← Going West: True Crime
Going West: True Crime
Tess Hilt // 530
00:47:40
In August of 1973, a 22-year-old woman was beginning her graduate degree in psychology at the same Missouri university when she was brutally murdered in her apartment. Originally, police believed the crime was committed by a woman. Or, a professor she may have been seeing on campus. Now, 52 years later, even more curious potential suspects have come into play, as a whole new investigation is underway. This is the murder of Tess Hilt.
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- [00:02]
Daphne
For years everyone thought Verizon had the best network because they did. But now the best mobile network in the US is T Mobile.
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Heath
T Mobile's network has the most advanced 5G with more towers and their signal.
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Daphne
Reaches further than ever. So you can text an Insta talk and say, you won't believe where I am.
- [00:22]
Heath
T Mobile has the best mobile network in the US based on analysis by Ookla of speed test intelligence data 1H2025CT mobile.com network how could popular Mormon family vlogger Ruby Franke end up being convicted for child abuse? The answer to that question is Jody Hildebrandt, but Jodi's manipulation extended far beyond the Frankie family, seemingly leaving a trail of victims in her wake. This ID documentary event features never before seen interviews from survivors who found the courage to expose her systematic abuse. Ruby and Jody A Cult of Sin and Influence premieres September 1st at 9pm Eastern on ID.
- [01:00]
Daphne
Going West True Crime is brought to you by Henry Meds. Henry Meds supports your weight management journey with personalized care from licensed health care providers. Following a free telehealth consult, prescribed compounded GLP1 medications are delivered to your door. I mean, it's fast, it's affordable, with ongoing support. All online, visit henrymeds.com and use code WEST125 to get $125 off your first month. Results may vary. Not all patients are eligible. Compound medications are not FDA approved. Consult a healthcare provider to determine if treatment is right for you. What is going on True Crime fans, I'm your host Daphne. Heath is out today. He is very under the weather so I will be taking over. But I have a very perplexing and mysterious murder case out of a university in Missouri today that has some interesting suspects and a lot of discussion. So thank you for tuning into this one. Thank you for keeping me company. And please do not forget to share. We are on socials. You can see us on Facebook. We are on Instagram at Going West Podcast. We are also on TikTok at Going West Podcast. And also a little special fun thing happening this Friday, August 22nd. Heath and I are taken over the Ox over at Unwell Music. You can find that on SiriusXM. Actually, for those who don't have it already, the first three months are free. You don't have to listen live, but Heath and I are doing three different playlists. It's gonna be super fun. We're gonna be talking a lot in between and introducing some of our favorite songs right now. So check that out on SiriusXM on Unwell Music. And that is gonna be available after August 22nd. Okay, without further ado, this is episode 530 of Going West. So let's get into it. In August of 1973, a 22 year old woman was beginning her graduate degree at a Missouri university when she was brutally murdered in her apartment with a horrifically personal attack and strange evidence left behind. Police originally wondered if a woman could have committed the crime or if instead it was the work of a professor she may have been seeing on campus. Now, 52 years later, even more compelling suspects have come into play as a whole new investigation is underway. This is the murder of Tess Hilt. Teresa Sue Hilt, better known as Tess, that's what I'm going to call her today, was born on January 6, 1951 in the small town of Chillicothe, Missouri. And she is the beloved only child of Mildred and Stanley Hilt. Actually, Stanley and Mildred tried for six years to have a baby. They finally had Tess, so they never took her for granted. They were a very tight knit family growing up. Tess was a gifted singer. She also grew up playing both trumpet and piano. She took a lot of pride in her theatrical achievements at Chillicothe High School because there she was in numerous plays and musicals throughout her teen years. Tess is remembered by those who knew her as bubbly and a friend to all. She was extremely active in her extracurricular activities and was involved in clubs for math, Latin, history and science. She also participated in her speech and debate team, which was Future Teachers of America and Glee Club. She was super active in school. She graduated with honors from Chillicothe high school in 1969 and and was accepted into Northwest Missouri State University in Maryville, Missouri, which is about an hour and a half north of Kansas City, Missouri. In the spring of 1973, she completed her degree in music education. And that coming fall she was returning to campus to complete her master's degree in psychology. At the time when this story takes place, Tess was living off campus in the nearby College Gardens apartments, which still remain today, but they are now called the Horizons West Apartments. And these are conveniently located just a block north of the Maryville campus. So super accessible for students. Now, before her murder, she was hard at work on her thesis graduate project which according to Mildred, her mom focused on themes of alcoholism and drug abuse. This is something that she was working very hard on around the time that she was killed. On 22 year old Tess. Last day alive, Friday, August 3rd, 1973, she met up with a neighbor and Friend named Ed Happel, heading over to his apartment to help him paint. Then later that day, the two headed out to a party that was being hosted by a mutual friend of theirs. And this party was held in a house near the intersection of 7th street and North Walnut Street. So just 1.3 miles, or about 2 kilometers away from Tess's apartment and located across the street from one of the fraternities on campus. So we are in a campus heavy area. It's not super far from her apartment, but, you know, 1.3 miles, bit of a walk. Now, by the way, Tess was not a heavy drinker like one of the party attendees remembered. Quote, Tess didn't have but one drink, if that. However, on that particular night, Ed recalls that she drank more than usual, consuming about four mixed drinks made with rum. So this discrepancy is definitely a little bit odd. It's hard to know who to really trust here and also if it's even relevant to what happened to her. But Tess and Ed left the party together around 11pm, bound for Ed's apartment, where they planned to watch TV and listen to music for a little while. It's a Friday night, no school the next day. Now, while they were there, two of Ed's friends, named publicly as simply Gary and Terry, stopped by to see Tess and Ed. Terry took off around 12:15am Gary left around 1:15am and Tess stayed until about 2am the true extent and nature of Tess's relationship with Ed is unknown, but he later told police that they were, quote, amorous but did not have intercourse. So these are Ed's own words. He's basically saying that they were romantic, they liked each other in that way, but they weren't boyfriend, girlfriend, and they didn't have a sexual relationship, at least not yet. Maybe they wanted it to go in that direction, but while she was alive, according to Ed, it did not go there. So Tess then walked down the hall to her own unit after leaving Ed's, and that was the last time that she was seen by anyone other than her murderer. That next day, which was Saturday, August 4, 1973, Tess and Ed were planning on meeting up again that evening, but she didn't answer her phone. When he called that morning to confirm these plans, another friend said that he tried to call her that day as well and received a busy signal. So Ed decided to stop by her apartment in person at 11:30am about nine or ten hours after he had last seen her. And he was just trying to quickly stop in before going to work. But there was no answer when he knocked on her door. So he wrote a note on the notepad outside her front door that read, quote, I want your body call me. Which I think is like such a cute 1970s thing. I feel like that would be in a movie. I'm gonna touch on that a little bit later as well. But he says that he checked the laundry room too, just in case, to see if she was doing laundry. Like, as far as we know, in Ed's head, he tried to call her, he went there, she's not answering the door. She's supposed to be home. So he doesn't know where she is, might be doing laundry, but she wasn't. So then he went to work and he calls her multiple times from there, and she didn't answer there either. Eventually, he finished his shift at the Hy Vee grocery store around 4:30pm and stopped by Tess's apartment again. Now, this time he tried her front door and it was unlocked. And this is kind of interesting because obviously, as I just said, he went to her apartment earlier and there was no answer to his knock. As far as we know, he didn't try the door. I guess why would he? You know, she's not answering the door, he's not just gonna waltz in. But at this point it seems like he's a little bit more worried, right? So he's like, okay, I'm gonna try the door, I'm gonna try to go in. And it was unlocked. And based on what I'm about to go into, I assume it would have been unlocked earlier, as inside he found a gruesome scene that had clearly happened over the previous evening. Now, lying on her bed, face down and covered in a sheet was Tess. So initially, Ed apparently is wondering if maybe she was sleeping. So he gently shook her foot that was sticking out from underneath the sheet. But he found that her foot was cold. So Ed bolted out of the room, out of her apartment. He ran back to his own apartment and called the police and waited there in the parking lot for them. When they arrived, which was just after 5:00pm, remember, he called them a little bit after 4:30pm so took them a little over 20 minutes to get there. So like I just said, 22 year old Tess's body was found splayed face down on her bed, covered in a sheet. But the back of her head was covered with a pillow and Tess was naked underneath that sheet, according to the ligature marks left behind. Her wrists were believed to have been bound with shoelaces, but the laces were eventually Removed, likely after her death, so that her arms could be posed as they were, because her left arm was down by her side with its palm facing up, and that wrist had defensive wounds for her right arm. This was folded behind her back, and her hand was clutching a small knife which still had blood on it. And actually, this was a small paring knife that was used to stab her, as I'm about to get into. And this was confirmed to have been removed from her own kitchen. Now, unfortunately, no fingerprints could be pulled from the knife, not even Tess's, So the weapon being left behind didn't really help in catching her killer. But back to Tess's wound. So a pair of her own tights had been wrapped tightly around her neck. And to the dismay of those who knew and loved her, her death was described by investigators as violent and painful. Maryville Public Safety Director Keith Wood, who took the case on 16 years later, reported the chest wound had one entry with multiple eight different jabs. Like, they never pulled the knife completely out and just re stuck it up to eight times, which is honestly so strange considering the fact that this was a small paring knife. So it wasn't very long to begin with. It just like, goes to show you how truly brutal this was. But still, Tess had been stabbed over a dozen times in her chest and abdomen. She had also sustained bruises on her left cheek and arm, which had also been stabbed five times. Disturbingly, there was a bite mark on her left breast, and strands of her own hair were found in her throat. Now, this next part is really interesting because recovered from her bed were hairs that were later determined to come from a person who had a distinct genetic abnormality called Menilithrix. And for those who don't know what that is, Monilithrix is characterized by premature hair thinning and loss, which produces strands that appear to be almost beaded because they decrease and increase in width in a slightly wavy pattern. So the hair was believed to be from a person age 20 to 40 years old with this condition. So in some ways, this feels like such a great piece of information, But I will say I looked at a ton of pictures, and it seems like depending on the person, it can be really hard to detect. Like, some people, it almost creates this, like, fuzzy looking hair. Others have balding spots or just really thin hair. But some people kind of look like they just have normal hair, and it's not something that would necessarily stand out. So I'm sure police were hoping that there would be a clear suspect who would show signs of having this Condition, but I will get to that soon. I mean, either way, hair samples are always great to have, as long as they're kept safely, which I'll get into as well, soon. So they left behind hair. They left behind the weapon. But her assailant had cleaned up after committing the crime, including having wiped down that knife. So this means that little blood spatter evidence was left behind as well. This, as you guys can probably tell, was such a brutal, almost personal feeling murder. So police are trying to figure out who did this right away. They combed the campus. They're combing the grounds of the apartment complex for evidence. And in the vicinity of her apartment complex, they found a booklet of her traveler's checks, which had been discarded in the parking lot, as well as her wallet, which was found from a set of defunct train tracks nearby. So this was like marking her killer's escape route? It seems. So it does seem like they tried to take her traveler's checks in her wallet. But what I wonder is if they did this to try to make it look like it was a robbery or if they actually wanted these things, because why would they drop them? So I really wonder about this part. But also, of course, people in her building are being questioned, but somehow nobody saw or heard a thing that night, which feels so shocking just because the state of Tess's body indicated that she had fought hard for her life and had sustained, you know, quite a bit of torture before she actually died. Regarding a sexual assault, technically, the autopsy remained inconclusive about whether or not she had sustained any form of one. But the coroner was able to confirm that Tess was a virgin, though, of course, there was an inherently sexual nature to the bite that she sustained on her left breast. So they're kind of wondering if she was assaulted in a different way, but that remains inconclusive. Her cause of death was also inconclusive, but was believed to be caused by the stabs to her heart and lungs, whichever claimed her life first. In the early days of the investigation, hundreds of people offered up fingerprints for comparison to those left at the scene, because even though there weren't any on that knife, there were some around the room in general. Also, a few hundred people were questioned, and a handful of people were asked to consent to polygraph examinations, including Ed. But all of these polygraphs, including the one Ed took, were found to have no guilty knowledge. So that means Ed and everybody else passed. And Ed specifically was cleared of suspicion, with investigators clarifying that he was a witness, not a suspect. And no offense to Ed, but he really Kind of did seem like the most logical person of interest here. And despite the fact that they may have been somewhat romantically involved, investigators confirmed that they were not officially dating. Just friends who maybe wanted something more. I mean, he did say, I want your body in that note. So, like, I definitely wouldn't be surprised if they were at least in a courting phase. But this is interesting too, guys, because they would have gotten this information from Ed, right? So why would Ed. Ed originally said that they were amorous but not sexual, and now he's saying that they're not dating, which could still be true. Maybe they're not officially dating. Like I said, not boyfriend, girlfriend. But they're exploring a more romantic side. But Ed is leaning on the, oh, we were just friends thing. So it kind of makes you wonder, is Ed saying this so he's not looked at as suspicious or is this really the truth? Because obviously we can't ask Tess. Well, here's a tiny bit more on Ed. An investigator at the time said that Ed was, quote, a quiet, reserved individual who expresses little emotion. That's really all we have on Ed right now. I'm going to tell you a little bit more later about his life after this case. But yeah, he's a quiet guy. We have to remember as well Tess was over at his apartment before she was murdered. There were two other guys there. Naturally, I think a lot of our heads are going to. Were one of them waiting for her outside since they left before her? Did they follow her home? All we know is it's Gary and Terry. We don't know anything else or if they were really looked into either. Now, like I said, nobody in her apartment complex or around it that was questioned had reported hearing or seeing anything. But two weeks after her murder, police announced that they had a witness come forward to report that they had seen a suspicious looking man in the vicinity of her apartment building around the time that Tess is believed to have been murdered. In the night, this man was driving a white and gold car with Iowa license plates. Remember, this is in Missouri, so Iowa is the state directly north. This guy was reportedly 6ft tall and about 185 pounds. And it was noted that he had greasy hair. Sadly, this man was never identified. So we can't confirm if he was just a man or if he was involved. But there is some evidence to suggest that this suspicious greasy haired man was a 22 year old named Michael Sparano whose description fit the one shared by police. I want to start by saying this guy is from Nebraska. His family Lived in Nebraska. That's where he grew up. So I didn't find any connection between him and Iowa. But also the guy that I just described, the, the, the who the witness saw was 6ft tall and Michael is described in newspapers as short. So I don't think this is the same person, but I do think Michael is very suspicious. Now, we don't know if he had any connection to Tess, but Michael did speak with investigators and was not officially considered a suspect nor a person of interest. Why do I think he's suspicious? Because In July of 1978, five years after Tess's murder, Michael was arrested after he stabbed his mother so brutally that she was nearly decapitated. 48 year old Mary Sparano was found on the floor of her living room by her husband. And according to Michael, there were demons and witches who had set me up physically to commit the killing. He also told detectives they had me thinking she was a demon, so I really had to kill her or she'd kill me. Also, according to Michael, the demons told him that she herself was a demon and that the only way to get rid of her was to decapitate her. So pretty horrific. This is why he's in the newspapers. Actually. I'll read you this little clipping. It says, quote, the short paunchy spirano was dressed in a T shirt and dark trousers. His mustached face has several days beard growth. Throughout the proceeding he showed little emotion, but outside the courtroom he made mocking faces at photographers and reporters. This was in the Lincoln Star. So still I can't help but wonder if he could have been involved in what happened to Tess. But we don't know where he was at the time and why police specifically found him, if he was nearby, if somebody had called in a tip about him. We don't know where this really comes from. But I will add as well, the two knives that he used to kill his mom were left at the scene. One was still in her neck and the other was nearby. Obviously the knife in Tess's murder was also left at the scene. But he is, he is admitting to his mom's murder. He's saying demons and witches told me that I had to do this. So not that he would have definitely admitted to killing Tess, but you still gotta wonder. And for anybody who wants to know a little bit more about his hair, because anybody that we're talking about in this case or that I'm telling you about today, I want to know what does their hair look like? So he was described as having greasy hair that's how it looks in the black and white photo of him that's in the newspaper. That's really all we have, though. So there are no reports confirming whether or not he had Manilithrix or if police were even able to test his hair against what was found at the scene. But I really don't think they did, based on something I'm gonna get into a little bit later. And as we know, he was never even considered a viable person of interest in Tess case, but had to bring him up anyway. Well, let's get into one of the most pervasive and curious theories put forth by those at the helm of the investigation. That is that a woman had committed Tess's murder, perhaps over a disagreement about a man or out of jealousy. Here's part of why detectives felt this way. Before her death, Tess had apparently mentioned to a few friends that she had been seeing an older man, the details of which she kept under wraps. She never revealed his name, who he was, how they met, anything. But he was thought to perhaps be a professor on campus, which could get him into a whole lot of hot water. If that were to surface, the guy could lose his job, especially if he was married. And that is what a lot of people think. Could he have been married whether he was a professor or not? Maybe his wife found out that he was cheating with Tess and felt like she had a score to settle. So detectives are going to two different places. Could it be this older man that she was seeing? Or could it be the wife of the older man that she was seeing? If he even had a wife? You know, again, this is all speculation because we know nothing about who this person is. And of course, they never came forward to police and said, by the way, I was having an affair with Tess. If he was married, he would certainly have no reason to do that. But we do have the name of a professor that some of her peers speculated it could have been a guy named Professor Jared Stein, who was a theater teacher at Northwest Missouri. Cause, according to many of his former students, he had a big personality. He was a little bit erratic, he had a bit of a temper. And when Tess was murdered, he was navigating a nasty divorce. So was the divorce happening in part or fully because of an affair he was having, and then either she or he acted on it? Again, fully speculation here. But this is what a lot of her friends and peers truly believed happened. And I'll tell you what happened to Professor Jared Stein. He moved to Prague and then later took his own life. But unfortunately, because this part of her life was shrouded in so much secrecy. This lead was really difficult to pursue. It was really hard to determine if Jared Stein was involved or not, because, like I just said, he had no reason to. To come forward and tell police that he was having an affair with her. That would only make him look like a suspect. So we don't know if he was or if it was somebody else and if they are or are not involved. And because there was no traditional sexual assault, detectives have concluded that there may have been another motive, likely one born of rage over shared interest in men. If this was done by a woman, you know, they were really on this woman killer thing, especially. This is one big reason for them was the tidiness of the scene that the murderer left behind. Detectives believed unanimously at the time in the original investigation that a man would have been sloppier. They're saying that, oh, well, this couldn't have been done by a man because it was just too freaking clean. A man wouldn't have cleaned up after himself. But Keith Wood later said another female that felt like she had stepped on their turf someplace, flirting with the wrong guy or whatever, and was angry. I think that the more people that have looked at it, the more that one has been discounted. Just the nature of the wounds. Some people find it hard to believe that another female could inflict that on a female. Now, unfortunately, the genetic condition of the hair Menilithrix is equally common in men and women. So there is no indication one way or the other. But I still can't let it go that this would have in some way felt like a distinct and noticeable condition on Tess's murderer. So it feels so surprising that this tip did not get them closer to the perpetrator or the perpetrators, because authorities at the time also posed the theory that more than one person could be responsible. But with no forward momentum and no new evidence, her case's investigation slowed to a crawl. Understandably so. Tess's parents were agonized over the loss of their only child and were very displeased with the lack of speed and veracity of the investigation. Feeling that the requisite care was not taken like Tess, fingernails were not swabbed for the potential DNA of her attacker, which could now be like, a total boon to the investigation with the advent of DNA testing. But also, multiple samples were misplaced or improperly stored. With the tips slowing down and the months passing Tess murder soon became a cold case. Mildred and Stanley Hilt even fronted the money to hire a private investigator. But even he couldn't gain traction or forward momentum in Tess's stagnant case, which I think to all of us feels like such a shock because even though this is the 70s, it feels like they have a pretty good amount of evidence and it also feels like they could have taken a lot more. But where the police seem to fail, Mildred and Stanley felt like the community was really there in supporting and assisting them in their search efforts and in all of their personal endeavors and their personal investigation into Tess's murder. So much so that they wrote a notice of gratitude in the local paper. And this is what it said. The parents of Teresa Tess Hilt would like to express our sincere appreciation to the wonderful people in Maryville who have helped in so many ways to endure our deep sorrow. Thank you for the many, many cards, letters, flowers, visits, memorials and reward fund. Only God and you wonderful people have made our burden a little easier to bear. Tess enjoyed the college there and all the activities so much and the people associated with it.
- [31:55]
Heath
Foreign.
- [32:12]
Daphne
I'm sure a lot of you guys are like Heath and I. Life gets so busy. You work a lot, you have a lot of social plans. You're dropping the kids off at school, you're taking a trip. So when life is full and time's tight, which, let's be honest, it's like that most of the time, Instacart helps you stay on track. And Instacart is more than just a grocery app. It's a care company that works around your schedule. Get groceries and household essentials delivered in as fast as 30 minutes. Keith and I do this all the time. Whether we're hosting a barbecue and we're too busy prepping other things or we're too busy working and we can't head out to the store. But we need food bad or any other essentials, we use Instacart. Something I love, too, is that when you place an order, the app tells you how much time you saved from not having to shop. And it really puts into perspective how that time can be used doing other things that are important in your life. Yeah, exactly. Really adds up. So download the Instacart app and use code goingwest20 to get $20 off your first order of $80 or more. That's code goingwest20 to get $25 off your first order of $80 or more. Offer valid for excludes restaurants. Additional terms apply.
- [33:26]
Heath
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- [34:44]
Daphne
With no persons of interest to speak of, many have speculated that a sophisticated, sophisticated serial killer may be to blame here, having claimed Tess as one of his earlier victims. One suggestion has been the serial murderer known as the btk, or Bind Torture Kill Killer, otherwise known as Dennis Rader. Dennis, as many of you guys know, committed a reign of terror in Wichita, Kansas until he was finally apprehended in 2005, and he took his first known victim's life in 1974, just one year after Tess was murdered. By the time of his arrest, he had killed at least 10 men, women and children, often in the same manner that Tess was killed in being tied up, tortured, strangled and stabbed. However, though Kansas and Missouri are neighboring states, there is no evidence to support the idea that Dennis was in Maryville, Missouri at the time of Tess's murder. She's just one of the many victims that people and authorities ponder is associated with BTK and other serial killers. This kind of comes up in every case where we discuss a serial killer. When one is caught, it's hard not to speculate if they have any or many more victims, right? So police are looking at other crimes that took place in the area at this time or around the same time in the 70s to see if there could be some connection. And naturally you gotta ask. Actually, until last year, BTK was the prime suspect in another Missouri murder, that of Shawna Beth Garber, who was brutally murdered in rural McDonald County, Missouri in 1990. So 17 years after Tess. But he was cleared when DNA evidence confirmed her actual killer in March of 2024. So that Missouri connection slipped a little bit. If it was one you could really put weight into Anyway, considering the 17 year gap, I don't know about you guys. But to me, it feels pretty unlikely that Dennis Rader is behind this one. But with no other leads to speak of, it was definitely worth a cursory investigation at least. Well, despite all the far fetched theories, the most likely culprit of the attack seemed to be someone who knew her personally and was in some regard, angry with her. This really was a personal, brutal and intimate crime. And the staging of her body afterward reeked of both regret and desired humiliation. Like, her body was covered with a sheet, her head was covered with a pillow, but horrific things were done to her body. So maybe it was a former boyfriend who was angry at a perceived rejection, or maybe even a platonic male friend who was into her. Like Ed. Everybody who knew Tess made a point of talking about what a warm and friendly person she was. And so some who knew her have wondered if maybe she offered kindness to the wrong person, who then became enraged when he realized that it was just her nature to be kind to everybody and she wasn't flirting with him. You know what I mean? She may have, like, shunned his romantic or sexual advances and this was his way of seeking revenge. Though the manner in which she was found seems to point to Tess knowing her attacker, there is also the possibility that this was a totally random crime of opportunity. Because less than a year after Tess was murdered, another young woman was killed in an eerily similar fashion. 25 year old Helen Hansen was brutally stabbed around midnight on May 21, 1974. Helen was not found in her apartment like Tess. She was found on a sidewalk at the intersection of West 40th street and Westport Road in Kansas City, Missouri, which, like I said earlier, is about an hour and a half drive away from Maryville where Tess was killed. She had just left Milton's Bar where she was a server right there in Kansas City, and then stopped by to see her sister at her sister's house. Around 12:25am she began walking from her sister's house to a place called Kelly's Westport Inn for a quick nightcap. But along her way, she came upon someone who brutally stabbed her. And by 12:40am Police had received a call that there was a body on the sidewalk. Helen had been stabbed 27 times. And though the site of their murders was different again, Helen also attended Northwest Missouri State, and in fact the girls were there at the same time. They also frequented the same two bars, the Hole and the Palms, which were frequent gathering places for Northwest students in general. So no real shock that they both went here, but it Definitely feels like an interesting connection, though. We don't know if they were even friends or if they knew each other. But both of their cases remain unsolved to this day. So it's definitely possible that there is some kind of connection here. And finally, to what I was hinting at a little bit earlier, the investigation was clearly botched in the beginning. So much, so many balls were dropped. Even the Maryville Police Department has admitted in recent years that they had some serious shortcomings in the original investigation. In 2009, Nodaway County Sheriff Randy Strong acknowledged in an interview that the police department was not equipped for an investigation of such magnitude. Back in 1973, Randy said, I'm just gonna be very frank. It was really poorly worked. She was murdered on August 4, 1973. And to give you a timeline, I was a junior in high school when that murder happened. So I came up here, and now it's suddenly in my lap to work with. And unfortunately, I also hinted at this before saying that a lot of the samples were improperly stored. Most of the evidence has been lost or misplaced in the five decades since Tess's murder, ruling out testing with all the new advancements that have been made in DNA identification. So the hair, the fingerprints, etc. All could have been vital in having Tess's case solved by now. So Randy Strong, along with Public Safety Director Keith Wood, traveled to the FBI Academy in Quantico, Virginia, to build a profile of Tess's potential murderer. According to Keith, the FBI felt that the most likely culprit was a man who confused Tess kindness for romantic interest, and her brutal murder was his revenge. Keith Wood said, someone who is then angry that you drug me along, drug me along, drug me along, and now you're saying, no, that was the most probable. Keith said that he believes it's possible that the evidence was merely misplaced and not discarded, maybe during a departmental relocation, or that the Maryville Police Department offered up the evidence to another investigative agency for help and that it's actually being stored elsewhere and they just don't know where it is. But without that evidence, there is no hope of DNA testing. And essentially, detectives are kind of just waiting for a confession at this point. But now, 52 years after the murder occurred, many of the potential culprits are deceased. Maryville Detective Ryan Glidden explained. You've gotta keep in mind it was over 50 years ago now, and you figure if they were in their late teens, early to mid-20s, then they're getting up there in age. Ed Happel passed away in 2020. So there was never a resolution regarding him potentially being responsible. And there's really nothing pointing him to being her killer, just like there's no evidence pointing to really anybody being her killer at this point. But as far as we know, there was no violent or criminal behavior from him that followed Tess's murder. After her murder, he actually stayed in the area. He eventually owned a painting company and a bar. He got married, and he had four kids. I will say in his obituary photo, his hair does look a little fluffy, but that could be from age or age. Just his hair and not connected at all. But I wanted to mention that because it's something I noticed. But Ed could very much just be a good, innocent man in this who really cared about Tess. At this point, only one person of interest remains, and she happens to be the only woman who is suspected of having anything to do with this murder. This woman, who was a student at the university at the time, was asked to take a polygraph test, and she refused, saying that she had no knowledge of the murder and that she thought it would be far too time consuming. She has never been named publicly, but an article about her refusal to take the test was printed in the local paper the year after Tess's murder. And later, both she and her mother were supposedly very active on Tess's Facebook page, which is seeking information about her murderer. So it's possible that she was just, like, a busy student at the time and in her heart of hearts, knew she wasn't connected and said, well, I know I didn't do this, so I don't want to go through this process. It's not worth it for me. But of course, from an investigative standpoint, it's like, well, why are you refusing so much? Is it because, you know we're gonna find something hard to say here? Tess's father, Stanley, passed away in 1996, and Mildred died in 2016. They were married for over 50 years prior to his death. But the greatest champion for answers for Tess's case at this point has been an acquaintance of hers from college. Michael Holmes, who was a casual friend of Tess from her time at Northwest Missouri State, has taken up resurrecting her cold case on the website justicefortest.com in the absence of her parents. Michael remembers their first encounter and her infectious laugh, saying, so I'm wandering around with big eyes, I'm sure, from a small town in Iowa, and the first person I met was Tess Hilt. And she just walked up and said, oh, can I help you? And she was very kind. She walked me over to the administration building. He later added, quote, she made an impact. She was a force. I know a lot of our ears probably perked when I said Iowa, but as far as I know, and as far as we know, he is just a helpful old acquaintance who actually wants her case to be solved. The Maryville Police Department actually credits Michael with reviving the investigation into her murder. Michael has devoted over a decade to his pursuit of justice for Tess, saying, there aren't words to explain how happy I would be just to finally know who and why. Tess was a good kid. She had a marvelous personality, great sense of humor. It just is totally unfair that she's not a grandmother now. She really should be. She should have a beautiful life and friends and family around her and it's never going to happen. On the 45th anniversary of her passing, Michael wrote, quote, tess never got a chance to be a mom or a grandmother. Never got the chance to marry an only child. She wasn't there to help her mom in her old age. Her mom died wondering who and why? Why did you have to hurt her so even when she was not able to fight back, why did you continue your rage filled attack? What you did was evil and wrong. We will never stop looking for you. It is likely law enforcement folks pretty much know who killed Tess Hilt, though many of them weren't born when she was killed. There are those who are working very hard on Tess's case. They know who they are and we are very grateful he signed his note. Expecting a miracle, Michael is even offering up a $5,000 reward for information. Before Mildred passed away, she told a news outlet of how thankful she was to see her daughter's case revived thanks to Michael's efforts, saying, quote, he has been wonderful. If you would like to submit a tip to Michael Holmes, you can contact him at tips4, the number four tips for tessol.com if you have any information about the murder of Tess Hilt, please contact the Maryville Police Department at 660-56-2320. Thank you so much everybody for listening to this episode of Going West. Thank you guys for sticking it out with me While Heath is under the weather. We will be back on Friday with an all new episode for you guys. Don't forget also on Friday Heath and I will have the aux on Unwell Music. We're going to be playing three different playlists of all of our favorite songs right now that we've been listening to a ton. You can check that out via Siri XM on Unwell Music. And again, it will be available for a short amount of time after we record it. If you can't listen to it on Friday, but that will be a ton of fun. And don't forget to go to our socials and comment what you think about this case. This is such a crazy story. I still can't believe with all the evidence that they had, that it was lost and that we don't know who her killer is to this freaking day. Thank you, guys. I love you deeply. I will see you on Friday. And for everybody out there in the world, don't be a stranger.