Drive-Thru Murder ////// 926

Summary

True Crime Garage Ep. 926 Summary: "Drive-Thru Murder"

Release Date: May 7, 2026
Hosts: Nic & The Captain

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Episode Overview

In this episode, Nic and the Captain take listeners back to 1978 in St. Mary's, Ohio, to discuss the unsolved murder of Roger Parent Jr. at the P&S Carryout—a central hub in a tight-knit, blue-collar town where such violence was almost unheard of. Bringing fresh attention to the case at the request of the Auglaize County Sheriff’s Department, the hosts dissect the timeline, explore witness accounts, local rumors, and share theories that continue to haunt the community decades later. The goal: to generate new leads and keep Roger Parent’s story alive.

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Key Discussion Points & Insights

1. Setting the Scene (03:36–12:55)

• 1978 St. Mary's, Ohio: Small blue-collar town, anchored by Goodyear factory and high school football.
• Drive-Thru Culture: The P&S Carryout (named for owners Parent & Sullivan) was a bustling drive-thru and walk-in store, a favorite for locals—especially on weekends.
• Violent Crime Rarity: Murders were rare; the community went years between homicides, making this crime especially shocking.

2. Roger Parent Jr. & the Ownership of P&S Carryout (12:55–15:11)

• Background: Roger grew up locally, served in the US Army, worked at Goodyear, and co-owned the beloved local store with Larry Sullivan.
• Entrepreneurship: The drive-thru was meant to be a path to post-factory entrepreneurship and local pride.

“They were both well known in town because they worked with everybody at Goodyear and then people knew them from the drive thru as well.” —Nic (15:02)

3. The Fatal Night: December 29, 1978 (15:13–23:34)

• A Change in Plans: Roger wasn’t scheduled but covered a shift so a colleague could leave early. He was alone at closing, breaking a safety protocol introduced after a prior robbery in 1974.
• Ohio State Gator Bowl Night: Most residents were distracted by the televised football game—a significant detail for the timeline.

4. Timeline of the Murder (18:05–23:34)

• Customer #1’s Account: Last known to see Roger alive while buying beer and soda; noticed a suspicious man (white male, 35–40, curly sandy hair, gray old-man hat, brown/tan jacket) acting strangely (20:45).
  • The man kept his hands in his pockets, possibly hiding a weapon.
• Cash Register Tape: Next, a single pack of cigarettes was the only transaction after Customer #1—likely requested by the killer.
  • A brand-new, unopened pack of Marlboros was found outside.
  • $95 was stolen from the register.

“It stands to reason that the person would want to come inside if this was something that they had thought through...” —Nic (38:00)

5. The Discovery (30:24–34:34)

• Customer #2: Neighborhood woman entered to buy chips, found Roger dead behind the counter, and fled to get help.
• Securing the Scene: A neighbor helped close the drive-thru door, fearing the killer could return or someone could disturb evidence.

6. Crime Scene & Forensics (34:50–43:46)

• Evidence: Roger was shot in the back at close range with a sawed-off 12-gauge shotgun. No sign of struggle, glasses found near his head, and that unopened pack of cigarettes outside.
• Robbery as Motive?: The cash haul was small for such a violent act.

7. Suspect Profile & Theories (43:46–55:29)

• Unknown Male: No one recognized the man; unusual in a small town.
• Premeditation: The killer likely knew the store, its routine, and perhaps the distraction of the big game, but probably didn’t personally know Roger.
• The Hat: Some believed it may have been a common workplace “bucket hat” or fisherman’s hat, not a fedora, possibly tying the suspect to local factory work or fishing culture (59:08).

“The old timers have told the sheriff's office this hat might not have been a fedora…it could have been a bucket hat. Goodyear workers wore them to keep soot out of their hair.” —Nic (59:08)

8. Vehicle & Movement Clues (41:04–63:18)

• Red Camper Truck & Orange Pinto: Multiple vehicle sightings tied to rumors, but no definitive link. The suspect was not seen getting into/out of a vehicle—may have been on foot.
• Potential Escape: Some speculate the killer could have walked from a nearby bar, committed the crime, and slipped back unnoticed.

9. Rumors & Local Suspects (63:18–73:09)

• Suicide Confessions: Two local men (Mike Sampson, Alan Mockinbaugh) died by suicide shortly after the murder; rumors in town linked them to confessions or knowledge of the killer, but concrete evidence (like the rumored note) is lacking.
• Family Suspicions: Roger’s brother Larry suspects another brother, Louis Parent, who had a troubled life, disappeared after the murder, and was rumored to have needed money and run with a rough crowd.

“From the day that Roger Parent was shot, Larry never saw nor heard from his brother Louis again. He simply vanished.” —Nic (71:43)

10. Law Enforcement Approach & Case Status (15:11–43:46, 76:27–79:35)

• Ongoing Investigation: Auglaize County has only one unsolved homicide—Roger's case. They collaborate with media and utilize modern forensics (no usable prints, bullet/wadding still in evidence, sketches available).
• Community Engagement: Regular case presentations, openness with rumors and leads, public appeals for information.

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Notable Quotes & Memorable Moments

• On the rarity of violence:
  “Violent crime like homicide was a rarity. Extremely rare in fact, as the county might go years without a single murder…” —Nic (03:36)

• On the killer’s behavior:
  “Customer number one noted that the man kept his hands in his pockets the entire time, a detail suggesting that he was…concealing a weapon.” —Nic (21:08)

• The emotional impact:
  “So she ran to the first neighbor that she could think of. Let’s call him neighbor number one. She tells neighbor number one what she had found—Roger lying in a pool of blood behind the counter…” —Nic (32:33)

• On the investigative challenge:
  "This is a case that has been talked about a lot over the decades...a case that is a collection of persistent rumors, family suspicions and faded evidence." —Nic (77:44)

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Timestamps for Key Segments

• 03:36: Introduction to St. Mary’s, Goodyear, and the P&S Carryout
• 12:55: Roger Parent’s background & path to small business ownership
• 15:13: Description of the fatal night and sequence of shifts
• 18:05–23:34: Customer #1’s interactions and description of the possible suspect
• 34:34: Discovery of the crime scene by Customer #2
• 41:29: Other vehicles and eyewitnesses discussed (red camper, orange Pinto)
• 63:18: Rumors, suicides, and family suspicions
• 70:11: The vanished brother, Louis Parent, as a possible suspect
• 76:27: Law enforcement shout-outs and call for tips

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Theories and Unresolved Mysteries

• Robbery or Personal Motive?
  The small sum stolen vs. extreme violence raises questions.
• Was the killer local or just passing through?
  Eyewitness didn’t recognize him, but knowledge of the store/habits suggests someone from nearby, perhaps next town over.
• Was it a planned murder disguised as a robbery?
  The approach and execution raise suspicions—especially with family and local rumors.

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Calls to Action

Nic and the Captain encourage listeners to:

• View and share the released composite sketches of the suspect.
• Provide any tips related to the 1978 murder of Roger Parent Jr. to the Auglaize County Sheriff's Office at 419-739-6565, anonymously if desired.

“If you have any information…you should report that information to the Oglades County Sheriff's office… tips can also be sent in anonymously through the sheriff office's website.” —Nic (79:03)

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Closing Thoughts

The unsolved murder of Roger Parent Jr. continues to cast a long shadow over St. Mary’s. Both hosts express hope that renewed attention and public engagement might finally yield the clue that cracks the case, bringing long-awaited justice and closure to Roger’s loved ones and community.

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Recommended Reading:
War as They Knew It: Woody Hayes, Bo Schembechler and America in the Time of Unrest by Michael Rosenberg (79:45)

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If you recognize the man in the sketch, or recall anything about the night of December 29, 1978, reach out. After almost five decades, every tip might count.

Transcript

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Welcome to True Crime Garage. Wherever you are, whatever you're doing, thanks for listening. I'm your host, Nick. And with me, as always, is a man who knows that the first rule of True Crime Garage is tell everybody. Here is the captain.

[Sam]

Yeah, make sure you tell your mom. It's good to be seen and good to see you. Thanks for listening. Thanks for telling a friend.

[Nick]

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[Sam]

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[Nick]

All right everybody, gather round, grab a chair, grab a beer. Let's talk some true crime. The year was 1978, a time that now feels like a distant memory for many in a small blue collar town in western Ohio. Life revolved around two central pillars, the Goodyear factory and high school football. The town of St. Mary's was centrally located yet connected to the wider world only by web of country roads, and it had a distinct character. It was a little more than 20 or so miles from the industrial city of Lima and a similar distance from the Indiana state line. Goodyear, established in the late 40s or early 50s, was the largest employer with nearly one in every four households having someone on its payroll. The town's rhythm was set by factory hours and the roar of crowds on Friday nights, where the only passion the eclipsed lake local football was the fervent support for the Ohio State Buckeyes. This was also a cruising town, a scene straight out of American Graffiti. On weekends the main strip became a bumper to bumper parade of cars filled with teenagers, a loop that often included a stop and a local drive thru or carry out for a beer run, a purchase a 17 year old could make on occasion without getting carded. Back then, Auxlaze and Mercer counties were notorious for their high alcohol consumption. It was how many folks in blue collar communities spent their Friday nights and weekends. Back then it was just part of the working class culture that fueled a thriving business for local carryouts. Downtown St. Mary's a mere three blocks long and at one time an old timer recalled about 50 bars you could walk or boat to around Nearby Grand Lake St. Mary's the town had a rowdy side with bar fights common enough that a prospective police officer's ability to break up a brawl was a key hiring criterion. At the center of this world was a drive thru carryout on the west side of town, an epicenter of local commerce near Kmart and other major stores owned by two men, Roger and Larry, the business was perpetually booming. It wasn't uncommon for the line of cars to snake out onto the street. More than just a place For a six pack, it was a one stop shop for essentials, a hub of activity year round. It even catered to the hardier crowd selling live bait and fishing tackle. For those heading out to Grand Lake just two blocks away, violent crime like homicide was a rarity. Extremely rare in fact, as the county might go years without a single murder and when one did occur it was typically a domestic dispute or crime where the suspect was quickly identified. This stark reality would make the events of one cold winter night all the more jarring, creating a crime that would haunt the community for decades to come. This is true Crime Garage and this is the still unsolved murder case of Roger Parent Jr. On the evening of four Friday, December 29, 1978, Roger Parent, a 33 year old man, found himself unexpectedly at his post at the drive Thru that he and a longtime friend together own. It was called the P and S carryout, located in St. Mary's Ohio at 2111 Salina Road. The name P S carry out stood for the owners Roger Parent and Larry Sullivan, P and S. The business was a small white block building with a large Pepsi sign painted on the side. Next to the door there is a large dark painted arrow pointing to the drive through with the words Drive Through Service in white. So the small structure included both a drive through and a walk in entrance to the business. Roger Parent Jr. Wasn't originally scheduled to work that night, so earlier that day at home he had received a call from his colleague Joe Hudson who wanted to leave his shift at the drive thru early that night and an arrangement was made. Captain and Roger drove the short three to four minute journey from his home to take over for the night. Joe could take off a little early on this Friday night and Roger, one of the co owners would handle the closing duties and lock up for the night at the end of the shift. Now that night my friends, wasn't just any old Friday night in St. Mary's Ohio. That night was the night of the 1978 Gator Bowl, a collegiate football game. It was a bit of a down year for the Ohio state Buckeyes going 7, 3 and 1 during the regular season. But the schedule meant playing seven nationally ranked teams that regular season, going 3, 3 and 1 against those ranked opponents. But the Bucks in legendary coach Woody Hayes were coming off a 14 to 3 loss to rival Michigan, marking the Buckeyes third straight loss to that team up north, putting pressure on the team to secure a bowl victory and even more on their coach Woody Hayes to end the season on a high note their opponent, the Clemson Tigers, who entered the match with a 9 and 1 regular season record. The 1978 Gator bowl was televised nationally by ABC Sports, featuring legendary announcer Keith Jackson. The game kicked off at 9:10pm Eastern Standard Time, but that was exactly 933 miles away in Jacksonville, Florida. Back in St. Mary's Ohio, the air was still with the quiet hum of a typical winter Friday evening. Many local residents were settled in their homes, maybe with some popcorn or perhaps hosting a watch party at their homes. Whatever the location, many folks most certainly were tuned in and their attention captured by the Ohio State game flickering on television sets. Now you can tell by today's show title that this story is going to be all centered around this drive through, the P and S carry out. And to be fair, it's a carry out slash drive thru. But I'm calling it drive through for a few reasons. One, if you were to be driving through town for the first time, I would believe that this is a drive through. If I were driving through town, the words drive through are much more dominant on all of the signage for the business and the majority of the customers were drive thru customers. The carryout portion of the business was cool and it worked like this. The folks that walked up to the little store obviously used the carry out door and sometimes folks would pull into the business. They did have a little area there where a couple of cars could park and you could park your car and then walk in. But our listeners know when you have a great local drive through, it's the best way and most convenient way to go and quickly and easily collect soda, beer, lottery snacks and small items. Now also we have owners Roger Parent and Larry Sullivan. These are longtime friends. They grew up in the area. They knew each other since childhood. They went to grade school together. Both Roger Parent and Larry Sullivan worked at the Goodyear Tire and Rubber Company. This is a very large nearby factory job that was putting most of the meat on the tables of families living in this area. I talked to several folks who lived there in the 1970s and the 80s and they described it as either someone in your house worked at Goodyear or one of your neighbors did. I think it was something like one in every four households had someone working at that Goodyear.

[Sam]

Well, like you said, they both worked there together and they worked there as they also worked at the drive through.

[Nick]

That's a lot of time together, my friend. As you and I both know, Roger parent was born October 28, 1945 in Akron, Ohio, and he served this greatest of nations serving in the US army from 1965 to 1968, was a member of the VFW, the American Legion, the Eagles and the Bass Masters Association. So both Roger Parent and Larry Sullivan were working at Goodyear. Larry Sullivan was also working part time at a local carryout when the owner at some point decides he wants to sell the business. And Larry Sullivan was working there, wanted to take ownership of the little store. So he then approaches his buddy Roger Parent and the two agreed to go in halves on the store. They would work at Goodyear during the day and ran the store during their off hours, mostly splitting time there. Due to their careers at Goodyear, they did have a handful of part time employees that would help them run the store. Both Roger and Larry had family so they couldn't spend every waking hour working at one of the two businesses.

[Sam]

Well, I'm guessing the dream was eventually just to work the drive thru or possibly buy more drive throughs.

[Nick]

Yeah. So back then, especially back then, these larger outfits like Goodyear, Goodyear was a major operation. Still is. And back then I would imagine the idea would be, hey, let's put it, you put in your time there, 20 years, 25 years, get a good pension, get a good pension, fairly early retirement, but you're still young enough that you want to do something and here you have this entrepreneurship where you could run your local store. And this was like a cool local store. This was a favorite of the locals and so they had a lot of traffic through there and they were both well known in town because they worked with everybody at Goodyear and then people knew them from the drive thru as well.

[Sam]

And also it's nice to know the people at the drive thru.

[Nick]

Now shout out to the hard working men and women of the Aglays County Sheriff's department and specifically sheriff Michael Voorhees who runs that fine outfit. The ugly sheriff's department is in Wapakoneta, Ohio, a beautiful town that is famous for. Do you know Captain, deep down I know you know Neil Armstrong, the first man on the moon, grew up in Wapakoneta.

[Sam]

Well, if you buy that story.

[Nick]

Yeah, and some don't. But to the credit of the sheriff's department, Uglais county has one one single outstanding cold case homicide. The murder of Roger Parent Jr. They solve violent crimes committed there. They get the bad guys, they lock them up. This case has been worked to the bone, my friends. Roger's case is revisited at least once or twice every year with an all hands on deck approach. This year they chose to meet with us True Crime Garage so that we could cover the story so they don't mind thinking outside of the box. They have held case presentations in the county over the years to meet with people in the community, sharing the facts and some of the evidence in the case with the public. They have pushed to keep the story in the media as well, with an open communication policy with the news and the papers and now utilizing what I believe to be the best form of media when it comes to true crime and cold cases podcast. So here we are today talking about this cold case. Now, as we said in the trailer, this is a rather low crime area for the most part, even today, especially violent crime. However, listeners of this show and followers of True Crime know businesses that stay open late at night in the 70s and still to this day sometimes are an easy target for bad guys looking to make a quick score. There was and had been one previous robbery in 1974 that took place at this particular store. Okay, so that would be several years before our case that we're talking about here today. But that robbery, Captain, in 1974 had prompted the owners to implement a policy of having two employees on duty at closing time. So that 74 robbery did take place near closing time as well. Now, on this particular night, the night in question, for reasons lost to time, it seems like that rule was broken. Joe Hudson, who was working that night at the P and S carryout, left his shift at the drive thru early that night around 11:35pm leaving Roger parent alone to manage the final stretch.

[Sam]

Well, sometimes this happens, right? It's a slow night. You have an employee there, but you're the owner trying to be the good guy. Hey, we're a little slow. If you want to get out of here, I can close up. No big deal.

[Nick]

Factor in a couple things too. There's a short window of time here between the time that Joe Hudson would leave and closing time. And Roger Parent is in his early to mid-30s and he's, he's from the army. He can take care of himself, right? Yeah, it's, it's a half hour alone. So the bars were having their last rushes. Around this time, people were making their final beer runs before heading home. As midnight approached, the flow of drive thru customers was slowing down. Around this time, now that we're down to one worker within a short window of time, a local man, who we will call customer number one, pulled into the drive through. As he approached, he noticed a vehicle parked off to the side of the building. He says a man was standing near this car or this vehicle, briefly kneeling down before standing up again as customer number one's vehicle passed. A moment later, as customer number one was at the window speaking with Roger about the football game, he says he saw that same man now inside the carryout. And at the time, this man, this person is a seemingly innocuous figure in the background. Customer number one completed his purchase of beer and soda and then drove away, unaware that he was to be possibly the last person to see Roger Parent alive. The cash register tape would later corroborate his purchase. Customer number one's purchase. Customer number one says that he left the drive through and then drove to the nearby La Grande pizza place to pick up a pizza pie there. What happened in the minutes that followed is a vortex of speculation and sparse evidence. The man that customer number one saw, he described as a white male, around 35 to 40 years old, about 5 foot 8 inches tall and weighing 160 to 170 pounds. He had curly sandy colored hair and was wearing blue jeans, a brown or tan jacket, and most notably a gray hat. Describing the hat as like the kind that old men wore to church.

[Sam]

Yeah, I almost say like a old detective hat. But he also had no facial hair, no glasses, and was a stranger to this eyewitness.

[Nick]

Yes, I think that's key here. So customer number one noted that the man kept his hands in his pockets the entire time, a detail suggesting that he was playing pocket pool, he was concealing a weapon.

[Sam]

Okay.

[Nick]

The witness did not recognize this man, as you had said there, Captain, which in a town like St. Mary's yeah, is significant.

[Sam]

This was my initial thought too, as you go. Well, is he wearing this type of hat to conceal his identity? But he's not wearing any glasses or anything else, so I wonder if this is just a part of his Persona.

[Nick]

The official timeline suggests the murder took place in a very narrow window of time, sometime around 11:45pm the motive appeared to be robbery. The weapon, a 12 gauge shotgun. But the execution is puzzling. The so the killer confronted Roger. Remember, he has a military background, right. And by all accounts is a levelheaded man, but also not one to start fights. There is no sign of a struggle at this murder scene. It seems Roger was either taken completely by surprise or even possibly had his back turned when a 12 gauge shotgun was fired at very close range, directly on or just inches from his back. Roger Parent was wearing his Bassmasters jacket, a testament to his passion for fishing, which would initially conceal the full extent of the level of bloodshed at the scene. So the cash register tape logged just one more transaction after customer number one's purchase. Remember, customer number one purchased beer and soda before leaving to go pick up a pizza. After that purchase and after customer number one had left the drive thru, a single pack of cigarettes was logged as a transaction on the register.

[Sam]

Does it show that it was paid for? Because I remember back in the day, you'd pull into the drive thru, they would take your order, you go give me a pack of Marble Lights, give me a six pack, give me a can of Coke. They would go to the register, normally type something in and then come back to give you the items and then also to collect the payment.

[Nick]

Correct. Now the unfortunately I've had, I've had the opportunity to review the register tape from that night that is part of the evidence that was collected that night. It doesn't read that way. So it doesn't read as cash received or even change given. It's simply each transaction is typed in and it's money received put in the register. And like I said, what, what the register tape is taking inventory of is simply the sale. And keep in mind the time period that we're talking about. We have folks that run cash registers today and they can be quite complicated with the computer screens and everything. But back then it was even more work to run a register because oftentimes the machine isn't generating the, the change that you are to give for them. Here with this cash register, who knows how old this thing was? My guess is they had this cash register, it came with the store when they bought it years prior and it was simply you didn't type in Budweiser six pack and then it came up with the price of it. No, you, you had memorized or you would review the price tag on the side of the item and you would simply type in the cost of those goods, the dollar amount. So the register doesn't read Budweiser, Pepsi pack of Marlboros. It doesn't read like that. It simply reads the dollar amount. The one thing that it does do automatically is it will add the tax for the person running the register. And based off of the portion of the register tape that I reviewed, it looks like either the register doesn't provide for you the amount of change that you are to give, or the operator is just calculating that in their head and doing it themselves. So if you, you come through the the drive thru, their captain, Your purchase is $5 and 50 cents. You hand me a 10, I can quickly say $4 and 50 cents is your change and make change for you. What we do know is based off of the prices of the items in the drive thru. It's very, it lines up with customer number one story that they bought beer and soda and then left. The reason why the thought is that a single pack of cigarettes was the next purchase is based off of the price. It was the same price as a pack of cigarettes, what they were selling them for and some evidence that would later be found at the scene as well. So the other part of this, they find a pack of cigarettes outside nearby, unopened. Okay. So one thing they don't find is they interviewed everybody who claimed to have been there that night, to have claimed to have come through the drive through within that hour or even the hour before the homicide took place. No one interviewed ever claimed to buy a pack of cigarettes and then lost them or threw them down right that night. So the idea here, it's presumably the killer requested a pack of cigarettes. Roger then recorded the purchase on the register. The killer shot Rogers, Roger in the back, Roger collapsed. The killer took $95 from the register then fled the scene.

[Sam]

What a big score for killing somebody.

[Nick]

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[Sam]

All right, we are back. Tall canes in the air. Cheers to the people in the back.

[Nick]

That's right. If you are tuning in for the first time to our little garage show, do know that we discussed a solved case and an unsolved case last week and next week we have another unsolved case. A true crime story from Georgia. So make sure that you hit that subscribe button. Now that night the silence of the night was broken. But not by the gunshot because that squatty little solid block building sealed the sound muffled the sound of that gunshot. So the silence of that late Friday night was broken by a chilling discovery. A woman who we will call customer number two lived in the surrounding neighborhood. There's a neighborhood that surrounds the store backs up to this neighborhood is a better way to describe it.

[Sam]

Well, sometimes the drive throughs would become walkthroughs.

[Nick]

Well and we know this from where we grew up. We would we had little local stores that we would often ride our bikes to. They were a short distance from the house and a lot of times on summer days you would just use it as something to do to pass the time or to to get some kind of snack or treat. This customer number two, who lives nearby decided to make a last minute trip to the drive thru carry out to collect a late night snack, a bag of potato chips. Customer number two, having been inside the carry out countless times before, she likely called out for whoever was working or you know, a quick Hello. Or maybe even to Roger as she walked in, expecting a familiar greeting. Instead she says, there's nobody in there. She's met with unnerving silence. She walked through the side door and toward the main counter. As she approached the counter, she peered over the counter. And then her heart froze. There on the floor, lying in a pool of blood, was Roger. She panicked. She turned and at the same time she threw the bag of chips and fled back to the neighborhood screaming. She was looking for help and looking for it fast. She needed to get Roger help, but she wasn't going to go back into the store alone. So she ran to the first neighbor that she could think of. Let's call him neighbor number one. She tells neighbor number one what she had found. Roger lying in a pool of blood behind the counter at the carryout slash drive thru. Neighbor number one rushed back to the carryout with customer number two, knelt beside Roger, checked for a pulse. This is a desperate, futile gesture. Roger, by neighbor number one's account was probably already gone by this point, confirming their worst fears. Neighbor number one ran back to his house to call for help. This is an era before 911. So he called the fire department for EMS and then the local police or sheriff's office. After making the calls, he returns on foot to the scene, pulls down the large drive through door. This is a quick but grim attempt to secure the area while they waited for authority. I mean, you're there, you have a great idea, unfortunately of what happened, right? It's a late night drive through carryout, owner dead on the floor, you don't know where the perpetrator is, is he coming back?

[Sam]

And you don't know if the perpetrator was on foot or if he drove through. And then also if the, if those doors are open and the lights are on, it's a drive through. You have to drive through the building. Well then disturb your scene. So it's, it's pretty smart to go, hey, let's shut these doors. Let's make sure nobody can drive through our crime scene.

[Nick]

Yeah, and the bars and the pizza places and all those businesses that are going to stay open late for a Friday night, they're all closing around this time. Same as what they were attempting to do at the drive thru so you could get people on their way home. Oh, the drive thru is still open. Swing through. So this quiet night was pierced by the wail of, of sirens.

[Sam]

Sirens or silence?

[Nick]

Sirens. Police sirens.

[Sam]

Sirens. Not saying that word completely correct.

[Nick]

Sirens.

[Sam]

Sirens. That's better.

[Nick]

I don't know what you were hearing, but I was saying sirens.

[Sam]

I'm telling you, the listeners, they heard it.

[Nick]

Hopefully you can delete this portion in post.

[Sam]

No.

[Nick]

So the quiet night was pierced by the wail of sirens, police sirens, we're going to have fire department and so on. The call went out and law enforcement began to converge on the scene. The crime had occurred just outside of St. Mary's city limits, but the community considered it part of their town. We have a designated township deputy. A man named Marsh was known to be close by. This is due to the high concentration of bars around this area. This is a lake community. According to one of the firefighters who arrived at 12:03am Deputy Marsh had already beaten them to the location. Customer number two and neighbor number one, who had discovered the body, had to open the door for him, granting the first official access. It wasn't until Roger's body was moved that the true volume of blood became apparent. Yeah, his glasses were found on the floor near his head. A brand new unopened pack of Marlboro cigarettes was found on the ground just outside of the store. Its exact location nearby. It, it looks to me that either someone simply dropped them, I mean, there's, there is a chance that these cigarettes have little to nothing to do with the case at all.

[Sam]

But like you said, it matches.

[Nick]

Maybe somebody purchased them there and dropped them on accident. Maybe somebody had them on their lap when they got out of their pot, out of their car and they fell to the ground. But it seems to stand to reason, or at least basic logic, that when you have this purchase of what would be the exact cost of Marlboro cigarettes as the last recorded transaction on the register and the cigarettes found outside, that either A, the killer did this to distract Roger Parent or actually wanted the cigarettes and dropped them on his way fleeing the scene.

[Sam]

Well, and I don't know if we have evidence if the killer drove through the drive through or if they walked through, because to me, if you're going to commit this crime, it'd just be easier to walk in, commit the crime. Because if you're going to take money, if the motive is to take money from the cash register, then if you just walk in, you don't have to get out of your vehicle, if that makes any sense.

[Nick]

Well, exactly. You would pull up and then the problem you would have if you chose to exit, go into the drive through, exit your vehicle and get the money. Regardless of where you shoot the clerk, you have the potential of somebody pulling up behind you, reading your license plate, seeing you getting Back in the car. And then once they figure out that there's a robbery homicide here, you're, if you were trying to conceal your identity, now you have a big problem. Your, your car is sitting under lights for a great description. Your plate would be easily visible to anybody behind you. So it, it stands to reason that the person would want to come inside if this was something that they had thought through and had a general understanding of the store. This also goes along with what customer number one is saying. Right? He's saying, when, when I approach the drive thru, I'm in my vehicle. I drove past the guy that he was near, he was near a vehicle parked off to the side. And then once I'm in the drive through and talking to Roger, I then see the man in the background, that same man, he's, he's on foot inside the carryout waiting for me and Roger to be done talking. And then I left. Everything was normal when I left. So back to that item at the scene. A brand new unopened pack of Marlboro cigarettes found outside, just outside the. It's assumed to be the very pack from the final ghost purchase of the night. Had Roger rung up the cigarettes and handed them over before being shot, or was the request a diversion to get close without raising suspicion?

[Sam]

Well, and sometimes people rob locations and they don't have a full understanding of the business. So they go, okay, well I'm going to rob them towards the end of the night because that's when they're going to have the most money. But sometimes people rob a business without the understanding that they're not going to have a lot of cash on them. So you go, well, they didn't score that much cash, so that makes this motive seem a little flimsy. But if I'm an investigator, I'm going, okay, well is this to establish a motive and is this killing based on something else? And so I think you have to look at the individuals in Roger's life. What kind of relationships, friend wise, does he have and what kind of relationships maybe does he have romantically?

[Nick]

Yes, and I agree with you, it's not a great score. 95 bucks. 95 bucks back then would be roughly about $500 today.

[Sam]

Yeah. But it could be enough money to get you from point A to point

[Nick]

B. Oh, I would think $500, you know, 95 bucks get you a good stretch if you needed to get from point A to point.

[Sam]

And we don't have a ton of evidence, but we do have this eyewitness that says I didn't know the guy. Here's what the guy looked like. And I didn't know him. That doesn't mean he's not local. But there is a good possibility that he isn't local because that's another thing too. We have eyewitnesses seeing this. This camper van, A red camper truck.

[Nick]

Yeah. We should point out that customer number one is not the only potential eyewitness for this night.

[Sam]

Right.

[Nick]

Back to something you said, though. We do know a lot about customer number one. Okay. We're choosing not to identify these people because it's an unsolved homicide from a small area with customer number one who grew up in the area.

[Sam]

Yeah.

[Nick]

Saying I didn't recognize the guy. You're exactly right, Captain. Doesn't mean that the guy's not local. But what it does mean is that it severely decreases the chance that he is local. Customer number one knows, growing up there, knows most of the people in, in that area. Now, when investigators began to process the scene, they were met with some puzzling set of clues. Look, motive here obviously would appear to be straight robbery. It's late at night, the owner operator is working alone. Potential witnesses before and after the crime, but no one else present in the drive through during the robbery or the murder. But there, there is some hold back information here. And we all know that the devil hides in those details. That information was discussed when I met with the detectives and the sheriff. And we all agree that their holdback information. Well, I should say, I should say I agree, Captain. It's highly suggestive of two things. One, the killer probably did not know Roger, or if he did, he didn't know him extremely well. And two, I believe that the killer had been in PNs carry out on a prior occasion or on prior occasions. But I don't think that the killer worked there, or at least never worked there during the time that Roger Parent and Larry Sullivan owned the business.

[Sam]

Yeah. And just to be clear, it's a, it's a complete honor that any law enforcement would want to reach out to us and share information about cases. They prefer to share the information with you and most law enforcement officers say. We'll share the information with the colonel. We don't need to hear any dick jokes.

[Nick]

So now in our timeline, Captain, it's after midnight, Roger was transported to a local hospital. But by the way things looked, it was already too late when he was found on the floor behind the counter by customer number two. And then neighbor number one, the Gator bowl was coming to a Close. And the score was tight. With the game on the line, it was third and five for the Buckeyes who were trailing 17 to 15. With just two minutes left in the game, Ohio State had the ball on Clemson's 24 yard line. OSU quarterback Art Schleester was having one hell of a game. He had two rushing touchdowns and had completed 16 of 19 passes. So legendary coach Woody Hayes decided to keep the ball in the hands of his star qb. On that third and five he called a pass play. Ohio State quarterback Art Schleester then threw a short pass that was intercepted by Clemson nose guard Charlie Bowman. Bowman avoided several tackles, gaining 12 yards. Bowman was finally shoved out of bounds on the Ohio State sideline. And after he got up, Ohio State coach Woody Hayes grabbed his jersey and punched him in the throat. OSU players pulled Hayes away and back behind the sideline. The player thankfully was unaffected by Hayes's attack, but the incident sparked a brief, intense bench clearing fight between players of both teams. But in the end, the Clemson Tigers had the ball in the lead and they held both until time expired. The game concluded at prox at approximately 12:28am Eastern Standard Time. The final score, Clemson 17, Ohio State 15.

[Sam]

Well, just to be clear for the listeners out there that don't like sports, you're not allowed to punch the other team's players. If you're a coach, that's not allowed.

[Nick]

I don't think anybody's allowed to punch the other team's players. Roger Parent, a guy who everyone knew not just because he was a good dude but also because he had worked for years at the factory that was very much the backbone bone of the community and he co owned the best drive thru and carry out in town, was pronounced dead at the hospital. OSU coach Woody Hayes was fired the next morning. And since that day, for the folks of St. Mary's in Ugl county, those two events have always been tied together, right? It will always be the night that Woody Hayes punched that Clemson player and the night that someone walked into the PNS carryout and, and shot Roger Parent in cold blood.

[Sam]

When you said that this individual, the killer, might have been seen at the drive through previously, it makes me wonder because some of these towns we know they have the rubber factory, right?

[Nick]

So we should, we should clear that up. I didn't say that he had been. You mean right before the murder or on a previous occasion?

[Sam]

Previous occasion.

[Nick]

Okay, we should clear that up. My, it's my opinion there's no witness to say that they had Seen this person in the carry out before that night. It's my opinion, based off of the evidence that was reviewed with the sheriff's department, that I believe the perpetrator had been in the carry out prior to that night on at least one occasion.

[Chef Franklin Becker]

No.

[Sam]

And that's interesting because like I said, these towns would be known to have these factories and sometimes especially more. Back in the day people would, would drive a distance to get a job like this because hey, it's going to cost me a little bit more in gas, but it's a solid job with a solid retirement plan.

[Nick]

I believe that the guy was probably local, but not local local. I think he was like next town over local. I think that it was an individual that probably had been there before and knew that they stayed open late and that there would likely be only one person. And I think it was somebody going straight for a robbery and straight to look to take whatever was in that register.

[Sam]

And they might have also had knowledge that this game was going to be on. I mean, this would have been a big deal game, especially around this time period. Well, heck, I mean, back then it's like once it hit dark, there was just not that many people on the roads.

[Nick]

A crucial detail from the autopsy report. Roger was shot once in the back with a sawed off shotgun. So they were able to determine that it was a sawed off shotgun fired at very, very close range. I know we described some of that prior, but what they did was a grease test on his jacket and the wadding from the shell that had passed through his body had helped determine the proximity of the weapon at the time that it was fired.

[Sam]

Right.

[Nick]

Assault off shotgun would have been easily concealable under a coat. This may explain why the individual in the carry out, witnessed by a couple of people outside and then inside by customer number one, was seen without a weapon and is in fact the murderer. So again, the whole thing here is, and it goes back to something that you were saying earlier, but it's, it's the roundtable discussion of, well, did he shoot Roger first? If he did, how did he manage to get the register open? But the more practical side of this says that he probably requested the cigarettes. We don't know if that was actually paid for, if he handed over any money and he requested the cigarettes, giving him just enough time to have the victim turn away so he could pull out the weapon. Either the weapon wasn't present and he asked Roger for another item and Roger turns his back or the weapon is present and Roger turns his back to Turn away from the gun and then

[Sam]

is shot, which makes a lot of sense. It also makes me wonder too, is, does Roger have the pack of cigarettes and when he turns kind of tosses them or do they fall on the ground and then the killer, when he turns to get away, kicks them by accident?

[Nick]

The cigarette.

[Sam]

I know it's a nothing burger, but it's. This is an interesting scene.

[Nick]

It is. And, and I'm glad that you want to stick with this for a minute because the cigarettes to me are troubling. Okay. Because think of the scenario. What would the killer. The. It's suggestive that the. Based off the register tape and the cigarettes being found outside unopened, that the killer gets these cigarettes and then in the course of fleeing, either drops them or throws them down because he's not even a smoker. Gets in his car, drives off with $95 cash and a smoking hot gun. But what did I just say there? He also has cash and the gun. The guy didn't have three hands. Right. And the cigarettes, if they were the ones that were rang up, made their way outside of the drive through carry out.

[Sam]

I mean, it's possible he has three hands. But the eyewitness never stated that he saw a man with three hands.

[Nick]

I'm just saying the likelihood that the, the cigarettes fell out of a pocket seem much less to me than if they were just tossed or, or he dropped them. But in his hands, presumably at this time, he's got three things. The gun, the cash, and the cigarettes.

[Sam]

Yeah, but this seems so violent to me that it's. That makes me wonder, okay, if he's not a smoker, then picking out that as an item is a ruse. Is that the only ruse? And would you kill somebody over 95 bucks, or is there another motive? And because this makes sense to me, it wouldn't take a rocket scientist to go, hey, I want this guy dead for whatever reason, I will go to his place of work where I have easy access to go in and out. I will ask to purchase a pack of cigarettes, and then I will shoot him and I'll rob him, and then people will assume that this was just a, just a robbery that went bad. And so I, I really want to know what was going on in his personal life.

[Nick]

Well, there's. Yeah, but there's also the old adage of leave no witness. Right. Regardless if you know the individual or not. And, and you're. This has really the, the ongoing theories for investigators here have time and time again that they're forced to revisit are two primary scenarios for the murder. First, like you said, a robbery gone bad. The perpetrator didn't intend to kill Roger, but was startled, nervous, perhaps Roger reached for the cigarettes and the shotgun goes off. The second was in an intentional premeditated murder where it could be either a. Like you say, maybe there's a reason for, for this individual to want to kill Roger Parent, or it's just simply premeditated in the sense that the killer waited for other employees to be gone, Joe to leave knowing that the cash register would potentially be at its fullest at the end of the night, goes in there to collect, goes in there to collect the money and decides I'm leaving no witness.

[Sam]

And so premeditated earlier a second right there. Because that to me would suggest he, he doesn't have to be local. Local, but that would suggest he's local on some capacity. Because if you're from a whole different state, what would it matter that he saw you? You're going to take the 95 bucks and within an hour you're in a different state. So but if you're local, then you would be worried about him identifying you

[Nick]

or someone else seeing you. And yeah, that, that's one thing that the investigators discussed was if it were an intentional murder, they then that would obviously point more toward a local person, someone who knew Roger, knew his routine. Maybe it wasn't personal in nature, maybe it had everything to do with the robbery, but it would be somebody that didn't want to be identified and out of towner, as you just reasoned, and others would. It makes sense. Wouldn't care as much about being seen. So this all leads back to the description of the potential suspect. Was that just what he was wearing, some kind of, you know, his normal get up? Or could, could that have been a disguise?

[Sam]

Right.

[Nick]

And like we said there, it's believed that there was more than one person to have seen this individual that night, but not necessarily inside the building. We do know that he was also spotted by customer number one out in the parking lot for a very, very brief time. Customer number one, let's call him the key witness here, worked with a sketch artist and also with the identikit that was popular back then. That's where you kind of go through and you pick out the, the nose that looks the best, you pick out the hat that looks the best. And by the time you go through picking everything out, you have your complete description of the individual. One thing we're going to be releasing that has not been wide spread to this point, there are the suspect composite sketches, a profile picture as well as a. I shouldn't say picture, a profile sketch.

[Sam]

Right.

[Nick]

As well as a front view sketch. But there, there's also that identikit that's not been widespread to this point. And the sheriff's department and I, we all agree that needs to be thrown out there as much as the, the sketch itself, because to me they don't, they look very, very similar, but they don't look the same. And I think that the other one could trigger, hopefully trigger someone's memory better than what the sketch has for all this time. The other part of this though too, that's interesting is this the stupid hat. Okay. The image of the suspect depicts a man in a hat.

[Sam]

Yeah.

[Nick]

And you described it a little differently than I did.

[Sam]

I think I seen stupider hats.

[Nick]

I think both of our descriptions are good. I also think that the one, one of the witnesses descriptions of, well, what kind of hat was it? He didn't name what kind of hat it was. He says it was the kind that, you know, old men might wear to church on Sunday.

[Sam]

Yeah.

[Nick]

Then others seeing the hat, the drawing of the hat have described it as a fedora. Then this is interesting because with all these cases, especially these old ones, what's one of the things that we like the most here in the garage? Talk to the local people and in hear their suspicions and hear what the rumors were that they were hearing at the time. Because we've seen this, not every case, but many, many cases that something that was said by the locals early on ends up being true. There's some truth to it once the solution is presented for the mystery. So one thing that the local old timers have suggested to the sheriff's department in this case, one thing we need to keep in mind, 1978, none of the guys working the case today were on the sheriff's department at that time. In fact, the meeting that we had a room full of 10 people, there was one individual that was old enough to, to know the area and the people at the time in that meeting, he was like 8 at the time of the murder.

[Sam]

Right.

[Nick]

Some locals, when they presented this case to the public, like I said, they've, they've gone to the public many times and presented the case to the, the public. Some of the local old timers have told the sheriff's office this hat might not have been a fedora, might not have been a dress type hat. It could have been a bucket hat. And the old timers have a few Reasons for this suspicion? One, it actually was a popular style of hat worn by Goodyear workers at the time when they were at work to keep soot out of their hair during their shifts.

[Sam]

Yeah, again, it goes back to that. What was his personal relationships? Is there a possibility that he had a co worker that he had run ins with? And so it could be a fedora hat, it could be a bucket hat or what I call a fisherman's hat, or it possibly could be something like a pork pie hat. But I lean towards the. The first two options.

[Nick]

The other part of that is to extend on what you're saying here. A fisherman's hat, this is a lake community. Yep. Fishing is a big time shared hobby here. I live near a lake. I see nine months out of the year, if I go one mile to the east, I will see something that is suggestive of fishing. I will see a boat, fishing rods, a person who is dressed as they're going fishing, a person purchasing bait.

[Sam]

I scuba, Steve.

[Nick]

Every. You just see it all the time. So the, the bucket hat makes a lot of sense there. It's not described or depicted as such in the sketches or the identicate, but it's something to keep in mind and it's something that makes a whole lot of sense.

[Sam]

Yeah. And if we're trying to connect the dots, you go, fisherman hat and this red camper truck lake community. To me, you go, well, it could point to somebody going there to go camping, to take a little break. And it's also, it's around the New Year's time, so you would assume that people would have time off of work. I mean, we know it was a Saturday, but I'm just saying, does that make sense? Depending on where.

[Nick]

When New Year's falls, Friday going into Saturday.

[Sam]

Yeah. And so depending on when New Year's falls, the person would have time. So we see a lot of these crimes take place during these holiday weekends.

[Nick]

Initially here, the hope of the individual depicted in the sketch and the identikit. I mean, it was the hope that this was just an innocent bystander, that he could be another potential witness or have information that would help the sheriff's office.

[Sam]

Right.

[Nick]

However, it's been over 40 years, this guy has not come forward and said, oh, yeah, that's me in the sketch, or that's me that had that vehicle that was described as being outside. That person's never come forward. And you've heard us talk about this. If you're a longtime listener, you've heard us talk about this aspect of cases many, many times.

[Sam]

Well, just to be clear, there's. There's more than one witness that saw this individual. Right.

[Nick]

Customer number one, by far has the most detailed description of the man and the most detailed description of the potential vehicle that he could be linked to. We need to keep in mind one big part of the story is he's. While he may have been spotted kneeling down next to a vehicle, he's never seen getting in or out of a vehicle by any witness at all. Yeah.

[Sam]

So his vehicle could have been parked

[Nick]

somewhere else, or he could have been on foot. I mean, we just said it backed up to the name. The possibilities here are so one of the possibilities that I thought was crazy on its surface doesn't seem so crazy after the fact because we talked about. And we're going to get into these rumors, some of the rumors here, but one of the rumors was that a local bad guy was at one of the nearby bars. They're super busy. It's Friday night. Nobody's really keeping tabs on everybody and keeping check on who's here and who's not. They were saying, like, look it, it wouldn't be crazy. It's not out of the realm of possibility that this dude gets up from his seat at the bar and says, I'm going to the bathroom, or the place is busy and disappears for 15 minutes. Somebody could have presumably walked from one of those bars. Quick jog over to the carry out, go inside, shoot the guy, take the money, and then you're back on your barstool in 15, 20 minutes.

[Sam]

Yeah. And what happens when you start drinking?

[Nick]

You want to start smoking again? It goes back to the idea this guy never coming forward. Then it's probably, this is probably your guy, this is probably your suspect. And the part that we're talking about now has been a little bit of a point of confusion. Right. So we have customer number one who saw a car parked on the side of the building. We have earlier notes about a red and white camper truck. Then we have something about a teletype came in. It was circulating about an orange Pinto that was urging officers to be on the lookout for an orange Pinto. But use caution, as the way that the case file reads today, 40 years later, almost 50 years later, there's no clear explanation as to what this orange Pinto may or may not mean to the investigation, but it is something that is in the case file. Turn of the year, New year's comes by. January 1979. The community buzzed with rumors as they tried to piece together this Puzzle. The randomness or possible randomness of this crime was a reoccurring theme of those rumors. Was a reoccurring theme to the locals who were trying to come up with their best theory as to who and why this was done. The carry out, the drive through was highly visible. It's a high traffic area. And so what you cannot completely dismiss is it's possible the killer was an out of towner who had been at one of the nearby bars like the surf club, Just a short walk across an open field. But there were other theories, Captain, and other rumors that swirled much closer to home. So within a few months of the murder, two local men died by suicide. The rumor mill immediately connected them individually, separately to the crime. One name in particular kept surfacing. Mike Sampson. So this is a name. This is a story that has remained and is persistently linked to the Roger Parent homicide over the years. But to be perfectly clear, it lacks in both details and more importantly, evidence. So as the story goes, In February of 1979, overwhelmed with guilt, Samson killed himself in his bedroom, leaving a note that explicitly confesses to the crime. The rumor is that the note said something as simple as I killed Roger. Now, according to that local rumor, the father discovered the scene and destroys the note to protect his family's reputation. Investigators looked into this theory time and time again. Actually, they've revisited this theory, but the official reports on Samson's death contain no mention of a note. So either a, the father was successful in destroying that right evidence and cleaned up the suicide scene a little bit before folks got there to document what took place. Or the other option is the note never existed and this was something. Something that was made up. It was something that was made up to reconcile both of these events.

[Sam]

Well, this would go against the eyewitness reports, right? I mean, the. I'm assuming that this guy was younger than 35 to 40.

[Nick]

Yeah, actually you're, you're spot on with that. He would have been in his early 20s. And I asked the, the older gentleman to describe this individual that was in our meeting. And now again, he was 8 years old at this time. But it's an area where everybody practically knows everybody. And he said that in the others in the room agreed with him based off of what they've heard over the years, that this individual, unfortunately, who did take his own life, regardless of the circumstances, was described to me as somebody that wasn't functioning on a normal level. They were hesitant to give a diagnosis, but did say that today this individual would have. There would have been A certain term for, for why he was not functioning on a normal level. He was somebody that never lived outside of his parents home. He was somebody that did get into trouble on occasion. Got into trouble fairly regularly as an adult. But they, they're suspicious that it was more of his, more in regard of his condition rather than being just an evil terrible human being but still could

[Sam]

be responsible for heinous crime.

[Nick]

Yeah, another, that other suicide occurred the same year 1979. This also drew the attention of investigators at the time and of course the locals. This individual, his name is Alan Mockinbaugh. He took his own life shortly after the murder. His wife says that she believed that it, that it was because he knew who killed Roger.

[Sam]

Right.

[Nick]

Maybe not that he did it. She says that the, the sheriff's department has a bit of an issue with this story because there was a lot of turmoil in this marriage. So they're not living together at the time that Alan takes his life. They suspect that that is probably why he took his life. That his, his marriage and his family had completely fallen apart mostly by his own wrongdoing.

[Sam]

But can be a big stressor.

[Nick]

He as the story goes, or as the rumor has always been, he called his soon to be ex wife and said I know who did it. Naming the person that was responsible. Then he takes his own life. So the investigators agreed at the time of a couple things. It was easy to see the problems with this air quotes confession. But they also found the lead to be very compelling. Viewing his statements almost as a confession without confessing possibly that he was the individual responsible. But on the phone call claiming to know who was responsible but it not

[Sam]

being him, did he not give a name to his.

[Nick]

The rumor as the story goes is that he gave a name to the wife and this name was passed along to investigators. The name has never surfaced though. Interesting and it is, it's something that the sheriff's office are, are well, well aware of.

[Sam]

But blink twice if you know the name.

[Nick]

If I, if I do. I did know the name and I don't know it today. Sometimes I purposely forget things. It's in the interest of the, it's in the best interest of the case for me to forget things. Another suspicion and this is hits very close to home. So as the years passed, Roger parents brother, the victim's brother, his name is Larry, not to be confused with Larry Sullivan who was co owner. So as this story goes, Roger's brother Larry who was at a party the night of the murder began to form his own suspicion. So he was at a football party that night. He shared a story about another one of the brothers, Louis Parent. He says, look, Louis owned a lot of guns, a lot of shotguns. He was known to associate at the time with a very what he referred to as a rough crowd and he was always in need of money. So Larry believed that Louis might have been involved in the 1974 robbery at the carryout and drive through. The most suspicious part for Larry in regard to his brother Louie was not evidence but complete silence. He says that from the day that Roger Parent was shot, Larry never saw nor heard from his brother Louis again. He simply vanished.

[Sam]

That's suspicious.

[Nick]

Now the last known trace of this individual was a report that he was living somewhere in a. He's sleeping in a camper in someone's backyard outside of Tampa, Florida.

[Sam]

Is it a red camper?

[Nick]

I don't have any information beyond.

[Sam]

But pretty bizarre, your brother is murdered. Seems like the motive might have been robbery but you're non existent to your family afterwards. That's pretty bizarre.

[Nick]

Well, and obviously Roger would be able to identify his own brother, therefore needs to be killed.

[Sam]

Absolutely.

[Nick]

One, one part that we should point out in Louie's defense. One thing I do know about Louie and am well aware of is that it wasn't all peaches and cream with him, with the family before Roger was killed. It's not like he, you know, the brother says it's complete silence. He never saw him again after Roger's killed. But it's not like they were hanging out and they were all chummy beforehand. He was already on the outs with the family prior to this. Again, he was running with a bad crowd. He was always in need of money. He wasn't somebody in the family that the family members were looking forward to seeing or kept in regular contact with.

[Sam]

Well, and also you can go down a rabbit hole of maybe this brother knew what happened to his brother and knew that those guys or that guy was a bad individual and he had to get out of town.

[Nick]

Decades later, the murder of Roger Parent remains unsolved. The physical evidence, the pack of Marlboros was collected. Modern forensic analysis has unfortunately yielded nothing on that. We do have a single fingerprint that was found on the pack of cigarettes. It's been checked against databases for years but never produced a match. They also have the slug in the wad from the shotgun collected by the Bureau of of Criminal Investigation BCI that remains as well. We have the sketch based on a man seen in the drive thru shortly before the murder. A white man aged 35 to 40 with a brimmed hat was seen by an unspecified number of witnesses at the P and S carry out around the time of Roger Parents murder. And keep in mind that's such a short window, right. With people going in and out of there. That only closes that window and makes it even smaller. Witnesses described the suspect as a Caucasian man between the ages of 35 and 40, about 5 foot 8 inches tall, 160 to 170 pounds, curly sandy colored hair. Was wearing a man's old fashioned wide brim felt hat. Some say it was gray. He was also wearing a light brown or tan three quarter length coat and blue jeans. Had no facial hair, no glasses. Was a stranger to our best witness. Customer number one kept his hands in his pockets the entire time and he was a walk in customer and was not seen getting into or out of a vehicle. The identity of the man in the sketch and the identikit has yet to be identified according to Aglays County Sheriff's Department. Before we wrap here today, we mentioned that Pinto was able to track down some more info on this Pinto and figuring out if it's directly connected or not is difficult based on the case file. But that Pinto was also spotted as at a 711 and there were three people inside this vehicle. There was an individual that had a jacket on that had the words Black Bull in on the back of that jacket. And that would have been a business that would have been a town or so over. It's referred to as kind of a legit biker bar, a hangout for bike clubs for you know, bike clubs like the outlaws from Lima and the local Barbarians as they were called back in 78, 79. The problem with this and how much weight do you put into this lead has always been that the suspect's description did not match that of a typical biker or the people that would frequent that Black Bull in on a Friday night.

[Sam]

Right.

[Nick]

So it was really just. It's an interesting lead. I know that they have attempted to follow up on it over the years and we'll continue to follow up on all these leads that we've discussed here today. But it really truly is just another piece of a very complex puzzle. I do want to give a shout out to Abigail Miller who wrote a great article. There's not. While the sheriff's department have kept in close contact with the media and given presentations to the community and the public over the years on this case, there's not been a lot of media on this story in the 40 some years that have gone by. And and Abigail Miller's piece that she did titled Cold Case who Killed this man from 2023 and the Daily Standard was the best one that I came across when looking for information outside of the sheriff's department. And truly where the case sits today, I'm hopeful, I think that it could still very likely be solved. But the case is a collection of persistent rumors, family suspicions and faded evidence. And then top that off with the specters of Mike Sampson, Louis Parent, Alan Meckinbaugh and the unidentified man in the hat continue to haunt the investigation, leaving a community with more questions than answers and a family without closure for a brutal, senseless act that stole a man's life on a cold December night. Another shout out is due to detective and lead investigator Timothy Ramel and Chief Deputy Mike Peterson and the team there at the sheriff's department that they put together to speak with us. True Crime Garage. This is a case that has been talked about a lot over the decades since Roger has been killed. And we discussed a lot of the local rumors. A lot of people liked Roger Parent Jr. And wanted to do whatever they could to try to help. So the sheriff's department did receive a lot of information early on and that has continued over the decades. We are hoping that everyone listening today will take the time to look at the composite sketches, look at the identity kit that we have for you of the suspect, and more importantly, share those images. If you have any information or about the events that led to Roger parents murder, you should report that information to the Oglades County Sheriff's office at 419-739-6565. Ask to speak with Detective Tim Rammel or Chief Deputy Mike Peterson. Callers can remain anonymous and tips can also be sent in anonymously through the sheriff office's website.

[Sam]

All right, I want to thank everybody for joining us here in the garage each and every week. Thanks for telling your mother. Thanks for telling your brother. Your mom goes to college. Colonel, do we have any recommended reading for the beautiful listener?

[Nick]

Yes, we do, Captain. This week we are recommending Michael Rosenberg's book War as They Knew It, Woody Hayes, Bo Schembechler and America in the time of unrest. The late 1960s and early 70s were a time of total turmoil in America. The country was being torn apart by a war most people didn't support. Young men were being taken away by the draft and racial tensions were high. Nowhere was this turmoil more evident than on college campuses. And the uncertain times presented a challenge to two of the greatest football coaches of all time. Woody Hayes, the legendary coach of Ohio State, feared for the future of America. His protege and rival, Bo Schembechler of the University of Michigan, didn't want to be bothered by these distractions. Michael Rosenberg dramatically weaves the campus unrest and political upheaval into the story of Hayes and Schembechler, a rivalry that began at the height of the Vietnam War, War as they knew it. Woody Hayes, Bosham Beckler and America in the Time of Unrest by Michael Rosenberg is this week's recommended reading. You don't have to write that title down now. We will have it for you on our website, truecrimegarage.com and until next week,

[Sam]

be good, be kind and don't litter. Sam.

[Nick]

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