just cold.

[Sherry Edwards]

Yeah, all around.

[Interviewer]

He was just.

[Sherry Edwards]

The blood was, you know. And you're doing good. I just turn around and I run.

[Investigator Woody Klonch]

Back to the truck and I call 911.

[Narrator]

With Sherry's reaction the night she made the call, Sergeant Klaunch wonders if there might be something deeper between her and Dan Levine.

[Investigator Woody Klonch]

That gave me the thought of a possible affair type situation between the two of them. So I needed to explore that immediately.

[Interviewer]

Were you ever alone together at all?

[Sherry Edwards]

I was taking care of the baby pin.

[Interviewer]

Do you feel that Dan ever came on to you sexually at all? Did he ever make a pass at you?

[Sherry Edwards]

Not that I could tell.

[Interviewer]

Not that you could tell.

[Investigator Woody Klonch]

Yeah.

[Interviewer]

Okay.

[Investigator Woody Klonch]

I took her at her word.

[Narrator]

Daniel Levine's autopsy is conducted in the nearby city of Billings, Montana.

[Investigator Woody Klonch]

The forensic examiner's report came back and stated that Levine had been killed by a single gunshot wound to the head. The shot had been fired from between 18 to 24 inches away from Levine's head. That would indicate that Levine had known the person who had shot him.

[Narrator]

A week after his murder, the local church holds a memorial for Daniel Levine.

[Alice Evangelista]

This picture was used for his memorial, and we blew it up to a very large size. But he looked good in pink, looked good with his hair turning gray. The day of his funeral, his memorial, we sang for him, my aunt and.

[Rachel Tooley]

My mother, they were very much into their faith and they had the church's encouragement and hope that they will find him. They will find the man who did this.

[Narrator]

The sheriff's office questions the owners of the hog farm, the Herzogs. They reveal an incident that immediately grabs the detectives attention.

[Investigator Woody Klonch]

Dawn and Court Herzog mentioned a man named Shawn to me. There had been some type of an argument between he and Levine. Shawn had worked at the ranch for about a week and then didn't show up. Shawn arranged to come out and pick up his Mormon belongings and his paycheck. There had been a problem between Shawn and Dan Levine over some of those belongings. Shawn had threatened to shoot Levine. It was clear to me that I was going to have to run Shawn down and speak to him at length.

[Sheriff Cliff Brophy]

Sean had threatened Daniel Levine. Obviously, that become very critical. It was imperative that we get him in just as quick as we could.

[Investigator Woody Klonch]

Essentially, Sean had told Dan that you haven't seen the last of me yet.

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[Investigator Woody Klonch]

The man named Sean that had been an employee at the ranch was a likely suspect in the killing of Levine. He could be involved in other crimes we were unaware of. We were having a hard time locating Shawn. He was bouncing around and sleeping at a bunch of different places.

[Narrator]

It takes some digging, but the sheriff's office chases down Sean and brings him in.

[Investigator Woody Klonch]

We were able to locate Sean through his former girlfriend. He didn't really want to cooperate with law enforcement about anything. Sean was flashing some gang signs and coming on like he was a hard case.

[Interviewer]

Are you arresting him? No, because I don't understand this. I'm not trying to hide from nobody and yet I've been picked out as being a suspect to murder somebody. I don't understand it.

[Investigator Woody Klonch]

Our point at that point in time was to keep him talking to see if we could find out what he knew about Dan Levine.

[Interviewer]

You got an attitude. I'm investigating A homicide. So you can sit here, you can have an attitude all you want. I got my attitude, but still on it. Okay. Wish you could stare at me, though, like that. That's my fault. For a man. Do you think that this is a serious situation? Well, obviously someone died and I am suspect of it. You know, it's gotta be serious. Okay. Did you make any threats or say anything to anybody's friends? You didn't go kick his butt or anything like that? I had nothing to that at all. On my life, I swear to you, I had nothing to say.

[Narrator]

Sean provides an alibi for the day Daniel was murdered. The that police quickly check.

[Sheriff Cliff Brophy]

Sean was out of state during the time of the murder, so we were able to show that he was not responsible for it.

[Narrator]

With resources stretched thin in a county of 1,800 square miles, Sheriff Brophy requests support from the Montana Criminal Investigations Division. Veteran agent Glenn Knudson is assigned to the Stillwater team.

[Investigator Woody Klonch]

Knutson arrived on the 15th of May, I believe, and I was assigned to partner with him. I thought that was a very good idea.

[Narrator]

Sergeant Klaunch and his new partner go out to speak to Sherry, the 911 caller, and Richard, her boyfriend. A few weeks later.

[Investigator Woody Klonch]

On arriving there, we learned that Richard and Sherry had quit their jobs and left the area.

[Sheriff Cliff Brophy]

We were very concerned and frustrated. Are we missing something? Why are they leaving? Is it a legitimate reason or is it something else?

[Investigator Woody Klonch]

We were going to have to run them down, find their location.

[Narrator]

While detectives try to track down the ranch hand couple who suddenly vanished, Daniel's sister Alice returns to his house in the middle of the vast Montana prairie. It's remained untouched since deputies finished processing the crime scene.

[Alice Evangelista]

On the stove was the food he was cooking at the time he was killed. And then Daniel had to have been reading his Bible because it was opened on the kitchen table at the time. The last thing that sticks in my memory was the fingerprint dust on everything, including his Bible. Just absolutely everywhere in the entire house. It just like kind of shocked us, you know, that was like a reality check. Seeing that that this was real, we didn't really go through a whole lot. We just packed it up because it was hot in there. We wanted to get out. And no alcohol in the house, no drugs, no cigarettes. He had quit it all, all of it. He had finally found freedom. Enjoy.

[Narrator]

It's now March 31, 2003, 10 months after Dan's murder. After months of searching, and with the couple still missing, the case goes cold.

[Sheriff Cliff Brophy]

A case going cold is when we've run out of leads. We've done all of the investigation that we can. There are no more witnesses to interview and no more tips are coming in. But in this case we had officers that just were not going to give up on it. And we were going to keep after it and put until we come up with the facts and the truth of this case.

[Investigator Woody Klonch]

I was going to do anything that I could do humanly possible to find evidence. I was going to need to locate Richard and Sherry to try and obtain another interview from them. I went to the post office in Raffle J, Montana. The postmistress there was able to give me a forwarding address for Richard and Sherry for lunch.

[Narrator]

Licking, Missouri committed to solving Dan Levine's murder. The investigators head to Missouri to keep the case alive.

[Investigator Woody Klonch]

We arrived in Missouri on March 31st of 2003. We drove to their house and we knocked on the door there. And Sherry, she seemed really surprised to see us. And Richard seemed to be tense about seeing us there. Sherry went over her story and it had pretty much stayed the same. Also during this interview we had learned that Richard and Sherry had married. Richard asked for an attorney and the interview was terminated. At that point in time we were disappointed. It was mildly upsetting to travel all that way and not find anything solid that could be further the investigation.

[Narrator]

But the sheriff's visit shakes things up. Just two weeks later, on April 17, 2003 an unexpected tip comes in from one of Sherry's in laws in Missouri.

[Sheriff Cliff Brophy]

After our contact with Richard and Sherry in Missouri. We received information that Sherry's relative Ricky had heard Richard say that he had killed someone.

[Investigator Woody Klonch]

Ricky Sims had given a statement to one of the Missouri officers about Richard Edwards shooting Levine in the head with a.357. Ricky Sims is one of Richard Edwards best friends. He is married to Billy Joe Sims who is sister to Sherri Edwards.

[Sheriff Cliff Brophy]

Richard told him that he dropped his.357 revolver down into the hog pens on the Herzog ranch. The fact that he may have dropped it into the hog manure tank would make a lot of sense. It's very difficult to access that. Lethal if you go in there without breathing apparatuses. The information from Ricky was plausible Based on information that he had that was not released to the public.

[Investigator Woody Klonch]

Richard Edwards had asked for an attorney. So we couldn't go back to Missouri again and confront him. We needed to find physical evidence to support Ricky Sims statement. If we could find a murder weapon that would allow us to make an arrest. It became critical that we search for.

[Narrator]

That firearm on June 12, 2003. One year after Dan's murder, investigators search the Herzog septic pits.

[Sheriff Cliff Brophy]

To have searchers go down in there. Hog manure is some of the nastiest smelling stuff that you could ever, ever go around. It just, it really, really works on your senses.

[Interviewer]

How deep is the water?

[Investigator Woody Klonch]

It's not. There ain't no water in there.

[Interviewer]

Most of the areas in the feed, there's stuff that hogs don't digest and it doesn't dissolve, and that's what most of that is.

[Investigator Woody Klonch]

I'd never imagined something like this in my wildest dreams. There was one open air pit that was completely accessible by ladders. Knudsen and I made large rakes where we could scrape through the pit and search through the weapon. The odor was horrific. Later we learned online that there's toxic gases in the waste from the hogs and that if one of those bubbles had burst, essentially it probably would have killed one or both of us right away. But we were totally committed and we were going to do whatever it took to find that evidence.

[Narrator]

When the open pit produces nothing of evidentiary value, the detectives go into the hog barns where most of the waste pits are located.

[Sheriff Cliff Brophy]

Some of the hog pens would be like 100ft long, so there was a lot of area to search up there and multiple ones.

[Investigator Woody Klonch]

After two or three days of this, it's extremely painstaking. This wasn't really cutting it.

[Narrator]

The sheriff's office brings in a device called ground penetrating radar to help with the search.

[Investigator Woody Klonch]

Ground penetrating radar is a radar wave that's shot into the ground and bounces off of specific objects. You could search the pits from up above the waste, which would be a lot safer. One particular item was in a buried septic tank. I was really excited because it had the shape of a firearm.

[Sheriff Cliff Brophy]

To see an object like this discovered it really looked like a handgun. We were very determined to get to that, to recover that object and see what we had.

[Investigator Woody Klonch]

I thought, oh my gosh, we found it.

[Sheriff Cliff Brophy]

We had a dive team enter into that vault to retrieve the object. I and everybody else was pretty excited.

[Investigator Woody Klonch]

They dug it up and it ended up being a crescent wrench, which was somewhat disappointing.

[Sheriff Cliff Brophy]

Woody and Agent Knudson were unable to locate anything that resembled a firearm. We were still focused on Richard even though we didn't find the murder weapon. We spent a lot of time working with authorities in Missouri and Texas just to keep the word out there that we were still focusing on this case and we were not going to let it go.

[Narrator]

As the years pass, Sergeant Klaunch stays in contact with Dan Levine's family, who live about an hour away in neighboring Yellowstone County.

[Alice Evangelista]

I received some letters from Woody over the years. It wasn't always every year. It was always around the anniversary. And those letters meant a lot to me because it showed me that he never stopped, never gave up. Me and my kids, we didn't talk about it a whole lot, but my kids and I, we would go down to the river where he was baptized and, you know, visit with him. I guess you could say I always felt that Daniel's killer would probably be found at some point. But it's not something that I dwelled on because I had faith that the person would be brought to judgment one way or the other. Justice would be found one way or the other.

[Rachel Tooley]

But there was that gap in time where it was like we hit a dead spot. No word of anything, no clue or whatnot. It was definitely frustrating down the road a few years.

[Investigator Woody Klonch]

On July 10th of 2008, I spoke to a Missouri probation and parole officer about Richard Edwards. That Richard had transferred his residency to Texas. That kind of surprised me. Sherri Edwards appeared to still be living in the Licking, Missouri area. When I found out, I thought, it's possible for us to go and re interview Sherry again. Many people are victimized by their spouses. I thought that Sherry was probably totally intimidated by Richard and had been bullied and browbeaten.

[Sheriff Cliff Brophy]

April 21st of 2009, Woody and Agent Knudson made a second trip to Missouri to make contact with Sherry.

[Investigator Woody Klonch]

I didn't know how Sherry was going to react. All you can do in that situation is try.

[Sherry Edwards]

He went to the door, Dan opened the door. I was screaming at him and there was nothing I could do. I was in the truck.

[Investigator Woody Klonch]

There it is. Sherry expressed right there. She said that she was an eyewitness to the killing of Dan Levine.

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[Narrator]

Hi, I'm Juliet Cowley, a retired FBI profiler and host of the true crime podcast the Real FBI Profilers. If you're fascinated with true crime and criminal profiling, then join us as we discuss real cases and examine the behavior exhibited before, during, and after the commission of the crime. You can listen to the consult wherever you get your podcasts. It's as close as it gets to being in the room with the FBI's Behavioral Analysis Unit.

[Investigator Woody Klonch]

We arranged to do another interview with Sherri. When Knudson and I met with her, she was shaking and you could tell she was scared. We asked one of the detectives we were working with. He knew the Licking, Missouri area well, and in fact, he knew Sherri to sit in on the interview as a witness to support Sherry in an effort to make her feel a little bit more comfortable.

[Narrator]

It's April 23, 2009, nearly seven years after Dan's murder.

[Interviewer]

Would you please state your full name?

[Sherry Edwards]

Sherry Marie Edwards.

[Interviewer]

You have a relationship with Richard?

[Sherry Edwards]

Yes. Richard has three personalities. And the first one is really sweet, a really great guy. Second one is, you know, he's all right. But the third one is a psycho. He's psychotic.

[Narrator]

Then Sherry says something that leaves investigators stunned.

[Investigator Woody Klonch]

Sherry told us that on the day of the murder, Richard Edwards had told her that he had killed Levine.

[Sherry Edwards]

He shot the man. And then he came home and told me what he had done. And then he took me up there, and I seen him lying there. I was scared to death of him. The fear that he would kill my family and everyone that I've ever even known.

[Interviewer]

Sherry, Sherry, I want you to know, especially after this, we're considering you a victim in this matter.

[Sherry Edwards]

If we do this, then I want you to guarantee that you get him before he gets up here, because if he even has any indications that you guys are coming after, he's gonna come.

[Investigator Woody Klonch]

Up here, and he's gonna kill him eventually. Sherry broke down in tears.

[Interviewer]

They think you have information you're withholding. At this point, the only option you have, the only hope you have is that law enforcement will put together a case on him that will send him away for a long, long, long time. And with his history, I think that's probably a reality. Look at me, Sherry. I want you to be honest with me, okay? I know you're so ready. You are so, so ready to move on with your life. We're not going to stop till we get to the truth. The truth, Sherry.

[Sherry Edwards]

He went to the door. Dan opened the door. Dan was standing in the door with the dog, and he had a plate of food in his hand. And he said, dan, I want to. I want to shoot you in the head. And Dan just laughed and said, know what you got to do? I just t in the head and turn around and walk back to the truck. And there was nothing I could do.

[Interviewer]

Were you with.

[Sherry Edwards]

I was in the truck.

[Interviewer]

Did you walk up to the house?

[Sherry Edwards]

I was in the truck. I could hear him, and I was screaming at him.

[Interviewer]

Sherry, look at me. Would you just. You're not going to jail. But I said that I looked at you as a victim as much as Dan. I meant it.

[Investigator Woody Klonch]

There it is. Sherri expressed right there. She said that she was an eyewitness to the killing of Dan Levine.

[Sheriff Cliff Brophy]

Sherri's statement was a huge turning point in this case. She gave us information of where she was, a firsthand witness to this. A lot of her statement matched the evidence. It was credible.

[Investigator Woody Klonch]

This is what broke the case open and allowed us to charge Richard Edwards with deliberate homicide.

[Sheriff Cliff Brophy]

With Sherry's testimony, the evidence we asked for a warrant of arrest for Richard Edwards for homicide.

[Investigator Woody Klonch]

We were going to bind Richard Edwards and make an arrest.

[Narrator]

Four days after Sherry's interview, police get a surprising stroke of luck.

[Investigator Woody Klonch]

On April 27, 2009, he was stopped for speeding in Texas by a rookie Texas highway patrolman. The patrolman ran Richard Edwards vital statistics through dispatch and learned that there was a valid arrest warrant in place for him. Richard Edwards was arrested at that point in time. And his reported comment to the patrolman was, I thought this was over with. I called and notified the family. Alice Evangelistic was elated. And she. If I recall correctly, she said, I'm glad you got the son of a.

[Alice Evangelista]

I do remember asking Woody. So where do we go from here? Well, there'll be a trial of his peers because he's claiming he's not guilty.

[Rachel Tooley]

There was definitely excitement and that finally moment.

[Narrator]

Sergeant Klaunch brings Richard Edwards back to Stillwater county to stand trial for the murder of Dan Levine.

[Marlo Pronovost]

I think that the community was glad and relieved that it was someone from the outside that had been arrested and not one of us, so to speak.

[Investigator Woody Klonch]

Richard Edwards was tried in Stewart County District Court in 2010. That was approximately eight years after Daniel Levine had been killed.

[Marlo Pronovost]

So it was a big deal. There were four defense attorneys, two prosecutors and a lot of people in the gallery. Sherry's story was immediately believable. It was obvious that she was still terrified of this man. Still. She was just very blunt. He said he was going to kill me, kill my family, kill my children, and burn my grandmother's house down. It was a four day trial. Jury deliberated, I believe, about six hours before returning guilty verdicts on all three charges.

[Investigator Woody Klonch]

Richard Edwards was found guilty of deliberate homicide and guilty of tampering with physical evidence. He was sentenced to 110 years at Montana State Prison. I felt the sentencing was just.

[Narrator]

No clear motive for the killing has ever been established, but a chilling explanation has come from Sherri Edwards.

[Investigator Woody Klonch]

Sherry stated that Richard had told her that he wanted to see what it was like to kill a man. That's. That's foreign to me and I don't understand it.

[Sheriff Cliff Brophy]

Richard Edwards just wanted to see what it was like to murder someone else and ended the life of an individual that just wanted to work and be left alone.

[Narrator]

During the sentencing hearing, Daniel's sister Alice gets the chance to face his killer.

[Alice Evangelista]

May 17th. They allowed me to. To sit in the witness chair and speak to him. And he was looking at me. He didn't look away. And I told him that I forgave him. Forgiving someone doesn't mean you can't be angry with them or that you're going to forget what they did. My forgiving Richard Edwards is also part of what being a Christian is. It's part of our faith. Because in God's word it says, if you cannot forgive your brother, I cannot forgive you. God requires us to forgive, no matter the transgression. So my forgiving him may have brought him peace, but it brought me closer to God. I always feel like he's watching over me. I still talk to Daniel. I totally believe I'm gonna see my brother again someday. I'm pretty sure he's up there singing songs and he sounds good this time.

[Investigator Woody Klonch]

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[Interviewer]

Is my kind of place.

[Investigator Woody Klonch]

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