The Cell Phone Murders /// Part 1 /// 784

Summary

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True Crime Garage: The Cell Phone Murders /// Part 1 /// 784

Episode Date: September 3, 2024
Hosts: Nic & The Captain
Case: 1996 Huntsville, Alabama “Cell Phone Murders”

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Overview

This episode dives deep into the shocking quadruple homicide known as the “Cell Phone Murders” in Madison County, Alabama. Nic and the Captain meticulously reconstruct the chain of events from the home-invasion style massacre that left four young people dead in a single night, exploring the chilling escalation of violence that began over petty theft—a stolen cell phone and marijuana. The hosts focus on how a feud among acquaintances exploded into one of Alabama’s most brutal mass shootings, drawing on survivor accounts and forensic evidence to unravel the motives and mindsets of both killers and victims.

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Key Discussion Points & Timeline

1. Setting the Scene: The 911 Call and First Response

• [03:22]
  • September 25, 1996, just before midnight: A frantic 911 call comes in from Linda Williams about a shooting at 6591 University Drive, Huntsville, Alabama.
  • First responder Dale Strong (Assistant Fire Chief/EMT) arrives at 12:01am, joined by armed law enforcement.
  • The scene is described as eerie and silent until a bloodied young man, Ashley Rutherford, bursts out, yelling:
    • “They shot them all, they shot them all.” (Nic, [03:30])
  • The police learn the shooter’s name: Joey Wilson, aka "Doughboy", already familiar to local law enforcement.

2. Crime Scene Details: Chaos and Carnage

• [05:00]
  • Inside Ashley and fiancée Michelle Hayden’s cluttered room: beer cans, graffiti, aquariums with snakes, and a strong stench of gunpowder.
  • “There were so many shell casings, they were like peanut shells on the floor of bleachers after a ball game.” — EMT Dale Strong recalling the overwhelming number of spent casings ([06:05])
  • Four victims found shot:
    • Deceased: Michael Beaudet (19), Brian Carter (21), Johnny Couch (18), Lamar Hemphill (21; died later at hospital)
    • Survivors: Michelle Hayden (shot multiple times), Ashley Rutherford (superficial wound, later ID’s the shooters), and Michael Skurchak (escapes out back).
  • Three suspects quickly identified: Joey Wilson (19), Corey Johnson (23), Nicholas Ackland (24).

3. Rapid Police Response & Arrests

• [10:00 – 17:00]
  • Wilson and Johnson pulled over and arrested within 15 minutes. Ackland apprehended at his trailer at 5:30am by police, weapons recovered.
  • Critical evidence: Michael Beaudet’s driver’s license found in Ackland’s jeans; multiple firearms located and later ballistically tied to the killings.

4. Victims and Survivors: Who They Were

• [17:00 – 19:00]
  • Nic and the Captain highlight the victims’ backgrounds, from jokester Michael B. to Marine reservist Lamar H.
  • Three survivors: Ashley (head scratch wound), Michelle (shot, months in hospital), and Skurchak (unharmed but traumatized, media name suppressed).

5. Motivation and Build-Up: Drugs, Theft, and Miscommunication

• [19:43 – 24:54]
  • The backstory:
    • One week prior, the suspects attempt to buy weed, instead steal it—and a cell phone—from Ashley’s room.
    • Victims lost marijuana (cannot call police) and Lamar’s cell phone (filed official theft report after Joey Wilson answers a callback).
    • Wilson is incorrectly told by a friend that Ashley filed arrest warrants (in fact, only a complaint)—enraging him and kicking off the vengeful plot.

Quote: “You stole somebody's drugs, then you sell their cell phone, you answer the phone, you talk shit about it. Now they're going to have you arrested and you're upset, Right?” — Captain ([24:26])

6. Escalation to Violence: The Hostage Scenario

• [25:00 – 36:00]
  • On the night of the murders, Wilson with Johnson and Ackland storm Ashley’s home, armed and searching for him.
  • Hostages threatened, beaten; some, like Johnny Couch, violently assaulted and humiliated (hair cut off while unconscious).
  • The group waits for Ashley to return from work, thus, the home becomes a powder keg.

7. Terror Tactics and Psychological Abuse

• [36:16 – 42:32]
  • Upon arrival, Ashley is questioned, threatened; Wilson and Ackland lead the violence while Johnson appears less aggressive.
  • Hostages forced to strip, IDs taken, endured taunts and physical abuse.
  • Michelle is sexually assaulted by Ackland and humiliated verbally.
  • Perpetrators alternate between offering a gun—daring captives to fight back—and ramping up threats.

Quote: “Give us a reason. Give us a reason.” — Nic, describing the killers’ taunts ([41:18])

8. The Massacre Itself

• [43:32 – 52:50]
  • Just before midnight, Ackland starts Wilson’s car (the getaway), then returns. Wilson tells him:
    • “If you shoot the first one, I'll shoot the rest of them.” (Wilson to Ackland, [48:29])
  • Ackland shoots Ashley (grazing head wound); Wilson follows, opening fire on the hostages. Pandemonium and bloodshed ensue.
  • Survivors play dead, crawl for help or escape out the back (Skurchak).
  • All four deceased victims shot at close range—mostly execution-style—some multiple times.

9. Law Enforcement and Aftermath

• [52:50 – 56:24]
  • The suspects—known to police and notorious in the area—are quickly caught.
  • Evidence: physical (IDs, guns), ballistic, eyewitness, and confessions.
  • Joey Wilson, in police custody, gives partial confession, downplaying his own role:
    • “That's my crew y'all got locked up out there. I'm not going to turn and rat on them.” (Wilson to Detective KT, [55:55])
  • The Captain sums up:
    • “Everything points to them being the perpetrators of this heinous crime.” ([54:08])

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Notable Quotes & Moments

• “I had never seen anything like that in my life. There were so many shell casings, they were like peanut shells on the floor of bleachers after a ball game.” — Dale Strong, EMT ([06:10])
• “These guys aren't douche canoes. These guys are like douche cruise ships.” — Captain on the perpetrators ([41:21])
• “You all don't know who you're messing with. You're all fake. We're real. You said we robbed you, now we're going to rob you.” — Joey Wilson, per survivor account ([45:35])
• “Some of these scenes, too, what you see is when one of the suspects, one of the perpetrators, starts to ramp up, it only ramps up the other guys involved as well.” — Nick ([39:58])
• “If you shoot the first one, I'll shoot the rest of them.” — Joey Wilson to Nicholas Ackland ([48:29])

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Important Timestamps

• [03:22] – 911 call and first responder arrival
• [05:00] – Description of crime scene
• [06:10] – Shell casings “like peanut shells” quote
• [10:00] – Police identify and pursue suspects
• [14:30] – Ackland apprehended, weapons found
• [19:43] – “Home invasion” vs. “Robbery” discussion
• [21:20] – Backstory: stolen weed and cell phone
• [24:26] – “You’re upset you’re being arrested” quote
• [39:58] – Mob mentality/ramping up violence
• [41:21] – “Douche cruise ships” quote
• [45:35] – “You all don’t know who you’re messing with...” quote
• [48:29] – “You shoot the first one, I'll shoot the rest...” quote
• [55:55] – Wilson’s confession to Detective KT

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Episode Tone & Style

True Crime Garage’s trademark blend of sharp detail, gallows humor, and empathy for the victims is on full display. The hosts pull no punches in describing the senselessness and brutality, riff with dark wit about the perpetrators (“douche cruise ships”), and reflect on how quickly petty disputes can spiral into tragedy.

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Takeaways

• A chilling reminder of how minor disputes can escalate into catastrophic violence.
• Highlights the importance of survivor testimony and quick police work in such cases.
• Sets up anticipation for Part 2, promising a look at the trial, aftermath, and broader impact.

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“Be good, be kind, and don’t litter.”

— Nic & The Captain

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Transcript

[Nick]

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[Captain]

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[Captain]

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[Nick]

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[Captain]

Foreign.

[Nick]

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 is always with me and always with you. Here is the Captain and yeah girl,

[Captain]

I knew about that other guy. I just didn't care. I just didn't care. Come back to me. It's good to be seen and good to see you. Thanks for listening. Thanks for telling a friend.

[Nick]

This week we are fired up to be featuring Red Rocker Lager by the electric folks over at the Red Rocker Brewing Company. Red Rocker is a crisp easy drinking lager brewed in the Mexican style ABV 4.33% garage grade three and three quarter bottle caps out of five. And let's give some cheers and thanks to our good garage friends that got plenty of style themselves. First up, shout out to Kendra in Glenburn, Maine.

[Captain]

And a big we like your chip goes out to Blair and Portland, Oregon.

[Nick]

And here's a cheers to Alana Maltzberger from Spanish Fork, Utah in a big tall cans in the air. And a big cheers to Nicole and her best friend Greg. And in places unknown in Australia, cheers to everyone who contributed to this week's beer fun.

[Captain]

Yeah, BW Double Are you in beer run. So many off the record episodes. So many cool topics that we'll be talking about on off the Record. So make sure you subscribe on Patreon or on Apple podcast app. Just hit the subscribe button. There you go. Extra content in your earballs and and colonel that's enough of the business.

[Nick]

All right everybody gather round. Grab a chair, grab a beer. Let's Talk some true crime. On September 25, 1996, just before midnight, a 911 call came into the Madison County, Alabama Emergency Services Center. A woman identifying herself as Linda Williams cried for help, saying her nephew and some of his friends had been shot. The crying woman asked that police and ambulance personnel be sent immediately to her home at 6591 University Drive in Huntsville. The first to respond was Monrovia Assistant Fire Chief Dale Strong, who lived right near the scene and had many years of EMT experience. He arrived at the small brick ranch at 12:01am Lights were on inside the house, but it was eerily quiet. As Strong pulled up, he was joined by other first responders. This was three law enforcement officers armed, and they entered the house through the open attached garage, guns at the ready. Walking through the garage and into the house, announcing themselves as Madison County Sheriff's officers, the men were startled to see a bloodied young man run up to them. The man yelled, they shot them all. They shot them all. This is true crime garage. And this is the case of the cell phone murders. Responding to the 911 call, we have police on the scene, guns drawn, walking through the garage and into the house, announcing their presence when a young man covered in blood runs to them saying, they shot them all, they shot them all. One of the officers on the scene is Officer Solominsky. He asked who was the shooter and the bloodied young man responds, joey Wilson. Officer Solomonski says doughboy. To which the youngster replies, yes. This officer and the other officers told the young man to go outside. Then they walked from the garage area into the house and found an elderly woman there. This is Linda Williams. She is the 911 caller. She's the aunt of the young man who they just ordered out of the house. She seemed dazed. She was sent outside as well. The officer then beckoned Dale Strong, the EMT officer on the scene, to come inside and bring his life saving equipment with him. The men quickly came into a cluttered 13 by 18 room that served as the living quarters of Ashley Rutherford and his fiance Michelle Hayden. The room was part of the home that was owned by Ashley's aunt, Linda Williams. In this room, Captain, we got beer cans, clothing, trash and other stuff that lay all over the floor. And obscenity filled graffiti covered the walls. There were three aquariums that held snakes inside this room. But more importantly was the haze of smoke in this room. This was not cigarette or pot smoke. The place reeked of gunpowder. Dale Strong later testified that he had Never smelled such a strong concentration of gunpowder in one place in his life. Strong was an assistant fire chief with years of experience, so he knows what he's smelling, and he says that it smelled like the 4th of July or a firing range. But that wasn't all. Later, Strong would tell WHNT News, quote, the next thing I remember is the shell casings. As we cleared and went into this room, I heard the shell casings that we were actually kicking with our feet. And I had never seen anything like that in my life. There were so many shell casings, they were like peanut shells on the floor of the bleachers after a ball game. And indeed, the scene inside the tiny room was a bloodbath. We have three people in this room. Michael Beaudet, Brian Carter and Johnny Couch. Michael Beaudet is 19, Brian Carter is 21. Johnny Couch is 18. All three dead in this room. Michelle Hayden, age 17, was alive but critically wounded. She'd been shot in the face, abdomen and arm. EMTs frantically tried to save the life of Lamar Hemphill. He was a marine reservist, age 21. Sadly, he would die at the hospital. 22 year old Ashley Rutherford, who managed to crawl to his aunt and yell to her to call 911, had been shot too, but was alive. He was the bloodied young man that ran up to the officers that was ordered to go outside. EMTs placed him in an ambulance and rushed him to the hospital. We end up with four dead, two pretty close, and a lot of people that are scared. Despite having been shot before, he was whisked away into an ambulance. As we heard in the intro, this young man, Ashley Rutherford, was able to talk to the first responders, saying that he knew who the shooters were. He told them the names of the three men who had been in his room that night discharging guns, shooting a total of 19 rounds. Their names were Corey Johnson, age 23, Joseph Wilson, 19 years old, and Nicholas Ackland, age 24. And it took the police all of about 15 minutes to round up these rocket scientists. We have Solomonski, who's a lieutenant. He was a narcotics investigator at the time. When Ashley Rutherford told him the name Joey Wilson, remember Solominsky responded, Doughboy, question mark. So he knows who this person was accusing of being the shooter. That's because Joey Wilson had already had plenty of run ins with the cops. And his nickname, Doughboy, was known to the police as well. I'm guessing this is based off of physique and not his financial situation. After securing the scene and making sure the three living victims were taken care of, Police issued a BOLO for Joey Wilson, who was driving a white Taurus. So we got a car we're looking for, we got a guy we're looking for, and we got three people being accused by one individual who was found shot at a scene where three were already dead and one would later die at the hospital. Similarly, upon hearing the name Joey Wilson over the police radio, we have another officer. This is Officer Norse, who pulled out a photo and Wilson's Huntsville address. So this officer, captain, had had encounters with this Joey Wilson cat before, and he kept a log of sorts of the scumbags that he had interacted with in the past. This dude was one of them. He and his partner, Officer Young, headed to the Wilson home. This was on Del Norte Drive at 12:15am so police on the scene at 1201. By 12:15am 14 minutes later, they are in pursuit of one of the persons of interest in this case. Of course, there's still a whole lot of things to sort out, right? Is this the truth? Is this the real deal? The person who's being accused, the other people that are being accused and named to the officers, did this actually go down the way that they are told that it went down? And what will the evidence at the scene tell police now en route to the home where Joey Wilson was living at the time? These two officers, they saw that white Taurus pulling out of the Easy Service convenience store. Inside, it appeared to be two individuals. Our officers pulled the car over. Luckily, thankfully, this didn't go. This could have been. Could have went down very badly pulling these guys over. Inside the vehicle, they found a revolver. Lt. Charles Franklin read Wilson his rights and cuffed him. Wilson complained that he had a recently had shoulder surgery. So cuffing his hands behind his back hurt. Then he falls into an asthma attack. So he has to be taken to the hospital. He ends up at the same hospital where the shooting victims were being treated. Finally, Wilson and Johnson were processed at the station and the interviews began. So we have four persons dead and we have two that are locked up. They're going to be held at the police station. They're going to be interviewed.

[Captain]

Well, anybody that thinks it would be easy to be in law enforcement, this is a situation that would test you, test the best of them. You go into a scene of a crime, there's multiple people dead, it's bloody, you're stepping over shell casings. You have a name of a person that you know is a scumbag, but you Also know is now a violent, vicious murderer that is in charge of this horrific scene that you are at. You get this name, you get others names. You now have to go look for these people. And then you come upon two of the suspects. But what is going on with the third suspect?

[Nick]

So this is going to take a little bit more time with suspect number three. So about 5:30am we get officers arriving at the home of suspect number three, Nicholas Ackland. He lived somewhat nearby, I believe this is a neighboring town. He's living in a trailer with his then common law wife. Her name is Candice Wilson and their two children. Okay, well, Wilson's a pretty common name, common last name, but she is in fact related to the other suspect that we mentioned previously, Joey Wilson. He is her brother. Once on the scene, Ackland opened the door, he's in his underwear. It's early in the morning. His Underoos, he identifies himself as Nicholas Ackland, the person that they are looking for. The officers with guns drawn told him to get dressed. He did. They cuffed him, they told him he was under arrest for murder and they placed him in the back of the cop car. Now we have Sergeant Paul Yox of Madison County Sheriff's Department. He's interviewing the woman there at the trailer, Candace Wilson, the common law wife. He asks her, does Ackland have any guns? She says yes. When asked where they were, she said they were under the bed. She gave permission for the sergeant to search the trailer for weapons. In the course of the search, police found a Ruger P89. They also found two 9 millimeter Lorson pistols and an H&R nickel plated.32 caliber revolver. So we got four guns found. The sergeant asked Candace if she knew what Ackland had been wearing that night. She turned, walked into the bedroom. She bends over and picks up a pair of jeans and a white T shirt off of the floor, hands them to the officer. In the pocket of the jeans was Michael Beaudet's driver's license. He's one of our murder victims that was found at the scene just hours prior. So that's a fine piece of evidence right there.

[Captain]

Yeah, and just because you have somebody that can ID these killers, you're going to need to pad your evidence.

[Nick]

You want physical evidence that places them at the scene or would be indicative that they were once at the scene? Yes. The sergeant then obtained written consent to search the premises. The evidence was piling up on Wilson, Johnson and Ackland. All three were booked on capital murder charges. Less than 24 hours after these four homicides. After a thorough forensic examination of the crime scene, the next order of business was to interview the survivors, the ones that were there that night when the shooting took place. Four young men died in the space of about 15 seconds on that horrible evening. 19 year old Michael Beaudet was a jokester, but a hard working guy who was saving up his money to move out of his mother's home. He worked about 60 hours a week and was considered a very reliable employee. 21 year old Brian Carter had been through a rough patch, but had recently joined a church and was working to straighten himself out. Johnny Couch was only 18. He lived with his mom. He liked to collect baseball cards. And Lamar Hemphill, the only one of the crew to graduate from high school, played golf and football and played the flute in the high school band. He was a marine reservist and was preparing to go on active duty. But there were also three survivors of the shootings. In that small room, Ashley Rutherford lived, having received just a superficial head wound. To the surprise of many, so did his fiance Michelle, who was shot in the face, elbow and abdomen. She would go on to spend a month in the hospital to recover. But there was another survivor who had not been shot at all. Michael Skurchak had been in the room during a home invasion, what can only be described as a home invasion. He had actually run out the back door as the shooting started. His name was withheld from the media reports early on out of fear for this man's life, that maybe somebody would come and find him and finish the job, so to speak.

[Captain]

Now when you say home invasion, when I think home invasion, I'm thinking robbery. Do we have motive for robbery? This just seems like they invaded the home to assassinate people.

[Nick]

Well, as bad as that is, they were in there and terrorizing them for a period of time too. Unfortunately, we say that four lives ended in the matter of just 15 or so seconds.

[Captain]

But that's when the shooting starts.

[Nick]

Just the shooting.

[Captain]

Right.

[Nick]

Part of the evening. So here's the story. This is the story that we get from the three survivors. Michelle and Ashley had been at home in the room that they shared. This. We're going to go back a week before the shootings to kind of set this up. So we're at September 18th now. Okay. Keep in mind Ashley, he lives there with his girlfriend and they live in his aunt's home. They're basically renting a room, renting space inside her home.

[Captain]

Right.

[Nick]

On September 18th, a week before the shootings, three. Three guys that Ashley knew, Joseph Wilson, Nicholas Ackland, and Corey Johnson, stopped over to buy some marijuana. It's unclear generally who was buying pot or who was selling pot. Ashley claimed that Wilson was his dealer at one time. But on this day, according to the story, Ashley was the seller. Ackland, Johnson, and Wilson hemmed and hauled. They kind of talked about, you know, what's the price? Oh, let's take a look at it. And they decided to not buy any weed from Ashley that evening. They kind of flipped and flopped and left without buying any weed. Then one of this, one of these guys, Corey Johnson, comes back into the house, grabs the bag of weed, and just runs out without paying for it. Now, Ashley felt like that was the plan all along. Right? They just came in, made sure that he had something that they wanted, pretended that they were going to buy it, and then left and then run back into the home and just come in and steal it.

[Captain]

Right.

[Nick]

Like we talked about a couple weeks ago with that case from Cleveland, somebody steals your illegal drugs. You can't just call the cops and say, hey, I need a report of theft.

[Captain]

Well, you could.

[Nick]

I mean, you could. I would advise against that. I'm not an attorney, though you might want to seek legal counsel. So after these three guys leave, they already stole the weed. He knows that. But then Lamar realized that his cell phone, which he had sat down, was gone. The cell phone's missing. Keep in mind, we're going back to 1996. Cell phones were not nearly as common. They're simply certainly not as connected as they are today.

[Captain]

There's probably a flip phone, too.

[Nick]

They didn't have find my iPhone or Life360 for easy tracking to go find one's phone. Once the phone was gone, it was potentially gone for good. Lamar used another phone to call his phone, and guess who answered. Joseph Wilson. We don't know what was said in this conversation or whether Wilson admitted to taking the phone, but we can presume that when Lamar asked for the phone back, Wilson used some choice language and simply hung up. So Lamar did what anyone would do. He called the sheriff's department and reported the cell phone theft.

[Captain]

Right.

[Nick]

Cell phones were very expensive back then. They, in large part, still are today. He wanted his cell phone back, and because it wasn't illegal, like the pot that was stolen, he was going to place a complaint with the sheriff's department.

[Captain]

Right. So he's not calling up the sheriff and going, hey, by the way, these guys stole my weed and they stole my cell phone. He's just leaving the weed out of that conversation.

[Nick]

Yes, and I would imagine that that report would include, hey, I called the phone with another phone and a guy I know, Joey Wilson, picked up the phone.

[Captain]

Yeah, the guy that we believe stole it answered the phone.

[Nick]

So now let's go to the afternoon of September 25th. A friend of Joey Wilson's, the name is Christian Ashby, told Wilson that Ashley Rutherford had arrest warrants out for Joey Wilson. Okay, so these guys all kind of know each other, obviously, if they're coming over to the house to buy weed. But now we have this other individual who's sort of in the middle. He knows both parties and he's letting Joey Wilson know, look, there's an arrest warrant out for you and Ashley Rutherford, the guy that you stole the weed from and his buddy that you stole the cell phone. Ashley Rutherford is responsible for getting those arrest warrants on you. So this pissed Wilson off and he starts telling his other buddy, Corey Johnson, who he's driving around town with, about these warrants and saying, look, he wanted vengeance. He wanted revenge on Ashley Rutherford.

[Captain]

Which think about how silly this is. You stole somebody's drugs, then you sell their cell phone, you answer the phone, you talk shit about it. Now they're going to have you arrested and you're upset, Right?

[Nick]

And here's the other thing. I purposely called these three suspects rocket scientists earlier because there was no arrest warrant. There was no warrant out for this Wilson cat.

[Captain]

Right.

[Nick]

It was simply a complaint that needed to be verified. It's calling. It's a police report. That's all that was filed was a report. At 7:15pm we have Wilson. Remember, he's in the car with Corey Johnson going on and on how he wants revenge. They pick up the third guy, Nick Ackland. They rode around for a while. They're drinking, they're smoking. They're really working themselves up into quite the tizzy. They decided to go to Ashley's house because they wanted to let him know that they were pissed off for him getting these, this warrant out. What they believe to be an arrest warrant out for Joey Wilson. They get to Ashley's house around 8, but the only ones there were Michelle, Brian Carter and Lamar Hempel. The person they're looking for is Ashley Rutherford, who's not there. According to the book Murder in the Heart of Dixie by Fred Simpson and Jacqueline Proctor Gray Ackland, Johnson and Wilson are three suspects. They show up brandishing handguns and asking about these arrest warrants. Brian Carter denied knowing anything about it. Lamar Hemphild didn't respond but was visibly angry. Remember, it was his cell phone that had been stolen. Corey Johnson punched Lamar in the face and the three left, warning that they would be back when Ashley Rutherford got home from work. Ashley Rutherford was at work at the Circle K convenience store. Around 8:30pm his fiance Michelle came in during his shift along with Lamar and Brian. They told Ashley that Joey Wilson and some of his cronies had shown up at their house and they were angry with Ashley. The group discussed whether the guys would actually do anything to them, but it seems like they agreed that they didn't think. They thought that these guys were all talk and that nothing bad really was going to happen, that these were just threats. So eventually they go home. By 10pm Michelle, Lamar and Brian were hanging out in their room waiting for Ashley to get home. He's still finishing up his shift. The three were watching TV and just hanging out. But pretty soon two more buddies stopped by. That's Michael Skirchak and Johnny Couch. They were planning on going to pick up their buddy Michael Beaudet, but they would not get the chance. As they went to leave, our three suspects, Wilson, Ackland and Johnson barged into the home. They just charge into this home. Michelle, who lives there, says, get the hell out of my house. They say, we're not going anywhere. Corey pushed Michelle down in a chair by her throat. He said, you keep your mouth shut or I'll shoot you. Wilson demanded to know who had filed a warrant against him for stealing a phone. According to AL.com Madison County Sheriff Joe Weissen later said Wilson was misinformed. No warrant had been issued. Right. Citizens don't file warrants. You file a complaint or a report with the police. They take it from there. But Wilson was convinced that one had been issued and that the police were coming for him. And so now he wanted retribution. Now, not taking this bullying laying down. Remember, Lamar is our Marine. He started arguing with the intruders. Corey Johnson started to get violent. This is from a later report that says Johnson then started slapping Hemphill, Couch and Carter. Using a Jack Daniels whiskey bottle, he hit Lamar Hemphill in the head and Carter, Brian Carter in the mouth with this bottle, with this glass bottle. He also grabbed Johnny Couch by his hair, which was long, and he's repeatedly slamming his head into a dresser multiple times. Wilson also repeatedly stomped Johnny, who was lying on the floor and Johnny was essentially beaten unconscious at that point. While he was passed out, Wilson, Johnson and Ackland cut off Johnny's ponytail with a pair of scissors and they were calling him a girl. He's unconscious. We have the other four victims in the room who are terrified because the guys that are threatening them, they're all packing, they're, they're waving around guns and threatening all four of their lives. And this is when Michael Beaudet had the misfortune to walk in to that home.

[Captain]

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[Nick]

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[Captain]

All right, we are back. All right, we are back, you silly little monkeys. Cheers to you, Colonel.

[Nick]

Cheers to you, Captain Tall cans in the air. To everybody out there. Power to the people. This is a horrifying situation.

[Captain]

This is something that you'd see in an action film.

[Nick]

And we're trying to do our very best to describe everything that's happening. A lot of the stuff is happening very quickly and for the most part, the only reports that we are going to get about what actually happened in that home leading up to what would be a quadruple homicide comes from the survivors who had to been terrified out of their minds once the, once it went from threats to violence actually occurring. Because remember, the victims earlier had talked and said, no, we think that, yeah, we're a little worried, but we think these are just threats. We don't think these guys are actually going to do anything.

[Captain]

Yeah. And just because they have guns on them doesn't mean they're going to use them. But when you're in a scene like this, you're thinking, well, once they use those guns, it's not going to be good for anybody.

[Nick]

And with every case that we've reviewed that has similarities to this case, one thing that I've always found, and this is terrifying, where we left off, Michael Beaudet arrives at the home. He walks, he just, he's think about this steps, three, four, five steps before he is none the wiser. He has no idea what's going on inside that home and walks in himself, placing himself in harm's way. And every time we've reviewed one of these cases, when a new person shows up to a scene basically where we have people being held by gunpoint or hostage in some form or fashion. Right. It always seems to make things worse. Right. Not just have we upped the potential victim count, but it seems to really stress out the, the, the people that are holding these people at night for gunpoint. And that's exactly what happened here. So Michael Beaudet walks in and now guns on Michael, he's forced to the ground, forced to empty his pockets. Note reminder, his driver's license was missing from his pants pocket, from his jeans pocket, and later found at one of the suspect's home. Joey Wilson held a gun to the head of Michael Skurchak and demanded to know about the warrant. Well, Michael Skurchak had no idea what this guy's talking about. Wilson then put his gun down on the dresser and was yelling and daring the prisoners to grab it. You know, there's the gun. Get it. Go get it. And of course, the other two bad guys are still holding their guns, so. So nobody moved. Wilson continued to terrorize these poor people. He. He made the men take off their pants, sit in their underwear. He gathered up all of their IDs or driver's license. For reasons we don't know why, he starts yelling at this group that y' all blamed us for robbing you. Well, now we are going to rob you. Nicholas Akin really started getting into it at this point. He put the barrel of his gun into Ashley's mouth, making him gag. He put Mike Beaudet in the headlock and held a gun under his chin.

[Captain]

But this is also mob mentality. I mean, this is just going to escalate even worse.

[Nick]

And some of these scenes, too, what you see is when one of the suspects, one of the perpetrators, starts to ramp up. It only ramps up the other guys involved as well.

[Captain]

Yeah, and we got, like you said, not rocket scientists. We got three piles of shit here.

[Nick]

Well, Nicholas Ackland took Michelle outside and he's grabbing her inappropriately. This is. I mean, this is sexual assault at this point. And it's unclear why he's never charged with sexual assault. But we can get into that later after one of these excursions of taking her outside, he comes back in and he says to Ashley Rutherford, sorry, and there's no nice way to say this. He says, quote, your girlfriend gives good head. Which none of that happened. So he's simply just trying to. You. You get the impression that these guys are terrorizing these people, but also giving them a chance to either retaliate, like, here's the gun, go get it, or, oh, I did this to your girlfriend.

[Captain]

Yeah.

[Nick]

Making them angry, hoping one of them might punch or push or fight back.

[Captain]

Yeah, it's like. It's the whole time, they're like, give us a reason.

[Nick]

Exactly. Give us a reason. Give us a reason.

[Captain]

I mean, these guys aren't douche canoes. These guys are like douche cruise ships. I mean, these guys are awful. These are the type of guys that, you know, if they said, you can be alone in a room with them for a couple hours, and by the way, we're going to tie them up and we're going to give you a baseball Bat you go, okay, let's have some fun.

[Nick]

Well, and one of the survivors would also say that there was a situation too where one of the perps took a knife and threw it at the feet of one of the victims and then tries to tell the other two perpetrators, like, look, he's got a knife. He's trying to pull a knife on us.

[Captain]

Very strange behavior.

[Nick]

Yes, yes. Well, and what this shows us too is that while it may have been planned to go in and terrorize these people, or maybe it was even planned to kill them, as unfortunately we know was the result with some of the victims.

[Captain]

Yeah.

[Nick]

None of this other stuff was really well thought out or planned. It's a bunch of idiots just going three ring circus on everybody.

[Captain]

They would say, girlfriend gives good head. I'd say, your mom gives good head, you sick son of a bitch.

[Nick]

This went on for nearly two hours. So at approximately 11:30, there's all of these victims inside this home. Meanwhile, the aunt, Linda Williams, had managed to stay hidden from all of this chaos and commotion and truly terrifying.

[Captain]

What's going on?

[Nick]

I don't know. That part. I don't know.

[Captain]

Because you think that if she heard any of this or if she would have saw any kind of assault that she would have called the police or if she knew that they had guns?

[Nick]

I do know that at one point one of the victims said to one or all the perpetrators, like, uh huh, you guys are freaking out. You're being really loud. If, if his aunt hears this, she'll call the police. There was a concern she was elderly though too. So I don't know. You know, some, some, some of our fine elderly citizens, you could have a bullhorn and stand right next to him and they, they might not hear very much.

[Captain]

What?

[Nick]

At 11:30 everything goes from bad, super bad, to incredibly horrible. Okay, so we got Ashley Rutherford in there. That's the person that it seems like these three guys were really looking for. And everybody else is just happened to be there that night, or in Michelle's case, lives there. They start demanding that Ashley get on the ground, empty his pockets. The same thing that we saw with some of the other victims. And they wanted to know. They're yelling things at him like, who signed the warrant? Who signed the warrant? And of course, of course he's replying. It's like, I don't know what you guys are talking about.

[Captain]

Right.

[Nick]

So they're not getting the answers that they want. These jack wagons, they're not getting the answers that they want. But what they don't Understand is this guy can't give you the answer you want because he doesn't know what you're talking about. He didn't sign a warrant. He didn't even call in the complaint.

[Captain]

Yeah, but this is where it gets bizarre because you just wonder if, if is this all escalating because like you said, they're not getting the answers that they want. But he can't give them the answers because there's a just a simple dumb ass miscommunication. Who signed the warrant? I don't know. You dumb fuck. You know I don't know what you're talking about. Yes, we called the police. They filed a report. They didn't file warrant.

[Nick]

Well, and what? Based off of all of the statements from the survivors, it appears to me that this Joey Wilson guy, and mind you, he's the first name that's tossed out to police as soon as they arrive on the scene, this Joey Wilson guy either was the leader of these three idiots or clearly wanted to be. And this is Joey Wilson, AKA Doughboy. This doughy, pasty hick just appeared to want to be some kind of badass alpha male. So he at some point yells, let's buck them. The captives knew that to buck to mean shoot or kill them. And he was. You all don't know who you're messing with. You're all fake. We're real. You said we robbed you, now we're going to rob you.

[Captain]

But they did rob them.

[Nick]

Yes. At some point, Nicholas Ackland says, ain't nobody leaving. And then yells, we ain't going to leave no witnesses. According to the survivors, Johnson was not as into terrorizing this group as the other two Wilson and Ackland were. The survivors even said at some point that this third suspect, Johnson, he, he tried to reason with the other two saying like, hey, you know, calm down, there's no need to shoot anybody. Nobody's going to talk. They, you know, they're not gonna, they're not gonna rat us out.

[Captain]

Yeah, but this is one of those situations, hey, come with us. We're gonna go, we're gonna go fuck those dudes up and oh, we got some guns. And this guy is probably going, why we gotta bring guns? Oh, well, we're not going to shoot nobody. We're just going to bring guns just for protection. Well, why would we need guns if we're not going to shoot nobody? And now they're in this situation where this harassment and the torture is not what this guy expected. But he didn't leave. He could have Said, I'm out. I don't want to be a part of this. He could have left and called the police, and he could have said in that moment, you know what? I came here to scare the shit out of this guy. But this went too far. And I would argue that he might not be charged with anything if he would have. He had so many opportunities to do the right thing. And that's what is so crazy, because you also wonder in this case if the guy that they were looking for was there when they got there. Because to me, it seems like, well, Ashley, he's not here yet.

[Nick]

Right?

[Captain]

So we just got to stay here.

[Nick]

Whole place is on lockdown until he gets here.

[Captain]

Yeah. And we're just going to stay here. And then escalation upon escalation. It's just. I mean, this is. And could you imagine the fear in those victims and what they had to go through? I mean, you have guys with guns, and like you said, they're taunting these victims. Do something. Make us shoot you. And you don't know, every second that passes, you're probably thinking, oh, thank God they haven't shot us yet. I mean, these guys are bags of shit.

[Nick]

Just before midnight, Nicholas Ackland went outside and he starts up Joey Wilson's car. That's the. The Taurus, the white Taurus that we talked about earlier. He starts up the vehicle, leaves it running in the driveway. He comes back into the house holding his handgun. And at that moment, we have Joey Wilson, who says to Nicholas Atkin Ackland, if you shoot the first one, I'll shoot the rest of them. Shortly after that comment, Nicholas Ackland grabbed Rutherford, thrust the muzzle of his gun up against the young man's head. Just as he felt that cold heart steal, he instinctively ducked his head when the gun discharged.

[Captain]

Jesus.

[Nick]

It grazed the back of his head. The bullet, he falls to the ground and he's bleeding profusely. In this situation, the bleeding profusely is a good thing, okay? Because Wilson, Joey Wilson, he follows through on his promise. You shoot the first one, I'll shoot the rest of them. And he starts shooting. When the shooting started, Skirchak ran out of the back of the house. Michelle Hayden later said that Michael Beaudet was shot while he was sitting right next to her. She was next. A bullet shattered her elbow. And then another hit the right side of her face, passing through her cheeks and blowing out six of her teeth. It was chaos in that room, and every one of the victims was ducking for cover or shielding their faces.

[Captain]

Or dying.

[Nick]

Yeah, some of them were shot twice, some of the victims shot once, some of them shot multiple times. But remember where I said the bleeding profusely is a good thing in this situation? Well, that's because the two shooters stood over, stood over Ashley Rutherford trying to decide if they should shoot him again. And they, they arrived at the conclusion that, no, he's already dead, and they move on. All in all, 19 shots were fired in this tiny little room. Some of the shootings were point blank, and now several people in this room are either dead or are dying. Ashley Rutherford, who had been shot in the head, he gets lucky because they. He pretends to be dead. He's bleeding enough that they stand over top of him and think that he's dead. And after the blast from these handguns ceased, those guys, they leave the room, they take off, they jump into the Taurus and they speed off. Ashley hears the car leaving the driveway. He gets up, somehow makes it to a phone. He dials 911. He can't communicate with the 911 operator and hands the phone to his Aunt Linda, who took over the phone call, pleading for help. Let's get emergency services here, stat. Meanwhile, Michelle Hayden crawled into the kitchen, and this is where first responders later found her, just minutes later, spitting out her teeth. Michael, who was able to get outside of the house, he was hiding outside, and he. I mean, he's hiding outside is one way to state it. But really he's. He's in complete shock. Like he's just frozen. He's out. He's out there vomiting from the stress, and he's out there kind of frozen, just too terrified to even run. Madison county authorities arrived. Johnny Couch was dead on the floor in a corner. Michael Beaudet was dead on a bed. Brian Carter was slumped over, dead on a beige upholstered chair. And then we know our other victim, they attempted to get him to the hospital to save his life, and they unfortunately could not. We have coroner Bobby Barry Hill, who had to help sort out what was happening, happening or what had happened in the room to report all these shootings. And of course, he states it was definitely overkill. Every one of the deceased victims had been shot at least once in the head and some in the neck as well. This is all referred to as execution style, intended to kill the victims.

[Captain]

This is a horrific crime, but it's a crime that's also unique in the sense that horrific crime, but we have survivors, yeah, that know the attackers, but then we have law enforcement that knows the victims. And also knows the attackers.

[Nick]

Yeah, knows some of the attackers here. And our three suspects were a motley crew of losers.

[Captain]

Motley crew.

[Nick]

Nick Ackland, who washed cars at Bentley Pontiac. We got Corey Johnson, who work at Steak Escape. And Joey Wilson, who said he was a plumber but was really just a drug dealer. And everybody knew it, but regardless of their jobs or occupations at the time,

[Captain]

can you imagine, though, knowing that guy and you know he's a drug dealer and then you're at a party with him and he's like, hey, how's life going? He's like, well, the plumbing business is hard. And you're like, I'm sure it is, Joe Plummer. I mean, couldn't you lie about something cool, like tell people you're architect or something?

[Nick]

Well, I'm sure the people that he wants to be customers, he tells them I sell drugs. And the people that he wants to hide that from, he tells them he's a plumber.

[Captain]

Yeah.

[Nick]

Needless to say, there was ample evidence right away, right out the gate against these guys. These guys. Everything points to them being the perpetrators of this heinous crime. Remember, Michael's driver's license is found in Nicholas Ackland's pants at his home. Second, the guns found in Ackland's home were ballistically matched to several of the shootings. Forensic testing showed that Brian Carter had been shot with a Ruger P89. The three surviving witnesses said it was Wilson who had been carrying this model of gun. Third, several witnesses had survived and talked, telling police what happened, who was responsible. And Ashley said that Nick Ackland had shot him and others, and Joey Wilson had shot at least one person. And then we get to item number four on our evidence list. There is confessions. So Kevin Turner was a juvenile and gang investigator for the Sheriff's Department. He interviewed Joey Wilson that night, the night he was picked up. Wilson knew him. And it sounds like they were not just familiar with one another, but casual with one another. In fact, Joey Wilson called Kevin Turner kt. He said if KT got him a cigarette, he would talk. So of course the officer got him a cigarette. Wilson told the officer that he had armed himself with a.357 Magnum and gone over to Ashley Rutherford's home to confront him because of the dispute over the stolen cell phone. He said that he had a revolver and Ackland and Johnson also had weapons. He admitted that they slapped some of the victims. That one thing led to another and the shooting started. Those are his words. Wilson told Turner he didn't remember specifically who did the shooting and said, quote, that's my crew y' all got locked up out there. I'm not going to turn and rat on them.

[Captain]

Thank you so much for joining us here in the garage. So much more to get to. Stay tuned.

[Nick]

Until then, be good, be kind, and don't litter.

[Captain]

Sam, You're more than just one thing. You're the boss. Hey Google, what time is my meeting with Tim today? The athlete that class wrecks me, the ringleader. And we're good and always their mom. Everyone in the all new Mazda CX5 more to move every side of you. Learn [e-mail] Google is a trademark of Google LLC. Sequences shortened and simulated.

[Nick]

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[Captain]

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[Nick]

Ondeck does not lend in North Dakota.

[Captain]

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