Loading summary
Transcript235 lines
- [00:00]
Marissa Pinson
When you're a teen, it can feel like everyone else is calling the shots. Parents, teachers, coaches, they all have something to say about what you do. But your period, that should be 100% in your control. That's why NYX, the number one leak proof underwear company in North America, created KT for teens. Period products that put you in charge. KT Leak Proof Underwear, swimwear and activewear give you the power to do what you want when you want, without your period making decisions for you. Heavy flow during soccer practice, you decide to keep playing. Surprise period. During a sleepover, you decide to keep the party going. Hitting the beach or pool, you decide when to jump in. No more sitting out, going home early, or changing your plans just because of your period. Because the one thing you should absolutely have power over is your own body. Ready to take back control. Visit nyxteen.com now and get 15% off your first purchase with promo code control. That's canned Nix Teen.com promo code control. Hi, Cold case listeners. I'm Marissa Pinson. And before we get into this week's episode, I just wanted to remind you that episodes of Cold Case Files, as well as the A and E classic podcast, I Survived, American justice and City Confidential, are all available ad free on the new A E Crime and Investigation channel on Apple Podcasts and Apple plus for just 4.99amonth or 39.99 a year. And now onto the show. This program contains subject matter that may be disturbing to some listeners. Listener discretion is advised.
- [01:32]
Ed Featherston
At first, you just think it's not real. They were both found face down in the tub. They're both bound with duct tape. The person that did this is a monster. Everyone I sit across from, I'm looking at them and I'm looking in her eyes. I'm thinking, are you the monster? In all my years of law enforcement, very few times would I say that I've ever dealt with a true sociopath. Ms. Quedence was a conniving type person. Daddy bought the property and then they had it both in both of their names. She was going to get this property by whatever means possible. And her statement was, if he's in there, I don't know anything about it.
- [02:11]
Marissa Pinson
There are over 100,000 cold cases in America. Only 1% are ever solved. This is one of those rare stories. It's September 17, 1996, in Arlington, Texas. Ed Featherston is a veteran detective with the Arlington, Texas Police Department. Arlington is quiet on this Tuesday until Featherston receives a homicide call.
- [02:43]
Ed Featherston
Well, if I remember correctly, it was about 5:30 in the afternoon and I had just left PD when Simons or Sergeant Simons called me. And investigation, I was next up on the list. And next thing you know, I got the case. 2200 block of Henderson, if I remember correctly, is where I got it. And that was the old Pear Tree Plumtree Apartments. It's a nice building. It's a nice apartment complex.
- [03:07]
Marissa Pinson
Nice on the outside, but inside, apartment 816, a 25 year old schoolteacher named Christine Vu lies dead.
- [03:16]
Ed Featherston
Well, when I first arrived on scene, there are uniformed police officers who are all over this apartment complex who are locating, interviewing and identifying witnesses. Tang Chi Ku is there at the apartment.
- [03:30]
Marissa Pinson
Tang Koo is Christine Vu's live in boyfriend. It was Koo who called 911 after discovering his girlfriend's body.
- [03:39]
Ed Featherston
He was very, very distraught. He was screaming. He wanted the police to go find somebody and find who did it.
- [03:46]
Marissa Pinson
Koo tells police he came home early from work and found the door to the apartment deadbolted from the inside.
- [03:53]
Ed Featherston
So I think, okay, maybe she's in the restroom. I went back to the car, smoked a cigarette, and then after I finished my cigarette, I went back and tried again, but nope.
- [04:05]
Marissa Pinson
Koo tells police he called the apartment from a nearby payphone, but Christine didn't pick up.
- [04:11]
Ed Featherston
So this time I went back to apartment and I tried the key, but the door is actually no longer locked. So I just pushed it in and I went inside.
- [04:23]
Marissa Pinson
Inside the apartment, Koo tells police he found Christine bound with duct tape and face down in the bathtub, strangled to death.
- [04:31]
Ed Featherston
And then I call 91 1.
- [04:33]
Marissa Pinson
It's a story that sends up red flags for veteran detective Ed Featherston.
- [04:38]
Ed Featherston
You know, he says, I came there, the door was locked. I knocked on the door, I smoked a cigarette. She still didn't answer the door. I thought she was using the bathroom. I go to the gym facilities inside the apartment complex, call her on the phone, nobody answers. I come back, try the door one more time, lo and behold, it's open. At that point, I'm real suspicious.
- [04:55]
Marissa Pinson
That suspicion is heightened when Featherston finds no sign of forced entry. Seaman recovered from the body confirms Vu was raped before she was killed. Experience tells Featherston the search for his killer might be a short one.
- [05:10]
Ed Featherston
In cases like this, quite often it turns out to be a domestic related homicide as opposed to a stranger. At that particular instant, Tang Chi Ku was my number one person of great interest. You can do to me whatever you want. You want to put me in jail? Fine.
- [05:29]
Marissa Pinson
Koo cooperates with police providing hair and blood samples and answering difficult questions, all the while maintaining his innocence. His claim of innocence is bolstered when results from the crime lab come in. Joel Stephenson is a retired investigator from the Arlington Police Department.
- [05:47]
Ed Featherston
Latent fingerprints were developed in various areas of the apartment. But primarily, what turned out to be the important one was on the deadbolt lock that was interior only.
- [05:57]
Marissa Pinson
The fingerprint lifted from the deadbolt lock in Christine Vu's apartment has a small scar in the center.
- [06:04]
Ed Featherston
That latent print did not match her boyfriend, her, or any of the officers, medical staff, or investigators at the scene. So we now have an unknown person who was at that scene, and it's our first clue that his story might actually be correct, that he was sitting outside smoking a cigarette while she's being killed in the apartment.
- [06:25]
Marissa Pinson
The unknown print raises just enough doubt to release Tang Koo. Meanwhile, a killer remains free. It's December 24, 1996, at a home across town.
- [06:38]
Ed Featherston
This is a good environment when you're eating because if there's something that's sensitive, you can bring it up at the dinner table. Anybody need any steak sauce or anything?
- [06:48]
Marissa Pinson
Brenda Norwood and her family are a tight knit group. For them, Christmas Eve is family time.
- [06:54]
Ed Featherston
We were all in the kitchen cooking and getting things prepared. And then my niece called me and she said I hadn't been able to get in touch with Wendy.
- [07:05]
Marissa Pinson
Brenda's niece, 22 year old Wendy Prescott, was expected for dinner. By 11pm she still hasn't arrived, and aunt Brenda begins to worry. Brenda and her husband drive to the Pear tree apartment complex and climb the stairs to Wendy's apartment. There they find their niece naked, face down in the bathtub.
- [07:25]
Ed Featherston
At first you just think it's not real. Majestic St. Step in there and see her float in that tub. And her body's lifeless and her little hands were out too, and they were balled up in a fist. The person that did this is a monster.
- [07:43]
Marissa Pinson
Arlington detective Tommy Lenore receives the call.
- [07:47]
Ed Featherston
Once I got into the scene and once I looked around, I then immediately recognized that this was identical to the Christine Vu murder. Deja vu was the word.
- [07:57]
Marissa Pinson
Detective Ed Featherston joins Lenore at the scene, haunted by a feeling that he's been there before.
- [08:03]
Ed Featherston
Floor plan, furniture, carpet color, wall color, the color of the decoration, the design, floral design on the walls of the bathroom are identical. Obviously, the most obvious similarities in these crime scenes was the manner in which the victims were bound with duct tape.
- [08:22]
Marissa Pinson
Wendy Prescott's killer leaves behind at least two critical pieces of evidence. For detectives, the first is semen recovered from the victim's body. The second, a single unknown fingerprint pressed into the dust of a TV stand.
- [08:37]
Ed Featherston
We immediately preserve this area because with being a dust print, any wind, any movement, just even our movement as far as walking path past, and the breeze that we create could potentially destroy this print. So we have, I say, one chance to photograph it, and once we try to do anything with it, it's most likely going to be ruined.
- [09:00]
Marissa Pinson
The dust print is from a thumb and therefore cannot be positively matched to the index fingerprint from Christine Vu's apartment. Semen recovered at each of the crime scenes, however, carries the same genetic profile, confirming the bathtub slayings are the work of one man, and that man is not Tang Koo.
- [09:20]
Ed Featherston
In some way, it makes you feel very uncomfortable because, you know, under the law, say, well, you are innocent until proven guilty, but nope, in reality, it's the reverse. You are guilty, and you have to prove yourself you're innocent. You know, his story in itself is horrible, is a nightmare, because he was actually there as the crime was occurring. Yes, he's a focus of suspicion when it was an isolated incident. That's natural. You always look at who's closest to the victim. But once the second crime occurred and once we saw the genetic link and once we excluded him, then in our eyes, he's a victim as well, A.
- [10:03]
Marissa Pinson
Victim of a serial killer who is still on the loose, stalking the women of Arlington, Texas, and pushing police to the limit.
- [10:11]
Ed Featherston
Now, you know, there's an individual that's not only hit twice, but hit twice within three months. And so not only are we burdened with finding this person, but now we have to protect our community, and we have to worry when this person's gonna hit again. All the single young ladies in this apartment complex are moving out literally in droves. And certainly I can't blame them. That creates tremendous headaches for us because everyone moving out the way they did can actually camouflage the suspect moving out.
- [10:41]
Marissa Pinson
Detectives may not have control over the exodus of tenants, but they do, however, have a significant amount of forensic evidence, including DNA and unknown fingerprints found at each crime scene.
- [10:53]
Ed Featherston
And then I thought, well, let's just run it through aphis, which is the American Fingerprint Identification System. And I thought, hot dog, we're going to get hit, because this guy is not going to be the first time he's ever done anything wrong. He just didn't wake up one day and say, hey, I'm going to go kill somebody.
- [11:08]
Marissa Pinson
The unknown prints, however, do not Return a match in aphis. And so detectives look to DNA to make their case.
- [11:15]
Ed Featherston
The DNA. We know. We know that's our suspect. We actually have the suspect in laboratory custody. All right, but we don't know who that suspect is. You immediately think, who could have done this? Who knows these two ladies?
- [11:29]
Marissa Pinson
The hunt for suspects leads detectives right back to the Pear Tree apartment complex.
- [11:34]
Ed Featherston
You're talking about occupants, People who are associated with occupants. People who work here. Who is it that. What vantage point did someone have where they could watch these ladies? And then when you focus here, we're gonna focus on the known offenders here. These are your systematic case books. They're in chronological order.
- [11:52]
Marissa Pinson
In the months that follow, Lenore and Featherston blanket the Pear Tree apartments. Running down hundreds of leads.
- [11:59]
Ed Featherston
This was a massive canvas. You take a look at this one right here. As a matter of fact, this one just simply says that this guy worked for an air conditioning company and that he was absent from work on both days that Christine Boo and Wendy Prescott were murdered. That's the type of lead you're going to have to follow them. This was an interesting one right here. This guy changed all the locks in the apartment complex. A really intriguing suspect. There was an individual that lived across the hallway from Wendy, who, during the Christine Vu case, actually lived across the hall from her. After the Christine Vu murder, that suspect.
- [12:33]
Marissa Pinson
Is just one of hundreds asked to give blood or saliva samples for DNA testing.
- [12:39]
Ed Featherston
We're dragging DNA from everybody who walked, talk, moved to breathe inside this place. After several months, Ed and I were very well known out here, okay? They thought we were a couple of vampires because we were getting blood samples from everybody.
- [12:51]
Marissa Pinson
DNA samples begin pouring into the crime lab. This is what's called an electropherogram, which depicts the DNA profile of an individual criminalist. Connie Patton runs each against the killer's profile. In the beginning, we received batches of anywhere from 10, 15, sometimes 20 samples at a time.
- [13:11]
Ed Featherston
And I can tell you, in this particular case, there were four or five times that I went home saying to myself and saying to my partners, well, we got him. It's him. Over a period of years, the suspect.
- [13:24]
Marissa Pinson
Samples were processed, and none of their types matched. So they were all excluded.
- [13:31]
Ed Featherston
It's a major downer. I mean, you just crash.
- [13:34]
Marissa Pinson
After 18 months, DNA clears 102 suspects with no match in sight. And another 200 suspects are cleared through alibi or fingerprints. Meanwhile, an uneasy peace settles upon Arlington. The man dubbed the bathtub killer appears to have stopped killing.
- [13:54]
Ed Featherston
You keep waiting for that other shoe to drop. When's that guy gonna hit again? And has he hit again and we just don't know about it? You would think that someone who committed these crimes within three months time, it was pretty remarkable that he stopped and you wonder why he hasn't hit again, but you hope to God that he doesn't. All right, this is the 600 block of Davis. The police station is right up here.
- [14:18]
Marissa Pinson
It's now February 23rd. Derrick Robinson is a detective at the University of Texas at Arlington.
- [14:25]
Ed Featherston
In this area over here is Greek row. There's a lot of fraternity houses and sorority houses as you can see over here.
- [14:30]
Marissa Pinson
Now, in the early morning hours of February 23rd, Robinson responds to a report of sexual assault at the Alpha Kappa Alpha sorority house.
- [14:40]
Ed Featherston
The victim was beaten pretty badly. Part of her face was swollen. Her eye was completely. One of her eyes was completely swollen shut. No amount of counseling or antidepressants or anything would take away that night.
- [14:55]
Marissa Pinson
The victim is shima Benson, a 22 year old senior at UTA. I was sound asleep and I just felt and like in my chest, like.
- [15:06]
Ed Featherston
This overwhelming, like dread.
- [15:08]
Marissa Pinson
Shima tells detective Robinson she awoke to find a strange man in her bedroom.
- [15:13]
Ed Featherston
He said, do what I say and I won't kill you. And he has a gun to my head at this point. And the first thing that pops in my head is, well, let me bite him. And then I bit him. And that infuriated him.
- [15:25]
Marissa Pinson
And that's when he started beating on me. And he left me like, like on the floor naked, bloody, bruised, you know.
- [15:32]
Ed Featherston
Incapacitated in the fact that I was, you know, kind of like, where am I? What's going on?
- [15:38]
Marissa Pinson
And, you know, a rape kit. Examination provides investigators with the attacker's semen, and Shima provides them with a physical description.
- [15:48]
Ed Featherston
She was able to tell he was a black male, he was light complected. And she was able to give us a relatively good height and weight description. First thing we do is we distribute it em on campus.
- [15:58]
Marissa Pinson
The story makes the news, and it's not long before a tip comes in to the Arlington police department.
- [16:04]
Ed Featherston
I received a phone call from a young lady who was one of Wendy Prescott's very best friends. Matter of fact, she was the last person to see Wendy alive. She called me and said, detective Lenore, do you know about the girl? Her words are, do you know about the girl that was raped at the sorority house at utx? And I said, yes, I know about that. And she said, that should have been me. And she goes, not only should that have been me. But that's the same person that killed Wendy.
- [16:29]
Marissa Pinson
The caller gives Detective Lenore the name of a suspect, her ex boyfriend turned stalker.
- [16:35]
Ed Featherston
She described an individual who was stalking her and found out that she lived at that sorority house. She even stayed in the same room that that young girl that was sexually assaulted was in. She recently moved out to get away from that stalk. So based on that information from this young lady, I contacted Detective Robinson and I asked Detective Robinson if we could have the DNA from his case compared to the DNA from Wendy Prescott and Christine Vu. Approximately two or three days later, we get a genetic link.
- [17:06]
Marissa Pinson
DNA testing confirms Shima Benson's attacker is the same man who raped and killed Christine Vu and Wendy Prescott. Detective Lenore tracks down the stalker suspect named by the caller, but finds that man's DNA does not match the profile of the serial killer. The investigation, however, has moved forward. Detectives can now exclude more than two thirds of their original suspect pool and focus only on men who fit the physical description of Shima Benson's attacker.
- [17:36]
Ed Featherston
He is an African American male, appeared to be in his middle mid-20s.
- [17:41]
Marissa Pinson
The suspect's physical profile also includes an unusual detail.
- [17:46]
Ed Featherston
I went to go do that and then I bit him. And that's an injury that was very remarkable. It was an injury to his penis and it was an injury that more than likely would not heal very quickly.
- [18:04]
Marissa Pinson
Cold Case Files is brought to you by Progressive Insurance. You chose to hit play on this podcast today. Smart choice. Progressive loves to help people make smart choices. That's why they offer a tool called Auto Quote Explorer that allows you to compare your Progressive car insurance quote with rates from other companies. So you save time on the research and can enjoy savings when you choose the best rate for you. Give it a try after this episode@progressive.com, progressive Casualty Insurance Company and affiliates. Not available in all states or situations. Prices vary based on how you buy this time of year. Just living life can feel like a workout. There's travel plans and a million things to keep up with. Finding time to exercise shouldn't add even more chaos. That's where hydro really stands out. You can get an amazing workout at home. No commuting or complicated scheduling required. Just hop on when it works for you. Whether you've got a packed day or just a few spare minutes, hydro is a total game changer for home fitness. It gives you a full body workout. Arms, legs, core and engaging 86% of your muscles in one session. And you can do it in just 20 minutes. For anyone who's busy, that kind of efficiency really matters. Use it to train hard or just to keep moving. Hydro works for all kinds of workout styles. It's low impact and gentle on your joints while still bringing real results in both strength and cardio. One of the best things about Hydro is that the classes are led by real athletes, Olympians and world champions who know exactly how to motivate and guide you. And the rowing sessions are filmed in stunning locations around the world, which always keeps things interesting. Getting started is easy. There's free shipping, a 30 day risk free trial and a one year warranty so you can try it out with peace of mind. If you're looking to bring convenience, quality and expert LED workouts into your home, Hydro is absolutely worth checking out. Skip the gym, not the workout. Stay on track with Hydro for a limited time. Go to hydro.com and use code cold case to save up to $450 off your Hydro Pro Rower. That's H Y--R-O-W.com cold case to save up to $45 hydro.com code cold case It's February 1999, three years after Christine and Wendy's murders.
- [20:19]
Ed Featherston
Everyone I sat across from and looked at you. I'm looking at him and I'm looking in her eyes. I'm thinking, are you the monster?
- [20:25]
Marissa Pinson
For three years, Detective Tommy Lenore has tracked his monster, an African American man who raped and killed two women, then raped a third, but let her live. It is this change in criminal behavior that piques Lenore's interest.
- [20:40]
Ed Featherston
We need to go back now and start looking at these sexual assaults that we didn't look at before. And now we need to start going forward and looking at this because this man is changing.
- [20:50]
Marissa Pinson
Lenore puts out an APB on the suspect, including details of a scar suffered during the last assault.
- [20:57]
Ed Featherston
We even incorporated that this person may have a defect to his penis simply because of an injury. And quite frankly, that's one of the things that led us to the Grand Prairie offense.
- [21:10]
Marissa Pinson
In the nearby town of Grand Prairie, DNA links another unsolved rape case to Lenore's suspect, bringing the running total of victims to four by the summer of 1999. However, the detective is once again fresh out of Leeds.
- [21:25]
Ed Featherston
This is the demographic book from the Pear Tree apartment.
- [21:29]
Marissa Pinson
He returns to his deepest pool of suspects, men who lived at the Pear Tree apartment complex, the site of both murders.
- [21:38]
Ed Featherston
When this is resolved, we're going to find out. This person is on this list and right under our nose. If everyone was absolutely cooperative, we would clear them probably in three to four days. A person.
- [21:49]
Marissa Pinson
The work is painstaking and ultimately thankless as no new suspects can be developed. Meanwhile, science is on the march and about to offer Lenore's investigation a leap forward.
- [22:01]
Ed Featherston
This is the CJIS link from the Criminal Justice Department.
- [22:05]
Marissa Pinson
Sergeant Gary Cron is an investigator who keeps up with technology and it's talking.
- [22:10]
Ed Featherston
About the new FBI IAFIS system.
- [22:13]
Marissa Pinson
IAFIS was the latest version of fingerprint analysis software capable of rotating a print 360 degrees and detecting points of comparison where before there were none.
- [22:24]
Ed Featherston
It was just such better technology. I thought, what an opportunity for us just to. Just to see what would happen because we hadn't used this before.
- [22:34]
Marissa Pinson
Sergeant Krahn thinks back to the 1996 Pear Tree apartment murders.
- [22:39]
Ed Featherston
They had been unsolved. We had really good latent prints on that case and it was just a hope that we would be able to get a positive result.
- [22:49]
Marissa Pinson
Three and a half years ago, investigators lifted an unknown print from the dust on murder victim Wendy Prescott's TV stand. Now they send that print to the FBI for analysis. Two weeks later, the IAFIS system gets a match. The owner of the print, a man named Dale Devon Chenette.
- [23:08]
Ed Featherston
I had looked at that dust print so many times over the course of four years is almost ingrained in my memory.
- [23:14]
Marissa Pinson
Crime scene investigator Joel Stephenson quickly confirms the match.
- [23:18]
Ed Featherston
I sit down, I guess to take a breath because my part's done and I look over and I think, wait a minute, I got another latent print that's not identified.
- [23:25]
Marissa Pinson
Stevenson pulls out the latest print found on the deadbolt lock of the other murder victim, Christine Vu, and compares it to ink prints from Dale Devon Chanel.
- [23:35]
Ed Featherston
There's a scar, big as daylight. That right index on the print card that we can see in the latent print. I'm like, I don't believe this. We've got him in both apartments. These individuals had no criminal history.
- [23:45]
Marissa Pinson
The name Dale Devon Chanette rings a bell and Detective Lenore finds him in the case file.
- [23:51]
Ed Featherston
I referred back to my sheet and saw that he was number 17. There was nothing significant about him that made him stick out. He was not the hunchback one. One eyed monster running through the village.
- [24:03]
Marissa Pinson
At the time of Christine Vu's murder, Shanette lived in the Pear Tree apartment complex but had no criminal record. In 1999, his prints were added to the IAFIS system after a burglary arrest.
- [24:15]
Ed Featherston
Why are your latent prints inside this apartment? He denied ever being in the apartment.
- [24:20]
Marissa Pinson
Lenore tracks down Shanette and brings him in for questioning. The suspect has no explanation for for his fingerprints in the victims apartments, nor any desire to donate saliva or undress for investigators.
- [24:32]
Ed Featherston
I asked if he would voluntarily give us his samples and he refused. And so we got an evidential research warrant and we through a court order obtained those things. We observed the injury to his penis. So we were very comfortable that we had the right person in this case. Mr. Chanet did match the profiles previously obtained.
- [24:55]
Marissa Pinson
On December 7, 2000, DNA specialist Connie Patton confirms the semen found in Christine Vu, Wendy Prescott and Shima Benson belongs to Dale Devon Chanette. That he did match I believe at all 13 genetic loci that were examined. Shinette is arrested and asked to answer for his crimes.
- [25:15]
Ed Featherston
The opening statement was much like any opening statement statement I give, it's to tell them a story.
- [25:20]
Marissa Pinson
Greg Miller is a prosecutor in Tarrant County, Texas. In January of 2003, he tells the jury the story of Dale Devon Chanette.
- [25:30]
Ed Featherston
I would describe Dale Chinette as a predator, quite frankly, one of the worst I've seen in all the years I've been in this business. He is evil. He's the worst of the worst. We had so much DNA evidence at that point.
- [25:44]
Marissa Pinson
By the time trial begins, DNA has linked Shanette to an additional three rapes, bringing the total to five rapes and two murders. It was hard because I was angry. Shima Benson is just one of five rape victims in the courtroom. Four years after the attack. Her anger has not subsided.
- [26:04]
Ed Featherston
I wanted to jump across the podium and strangle them.
- [26:10]
Marissa Pinson
On January 8, 2003, Chanette is found guilty of capital murder. He receives the maximum penalty in the state of Texas, death by lethal injection. He was executed on February 10, 2009.
- [26:24]
Ed Featherston
Something as heinous as what he did deserves that kind of punishment. But another part of me wants him. In the general population being raped by the other convicts. You know what I mean? Like being subject to, subjected to the.
- [26:35]
Marissa Pinson
Same thing we've been subjected to.
- [26:38]
Ed Featherston
Dale Chanet. Whether or not he needs to be on death row or not, I will tell you this. He doesn't need to be in society.
- [26:44]
Marissa Pinson
For half a decade, Tommy Lenore hunted a man he came to know as a monster. Now the detective can put his case file away, secure in the knowledge that the monster can't hurt anyone else.
- [26:56]
Ed Featherston
The word joy and happy just don't come into play. You still have ladies that are victimized. You still have the families who will live this for the rest of their lives. So there's no happiness there's. No joy, but there's tremendous satisfaction. There's satisfaction that I was privileged to be part of the investigation that got this monster and put them away.
- [27:30]
Marissa Pinson
It's November 27, 1987, in LaGrange, Georgia.
- [27:34]
Ed Featherston
I knew something was wrong, you know, immediately when I got inside and saw there was no note or anything.
- [27:40]
Marissa Pinson
Tim Wilkerson is 18 years old. The night his father, Fred, goes missing.
- [27:45]
Ed Featherston
Of course, he was gone. His car was gone. And I thought it was very odd because we always left each other notes. If we left Gusam, of course, the next morning when he still hadn't shown up, you know, as time progressed, it just. I knew more and more that something had happened to him. Of course, Tim said that him and his dad were real close.
- [28:02]
Marissa Pinson
Investigator Mike Newsom responds to the missing persons call.
- [28:06]
Ed Featherston
I went to the apartment where Tim and Mr. Wilkerson lived to try to make a determination whether there was any clothing or personal items missing to where it might have looked like he had voluntarily left on his own. I mean, he hadn't taken anything. He even left his pocket knife and watch such as that, you know, as if he was just going to run out for a few minutes and, you know, come back.
- [28:30]
Marissa Pinson
By Monday morning, Fred Wilkerson has missed two days of work, and his son fears the worst.
- [28:36]
Ed Featherston
I knew by him missing work, you know, it was getting more and more serious every day, you know. You know, we were calling any friends or family that. That we had to see if anybody had seen him. I was pretty much panicking, you know, and of course, Tim and his sister both really felt like he wasn't strictly a missing person, that something had happened to their father, that they felt like he'd been killed. Okay, right now we're located in the middle deck of the Atlanta airport, South parking, south terminal.
- [29:05]
Marissa Pinson
Four weeks later, on Christmas Eve, Fred Wilkinson's car turns up at the Atlanta airport. Special agent Roy Olinger works the scene.
- [29:14]
Ed Featherston
When I approached the vehicle, the very first thing I saw was the whole vehicle was covered with a thick coat of dust. And I walked around to the driver's side of the vehicle.
- [29:22]
Marissa Pinson
Crime scene technicians process the car for fingerprints. Investigators are surprised when the vehicle comes up clean.
- [29:29]
Ed Featherston
It's pretty unusual not to find fingerprints someplace in the vehicle, because anytime if you change drivers, you automatically, automatically reach up and change the mirror. You leave your fingerprints on the door handle. You've got to close the door. You've got to open the door. You've got. Usually leave your fingerprints behind. It would make you think somebody wiped the Car.
- [29:46]
Marissa Pinson
Down inside the car, investigators find two more pieces of evidence.
- [29:51]
Ed Featherston
Pretty sure it was two payroll checks that were to Mr. Wilkeson from the company he was employed by, which had been left in the vehicle. Which, of course, I should assume that if he had left on his own, most likely he would have cashed those checks. Financially, he was in bad shape, so I knew he wouldn't leave payroll checks laying there on cash. But the investigator at the time said, you know, people do that just to throw you off. You know, I thought, well, possibly he had gotten on a plane by himself and get away for a while.
- [30:22]
Marissa Pinson
Detectives can find no record of Fred Wilkerson taking a flight. And ultimately, the discovery of his car raises more questions than answers.
- [30:31]
Ed Featherston
He was leaving money behind, so that was swaying me more and more and more towards foul play when talking to Tim. The question, of course, was posed to Tim if he met harm at someone's hand, who would have done it? And Tim related the story about Connie Quedens.
- [30:48]
Marissa Pinson
Connie Quedens is Fred Wilkerson's ex girlfriend.
- [30:52]
Ed Featherston
Really immediately we knew that Connie was involved wherever he was at, whatever had.
- [30:56]
Marissa Pinson
Happened at the time of the disappearance, According to Tim, Connie and Fred's relationship had dissolved into a bitter dispute over a ranch house resting on 14 acres of rolling Georgia countryside.
- [31:09]
Ed Featherston
Daddy bought the property, and then they had it both in both of their names.
- [31:13]
Marissa Pinson
Tim tells police that the feud began after his father had struck a deal with Connie, signing over his share of the property to her to help her get custody of her children.
- [31:23]
Ed Featherston
And he told me that as soon as she got custody of the kids, she would sign that back over.
- [31:28]
Marissa Pinson
Shortly after Fred signed over his share of the property, Tim tells investigators Connie betrayed him.
- [31:34]
Ed Featherston
He told me about the relationship, how it went sour, how she kicked him out, called the sheriff's department and kicked him out, and wanted nothing to do with Fred. I knew that he had filed suit against her and she was served.
- [31:47]
Marissa Pinson
Two days before he disappeared. Fred. Fred Wilkerson had sued Connie Quedens, seeking to recoup his investment in the home. Tim believes this to be a motive for murder.
- [31:58]
Ed Featherston
You know, I knew that something had happened when they served her with those soup papers. We talked to everyone.
- [32:04]
Marissa Pinson
Investigators sit down with Connie Quedens to gather her side of the story.
- [32:08]
Ed Featherston
Connie Quedens denied that she had seen Fred since the 13th of November.
- [32:14]
Marissa Pinson
Connie tells police her relationship with Fred Wilkerson was strictly business.
- [32:19]
Ed Featherston
She denied having a sexual relationship with Fred. She said that she allowed Fred to move into her house to be close to his Work so he could work on the house as the contractor. From the start, though, the home was to be hers, according to her, and Fred Wilkerson knew that he had no ownership to it. She was claiming the opposite of what Tim was saying. She gave a plausible explanation for everything. She was calm, cool, matter of fact, gave no one, no indicators that she was lying. In the back of your mind, you could think that she's involved somehow.
- [32:57]
Marissa Pinson
Detectives have their suspicion about Quedence, but no hard evidence tying her to Fred Wilkerson's disappearance.
- [33:04]
Ed Featherston
Like you said, it was always some information coming up, where somebody saw him here, saw him there.
- [33:09]
Marissa Pinson
In time. She's placed on the the back burner, and the investigation begins to look elsewhere for answers.
- [33:15]
Ed Featherston
They assumed that he had. He had financial problems and he was a truck driver, so he had a lot of connections that he just kind of hit the road, you know, just to get away. We always had to leave that little door open, but. But no, no, we knew he was not that type of guy. I mean, we just knew that he wouldn't have done that to us.
- [33:32]
Marissa Pinson
In the months that follow, records checks show no activity on accounts or the Social Security number belonging to Fred Wilkerson. And a number of sightings turn out to be false leads. Time passes, and Wilkerson's fate remains a mystery and soon evolves into the stuff of local legend.
- [33:50]
Ed Featherston
Everybody in town, I guess I say that most people that I talk to.
- [33:55]
Marissa Pinson
Seven years later, in the spring of 1995, reporter Lee west of the LaGrange Daily News picks up on a rumor about Fred Wilkerson.
- [34:04]
Ed Featherston
The talk around town was at Conic Whedon's actually kill him or had him killed or something because of the squabble over the property out there.
- [34:12]
Marissa Pinson
The talk about Fred picked up after Connie hired a crew to fill in an old abandoned well on the back of her property.
- [34:19]
Ed Featherston
That immediately made us think she's covering something up. And that's everybody's talk was, you know, Fred's in the well.
- [34:26]
Marissa Pinson
The local gossip soon becomes local headlines when Connie Quedens takes legal action to declare Fred Wilkerson dead.
- [34:34]
Ed Featherston
Oh, we were very upset because, I mean, we had nothing to gain by declaring him dead, you know, Connie, on.
- [34:41]
Marissa Pinson
The other hand, has thousands at stake. After making seven years of payments on a life insurance policy for Wilkerson, my.
- [34:49]
Ed Featherston
Question was, why would somebody keep paying it each month if they didn't know the person was dead? Because if he'd lived to be 90 years old, they would have, you know, they'd have paid more than they would have collected. But we hired an attorney and learned that there was nothing we could do to stop him.
- [35:04]
Marissa Pinson
On May 24, 1995, Fred Wilkerson is declared dead by a Georgia county judge. A few months later, Connie Quedence cashes a life insurance check for $12,000.
- [35:16]
Ed Featherston
At that time, we contacted Connie Willis.
- [35:20]
Marissa Pinson
Grizzard is an investigator with the Troup County Sheriff. He still has his doubts about Quedence and asks her to come into the station to take a polygraph test.
- [35:29]
Ed Featherston
So when we set the schedule up, we scheduled everything. Polygraph. She did a no show.
- [35:35]
Marissa Pinson
Connie Quedens declines to cooperate with the investigation.
- [35:39]
Ed Featherston
We just did not have enough evidence to put us on the property for a search. I mean, like I say, the libel laws get you. I couldn't say that Fred's in the well.
- [35:50]
Marissa Pinson
Fred is in the well. That is the prevailing sentiment in the town of lagrange, Georgia, where over the years Wilkerson's fate remains a favorite topic of discussion until a rainy night in Georgia when a burst of lightning turns the local legend into reality. This episode is brought to you by BetterHelp. I can't count the number of times I looked up mental health or wellness advice online and ended up feeling like I was in a sea of information, tips and strategies, cold plunges, guided journals. Should I try meditating with my cats? The options are endless. And honestly, it's easy to feel overwhelmed sometimes. I've spent so long searching for the right thing that I don't actually do anything at all. That's why it's so important to have a trusted resource instead of getting lost in Internet rabbit holes. Actually talking to someone, a trained therapist who understands you makes a world of difference. Therapy isn't just for big life events. It helps with everyday stress, teaches real coping skills, and gives you tools to set healthier boundaries. We all deserve to feel empowered and supported as our whole selves. BetterHelp is the world's largest online therapy platform with over 30,000 therapists and more than 5 million people served around the globe. They have an amazing 4.9 out of 5 average for live sessions based on more than 1.7 million reviews. And it's super convenient. Join a session with just a click and if you ever want to switch therapists, it's easy and you can do it anytime. Life can be complicated, but getting support doesn't have to be. As the largest online therapy provider in the world, BetterHelp can provide access to mental health professionals with a diverse variety of expertise Talk it out with BetterHelp. Our listeners get 10% off their first month at betterhelp.com coldcase that's betterhelp.com cold case a true crime podcast it got.
- [37:41]
Ed Featherston
Me upset because this is someone's kid and someone knows she's gone. That takes a different approach. It was shocking for something like this to happen in our little town.
- [37:52]
Marissa Pinson
Focusing on the communities affected by life shattering crimes.
- [37:56]
Ed Featherston
It made news throughout the entire region that these two people had been shot while they slept in such a safe community to give a new perspective on the devastation crimes can cause. It was shocking for something like this to happen in our little town. Featuring cases from quiet towns to bustling cities and interviewing the people closest to the case. My first thought was that it's an unusual location for us to have a homicide.
- [38:24]
Marissa Pinson
Listen to the true crime podcast City Confidential and step beyond the yellow tape.
- [38:28]
Ed Featherston
To learn just how far a crime can reach. There are certain cases in the history of Boston that I think sort of define the city. I think this is one of them.
- [38:37]
Marissa Pinson
New episodes of the City Confidential podcasts.
- [38:39]
Ed Featherston
Are available every Thursday.
- [38:40]
Marissa Pinson
Available wherever you get your podcasts.
- [38:47]
Ed Featherston
In May of 2003, we had a storm come through Lagrange, Georgia. All of a sudden the lights went off of my house.
- [38:54]
Marissa Pinson
Pete Scandalakis is the district Attorney working in Troup County, Georgia. In the spring of 2003, a thunderstorm topples a pine tree, crushing his brand new pickup truck.
- [39:05]
Ed Featherston
I walked out, I saw my truck had been crushed by the tree and I started laughing and I said, okay, God, why me? Why is this going to happen? I know there's some reason.
- [39:15]
Marissa Pinson
The reason remains a mystery until Scandalakis drives his crippled truck to a nearby body shop owned by Tim Wilkerson. The same Tim Wilkerson whose father Fred went missing in 1987 and has not been seen since.
- [39:29]
Ed Featherston
Tim was aware of the fact that we had recently solved another cold case file.
- [39:34]
Marissa Pinson
The Troup County DA's office had recently made headlines after cracking a 33 year old murder case in the nearby town of Hogansville.
- [39:42]
Ed Featherston
I didn't know any of the really details, but when I knew that it was 20 something years old, you know, I felt for the family. I mean, I thought that was great. We talked about you opening that up.
- [39:50]
Marissa Pinson
When Wilkerson mentions his father's disappearance, Scandalakis listens and remembers.
- [39:56]
Ed Featherston
I was familiar with that case because I was an assistant DA when Mr. Wilkerson disappeared. Plus I was not satisfied with the conclusion that some people had that Mr. Wilkerson had run away and had simply abandoned his family. He was not the kind of man that would leave his family.
- [40:14]
Marissa Pinson
Clay Bryant is a special investigator with the Troup County District Attorney. At the request of Pete Scandalakis, Bryant pulls out the Wilkerson file and meets with the Wilkerson family.
- [40:26]
Ed Featherston
After an hour with them, I was very well satisfied that the man had met with a untimely demise. Need some help?
- [40:36]
Marissa Pinson
As usual, Clay begins his investigation with a focus on the only suspect mentioned in piles of casework.
- [40:43]
Ed Featherston
Connie Quedence was our number one suspect.
- [40:46]
Marissa Pinson
Fred disappeared in the midst of a legal battle with Connie over a house they once shared. Seven years later, Connie petitioned the court to have Fred Wilkerson declared dead. She then collected on a life insurance policy in his name.
- [41:01]
Ed Featherston
Everybody suspected Connie, but there was never a physical tie of Fred to Connie at the time of his disappearance. Okay, did he get crime lab report on that blood yet?
- [41:13]
Marissa Pinson
In search of that connection, Bryant digs into the cold files and finds a handful of unresolved leads, including one that's been bothering Tim Wilkerson for eight years.
- [41:24]
Ed Featherston
I'm not sure. I'm sure. The first day I told him, Lisa Holderman.
- [41:27]
Marissa Pinson
Lisa Holderman is a former friend of Connie Quieden's. In 1995, she contacted the Wilkerson family attorney claiming to have information about Fred's disappearance. At that time, efforts to follow up with Lisa for an interview failed.
- [41:42]
Ed Featherston
And at that point I said, we got to talk with her. Freaked me out. I was so not expecting that call.
- [41:51]
Marissa Pinson
On September 5, 2003, investigator Bryant tracks down Lisa Holderman. Now Lisa Holderman miles and listens to her story. It begins eight years earlier on the front page of the lagrange Daily News.
- [42:06]
Ed Featherston
My mom and I, we were reading, reading the newspaper.
- [42:09]
Marissa Pinson
Like most of lagrange, the Holdermans were talking about Fred Wilkerson and Connie Quedens.
- [42:15]
Ed Featherston
It's been a rumor around town. Yeah, Fred's down Queden's.
- [42:18]
Marissa Pinson
Well, specifically Connie's push to have Fred declared legally dead.
- [42:24]
Ed Featherston
You don't declare someone dead unless you know they're dead. That'd be my thought on it too. Said in the paper that they had.
- [42:30]
Marissa Pinson
Found Fred's car at the airport because.
- [42:32]
Ed Featherston
It kind of just gave a background about what had happened and how it transpired and that they had found his car at the airport, a champagne colored 1987 Honda. When I heard that, you know, it was like, oh, you know, I drove to the airport for her at that time.
- [42:48]
Marissa Pinson
According to Lisa, in 1987. At around the time Fred Wilkerson disappeared, she made a trip to the Atlanta airport at the request of Connie Quedens.
- [42:58]
Ed Featherston
She just asked me to come up and pick her up, just pick her up at the terminals and she'd be out there waiting for me. She was standing at the pickup waiting for me. She was by herself, just standing there waiting. I seen her, I picked her up and we drove back to Lagrange. Probably took me about an hour.
- [43:15]
Marissa Pinson
Lisa never gave the road trip a second thought until eight years later in 1995 when she heard about the discovery of Fred Wilkerson's car at the Atlanta airport. That's when I really started thinking, oh man, you know, she could have done this.
- [43:31]
Ed Featherston
She had took the car, she had to have taken the car. The car was found within 200 yards of where Connie was standing.
- [43:38]
Marissa Pinson
Lisa's tip gives investigators the link they need to break the stalemate with Connie Quedens.
- [43:44]
Ed Featherston
Her statement was the one thing that we used to tie her to Fred's disappearance. Clay had even asked me, he's like, well, you know, do you have any idea where you think he is? I said, I have the same idea everybody else has.
- [43:57]
Marissa Pinson
He's in the well on her property.
- [43:59]
Ed Featherston
If you'll look on top of the knob as we get here, where that piece of pipe is denotes where the cylinder of the well was located itself. The well was approximately, I'd say four, four and a half foot across. It was an old hand dug well.
- [44:14]
Marissa Pinson
Sixteen years after Fred Wilkerson disappeared, the legend of his demise is about to be put to the test.
- [44:21]
Ed Featherston
We came here today, started digging with the track co and also a bulldozer.
- [44:25]
Marissa Pinson
Armed with a search warrant, a team of detectives begins digging up Connie Quedin's well.
- [44:31]
Ed Featherston
I told Connie, I said, we're going to search your property and we're going to start at the location of the old well. And her statement was, if he's in there, I don't know anything about it.
- [44:43]
Marissa Pinson
By 10am the excavation is well underway. Meanwhile, inside the home, investigator Bryant is questioning Connie Quetins.
- [44:51]
Ed Featherston
I said, well, Connie, we have a young lady that's come forward that says she picked you up at the airport when you drove Fred's car up there. At that point she came unglued. She said, I took the car to the airport, but I didn't kill him.
- [45:06]
Marissa Pinson
Less than 40 minutes after Connie's admission and placing her in Fred Wilkerson's car, investigations investigators unearth what appears to be Wilkerson himself in Connie's well, we're about.
- [45:16]
Ed Featherston
20 foot down and we've made a discovery at this point. So we've stopped operations at this time about 12 o' clock to find out exactly what we got. We think we found human remains. As I walked up to the well site, the excavation itself was massive. And in the center of the excavation, down the cylinder of the well, there was a single human, what appeared to be a human femur sticking up.
- [45:37]
Marissa Pinson
The skeleton is wrapped in a roll of carpet and carries a number of personal items that lead investigators to believe it is indeed Fred Wilkerson.
- [45:45]
Ed Featherston
They reached in the pocket and pulled out chapstick. And that was one of the things that he, he told it everywhere he went, you know, found his chapstick, his dentures, pants were the, the correct size for Fred Wilkerson. And it was hard to see. It was hard. I mean we were, that was a roller coaster day. We were, you know, happy when. And crying. The neck.
- [46:07]
Marissa Pinson
An examination of the skull reveals evidence of a single gunshot to the back of the head. Connie Quedens is handcuffed and taken away in the Sheriff's car. On November 1, 2004, Connie's case goes to trial at the Troup County Courthouse.
- [46:22]
Ed Featherston
Ms. Quedens had, I think, two defenses. One defense was it wasn't Mr. Wilkerson in the well. And number two, if it was Fred Wilkerson in the well, she didn't put him there.
- [46:32]
Marissa Pinson
The state attacks Queden's first line of defense with a combination of circumstantial evidence and the results of mitochondrial DNA testing performed on the skeleton.
- [46:42]
Ed Featherston
The remains in the well were from a descendant of Fred Wilkerson's family. And since there were no other members of Fred Wilkerson's family missing, we knew that was Fred Wilkerson.
- [46:54]
Marissa Pinson
With Fred Wilkerson resting at the bottom of Connie Cross Queden's well and title to his home now conveniently in Connie's hands. All Scandalakis has to do is ask the jury to connect the dots.
- [47:06]
Ed Featherston
What we wanted to show is that Ms. Quedens was a conniving type person and that she was going to get this property by whatever means possible. And once it became apparent that Mr. Wilkerson was going to sue to get his piece of the property back, well, or at least get monetary damages, that put the motive on Ms. Quedence to eliminate Mr. Wilkerson. You know, I was worried till the end. I mean, I just kept thinking she would pull some way to pull out of it. You know, she always had for so many years.
- [47:37]
Marissa Pinson
For the Wilkerson family, 17 years of waiting for justice comes down to two hours of waiting for a troup county jury to find Connie Quedence guilty of their father's murder. Quedens is sentenced to life, but under Georgia statutes, she was eligible for parole after just seven years.
- [47:55]
Ed Featherston
However, the Board of Pardons and Paroles has discretion on whether or not to parole her. And what they would do in this case is look at the fact that for 17 years she has gotten away with murder. And I doubt very seriously if the Board of Pardons and paroles will release Ms. Quedens in the near future, if ever at all.
- [48:15]
Marissa Pinson
Connie Quedens is still serving her life sentence. And the end to this case not only brings a killer to justice, but brings a father home.
- [48:24]
Ed Featherston
It's wonderful to have a place to.
- [48:26]
Marissa Pinson
Come and just remember him. A family once haunted by questions now holds answers. And while those answers may never bring their father back to life, it does bring a small bit of peace. That's why we chose the doves for the marker, because it just seemed appropriate for peace. Finally, for investigators, Fred Wilkerson's case was as much a matter of fate as it was evidence.
- [48:52]
Ed Featherston
God has a plan for everything. There's no other way to describe except divine intervention.
- [48:58]
Marissa Pinson
A thunderstorm and a felled pine tree guiding a prosecutor to a son who needed help with his father's murder.
- [49:06]
Ed Featherston
It is divine intervention. I'm a firm believer that God moves us in different ways. And this is the way that the good Lord brought me to Tim Wilkerson and brought Tim Wilkerson to me and we were able to solve this murder. Just when you thought summer couldn't get any hotter, Pluto TV is turning up the heat with thousands of free movies. Movies presenting summer of cinema. Stream your favorite blockbuster films like Gladiator, I will have my vineyards. Good burger. This is what I do. Fast food, Beverly Hills Cop, the Girl with a Dragon Tattoo, and Julie and Julia. Bon appetit. All for free on your favorite devices. Pluto tv Stream now pay Never.
- [49:56]
Marissa Pinson
Lowe's knows when you're looking for reliability. The right brand makes all the difference. And now Lowes is the exclusive home improvement retailer for the Whirlpool water treatment line including their wi fi softener under sink filtration system and more. With Whirlpool's proven performance and our everyday low prices, better tasting, better quality water is within reach. Shop pro trusted brands like Whirlpool and more in store or online Lowes, we help you save.