MURDERED: Bill & Peggy Stephenson

Summary

Crime Junkie: MURDERED – Bill & Peggy Stephenson

Release Date: August 10, 2026
Host: Ashley Flowers (with Britt Prawat)
Podcast: Crime Junkie by Audiochuck

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Episode Overview

In this haunting episode, Ashley Flowers and Britt Prawat revisit the shocking 2011 double homicide of Bill and Peggy Stephenson in Boone County, Kentucky—a case shrouded in rumors of ritualistic overtones, chilling crime scene staging, and more questions than answers. The episode features new, never-before-released information from the lead detective, exclusive insights into investigative twists over 15 years, and a major recent break involving a partial fingerprint match. Flowers and Prawat blend storytelling with firsthand interviews, hoping to mobilize listeners in the ongoing effort to solve this 1% kind of crime.

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Key Discussion Points & Case Timeline

Discovery – The Day Routine Was Broken

[01:03–06:30]

• Setting: Memorial Day weekend, 2011, Florence, Kentucky.
• Suspicion Raised: Bill (church deacon) and Peggy (organist) fail to show up for Sunday services—a first.
• Family Realization: Daughter Beth sends her husband, Claude, to check on them.
• Scene Discovery: Claude enters through the unlatched sliding door and finds both Bill and Peggy murdered in their condo.
  • “There are moments when life splits into the before and the after. And that sliding screen door opened up the world of after for him and their entire family.” – Ashley Flowers [05:14]

Crime Scene – Overkill and Staging

[06:31–10:37]

• Detective Coy Cox arrives, describes the scene as a "1% kind of crime” [06:06].
• Multiple wounds ("overkill") and both victims are found “posed” with household items arranged around them in specific ways. Law enforcement withholds many details to preserve the case.
  • “The part that’s really haunting is that Detective Cox said they were posed in strange positions and household objects were arranged around them in very specific ways.”—Ashley Flowers [06:03]
• Items throughout the house are out of place, possibly with markings indicating family/friend connections or the killer’s message.
• No valuables are missing.

Timelines & Forensic Evidence

[08:47–13:19]

• Medical device establishes time of death in the early hours of Sunday.
• Investigation reveals a ‘timed device’ shows the perpetrator was in the home for up to 8 hours.
  • “Whatever this was, it confirms for police that the killer was in that condo for a very long time.” – Ashley [09:10]
• DNA and a partial fingerprint are recovered, but no CODIS/AFIS matches. Detective Cox suspects some forensic evidence may be staged/planted.
  • “He doesn’t think that he walked into the original crime scene. He thinks he walked into the scene that the killer or killers wanted him to find.” – Ashley [09:38]

Canvassing and Motive

[11:17–14:46]

• Canvassing yields little (~"broom hitting wall"), and a vehicle with lights off spotted, but no leads results.
• Detectives check with family about out-of-place household items (e.g., plastic pitcher) but aren’t able to identify them.
• Family cannot suggest anyone with motive. Bill and Peggy were universally described as kind, giving, and active in their church.

The Truck Stop Ministry: Stranger or Not?

[14:46–21:16]

• Attention shifts to Bill’s truck stop ministry (a chapel in a trailer at a local truck stop), bringing weekly contact with truckers from all over.
• Surveillance reveals a mystery man banging on the chapel door looking for Bill two days before the murders. No clear identification, despite releasing images and chasing tips nationwide.
  • “Detective Cox ends up traveling to 18 different states...to this day, that guy has still never been identified.” – Ashley [18:56]
• Theories debated about whether the killer was a stranger (trucker) or had a personal connection, especially with the level of crime scene comfort and risk involved.

Family Scrutiny: Stevie (Charles Stevenson)

[21:50–26:27]

• Family reluctantly suggest nephew Stevie as a distant possibility, citing past money issues and his exclusion from an inheritance.
• Stevie cooperates with DNA and fingerprint samples—no match to the crime scene.
• In 2012, Indiana police link Stevie to another murder (his girlfriend, Lee Jennings); he is convicted and given life imprisonment.
• Despite lack of forensic evidence tying him to the Stevenson murders, Cox never fully rules out family members, acknowledging the problematic nature of the evidence.

Staged Ritual? Experts Weigh In

[26:27–31:29]

• Detective Cox consults the renowned VDOC Society and FBI Behavioral Analysis Unit.
  • Experts agree: the “ritual elements” were staged, not authentic ritual violence.
  • Dr. Dawn Perlmutter (VDOC): “When you’re talking about a sophisticated double homicide...that goes beyond what someone needed to commit the crime, in her experience, that means it’s usually not someone’s first time.” [29:59]
• Experts look for pattern consistency in true ritual crimes; this scene lacked that.

Forensic Dead Ends, Rumors, and Frustration

[31:09–31:36]

• Tip checks for possible links to other high-profile cases (like Delphi) go nowhere.
• The case remains “a 1% case and nothing is making sense.”
• DNA/fingerprint evidence belongs to “a ghost”—no connections turn up.

Major Break: The Western State Fingerprint Match

[31:36–39:01]

• In June 2023, a decade after the murders, a lab tech in a western state who’d heard about the case on a podcast manually finds a match for the partial print.
  • “This is the exact reason that [Cox] makes it a point to talk to not just local media, but, but podcasts like ours that can spread information far and wide.” – Ashley [34:36]
• The print is tied to a man with previous Boone County ties who knew Bill and Peggy and moved away right after the murders.
• Detective Cox calls him, the man is initially cooperative—but the next day lawyers up and refuses voluntary samples.
• Police obtain a warrant and forcibly collect samples (he refuses to answer the door).
• The fingerprint matches 100%, but the DNA collected from the crime scene and the suspect do not match. Raises the question: were more people involved, or evidence planted?
  • “So far we have a print and we have DNA that we know do not belong to the same person. We know there are elements of staging. One of those or more of those could be staged or planted.” – Ashley [39:33]

Current Status and Next Steps

[41:16–42:25]

• The “Western State Guy” remains a key person of interest, but, crucially, so does Stevie.
• Investigators are focused on tying the DNA to an individual; a second matching DNA sample was recently found at the scene, boosting hopes for identification via genealogy or phenotyping.
• Flowers stresses the case is active: “This case is not sitting on a shelf. The science is still moving. Investigators are still working it.” [42:28]
• Direct plea to listeners, especially truckers, to help identify the unknown man from the truck stop.
• Official tip line: 859-334-8496; email: [e-mail]

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Notable Quotes & Memorable Moments

• “There are moments when life splits into the before and the after.” – Ashley Flowers [05:14]
• “Detective Cox said they were posed in strange positions and household objects were arranged around them in very specific ways.” – Ashley Flowers [06:03]
• “He doesn’t think that he walked into the original crime scene. He thinks he walked into the scene that the killer or killers wanted him to find.” – Ashley Flowers [09:38]
• “Detective Cox ends up traveling to 18 different states...to this day, that guy has still never been identified.” – Ashley Flowers [18:56]
• “This is a very complicated scene. So far we have a print and we have DNA that we know do not belong to the same person. We know there are elements of staging...”—Ashley Flowers [39:33]
• “This case is not sitting on a shelf. The science is still moving. Investigators are still working it.” – Ashley Flowers [42:28]

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Key Timestamps for Important Segments

• [01:03–06:30] – Discovery of Bill and Peggy missing; crime scene found
• [06:31–10:37] – Overkill, staged crime scene, lack of valuable motive
• [13:19–14:46] – Bill’s truck stop ministry as a possible risk factor
• [17:28–19:15] – Unidentified suspicious man seen at the chapel
• [21:16–26:27] – Family/nephew Stevie scrutinized; parallel murder
• [29:59–31:09] – Expert’s breakdown of ritual vs. staged crime scenes
• [31:36–39:01] – The 2023 fingerprint match and Western State Guy
• [42:25–end] – New DNA profile, call for tips, case still active

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Takeaways & Call to Action

• The dual homicide of Bill and Peggy Stephenson remains one of Kentucky’s most perplexing and chilling open cases, marked by staged crime scenes and forensic dead ends.
• Recent developments: A matched fingerprint belonging to a former neighbor with ties to the victims—but whose DNA doesn’t match the crime scene. Investigators now have a second DNA sample to work with.
• Your help is needed: If you recognize the man seen at the truck stop or have info about this case, contact the Boone County Sheriff’s dedicated tip line at 859-334-8496, or email [e-mail].
• Ashley’s closing thought: “This case can and will be solved if the right person or people come forward.”

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For further details and to share images/descriptions of the unidentified truck stop man, visit the official Crime Junkie channels and social media.

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Note: Summed up for clarity and narrative flow. Sponsorships, outros, and miscellaneous promotions omitted as per instructions.

Transcript

[Ashley Flowers]

Hi Crime Junkies, it's Ashley. And after years of covering cases on this show, I know that the story doesn't stop once the headlines fade. There are always more questions to ask, more voices to hear, and more context that can reshape our understanding of a case. In fact, that's one of the reasons I started my other podcast, the Deck. Every episode goes a layer deeper through original reporting and conversations with the people who know these cases best, law enforcement, investigators and families still searching for answers. Listen to the Deck wherever you get your podcasts.

[Britt]

Before we get started, I've got one

quick reminder for you.

If you've been meaning to check out

the Crime Junkie summer collection, this is your sign. Because it is officially the last week to shop if you've been eyeing this collection, especially the super cute if you have a secret tee or the incredibly cozy always go a layer deeper hoodie, now is the time. Because once this collection is gone, it's gone. So head on over to the Show Notes to find that link and start shopping.

[Ashley Flowers]

Hi crime Junkies. I'm your host, Ashley Flowers.

[Britt]

And I'm Britt.

[Ashley Flowers]

The story I have for you today is a case that haunts everyone who touches it. The kind of case that most detectives only ever see once in their career. It's become local lore around Boone County, Kentucky, once word leaked that there could be ritualistic elements to the murder of a retired couple in their home. You can just imagine the rumors that spread even more so in the void of information left by police. They have been incredibly tight with the details about this case, but today, for the first time, they're sharing some never before released case information with us, including the crime scene evidence that has recently led them to a man out west. And now investigators believe that they may finally be closer than ever to solving the murder of Bill and Peggy Steven. Foreign. 2011 is a hot Sunday in Florence, Kentucky. That's also memorial Day weekend. Many people have the next day off, so their Sunday routines are changing a bit. Family get togethers. A day at the lake, maybe a road trip to get out of town. But not for Beth Victor. Because even though she plans to take her daughter to do some shopping to celebrate her graduation, they're still going to church. First Sunday always means church for their family. That was ingrained in Beth by her own parents, Bill and Peggy Stevenson. But when Beth and her family take their seats in the pews, her 74 year old parents aren't there and she knows that something is up immediately. Bill's a deacon and Peggy plays the organ. They are there every single Sunday like clockwork. So when the service starts, it's not just Beth who is, like, looking around, trying to see what's going on. The whole congregation notices their absence. And I can imagine Beth just like, sneaking glances at the door, expecting them to sneak in at some point during the sermon, but they never do. And after it wraps up, people are coming up to Beth asking if she knows anything. And this is when she learns that it wasn't just this service that was missed. So her dad, Bill, had this, like, truck stop ministry where he gave church services inside an old truck trailer earlier in the morning. And a few of his church friends volunteered there as well. And they said that Bill didn't show up to that either. Beth spoke to her parents the day before at her daughter's graduation, and they were fine. But clearly something happened between now and then. So she asked her husband Claude to stop by her parents on his way home, since she had already promised her daughter that she was going to take her shopping. No problem, right? So he heads over to their condo complex. Claude lets himself into the building's main entrance and makes his way to the front door of their unit on the first floor. But when he knocks, no answer. He tries again. Still nothing. So he walks around to the back of the condo building because there is a sliding glass door that opens directly from their unit to the outside. And he notices that the screen door is closed, but it looks like the glass door isn't. So he reaches for the screen, expecting it to be, like, latched, but that just slides right open. And there are these moments when life splits into the before and the after. And that sliding screen door opened up the world of after for him and their entire family. Because what Claude saw that day was so brutal that it haunts him in a way he can't even describe. I mean, literally. Beth told us that even 15 years later, he couldn't bring himself to tell us about what he saw. He declined to speak with us for this episode, but we know what he went through because he would later tell police after he called them instantly. And he knew without a doubt when he walked into that condo that Bill and Peggy were dead. It was Detective Coy Cox from the Boone County Sheriff's Office who arrived at the Stevenson's condo just before 3:00pm that afternoon. And he told us when he walked through that sliding back door, what he saw was what he calls a 1% kind of crime. The kind of case that you get once in a career if you ever get one like this. At all. He says Bill and Peggy are in two separate rooms. One is right by the sliding door and the other is in a back room of the four bedroom condo. And there are multiple wounds on both bodies. So many that the first word that comes to Detective Cox's mind is overkill. But the part that's really haunting is that Detective Cox said they were posed in strange positions and household objects were arranged around them in very specific ways.

[Britt]

Like how?

[Ashley Flowers]

That's the thing I can't tell you because I don't know. Detective Cox couldn't share a lot of details about the scene because this is still an open case. He wouldn't tell us how the things were around them or what pose they were in or anything about their exact types of wounds, though he did note that there was at least one that was made post mortem. But he would talk to us in, like, a broader sense about the other things that he saw in the condo, like the fact that nothing valuable seemed to be missing. But in every single room, he says things are off. Like household items were moved or changed in strange ways. And like, just as, like a hypothetical, he compared it to, like, opening the fridge and like, finding a pen among the condiments.

[Britt]

Stuff just, like, isn't where it should be, right.

[Ashley Flowers]

Like, in a way that stands out. He also said that some of the items had markings on them that may have been left by the killer, and that the items seemed to be connected to specific family members or friends. And that, like, the way that they were arranged seemed like the killer was indicating who they liked and who they didn't like. And there is something about all of these markings and items and their positions that is giving those that are there at the scene this feeling of something ritualistic. Now, whether this was genuinely a ritual killing or if the purpose of the, like, staging and all of that was just to make it look like one they don't know. But either way, to Detective Cox, it seems like whoever did this was trying to leave some kind of message. And to do that, the killer had to clearly be in the place for a while. Actually, as they process the scene further, investigators are able to confirm a lot about the timeline. One of the victims, I guess, had a medical device that recorded the exact time of death, which Detective Cox told us was sometime in the early hours of that Sunday morning. Plus, investigators find a, quote, timed device indicating that the killer was there for as many as eight hours. Or they, like, left and came back

[Britt]

again, like some kind of security system, like the timed device.

[Ashley Flowers]

This is, again, he Wouldn't get more specific other than saying it was a timed device. But Bill and Peggy's daughter Beth did speak with us, and she said that her parents didn't have an alarm system installed. So, like, I can answer that question. I know it wasn't an alarm system. Whatever this was, it confirms for police that the killer was in that condo for a very long time.

[Britt]

And there's no way the killer was there for that long, like eight hours and didn't leave some piece of themself behind.

[Ashley Flowers]

Oh, not a chance. And they do find, as they're processing, like, a good amount of forensic evidence, actually, DNA and a partial print, the question is, what belongs to the killer? And what did their killer just want them to find? Because Detective Cox told us that from the very beginning, he doesn't think that he walked into the original crime scene. He thinks he walked into the scene that the killer or killers wanted him to find. So he's not completely certain that the evidence was. Wasn't planted by the killer. Now, he specifically said that the partial print was in a very specific place at the crime scene that Detective Cox told us only the killer or killers could have left it. But it might not be the print. Like, based on some carefully worded follow up, it seems like maybe this partial print could have been introduced to the crime scene somehow. Like maybe on some kind of, like, item that the killer brought in or something. I don't know. So we have evidence, and it seems like it should belong to the killer or killers, but they won't know for sure until they can match it to someone.

[Britt]

Right?

[Ashley Flowers]

The DNA is actually good enough for codis, but they put it in there. No hits. Now, the partial isn't completely enough for aphis. It's only usable for direct comparison. But. But Detective Cox is not about to just, like, sit and like, hope this thing or like, the killer just, like, comes to him, right? He makes sure that they mail out copies of that partial print to crime labs in all 50 states, and they ask them to compare to their own databases, hoping that someone somewhere will uncover a match now or in the future. As you can imagine, that's going to take some time. So they had to focus on other investigative means.

[Britt]

I'm waiting for you to bring up, like, witnesses. Because someone had to have seen this guy in the complex at some point during all of this time, right?

[Ashley Flowers]

Not really. They canvassed the condo like neighbors or whatever. Like, one says that they heard a sound that was like. Like a broom hitting the wall. And then another reports a car Parked outside the condo around the time of the murders and says that they saw the headlights go off. But Cox says that they never found the driver. So, like, without that, without the license plate, like, that lead didn't go anywhere. I mean, I personally think that whatever happened to them probably happened quick. I mean, just. Just because it was so quiet and like TBD the hour it could have been while all of the other neighbors were sleeping. Then all of that staging stuff, I mean, the stuff that really would have taken the time that's quiet, that's happening inside, like, that's not gonna draw a ton of attention. So with no helpful witnesses, Detective Cox looks quite closer at the most bizarre piece of evidence. Those arranged household objects. He wants to know if everything they found at the crime scene actually belonged to Bill and Peggy. Is it just all moved around, or did the killer actually bring something and introduce it to the crime scene? So Beth told us that they actually described the objects to her and her siblings, asking, like, does this belong to your parents? Have you seen this before? They asked him about all kinds of household objects. Kitchen items especially, like things that would have been sitting in drawers or cabinets. And at one point, she remembers them asking about a plastic pitcher, like the kind that you would make sweet tea in or something like that. But here's the problem. Even, like, the family doesn't always know the answer to that.

[Britt]

Yeah, I was gonna say, like, I don't know everything in my parents house anymore. Like, there's specific things I can think

[Ashley Flowers]

of that I know they still have. Like, yeah, when I was a kid and I lived in the house, maybe, probably I could have told you every single it. But I have no idea now what my mom and dad have. And that is basically what Beth has to tell detectives.

[Britt]

So another dead end.

[Ashley Flowers]

Yeah. And what's more frustrating than not being able to tell them what does or doesn't belong in the house is that none of Bill and Peggy's family members can even suggest a motive for this crime. Everyone police talk to says the same thing about them. They're kind, they're generous, they're active in their church, and they're help people. It's kind of as vanilla as it comes. They're high school sweethearts, married for over 50 years. Peggy was like, pretty shy, mostly stayed at home. Bill was the social butterfly of the two. He's always out and about. But the two loved each other. There were no big money problems that the couple was facing. No, like, seedy side life that they kept from their closest friends and family. So if Bill and Peggy have no obvious enemies in their day to day life, Detective Cox has to look at the part of Bill's life where he constantly was interacting with strangers. And that would be at that truck stop ministry I told you about. It's where Bill spent the majority of his time. It's basically like this chapel inside a trailer, like the kind that would be hauled by a semi truck. Apparently it still had the wheels on it and everything, but the inside were like some pews and a piano and. And on Sundays, they would open the doors and do a service for the truckers there at that local truck stop. Like people who were in town. But that's the thing. The truckers themselves were not local.

[Britt]

Right?

[Ashley Flowers]

People come and go constantly. Truckers from all over the country just making a pit stop. You know, the day that they would be in Kentucky and then like the next day they would be hundreds of miles away. And that is exactly what has made tracking down their very first person of interest so difficult. Detectives have a face. They have a video, in fact, of a mystery man who seemed to be looking for Bill outside the chapel just two days before he and Peggy were found dead. We all love finding a great sale, but imagine savings that were consistent instead of just here and there. Well, with Rakuten, you can earn cash back and rewards on nearly every purchase. From shopping, travel experiences to groceries, dining, and tons more, Rakuten is the no brainer way to shop and feel rewarded when you do. They partner with all the best brands across many categories including Ulta, Expedia, Instacart and Bloomingdale's, just to name a few. You can even stack your cash back earnings on top of other deals like store sales and coupons. It's free, free and super simple too. All you need is an email to sign up. Then you can start shopping, earning and redeeming your cash back your way, like via check, PayPal, built points, or instantly in the form of a gift card or eligible American Express card. Members can choose to earn membership rewards points instead of cash back. Terms and conditions apply. 17 million members are already saving, so why wait? Join for [e-mail] or download the Rakuten app to start saving money today.

[Britt]

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[Ashley Flowers]

On Friday, May 27, witnesses saw a man walk up to the trailer chapel and start just banging on the door, yelling for Bill. Now, from what they can gather, Bill was likely on site when this happened. But nobody actually saw Bill open the door or interact with this guy. And there was no security footage from where. Where this trailer is. But there is footage from inside the truck stop from around the same time frame. And Detective Cox finds someone on it who matches the description that witnesses gave.

[Britt]

So no one knew this guy?

[Ashley Flowers]

No, no one at the truck stop. And when they show this image to Bill and Peggy's family, they don't know this guy either. Which means that he is likely a trucker.

[Britt]

Right. And now could be anywhere.

[Ashley Flowers]

Anywhere. Because it took them some time to find this. Yeah. So within 24 hours of collecting this footage, even though it's later, the Boone County Sheriff's Office puts out a press release with a still image from the video saying that they're looking for this guy and he is a person of interest. And soon the tips start pouring in from obviously all over the country. At one point, a man in Georgia even comes forward saying that he thinks that he might be the guy in the photo. But when investigators check his truck logs, there's no way that he could have been in Boone county at the time frame that they're like, looking for. So he's not their guy. And Detective Cox ends up traveling to 18 different states checking tips out related to this. He's stopping trucks, he is tracking people down, he is comparing names from the chapel logbook. And to this day, that guy has still never been identified, which, it's kind

[Britt]

of weird to me that he hasn't like, come forward on his own. Like, the first, like that one guy who was like, hey, like, could be me. I don't.

[Ashley Flowers]

Also kind of weird that like, you like to be. To think it might be you and it not be you is like.

[Britt]

But also if it's. If you think it's you and you're like, hey, I want to make sure you know this is a dead end. Like, coming forward right away makes sense. But.

[Ashley Flowers]

But I just keep thinking, like, maybe. Because the one option is like, oh, there's something shady or whatever. But the other option is like, maybe the word just hasn't gotten to him. So, like, he's likely not a local. So, like, that's a benefit of a show like ours. Like, I know that we have some long haul trucker crime junkies. We met you on tour. I need them to start spreading the word. I'm actually going to post this guy's picture on our blog post. I'm going to put it up on social media. So it's like, good and shareable.

[Britt]

Yeah. And like, I used to work in transportation. I used to work with truckers. Like, they are a network of resources and information. They are so intertwined and like, keep

each other informed about things.

Like, this could be huge.

[Ashley Flowers]

Yeah. So it would be great if they could help us find this stuff.

[Britt]

Yeah.

[Ashley Flowers]

But here's the truth of it though. He might not have any relevant information about this crime even because it being a random trucker would explain why we can't find the killer. But it explains almost nothing else. Like, Detective Cox says that he just cannot square, like this idea that like a random killer would leave this crime scene. The arrangement of the items, the comfort that the killer had spending time in the condo, to him, it feels personal. And there is another problem with the trucker theory. Peggy didn't really have much to do with the chapel ministry. It was like Bill's thing. So if someone there had it out for him, you would think it would be about him and not Peggy. And if that was the case, Detective Cox said that there would be like, way less risky ways to just get Bill. I mean, the truck stop chapel itself was pretty private. There was like. Or at least when no service was going on. Right.

[Britt]

Right. I mean, maybe like the killer wouldn't have enough time to do what he wanted to do. Like to spend with him, though.

[Ashley Flowers]

I still just don't understand why you bring Peggy into it at all, though. I mean, I guess unless you. It was all about the time and you knew that she would notice if he didn't come home or whatever. But, like, on the flip side of that, if this were a stranger who was targeting Peggy for some reason, like,

[Britt]

the other way around.

[Ashley Flowers]

Other way around, I think about, like, she's in the home all the time, alone, without Bill while he's out doing his mission work.

[Britt]

So on that side, like, why bring Bill into it?

[Ashley Flowers]

Which is why Detective Cox keeps coming back to this idea that he thinks whoever did this wanted both Bill and Peggy dead, which brings him back to the people closest to them. Family. And I know I told you that early on, the family couldn't think of anyone who would want to kill them. That is true. But grasping at straws, like, if they had to think of somebody, they did throw out one name. Bill and Peggy's nephew, Charles Stevenson, who goes by Stevie.

[Britt]

And why would they put pull out that name?

[Ashley Flowers]

If anything, they say it has to do with money. So, like, five years before this, in 2006, Bill's brother passed away, and Bill was the executor of the will. Stevie got nothing. He wasn't even named in the will. But, like, also, it wasn't his dad that died, it was his uncle. And it wasn't like a huge inheritance or anything. But again, we're just, like, grasping here. They're like, maybe. But Stevie thought that Bill and Peggy had cut him out of some money that he felt he, like, was owed or, like, money that he really needed. Because what was fact is that Bill and Peggy's kids, they have three, including Beth, say that Stevie had some problems with money. Like, he'd borrowed money from family members in the past.

[Britt]

But in this scenario, he, like, his uncle dies, he waits five years, and then kills Bill and Peggy.

[Ashley Flowers]

Like I said, we're grasping here. It is. It is a stretch. But early in the investigation, Detective Cox was open to anything. Like, you never know what's going to be important later. So he had interviewed Stevie and he'd asked him about his money issues. And Stevie admitted that he owed some people money, but he was insistent that he didn't kill his aunt and uncle. He was cooperative. He submitted his fingerprints and his DNA voluntarily. And when they were compared against the ones found at the crime scene, no match to either thing. But remember, Cox is not convinced that he can totally trust the forensics that they found at the scene. If there is a world where they were planted by the killer, then you can't really rule anyone out completely. So Detective Cox doesn't fully close the door on Stevie. Not that he's actively pursuing him. Or anything. Just like if something comes up that gives him a reason to take another look at the guy, or he would. And another reason does come up in April of 2012, that's when Detective Cox gets this call out of the blue from the Indiana State Police. They're investigating a murder, and their prime suspect only wants to talk to Detective Cox. It's Stevie. He's being looked at in connection to the killing of a 67 year old woman named Lee Jennings. Now, Lee was found beaten to death at her house in Aurora, Indiana, which is only like half hour away from Florence, where Bill and Peggy lived. And the murder weapons were a pepper grinder and a skillet, which are kitchen items. Indiana police are looking at Stevie because he was dating Lee and had been borrowing money from her. But this time she said no. And the next thing you know, someone kills her and steals $1,000 from her house. What's so weird is when Stevie is in custody, he will not talk about Lee, but he tells the Indiana State Police that he will talk to Cox about Bill and Peggy.

[Britt]

Like he wants a deal.

[Ashley Flowers]

No, this isn't about a deal. And this is what is so weird to me. Like, he. He just said, I'm not gonna talk about this thing, but I'll talk about this other thing all day. And when Cox goes to him, it seems like he gets no more information from him than he did when they first spoke. He's basically like, I had nothing to do with my aunt and uncle's murders. I'll answer any questions you have. But his answers don't, like, help their investigation. He has the same alibi he always did, which, by the way, was never a great one. Stevie says that he was home asleep in bed at the time that Bill and Peggy were killed. And investigators are able to find people who saw him earlier in the night, people who saw him the next morning. But during the actual window when Bill and Peggy were murdered, Stevie is basically his own alibi. So they don't get any new info, but they do get new DNA and fingerprint samples. Not because there was anything wrong with the original, like 2011 sample he gave. Back then, Stevie gave like a standard, I guess, 10 fingerprint thing or whatever. And investigators wanted palm prints and like other parts of the hand too. Still, they just want to be safe. They run it all again against the Stevenson crime scene just to be extra, extra sure. Because, like, what are the odds that one person that people name ends up getting charged with murder? But, like, not that murder, but this one. Like, but still, it doesn't matter. Stevie still doesn't match. In the Stevenson case, that is. But in May 2012, Stevie is charged with Leigh Jennings murder. And eventually he is convicted of that and sentenced to life in prison. And while Stevie is behind bars, Detective Cox keeps interviewing him, pressing on his supposed alibi, but he's not getting anywhere. So Detective Cox goes back to the drawing board. When a case like this goes unsolved for weeks and then months, every time a promising lead goes nowhere, I think it's easy to question yourself a little bit, right? Like, did I make the wrong assumption? It seems like they knew their killer, but, like, okay, maybe they didn't. This seemed like a staged crime scene, but maybe it wasn't. No one has, like, ritual experts just hanging around by the office water cooler to ask. So for the first year, nothing was off the table, ritual killing included, staged to look like ritual killing, like they were open to any possibility. But finally, in the fall of 2012, Detective Cox decides that he needs some fresh eyes on this. People who have seen the 1% crime scene over and over again. Someone who can, like, cut through the noise. So he calls in the VDOC Society, which is this, you know, professional club of sorts, made up of former, like, law enforcement, forensic specialists, and they volunteer to help with unsolved cases. And they're pretty selective about the cases that they take on. But when they hear about the Stevenson's case, they're all in. So Detective Cox goes to their headquarters in Philadelphia, which is like this wooden paneled room in this crazy renaissance building, like right out of Sherlock Holmes. And there's about a hundred people in the room who Detective Cox and his partner have to present to. And they don't just give them the glossy overview that we got. They share all of the weird and perplexed, perplexing details of the crime scene. And the V. DOX Society comes back with a very strong read. They say that this was not a genuine ritual killing. The ritual elements at the crime scene were probably staged. And over the years, as Detective Cox has consulted with other agencies, like the FBI's Behavioral Analysis Unit, he continues to hear the same thing. Listen, we know so little about this crime scene that I had to know what would lead an expert to even a conclusion like that. Yeah, like, how do we even get there in general? Right? So we talked to Dr. Dawn Perlmutter, who is a member of VDOC, who is an expert in ritual violence and symbolic crime scenes. Now, she can't say whether she actually consulted on the Stevenson's case. Or not. But she did tell us a little bit about how she looks at any crime scene that might be ritualistic. What she's looking for mostly, she says, is consistency. Like, do the symbols make sense together? Do the objects match the body positioning? Does location matter? Does the timing matter? Is there a coherent pattern? So there must not have been those elements for everyone to have come to the same conclusion. But interestingly, she did share something about what is publicly known about the Stevenson's case already. She said that when you're talking about a sophisticated double homicide with a lot of positioning, arranging time spent at the scene, that goes beyond what someone needed to commit the crime. And in her experience, that means it's usually not someone's first time.

[Britt]

And this seems specific enough that if there are were other crime scenes like these, like, investigators would know about it right now. Like, that's what would be evident.

[Ashley Flowers]

That's what's so wild to me, because this case, like, the details have been entered into ViCAP. Tipsters have tried making connections over the years. I mean, like, to fast forward in our story a little bit. The first time I heard about the Stevenson's case was after the Delphi murders

[Britt]

because there were rumors about ritualistic, like, how the scene was set up there, right?

[Ashley Flowers]

And so, like, by then, there are, like, certain things that come out about the Stevenson's case that, like, again, this idea of ritualistic, the rumors are running wild. Delphi had rumors like that, too. So people started sending Detective Cox tips. He checked those out in that case and others, but, like, it was a

[Britt]

bust, which really proves that this is

[Ashley Flowers]

like a 1% case and nothing is making sense.

[Britt]

Right? Like, this doesn't seem like it's the killer's first time. But also nothing else looks like this.

[Ashley Flowers]

And there's overkill and seemingly a personal connection. But, like, no one with a personal connection has a motive to do this.

[Britt]

And the DNA and the fingerprints seem to belong to a ghost because we cannot connect them to literally anyone.

[Ashley Flowers]

Well, not so fast. There was a ton that Detective Cox couldn't share with us to protect the investigation. But the thing he did give us was one huge scoop. A development in this case that we're breaking for the first time. They recently got a match on the partial fingerprint from their crime scene. And you are not going to believe how this happened or what has unfolded since. In June 2023, 12 years after Bill and Peggy's murder, a call comes into the Boone County Sheriff's office. Remember those fingerprints that Detective Cox mailed out to all 50 states looking for a match. A lab technician is on the phone and she has finally made a match. When Detective Cox sent out those fingerprint cards to all 50 states back in 2011, he asked technicians all over the country to run them against their own databases in case there was ever a match. Now, with a partial like that, you can't just like set it and forget it either. Your search is basically only good, like as a one time search, comparing against the database as it is in that moment in time. So Cox obviously, like, hoped that they would all keep the prints run and rerun them, but he never got a single call about them for over a decade. Honestly, by 2023, he didn't know if any of the states still hung on to them. But you just need one. And one day, Cox gets this out of the blue call from a lab tech out west. Pretty much everything is west of Kentucky, but that's all he'll say. A western state. And this lab tech says said that she had heard about Bill and Peggy's case from a podcast and she wanted to do her part to help. So she printed out a copy of the fingerprint card and kept it at her station as a reminder to keep rerunning those every so often. And she put in the work every time a new print came into their system, she would manually check it against the print from the Stevenson case. Print after print print, year after year, until one time in 2023 when everything changed, it was the print. I would have given anything to talk to this woman. Like, what is the moment that you realize that you have, like, this is a one in a million shot and, like, you did it. And Detective Cox says that this is the exact reason that he makes it a point to talk to not just local media, but, but podcasts like ours that can spread information far and wide. He says that you might not get that big tip the day it airs, but you may get a phone call even years later that changes everything. And that's the phone call he got. And this wasn't just like a, hey, we have a matching print. It was, hey, I have a matching print and I can tell you who it belongs to. Now, Detective Cox won't share the name with us. He is since retired, but he's still the one that knows so much about this. So we even reached out to the current detective on this case because I wanted to know, like, was the print, like, was there another crime committed?

[Britt]

Can you tell us about this print?

[Ashley Flowers]

Yeah, like, don't tell me about him, but, like, what can I know about the print. And all that the current detective would tell us is that the print prints weren't on file from any previous crime he committed. They were on file for other reasons. But Detective Cox did say that this man, once he knows his name, obviously he looks into him. He has ties to Boone County. More than that, he knew Bill and Peggy. He lived in the same area as them, but interestingly, he moved out of Boone county right after the murder. Now, Detective Cox doesn't sit on this, like, within hours, he is on the phone with this guy, and he doesn't say anything about the print. Just like, hey, I'm investigating this case. I've been working it, like, a long time. We just discovered that you might have been associated with the couple, the Stevensons from Boone County, Kentucky. And this guy admits that he knew Bill and Peggy, said that he loved them. He will do anything to help Steven solve this case.

[Britt]

Great.

[Ashley Flowers]

That's what Detective Cox says. He's like, great. Gonna need your DNA and your prints. We're getting this from basically everybody who loved them and wants to help solve the case. And the guy says yes. He seems super cooperative, super willing to help. So they make a plan for him to go to some place where he lives at 10am the next day to get the samples that they need. But at 9:45 the next morning, 15 minutes before he's supposed to be there, he calls up Detective Cox, and Cox says that this guy's tone was totally different. He says he's not going, and if they need anything else from him, they should contact his lawyer, which, like a

[Britt]

lawyer for an interview. I get a lawyer when you just need to provide a DNA sample and this can be over and done with.

[Ashley Flowers]

Same. It's a red flag to Detective Cox, too. He told us that they've gotten DNA from like, 200 different people and only three of them have ever gotten an attorney. So he immediately tells the Boone county sheriff what happened. And the sheriff tells him, like, you go out there and you get that sample. Like, would have been nice if he gave it voluntarily. Like, but they got his print right, like, at the scene. And I might remind you that Cox said, quote, the location of that fingerprint was inside the crime scene and in a place that only should be left by the perpetrator, end quote. So within about a day of hanging up that phone, he is boots on the ground in this mysterious western state where he goes to the local judge there, and he gets a signed warrant for this guy's DNA and his prints. But then when he drives to this guy's house to serve the warrant. He won't answer the door. Detective Cox is pretty sure he's in there, but he won't answer the door, won't answer the phone, won't come out of the house. So he has to go back to the judge for another warrant, which lets them like forcibly go in and get this guy's stuff. And they do they literally have to

[Britt]

go in by force? Yes.

[Ashley Flowers]

And homeboy's in there and Detective Cox didn't like paint a picture. So I don't know if he's just like sitting in the middle of his living room waiting for them to come in. I don't know if he's like crying in his bedroom closet. Like, my imagination tends to run wild. But they get the samples that they need. No surprises here. The fingerprint matches 100% percent and the DNA does not. What now? Does this mean that there is another person? Is it still possible that the DNA was planted, which Cox had an early theory about?

[Britt]

I've got an idea. How about we ask the guy whose fingerprints are at the scene, like, did you put it there or was someone with you?

[Ashley Flowers]

Or was he ever there at all? Or if he was, was it before, during or after the killing? And I know that probably sounds bananas, but without knowing what or where the fingerprint was located on or where it was or in or. I don't know if we can say that he was there for the murder.

[Britt]

I mean, Cox said it had to be left by the perpetrator, right?

[Ashley Flowers]

Dude, this is like, I feel like we went round and round and round and round with him with Detective Cox. He was super careful with his words. I'll try to distill what I think the truth is here, and that is that this is a very complicated scene. So far we have a print and we have DNA that we know do not belong to the same person. We know there are elements of staging. One of those or more of those could be staged or planted. We also know that the killer was around. Maybe even, they say left and came back sometime over an eight hour period. Did someone else come into that scene during that time?

[Britt]

I mean, have they asked this guy since?

[Ashley Flowers]

This is the thing. He still will not talk to them. Still, like right now.

[Britt]

So no longer willing to do anything to help the couple he loved so much.

[Ashley Flowers]

Exactly.

[Britt]

I'm sorry. His print being ID there, the fact that he knew them moved right after.

[Ashley Flowers]

Like, I. Listen, I agree with you. I agree with like every crime junkie I know. He's like, screaming at the screen right now, thousand percent. This guy, whoever he is, I think there is more to him, honestly. It's not like Cox doesn't see it. He's not closing the door on Western State Guy or anyone else that he has looked at in the past. Cox says that investigators have to weigh two kinds of evidence in this case, physical and circumstantial. And because of the fingerprint and because of the circumstantial pieces, like you're saying, the connection to Boone county, the fact that he knew Bill and Peggy, the fact that he lived in the same area, the timing of when he moved. Cox says that this Western State guy is still in play. By the way, nephew Stevie isn't off the table either, remember? And investigators have narrowed down their pool of persons of interest to about half a dozen people again, including Western State Guy. But they need to build a solid case before they can bring charges against anyone. And I do get the measured approach. Even a crap defense attorney could get someone off as long as there is unidentified DNA sitting out there at the crime scene. Connected in some way. Right. You have to figure out who that belongs to to close that door or to figure out if it's connected. Not connected like, otherwise, like.

[Britt]

I just.

[Ashley Flowers]

I know how this would go at trial.

[Britt]

There's too many loose ends.

[Ashley Flowers]

So that is the loose end that Detective Cox is working to close up. And another exclusive piece of information he gave us is that a lab has gotten another DNA profile from a second location in the crime scene, and it matches the first profile that they already have in codis.

[Britt]

So those samples are from the same person.

[Ashley Flowers]

But investigators think that they'll be able to do a lot more with this profile. I don't know if that's genealogy, phenotyping, whatever that is, but 15 years after Bill and Peggy Stevenson were murdered, what I know is that this case is not sitting on a shelf. The science is still moving. Investigators are still working it. And even though Detective Cox just retired from the Boone County Sheriff's Office, he has passed on the case to detectives who are just as dedicated as he was. And he believes that this case can and will be solved if the right person or people come forward. So, crime junkies, that's you. If you have any information, contact the Boone County Sheriff's Office. They have a dedicated tip line for the Stevenson case. The number is 859-334-8496. And as always, you can reach us by emailing tipsoudiochuk.com Any information you have, small or big could be helpful. But just as a reminder, investigators are still looking to identify the man from the truck's name up. Who Cox did confirm for me, by the way, is not Western State guy. So get out there, share this far and wide, and let's see what our crime junkies can do. Crime Junkie is an Audio Chuck production. I think Chuck would approve. Hey, crime junkies, if you're wondering what to listen to next, I got you. Check out another Audio Chuck show. Park Predators. A recent episode is about a couple named Danny and Sue who left for a camping trip in New York's Adirondacks and never made it home. When Danny's abandoned car was found, investigators thought that they were dealing with a missing persons case. But then another attack happened, and suddenly the whole investigation became something much bigger. It's one of those cases where every new clue changes what you think you know. For the full story, listen to the Adirondacks on Park Predators. Wherever you get your podcasts.