Murder in the Moonlight - Ep. 3: The Ring

Summary

Dateline Originals: "Murder in the Moonlight - Ep. 3: The Ring"

Host: NBC News’ Keith Morrison
Release Date: April 30, 2025
Podcast Series: Dateline Originals – True crime narratives presented in gripping mini-series format.

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1. Introduction to the Murders

In the quiet town of Murdoch, Nebraska, the lives of residents were shattered by the brutal double homicide of Wayne and Charman Stock. Their murders sent shockwaves through the community, leaving everyone questioning the safety within their own homes.

Keith Morrison opens the episode reflecting on the impact of the murders:

“The investigation that is into the murders of Wayne and Charman Stock, the people of Murdoch, Nebraska had been deeply shaken and quite understandably so." (00:59)

2. The Initial Investigation and Arrests

Two weeks following the heinous crimes, the Cass County Sheriff's Office announced the arrest of Matt Livers, the couple's 28-year-old nephew, and his 21-year-old cousin, Nick Sampson. Livers confessed to the murders, alleging that he had shot his aunt and uncle, while Sampson denied involvement, leading to a tangled web of conflicting testimonies.

Keith Morrison recounts the sheriff’s declaration:

“The Cass County Sheriff's Office announced just two weeks after the murders that one of the most shocking crimes in this part of Nebraska in decades had been solved." (00:59)

3. Confessions and Denials

Matt Livers was forthcoming in his confession, detailing the gruesome act. However, Nick Sampson’s denial introduced doubt and complexity into the case. This inconsistency prompted further investigation to uncover the truth behind the murders.

Livers expressed his feelings upon confession:

“I was already fired up and yes, I have a branch to settle." (01:40)

4. Discovery of the Gold Ring

Amidst the efforts to close the case, a pivotal piece of evidence emerged—a gold ring found on the kitchen floor of the Stock farmhouse. Initially overlooked, the ring became a crucial clue that rekindled the investigation.

Keith Morrison highlights the significance of the ring:

“A gold ring... it was a size 10. A man's ring, 10 karat gold. And it was engraved with a very personal message." (07:33)

5. Tracing the Ring to Wisconsin

The inscription on the ring read "Corey and Ryan, Love always," which perplexed investigators as none of the Stock family's acquaintances matched these names. Further analysis revealed the ring was manufactured by A&A Jewelers in Buffalo, New York, but it was last shipped to Beaver Dam, Wisconsin.

Julie Baer, Matt Livers' attorney, underscores the challenge:

“That's like looking for a needle in a haystack." (10:28)

Determined to solve the mystery, Mary Martino from A&A Jewelers meticulously searched through old order records, eventually tracing the ring to a residence in Beaver Dam.

6. Linking the Ring to a Stolen Truck

In Beaver Dam, the ring was connected to Ryan, whose pickup truck was reported stolen shortly before the Stock murders. The vehicle, containing the ring, had made its way to Louisiana, far from its origin. This unexpected journey raised suspicions about the truck's involvement in the murders.

Jim Rohr, the Wisconsin detective, explains the link:

“When that ring gets tracked back as to being last in the possession of the owner of this truck that was stolen, it's not going to be a simple stolen vehicle anymore." (19:47)

7. Uncovering the Truck Thieves: Greg Fester and Jessica Reed

Investigators identified Greg Fester, a 19-year-old with a troubled past, and his 17-year-old accomplice, Jessica Reed, as the culprits behind the truck theft. Their inexperience and lack of sophistication made them easy targets for detection.

Jim Rohr describes Fester’s demeanor:

“Greg was a little odd. He seemed a bit slow. Not real educated." (21:23)

8. Jessica Reed's Confession and Involvement

Under intense interrogation, Jessica Reed initially denied knowledge of the murders. However, confronted with incriminating evidence—a marijuana pipe and the ring—she eventually confessed to her role in the theft and inadvertently implicated herself in the murders.

Tammy Stock, daughter of the victims, shares her emotional plea:

“I can let this eat you alive or you can go on and be the best that you." (04:08)

9. Greg Fester's Account and Shifting Stories

Greg Fester remained reticent during questioning, initially shifting blame onto Jessica for both the truck theft and the murders. His account introduced a mysterious figure named Thomas, complicating the investigation further.

Jim Rohr notes Fester's evasiveness:

“He was very quiet. Greg was never one that was very outspoken." (31:43)

10. Physical Evidence and Case Breakthroughs

As the investigation delved deeper, a cigarette box found at the crime scene tied Fester and Reed to the murders, strengthening the case against them. The convergence of testimonies and physical evidence began to piece together the intricate puzzle of the Stock murders.

Jim Rohr reflects on the disbelief at the evidence:

“This was so bizarre. That gives you a mindset of the type of person we were dealing with." (35:16)

11. Conclusion and Ongoing Developments

With Fester and Reed in custody, the case against the initial suspects, Matt Livers and Nick Sampson, remains complex. The discovery of the ring and its journey across states underscores the unpredictable nature of true crime investigations, leaving the community of Murdoch searching for closure.

Keith Morrison wraps up the episode:

“What a lot of mischief that size 10 ring was getting up to. Good mischief, bad mischief.” (36:16)

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Notable Quotes with Timestamps

• Keith Morrison (00:59):
  “The investigation that is into the murders of Wayne and Charman Stock, the people of Murdoch, Nebraska had been deeply shaken and quite understandably so."

• Julie Baer (10:28):
  “That's like looking for a needle in a haystack."

• Jim Rohr (19:47):
  “When that ring gets tracked back as to being last in the possession of the owner of this truck that was stolen, it's not going to be a simple stolen vehicle anymore."

• Tammy Stock (04:08):
  “I can let this eat you alive or you can go on and be the best that you."

• Jim Rohr (31:43):
  "Greg was a little odd. He seemed a bit slow. Not real educated."

• Jim Rohr (35:16):
  “This was so bizarre. That gives you a mindset of the type of person we were dealing with."

• Keith Morrison (36:16):
  “What a lot of mischief that size 10 ring was getting up to. Good mischief, bad mischief.”

---

Final Thoughts

"Murder in the Moonlight - Ep. 3: The Ring" intricately weaves a tale of deception, unexpected evidence, and relentless pursuit of the truth. Through meticulous investigation and the unraveling of seemingly unrelated clues, Dateline Originals paints a vivid picture of the complexities involved in solving true crime cases.

For listeners seeking an engrossing true crime story filled with twists and revelations, this episode of Dateline Originals delivers a compelling narrative that underscores the profound impact of meticulous detective work in uncovering the truth.

Transcript

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[Keith Morrison]

It was pretty impressive, all things considered. The investigation that is into the murders of Wayne and Charman Stock, the people of Murdoch, Nebraska had been deeply shaken and quite understandably so. If the stocks weren't safe in the sanctity of their own bedroom, then who in Murdoch was safe? And so when the Cass County Sheriff's Office announced just two weeks after the murders that one of the most shocking crimes in this part of Nebraska in decades had been solved, well, you can hardly blame them for calling in the press and taking a victory lap.

[Advertiser 2]

I think there's some, some relief at the same time, some hurt.

[Keith Morrison]

And of course, just about everyone was shocked that the culprits would turn out to be who they were. But there it was. Wayne and Charman, Sock's own nephew, 28 year old Matt Livers, that actually told the whole ugly story, confessed to shotgunning his own aunt and uncle. I was already fired up and yes, I have a branch to settle. And if his 21 year old cousin Nick Sampson had managed to resist the confessional urge, well, that wouldn't be unexpected, would it? But Matt had fingered him and that was that. And now that itch in the back uncertainty, the fear that vicious killers were on the loose had been put to rest. Meanwhile, said Cass County Sheriff Bill Brueggemann, they could get on with the legal stuff. Button up the case people ask, is.

[Advertiser 2]

This a closure on the case? It's not. I think it's another. It's Another chapter turning a page. There's still a lot of work to be done.

[Keith Morrison]

But the message was clear. Everybody could relax. And nobody was thinking of Voltaire just then. Ridiculous thought, why in heaven's name would they? It was so far off and long ago when that famous French philosopher scribbled in his notebook, well, doubt is not an agreeable condition. Certainty is an absurd one. Or as somebody in Murdoch might have said, don't count your chickens. I'm Keith Morrison and this is Dateline's newest podcast, Murder in the Moonlight. Episode three the Ring. The arrests of Matt Libers and Nick Sampson brought a measure of relief to the stalk children. Even though Matt was a member of the family family, there had been issues. And Nick, Matt's cousin, they didn't know him as well. But now at least they could try to move on as they knew their parents would have wanted them to. Daughter Tammy I can hear mom and dad say, tammy, you can let this eat you alive or you can go on and be the best that you.

[Tammy Stock]

Can be and do what needs to be done.

[Keith Morrison]

And that is family. So we can dwell on it, but we choose not to because that's not what mom and dad would want. And as Andy, the youngest sibling, put.

[Advertiser 2]

It, it's not going to bring him back, so why agonize over it? It is what it is.

[Keith Morrison]

And with Livers and Sampson behind bars, the slow grind toward their inevitable trial could begin naturally. The same system that had caught the alleged killers also provided them with competent legal counsel, as the law requires. For Matt Lyvers attorney Julie Baer, first.

[Julie Baer]

Thing he says is, look, I told them I did this, but I didn't do this.

[Keith Morrison]

And you've got to believe me. They all said they didn't do it. Right.

[Julie Baer]

You know, I've been lied to a.

[Keith Morrison]

Lot as a defense lawyer, so the cynical side of me goes, uh huh. Right after all that confession was very graphic, very put the gun to her face and blew it away. Then as I headed out, I just dug it to him and blew him away. And yet when Julie Bear asked around a bit, she started to hear things. Things like this. Both Matt Livers and Nick Sampson and their live in girlfriend swore up and down that on the night of the murders they were at the their respective homes sound asleep, miles away from the Stock family farmhouse. And for what it was worth, although Matt said remember that they planned it all out on their cell phones in the two days or so before the murders, Nick Sampson swore up and down that he didn't see Matt or talk to him on the phone, in person, or any other way during that time, not once. But how could that be? Nick Sampson got a defense attorney, too. His name is Jerry Susi.

[Advertiser 2]

The first thing I simply was concerned about was what was the evidence against Nick Sampson, regardless of whether he did it or not? I just had to know what the evidence was.

[Keith Morrison]

Of course, as the law requires, the investigators were getting ready to tell him and show him what they had on his client. They were just in the aforementioned mop up mode at that point. And, well, that's when the MacGuffin showed up. A MacGuffin, of course, much loved by writers everywhere, is some object or device, often apparently insignificant, that can flip a plot upside down. They came across this thing in Charman Stock's kitchen. Not during the first few CSI type go rounds, right after the murders. In fact, not the next day either, after who knows how many dozens of investigators and first responders had tromped through the place. It was after all that when a sharp eyed young cop noticed, just lying there on the kitchen floor, a gold ring. Well, that could have been anybody's, of course. One of the cops probably, or, well, who knew? But there it was. And now crime scene investigator chief David Coford would have to find an explanation for it.

[Advertiser 2]

I thought, well, somebody took it off to wash their hands and it fell down. Somehow they forgot about it.

[Keith Morrison]

But at the time, could have belonged to the victim, right? Could have belonged to anybody.

[Advertiser 2]

It could have.

[Keith Morrison]

Exactly. Except remember one thing people knew about the Stock farmhouse. Nothing was ever out of place. The meticulous housekeeper Charman made sure of it. Anyway, they bagged that gold ring and they tagged it as evidence. It was a size 10. A man's ring, 10 karat gold. And it was engraved with a very personal message.

[Advertiser 2]

The inscription said Cory and spelled C O, R, I and. And Ryan. Love always, Corey and Ryan.

[Keith Morrison]

Who was Corey? Who was Ryan? Detectives asked the stalk. Children, of course. And, well, none of them knew anybody by those names. They didn't recognize the ring either. It was a sort of glitch within a mystery that will keep bugging. A man or a woman, by which I mean one of the women on Coford's detective squad, who noticed on the inside of the ring, three tiny letters, A, A, J.

[Advertiser 2]

This is actually really good detective work. She had gotten a jeweler's manufacturing book from Borscheim's here in Omaha. There was only two manufacturers that had AAJ stamps. One of them had been out of business since, I think the 90s, and the other one, she got a hold of them.

[Keith Morrison]

That manufacturer turned out to be a place called A and A Jewelers. It stamped all the products it made in Buffalo, New York, with the letters AAJ for A& A Jewelers. And so it was in Buffalo where Coford's investigator found a woman working at AAJ by the name of Mary Martino.

[Julie Baer]

I remember one of the girls in shipping had indicated that there was a call from somebody in the Nebraska Police Department.

[Keith Morrison]

Mary Martino was running what was left of Buffalo's A and A jewelry office just then. Why? What was left? Because the place was going out of business. They'd already laid off the workforce. 200 jobs gone just like that. By the time that Nebraska investigators started calling, Mary was one of only three people left. Their job was to clean up the Buffalo office and close it down. And right in the middle of that crushing and depressing work, Mary gets a request to track down a single not very fancy, not very unusual ring that the company had likely shipped away somewhere years ago. And you said, what? You gotta be kidding.

[Julie Baer]

I said, that's like looking for a needle in a haystack. However, she mentioned homicide.

[Keith Morrison]

And that is when Mary Martino heard that the ring had been found at the scene of the double homicide of Wayne and Charman stock in far off Nebraska. And it might be important. And then the Nebraska cop said that she, Mary, was literally the last person on earth who could at least possibly solve that last vexing little mystery.

[Julie Baer]

She said she had made several attempts and no one was willing to assist her.

[Keith Morrison]

No surprise there. Wild goose chase like that. Because even if there was still a record of that ring, finding it in the chaos of that office, right in the middle of closing it down forever. Well, good luck. And anyway, she already had a mountain of depressing work ahead of her. But Mary Martino, dependable Mary, said she'd see what she could do. It was possible, after all. The company might have taken the order, might have made that very ring and inscribed it, love always, Corey and Ryan, and shipped it somewhere. That's what the company did for a long time. So Mary went out to the warehouse where tens of thousands of old order forms were stuffed into hundreds of boxes, just waiting for Mary to throw them all away. Instead, she opened up the first one, and page by yellowed page, started reading.

[Julie Baer]

So I started with just box number one, stores one through 25, then box number two, stores 25 through 30.

[Keith Morrison]

And you went through each one?

[Julie Baer]

Yes, until I got to, like, 100, and I believe it was 108 or 118. I said, this is going to be impossible.

[Keith Morrison]

How long did that process take?

[Julie Baer]

It took me probably three days and two nights.

[Keith Morrison]

Does that seem a little over the top? I mean, you can look for an hour or so and say, well, I can't find it, sorry. And that would be that.

[Julie Baer]

I heard homicide. I heard it was important.

[Keith Morrison]

And then? Well, then she had a thought. There might be one more way to go about it. So she abandoned the warehouse and asked one of the few colleagues she had left to help her narrow down the search on the company computer, make a kind of group grid. First she entered the stores A and A shipped to more than 3,000 of them coast to coast, which didn't narrow it down at all, of course. But then she took a guess that the ring was ordered within the past few years and she entered those dates and, well, that narrowed things down quite a bit. And then she input the inscription, love always Corey and Ryan, and out came a printout. And lo and behold, after three days and two nights of searching, there it was.

[Julie Baer]

I got up from my chair and I said, bingo. I found it. I found it.

[Keith Morrison]

Any specifics about what you found out on that order form where it was sent? Do you remember that?

[Julie Baer]

It was Wisconsin. I do know that.

[Keith Morrison]

Wait, Wisconsin, not Nebraska? What in the world would a ring sold in Wisconsin. Wisconsin have to do with a double murder? A day's driveway in Nebraska.

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[Keith Morrison]

When Mary Martino finally found the record that made her say bingo, she picked up the phone and she called back that investigator who'd asked her to somehow track down the origins of the gold ring found on the floor of the Stock farmhouse. Now, all these years later, we can only imagine the look on the Nebraska investigator's face when Mary mentioned where the ring had been sent.

[Julie Baer]

It was Wisconsin.

[Keith Morrison]

Actually, she was far more specific than that. A and A had sent the ring to a Wisconsin town about 500 miles from the farm where the murders occurred. Sent it to the town of Beaver Dam. Beaver Dam bills itself as a sort of outdoor paradise. Fishing, boating, snowmobiling, that sort of thing. It's northwest of Milwaukee. And in Beaver Dam, as in thousands of other towns like it across rural America, there was a Walmart. That store is where Mary's company sent the gold ring. And so investigators from Murdoch contacted the Walmart in Beaver Dam and unearthed a sad and oft repeated story. Once upon a time, learned those detectives, there was a girl named Corey who sought the world of a boy named Ryan. And she bought him that symbol of permanence, the gold ring. She had it engraved with the words love always. But it was not love always. And after Corey and Ryan broke up, the gold ring gathered dust in the cab of Ryan's red pickup truck. And that is where the strangest thing happened and why it appears in our story, that red pickup truck was stolen. Somebody just took it from Ryan's farm outside of Beaver Dam. Naturally, Ryan filed a police report. It was dated just a few days before Wayne and Charman Stock were shot to death in far off Nebraska. But of course, it was a Wisconsin detective who took the theft report, name of Jim Rohr.

[Jim Rohr]

We treated just as a simple missing vehicle. When it's recovered, if it's somebody taking it for a joyride, you know we'll get it back. So really, nothing more than a standard.

[Keith Morrison]

Missing vehicle experience suggested police would likely find the truck somewhere nearby. But instead, there was another surprise.

[Jim Rohr]

Day. After I get the case handed to me for the stolen vehicle for follow up is when we get the phone call from Louisiana saying, we have a recovered truck and what do you want us to do with it?

[Keith Morrison]

Wait, Louisiana. That was a thousand miles from Beaver Dam. How did they know to call you? Because of the registration to your town?

[Jim Rohr]

Well, it's Wisconsin registration, so it comes up as stolen on a national computer. So they call the originating agency who entered the truck as stolen and let us know that they have the vehicle and ask what our wishes are with it. It was found abandoned, so it's not like it was pulled over on a traffic stop where now we have a suspect for who stole the vehicle. They're going to have a towed.

[Keith Morrison]

Yeah.

[Jim Rohr]

So it's basically a matter of trying to get the truck returned to its rightful owner.

[Keith Morrison]

But then somebody from Nebraska called him about that gold ring, and suddenly Jim Rohr was in a whole other mystery altogether.

[Jim Rohr]

That's when we get a phone call saying a ring was located at a double homicide scene. When that ring gets tracked back as to being last in the possession of the owner of this truck that was stolen, it's not going to be a simple stolen vehicle anymore.

[Keith Morrison]

That must have been a shocker to get that information, to have it across your desk.

[Jim Rohr]

A huge shocker that pretty much sends a chill down your spine.

[Keith Morrison]

There's an old saying that prisons are full of criminals who thought they were smarter than they really are, and that old adage would seem to apply here. It didn't take Detective Rohr very long to figure out who the truck thieves were. And, well, they were not exactly members of mensa. They left quite a trail. Rohr followed it and discovered that before they swiped the pickup truck with the ring in it inscribed From Corey to Ryan, they stole an SUV and sideswiped a couple of cars with it, which drew the attention of a crowd. And so they abandoned the suv. And since they were in a hurry, they left some personal stuff behind.

[Jim Rohr]

Some of the belongings consisted of IDs, marijuana pipes, drug paraphernalia of sorts. They left their calling card right there.

[Keith Morrison]

And so finding the thieves was the easy part. In fact, they had already made their way back from Louisiana to Wisconsin, where somebody saw them hanging around a cemetery right near the farm where they stole the truck. There were two of them, a guy and a girl. And what a pair they were. The guy was Greg Fester, age 19, with a history of drug use and suicide attempts and anger issues. Fester was on probation for weapons and disorderly conduct convictions.

[Jim Rohr]

Greg was a little odd. He seemed a bit slow. Not real educated. Now, with the slowness, I don't know if that's from heavy drug usage or just basic education, but he just didn't seem to grasp things quite as well as a typical person.

[Keith Morrison]

Fester's alleged accomplice was a 17 year old named Jessica Reed, a former honor roll student cheerleader. Well, then her parents got divorced and she didn't do so well anymore. She got herself mixed up with drugs and then by extension with the lovely Mr. Fester. Not exactly master criminals, were they?

[Jim Rohr]

No, not by any sense of the word. Two teenagers from Wisconsin whacked out on.

[Keith Morrison]

Drugs and not knowing what the hell.

[Jim Rohr]

They were doing, out of control.

[Keith Morrison]

But Detective Rohr had no idea just how out of control these two had been. No one did really. Not yet anyway.

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[Keith Morrison]

In the spring of 2006, investigators in two states sought to solve a riddle that sprouted along with the corn two towns Murdoch, Nebraska Beaver Dam, Wisconsin more than 500 miles apart now, united undeniably by a single band of gold. That ring sold in a beaver dam Walmart and then found days after the murders of Wayne and Charman Stock, lying on the floor in the kitchen of the Stock farmhouse near Murdoch, Nebraska. What a lot of mischief that size 10 ring was getting up to. Good mischief, bad mischief. Well, here is that part of the story. The main suspect was, of course, Matt Livers. He confessed, remember, and rather colorfully about what he said he did to Wayne and Charman's Stock. But nowhere in his confession or in his answers to lots and lots of questions did he say a single word about a ring. Ditto about a stolen truck or out of control Wisconsin teenagers. Not a hint, not a word about them. Like none of that even existed. Meanwhile, way off in Wisconsin, something kind of amazing happened when Detective Jim Rohr invited Jessica Reed to come in for a chat. And she said, sure, if all she had to do was cop to stealing a truck or helping to steal it, she couldn't be in too much trouble. Hello, here's Rohr again.

[Jim Rohr]

She had to know somewhere in the back of her mind that maybe they know more or want to talk to me about more than just a stolen truck.

[Keith Morrison]

Did she? In fact, as she settled in, young Ms. Reed seemed to view her visit to the police interview room as little more than a nuisance to be endured. In fact, this is her saying that very thing.

[Tammy Stock]

My grandma's coming into town and I kind of. I want to do this, but I want to do it a little bit faster, and I don't think it's going to take forever.

[Keith Morrison]

Jessica, you'll recall, was all of 17. Did she wonder why the Wisconsin cop was joined by investigators from Nebraska? She certainly seemed to.

[Tammy Stock]

I really want to know what Nebraska has to do with this world. I don't even think we entered Nebraska.

[Keith Morrison]

Didn'T go to Nebraska, didn't know anything about a gold ring, she said. She and Fester just stole a truck, she said, and fueled by pot and massive doses of over the counter cough syrup, went off in search of the ocean before running out of gas and money and leaving that pickup truck in Louisiana. Then the detective showed her a picture of a marijuana pipe, which, along with the gold ring, turned up at the Stock farmhouse. And Jessica Reed looked and paused one of those oh, oh, caught me kind of pauses, because then she said, okay, I did steal.

[Tammy Stock]

I stole a whole bunch of money from somebody. I don't know who, I don't know where. I just remember stealing a whole Bunch of money. And yes, we did lose that pipe when we stole this money.

[Keith Morrison]

And then. Then Jessica just blurted it out at that farmhouse. Now, apparently to her surprise, in Nebraska, Greg Fester sneaked in through a window and let her in the back door in the kitchen. She said she found $500 in an envelope. And then she said they left. Swear to God. Oh, and the ring. Well, now, Jessica Reed admitted, yes, she found it in that stolen pickup. And. And she put it on. Then inside the night dark farmhouse as they were making their getaway, she felt it slide off her thumb in the kitchen. Didn't stop to look for it. And where was all this going anyway?

[Jim Rohr]

The reason I ask you is that the two people upstairs in their bed were shot to death.

[Tammy Stock]

And you're saying that me and Greg did it.

[Keith Morrison]

What I'm telling you is you're telling.

[Jim Rohr]

Us you're in this house, okay?

[Keith Morrison]

Did you do.

[Jim Rohr]

Did you not tell.

[Tammy Stock]

Oh, my God. I've never killed anybody, okay? I really didn't. This is so serious. Please.

[Keith Morrison]

It's a different series.

[Jim Rohr]

That's why we're here.

[Tammy Stock]

I took money. That's all they did. I swear to God, all I did was take money. I don't want to go to jail for murder because I didn't do it.

[Keith Morrison]

Well, somebody did it. And remember, two men, Matt Livers and Nick Sampson, had been arrested and were already in jail. Matt said they committed the murders, confessed in excruciating detail, and then Nick Sampson as his accomplice, though Nick denied it, which led to a puzzle investigators had to ask Jessica about.

[Jim Rohr]

Tell us who you were with.

[Tammy Stock]

I was with Greg. That's all I was with. I was with Craig.

[Keith Morrison]

But wait a minute. She must have known Matt and Nick. So the investigators showed her pictures of them, and she said, no idea who they are. Never saw them before.

[Tammy Stock]

If they did it, I swear to God, there's dumb people for getting us.

[Keith Morrison]

And then the visiting investigators from Nebraska informed her that Nebraska's electric chair stood ready for her if she refused to cooperate. And Jessica reconsidered. She pointed to one of the photos.

[Tammy Stock]

This guy. I don't know why, but he does look kind of familiar.

[Keith Morrison]

That was Nick Sampson, who looked kind of familiar. And from there, as the hours wore on, Jessica's story shape shifted, as did the players, time and again, until it evolved eventually into a tale that began Easter night at Bulldog's Bar in Murdock, where Nick Sampson worked. Remember? And then they followed Nick out to the farmhouse, where they stole the money. And Nick got crazy.

[Tammy Stock]

Because all I remember hearing in this house was bang, bang, bang, bang. And so I was like, that's not good. And so I freaked out and left. Because obviously that guy's up there killing somebody. I don't want to stick around and have to do this. Excuse my language. I'm sorry, but I don't know what happened up there.

[Keith Morrison]

And then, with that off her chest, Jessica looked again at the photo of Nick, the man she had claimed was the mastermind of the murders.

[Tammy Stock]

I know this sounds really dumb, but I wish he wouldn't have been a murderer.

[Jim Rohr]

What?

[Tammy Stock]

She's really hot. I know that one's gonna be the dumb ones.

[Keith Morrison]

And with that, Jessica Reed's well planned day with her grandmother. In fact, all of her plans evaporated in a jail cell. Well, detectives focused next on Jessica's partner in crime, Greg Fester. Again, Jim Rohr. You're in that room. Tell me about the atmosphere in there.

[Jim Rohr]

Tense. I mean, when you're looking at something as serious as a double homicide and you know this is a prime suspect, you really want to see a good confession come out of this. So the case is done.

[Keith Morrison]

What was his attitude when he came in and sat down?

[Jim Rohr]

Greg's attitude was just. He was very quiet. Greg was never one that was very outspoken. He seemed to be in a little bit of a shell scared, and I think rightfully so. But he was fairly well reserved.

[Keith Morrison]

Reserved, and to the surprise of no one, Greg Fester wanted to blame it all on Jessica. She kind of got me into going with her, just, you know, because that seemed like a good idea.

[Jim Rohr]

Womanly ways thing.

[Keith Morrison]

Yeah, it was all Jessica's idea, said Fester. Stealing the truck, the ridiculous trip across the country. And as for the murders in the farmhouse, well, after investigators showed him photos of Murdoch and Bulldog's bar, Fester told a story of meeting a guy there who, he said, squeezed into their stolen pickup truck and led them straight to the stock's farmhouse. And then he said, then the guy went upstairs and just started shooting. He walked. He, like, kind of ran into the room, and he. I heard the scream. Shot again. We all run out of the house. But then, well, surprise, surprise. Fester insisted the man who committed the murders was not Nick Sampson. And it wasn't even Matt Livers, either, who'd already confessed that he was the killer. No, Greg Fester told detectives that it was some friend he'd communicated with by a text message. A guy he called Thomas. He wanted to go off some people.

[Jim Rohr]

Thomas wanted to go off some people.

[Keith Morrison]

Off killing well, that was all just a little confusing, perhaps, but for the investigators from Nebraska, it seemed to be starting to come together. What was their sense of things after that first day of questioning?

[Jim Rohr]

I think sense of accomplishment.

[Keith Morrison]

Let's go out and have a beer. Time.

[Jim Rohr]

Well, it's, it's a reason to pretty much do a high five now.

[Keith Morrison]

With Greg Fester and Jessica Reed in jail, detectives set about finding physical evidence to cross reference with their stories. And incredibly, once again, one little thing. Not a ring, that key piece of evidence found on the stock's kitchen floor. But this time, a cigarette box was about to turn the case upside down all over again. Next on Murder in the Moonlight. I killed someone. He was older. I loved it. I wish I could do it all the time. When you read the material that you found, what did you think?

[Jim Rohr]

This was so bizarre. That gives you a mindset of the type of person we were dealing with.

[Keith Morrison]

Murder in the moonlight is a production of Dateline and NBC News. Shane Bishop is the producer. Brian Drew, Kelly Laudeen, Bruce Berger, Marshall Housefeld and Candace Goldman are audio editors. Brittany Morris is field producer, Leslie Grossman is program coordinator, Adam Gorfin is co executive producer, Paul Ryan is executive producer and Liz Cole is senior executive producer from NBC News. Audio sound mixing by Bob Mallory and Katie Lau. Bryson Barnes is head of audio production.

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