# 4 Deep Dives On Solved Cases

An episode of [Lazy Chill True Crime](https://invisiblenetwork.ai/podcast/1815534472), 25 Nov 2025, 48 min.

Audio: https://traffic.megaphone.fm/APO5191684454.mp3

Join me as we deep dive 4 solved cases. 👇 Youtube links: Lazy Chill True Crime Youtube: https://www.youtube.com/channel/UC8dVJtzeHcJgd_Z0bHrJTHQ Lazy Chill History Youtube: https://www.youtube.com/@LazyChillHistory Lazy Chill Zone Youtube: https://www.youtube.com/@LazyChillZone 👇 Support My Work: 🛍️ Merch: https://lazy-chill-zone-shop.fourthwall.com ❤️ Patreon: https://www.patreon.com/lazychillzone 👇Social Media Links: https://www.instagram.com/lazychillzone/ 👇 Podcast links: ⚡History Video Podcast on Spotify⚡: https://open.spotify.com/show/7km5pLWpYWEj1mrPpEfRUr?si=0FHYnZf-Qs2FY1GyLevfig ⚡True Crime Podcast on Spotify⚡: https://open.spotify.com/show/0klIz08pAr7wR4we0Ia4sk?si=68qZxCeAQkysXzMZrHE0Iw 🍏 True Crime Podcast on Apple 🍎: https://podcasts.apple.com/us/podcast/lazy-chill-true-crime/id1815534472 true crime, cold cases, unsolved mysteries, missing persons, murder investigation, forensic evidence, serial killers, crime scene analysis, dark history, criminal psychology, real life horror, police investigations, DNA breakthroughs, forensic genealogy, crime documentaries, criminal profiling, mysterious disappearances, solved cases, justice system, law enforcement stories, cold case files, creepy mysteries, true crime storytelling, crime reconstruction, chilling cases, investigative reporting, modern forensics, victim advocacy, unidentified remains, crime scene forensics, disturbing cases, true crime analysis, hidden clues, infamous crimes, real crime stories

## Transcript

[0:00] Hello my friends, it's Jimmy here with another episode of my
[0:03] relatively new Solved Mysteries series.
[0:06] So sit back and relax, leave a comment and hit that
[0:10] notification bell and turn on all those juicy notifications
[0:14] and enjoy. The reality of small town life
[0:18] in Wenatchee, WA shattered on the evening of February 9th,
[0:22] 2010. Mackenzie Cowell, a vibrant 17
[0:26] year old high school senior dancer and aspiring model, was
[0:30] immersed in her studies at the Academy of Hair Design.
[0:34] Mackenzie, who lived in nearby Arando, told a classmate she'd
[0:39] returned shortly as she left the beauty school, but she never
[0:42] came back. When her worried father, Reed
[0:45] Cowell, attempted to reach her around 5:40 PM for their
[0:49] scheduled dinner, her phone went straight to voicemail.
[0:53] With this detail, he immediately knew that something had gone
[0:56] terribly wrong. The ensuing search marked the
[0:59] catastrophic shift from a typical missing persons case to
[1:03] a harrowing homicide investigation that gripped the
[1:06] community. The family's nightmare
[1:10] intensified four days later on February 13th, 2010, when
[1:15] Mackenzie's body was tragically found along the banks of the
[1:18] Columbia River at Crescent Bar. This was about 20 miles away
[1:23] from the Academy of Hair Design where she went part time.
[1:27] The subsequent autopsy confirmed the worst.
[1:30] Mackenzie had been violently killed, suffering blunt force
[1:34] trauma to her head, strangulation and stab wounds to
[1:38] her neck. The sheer savagery of the attack
[1:42] stunned even seasoned law enforcement officers who
[1:45] mobilized an unprecedented multi agency task force to pursue the
[1:50] perpetrator. What made the discovery
[1:53] particularly horrific and cemented the case as one of
[1:56] extraordinary brutality was the evidence of post mortem actions.
[2:02] The killer had attempted to dismember the victim trying to
[2:05] saw off one of her arms. One cop later went on record
[2:09] describing the chilling scene, noting that a knife had been
[2:13] left in her soft tissue, still protruding from her shoulder.
[2:17] This suggested that the perpetrator perhaps had
[2:20] significantly more plans for what he wished to do, but
[2:23] realized he wouldn't be able to pull off his sick fantasy.
[2:28] The meticulous analysis of the evidence confirmed that this was
[2:32] a deeply personal and pathological crime.
[2:35] While the cops initially thought there may have been an indecent
[2:38] assault, further testing revealed that this wasn't the
[2:41] case. However, the calculated
[2:44] desecration of the body indicated a desire not merely to
[2:48] end a life, but to exercise ultimate control and destruction
[2:54] over a human being. Early on, federal agents who
[2:58] were brought in to assist profiled the killer and
[3:02] suggested that he was a male with a fixation on violence and
[3:05] death. Also, given that there was no
[3:09] elements of male biological material found at the site, it
[3:13] wasn't necessarily a given that the perp was a man at all.
[3:17] This profile would anticipate the sinister revelations that
[3:21] would later emerge about the perpetrators psychological
[3:24] state. The initial phase of the
[3:28] investigation quickly became mired and confusing and
[3:31] conflicting information hindering the task force's
[3:34] progress. The first significant piece of
[3:37] evidence recovered was Cowl's abandoned vehicle, located near
[3:41] Mission Ridge, approximately 40 miles from her home.
[3:46] While police found her purse and some clothing inside, her cell
[3:50] phone and debit card were missing, investigators noted a
[3:54] crucial detail at this scene. Only a single pair of footprints
[3:58] was found. This suggested the killer had
[4:01] driven the car there alone before leaving by a separate
[4:04] means of transport. In the absence of immediate
[4:07] forensic links, police initially focused on individuals within
[4:11] Mackenzie's personal orbit, particularly those with whom she
[4:15] had experienced conflict. This included her mother's
[4:19] boyfriend, with whom Mackenzie had reportedly engaged in a
[4:22] verbal conflict the day before she went missing.
[4:25] However, law enforcement quickly confirmed that he was completely
[4:29] exonerated soon into the investigation.
[4:34] With the investigation stalling for two months, a sensational
[4:38] yet ultimately false narrative emerged that consumed extensive
[4:43] resources. A witness named Liz Reed came
[4:46] forward claiming she had information about the crime.
[4:50] She had been a police informant and like most police informants,
[4:54] was either a current or former criminal with her being a small
[4:58] time drug dealer. Reed alleged that convicted
[5:02] criminals and drug dealers Sam Cuevas and Emmanuel Serros
[5:06] abducted and eliminated Mackenzie in a horrifying case
[5:10] of mistaken identity. To bolster her claim, Reed
[5:15] provided police with a ring she asserted belonged to Cowell and
[5:18] even claimed to have seen a videotape of the slaying.
[5:23] The intensive investigation into these claims demonstrated the
[5:26] risk of relying on unreliable informants in high profile
[5:30] cases. Police informants like this have
[5:33] a tendency to just be gussied up and glorified jailhouse
[5:36] snitches, minus the jailhouse element.
[5:40] The physical evidence presented by Reed quickly failed scrutiny.
[5:44] Cowell's family didn't recognize the ring she presented, and Reed
[5:47] eventually retracted her account of viewing a video.
[5:51] Most importantly, Cuevas and Cheros provided robust alibis
[5:56] backed by witness testimony and cell phone records proving they
[6:00] were elsewhere when Mackenzie disappeared.
[6:03] Unfortunately, the time and manpower spent pursuing this
[6:07] deceptive lead was a significant drain on the investigation.
[6:13] The investigation finally pivoted 8 months after the
[6:16] killing, shifting from dubious witness accounts to irrefutable
[6:21] forensic science. A crucial tip LED detectives
[6:24] toward Christopher Wilson, a 29 year old classmate of
[6:28] Mackenzie's at the Academy of Hair Design.
[6:31] Investigators confirmed that Wilson was also a student there
[6:35] and had been seen leaving the beauty school around the same
[6:38] time as Cowell, on the night of February 9th, 2010.
[6:43] The definitive breakthrough came through the Washington State
[6:46] Patrol Crime Lab. Forensic experts successfully
[6:50] matched Wilson's unique DNA profile to biological material
[6:54] found on a piece of duct tape recovered near Mackenzie's body
[6:58] at the Crescent Bar disposal site.
[7:01] This piece of evidence proved doubly damning, as it also
[7:04] contained Cowl's blood. This forensic tether established
[7:09] a direct physical link between Wilson, the victim, and the
[7:13] location where her body was dumped, leading to his arrest.
[7:18] While Wilson had no prior criminal record, a neighbor
[7:21] reportedly found him to be unstable, noting that they had
[7:25] never felt the need to lock their doors until Wilson came to
[7:29] Wenatchee. Crucially, the task force served
[7:34] multiple search warrants, including one on Wilson's
[7:37] apartment, which was located close to the beauty school.
[7:42] Inside Wilson's residence, investigators discovered a blood
[7:45] stain that lab analysis confirmed matched Mackenzie
[7:49] Cowell's DNA profile. The killer's DNA on the binding
[7:54] material used for disposal at the secondary scene, coupled
[7:58] with the victim's blood inside the killer's apartment, made the
[8:01] picture clear. It proved that Wilson didn't
[8:05] merely stumble upon the victim or dispose of her body after an
[8:09] attack. He had taken her to a location
[8:12] of his own choosing, specifically his apartment,
[8:16] where the initial fatal assault likely took place.
[8:20] This discovery demonstrated that the crime was controlled,
[8:24] planned, and protracted, requiring Wilson to transport
[8:29] the body approximately 20 miles to Crescent Bar afterward.
[8:33] The fact that the attack originated in Wilson's private,
[8:36] familiar space suggested a premeditation and a level of
[8:41] control over the victim only capable in the safe haven of his
[8:44] apartment. As detectives focused on
[8:49] Christopher Wilson, The Dark World of his hidden life began
[8:52] to unravel, providing a chilling psychological backdrop to the
[8:57] crime. Multiple individuals came
[9:00] forward to police, describing Wilson's intense and macabre
[9:04] fascination with death and serial killers.
[9:07] Reports confirmed he was obsessed with dead bodies and
[9:11] even sported a tattoo dedicated to Hannibal Lecter.
[9:15] Investigators concluded that Wilson's interests were more
[9:18] than a simple fascination. His online presence was dredged
[9:22] up and he spent a significant amount of time posting
[9:26] disturbing content to Deviant Art.
[9:29] This was a website where users could upload their own art for
[9:33] viewing by the community, and it had a bit of a sketchy
[9:36] reputation, at least based on the YouTube videos I've watched.
[9:41] He also spent a significant time online reading about serial
[9:44] predators and posting on forums dedicated to their craft, so to
[9:48] speak. Notably, this is what the FBI
[9:53] profilers had informed the local investigators of at the start of
[9:57] the investigation. This dark preoccupation provided
[10:01] context for the specific savage acts committed against
[10:06] Mackenzie, particularly the post mortem acts.
[10:11] The complexity of the case grew further when the Cowell Task
[10:14] Force made a second arrest in December 2010.
[10:18] Tessa Schulman, a close friend of Wilson's, was taken into
[10:22] custody on suspicion of criminal assistance and obstruction.
[10:26] While she was eventually charged only with obstruction in an
[10:29] unrelated case, the evidence seized from Wilson's apartment
[10:33] regarding her involvement was profoundly disturbing.
[10:37] She initially told police she had no recollection of the
[10:39] events surrounding the slaying, but what happens next is
[10:43] incredibly disturbing. Detectives recovered images from
[10:49] Wilson's computers depicting Schulman posing appearing as a
[10:52] deceased person with a pool of dried blood under her.
[10:56] This was directly on the spot in the apartment where Mackenzie
[10:59] Cowell's dried blood was confirmed to be present.
[11:03] It's unknown whether this was actually Mackenzie's blood or if
[11:06] this scene was staged after, though it's strongly believed it
[11:10] was the original material. Additionally, videos recovered
[11:15] from Schulman's cell phone, recorded around the time Wilson
[11:19] was moving out of the apartment, documented the concealment
[11:22] attempt. One video showed Schulman
[11:25] focusing the camera on the location of the blood stain on
[11:28] the rug. Another clip recorded a few days
[11:31] later, captured Wilson asking her if the apartment was quote
[11:35] UN quote clean. She cryptically replied that it
[11:38] was as clean as it was going to get, considering what had
[11:41] happened. The act of photographing a
[11:46] friend posing on the victim's blood suggests that the crime
[11:49] extended beyond the initial attack.
[11:52] It became a disturbing theatrical experience for
[11:54] Wilson. This documentation and staging
[11:58] reinforce the understanding that Wilson's actions stemmed from a
[12:02] deep seated psychological need to immortalize the horror he had
[12:06] created. Investigators speculated that he
[12:10] was framing it in the context of the serial killers he so avidly
[12:13] admired. In the spring of 2012, two years
[12:19] after the initial crime, Christopher Wilson's case was
[12:23] scheduled for trial. Facing overwhelming forensic
[12:26] evidence, the defense entered into crucial plea negotiations.
[12:30] In May 2012, Wilson accepted a plea agreement, pleading guilty
[12:35] to a reduced charge of first degree manslaughter.
[12:39] He was sentenced to a term of 171 months, or just over 14
[12:45] years in state prison. But despite this sweetheart
[12:48] deal, he wouldn't be happy. The conclusion of the legal
[12:53] process was instantly contentious, primarily due to
[12:57] Wilson's subsequent attempts to challenge his own guilty plea.
[13:01] He repeatedly maintained his innocence, asserting that he
[13:04] only accepted the plea because he felt he would not have
[13:07] received a fair trial in Wenatchee.
[13:10] Wilson claimed that during the jury selection process, he
[13:14] reviewed questionnaires showing that a staggeringly high
[13:17] proportion of prospective jurors knew about his case.
[13:22] Further, those that had heard about his case believed him to
[13:24] be guilty based on media coverage.
[13:27] He argued this pervasive community prejudice, fueled by
[13:31] intense media coverage of the crimes brutality, effectively
[13:35] coerced him into accepting the lesser charge.
[13:40] Wilson filed a motion to withdraw his guilty plea in
[13:43] April 2013, citing this coercion, but the motion was
[13:48] firmly rejected by the Washington Court of Appeals.
[13:52] The court determined that Wilson benefited from mitigating his
[13:55] sentence and he couldn't unilaterally undo the agreement.
[14:00] Further, the court also framed this as being for his own
[14:03] protection as well, since he would have potentially been
[14:06] subject to life in prison. Disturbingly, Christopher Wilson
[14:10] was freed from the Monroe Correctional Center on December
[14:12] 11th, 2023, having served virtually no meaningful time for
[14:17] ending the life of Mackenzie. The truly disturbing dimension
[14:22] of this case isn't just the sheer brutality inflicted upon
[14:26] Mackenzie Cowell, it's the chilling psychological profile
[14:29] of the perp, a man obsessed with death and killers, sporting a
[14:34] Hannibal Lecter tattoo, who executed a crime worthy of the
[14:38] dark narratives he idolized. But the horror of the crime
[14:42] clashes with the quote UN quote justice served in this case.
[14:47] Christopher Wilson, who subjected his classmate to such
[14:50] violence, walked free from prison in December 2023.
[14:55] Personally, I just don't get why the prosecution agreed to such
[14:58] minimal charges given the strength of the evidence in this
[15:01] case. It leaves us with the unsettling
[15:05] reality that a known self professed devotee of depraved
[15:09] violence, having served his time, is now simply another face
[15:13] in the crowd. He's not an inmate anymore.
[15:17] He's someone's new neighbor, maybe yours or mine, walking
[15:20] free. Anyway, it's really hard to say
[15:24] that there was any meaningful justice for Mackenzie here.
[15:31] Hey everyone, it's Jimmy here. Just taking a moment to show my
[15:34] Patreon and the YouTube membership.
[15:38] Everything you donate to the show goes directly back into
[15:40] production, mostly in the form of coffee and energy drinks.
[15:48] Imagine the most ordinary scene, a 16 year old high school
[15:52] student standing outside a fast food restaurant waiting for a
[15:56] ride. This mundane moment, captured on
[15:59] a sunny afternoon in Las Vegas, NV in 1979, was abruptly
[16:05] shattered by a monstrous act that would baffle police for 42
[16:09] years. The shocking disappearance of
[16:12] Kim Bryant from a busy street right across from her own school
[16:16] illustrates how a predator can operate in plain sight.
[16:21] After finishing her school, Kim and a friend walked across North
[16:25] Decatur Blvd. to a Dairy Queen situated near US Hwy. 95.
[16:31] Kim planned to wait there for her boyfriend to arrive and pick
[16:34] her up. Tragically, her friend kept
[16:37] going and she vanished. Before that ride ever
[16:40] materialized, Kim was abducted in broad daylight, driven away
[16:45] by her killer. The brazenness of the crime,
[16:49] snatching a teenager from a public location directly
[16:52] opposite a high school, demonstrated A stunning
[16:55] disregard for detection by the perpetrator.
[16:58] Initial investigations yielded nothing definitive, and the
[17:02] community waited in agonizing suspense for weeks.
[17:07] The painful search came to an end about a month later.
[17:11] On February 20th, 1979. Kim's body was discovered in a
[17:16] desert area in the western part of the city, near the
[17:19] intersection of West Charleston Blvd. and South Buffalo.
[17:23] Dr. Examination confirmed the brutality of the attack.
[17:28] Kim had been assaulted and slain.
[17:31] Reports indicated she had been beaten to death, possibly with a
[17:34] rock. The physical location of the
[17:37] discovery on the outskirts of the growing city suggested the
[17:42] killer was familiar with the remote, undeveloped expanses of
[17:46] Las Vegas. Investigators at the time
[17:49] believed he viewed these undeveloped and newly developing
[17:52] outskirts areas as convenient disposal sites.
[17:58] Throughout the late 1970s and 1980s, detectives exhausted
[18:02] every available investigative lead.
[18:05] In that era, law enforcement relied heavily on witness
[18:09] testimony, confessions, and circumstantial evidence.
[18:14] While investigators developed various theories and questioned
[18:17] multiple persons of interest, none of the traditional methods
[18:21] LED them to the killer. The sheer passage of time,
[18:25] coupled with the inherent limitations of police work at
[18:28] the time, meant the cops struggled to identify the
[18:31] individual responsible for Kim's assault and death.
[18:36] Despite a truly massive amount of resources expended, the case
[18:40] eventually reached a discouraging stalemate and the
[18:43] cops more or less threw in the towel.
[18:46] Despite this though, one crucial piece of evidence, DNA recovered
[18:51] from Kim's body was carefully preserved.
[18:55] Over the ensuing decades, the DNA profile was generated, but
[19:00] unfortunately this did little to solve the case.
[19:04] His profile was uploaded to the national database, but he had
[19:07] either never been arrested or hadn't committed an offense
[19:11] serious enough to mandate DNA submission.
[19:15] Cold case investigators had in essence, viewed the case as
[19:18] impossible to solve, and seasoned investigators didn't
[19:22] think it would ever get better than standard DNA testing.
[19:28] By the early twenty 20s, genetic genealogy had started to become
[19:32] widely available and offered a way around cases where there
[19:36] were no DNA hits in national databases.
[19:40] Recognizing the potential of this advanced method, local
[19:44] philanthropist and entrepreneur Justin Wu provided the financial
[19:48] support to have forensic testing done.
[19:51] This generous donation proved fundamental, acting as the
[19:55] catalyst necessary to breathe new life into the four decade
[19:58] old inquiry. With the necessary funding
[20:02] secured, the authorities partnered with Othram, who
[20:05] provided significant breakthroughs to the Vegas
[20:08] police. Following the genealogical
[20:12] leads, detectives were able to focus their traditional
[20:15] investigation on a specific family line.
[20:19] Through confirmatory testing, they ultimately identified the
[20:23] killer as Johnny Blake Peterson. This conclusion was drawn by
[20:28] comparing the DNA evidence recovered from Kim's body with
[20:32] that of one of Peterson's family members.
[20:35] Johnny Blake Peterson was a Las Vegas resident, born in 1960.
[20:40] He was 19 years old when he committed the crime in 1979.
[20:44] Disturbingly, Peterson had briefly attended Western High
[20:48] School, the same school Kim Bryant attended, establishing a
[20:52] clear link to the victim's environment and the abduction
[20:56] site. He later married, had two
[20:59] children, and worked as a freelance plasterer.
[21:02] He lived the rest of his life undetected as Kim's killer.
[21:06] However, the confirmation of Peterson's identity came with
[21:11] the difficult realization that he would never face criminal
[21:15] prosecution. Johnny Blake Peterson had died
[21:19] 28 years earlier in January 1993, at the age of 32.
[21:25] His death was attributed to an overdose at a local hospital.
[21:31] The identification of Johnny Peterson was more than just the
[21:34] end of the Kim Bryant case. It became the crucial opening to
[21:37] solving other mysteries. Almost immediately after the
[21:41] announcement, detectives received information suggesting
[21:45] Peterson's possible involvement in a second brutal cold case.
[21:50] Diana Hanson, 22, was a college student visiting family for the
[21:55] holidays when she was assaulted and stabbed to death in late
[21:59] December 1983. Her body was found the next day
[22:03] in a remote area near West Spring Mountain Rd.
[22:06] approximately 1.5 miles from South Buffalo Dr. The location
[22:11] of Hanson's body, like Kim Bryant's, was situated in the
[22:16] undeveloped western parts of the city, suggesting a chilling
[22:19] consistency in the killer's methods.
[22:23] Detectives requested a direct comparison between the DNA
[22:26] evidence recovered from Diana Hansen's body and the genetic
[22:30] profile of Peterson. The result was definitive.
[22:35] The comparison confirmed that Jordan Peterson was responsible
[22:39] for the death of Diana Hansen as well.
[22:43] The confirmation of Johnny Peterson as a serial
[22:46] perpetrator, linked to two deaths spanning 1979 to 1983,
[22:52] immediately broaden the scope of the investigation.
[22:55] Authorities announced they are actively reviewing at least five
[22:58] other unsolved cases in the Las Vegas area from the late 1970s
[23:03] and early 1980s for potential connection to Peterson.
[23:08] I'm absolutely convinced Jordan Peterson's victim count is much
[23:11] higher than just the 2 confirmed cases we've established.
[23:15] He killed Kim Bryant in 1979 and Diana Hansen in 1983.
[23:22] The four year gap between these two sick cases strongly suggests
[23:25] a continuous pattern of violent predation.
[23:28] It took advanced genetic genealogy to even connect him to
[23:32] these two. Think about that.
[23:35] He operated completely undetected for years until he
[23:39] died in 1993. The most damning evidence,
[23:43] though, is that the cops are already actively investigating
[23:47] his connection to at least five other Las Vegas slayings from
[23:50] that same era. This instantly pushes his
[23:54] potential victim total past seven, and we don't even know
[23:58] where he may have travelled to during this time period given he
[24:02] was free for over a decade after his first confirmed crime.
[24:05] I just can't shake the feeling that the DNA evidence will tie
[24:08] him to many more cold cases. Imagine the quiet terror of
[24:16] knowing danger is near, but not knowing where it lurks.
[24:20] In the days leading up to April 15th, 1990, two 24 year old Lisa
[24:26] Ziegert, A beloved middle school teacher's aide in Agawam, MA,
[24:31] confided a terrible secret. She told her friends and sister
[24:35] that she felt like someone was watching her.
[24:38] That chilling premonition became horrific reality on the evening
[24:42] she worked her night shift alone at the Reminder Mark gift shop.
[24:46] Also, just a quick aside, I've covered enough cases now where
[24:50] someone targets a woman working alone overnight.
[24:54] Perhaps having anyone working overnight completely alone and
[24:57] dealing with the public isn't the best idea.
[25:01] The next morning, the store's day clerk arrived to find the
[25:04] shop open, the lights on, and Ziegert gone.
[25:09] The scene was baffling. Her car remained in the parking
[25:12] lot, her purse was untouched, and the cash register hadn't
[25:16] been raided. This wasn't a robbery gone
[25:18] wrong, it was clearly an abduction.
[25:22] Four days later, on April 19th, the search ended tragically when
[25:28] her body was discovered in a wooded area nearby.
[25:31] Early investigators were able to recover crucial biological
[25:35] material from the scene, developing a single source male
[25:39] DNA profile. The recovery of this evidence
[25:42] immediately signaled a strong forensic lead, yet the
[25:46] technology of the time rendered the information useless for
[25:49] immediate identification. For the next quarter century,
[25:55] Lisa Ziegert slaying stood as one of the highest profile
[25:58] unsolved cases in Massachusetts history.
[26:02] The investigative challenge wasn't a lack of evidence, but a
[26:04] technical wall. The male profile developed from
[26:08] the crime scene material was repeatedly run through state,
[26:12] national, and even international databases, but failed to yield a
[26:16] match. Despite the persistent inability
[26:20] to match the DNA, investigators kept the case active, ensuring
[26:25] that institutional knowledge about early suspects wasn't
[26:29] lost. This focus on long term data
[26:32] retention proved critical. Just a year after the slaying in
[26:37] 1993, a local man named Gary Shera had surfaced on the radar
[26:43] as a person of interest. He was interviewed multiple
[26:46] times throughout the ensuing decades.
[26:49] Looking back, investigators realized that Cher's behavior
[26:53] during a past interrogation was remarkably suspicious.
[26:57] He reportedly wore a long winter trench coat and gloves and went
[27:01] to extreme lengths to avoid touching anything in the room,
[27:04] keeping his hands jammed in his pockets.
[27:08] The investigative gridlock finally broke in 2016 when the
[27:13] Hampton District Attorney authorized the application of a
[27:16] then cutting edge genomic technology called phenotyping.
[27:21] This process works by predicting an individual's ancestry and
[27:25] physical appearance from unidentified DNA.
[27:28] Using the genetic evidence recovered from the crime scene
[27:31] and Lisa Siegert's remains, the authorities produced a
[27:34] comprehensive trait prediction for the killer.
[27:38] The profile indicated a white male of mixed northern and
[27:41] southern European ancestry with a fair to very fair complexion,
[27:46] brown or black hair, and Hazel or brown eyes.
[27:51] By combining these genetic attributes, the lab produced a
[27:55] composite sketch depicting what the suspect would have looked
[27:57] like at approximately age 25. The District Attorney publicly
[28:02] released this image, announcing that investigators finally had a
[28:06] face associated with the crime after 24 years, generating
[28:10] renewed public interest and tips.
[28:13] The release of this rendering proved transformative.
[28:16] It didn't identify the killer directly, but it functioned as a
[28:20] powerful filter for investigators.
[28:23] They focused intensely on the individuals whose physical
[28:26] descriptions match the genetic rendering.
[28:30] This technological leap, transforming genetic data into a
[28:33] visual lead, proved essential for narrowing the list to a
[28:37] manageable size, making the legal steps viable.
[28:43] The investigation pivoted immediately from passive
[28:45] database checks to aggressive, targeted legal action.
[28:50] A grand jury was convened to pursue court orders compelling
[28:53] DNA samples from the small, refined list of suspects, which
[28:57] included Gary Shera. On September 13th, 2017, State
[29:04] Police troopers attempted to formally notify Shara, then 48,
[29:09] about the legal process to obtain his sample.
[29:12] The simple act of notification had a devastating effect on the
[29:16] suspect. Realizing that the scientific
[29:19] noose was tightening, Shara immediately fled his home in
[29:22] West Springfield and went to Connecticut.
[29:25] His panicked flight confirmed for investigators that they had
[29:29] the correct man for obvious reasons.
[29:32] The following day brought the crucial breakthrough that
[29:35] secured the case. Before the DNA was even
[29:37] officially tested, an individual close to Shara contacted the
[29:42] state police and provided several handwritten documents
[29:46] purportedly authored by him. These documents contained
[29:50] explicit admissions to all the crimes against Ziegert, and
[29:54] later that day, law enforcement authorities from Massachusetts
[29:58] and Connecticut located Shara. Knowing he was cornered and
[30:03] wouldn't get away, he attempted to eliminate himself, though he
[30:07] was unsuccessful in this task and later apprehended.
[30:13] The final piece of the forensic puzzle fell into place swiftly.
[30:17] The DNA sample taken from Gary Shara provided a definitive 100%
[30:23] match to the single source male profile recovered from Lisa
[30:27] Ziegert's remains 25 years earlier.
[30:31] With the combined weight of Shara's own handwritten
[30:33] confessions and the conclusive DNA evidence, the search for
[30:38] Lisa Ziegert's killer was officially declared over.
[30:41] Facing guaranteed conviction, Gary Shara ultimately pleaded
[30:45] guilty on September 25th, 2019, securing a sentence of life in
[30:51] prison without the possibility of parole.
[30:55] Given the actions he took when he knew the gig was up, this is
[30:58] literally a fate worse than death for this sick puppy.
[31:08] On a cold February night in 1987, a small Michigan community
[31:12] was shaken by a crime so brutal that it would haunt
[31:16] investigators for decades. 30 year old Roxanne Wood was found
[31:21] slain in her own kitchen, her throat slashed.
[31:25] For 35 years, the question of who did this to Roxanne remained
[31:29] unanswered, a chilling whodunnit that many feared would never be
[31:34] solved. The case seemed unsolvable,
[31:37] stalled by bygone forensic limits and dead end leads.
[31:41] Yet against all odds, a tiny fragment of DNA eventually
[31:46] cracked the case and unmasked the cruel perpetrator.
[31:51] This is the story of Roxanne Wood, the decades long quest for
[31:55] justice, and the extraordinary forensic breakthrough that
[31:59] finally brought a killer to justice.
[32:04] Born and raised in Niles, MI, Roxanne graduated high school in
[32:08] the 1970s and married her high school sweetheart, Terry Wood,
[32:13] soon after. By 1987, Roxanne was in her
[32:17] early 30s, enjoying life's simple pleasures.
[32:22] Friends and family described her as fun loving and generous, the
[32:26] kind of person who made everyone feel like her best friend.
[32:30] She loved tending to her rose bushes in the garden and was
[32:33] known for sharing homemade family recipes with neighbors.
[32:38] On weekends, Roxanne and Terry often spent time with friends.
[32:42] One of her favorite songs was Bon Jovi's Wanted Dead or Alive,
[32:46] a fitting anthem for a spirited woman who embraced life.
[32:50] And normally I wouldn't have included this last little fact,
[32:54] but that exact song came on my rotation about 15 minutes after
[32:59] reading that. February 19th, 1987 began like
[33:06] any other day for Roxanne and Terry Wood, but it ended in
[33:10] unimaginable tragedy. That evening, the couple went
[33:14] out for dinner and then headed to their local bowling alley for
[33:17] a league night with friends. Since they had driven in
[33:20] separate cars, Roxanne left the bowling alley alone a bit
[33:24] earlier than Terry, planning to head home and get some rest.
[33:29] Sometime after Roxanne arrived home, horror struck in the early
[33:34] morning hours of February 20th. Terry walked through the door of
[33:38] their house only to stumble upon a blood chilling scene.
[33:44] He saw Roxanne's lifeless body was sprawled on the kitchen
[33:47] floor, and it was evident that she had been there for some
[33:50] time. He frantically called 911 and
[33:54] conveyed the gruesome reality of the scene to the dispatchers.
[34:00] When police and medics arrived, it was evident that Roxanne had
[34:04] been brutally attacked. Investigators later determined
[34:08] that she had been incidentally assaulted before her throat was
[34:11] cut. The crime scene offered only a
[34:14] handful of clues. A broken frying pan was found
[34:17] nearby, suggesting it might have been used to bludgeon Roxanne
[34:21] during a struggle. Further, an empty slot in a
[34:26] kitchen knife block hinted that the weapon came from her own
[34:29] home. Notably, as the cops secured the
[34:32] house, a bloody kitchen knife was later discovered stashed in
[34:36] the freezer. Detectives also collected A
[34:39] biological sample from Roxanne's body and noticed a smear of
[34:43] blood on the outside of the back door, possibly left by the
[34:47] perpetrator as he fled. There were no obvious signs of
[34:52] forced entry into the house, raising the eerie possibility
[34:56] that Roxanne may have unwittingly let the man in, or
[34:59] that he entered through an unlocked door.
[35:03] The violence visited upon Roxanne and the supposed safety
[35:06] of her home was shocking, and the quiet neighborhood was
[35:10] immediately on edge knowing a predator was at large.
[35:13] Or at least they would have been if they didn't all seem to
[35:16] believe that Terry Wood was responsible for this brutal act
[35:19] of violence. In cases like this,
[35:24] investigators often look first at those closest to the victim.
[35:28] And in Roxanne's case, that was her husband, Terry Wood.
[35:32] From the very start, Terry fell under a cloud of extreme
[35:35] suspicion. He was the one who found
[35:38] Roxanne's body, and with no forced entry, police wondered if
[35:43] the crime could have been an inside job.
[35:46] According to reports, Terry's behavior that night added to
[35:50] investigators doubts. He was said to have become
[35:53] agitated or belligerent with first responders.
[35:57] Further, when brought to the station for routine questioning,
[36:00] he quickly asked for a lawyer. To detectives in 1987, this
[36:06] seemed like potentially guilty behavior, a husband trying to
[36:10] shield himself behind an attorney barely an hour after
[36:13] his wife's slaying. Now, before I go on any further,
[36:20] it's extremely obvious that the cops thought Terry was their
[36:23] man, and they just seemed to have stopped investigating the
[36:26] case after they locked in on him.
[36:29] I'm going to tip my hand a bit here and tell you right now that
[36:32] Terry had absolutely nothing to do with Roxanne's slaying.
[36:36] It seems likely to me that Terry understood that the cops weren't
[36:39] asking him friendly questions in an attempt to actually solve the
[36:44] crime. To them, the crime was solved,
[36:48] Terry did it, and they just needed to break him.
[36:52] Under these circumstances, it makes perfect sense why Terry
[36:55] would want to lawyer up right away and may have been less
[36:59] cooperative than usual. Indeed, one investigator bluntly
[37:05] told Terry that he believed that Terry had done it.
[37:09] Terry adamantly maintained his innocence, and Roxanne's family
[37:13] stood by him. Her younger sister Janet never
[37:16] believed Terry was capable of such a heinous act and insisted
[37:20] the real perp was still out there in the shadows.
[37:24] Nonetheless, with no alternate suspects and scant evidence,
[37:28] Terry remained the primary suspect for decades in many
[37:32] people's eyes. Whispers followed him everywhere
[37:35] he went in town and according to some reports, both investigators
[37:39] and locals referred to him as Slash.
[37:44] It was a bitter reference to a man they had believed had slain
[37:47] his wife. As time went on and Leeds dried
[37:50] up, it seemed like the real predator had gotten away and an
[37:54] innocent man's reputation was forever marred by the loss of
[37:58] his wife. Despite focusing in on Terry in
[38:04] 1987, police were unable to charge anyone for Roxanne's
[38:08] slaying. The authorities only have one
[38:11] opportunity to take a run at their man, and the evidence just
[38:15] wasn't sufficient to justify attempting to do that to Terry.
[38:20] Aside from the physical evidence at the scene, which in those
[38:24] days could only be analyzed with relatively primitive forensic
[38:27] methods, there were no eyewitnesses and no obvious
[38:31] motive. The case gradually went cold,
[38:35] leaving Roxanne's family in limbo.
[38:38] By the late 1990s, DNA profiling had emerged as a game changing
[38:43] tool in criminal investigations and evidence from Roxanne's case
[38:48] was tested. There was DNA from the unknown
[38:51] offender, but even in the 1990s there was no match in any
[38:56] database and the sample was small and degraded.
[39:03] In 2001, Michigan State Police took a fresh look at the case,
[39:08] hoping new techniques might succeed where earlier efforts
[39:11] failed. Unfortunately, that review also
[39:15] ended without a breakthrough, and Roxanne's file returned to
[39:18] the unsolved case shelves. By 2020 / 33 years had passed
[39:24] since Roxanne's slaying and technology had advanced
[39:27] dramatically. Michigan State Police decided to
[39:31] reopen the cold case once again in 2020 in a last ditch effort
[39:36] to find the attacker. The turning point in this cold
[39:41] case arrived when detectives turned to genetic genealogy.
[39:46] In 2020. Investigators sent what remained
[39:49] of the DNA sample from Roxanne's case to identify Finders
[39:52] International, a California-based company
[39:55] specializing in forensic genealogy.
[39:59] This was a long shot. The sample was tiny and
[40:02] degraded, consisting of only a few human cells worth of DNA.
[40:07] In fact, it was the smallest amount of DNA ever attempted for
[40:11] this kind of analysis, roughly 3% of the quantity normally
[40:15] required to build a genetic profile.
[40:17] Based on the tech at the time, they painstakingly process the
[40:22] minute DNA fragments. And against the odds, they
[40:25] managed to extract enough genetic information to work
[40:28] with. It was a groundbreaking
[40:31] achievement in its own right. For the first time, such a low
[40:35] quantity DNA sample was successfully used to generate a
[40:39] genealogical lead in a criminal case.
[40:44] One name jumped out, Patrick Wayne Gillam, a man who, as fate
[40:49] would have it, lived just across the state line in South Bend,
[40:53] IN, only a few miles from Niles, MI Gillham had never been on the
[40:59] radar back in 1987, but now he was the focus of an intense
[41:03] investigation. Patrick Gillham was 67 years old
[41:10] in 2021, living a quiet life in Indiana.
[41:14] But detectives digging into his past quickly found red flags.
[41:19] Gillham had a criminal history of attacks against women.
[41:23] In fact, back in 1980, he had been arrested for breaking into
[41:27] a woman's home in Indiana and assaulting her in a chillingly
[41:30] similar attack. The victim in that prior case
[41:34] survived the ordeal and testified against him, leading
[41:37] to his conviction for burglary and indecent assault.
[41:41] He was sentenced to 14 years in prison but ended up serving only
[41:45] about 7 years before being released on parole.
[41:51] And yeah, this just makes me shake my head and question
[41:55] what's wrong with our justice system.
[41:57] There's people who've committed nonviolent offenses who've
[42:01] served less than this guy did for committing one of the worst
[42:04] crimes imaginable. Unfortunately, the next time
[42:08] this predator struck, he would remember a twisted lesson from
[42:12] this crime. Don't leave behind any
[42:15] witnesses. Just a few months after he
[42:20] regained his freedom, Gillum slipped into Michigan and police
[42:23] believe, ended the life of Roxanne Wood.
[42:27] Tragically, he chose to slay Roxanne after assaulting her to
[42:31] ensure she could never identify him and put him behind bars
[42:35] again. Armed with their new suspect,
[42:40] Michigan State Police needed concrete proof to secure an
[42:44] arrest. Genetic genealogy had pointed to
[42:47] this potential perpetrator, but they required a direct DNA
[42:51] sample from him to confirm it was his DNA.
[42:54] At the 1987 crime scene. In May 2021, an undercover
[42:59] surveillance team tailed Patrick Gillum for days, waiting for an
[43:03] opportunity to collect something he touched or discarded.
[43:07] They soon noticed that he was a smoker, which presented the
[43:10] perfect chance a thrown away cigarette could contain his DNA
[43:14] rich saliva. One day, investigators observed
[43:19] Gillham flick a cigarette butt from his truck window and seized
[43:22] it. But that attempt hit a snag when
[43:25] the lab found the DNA on it wasn't a match.
[43:28] Reports indicate that the cop may have picked up the wrong
[43:31] cigarette butt. And since I'm running on a
[43:34] deficit of Simpson's references lately, boy, I really hope
[43:38] someone got fired for that blunder.
[43:43] Undeterred, the team tried again.
[43:45] A state trooper cleverly struck up a conversation with Gillum
[43:49] outside a laundromat, even smoking a cigarette with him to
[43:52] avoid arousing suspicion. He watched closely as Gillum
[43:56] finished his smoke and tossed the butt aside.
[44:00] The moment Gillum walked away, the trooper scooped up the still
[44:03] warm cigarette butt with gloved hands.
[44:06] And this time, the evidence was airtight.
[44:10] Lab results confirmed a perfect DNA match between him and the
[44:14] unknown male DNA from Roxanne's kit, conclusively tying him to
[44:18] the crime scene after 30-4 years.
[44:23] With the DNA match in hand, detectives moved quickly.
[44:27] In July 2021, they invited the perp to a police precinct under
[44:33] the pretense of discussing an old case without immediately
[44:36] letting on that he was the prime suspect.
[44:39] They showed him a photo of Roxanne Wood and asked if he
[44:42] knew her. Gillum casually claimed he did
[44:45] not and soon grew uneasy, eventually saying I got to talk
[44:50] to my lawyer. The cops bided their time a
[44:53] little longer to firm up the case, and on February 17th,
[44:58] 2022, almost exactly 35 years after Roxanne's slaying, police
[45:04] finally arrested Patrick Gillum. Confronted with the DNA
[45:10] evidence, he reportedly professed confusion, at one
[45:13] point telling investigators that he had no idea how his
[45:17] biological material could have got there.
[45:20] Wrong answer, Patrick. Wrong answer.
[45:25] However, in March 2022, rather than go through a lengthy trial,
[45:30] Gillum agreed to a plea deal. He pleaded no contest to 2nd
[45:34] degree slaying, which meant he did not admit guilt in words,
[45:38] but accepted the punishment as if he were guilty.
[45:42] In practical terms, a no contest plea leads to a conviction and
[45:45] sentence just like a guilty plea without the defendant explicitly
[45:49] saying he committed the crime. By taking this deal, he likely
[45:54] avoided a potential life sentence while the prosecution
[45:57] reduced the risk of an adverse finding at trial.
[46:01] After all, the prosecution is required to prove its case
[46:05] beyond a reasonable doubt, and one hiccup on cross examination
[46:09] could have resulted in this guilty man walking free.
[46:15] At his sentencing on April 25th, 2022, Patrick Gillham, then 67
[46:21] years old, was ordered to serve 23 to 50 years in prison for the
[46:25] slaying of Roxanne Wood. Under this sentence, he will not
[46:29] be eligible for release until he serves at least 23 years behind
[46:33] bars, at which point he would be around 90 years old.
[46:38] In all probability, the prison cell will be where he spends the
[46:41] rest of his life. Unfortunately, if he had
[46:44] received a proper punishment for his first major crime, Roxanne
[46:49] would have still been alive. In court.
[46:54] The tearful convict offered a brief apology and said he was
[46:58] quote, UN quote, sorry and praying for forgiveness.
[47:02] But his words rang empty to Roxanne's family.
[47:06] One of Roxanne's brothers coldly remarked that it's common for
[47:09] people like Gillham to, quote, find Jesus only after they've
[47:12] been caught. He questioned why he didn't
[47:15] voluntarily come forward when he had the chance if he was truly
[47:19] so remorseful about this horrific act.
[47:22] The obvious answer, of course, is that he wasn't remorseful for
[47:25] the ACT, but rather the fact that he got caught yet again for
[47:29] committing the same sort of sick offense.
[47:34] Roxanne's case, once deemed unsolvable, became a landmark
[47:38] example of modern forensic science triumphing over time.
[47:42] It showed how persistence, innovative genetics, technology,
[47:47] and old fashioned detective work could unite to solve even the
[47:51] coldest of cases. Roxanne Wood's story is tragic,
[47:55] but it now stands as a testament that justice delayed didn't
[47:59] necessarily have to mean justice denied.
[48:02] It also sent a strong message to people out there who committed
[48:06] heinous offenses in the 1980s or even earlier.
[48:10] It's only a matter of time before you're rotting in a cell.

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