WEBVTT - S1: E16 – Murder on the Parkway, Part 1 0:00:02.400 --> 0:00:05.840 A wealthy couple spent an evening gambling in Atlantic City, 0:00:06.160 --> 0:00:07.960 but found trouble on their way home. 0:00:08.240 --> 0:00:11.680 It was a problem with this tire. He stopped at 0:00:11.800 --> 0:00:16.720 rest stop and then he was knocked out from behind, 0:00:17.160 --> 0:00:19.439 and his wife was shot twice in the back and 0:00:19.520 --> 0:00:20.800 died almost immediately. 0:00:21.480 --> 0:00:25.040 The mystery over what happened led investigators to a telephone 0:00:25.440 --> 0:00:27.760 some fourteen hundred miles away. 0:00:28.280 --> 0:00:31.800 They had no motive, they had no opportunity, they had 0:00:31.840 --> 0:00:36.000 no money trailed. They only had those punge calls. 0:00:36.479 --> 0:00:39.880 Today, we're in New Jersey for part one of Murder 0:00:39.920 --> 0:00:43.920 on the Parkway. I'm Sloan Glass and this is American 0:00:44.000 --> 0:00:47.320 homicide and just a warning that what you're about to 0:00:47.360 --> 0:00:48.360 hear is graphic. 0:00:48.720 --> 0:00:50.120 Please take care while listening. 0:00:52.120 --> 0:00:56.360 When New Jersey legalized gambling in the late seventies, Atlantic 0:00:56.440 --> 0:00:58.800 City came roaring back to life. 0:00:59.040 --> 0:00:59.800 By the eighties. 0:01:00.240 --> 0:01:03.560 It was the East coast version of Las Vegas, and 0:01:03.600 --> 0:01:07.080 for locals like Robert and Maria Marshall, it was where 0:01:07.120 --> 0:01:08.840 they went for their weekly date night. 0:01:09.280 --> 0:01:13.199 She liked Atlantic City, She'd liked going out to dinner there. 0:01:13.920 --> 0:01:15.440 They had friends down there. 0:01:15.640 --> 0:01:20.520 Jim Churchill investigated major crimes for the Ocean County Prosecutor's office. 0:01:20.720 --> 0:01:23.200 They noted a chef down there where they went, and 0:01:23.240 --> 0:01:25.040 he would come out and make a big fuss over 0:01:25.120 --> 0:01:26.080 her and him. 0:01:26.240 --> 0:01:29.440 Maria and Robert were a popular couple who many called 0:01:29.560 --> 0:01:34.040 Barbie and Ken. Maria was a stunning blonde. They were 0:01:34.160 --> 0:01:37.880 high school sweethearts. The two were a nineteen eighties version 0:01:38.040 --> 0:01:39.199 of a power couple. 0:01:39.880 --> 0:01:42.840 I suppose it would be an ideal American family. 0:01:43.160 --> 0:01:47.480 Robert was a successful insurance salesman. In nineteen eighty four, 0:01:47.680 --> 0:01:51.200 he sold more than fifty million dollars worth of insurance 0:01:51.800 --> 0:01:56.280 that afforded the Marshalls a lavish lifestyle filled with expensive cars, 0:01:56.400 --> 0:01:59.120 a boat, and a fancy house in the New Jersey 0:01:59.160 --> 0:02:00.480 suburb of Tom River. 0:02:00.920 --> 0:02:04.200 They were members of the Thomsriver Country Club. Most of 0:02:04.200 --> 0:02:09.120 their social life surrounded that particular place. They had three 0:02:09.160 --> 0:02:12.400 boys who were very active in swimming and tennis and 0:02:12.400 --> 0:02:13.119 stuff like that. 0:02:13.200 --> 0:02:14.560 At the country club. 0:02:15.040 --> 0:02:17.840 Maria was known as the mom of the swim team. 0:02:18.240 --> 0:02:22.120 At every swim meet, you'd find her and Robert cheering 0:02:22.160 --> 0:02:23.480 on their kids in the stands. 0:02:23.960 --> 0:02:26.440 The couple made family time a priority. 0:02:26.680 --> 0:02:28.440 As a matter of fact, they used to take off 0:02:28.480 --> 0:02:32.680 every Friday to be with the family, and many people 0:02:33.000 --> 0:02:37.320 at the country club admired him for that and other things. 0:02:38.240 --> 0:02:41.320 On the night of September sixth, nineteen eighty four, Robert 0:02:41.320 --> 0:02:45.559 and Maria had dinner and drinks in Atlantic City. Afterwards, 0:02:45.639 --> 0:02:48.640 they played some blackjack and called it a night just 0:02:48.720 --> 0:02:49.480 before midnight. 0:02:50.560 --> 0:02:52.680 It was a school night, so she said she had 0:02:52.680 --> 0:02:55.200 to be home early because the kids had to get 0:02:55.240 --> 0:02:56.520 ready for school the next morning. 0:02:57.000 --> 0:03:01.679 Maria always treated her boys to pancakes breakfast, and since 0:03:01.720 --> 0:03:03.720 it was a Thursday night, she had to be up 0:03:03.760 --> 0:03:07.320 early the next morning, so Robert cashed out his blackjack 0:03:07.360 --> 0:03:09.480 winnings and the two headed home. 0:03:09.760 --> 0:03:12.680 It was a short drive, maybe an hour or so 0:03:12.880 --> 0:03:13.679 from Tom's River. 0:03:14.080 --> 0:03:17.119 As their Cadillac headed north on the Garden State Parkway, 0:03:17.720 --> 0:03:20.760 Maria slid off her shoes and earrings and laid back 0:03:20.760 --> 0:03:24.560 in her seat to get a little sleep, but Robert 0:03:24.639 --> 0:03:27.360 was concerned with how his Cadillac was handling the road. 0:03:28.240 --> 0:03:32.000 He was having trouble with the tire almost immediately when 0:03:32.000 --> 0:03:34.640 he left Atlantic City, but it got progressively worse as 0:03:34.680 --> 0:03:36.080 he came up the area. 0:03:36.680 --> 0:03:39.680 It was a forty five mile drive from Atlantic City 0:03:39.720 --> 0:03:42.560 to Tom's River and Robert tried his best to make 0:03:42.600 --> 0:03:45.440 it all the way home, but the tire had other plans. 0:03:46.000 --> 0:03:49.200 The faster he drove, the more it would shimmy and weave. 0:03:50.040 --> 0:03:52.840 He thought it might have been a slow leak, but 0:03:52.960 --> 0:03:55.440 he had to pull off and see what it was. 0:03:56.200 --> 0:03:59.320 Robert's exit was still fifteen miles away when he decided 0:03:59.360 --> 0:04:03.440 to pull over at the Oyster Creek picnic area. Back 0:04:03.480 --> 0:04:07.160 in the nineteen eighties, these picnic areas along highways were 0:04:07.200 --> 0:04:10.920 popular for travelers who needed a place to stop, stretch 0:04:10.960 --> 0:04:12.880 their legs, and use the restroom. 0:04:13.440 --> 0:04:14.560 The only problem with. 0:04:14.560 --> 0:04:17.080 The Oyster Creek picnic area was that it was tucked 0:04:17.080 --> 0:04:18.480 among a bunch of trees. 0:04:20.680 --> 0:04:22.800 It was very dark. There was no lights. 0:04:23.200 --> 0:04:26.720 The only thing there is a cinder block building that 0:04:26.800 --> 0:04:30.080 has restrooms in it. The only light in that area 0:04:30.400 --> 0:04:33.360 is about three hundred yards down. 0:04:33.160 --> 0:04:35.200 Where the rest area is. 0:04:37.839 --> 0:04:37.880 That. 0:04:37.960 --> 0:04:40.240 He pulled an air to check on the tire, went 0:04:40.279 --> 0:04:43.520 to the back, told his wife to pop the trunk 0:04:44.279 --> 0:04:48.960 from the glove compartment inside the cadillac. There's a switch 0:04:49.000 --> 0:04:51.000 you can hit and it pops the trunk in the back. 0:04:51.240 --> 0:04:54.400 The light from the trunk lit up the nearly pitch 0:04:54.560 --> 0:04:58.280 black picnic area. As Robert bent down to examine the 0:04:58.279 --> 0:05:02.320 rear passenger tire, he noticed another car pull in behind them. 0:05:02.880 --> 0:05:06.400 Seconds later, someone hit Robert over the head and he 0:05:06.480 --> 0:05:07.400 fell to the ground. 0:05:07.839 --> 0:05:10.080 Next thing you knew, he was waking up from being 0:05:10.160 --> 0:05:10.800 hit on the head. 0:05:10.880 --> 0:05:15.640 Unconscious, Robert felt woozy, his head was pounding, and a 0:05:15.680 --> 0:05:18.720 warm stream of blood ran from his forehead and down 0:05:18.760 --> 0:05:21.799 his cheek. He managed to get back on his feet, 0:05:22.040 --> 0:05:24.599 put his hands into the pockets of his tan khaki. 0:05:24.400 --> 0:05:26.360 Pants and found them empty. 0:05:27.000 --> 0:05:29.599 His wallet and the two grand he won from playing 0:05:29.640 --> 0:05:31.000 blackjack were gone. 0:05:32.000 --> 0:05:33.479 One thing ran through his mind. 0:05:34.440 --> 0:05:37.760 Somebody must have followed him from Atlantic City and did this. 0:05:38.520 --> 0:05:41.320 That's when Robert ran towards the front of his Cadillac 0:05:41.680 --> 0:05:42.679 to check on Maria. 0:05:43.600 --> 0:05:47.320 Missus Marshall was found in the front seat of the car. 0:05:48.000 --> 0:05:51.880 She died of two gunshot wounds to the back that 0:05:52.000 --> 0:05:53.360 eventually hit her heart. 0:05:53.640 --> 0:05:59.320 Robert's wife of twenty years was gone. He cried out 0:05:59.360 --> 0:06:02.160 into the dark ness for help, but there was no 0:06:02.200 --> 0:06:02.800 one around. 0:06:04.400 --> 0:06:06.839 He then ran out in the parkway, flagged down a 0:06:06.880 --> 0:06:09.599 couple of people who were coming back from Atlantic City, 0:06:10.080 --> 0:06:11.839 and they got help. 0:06:13.200 --> 0:06:15.600 My name is Dan mahoney and I was an investigator 0:06:15.600 --> 0:06:18.080 with the Ocean County Prosecutor's Office Major Crime Unit. 0:06:18.720 --> 0:06:22.080 In the early morning hours of September seventh, nineteen eighty four, 0:06:22.440 --> 0:06:24.800 Dan Mahoney responded to the picnic area. 0:06:25.800 --> 0:06:28.800 We got to call that there was a homicide, robbery, 0:06:28.839 --> 0:06:32.640 homicide at that location and there was one victim. Missus 0:06:32.640 --> 0:06:36.880 Marshall had been shot twice. The two wounds were almost 0:06:36.960 --> 0:06:40.240 on top of each other. She wasn't giving any resistance, 0:06:42.000 --> 0:06:45.839 she wasn't fighting. She probably never knew what happened. 0:06:46.279 --> 0:06:50.520 The killer executed Maria with a forty five. They took 0:06:50.560 --> 0:06:53.880 her purse, but her gold jewelry and wedding ring were. 0:06:53.839 --> 0:06:56.000 Left untouched, which is odd. 0:06:57.080 --> 0:06:59.919 So whoever did this seemed to be after their ca 0:07:01.040 --> 0:07:03.520 and they picked a perfect place for the crime. 0:07:04.680 --> 0:07:07.760 There was no restaurants, gas stations, or anything like that. 0:07:08.000 --> 0:07:11.360 It was secluded. It was secluded. It was about I'd 0:07:11.360 --> 0:07:13.360 say two miles from the larger rest area. 0:07:14.080 --> 0:07:17.080 Detectives found a pool of blood at the rear of 0:07:17.120 --> 0:07:20.080 the car where Robert Marshall fell after being hit on 0:07:20.120 --> 0:07:23.160 the head. The gash on his head required a handful 0:07:23.200 --> 0:07:26.760 of stitches at a local hospital. He was released around 0:07:26.800 --> 0:07:29.640 sunrise and immediately met with the police. 0:07:30.760 --> 0:07:33.040 He wanted to know who who killed his wife. 0:07:33.080 --> 0:07:35.520 He wanted this to get to the bottom of this tragedy. 0:07:36.080 --> 0:07:38.280 The investigation took off from there. 0:07:38.720 --> 0:07:41.040 We had a lot of questions and most of them 0:07:41.320 --> 0:07:44.120 had to be answered by mister Marshall. When did he 0:07:44.160 --> 0:07:46.239 plan to go to Atlantic City? Did he see anybody 0:07:46.240 --> 0:07:48.160 down there that he knew? Did he think he was 0:07:48.200 --> 0:07:50.800 being followed? Will you rob or you're missing anything. 0:07:51.360 --> 0:07:54.080 Robert told the police that he left Atlantic City with 0:07:54.200 --> 0:07:58.040 two thousand dollars and explained how the tire was acting 0:07:58.160 --> 0:07:59.080 up on their way home. 0:07:59.520 --> 0:08:01.360 And I guess when he got out to take a 0:08:01.360 --> 0:08:04.520 look at the tire he was attacked. The lost consciousness 0:08:04.600 --> 0:08:05.160 I believe. 0:08:06.160 --> 0:08:09.600 Robert told police he remembered a dark colored sedan pulled 0:08:09.600 --> 0:08:12.040 in behind him at the rest stop, but. 0:08:12.040 --> 0:08:13.400 He didn't think anything of it. 0:08:13.920 --> 0:08:16.280 He thought the driver had either pulled in to take 0:08:16.320 --> 0:08:19.640 a nap or had stopped to help him with his tire. 0:08:20.080 --> 0:08:23.600 I believe it was the passenger rear that was flat, 0:08:24.840 --> 0:08:27.840 and it looked like it suffered damage to the wall 0:08:27.880 --> 0:08:31.440 of the tire, not the tread like a nail would 0:08:31.480 --> 0:08:33.560 do or you picked up a piece of debris on 0:08:33.559 --> 0:08:34.920 the road cut the tire. 0:08:35.800 --> 0:08:37.120 This was on the side of the tire. 0:08:37.640 --> 0:08:40.120 By the end of the weekend, Robert had hired a 0:08:40.120 --> 0:08:44.920 top notch investigator from nearby Philadelphia and offered a ten 0:08:45.000 --> 0:08:48.840 thousand dollars reward for information related to his wife's murder. 0:08:49.840 --> 0:08:52.640 To me, it's always been about the victim. The victim 0:08:52.679 --> 0:08:56.719 needs justice. I know you've heard it before, but they 0:08:56.720 --> 0:08:58.400 can't speak for themselves. 0:08:59.120 --> 0:09:01.040 Well, Maria mar Shell could not talk. 0:09:01.320 --> 0:09:05.160 The private investigator she had hired that summer would be 0:09:05.200 --> 0:09:17.040 the first to talk with detectives. The newspaper headline set 0:09:17.040 --> 0:09:21.079 it all. Woman slain at rest area on New Jersey Parkway. 0:09:21.640 --> 0:09:23.920 That woman was a forty two year old mother of 0:09:24.000 --> 0:09:25.560 three named Maria Marshall. 0:09:26.200 --> 0:09:29.040 She was a wonderful, wonderful person that everybody loved. I 0:09:29.080 --> 0:09:30.840 mean everybody was shocked. 0:09:31.360 --> 0:09:35.400 Maria's friend, Linda Fenwick, heard the tragic news from her son. 0:09:35.800 --> 0:09:39.400 I remember standing by the refrigerator and he said, guess 0:09:39.440 --> 0:09:40.400 what happened. Mom. 0:09:40.520 --> 0:09:43.760 Linda was shocked to hear her friend and carpool partner 0:09:44.280 --> 0:09:45.120 had been murdered. 0:09:45.360 --> 0:09:47.400 Our children went to swim camp in the middle of 0:09:47.440 --> 0:09:50.040 Pennsylvania and we would drive back and forth. I would 0:09:50.120 --> 0:09:52.240 drive one way, she would drive the other way. There 0:09:52.240 --> 0:09:55.679 were meets several times a week, and we always went 0:09:55.720 --> 0:09:58.320 to their house afterwards because they always entertained the team. 0:09:58.600 --> 0:10:01.440 The Marshalls would videotape the swim meets and then hosts 0:10:01.440 --> 0:10:04.920 the team for a viewing party, where Maria would serve pizza, 0:10:05.640 --> 0:10:07.960 which is why they called her the mom of the 0:10:08.000 --> 0:10:08.840 swim team. 0:10:09.080 --> 0:10:11.480 Center of her world were her boys. There was no 0:10:11.559 --> 0:10:13.720 doubt about it. They were the center of her world. 0:10:14.160 --> 0:10:17.040 Everything revolved around them and swimming. 0:10:17.800 --> 0:10:21.120 Nearly all of Tom's River showed up at Maria's funeral 0:10:21.280 --> 0:10:25.360 to support the three Marshall boys and Maria's husband, Robert. 0:10:26.600 --> 0:10:28.360 He had a bandage on the back of his head 0:10:28.400 --> 0:10:30.720 and he was crying the whole way down the aisle, 0:10:31.240 --> 0:10:34.760 and everybody was sympathizing with him. It was very difficult 0:10:35.040 --> 0:10:39.280 for everybody that knew them. Well, you know that this 0:10:39.320 --> 0:10:41.800 could have happened to Maria because she was such a 0:10:41.920 --> 0:10:45.960 kind person. You know, nobody quite could get a handle on. 0:10:46.280 --> 0:10:48.040 Was it for money? Why would you do that? 0:10:48.840 --> 0:10:52.240 A few days after the murder, investigators were still looking 0:10:52.280 --> 0:10:54.080 for suspects and a motive. 0:10:54.480 --> 0:10:56.640 It just didn't didn't make sense. 0:10:57.240 --> 0:10:59.440 Dan Mahoney investigated. 0:10:59.160 --> 0:11:05.560 Well, if you're rob being, why incapacitate mister Marshall with 0:11:05.640 --> 0:11:09.280 a bump on the head and then shoot missus Marshall 0:11:09.320 --> 0:11:12.720 twice who was not resisting. And so I think the 0:11:12.760 --> 0:11:15.800 main thing was to speak to mister Marshall. 0:11:15.920 --> 0:11:20.400 With Robert Marshall's help, law enforcement recreated the events of 0:11:20.440 --> 0:11:20.920 that night. 0:11:21.320 --> 0:11:23.400 He told us that it was a celebration to go 0:11:23.440 --> 0:11:26.280 to Atlantic City. They had a dinner at a certain 0:11:26.320 --> 0:11:30.320 restaurant that he always went to he liked. He was 0:11:30.400 --> 0:11:33.080 driving back, felt that there was something wrong with the 0:11:33.120 --> 0:11:35.719 way the car was performing the way he could make 0:11:35.720 --> 0:11:38.559 it to the rest area. We pulled over just to 0:11:38.600 --> 0:11:41.760 take a look at it, and he suffered a glow. 0:11:41.640 --> 0:11:42.200 To the head. 0:11:42.559 --> 0:11:46.959 Investigators focused on the Marshall's rear tire and the picnic 0:11:47.000 --> 0:11:48.360 area Robert pulled into. 0:11:49.200 --> 0:11:53.240 It really didn't make sense to me to stop there. 0:11:53.320 --> 0:11:56.480 If you haven't hire trouble. Anybody who didn't frequent Atlantic 0:11:56.480 --> 0:11:58.840 City would know that rest area and know it is dark, 0:11:59.360 --> 0:12:01.600 and you wouldn't get any light or any help or 0:12:01.679 --> 0:12:03.720 people that pull off the road to try to help 0:12:03.760 --> 0:12:06.400 you if you needed help, you would pulled off to 0:12:06.480 --> 0:12:08.440 decide and put your flashers on. 0:12:08.960 --> 0:12:11.280 Robert said he had a family friend who was struck 0:12:11.320 --> 0:12:14.520 and killed while changing a tire on the shoulder, so 0:12:14.640 --> 0:12:17.520 he chose the picnic area because he believed it was 0:12:17.520 --> 0:12:19.120 the safest place to pull over. 0:12:20.000 --> 0:12:21.560 But then there was the tire itself. 0:12:22.520 --> 0:12:26.280 The inspection of the tire was sort of a turning 0:12:26.280 --> 0:12:27.120 point for us. 0:12:27.920 --> 0:12:31.199 In the daylight, detectives noticed that the rear tire of 0:12:31.280 --> 0:12:35.240 Robert Marshall's Cadillac wasn't just an ordinary flat. 0:12:35.240 --> 0:12:36.840 As the tire had been cut. 0:12:36.920 --> 0:12:38.600 I think it was about an inch maybe an inch 0:12:38.640 --> 0:12:40.800 and a half on the tire wall the side of 0:12:40.840 --> 0:12:41.280 the tire. 0:12:41.760 --> 0:12:45.960 Investigators believed the tire was intentionally slashed. 0:12:46.640 --> 0:12:51.800 That sort of give us a direction to go, because 0:12:52.520 --> 0:12:56.360 you could not drive that car with that amount of 0:12:56.440 --> 0:12:59.280 damage to that tire for any length of time. 0:13:00.080 --> 0:13:04.080 The tire was intentionally slashed. Did it happen before they 0:13:04.160 --> 0:13:07.480 left the casino or was something else going on here? 0:13:08.080 --> 0:13:10.680 It was totally dark, so it didn't make sense to 0:13:10.720 --> 0:13:12.880 me to pull in there. It didn't make sense to 0:13:12.920 --> 0:13:15.920 me that did somebody happen to be in there? A 0:13:15.920 --> 0:13:19.480 crime of opportunity at that time in the morning, in 0:13:19.520 --> 0:13:23.360 that desolated area, it just didn't make sense. 0:13:23.960 --> 0:13:28.120 And then investigators were surprised when a private detective that 0:13:28.240 --> 0:13:30.480 Maria Marshall hired came forward. 0:13:30.880 --> 0:13:34.840 I spoke with him about two days after the homicide 0:13:34.920 --> 0:13:35.599 was discovered. 0:13:36.000 --> 0:13:40.080 Lieutenant Jim Churchill learned Maria hired a PI to look 0:13:40.080 --> 0:13:44.520 into her husband's supposed extracurricular activities. 0:13:45.200 --> 0:13:50.320 She hired a private investigator to follow Marshall on two 0:13:50.360 --> 0:13:54.840 separate occasions, once in the spring, once during the beginning 0:13:54.880 --> 0:13:58.400 of the summer of nineteen eighty four. During the course 0:13:58.400 --> 0:14:02.439 of the investigation, we found out that he was carrying 0:14:02.480 --> 0:14:05.080 on an affair with a woman who was in their 0:14:05.080 --> 0:14:10.880 social circle, and the private investigator reported that he had 0:14:10.960 --> 0:14:14.120 seen mister Marshall and had photographs of he and her 0:14:14.200 --> 0:14:16.000 together in the motel rooms. 0:14:16.240 --> 0:14:19.120 A vice principal at the local high school named Saran 0:14:19.240 --> 0:14:23.560 crash Hour was the other woman in Robert Marshall's life. 0:14:23.920 --> 0:14:25.840 I'm not sure how she found out, but I know 0:14:25.880 --> 0:14:28.520 that she hired a private investigator or follow him. 0:14:28.960 --> 0:14:33.080 Maria's friend Linda Fenwick was shocked when she heard Robert 0:14:33.120 --> 0:14:34.640 had been cheating on Maria. 0:14:35.360 --> 0:14:37.480 I mean, nobody would ever have suspected there was a 0:14:37.520 --> 0:14:40.360 problem in that marriage. The relationship between the two of 0:14:40.400 --> 0:14:41.680 them seemed perfect to me. 0:14:42.160 --> 0:14:42.760 At the time. 0:14:42.840 --> 0:14:46.040 Saran was a member of the same country club as 0:14:46.040 --> 0:14:46.720 the Marshalls. 0:14:47.440 --> 0:14:49.920 In fact, they all played tennis together. 0:14:50.720 --> 0:14:55.360 Sarann and her husband were tennis partners with Robert and 0:14:55.440 --> 0:14:56.320 Maria Marshall. 0:14:57.160 --> 0:14:59.840 I didn't know Sir Anne. She was at an unhappy 0:14:59.840 --> 0:15:02.120 mo marriage, and apparently he was too. 0:15:02.680 --> 0:15:05.960 The police learned Maria planned to confront Robert about the 0:15:06.000 --> 0:15:09.680 affair and seek a divorce, but she kept stalling. 0:15:10.320 --> 0:15:14.720 After we heard from the private investigator that brought miss 0:15:14.800 --> 0:15:19.760 cross Hour into the arena here, we thought possibly maybe 0:15:20.440 --> 0:15:22.760 she might have had something to do with it, so 0:15:22.920 --> 0:15:25.480 we stopped growing a way to work. 0:15:25.920 --> 0:15:29.120 Lieutenant Jim Churchill brought Soran in for questioning. 0:15:29.680 --> 0:15:33.880 She wasn't happy about the relationship she had with Marshall, 0:15:34.400 --> 0:15:36.960 but she didn't apologize to us or give us a 0:15:37.000 --> 0:15:37.520 feeling she. 0:15:37.560 --> 0:15:41.440 Was sorry for. She didn't like the idea it put 0:15:41.440 --> 0:15:43.000 herself in a position she was in. 0:15:43.360 --> 0:15:46.640 Saran told the detectives she and Robert had been sleeping 0:15:46.680 --> 0:15:50.680 together for fourteen months. The two hat plans to rent 0:15:50.680 --> 0:15:54.720 a home together and leave their spouses. And the affair 0:15:54.800 --> 0:15:57.640 was no secret to Maria because she found a phone 0:15:57.680 --> 0:16:01.440 bill with a series of calls I'm Robert to the 0:16:01.560 --> 0:16:03.880 high school where Saran worked. 0:16:04.280 --> 0:16:07.000 But I think she was most concerned. We thought she 0:16:07.400 --> 0:16:08.800 had some part in this. 0:16:09.520 --> 0:16:12.760 A look into Robert Marshall's phone records confirmed what Saran 0:16:12.920 --> 0:16:16.920 told them, But something in those phone records jumped out. 0:16:17.160 --> 0:16:21.600 Certain numbers caught our eye because they were to a 0:16:21.920 --> 0:16:27.120 hardware store in a place is called Boser City, which 0:16:27.160 --> 0:16:31.040 is right across the Red River from Shreveport. 0:16:31.360 --> 0:16:36.960 Shreveport as in Shreveport, Louisiana. The police found more than 0:16:37.200 --> 0:16:41.240 thirty phone calls from Robert Marshall to that number. So 0:16:41.440 --> 0:16:45.680 why was Robert calling a hardware store some fourteen hundred 0:16:45.800 --> 0:16:46.520 miles away. 0:16:48.000 --> 0:16:51.080 I asked that the local police department down there going 0:16:51.160 --> 0:16:54.000 to interview anybody who could give us information. 0:16:53.680 --> 0:16:57.160 On Robert Marshall. 0:16:55.920 --> 0:16:59.360 And they came back to me and said that a 0:16:59.640 --> 0:17:02.120 clerk who worked in the store, retired from the US 0:17:02.160 --> 0:17:05.720 Air Force, said that he met Marshall at a party 0:17:06.040 --> 0:17:09.440 during the beginning of the summer of nineteen eighty four. 0:17:10.280 --> 0:17:13.240 Police learned that during that party in May of nineteen 0:17:13.280 --> 0:17:17.480 eighty four, the hardware store clerk named Bobby Cumber spent 0:17:17.600 --> 0:17:21.640 the night talking with Maria and Robert. He was even 0:17:21.640 --> 0:17:25.440 spotted dancing with Maria. And after that party is when 0:17:25.480 --> 0:17:26.720 all the phone calls began. 0:17:27.440 --> 0:17:32.760 So we're trying to find out why these calls were made. 0:17:33.400 --> 0:17:37.959 Most suspiciously, the final phone call between Robert Marshall and 0:17:38.040 --> 0:17:43.320 Bobby Cumber occurred just before Maria's murder, and investigators wanted 0:17:43.359 --> 0:17:46.879 to know more about their relationship between Bobby Cumber and 0:17:46.960 --> 0:17:48.119 the Marshalls. 0:17:48.480 --> 0:17:51.119 So Cumber now became a person of interest. 0:17:51.400 --> 0:17:55.159 Also, that night of dancing with Maria Marshall would forever 0:17:55.320 --> 0:18:07.800 change the life of Bobby Cumber. In the early morning 0:18:07.880 --> 0:18:12.480 hours of September seventh, nineteen eighty four, Maria Marshall was 0:18:12.560 --> 0:18:15.720 murdered at a rest stop along the Gordon State Parkway 0:18:15.880 --> 0:18:20.199 in New Jersey. Police learned her husband, Robert, was cheating 0:18:20.240 --> 0:18:23.119 on her. They also found a bunch of phone calls 0:18:23.119 --> 0:18:26.760 from Robert to a man named Bobby Cumber. Bobby worked 0:18:26.760 --> 0:18:28.800 at a hardware store in Louisiana. 0:18:29.080 --> 0:18:33.320 Within two weeks of the murder, the police glombed onto 0:18:33.520 --> 0:18:36.479 the Louisiana connection by the phone calls. 0:18:36.920 --> 0:18:39.160 Journalist Judy Peat covered the story. 0:18:39.760 --> 0:18:45.240 There were thirty one calls between Marshall and Bobby Cumber, 0:18:45.280 --> 0:18:46.960 which is what the police found. 0:18:47.000 --> 0:18:50.960 Almost immediately, forty seven year old Bobby Cumber answered the 0:18:51.000 --> 0:18:53.879 phone at that small Louisiana hardware store. 0:18:54.320 --> 0:18:57.280 Bobby, at the time was living in Louisiana, even though 0:18:57.320 --> 0:18:59.280 Bobby was originally from New Jersey. 0:19:00.119 --> 0:19:03.360 Of soft spoken Bobby confirmed to investigators that he met 0:19:03.440 --> 0:19:06.240 Robert Marshall during the summer of nineteen eighty four. 0:19:06.800 --> 0:19:11.600 Bobby never knew Robert Marshall really. He decided to go 0:19:11.680 --> 0:19:14.520 visit some family in North Jersey where they still lived, 0:19:14.920 --> 0:19:18.359 and he ran into his high school girlfriend, who invited 0:19:18.400 --> 0:19:22.240 him to her daughter's graduation in Tom's River. She happened 0:19:22.240 --> 0:19:25.160 to be the next door neighbor of Robert Marshall. 0:19:26.000 --> 0:19:28.879 At that party, Bobby Cumber noticed Robert was having a 0:19:28.920 --> 0:19:32.240 hard time getting a drink, so he flagged down the bartender. 0:19:32.800 --> 0:19:35.880 It sparked a conversation between Robert and Bobby that soon 0:19:36.040 --> 0:19:37.880 included Maria Marshall. 0:19:38.080 --> 0:19:42.679 He was stunned about how pretty Maria Marshall was, and 0:19:42.760 --> 0:19:45.920 he was very flattered that a big shot in his 0:19:46.080 --> 0:19:49.440 mind like Robert Marshall would pay attention to him at all. 0:19:50.000 --> 0:19:55.520 Robert Marshall was wealthy, well dressed, and handsome, whereas Bobby 0:19:55.880 --> 0:19:59.440 was a simple guy who enjoyed long drives in the country, 0:20:00.080 --> 0:20:01.640 nana splits, and bowling. 0:20:02.160 --> 0:20:04.960 It was very flattered that a tie and jacket kind 0:20:04.960 --> 0:20:08.440 of guy would pay attention to him, because Bobby was 0:20:08.560 --> 0:20:09.880 not a ty and jacket. 0:20:09.600 --> 0:20:10.040 Kind of guy. 0:20:10.680 --> 0:20:13.720 At that party, Bobby Cummer and Robert and Maria Marshall 0:20:13.880 --> 0:20:17.440 spent that night talking. Bobby even hit the dance floor 0:20:17.480 --> 0:20:18.480 with Maria. 0:20:18.880 --> 0:20:23.560 But only fast dances. The Marshalls danced all the slow dances. 0:20:23.160 --> 0:20:26.080 Together, and that was the extent of his face time 0:20:26.200 --> 0:20:30.200 with Robert and Maria. Bobby told investigators he never saw 0:20:30.240 --> 0:20:33.679 the Marshals after that party, but he did talk with 0:20:33.800 --> 0:20:35.879 Robert by phone over the summer. 0:20:35.880 --> 0:20:40.040 And Marshall asked Bobby if he could find him a 0:20:40.080 --> 0:20:44.760 private detective, somebody to trace his wife he thought she 0:20:44.920 --> 0:20:46.480 was cheating on him. 0:20:46.960 --> 0:20:50.440 Robert Marshall, who was cheating on Maria, said Tom's River 0:20:50.600 --> 0:20:51.800 was a small town. 0:20:51.760 --> 0:20:52.679 And people talked. 0:20:53.240 --> 0:20:55.800 That's why he wanted a PI from out of town 0:20:55.920 --> 0:20:58.960 to look into Maria. 0:20:59.800 --> 0:21:02.800 There is a series of phone calls to Cumber. 0:21:03.160 --> 0:21:05.680 Lieutenant Jim Churchill investigated. 0:21:06.119 --> 0:21:09.520 During one of the phone calls, he asks him, is 0:21:09.520 --> 0:21:13.480 there somebody you know that can do an investigation. I 0:21:13.520 --> 0:21:16.400 have a very sensitive investigation that I want him done. 0:21:16.560 --> 0:21:19.640 I don't trust anybody in my area to do it. 0:21:20.440 --> 0:21:23.960 And Cumber he tells him there's a gentleman that comes 0:21:24.000 --> 0:21:26.479 into the store all the time that he knows as 0:21:26.520 --> 0:21:31.200 a former sheriff's officer, Billy Wayne mckinnitt, and he knows 0:21:31.240 --> 0:21:34.600 that he does private investigations on the side. 0:21:34.920 --> 0:21:38.360