Susie Casey murder | Ep 220

Summary

Crime and Coffee Couple: “The Susie Casey Murder” (Ep 220) – Detailed Episode Summary

Main Theme and Purpose In this episode, hosts Alison and Mike dive into the tragic murder of Susie Casey, a vibrant mother of four from eastern Montana, whose disappearance and subsequent homicide in 2008 shattered her family and small-town community. With their signature blend of heartfelt respect and lightly sarcastic banter, the married podcast duo unravel the case’s complex love-triangle motives, detail the determined pursuit of justice, and reflect on the devastating ripple effects of violence on families.

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1. Personal Update and Dedication (03:43–11:24)

• Alison opens up about her recent, personal loss: the death of her mother Elizabeth, which deeply affected her. This leads to an honest conversation about grief, family, and cherishing loved ones.
• Mike expresses how much the listeners’ support has meant during this tough time and credits Alison's dedication to the podcast and its victims.
• Alison dedicates the episode to her late mother: “She was a bad arse b. And she is still fueling me a lot of strength. And my mom is someone that would have kicked me in the pants if I was just laying around crying. And that is why we are here recording right now.” (10:21)

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2. Introducing the Susie Casey Case (11:24–13:39)

• Alison transitions the episode focus: “...today’s episode brings us to eastern Montana, a quiet place where a young mother of four’s disappearance shattered the community.”
• Sets the scene: In April 2008, 34-year-old Susie Casey goes missing after a night out. Her children and family quickly realize something is seriously wrong when she does not return home.
• Quick background: Susie described as “fun, outgoing, and vibrant”; was raised in rural Montana, loved the outdoors, and worked hard, both as a mother and in care positions.

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3. Susie Casey’s Life and Family Dynamics (13:39–17:55)

• Discusses Susie’s upbringing and resilient nature: “She had absolutely no issues getting dirty...super fun and super feisty.” (13:39)
• Outlines her two marriages and four children:
  • First marriage to Marty Larson—two children, ends in divorce, Marty leaves town.
  • Second marriage to older rancher Ted Casey—two more children, but eventually marred by personality clashes and domestic violence. Ted is arrested for assaulting Susie in a public bar: “Ted suddenly dumped a beer over his wife’s head and then he slapped her across the face.” (17:41)
  • Susie regains her independence and moves out with all four children, soon returning to her social life.

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4. Disappearance and Initial Search (17:55–25:18)

• Detailed account of Susie’s last known night—April 11, 2008:
  • Susie goes out with friends and is reported to have a date.
  • Her two eldest children, Mariah (14) and Shay (12), realize the next morning that their mother never came home.
  • Family and friends begin frantic calling and searching.
• Initial police investigation:
  • Brad Holzer is identified by Susie’s friends as the new boyfriend and last known person to see her.
  • When confronted, Brad states he dropped Susie at her apartment at 5am.

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5. Early Investigation: Brad Holzer and Ted Casey (27:57–36:38)

• Both Brad and Ted are questioned:
  • Brad provides detailed alibi: “We were talking in smooching.” (30:27)
  • Brad's wife’s story and timeline checks out and is corroborated.
  • Ted also confirms his own whereabouts, with ATM and surveillance video supporting his testimony.
• Surveillance footage is critical:
  • Shows Susie exiting Brad’s vehicle and walking toward her apartment at 5:19am (36:13), and Ted’s car passing her apartment around 5:52am, never stopping.
• Both men’s stories and alibis are supported by evidence, eliminating them as suspects.

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6. Break in the Case: Phone Records and a Third Suspect (39:54–51:45)

• Investigators focus on Susie’s phone activity:
  • Unusual number makes 22 calls in under four hours while Susie is out, with escalating desperation in the voicemails.
  • The calls are traced to Susie’s ex-husband, Marty Larson, who suddenly re-entered her life after a decade of no contact.
  • “It turned out that after nearly a decade with zero contact, Susie had reconnected with Marty after her marriage with Ted fell apart.” (42:27)
• Marty’s story:
  • Claims repeated calls and his drive to Glendive (Susie’s town) were out of “concern,” but both the volume and tone of calls, as well as cell phone tower pings, suggest a pattern of jealousy and control.
  • Previous violence in history: Marty had once shown up at Susie’s home with a shotgun and was given a lifetime restraining order.

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7. Evidence Mounts Against Marty Larson (51:45–62:20)

• Marty’s visit to Glendive aligns precisely with the time when Susie is last seen alive, as confirmed by ATM footage and his phone pings.
• Investigators find Marty’s van extensively cleaned with bleach; an empty bleach bottle is found at his home.
• Despite these suspicions, forensic evidence is limited (animal blood under van, but possible trace of Susie’s hair inside).
• Marty leaves Montana for Arizona soon after questioning—a suspicious move as noted by detectives.
• Quote: “And not only that, after he was speaking with investigators, he’s suddenly now moving from Montana to Arizona. Yeah, that’s always suspicious too.” (51:45)

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8. Arrest and Prosecution (54:30–62:20)

• Nearly four years after Susie’s murder, a new county attorney renews the case; Marty Larson is arrested and extradited from Arizona in February 2012.
• Tragedy compounds: Susie’s brother Rusty, obsessed with getting justice, dies by suicide; her daughter Mariah dies in a car accident shortly after Marty’s arrest.
  • “My heart breaks for Susie’s parents because now they haven’t lost one child, but two.” (55:58)
• At trial, prosecution presents evidence:
  • Cell records, unusual and controlling communication, bleach-cleaned van.
  • Hair consistent with Susie found in the back of the van.
  • Emails to Brad’s wife and strange calls all tracked to Marty’s computer.
  • Surveillance and phone data show Marty was at the crime scene in the window of Susie’s disappearance.
• Defense attempts to suggest Brad or Ted may be responsible, but their stories and alibis remain solid.

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9. The Verdict and Aftermath (64:18–67:56)

• Jury returns a guilty verdict after six days of trial and three hours of deliberation.
• “Marty Larson was found guilty for Susie’s murder. He was given a 100 year sentence for her murder, plus 10 years for tampering with evidence.” (64:32)
• Marty remains eligible for parole in 2042.
• Reflection by Alison and Mike:
  • Emphasize the ripple effect of Susie’s murder: “Her disappearance and her tragic murder devastated not only her family, but also the small town of Glendive, Montana. And it was a domino effect. Rusty died, and then Mariah died.” (65:54)
  • Call for anyone in unsafe relationships to seek help.

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10. Notable Quotes and Moments

• Alison’s emotional resonance:
  “And that's why we truly need to love and cherish the people around us while they're here. Don't take people for granted, because we never know what can happen.” (64:50)

• Mike on suspect priorities:
  “Anybody who's going to leave their children just not tops in my book. I like, I don't (...) Like step up to the freaking plate.” (14:49)

• Their classic marital banter:
  “Don’t call yourself Daddy.” (09:00 – Alison)

• On victim respect:
  “...This is what she does all the time. So we know that you guys, like, really appreciate all the work Alison does, and we appreciate your support. And so we wanted to come out and say, you know, share some terrible news, because this is what's going on.” (07:00 – Mike)

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11. Key Timestamps

• Personal update and dedication: 03:43–11:24
• Introduction of Susie Casey: 11:24–13:39
• Domestic violence and Susie’s independence: 17:41–17:55
• Susie’s last night and initial search: 17:55–20:02
• Investigator breakthrough on phone records: 39:54–42:03
• The avalanche of tragedy: 54:30–57:09
• Trial and sentencing: 64:18–64:40
• Reflection and final thoughts: 65:54–67:56

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Summary Flow Note

The episode’s tone seamlessly shifts between warm, family-like conversations, moments of wry humor, and gravely respectful true crime storytelling. Alison’s meticulous narrative and Mike’s empathetic questioning/reactions keep the story both accessible and deeply human, especially as the case’s many personal tragedies unfold.

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Conclusion: Heartfelt Takeaways

• Susie Casey’s case is a sorrowful illustration of how jealousy, obsession, and domestic violence devastate not just one life, but whole families and communities.
• The episode underscores the importance of appreciating loved ones, seeking help in toxic relationships, and honoring victims by telling their stories with care.
• Both hosts remind listeners to cherish their own connections, as life can irrevocably change in an instant.

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If you or someone you know is in an unsafe relationship, please call the National Domestic Violence Hotline at 1-800-799-7233 or visit thehotline.org.

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Transcript

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[Alison]

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[Alison]

Hello, everyone. Welcome back to another episode with the Crime and coffee couple. My name's Alison.

[Mike]

And my name's Mike.

[Alison]

Hello, Mike.

[Mike]

Hey, Alison, you beautiful, dark looking darling. You look so goth and chic. Yeah, absolutely. Yeah. If you think Allison's attractive at all, just wait till you see her on the YouTube video.

[Alison]

Oh, stop it. Just stop. Stop it right now. No, tell me more. Tell me more.

[Mike]

Meanwhile, I'm sitting here like some kind of schlub villager that just kind of rolled in out of town. And I just got my long sleeve, double extra large old navy T shirt, basically, so hooded T shirt. I actually love the shirt. Probably my favorite shirt in my entire collection, so.

[Alison]

Well, I think you look dashing and handsome regardless of whatever you're wearing or even not wearing.

[Mike]

Wow. Wow. She's okay. Good for you. I like that. I like that a lot.

[Alison]

You know what's gonna. Our son's gonna just love that.

[Mike]

Yeah. Sorry, son, that's the.

[Alison]

Was just a joke. Okay.

[Mike]

Yeah, sorry about that, buddy. But that's why you're here, right?

[Alison]

That's why when two people love each other.

[Mike]

Yeah. And the birds and the bees and that's. They create children sometimes.

[Alison]

Just don't forget, no glove, no love.

[Mike]

Right, That's.

[Alison]

Wow.

[Mike]

She's ready to go here, folks. So thanks you so much for listening. We're just a. A Ma and PA podcast. I am PA and I am Ma. I had to wait a little bit because you're about to.

[Alison]

You saw me going to sip my drink.

[Mike]

I was like, ah, this is the terrible timing. And we are just come at you every week, every Sunday with a free episode, and Wednesdays are bonus episodes if you're a subscriber. So we've had a lot of subscrib come on board recently, and we thank each and every one of you and also the ones that have been there for a while. So all that good stuff.

[Alison]

Yeah, absolutely. And we always say, if you want a free way of supporting us, we would love, love, love it if you went over to Apple, left a nice five star review, maybe said a few kind words and.

[Mike]

No, no mean words. If you don't like us, just move along. It's fine.

[Alison]

We don't like mean words.

[Mike]

Yeah, nobody likes mean words. It's just, you know, remember what your mom taught you. If you have nothing nice to say, don't say anything at all.

[Alison]

I agree.

[Mike]

Yeah.

[Alison]

So if you've been following us over on Instagram, if you don't, why don't you head on over there? What is our inst.

[Mike]

Crime? And coffee, too. I'm really starting to think about changing that somehow.

[Alison]

Well, I don't know. To poop. Couple. You know, Couple.

[Mike]

Oh, to poop. I didn't think of that.

[Alison]

That's the first thing I thought of with the number two, I think.

[Sponsor Voice (RealReal)]

Poop.

[Mike]

Well, number two. Yeah, that makes sense.

[Alison]

So if you've been following us on Instagram, you will know that we suffered a terrible tragedy in our personal lives. I lost my mom. We're recording ahead of time right now. It's in real time, but only five days. So, uh, it's been probably the hardest days of my existence.

[Mike]

I would agree. Um, just from the other, I think the external view, I see you, like, struggling, and that's hard.

[Alison]

Yeah. Yeah. So it's been something I've dreaded. Like, I'm a worrier ahead. So probably at age 13, I started worrying about losing my parents, because that's how I roll. I like to have anxiety ahead of time. So it's just something I've always dreaded my entire life. I used to tell my mom, how will I ever live in a world without you. And she'd be like, oh, honey, don't say that. You know, but you have to appreciate the people around us while they're here. Don't hesitate to tell the people you love that you love them because there is no guarantee in terms of how long any of us are going to be here.

[Mike]

And that sounds cliche, but it's, you know, like I was talking to a couple people, I'm like, yeah, you know, I lost my mother in law. So if you have somebody that you love, just tell them that, you know, it's always a good reminder regardless of where you are in life. Just if you love somebody, give them a call. Like, especially mom and dads, man. I know. Like, for instance, I'm probably going to be the one calling out to our son because he's always going to be busy doing whatever he's doing and probably not thinking of calling mom and dad too often. Just like me. What? I don't think calling my mom and dad too often, but I've been talking my mom a lot more thanks to you because you call her and I'm kind of a. I don't know, life.

[Alison]

Happens and you get wrapped up in your things and sometimes you might forget to make those phone calls. But you know, I will tell you from being on the other side of losing someone that I love deeply and dearly. I mean, how do you go on in life without a mom? You know, it's like a mom is somebody that has loved you even before you were born. That person that you, you can call no matter what, invent or cry. I was, when I was in college, I would pick up the phone to call my mom and I'd try to hide that I was upset about something. And I, in my mind would sound normal and immediately, what's the matter, honey? And I would immediately start bawling because I could let things out with my mom because that was my safe space. So I have said to Mike, like, I'm scared to live in a world where I don't have that unconditional love. And don't get me wrong, my dad is still alive and well and he loves me deeply and dearly. But there's just something different about a mother's love.

[Mike]

Your mom grew. You grew inside your mom. Right? So that's like just that connection you can't get anywhere else.

[Alison]

Yeah.

[Mike]

And there's, of course, there's a lot of people out there that, you know, their moms were pieces of garbage and, you know, maybe they didn't Work out and whatever. Something happened. And, you know, that sucks. But, you know, if you do have a mother that's a decent mother out there, you reach out to them and father, you know, reach out to your parents if you still have them around.

[Sponsor Voice (RealReal)]

Yeah.

[Alison]

But we just want to thank everyone for leaving such sweet, kind comments.

[Mike]

Yes. Like, just like I expected. Like, the reason. The whole reason we shared the news is because everybody that listens is, like, very close to us. You're all part of our family, basically. You know, the crime and coffee cup. Like, this is what Allison thinks about every single day of every week of her life is about episodes and about researching and about doing right by these poor victims. And, you know, this is Allison's job. You know, this is what she does all the time. So we know that you guys, like, really appreciate all the work Alison does, and we appreciate your support. And so we wanted to come out and say, you know, share some terrible news, because this is what's going on.

[Alison]

In our life, and we're very transparent people. Like, I was recently on a girls trip. I was in Sedona, actually, when my mom got sick, and my friends were asking me, oh, do you mind me asking about this, that, or the other? And I was like, no, absolutely not. I'm just an open book. And that's why when my mom passed away, I said, you know, we have to share this with our listeners because it's such a huge part of our lives, and. And we just want to be open and honest with our. Our listeners. So thank you guys so much for being here. Thank you for loving and supporting us. And I can't tell you how much we appreciate all of the support you just being here listening. Thank you so much.

[Mike]

Yeah. So you said your girlfriends were asking you, like, personal questions. Was it about our, like, personal lives, like in the bedroom or anything?

[Alison]

No.

[Mike]

Good. Good. Because we don't want to talk about that.

[Alison]

It's not.

[Mike]

It's not good news. It's not good news. And, son, as you're watching this. Yeah. You don't want to see your father naked.

[Alison]

So I had to ask you a totally random question. Did you ever get that snack that you were going to get before we started record recording?

[Mike]

Yeah, I did.

[Alison]

Okay, so Mike likes to say, as we're literally getting ready to sit in these chairs and record, he's like, oh, I gotta get myself something to eat. And I need to say, what is it that you're planning on getting to eat?

[Mike]

Because, oh, that sounds so much nicer than how it actually Happens she's not this nice. Not even close to that nice.

[Alison]

I kid you not. He is the type of guy that would go into the kitchen and start whipping up, like, omelets and hash browns seconds before we are set to record.

[Mike]

Now, she's definitely going off a little bit more here. I wouldn't do omelets and hash browns, would I? Maybe fry an egg? Yeah, I probably would.

[Alison]

I would hit you in the head with that frying pan if I saw you frying an egg.

[Mike]

I didn't have the plan to do so at this occasion, but I am that kind of guy. It's like, you know what? While I'm in here, I may as well fry up an egg real quick. Or, like, microwave it in the microwave for two minutes.

[Alison]

There have been times. We have like, a 5am flight to Chicago out of Tampa, and the guys in the kitchen, about a minute and a half before we need to leave the house, and he's scrambling up some eggs on the stovetop. I'm like, let's just get Starbucks at the airport.

[Mike]

Daddy needs to eat and Daddy doesn't need to eat.

[Alison]

Daddy's gonna get a kick in the teeth.

[Mike]

$10 on a Starbucks sandwich.

[Alison]

Don't call yourself Daddy.

[Mike]

Well, let's. Let's tell the listeners exactly how it went down. I was sitting there transferring all the videos because we hadn't been in the seat for, like, a couple weeks or whatever, and I was like, oh, man, I had some hunger pangs. And I'm like, I gotta grab something real quick in my head. I'm just like, some kind of protein bar or something. And she's like, you will have a munchkin. And I was like, whoa.

[Alison]

I said, how about a munchkin?

[Sponsor Voice (RealReal)]

No.

[Mike]

Oh, my God. You did not ask it. You told me what I was having.

[Alison]

I did not. You will have a munchkin.

[Mike]

No, you said you're having a munchkin quote. Is that not right?

[Alison]

I don't. I don't think I said that.

[Mike]

Said it. Say it now and see if it sounds right. You're having a munchkin. Say it.

[Alison]

You're having a munchkin.

[Mike]

Doesn't it sound right?

[Alison]

I don't know. I. That is, you probably said, how about a munchkin?

[Mike]

No, you said, you're having a munchkin. And I was like, oh, well, I guess we're making rules for what I'm having. And I'm like, I know. Granted. You know, she's got the whole get out of jail free card for a couple Months or whatever.

[Alison]

Oh, there's no reason for me to mistreat you.

[Mike]

I don't.

[Alison]

It's.

[Mike]

Whatever.

[Alison]

You're a gem and I love you so much.

[Mike]

Yeah. Nobody's perfect, right? But it's like, she's like, you're having a munchkin. I'm like, oh, I guess I'm having them. And what did I do? I had two munchkins. So, yeah. Lucky dog with a coffee man. Our son picked up one of those buckets. It's delicious.

[Alison]

Bucket of kins.

[Mike]

Yeah, Bucket of kins. Maybe I'll get some buckets of chicken tonight.

[Alison]

Who knows? So, on that note, Michael Parnecki, shall we get started?

[Mike]

Yep. And, you know, dedicate all future episodes to your lovely mother.

[Alison]

Yes. And I will dedicate this episode to my mom, Elizabeth Sh. She was a bad arse b. And she is still fueling me a lot of strength. And my mom is someone that would have kicked me in the pants if I was just laying around crying. And that is why we are here recording right now.

[Mike]

Good. Real quick, go check out that Instagram post I posted about her because I do our Instagram and she's definitely type A. Like, the woman just wanted to get stuff done. She was one of our biggest fans, too. She'd be like, how's the pod? And she was so proud of Allison for doing this because Allison's mom's always been a businesswoman and always taking care of the family business and doing the accounting, even though she wasn't an accountant. Like, she would check and balance everything. So much detail. Probably more detail than she needed.

[Alison]

Probably, yes.

[Mike]

That's why we loved her. Right. So. And that Allison's is very similar. And I mean, if you. If you love this podcast, you would have loved Allison's mom.

[Alison]

Yeah. She was a great, loving person and I just want to live to honor her.

[Mike]

She had the cutest laugh. Such a babe. When she was younger and even into her older age, you know, she's a good looking woman. So that's where I was like, man, I'm going to marry Allison and hope for something like her mom. And I got her.

[Alison]

Oh, well, thank you. So anyway, we're going to jump into this murky cup of coffee because it always is murky. And this is the murder of Susie Casey. So today's episode brings us to eastern Montana, a quiet place where a young mother of four's disappearance shattered the community. So in 2008, Susan. Excuse me, Susan Marie, who went by Susie Casey, she was a 34 year old mother of four, who was described as fun, outgoing, and vibrant. And after a night out with friends on just some random Friday night on April 11, 2008, she seemingly vanished. So what all came to be is that she went out on that Friday night, and then when her two eldest children woke up on Saturday morning, they realized that their mom hadn't come home from the night before. And this was highly out of character. So despite the fact that they were calling her repeatedly, they were unable to get through. And with each missed call, their worry only grew. So since Susie was such a responsive, attentive mom, this was absolutely unlike her. And anytime something's unlike someone, you start to realize something is terribly wrong here. So Susie was born on January 3, 1974, in Wolf Point, Montana, as the youngest of six children to parents Jack and Marlene Limousined. So growing up in Circle, Montana, she had a love of the outdoors. Montana is just a beautiful place. We briefly visited on our way to Yellowstone. So she had a love of horseback riding and rodeos. And after she graduated from high school in 1992, she moved about three and a half hours away from home to attend Billings Business College in Billings, Montana. So upon her graduation in 1993, she worked as an at a nursing home for about five years, and then she relocated to where this case takes place, which is in Glendive, Montana. This was about 45 minutes away from where her family was living in Circle. So Susie was the type of girl, she was an exceptionally hard worker. She had absolutely no issues getting dirty. You would find her in the horse pens shoveling manure. She would be fixing a fence. And according to her family and friends, she was super fun and super feisty.

[Mike]

That's kind of what I picture. Just cowgirls and cowboys doing fixing fences and shoveling manure.

[Alison]

Yeah, I always. I always watch the pioneer woman. And they've got a ranch in Oklahoma, I believe I'm right.

[Mike]

Sounds right.

[Alison]

And it's like when you have a ranch like that, your work is never done.

[Mike]

Yeah. And when you say fixing fences, like, they've got acres and acres and acres. So it's just like every, you know, there's lots of land out there. Here in the United States, there's land, like, everywhere. I know, like, we have a lot of European listeners and stuff. And it's like there's just tons of land here.

[Alison]

Right. It's kind of crazy. So while Susie was in college and Billings, she met a man named Walter who went by Marty Larson. And it wasn't long before she realized that she was pregnant. So that kind of put them on the fast track within their relationship. So after they got married, their daughter Mariah was born, followed by their son shea. And after five years of marriage and two children, Susie and Marty divorced in 1998. And Susie got custody of the children. And meanwhile, Marty Larson left town. So while Susie was living in Glendive, she worked as a medical transcriptionist at a local medical center. And her son and daughter were truly everything to her. You know, obviously she's a single mom now, she's got to work, but her children were everything to her.

[Mike]

I'm sorry, I got to take a second. Anybody who's going to leave their children just not tops in my book. I like, I don't.

[Alison]

Yeah, Marty, just leaving town. How do you do that?

[Mike]

I don't know. Like if you're man, if you're a woman that's like left with your two children, some guy left you. I'm so sorry. That's just not a standup dude.

[Alison]

Like step up to the freaking plate. So very soon after her divorce, she met another man. And this was a rancher in Glendive and, and his name was Ted Casey. He was a very rugged man. He was 14 years Susie's senior. So they connected over their shared love of horses. And since Ted was older, Susie's family and friends kind of hoped and felt that he would be somebody that she could settle down with and then maybe give her more stability in her life. So after Susie and Ted were married again, this all happened very quickly. This all happened in 1998. So she got divorced from Marty, she met Ted, they got married all in 1998. So they went on to have two daughters together. This is Kyana and Charlie. So now Susie altogether has four children. So Ted also viewed Mariah and Shay as his own. He really took on the stepfather role. It wasn't like, well, these are your kids.

[Mike]

Oh, that's the best. And that's the real man. Like, I don't, I don't mean to do like gender roles, but I mean, as far as I'm concerned, like you marry a woman and they have a kid, that's your kid a hundred percent. Especially if the dad's not that involved.

[Alison]

Like that is your kid and Marty was not involved at all. So Mariah and Shay no longer had their father in their lives, but they were so close with Ted so quickly that they actually called him dad. So. However, Susie soon realized that being a stay at home mom, it might not be meant for what she wanted. And she found Herself growing restless. And it wasn't long before the couple began to have issues in their marriage. And these issues seem to be based on their different personalities and what they expected out of one another. And Susie had confided in her sister in law. This is Valerie. Valerie was very close to Susie. That Ted had this expectation that, you know, now that they have these four children that she should be home by about 10pm on her nights out. But that's not what Susie wanted.

[Mike]

Yeah, that, what do we talk about? That expectations kind of cause all sorts of arguments are there. It's really the root cause. So whether the expectations are right or wrong, you have to communicate those and be in agreement, especially with your spouse. It's like, you know, you, you can't just like be quiet about it and stuff. It's especially like we, we do it all the time. It's sometimes like, oh, I was expecting this, I was expecting, I'm like, okay, I'll do better this time and if you could try to do this, that'd be awesome. And then you meet in the middle.

[Alison]

Yeah. Because when expectations aren't being met, that's when resentment starts to build. So one night when Ted and Susie were out at a bar having a few drinks, things reached a boiling point when they got into an argument. And this is terrible, but Ted suddenly dumped a beer over his wife's head and then he slapped her across the face.

[Mike]

That's real crappy.

[Alison]

So Ted was arrested for this incident and he ended up pleading guilty to misdemeanor domestic assaults. And it was also the end of their marriage. This was the breaking point that just crumbled everything.

[Mike]

Oh, good for Susie.

[Alison]

So after Susie moved out of their home with her four children in the spring of 2008, they settled into the Ponderosa apartments in downtown Glendive. And soon she was back to enjoying her life, having fun with friends and going out. It sounded like Susie wasn't the type of girl to let things weigh her down. She wanted to live her life. She wanted to go out and have fun when she could. And this was when she met and began dating a new man. So on the night of Friday, April 11, 2008, Susie's oldest two children, this is 14 year old Mariah and 12 year old Shay. They were back at the apartment for the night. While her two youngest daughters were spending time with their father Ted, they it sounded like they shared custody of the children. So when she stopped by to see her sister in law Valerie, Valerie noticed that Susie seemed to be a little bit more dressed up than what was typical for her. It looked like maybe she took a little extra time getting her hair, makeup and clothing picked out. So Val could only wonder if maybe Susie had a date that night. So Susie met up with friends at a bar that night and they later indicated that she headed out at about 11pm and it was the following day one where, where we started the story. This is where Mariah and Shay woke up on Saturday morning. It didn't look like their mom had come home from her Friday night out. They started to call her. She wasn't answering and they began to worry. So despite the fact that Susie was someone who did like to go out and have fun, because she did, she liked to be out with her friends, she always came home after a night out. So when 14 year old Mariah continued to call her mom, only to reach her voicemail each and every time she decided to call her grandparents. And because she was convinced something had to be wrong.

[Mike]

That's smart.

[Alison]

So Susie's sister Carlene, when she heard about her sister being unreachable, she initially thought that maybe Mariah and Shea had misunderstood their mom's plans. And she wondered if maybe Susie had in fact come home on Friday night and then simply left the apartment before the kids got up that morning.

[Mike]

Yeah, you're trying to think of good outcomes, right?

[Alison]

So Carlene wasn't initially panicked or even worried. But when she she continued to try to call her sister and her sister was always responsive and she wasn't able to get through. That's when these this idea was quickly forgotten. So Valerie, who was married to Susie's brother Rusty, she had actually called her sister in law earlier that morning to invite her on a shopping outing. This was before she was even made aware that Susie may not have come home on Friday night. So as with Mariah, she also wasn't able to reach her. And since again before this was before the alarm bells had rung, Valerie just went out shopping by herself. She never even gave it a second thought. So when Rusty called her later in the day to tell her that they were unable to find Susie, Val immediately began calling her. She was leaving voice messages and begging her, please, we are all worried, Please call us back. So Valerie also began calling Susie's friends in an attempt to figure out what were her last moments, what happened on Friday night. So this is when they, she started talking to them and they explained to her that Susie had left at about 11pm in order to go out on a date with her new boyfriend. This was somebody that Valerie did not know. So since she knew that Susie's two younger daughters were with Ted, Valerie jumped into her car and headed over to Ted's. She was thinking that maybe when Susie went over to pick the two younger ones up, maybe Ted and Susie had gotten into a fight. So over at ted's house was 6 year old Kyana and 8 year old Charlie. So however, though I will tell you that when Val pulled up to Ted's house, she immediately saw that Susie's car wasn't there. Ted's house was dark, it didn't look like anyone was home. So feeling very uneasy, she called Rusty and asked him to pick her up so that they could drive over to Susie's apartment together. They wanted to see what was going on, talk to Shay and Mariah. So when they arrived, they walked around. They saw no indication to suggest that Susie had left abruptly, that maybe she packed a bag or something like that. Everything appeared to be like she just planned to come home on Friday night. Nothing was out of order. So since Susie's family and friends always joked that her phone was just constantly attached to her, the fact that she wasn't answering or returning any of these slew of phone calls that were coming through was highly, highly out of character. So in the meantime though, Valerie was determined to figure out who her sister in law's new boyfriend was. Because she talked to the friends that Susie was out with on Friday night, they said, hey, she left at about 11pm she was going out with this new guy. Well who the hell is this new guy? Because he could have been the last person to have seen her. So Valerie was told that this man's name was Brad Holzer. So Brad lived only five minutes away from Susie's apartments. So she drove over to Brad's to talk to him. Of course she doesn't know this guy. And when she explained that they were all unable to find Susie, they were really starting to grit, you know, get exceptionally concerned. Brad seemed confused and concerned to Val because he explained that he had dropped Susie off at her apartment at about 5am that morning.

[Mike]

This is like a lot of stories we tell where somebody gets dropped off and I don't know what happened to them.

[Alison]

I don't know what happened to them. So learning this information, Rusty and Valerie decided to go to the police. They knew in their hearts they couldn't lie to themselves. They knew that something must be seriously wrong. So since the town of Glendive is very small, the police were already aware of Susie, who she is, her history with Ted, the Fact that they had gotten into this physical altercation six months earlier and Ted had been arrested. So officers started their investigation at Susie's apartment, where her oldest kids, Mariah and Shay, last saw their mom the previous evening. This is also the location where Brad is saying he dropped susie off at 5am so inside the apartment, there was no sign of a struggle, but they did find something concerning outside in a couple of spots. So the Ponderosa apartments were situated in downtown Glendive just off of a main road. So it's not like it was tucked off. It was literally just sitting off of the main road. So in an alcove of the doorway of the building next to Susie's, they noticed a footprint in the dust. So this footprint stood out to them because the entrance was no longer in use. However, it looked like this footprint had been made very recently so it could be connected to Susie's case. So as they walked around the perimeter of the building, they noticed a drag mark in the alleyway, as if something heavy had been recently pulled along the ground. But other than this footprint and other than this drag mark, there was really no other clear evidence of foul play. They didn't see blood or anything alarming like that. So investigators, just like Susie's family, they believe that something terrible must have happened. There wasn't any wasted time thinking that Susie ran off somewhere and just didn't call them. So right away, they were sure that something was going on. You know, based on the fact that Brad is saying, I dropped Susie off at 5am yet her children said that she had not come home.

[Mike]

So they directly go into homicide mode rather than just waiting around to see if she shows up.

[Alison]

Right?

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[Alison]

So investigators were aware that Ted and Susie had separated since the time that he assaulted her in the bar. But they were still legally married. So when they contacted Ted, he told them that he was out of town, but he would be back the following day. And when he came back to town, he would stop by the station. So after Valerie and Rusty spoke with the officers about Susie's date with Brad Holzer the night before, they tracked him down. Obviously they asked him to come to the station for a statement because according to them, at this moment in time, Brad is the last known person to have seen Susie alive.

[Mike]

Yeah, it's between. You know, Brad's kind of the guy everybody's looking at.

[Alison]

So detectives soon learned that Brad was married. But he told them that although he and his wife were still at this moment living together, they were planning to separate. So Brad maintained that he had dropped Susie off at the Ponderosa Apartments at 5am on Saturday morning. But it appeared she never made it inside. So Brad and Susie met three weeks before. So this was not a long term relationship. So this was three weeks before she vanished. On St. Patrick's Day of 2008, they were both out celebrating the holiday at a Local bar. And immediately he recognized Susie because they had briefly dated as teenagers. Susie was 16 at the time. Brad was 19. They dated until they just ultimately naturally drifted apart. So after they reconnected that night on St. Patrick's Day, Susie and Brad had actually become inseparable. They reconnected, and that was the end of it. They were together.

[Mike]

So investigators, even though Brad was married.

[Alison]

Right. But he separated because logistically, you know how sometimes when you're divorcing financially, you can't afford to place.

[Mike]

Susie's also technically married.

[Alison]

She was still married. Yes. Legally married. Yes.

[Mike]

Yeah. So it's between Ted and Brad at this point.

[Alison]

So investigators wanted Brad to sit down with them and tell them exactly what went on the night that they went out. From the moment he picked Susie up until the moment he's saying he dropped her off, anyone can say anything. Is it true? Obviously, investigators have to get to the bottom of that. So he explained that he picked her up at 11pm and this was coinciding with what Susie's friends had said to Valerie, that she left the bar at 11pm to go on a date with Brad. So thus far, his story is adding up. So this is 11pm on Friday night. He said that they drove to the Yellowstone River. They basically parked there, kind of like a lover's lane situation.

[Mike]

What were they doing?

[Alison]

They were talking in smooching.

[Mike]

Oh.

[Alison]

So when he drove her back to her apartment and he pulled away somewhere in the 5am hour, he said that he saw her through his rear view mirror. So as he was driving away, he glanced in the rear view mirror, and he could see that she was at least halfway to the front door of her apartment, maybe somewhere around 20 steps away.

[Mike]

I mean, if I'm dating somebody, I'm waiting for them to get to their door. But I don't want to judge anybody.

[Alison]

You know, this is a little town. You know, her apartment. Apartment was right there.

[Mike]

Especially if you're super into somebody like you love, you know, you think they're pretty hot and everything, I would just, like, soak up every second.

[Alison]

Yeah. Hindsight is 20 20. We all wish we could have done things differently. Sure. So this was the last time anyone had seen Susie. So according to Brad, when he got back to his house, it was somewhere around 5:30 in the morning. He went straight to bed, and he told officers that he heard his wife come home right around 6am from a date of her own.

[Mike]

Geez, what time do these people stay out till?

[Alison]

That's. That's what all I can think About I an early to bed, early to rise kind of gal.

[Mike]

I haven't been up since, you know, through 5:00am since like college.

[Alison]

College would probably have been the last time. Sometime in our 20s. The idea of staying up till 5am is just like mind boggling.

[Mike]

It gives me diarrhea.

[Alison]

And you know, not only was Brad, susie out till 5ish. So was Brad's wife.

[Mike]

Yeah. Then my wife came home, I'm separated with at about 6am like what the heck.

[Alison]

So the wife is coming home at around 6am from a date of her own. And this is something that police obviously we're going to cross check with this woman. Is this accurate? And she said yes. So detectives went on to speak with Brad and his wife separately a few more times because they just wanted to confirm that all the stories and facts were lining up.

[Mike]

Nothing's changing.

[Alison]

Their stories never changed. And this was something that suggested to officers that neither of them had anything to do with Susie's disappearance.

[Mike]

Wow, that's like when the story starts, you're like, oh, Brad 100, 100 Brad.

[Alison]

So there was one detail about Brad's story that just seems strange to investigators because he told them that, that earlier on Friday, before he had gone and met up with Susie at 11pm he had gotten this weird email from a sender named Denise Johnson. This is someone that he had never heard of before. And the email read, how is your girlfriend and how does your wife feel? So Brad's wife also told investigator something odd, that she had gotten a strange phone call during the week of Susie's disappearance. So apparently an unknown female called and asked if they could leave a message for Brad. And she's like, okay, sure, go for it. So this unknown caller is saying, tell him to stop messing around with married women. So now officers are wondering, who the heck is this? So when Ted came back into town, he came by the station just like he said he would. And he told investigators that on the Saturday morning of Susie's disappearance, he'd gotten up at about 5 in the morning and he had taken their daughters to his brother's house right around 5:45am so we're in the window of time now that Brad's saying he dropped Susie off at the apartments. So on the way back, he said that he had driven by Susie's apartment. It was on his way to the town hall. He had a meeting at town hall with someone for work. So after this meeting, he said he drove out of town to a rodeo that he had planned in the past. So Todd Told investigators that the last time he saw Susie was right around 7pm on Friday night. This was before she went out to the bars with her friends. She had dropped the girls off with him. And as they continued to press him, he admitted that he had called Susie later that evening after he had received a strange phone call. So now Brad has received a strange email, the wife has received a strange phone call, and now Ted has, too. So he told detectives that an unknown man called him at about 9pm that Friday night and asked about what he thought about his wife dating Brad Holzer. And according to Ted, this was news to him. He didn't realize that Susie, who he was still legally married to, yet separated from, was actively dating someone. So Ted fully admitted while he was sitting in the police station that he was upset at the idea that his wife had moved on. So he admitted, I called Susie to confront her on Friday night. She told him that, yes, they were still legally married, but she was not cheating on him because they were separated with the goal to divorce.

[Mike]

Right.

[Alison]

So when he. The call ended, he said that they were both actually angry with one another.

[Mike]

Okay, well, him being this, like, forthright makes me think that maybe he's not involved.

[Alison]

So police were left to wonder if this was a case of some sort of love triangle gone wrong. But if so, who was responsible for whatever happened to Susie? There was no proof or evidence to link either Bread. Excuse me. Brad. Or Ted to her disappearance, despite the fact that they were each near her apartment on Saturday morning at 5am Something stinks. Brad had gotten a strange email that day. Ted had gotten a strange phone call. So after speaking with Brad's wife, as well as Ted's brother, both of their stories completely checked out, and their alibis truly seemed solid. So investigators realized that there was an ATM that was situated, like, right next to the Ponderosa apartments. It actually had a camera on it. So since it was still dark when Susie climbed out of Brad's truck on Saturday morning, all the footage they were looking at was grainy, but it helped to confirm timelines and stories and movement and whatever. Yeah, and this ATM camera proved that Brad and Ted's statements had been true. Brad's truck could be seen pulling in right around 5am and then about 20 minutes later, Susie climbed out at 5:19am from Brad's truck. So as she crossed the street, Brad's truck could be seen pulling away, just like he said he had. So when Ted's car came into view, because he said he passed Susie's apartment building, this.

[Mike]

This Camera couldn't be that grainy if they see all that. But it's right by the street.

[Alison]

It's there by the street. So if you ever look up the Ponderosa Apartments, you'll see it's. It's right off the street. So they could see Ted's car. And it did drive right past Susie's building at 5:52am without stopping, going in the direction of Town hall, exactly as he had told investigators. So investigators found themselves right back at square one, while Susie's loved ones were truly distraught because with each passing day that ended without knowing where she was, they had no idea what happened to her. And every single time the phone rang, they could only assume that it was going to be investigators calling them with devastating news. Because they could only know and believe in their hearts, even if they tried to stay positive, that there is no way in hell that Susie would have willingly vanished without talking to her family and leaving her kids behind. They knew in their hearts that this outcome was not going to be a good one. So according to her family, out of everything that Susie loved, her children were her greatest love. And now her four children were left in limbo, just waiting to hear where their mom was or what happened to her. So her family waited an agonizing month to hear any news as to her whereabouts. And when the news did come, it was exactly as they thought it was truly devastating. Susie's body was found floating in the Yellowstone river about 28 miles upstream from her home in Glendive. Of course, the Yellowstone river has already come into play because that is where Brad had said they had drove out to and parked and talked and kissed. So investigators saw that she was wearing the shirt that Brad described during his interview, as well as no bra and only one shoe, just as he is he'd indicated that she was wearing when she climbed out of his car right around the 5am time frame. So according to the autopsy, based on the lack of water that was found in her lungs, Susie was already deceased by the time her body hit that river. So because her hyoid bone was broken, it was determined that she had been manually strangled and then dumped into the river. So Susie's missing person investigation immediately was catapulted into a homicide investigation in Montana's Department of Criminal investigation stepped in to assist. So detectives retraced her last known movements on the day that she vanished, and Brad Holzer was brought back in for questioning. They wanted to reevaluate everyone's stories, so he explained that they had been out of touch for two decades. And they had only just reconnected three weeks before, like I said, on St. Patrick's Day. So Ted was brought back in as well. Both men, men maintained their full original stories. Nothing changed. So since Susie had been strangled, this is a very personal way to kill someone. You are face to face with the person that you are murdering. You watch the life drain out of their face. So this made detectives sure that they were missing something, Something very important, like.

[Mike]

One of these two guys did it. But what? How do we find it? Right.

[Alison]

So meanwhile, Susie's family laid her to rest in May of 2008 as detectives took their investigation right back to the beginning. So they began paying closer attention to Susie's cell phone. Because like I had said before, Susie was someone that was truly attached to her phone. It was always with her. So as they poured over her phone records, they confirmed that Ted had briefly called her, just as he said he was after he had received that strange phone call. He was like, who the hell is this Brad guy? Why are you seeing someone? Etc. They also learned that he called her after she went missing. He had left her an angry voicemail. He was probably like, where the hell are you? Why have you left your kids and not come home? Thinking at that point that she was just gallivanting around. So on Friday night, when Susie had gone out with her friends, she had received dozens of calls from this number that Susie's family didn't recognize. And the calls began while she was still at the bar with her friends. And they continued through her date with Brad. And they could see that she had answered some of these calls. But as they continued coming on and on and on more frequently, she stopped answering them, and she sent them straight to voicemail. So since Mariah, her eldest daughter, her eldest child, had the password for her mom's voicemail, Rusty and Valerie were able to play Susie's voicemail messages while they were with investigators. So they're sitting there in the police station listening to the same male voice who left message after message throughout the night that Susie had been out in. Each one became more and more desperate than the one that was left before. So the caller wanted Susie to let him know that she was okay. That was basically the theme of the messages. They be they became more and more incessant as the hours ticked by to the point that they were truly obsessive, like, what are you doing? So over the course of less than four hours, this man had left a total of 22 voice messages.

[Mike]

A lot of voice messages.

[Alison]

It's like, leave me the hell alone. I am out with my friends. Stop freaking calling me.

[Mike]

Yeah.

[Alison]

So they soon learned, who the hell is this mystery man? That the person responsible for all of these messages was Susie's first husband.

[Mike]

Oh, wow. The scumbag who left his own kids.

[Alison]

Marty mother effing Larson.

[Mike]

What a wow. What a curveball. That's crazy.

[Alison]

So it turned out that after nearly a day, a decade with zero contact, Susie had reconnected with Marty after her marriage with Ted fell apart. Because of course, they share two children together. So really what it boils down to is in 2007, this is one year earlier, before Susie vanished, Mariah tracked down her biological father. And that's understandable. This is her father. So her father is Marty Larson. They connected on Facebook. So with her reconnection with Marty, Susie reconnected with Marty and their communication started back up, despite the fact that he was living three hours away in Billings. So they would often talk. They had even met up in person. And this was something that Susie's parents were aware of. They were not happy about this. They were concerned. They weren't entirely sure how serious the relationship was getting. I don't think the entire family knew because they were like, are you kidding? Connecting with Marty again. So as they were able to get access to her voicemails, they came to find that Marty's voicemails began fairly normally as he was asking Susie, hey, call me back. He said that he was worried that he hadn't heard from her. But again, like I had mentioned, as they continued on, the desperation in his voice and in his tone and in his language was escalating. During one message, he told her that if she didn't call him back by 1am Then he was gonna make that three hour drive to her apartment. And he said, I don't know what to do. You won't answer me. It's like, yeah, I won't answer you because you're calling me like 50 times.

[Mike]

Yeah. If you weren't a possessive prick, then you would know, just keep to yourself.

[Alison]

Right? So Marty's voice had a clear edge of anger to it as he continued to call Susie multiple times every single hour. His phone was initially traced to a tower in Billings where he lived. Again, this is about three hours away from where she's living in Glendive. But then after one in the morning, it began to ping along a highway that led straight to Glendive. And of course, he's left a voicemail saying, if I don't hear from you by 1:00am I'm going over there. So police began to learn more about Susie's history with Marty. And they learned that when they met during college, their relationship really got onto the fast track because she realized that she was pregnant. So when their marriage ended, Susie quickly moved on to Ted, and Marty had actually shown up at their home with a shotgun.

[Mike]

Oh, my God.

[Alison]

Yeah. So, thankfully, in this incident, no one was harmed, but Marty was convicted of criminal trespass, and he was given a lifetime restraining order to have no contact with either Susie or Ted ever again.

[Mike]

Yeah, unfortunately, those things mean jack squat, right?

[Alison]

So in the 10 years that had gone by after this incident, because, again, I say after this whole shotgun incident, there was zero contact between Susie and Marty. So Marty had stayed away, and he had no contact with Susie or the children. He did not pay child support. He made no effort to contact either Mariah or Shay, which is why investigators never even factored him into this case. Is as far as anyone was concerned, he was really a nobody. Until they started looking at the phone record, seeing this mysterious number that just kept coming through. Then they heard these voicemails. And then Mariah made mention of the fact that they had reconnected. So during the 22 phone calls that he placed to Susie on the night and morning that she vanished, his phone proved that he had been standing near her apartment at 5am when Brad would have pulled up with Susie to drop her off. So, of course, investigators are going to bring this guy into the station. And he confirmed what Mariah had told investigators, that despite the fact that he and Susie had lost touch for 10 years, they had rekindled their romance over the previous year. They were, according to Marty, again, this is only Marty's version of events. They were looking forward to getting remarried. So when investigators later searched his apartments, they found a list that was in the garbage can that looked to be plans for a Las Vegas wedding. And, yeah, that might be Marty's perspective. Was Susie on board with the fact that he was picturing them getting remarried? I don't think so. I hope not, because she was actively really connecting with Brad. Very much so. So this may have been in Marty's dulu mind.

[Mike]

Right.

[Alison]

We don't know. So he told investigators that when they reconnected the previous year in 2007, they had immediately fallen for one another again, and he believed that they would get back together. So when he was asked to remove his shirt, this was very concerning. Investigators noted that there were scratches on his back. So he said that Susie told him that she planned to Go out on that Friday night with her friends for a few drinks. And he claimed that he had called her so many times only because he was worried about her. Isn't that what the. These guys always do? They paint a picture of concern when really it's control. So he said he worried that she might potentially get a DUI or maybe not make it home safely. He said that he left billings at about 1:30 in the morning because he wanted to drive over to Glendive to be sure that Susie had made it home safely. He said that he arrived at her apartment at 4:30, maybe 4:45 in the morning. Cell phone pings confirmed that he pulled up just about 4:30 in the morning. So what he is saying thus far is accurate, but he probably knows he has no choice but to tell the truth because of cell phone data. It's. It doesn't lie. So he parked around the corner. He walked to her apartment, and he saw that her car was parked outside, which would have suggested that she was home. So he approached her apartment door. He said he knocked softly because he knew that her room was near the front door. He was hoping it wouldn't wake up the kids. He would only wake her up, up. So, however, there was no answer. So he said he went outside. He continued to call and text her. And he said when she never responded, he decided that he was going to leave. He said he never saw Susie Saturday morning. He left, drove back to Billings.

[Mike]

So we can like confirm all these calls and texts and all these things.

[Alison]

And he's saying, yeah, I did call her that many times because I was concerned. Yes, I had driven out to Glendive that morning, but I assumed she was home and asleep. I left without ever seeing her. So the location where Marty said he parked that night just so happened to be incidentally in the exact spot with where the drag marks had been seen. Video from a Nearby bank, this ATM depicted Marty's car pulling out at 5:45am so this was about 26 minutes after Susie was seen climbing out of Brad's car. So this kind of doesn't make sense because he was there when we know Susie got out of Brad's truck based on the ATM footage.

[Mike]

So why wouldn't he just say, hey.

[Alison]

Susie, real quick, Right? So he's basically saying, oh, I. I didn't see her get. I didn't see Brad's truck. I didn't even know. I just assumed she was home.

[Mike]

Nothing else was going on there at five in the morning.

[Alison]

So investigators are highly questioning the fact that Marty had not seen Brad and Susie in the truck. Truck. Or at the very least had seen Susie climbing out of the truck and walking to her apartment, as Brad said he saw in his rear view mirror. So while he was being questioned, investigators searched his minivan and they noted that it had been extensively cleaned on both the inside as well as the outside. And according to a forensic team, the interior of the van had been cleaned with bleach. And this matched an empty body, or body, excuse me, bottle that was found in the garbage can of his home. So of course they're asking him, why is your car so clean? He said that while he was making this three hour drive from Billings to Glendive, there was a dead deer in the road and he rode over its carcass. Okay, so you know, he went and got his car clean. So I will tell you though, when lab reports, reports did come back, it confirmed that the blood and tissue under the van had come from an animal. This is Montana. There's plenty of animals going across the road. But meanwhile, evidence from inside the van was too degraded to truly say Susie's DNA was inside. So investigators did, felt, feel certain. Excuse me, that Marty was responsible for Susie's murder. But because they didn't yet have enough evidence, they were unable to make an arrest. They know he was there. But is it TR true that he just got back into his car, never having seen Susie and driving away?

[Mike]

Well, they'd already like dealt with this with like Marty and Ted where it's like, man, it just doesn't add up. Like I don't have the thing to get us like yes, one of these guys did it. Now they're, you know, they're working with. Oh no, I'm sorry.

[Alison]

I know what you mean. Brad and.

[Mike]

Yeah, Brad and Ted. But now it's like Marty, like we still have him, it's probably him, but we just gotta nail him with it. Like we gotta get something that connects them somehow.

[Alison]

And not only that, after he was speaking with investigators, he's suddenly now moving from my Montana to Arizona. Yeah, that's always suspicious too.

[Mike]

Yeah, I mean just suspicion doesn't mean the guilt.

[Alison]

No, it does not.

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[Alison]

So after Susie went missing, her children were separated. Her two younger daughters, Kyana and Charlie, they went to live with Ted, while the eldest two, Mariah and Shay, were living with her aunt and uncle, Valerie and Rusty, who had a newborn of their own. And I'm sure they got the kids all together and stuff, but living wise, they were separated. So not only were they dealing with the devastation of losing their mother in a violent way, and meanwhile, the person who's responsible for her Murder is still not behind bars. Now they're separated. So this was so traumatic. So Rusty, this is Susie's brother and Valerie's husband was growing very impatient with the lack of progress in the investigation and the fact that no arrests had been made. And at this point in time, the family were told that both Med, or excuse me, Ted and Marty were suspects. Even though at this point in time there was nothing to suggest that Ted was lying.

[Mike]

Right.

[Alison]

So the family wasn't entirely sure what was going on. And according to Val, Rusty was consumed with his sister's death. Death. And he wanted to get justice in whatever way that it took. And he said he would kill Marty himself if he had to.

[Mike]

I don't. That's a kind of guy that I appreciate.

[Alison]

I will tell you that the stress of all of this caused his marriage with Valerie to suffer and the two ended up divorcing. And then even so much More tragically, on November 5, 2011, he took his own life at only 32 years old.

[Mike]

I'm so sorry.

[Alison]

Leaving behind his parents, his ex wife, a young, young son, as well as Mariah and Shea. And he was laid to rest right next to his sister at a small cemetery in circle. My heart breaks for Susie's parents because now they haven't lost one child, but two. So one year later, a new county attorney was elected in Glendive. This is Olivia Ryger. And she wanted Susie's family to get justice. So in February of 2012, nearly four years after her murder. Murder, excuse me. Marty Larson was finally arrested outside of his apartment. So he was on his way to work in Phoenix, Arizona, because that's where he'd relocated to. And he was charged with Susie's murder and he was extradited back to Montana, where his bail was denied and he remained behind bars awaiting trial while he maintained that he had no idea what happened to Susie. So before Susie's family could even celebrate justice being served, they faced yet another tragedy. Her eldest child, 18 year old Mariah, died in a tragic car accident.

[Mike]

Oh, my God.

[Alison]

On May 19, 2012. She was one day from graduating from Circle High School when authorities believe that she may have fallen asleep at the wheel. She veered into a ditch, she rolled her car. There were no skid marks at the scene. And Mariah now rests besides her mother and her uncle. How incredible, how much tragedy and pain can one family take? I mean, my heart just breaks for this family. So the trial began In April of 2013, five years after Susie's murder. And when Marty Larson entered the Courtroom. Everyone was stunned. He looked like an entirely different person. He had lost about 80 pounds. So he remained firm that he was an innocent man. Obviously, he pleaded not guilty.

[Mike]

Yeah, well, he's getting off unless they found new evidence.

[Alison]

So the prosecution painted a picture of this jealous man who saw the woman that he planned to remarry because that is what he believed, based on this note that they found in the garbage can about this Las Vegas wedding. He even told detectives, yeah, we were going to get remarried. But now Susie's parked in front of her apartment, she's making out with another guy, and that maybe he snapped. So cell phone records proved that he had driven to Glendive, and he had been in the location of her apartment. And when Brad dropped her off at 5am his van had been heavily saturated with bleach, and Susie's hair was caught up in plastic molding inside.

[Mike]

That's new.

[Alison]

So although Marty denied being responsible, investigators learned that the strange email that Brad had received from this Denise Johnson, who he didn't know on the morning of Susie's murder, had come from Marty's computer.

[Mike]

All right, now we're talking about.

[Alison]

So when investigators first went to his house, they found him right in the process of erasing things from his hard drive. Highly suspicious. He's erasing things from his computer. He's got scratches on his back. His car is heavily saturated with bleach. He's moving from Montana to Arizona.

[Mike]

Yeah. Yeah, very suspicious.

[Alison]

So according to phone records, the last time Susie spoke with Marty on the night out with her friends was at 9:51pm so after this call, Susie called her daughter Mariah and asked her, how do I block a number? So when she stopped answering his calls, he decided to leave Billings for Glendive. Investigators believe that when he left, it's unlikely that he planned to murder her. They believed that he was just going to talk to her and never planned on murdering her that night. So Marty said that when he arrived at the Ponderosa Apartments, he parked along the side of the building. So footage from this nearby bank ATM depicted him pulling up to the apartment at 4:27am this was before Brad and Susie had even gotten back. So while he waited, he stood in that alcove of the nearby building.

[Mike]

I wonder how he knew that they were still out. Because her car was still there the whole time. Because Marty or Brad drove her, right?

[Alison]

Picked her up? Yeah, I don't know. I think he just wanted to lay eyes on her. Maybe he was so suspicious that she was out with somebody and he Just wanted to wait. So this space where he stood there is where the investigators found this footprint in the dust. So at 4:52am, Brad and Susie pulled up, and at 5:19am Susie got out of Brad's car, only steps away from her apartments. So the prosecution believed that when Marty confronted Susie, she likely told him that they were done and that she was going to move on in a relationship with Brad. So when he realized that he was losing Susie, the prosecution theorized that he began to strangle her. Based on the scratch marks to Marty's back, she fought him with all of her might. He then dragged her body across the alley, leaving these drag marks next to the dumpster. So footage from the bank depicted a figure walking back to his minivan at 5:38am and then the silver van, aka Marty's van, was driving away only minutes later, after the prosecution is theorizing that he placed her body in the back of the van. So video from A gas station 78 miles away depicted Marty stopping at 8:15 in the morning. And in this video, he was wearing a white T shirt and black shoes. And this is something that investigators were never able to recover. So he clearly got rid of the clothing that he was wearing. According to cell phone data, he was back in Billings at 10:29am he called Susie for the first time in five hours, and he left a voicemail that was in stark contrast to the slew of messages that he'd previously left, 22 of them. He sounded very pleasant and cheerful. He called her sweetie. He asked her to call him back in a sing song voice. And this tone made absolutely no sense to investigators because according to his version of events, he still hadn't heard or seen Susie.

[Mike]

Yeah, so if you were worried about her, you'd still be worried about her.

[Alison]

So if anything, his tone would have been that much more desperate. So the defense, meanwhile, argued that the prosecution's theory was simple, simply speculation. And they suggested that maybe Brad or Ted were responsible for her death. Since Ted was still the beneficiary of her life insurance because they were still legally married, the defense is saying he is the one that would financially gain from her death. But not all murders are financially driven. So, however, I will tell you, yes, Ted did get the insurance money.

[Mike]

How much was it?

[Alison]

I'm not entirely sure. I don't think it was a tremendous amount of money.

[Mike]

Yeah, I mean, if Ted's, like, comfortable, that would, like, come into play and be like, I mean, he doesn't need, you know, 20 grand.

[Alison]

Right, whatever. And not to Mention the fact that he, they, they proved he used the money to cover Susie's funeral expenses. And every penny that was left over, he distributed amongst the four children. He did not profit a dime.

[Mike]

Yeah, that's the kind of guy that doesn't need the money. And it would just, like, go to where it should go.

[Alison]

So that washes away any kind of financially driven motive.

[Mike]

Yeah.

[Alison]

So although Marty had extensively cleaned his minivan, there was a single hair that was found in the back where investigators theorize this is where he would have placed a body had he murdered Susie. Y. So when Marty testified, he maintained that although he had driven to Susie's apartment on the morning that she vanished, he's still saying, I left without ever seeing her. And this was something that had not made sense. He would have driven six hours round trip in the middle of the night. Wouldn't you have made sure that you caught up with a person that you had just driven six hours for sleep.

[Mike]

In your car or go to a hotel or whatever and just wait?

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[Alison]

And based on everything, there is absolutely no doubt that he would have seen Brad and Susie in the truck. He would have seen Susie getting out of Brad's truck. That's just.

[Mike]

Doesn't add up.

[Alison]

Doesn't add up. So after a six day trial and only three hours of deliberation, the ver. The jury returned with a verdict in April of 2015.

[Mike]

Please, please, please, please be guilty.

[Alison]

What do you think?

[Mike]

Guilty.

[Alison]

Marty Larson was found guilty for Susie's murder. He was given a 100 year sentence for her murder, plus 10 years for tampering with evidence.

[Mike]

Good for Montana.

[Alison]

He cleaned his car, but oddly enough, he's going to be eligible for parole in 2042 after serving only 30 years.

[Mike]

Okay, that doesn't make sense.

[Alison]

So at this point in time, he would be in his 70s. So Susie's story is a heartbreaking reminder that life can change in an end. It's instant. And oddly enough, we were talking about that at the beginning of this conversation or a podcast, excuse me episode. The point is, we never know what can happen in life. And that's why we truly need to love and cherish the people around us while they're here. Don't take people for granted, because we never know what can happen. When Susie went out with her friends that night, never in anyone's wildest dreams did they think that she would not be coming home. She was a devoted mother. She was a beloved daughter, a friend, a sister, and an aunt. Her disappearance and her tragic murder devastated not only her family, but also the small town of Glendive, Montana. And it was a domino effect. Rusty died, and then Mariah died. Mariah was so sick with heartbreak since her mother died that the family likely believes that she would have never been falling asleep at the wheel and crashing her car. Had her mother.

[Mike]

Yeah. You know, she's probably stressed with life in general and just. You lost and. Yeah. Just unfortunately, a terrible accident.

[Alison]

So a terrible domino effect of grief that this family suffered. And if you or someone you know is in an unsafe relationship, please, please call the National Domestic violence hotline at 1-800-799-7233 or visit the hotline.org because help is out there. And that is the sad and tragic murder of Susie Casey. Yeah.

[Mike]

So sad. So many twists and turns. And, I mean, the police did a good job of trying to collect all the evidence, but they just needed a little bit more to get Marty, you know, out into jail. And sucks that he's eventually going to get out, maybe. But hopefully, you know, he dies in prison somewhere where he deserves to die.

[Alison]

And the coward is still maintaining that he had nothing to do with Susie's murder, that he drove over there. Yeah, he called 22 times. Yeah. But he left. Yeah. Okay, Marty. Sure, sure, sure.

[Mike]

Yeah. I wonder why I chose Denise Johnson as a name.

[Alison]

I don't know. Just probably some. I mean, it's pretty generic. Denise Johnson. Come on, Marty. Get a little bit more, you know, what's creative with that?

[Mike]

Yeah.

[Alison]

Yeah. So clearly he was spiraling. He was reaching out to Brad. Brad's wife, Ted.

[Mike]

He was totally.

[Alison]

He was getting very, very desperate. But investigators do believe that when he got in his car in Billings to drive over there, that he never intended to kill her.

[Mike]

You know, that's the other thing. Did they prove that he made the calls to.

[Alison]

Yeah. His wife. It was all on his computer. That proved that he was responsible.

[Mike]

Okay, well, what about the calls?

[Alison]

I'm sure they trace that as well.

[Mike]

Probably a burner phone that he purchased or whatever.

[Alison]

He's probably not even smart enough to do that.

[Mike]

Yeah, that sucks, man. That's. That's really terrible. Sorry for the whole family.

[Alison]

Oh, I'm so, so sad for that family. So truly sad. And, you know, Susie just sounded like a real spitfire of a woman who was out there doing it. And it's just so sad that this jealous loser, You. You strangle this woman who has four children outside her apartment. Get a life.

[Mike]

Yeah.

[Alison]

It's just sick.

[Mike]

Yeah. Sick.

[Alison]

But anyway, we thank you guys so, so very much for being here with us and just supporting us, loving on us. Like we said in the beginning, we really do feel like we're part of this community that we've, you know, come to Bilt and meet people and just yes, everything with the loss of losing my mom has truly shown me that there are good people in this world.

[Mike]

Yeah, the podcast friends we've made, you know, other you know, awesome podcasts out there. It's, it's a really interesting community that we have here. We're all a little screwed up that we're so interested in these terrible crimes, but it's a lot of it's through like remembering these people and tell making sure their stories are told properly and you know, anytime any family members reach out to us, we're more than happy to adjust things and you know, that happens happened recently with some other accounts and you know, we're all in this together to help, you know, make sure there's justice in the world. So if you love what we do, you know, there's always Patreon and Apple subscribing and you know, there's some stuff through Spotify. Become a subscriber so every bonus episode comes out on Wednesday. Love to have you over there, but other than that, if you, you know, a cheap way to support us is through subscribing on YouTube or you know, just leaving a review like El mentioned earlier.

[Alison]

Yep, absolutely. But thank you guys so much and until next time.

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