BONUS: Alice and Gerald Uden (Snapped: Killer Couples)

Summary

Snapped: Women Who Murder – BONUS Episode Summary: Alice and Gerald Uden (Snapped: Killer Couples)

Release Date: January 15, 2025
Host/Author: Oxygen
Episode Title: BONUS: Alice and Gerald Uden (Snapped: Killer Couples)

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Introduction

In this special bonus episode of Snapped: Killer Couples, Oxygen delves into the chilling case of Alice and Gerald Uden, a couple whose seemingly idyllic life in Fremont County, Wyoming, concealed dark and murderous secrets. Spanning over three decades, this case highlights the complexities of identifying and prosecuting lethal partnerships.

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Background: The Udens' Beginnings

Narrator:
"Alice Prunty, a 37-year-old mother of five, sought a fresh start in Fremont County, Wyoming, after three failed marriages."
[03:40]

Alice Uden's Child:
"She was the baby, a very spoiled baby. My mother was an awesome mom."
[04:08]

Shortly after settling into her new community, Alice met Gerald Uden, a 32-year-old maintenance worker at a local steel mine, also recovering from a third failed marriage.

Investigator:
"To Gerald, Alice was the whole package. She was independent, resourceful, she could support herself."
[05:19]

Five months into their relationship, they married and purchased a farm in Pavilion, Wyoming, blending their lives and families.

---

The Disappearance of Virginia Uden and Her Sons

In the summer of 1980, Gerald’s ex-wife, Virginia Uden, along with her two sons, Richard (11) and Reagan (10), moved to Lander, Wyoming, reuniting with Gerald after he had adopted them from a previous marriage.

Narrator:
"On September 13, 1980, Virginia and her sons mysteriously disappeared, sparking a 40-year-old cold case."
[02:03]

Three weeks after their disappearance, authorities found Virginia's Ford station wagon near a canyon, containing human blood matching her type and .22 caliber shells.

Forensic Expert:
"We found human blood in the back deck of that station wagon."
[02:03]
[09:00]

Virginia and her sons were never seen again, leading to suspicions and increasing pressure on the Udens.

---

Rising Suspicion and the Investigation

Initial investigations pointed fingers toward Gerald and Alice due to their proximity and strained relationships with Virginia.

Mariska Hargitay:
"Virginia and the boys were a tremendous source of tension in the relationship between Alice and Gerald."
[10:39]

Despite suspicions, lack of concrete evidence kept both Gerald and Alice free initially. The Udens moved to Chadwick, Missouri, in 1982, distancing themselves from the ongoing investigation.

---

Breakthrough: The Murder of Ron Holtz

In 1990, a pivotal revelation came when Todd Scott, Alice's oldest son, confessed that Alice had murdered her third husband, Ron Holtz.

Todd Scott (Alice Uden's Child):
"Alice and Ron's marriage was tumultuous... one night, she shot him in the back of the head."
[15:31]

Despite the confession, no remains of Ron Holtz were found until 2013, when police discovered his skeletal remains in an abandoned mine, leading to Alice's arrest for his murder.

Investigators:
"Robust evidence led to Alice's arrest for the 39-year-old murder of Ron Holtz."
[30:20]

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The Unraveling of Gerald Uden

Following Alice's arrest, investigators hoped to leverage this development to shed light on the disappearance of Virginia and her sons. Gerald's reaction during the investigation was telling.

Mariska Hargitay:
"Gerald didn't show any remorse... he just kind of a matter of fact, nonchalant."
[39:57]

Under scrutiny, Gerald confessed to the murders of Virginia and her sons in 2013, revealing the extent of their brutal actions.

Gerald Uden (Willie Geist):
"Virginia was there, the gun was there. I shot her right square in the back of the head... 10 seconds and they were gone."
[37:15]

He detailed how he disposed of the bodies, tying his actions to financial motivations regarding child support.

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Legal Proceedings and Aftermath

Gerald pleaded guilty to three counts of first-degree murder and was sentenced to three life sentences in 2013.

Narrator:
"In September 2019, the court rejects Gerald's attempt to withdraw his guilty plea."
[46:09]

Alice faced trial for the murder of Ron Holtz in 2014. Despite evidence and testimonies, she was acquitted of first-degree murder but convicted of second-degree murder, receiving a life sentence. She passed away in prison in 2019.

Expert Commentator:
"Alice was a profoundly evil person who found a match in Gerald, creating a perfect storm of sociopathy and narcissism."
[46:28]

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Conclusion: The Dark Legacy of the Udens

The case of Alice and Gerald Uden serves as a sobering reminder of how appearances can be deceiving. Their ability to mask their heinous crimes for decades underscores the challenges law enforcement faces in untangling complex criminal partnerships.

Mariska Hargitay:
"With Gerald and Alice, we have a perfect storm of, of a sociopath and a narcissistic person."
[46:28]

Their story, meticulously uncovered through relentless investigative efforts, highlights the enduring quest for justice long after crimes have been committed.

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Notable Quotes with Timestamps

• Alice Uden's Child:
  "I was the baby. I was a very spoiled baby." [04:08]

• Forensic Expert:
  "We found human blood in the back deck of that station wagon." [02:03]

• Mariska Hargitay:
  "Virginia and the boys were a tremendous source of tension in the relationship between Alice and Gerald." [10:39]

• Gerald Uden (Willie Geist):
  "Virginia was there, the gun was there. I shot her right square in the back of the head." [37:15]

• Expert Commentator:
  "Alice was a profoundly evil person who found a match in Gerald." [46:28]

---

Note: This summary omits advertisements, promotional content, and non-essential segments to focus solely on the critical narrative and investigative elements of Alice and Gerald Uden's case.

Transcript

[Willie Geist]

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[Mariska Hargitay]

Reminding you to check out the Sunday Sit down podcast. On this week's episode, I get together with the one and only Mariska Hargitay to talk about 26 seasons as Captain Olivia Benson on the iconic series Law & Special Victims Unit and the show's impact well beyond the television set. You can get our conversation now for free wherever you download your podcasts.

[Oxygen Network Host]

Hi SNAP listeners. We are bringing you a special bonus episode today from Oxygen's hit series Killer Couples. You can also watch full episodes live or on demand on the free Oxygen app or on Peacock by clicking the link in our description. Enjoy.

[Narrator]

A 40 year old mystery rattles a small Wyoming community.

[Expert Commentator]

There's just a desperation to understand what happened to this woman and her two children.

[Narrator]

A cold case task force uncoup disturbing new clues within the family.

[Forensic Expert]

We found human blood in the back deck of that station wagon.

[Investigator]

There could be a serial killer who's stalking people and killing people.

[Narrator]

But as authorities expose more deadly secrets, the body count continues to escalate.

[Expert Commentator]

We had remains exhumed because we wanted to determine if in fact he had been poisoned.

[Narrator]

And the suspected killers behind it all leave everyone stunned.

[Alice Uden's Child]

She said. You're going to hear that I killed somebody. I know you're not telling the whole truth, right?

[Mariska Hargitay]

Yes, they looked at killing people as a solution to a problem.

[Expert Commentator]

These were two profoundly evil people who found one another and together they held these incredibly dark, violent, sedentary, sadistic secrets.

[Narrator]

For someone looking to disappear or get away from it all, you can't do much better than Fremont County, Wyoming.

[Investigator]

Fremont county is rural. People there can live the life they want to live without a lot of interference from the rest of the world. So it's a place where you can escape the prying eyes of your neighbors.

[Narrator]

In 1976, 37 year old Alice Prunty moved to Fremont county in search of a fresh start. A mother of five, Alice had just left her third husband.

[Investigator]

Alice was an Illinois girl who grew up in a normal family. She was divorced, then widowed, then divorced. She moves in her trailer to Wyoming.

[Alice Uden's Child]

I was the baby. I was a very spoiled baby. My mother supported me. My mom was an awesome mom. She loved music. Saturdays was house cleaning day and she'd put Tammy Wynette and Tanya Tucker playing on the record player.

[Narrator]

Three failed marriages hadn't dampened Alice's determination to find lasting love. She finally found it in the summer of 1976 when she began dating her next door neighbor, 32 year old Gerald Uden.

[Investigator]

One day there was a knock on Gerald's door and it was Alice. She wanted him to help her connect her trailer to the power. He was immediately smitten. She was to him the most beautiful woman he'd ever seen in the world.

[Narrator]

A maintenance worker at a local steel mine, Gerald was also coming off his third failed marriage.

[Investigator]

To Gerald, Alice was the whole package. She was independent, she was resourceful, she could support herself.

[Alice Uden's Child]

He fell head over heels in love with my mom.

[Narrator]

Just five months after meeting, Gerald and Alice tied the knot and the couple bought a farm in Pavilion, Wyoming.

[Alice Uden's Child]

Mom milked cows, she had chickens, they had their own pigs as their child. I never really wanted for anything.

[Narrator]

In the summer of 1980, Gerald received some unexpected news when his ex wife, Virginia uden and her two young sons, 11 year old Richard and 10 year old Reagan moved to the same small town.

[Expert Commentator]

They were not the biological children of Virginia and Gerald Yudin. They were her children from a previous marriage. But Gerald had adopted the boys prior to the divorce.

[Narrator]

When Gerald learned the boys were moving with their mother to Lander, Wyoming, he was elated.

[Investigator]

Gerald took his father role very seriously and he was a good father. When the boys would visit, they were one big family in Gerald and Alice's home.

[Narrator]

Sadly, the reunion would be short lived. On September 13, 1980, two months after Virginia and her sons moved to Lander, her mother Claire Martin enters the Fremont County Sheriff's office with disturbing news.

[Forensic Expert]

She wanted to speak to an officer about missing persons report and at that time she started telling us about her daughter.

[Willie Geist]

Virginia was supposed to go meet Gerald Juden with the boys so that they could go bird hunting.

[Narrator]

But when Claire called Gerald to check in on her daughter and grandsons, he informed her that the trio never showed up to meet him.

[Investigator]

Virginia doesn't show up at the time that Claire expected her to, and Claire begins to worry.

[Mariska Hargitay]

Gerald agreed to come help her look for them. And so Gerald and Claire went and drove around looking for Virginia and the boys.

[Investigator]

They go around places in Riverton that Virginia might have been. They don't find her.

[Narrator]

Now that Virginia and her sons have been missing for nearly 24 hours, Claire is concerned that something bad has happened to her daughter and grandsons.

[Expert Commentator]

Claire knew her daughter better than anyone, and she knew her daughter wouldn't have just up and left without saying a word or taking any money with her.

[Forensic Expert]

She described the vehicle that they were in, which was actually Claire's vehicle, a Ford station wagon.

[Willie Geist]

An attempt to locate was put out with all other agencies, the police departments and things to watch for the car that she was driving.

[Narrator]

Three weeks pass without a word from Virginia Uden or her sons. Then on October 4th, authorities receive an ominous tip.

[Investigator]

A passerby reports to the sheriff's office that he saw a half hidden station wagon on the edge of a very deep canyon in the Wind River Mountains.

[Narrator]

The station wagon's tags identify it as belonging to Claire Martin, the same vehicle Virginia had been driving when she and her sons disappeared.

[Forensic Expert]

We found that there was human blood in the back deck of that station wagon.

[Investigator]

The blood was a type A which.

[Willie Geist]

Matched Virginia's blood type.

[Investigator]

And There was also some.22 caliber shells in the car.

[Narrator]

Fearful that Virginia and her sons had met foul play, authorities released their findings to the media and asked for the public's help in locating the missing mother.

[Investigator]

And it was scary for us because.

[Willie Geist]

Virginia Uden actually was an employee of mine.

[Investigator]

And so we got to know Virginia.

[Willie Geist]

And knew her two boys fairly well.

[Investigator]

People went all over and combed that.

[Willie Geist]

Mountain looking for bodies.

[Narrator]

With zero leads, authorities turned back to Virginia's mother, Claire Martin, to see if she can provide any additional insight into her daughter's life. That's when Claire offers a shocking theory.

[Investigator]

She was totally convinced that Gerald Yudin.

[Willie Geist]

Had killed her daughter and her two sons.

[Narrator]

Investigators press Claire for more information about Gerald's relationship with both Virginia and her sons.

[Mariska Hargitay]

Virginia and the boys were. They were a tremendous source of tension in the relationship between Alice and Gerald. And part of that was because Virginia wanted more child support.

[Expert Commentator]

Alice wrote really hateful things in correspondence with Virginia. She called Virginia brainless. You tricked My husband into marrying you, and everyone knows you didn't love him. You only did it for the money. There was a lot of hatred between Alice and Virginia. And really, it was not any kind of a fight over Gerald. It was really over money.

[Narrator]

On November 14, 1980, nearly two months after Virginia and her sons went missing, investigators request to speak with Gerald and Alice Yudin.

[Forensic Expert]

We talked to Alice individually. Alice was kind of a basket case at that time. She was crying and emotional and really couldn't answer much.

[Narrator]

Gerald, however, visibly resents Claire's accusations.

[Forensic Expert]

He became very physically upset, was shaking, and couldn't hold a cup of coffee.

[Willie Geist]

You could see the carotid artery in his neck pulsating. And Larry said that he. He's covering up something.

[Forensic Expert]

I knew right away we had our guy and that he had something to do with it with the missing people. We just didn't know what.

[Narrator]

Without warning, Gerald abruptly ends the interview. But not before leaving investigators with one final and disturbing thought.

[Forensic Expert]

He said that, you know, even if there was a crime, that we couldn't prove it because there was no body.

[Narrator]

Coming up, the case is sent spiraling in a new direction when an informant comes forward with a shocking allegation. We're here today to give you a chance.

[Alice Uden's Child]

We know where he is because we have him now.

[Narrator]

More than five months after the mysterious disappearances of Virginia Uden and her two sons, Richard, Investigators with the Fremont county sheriff's office have received information from Virginia's mother, Claire Martin, who believes Virginia and her sons were murdered by her ex husband, Gerald Uden.

[Expert Commentator]

Claire Martin felt in her bones that Gerald Uden played a role in the disappearance. I believe that she knew deep in her heart that they had been killed.

[Narrator]

Despite their suspicions, investigators are unable to find any evidence connecting Gerald or his wife Alice to the disappearances.

[Investigator]

There's absolutely no evidence, and their hands were tied.

[Narrator]

Years pass without any new leads.

[Forensic Expert]

Claire was doing everything in her power to find her family. We all suspected the same thing at that point. We didn't have it as far as the law requires.

[Narrator]

In 1982, citing police pressure and suspicion from their neighbors, Alice and Gerald suddenly sell their Wyoming farm and move 1,100 miles to Chadwick, Missouri.

[Alice Uden's Child]

Honestly, when we moved to Missouri, I don't think I understood all of it. I was 8 years old.

[Narrator]

For 12 more years, nothing new materializes in the investigation.

[Expert Commentator]

If you understand what's happening in that community at that time, there's just a desperation to understand what happened to this woman and her two children.

[Narrator]

Then in 1990, 14 years after Virginia and her boys went missing, the case takes a sudden and unexpected turn when an informant comes forward with a bombshell allegation. The informant is Alice Uden's oldest son, Todd Scott, and he tells police that his mother had once confessed to being involved in a murder. But to everyone's surprise, it's not the murder of Virginia or her sons.

[Expert Commentator]

Todd Scott, who was one of the children of Alice Yudin, knew his mother had killed her husband, Ronald Holtz, and he knew that because she told him that she did.

[Narrator]

Investigators learned that Ron Holt, a Vietnam War veteran, had been Alice's third husband. The two had met in Marri in 1974 after a whirlwind romance that began in a psychiatric hospital.

[Investigator]

She'd been a psych nurse. She was sympathetic to the trauma that he suffered in Vietnam, and, you know, she thought she could, you know, save him or whatever.

[Alice Uden's Child]

I believe I was two or so when she married Ron.

[Narrator]

According to Todd, Alice and Ron's marriage was tumultuous from the start.

[Investigator]

Ron had abused Alice. Ron had a very volatile history.

[Narrator]

Todd explains that Alice had initially told everyone she had kicked Ron out when she filed for divorce in December of 1974. Ron had never contested the divorce. In fact, no one had ever seen or heard from Ron Holtz again.

[Mariska Hargitay]

Disappearing was completely in keeping with his character.

[Investigator]

That was the reputation he had.

[Narrator]

But years later, Alice had told her son a very different story about what really happened to his former stepfather.

[Expert Commentator]

One night, he was about 14 or 15. His mom had been drinking, and she was feeling a little bit emotional, and she told him that years earlier, when she'd been married to Ron, he'd been very abusive, and she was afraid of him. And so one night when he was sleeping, she got her.22, and she shot him in the back of the head while he was in bed. She had taken his body out of the trailer, put him in a barrel, and thrown him down the abandoned gold mine in the Remount Ranch.

[Investigator]

His mother had told him that Ron had been abusive and deserved what he got.

[Expert Commentator]

Todd, for a very, very long time, carried what had to be an enormous burden. And he just eventually had to get this off of his shoulders.

[Narrator]

Investigators dig into Todd's claim and discover that there's no paper trail for Ron Holtz. Since the winter of 1974, when Alice had told her family she'd left Ron.

[Investigator]

His Social Security, for instance, had had no activity. A man who had been in and out of mental hospitals for no more medical reports, they were pretty convinced that Ron holds probably was no longer alive.

[Narrator]

Investigators theorize that if Alice had killed her third husband, it increased the likelihood that she and potentially Gerald were responsible for what happened to Virginia and her sons. They widened the scope of their investigation to focus on finding the remains of Ron Holtz. Coordinating with police in Cheyenne, Wyoming detectives launch a search of Remount Ranch.

[Expert Commentator]

Everybody knew that abandoned mine shaft was there and commonly when there would be an animal that would die on the ranch, they would dispose of the remains down the mine shaft.

[Investigator]

At one time, the hole had been 90ft deep, maybe a dozen feet across. The the surrounding dirt and rocks were unstable. Sending anybody down there would be difficult.

[Narrator]

Without the proper resources. Investigators must call off the search. And just like the unsolved investigation into what happened to Virginia Uden and her sons, the search for Ron Holtz hits a brick wall.

[Willie Geist]

We had nothing else to go on. No new information, no bodies were discovered. So it became a cold case. It was very frustrating. It was always on our minds.

[Narrator]

11 more years pass with no leads for either case. Then in 2005, both Virginia Uden and Ron Holtz's unsolved cases receive renewed interest.

[Investigator]

It's several years later when Wyoming Division of Criminal Investigation investigator begins to look through the cold case files.

[Mariska Hargitay]

At the time, I was a special agent for the Wyoming Division of Criminal Investigation. My role in this case is one of the investigators.

[Narrator]

The cold case team decides to focus their efforts on Alice Uden.

[Mariska Hargitay]

We're going to interview her, have a conversation and find out what happened if she would give us more insight into the murder of ron Holtz.

[Narrator]

On January 18, 2005, detectives with the cold case Task force make the surprise visit to Gerald and Alice's home in Chadwick, Missouri.

[Investigator]

Gerald had become a trucker, and at the time, Gerald is on the road on a trucking assignment. When they knock on the front door, Alice answers. Alice is a kind of grandmotherly type at that point. They ask her if she'll answer a few questions, which she does. Alice seems to think nothing about it. She even invites him inside. They bring up her past relationships and she goes down the list of husbands that that she'd had. But she conveniently leaves out Ron Holtz.

[Narrator]

When Alice neglects to mention Ron, the detectives ask her directly about her third husband. And her reaction is telling.

[Investigator]

When confronted with the name Ron holds, she falls out of her chair half fainting.

[Willie Geist]

Foreign.

[Oxygen Network Host]

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[Alice Uden's Child]

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[Narrator]

Cold case agents with the Wyoming Department of Criminal Investigations have just caught Alice Yudin off guard after confronting her about the disappearance of her third husband, Ron Holtz, more than 30 years earlier.

[Investigator]

When they bring up the story that she had supposedly told her son about shooting a guy named named Ron, she defended herself as saying, oh no, that didn't happen. I just made it up as a kind of cautionary tale. Alice claims that Ron was abusive and that she kicked him to the curb and divorced and moved on.

[Narrator]

With no physical evidence to prove Alice wrong, Investigators end their interview. DCI agents next speak with Alice's youngest daughter, Erica Hayes. When they ask her about the claims surrounding her former stepfather's death, Erica admits that her mother had recently contacted her.

[Alice Uden's Child]

My mom found out that my brother Todd had told on her. She said, you're going to hear that I killed somebody. And I went, did you? And she said, yes, I did, because I was protecting you.

[Narrator]

Investigators also ask Erica if she knows what happened to Gerald's third ex wife, Virginia Uden, and her two sons, Richard and Reagan. Erica tells agents she doesn't know, but she has a theory on who is responsible for their disappearances.

[Investigator]

She suspected Gerald was involved with the disappearance of Virginia and the boys, but she didn't believe her mother was involved.

[Narrator]

Investigators press Erica to explain her theory and her response is unsettling.

[Expert Commentator]

Erica Hayes is talking to her parents and Gerald makes an offhand statement. You gotta have some pigs to get rid of the body. And for the uninitiated who haven't spent a lot of time around pigs, they eat just about everything.

[Narrator]

Erica says at the time she brushed off Gerald's comments as some kind of twisted joke. But she now fears that Virginia and her sons may have suffered a similar fate.

[Expert Commentator]

At the time that Virginia and the boys went missing in 1980, Alice and Gerald Yudin had property where their home was and they also had some pigs.

[Narrator]

Armed with this new theory, agents head back to the Udens old farm in Wyoming.

[Forensic Expert]

We did a search warrant on Gerald's house. We basically excavated and screened about 200 square meters of that hog pen looking for human remains. We turned the place upside down. We didn't come up with any evidence.

[Narrator]

Once again, the investigation appears to be at a standstill. Eight years pass without any new leads or developments. Then on April 4, 2013, Virginia's mother, Claire passes away.

[Investigator]

Claire Martin died at the age of 92, never finding justice for her daughter and grandsons.

[Expert Commentator]

I know that Claire Martin never rested. She always was wanting the answers behind what happened to Virginia and Richard and Reagan.

[Mariska Hargitay]

Everybody wanted her to have that so she could go to her final resting place knowing this was over. And unfortunately, she didn't get that.

[Narrator]

For several of the Wyoming DCI agents working on Virginia's cold case, Claire's death strengthens their resolve to solve the two decade old investigation. Miraculously, they get a new break Just a few months later, a bigger team.

[Investigator]

Returns to the Remount Ranch and to that abandoned gold mine.

[Narrator]

After a day and a half of searching, the crew finds what they've been looking for.

[Investigator]

They find the pieces of a barrel, and inside that they find a human skeleton. And in the back of the skull of this skeleton was a neat little bullet hole, probably caused by a.22 caliber gun.

[Narrator]

The discovery matches the story that Alice's children had told police to verify whether the bones belong to Ron Holt. Agents are able to track down Ron's biological daughter from his first marriage.

[Investigator]

They find her in Alaska and they dispatch a state trooper to draw her DNA to compare to Ron Holtz's. And it's a match.

[Narrator]

The discovery of Ron's remains are enough for police to arrest Alice Uden for his murder. On September 26, 2013.

[Willie Geist]

They got a warrant, went to Missouri and arrested her while Gerald was out. He was a long haul trucker.

[Narrator]

Once in custody, the 74 year old denies any role in the murder.

[Mariska Hargitay]

She claimed she didn't even know who Ron Holtz was. And we knew that that was a lie.

[Expert Commentator]

It was at about that time that Agent Tina Trumbull from the Division of Criminal Investigation pulled out a photograph of a skull, Ronald Holtz's, and showed it to Alice, whoever that is.

[Forensic Expert]

No.

[Narrator]

This is Ron Holtz.

[Alice Uden's Child]

Is it?

[Narrator]

We're here today to give you a chance, okay?

[Alice Uden's Child]

We know where he is because we have him now.

[Narrator]

The evidence convinces Alice to finally admit the truth.

[Alice Uden's Child]

Yeah, he was threatening to kill Erica because she probably texted the little girl. I was screaming and he ran.

[Investigator]

She said he was going to kill her.

[Expert Commentator]

And I put up my.22 red following.

[Alice Uden's Child]

Shot him back in the day.

[Expert Commentator]

What happened then? How did he get into that hole?

[Alice Uden's Child]

I put him there. Got him into a barrel and rolled him to my heart to the back door and put him in the trunk and took him up to the mine and put him in there. You gonna take me to jail? Yes, I am.

[Expert Commentator]

Here's what I'm asking.

[Narrator]

If we can go to the prosecutor and tell them that you told the whole truth.

[Alice Uden's Child]

Because I know you're not telling the whole truth. Okay. I know that they're looking to figure.

[Narrator]

Out what happened to Virginia and those boys.

[Expert Commentator]

Yes.

[Narrator]

So what about Virginia and the boys?

[Alice Uden's Child]

I've told you everything know about them.

[Narrator]

What has Sher told you about it?

[Investigator]

Nothing. Alice was charged with one count of first degree murder for killing Ron Holds.

[Mariska Hargitay]

We were hoping that that arrest would have enough of an impact that maybe Gerald would want to Talk about Virginia and Richard and Reagan. We're given the opportunity to give Gerald a phone call. And in this phone call, we told Gerald essentially that Alice had been arrested for the things that happened in Wyoming. We didn't tell him what he agreed to drive back to meet with us. And it was our hope as investigators that he would use that drive to let his mind wander. And we were hoping he would allow himself to give the truth. Gerald wanted to talk to us. He literally started his conversation off with telling us that he doesn't know why we arrested Alice because we arrested the wrong person.

[Narrator]

Coming up, after three decades, investigators finally uncover what really happened to Virginia Uden and her son.

[Forensic Expert]

That fast.

[Willie Geist]

It was 10 seconds and they were gone.

[Narrator]

And newfound evidence suggests the body count may continue to rise.

[Expert Commentator]

We had these remains exhumed because we wanted to determine if in fact he had been poisoned.

[Narrator]

Wyoming DCI agents have arrested Alice Yudin for the 39 year old murder of her third husband, Ron Holtz, after finding his remains at the bottom of an abandoned gold mine. Both Alice and her husband Gerald remain suspects in the unsolved disappearances of Gerald's ex wife, Virginia Uden, and her two sons.

[Investigator]

At the time Alice is arrested, Gerald is on the road on a trucking assignment. When Gerald finally arrived home, agents meet him. They tell him Alice has been arrested and they'd like to talk to him a little bit more about what he knows.

[Willie Geist]

I don't know how she could know anything about it really, because she had nothing really to do with it. 33 years I have said no, I never did nothing. But now that you guys are here, I've got to assume that you must have either found some bodies or you done something else. And I gotta tell you, if you found bodies, that's a miracle. He apparently thought she'd been arrested for Virginia and the boys. And he said, well, she didn't do it, I did it.

[Investigator]

They were, were startled, they were incredulous. But they kept their cool and let Gerald talk.

[Mariska Hargitay]

And he proceeded to paint a picture of what he perceived Virginia to be like. He felt that Virginia was after him strictly to get child support.

[Narrator]

Gerald claims that that Alice had been particularly upset that he had to pay child support to Virginia, even though he had adopted both boys prior to their divorce.

[Forensic Expert]

Alice was raising a little havoc about that because why should we be paying child support for these two boys and they're not yours and you need to do something about it and take care of it.

[Willie Geist]

I was paying her $150 a month. I'm trying to juggle two weeks and it ain't flying.

[Investigator]

No.

[Willie Geist]

And so finally it just went off. And I said, I've had it. I'm going to solve this problem. And so I did.

[Narrator]

Gerald tells police that on September 12, 1980, he lured Virginia to meet him under the premise of taking her sons, Richard and Reagan, dove hunting.

[Investigator]

Gerald says Virginia and the boys come to the medium a little before 2:00 on the 12th, and the boys are excited to see him. And he jumps in the passenger seat and directs Virginia to just drive up this dirt road to a point that he knows where they could safely shoot the gun. She drives to that place and they stop. The kids get out.

[Willie Geist]

Virginia was there, the gun was there. I was there and I shot her right square in the back of the head. And she went down. Richard was standing behind the station wagon and I whirled and I shot him in the back of the head.

[Mariska Hargitay]

At this point, Reagan realized things were going south quickly and took off running.

[Willie Geist]

He took and he fell in the ditch and I walked over him and I shot a hand one. And they were all three dead that fast? It was 10 seconds and they were gone.

[Forensic Expert]

He said he put them in steel drums like an oil drum. He poked holes in the drum. He took them and put them in a boat and went out onto Fremont Lake, which is a natural, deep, clear water lake, and submerged the barrels in that lake.

[Willie Geist]

Just a travesty that Virginia and the boys were killed.

[Forensic Expert]

It's sad because we've got two little boys that never got to get married or get a job or raise a family of their own.

[Narrator]

Gerald says he later disposed of the gun and tried to make Claire's station wagon disappear.

[Willie Geist]

I tried to roll it over the damn cliff. And you think it would go over the cliff?

[Mariska Hargitay]

Not so much.

[Willie Geist]

Not so much. I didn't get any pleasure out of doing it, none. But it did stop the child support, and that was going to come to about $16,000.

[Investigator]

The agents asked Gerald if Alice played any role in this, and he denied that she did.

[Expert Commentator]

Nowhere in that statement does he ever acknowledge the wrongfulness of murdering Virginia or Richard or Reggie.

[Willie Geist]

He didn't show any remorse, nothing like that. He just kind of a matter of fact, nonchalant. I did this, did this, did this.

[Investigator]

When he was done, they arrested him and took him to jail. 33 years after Gerald killed Virginia and the boys on that roadside, he was charged with three counts of first degree murder.

[Alice Uden's Child]

The day that I truly realized that, yes, he had committed these murders was the day of his arrest.

[Narrator]

On November 1, 2013, 71 year old Gerald Uden agrees to plead guilty to the murders of Virginia and her sons.

[Investigator]

The judge accepted Gerald's plea deal and he was sentenced to three life sentences.

[Narrator]

Alice however, decides to try her fate at trial. But before court proceedings begin, a tip comes in to suggest Ron Holtz may not have been the first husband that Alice had killed.

[Alice Uden's Child]

There's a belief that my dad was her first victim.

[Narrator]

After nearly 40 years of eluding authorities, justice has finally caught up with accused killers Alice and Gerald Uden. For the murders of his ex wife Virginia and two adopted sons Richard and Reagan, 72 year old Gerald has been given three life sentences. 75 year old Alice is still awaiting trial for the murder of her ex husband Ron Holtz. But before court proceedings begin, police receive a tip that suggests Ron Holtz may not have been Alice's first victim.

[Investigator]

Alice's second husband named Don Prunty, died at age 45 from a whole array of illnesses that stemmed from his alcohol.

[Alice Uden's Child]

I know that my dad was an alcoholic and death certificate says alcoholism. They had no reason to do an autopsy. There is a belief however, that my mom poisoned my dad. There's a belief that my dad was her first victim.

[Narrator]

Following up on the table, police re examined Don Prunty's medical records from the months leading up to his death in 1973.

[Investigator]

Alice had remarked she was giving Don something that would stop his drinking. The symptoms that were described in Prunty's medical records were consistent with poisoning, specifically by antifreeze.

[Expert Commentator]

We had Mr. Prunty's remains exhumed. Unfortunately he'd been embalmed and so we weren't able to extract anything from his remains that would have helped us determine if in fact our hypothesis was correct and that Alice had been poisoning him.

[Narrator]

Though Don Prunty's cause of death remains unclear, Alice's trial for the 1974 murder of Ron Holt gets underway in May of 2014.

[Expert Commentator]

Using the testimony of Todd Scott, we were able to also establish our theory of the case which was Ronald Holtz was laying in bed sleeping when he was shot in the back of the head with a 22 rifle by his wife Alice.

[Narrator]

The defense counters by saying Alice acted in defense of herself and her daughter.

[Investigator]

This was wyoming of the 1970s. There was no 911 women, didn't have shelters. So she took matters into her own hands, she said.

[Narrator]

On May 8, 2014, the jury retires to deliberate. It takes them 13 hours to reach a verdict.

[Expert Commentator]

In the end, the jury acquitted Mrs. Yudin of first degree murder. But they did convict her of second degree.

[Investigator]

They believed that she shot him and the jury didn't believe it was premeditated.

[Narrator]

Alice is sentenced to life in prison. Five years later, she dies in prison at the age of 80.

[Alice Uden's Child]

Her death was welcomed. Cause I hated seeing her imprisoned. I did. No matter what she did, I loved her. I loved her so much.

[Narrator]

But just two days after Alice passes away, Gerald recap his confession to killing Virginia and her sons.

[Mariska Hargitay]

When Alice died, he used that as an opportunity to capitalize on. Now that she's gone, I can put everything on her.

[Alice Uden's Child]

I talked to him on the phone and I told him, I said, I know what you did, so just stop. Stop, because I will not have you putting all this on her. Have some respect for your dead wife.

[Narrator]

In September 2019, the court rejects Gerald's attempt to withdraw his guilty plea.

[Investigator]

His hands are absolutely not clean.

[Willie Geist]

I mean, he was.

[Investigator]

I totally believe that he killed Virginia.

[Willie Geist]

And the two boys and was every.

[Investigator]

Bit in on every bit of it as much as she was.

[Mariska Hargitay]

I genuinely looked at Alice as a person in our society who looked at killing people as a solution to a problem. I think with Gerald and with Alice, we have a perfect storm of, of a sociopath and a narcissistic person.

[Expert Commentator]

I think the relationship between Alice and Gerald was unique in that these were two profoundly evil people who found one another.

[Oxygen Network Host]

Gerald Uden is housed at the Wyoming Medium Correctional Institution in torrington. He is 82 years old.

[Investigator]

He was hip hop's biggest mogul. The man who redefined fame, fortune and the music industry.

[Willie Geist]

The first male rapper to be honored on the Hollywood Walk of Fame, Sean Diddy Combs.

[Investigator]

Diddy built an empire and lived a.

[Narrator]

Life most people only dream about. Everybody know ain't no party like a Diddy party. So yeah, that's what's up.

[Investigator]

But just. Just as quickly as his empire rose.

[Narrator]

It came crashing down.

[Investigator]

Today I'm announcing the unsealing of a three count indictment charging Sean Combs with.

[Willie Geist]

Racketeering, conspiracy, sex trafficking, interstate transportation for prostitution. I was up.

[Investigator]

I hit Rob bottom, but I made no excuses.

[Willie Geist]

I'm disgusted.

[Investigator]

I'm so sorry.

[Willie Geist]

Until you're wearing an orange jumpsuit, it's not real. Now it's real.

[Narrator]

From his meteoric rise to his shock.

[Investigator]

Fall from grace from law and crime.

[Narrator]

This is the rise and fall of Diddy.

[Oxygen Network Host]

Listen to the rise and fall of.

[Narrator]

Diddy exclusively with Wondery.

[Willie Geist]

Plus.