WEBVTT - Hell and Gone Murder Line: Billie Jean Phillips Part 1 0:00:08.285 --> 0:00:10.005 School of Humans. 0:00:12.565 --> 0:00:15.285 This week, I'm going to talk about a murder story 0:00:15.525 --> 0:00:20.605 that would become probably the biggest murder mystery that Madison County, Arkansas, 0:00:20.645 --> 0:00:24.725 has ever seen, and I'll never forget. When I first 0:00:24.885 --> 0:00:28.325 read about this case, I read an article in the 0:00:28.445 --> 0:00:32.565 Arkansas Democrat Gazette and it had a pretty unforgettable opener. 0:00:33.765 --> 0:00:36.965 It read, quote, Billy Jean Phillips road life like a 0:00:37.005 --> 0:00:40.125 sexual jet ski death seemed to trail in her wake. 0:00:42.445 --> 0:00:47.005 That really struck me as a strange and pretty derogatory 0:00:47.045 --> 0:00:50.765 way to refer to her murder victim. At the same time, 0:00:50.885 --> 0:00:53.005 it did make me want to learn more about Billy 0:00:53.045 --> 0:00:56.045 Jean phillips life and to find out what happened to her. 0:00:57.085 --> 0:00:59.165 And apparently a lot of people feel that way, because 0:00:59.205 --> 0:01:02.285 I probably got more emails, messages, and calls about this 0:01:02.485 --> 0:01:06.525 case than any other case in Arkansas. I have had 0:01:06.525 --> 0:01:09.725 it in my folder for a long time. I've had 0:01:09.725 --> 0:01:11.925 people reach out to me wanting to talk about it. 0:01:11.805 --> 0:01:13.245 But there have been a few issues. 0:01:13.845 --> 0:01:16.925 Sometimes people back out, or someone will be connected to 0:01:16.965 --> 0:01:19.485 a member of the family who understandably might not want 0:01:19.485 --> 0:01:22.165 to relive the trauma of talking about this, all of 0:01:22.245 --> 0:01:26.045 which I totally understand, but I still hear about this 0:01:26.125 --> 0:01:28.645 case a lot, and I would still love to help 0:01:28.725 --> 0:01:31.245 answer some of the questions about what happened to Billy 0:01:31.285 --> 0:01:40.285 Jean Phillips. The story started back on Saturday, September third, 0:01:40.365 --> 0:01:44.405 nineteen ninety four. A federal poultry inspector named Chick Phillips 0:01:44.445 --> 0:01:47.045 was taking his seven year old son, Mackenzie back to 0:01:47.125 --> 0:01:51.125 his mother's house. Mackenzie's mother and chick SAC's wife, was 0:01:51.205 --> 0:01:53.525 thirty five year old Billy Jean Phillips. 0:01:54.085 --> 0:01:54.965 Billy Jean lived in. 0:01:55.005 --> 0:02:00.325 Album, a small unincorporated area about six miles north of Huntsville, Arkansas. 0:02:01.005 --> 0:02:03.565 Even though Billy Jean and Chick had separated in nineteen 0:02:03.645 --> 0:02:07.365 ninety two, they still cope parent died well. Chick was 0:02:07.445 --> 0:02:11.685 dropping Mackenzie off for a scheduled visit. I found out 0:02:11.725 --> 0:02:15.245 while researching this case that Madison County has a weird nickname. 0:02:15.845 --> 0:02:18.965 They call it Booger County. I don't know what this 0:02:19.045 --> 0:02:21.565 really means. Some people say it's a reference to ghosts. 0:02:21.605 --> 0:02:25.685 Other people say it refers to moonshine. Some people say 0:02:25.725 --> 0:02:28.445 it's because people in the Ozarks are rough, like a 0:02:28.445 --> 0:02:31.165 booger on the inside of your nose. And I kind 0:02:31.165 --> 0:02:33.005 of get that because one thing I know about the 0:02:33.005 --> 0:02:35.925 people in this region is that, especially back in the 0:02:36.005 --> 0:02:38.485 day they were on their own, you had to be 0:02:38.725 --> 0:02:43.085 very tough to make it up there. Anyway, Billy Jean's 0:02:43.085 --> 0:02:46.085 son ran inside the house and walked back to her bedroom. 0:02:46.845 --> 0:02:49.165 That's when he saw his mother lying on the floor 0:02:49.245 --> 0:02:50.405 a few feet from her bed. 0:02:51.525 --> 0:02:52.205 She was dead. 0:02:52.845 --> 0:02:56.845 Her head was propped up against a wall. So Mackenzie 0:02:56.925 --> 0:02:59.165 ran back outside to the car and told his dad, 0:02:59.845 --> 0:03:04.165 mommy fell painting. Chick didn't really understand what was going on, 0:03:04.205 --> 0:03:05.725 so he put his son back in the truck and 0:03:05.805 --> 0:03:08.685 walked in, and that's when he found his former wife's body. 0:03:09.565 --> 0:03:12.725 He realized, to his horror that his son had thought 0:03:12.805 --> 0:03:15.525 that the blood that was spattered all over the bedroom 0:03:15.965 --> 0:03:19.925 was paint. Billy Jean was wearing a white T shirt, 0:03:20.325 --> 0:03:24.005 underwear and all of her jewelry. Chick ran back out, 0:03:24.085 --> 0:03:26.805 drove down the road and found Billy Jean's parents, Earl 0:03:26.845 --> 0:03:27.725 and Edna mckknight. 0:03:28.285 --> 0:03:29.245 They lived close by. 0:03:29.965 --> 0:03:33.165 Then from there they called the Madison County Sheriff's Office. 0:03:33.325 --> 0:03:36.005 The Sheriff's office got that call at eleven fifty eight 0:03:36.045 --> 0:03:39.805 am Now. Of course, the house immediately turned into a 0:03:39.845 --> 0:03:42.245 crime scene, and it was not long before the whole 0:03:42.285 --> 0:03:48.325 town heard what happened. Billy Jean had been brutally murdered. 0:03:49.005 --> 0:03:52.805 She had been beaten to death, and investigators believed the 0:03:52.885 --> 0:03:56.085 murder weapon was her son's tea ball bat. It was 0:03:56.205 --> 0:04:00.805 lying near her body, splintered into pieces. Now, a tea 0:04:00.885 --> 0:04:04.205 ball bat is pretty light and short, about half the 0:04:04.245 --> 0:04:08.285 size and weight of a regular bad Apparently it didn't 0:04:08.285 --> 0:04:12.285 finish the job, because after beating Billy Jean, her killer 0:04:12.405 --> 0:04:14.765 dragged her across the room and strangled her. 0:04:16.125 --> 0:04:17.285 There was a lot of blood. 0:04:17.845 --> 0:04:20.365 It was splashed up high on the walls, almost to 0:04:20.405 --> 0:04:23.805 the ceiling. In a town with fewer than two thousand people, 0:04:23.885 --> 0:04:27.805 I know, we always say everyone knows everyone, but really 0:04:28.085 --> 0:04:31.125 everyone in Madison County knew Billy Jean Phillips, or at 0:04:31.205 --> 0:04:35.245 least knew of her. She was beautiful, with really big 0:04:35.285 --> 0:04:39.245 eyes and blonde hair and just a really pretty smile. 0:04:40.125 --> 0:04:43.685 But she was also feisty. She had a lot of lovers, 0:04:43.725 --> 0:04:46.645 and she was not shy about speaking her mind, which 0:04:46.685 --> 0:04:49.885 can be a fatal combination in a tiny town. A 0:04:49.925 --> 0:04:52.005 lot of men loved her, and a lot of women 0:04:52.125 --> 0:04:54.725 hated her, and a woman who can inspire that kind 0:04:54.725 --> 0:04:59.005 of obsession made a lot of enemies. There was a 0:04:59.085 --> 0:05:02.565 long list of suspects, including a sheriff who was living 0:05:02.605 --> 0:05:06.725 a double life, the prosecutor and his who had both 0:05:06.765 --> 0:05:10.325 slept with the victim, and pretty soon the whole town 0:05:10.605 --> 0:05:14.725 was talking about conspiracy theories that included meth, caves, arson, 0:05:15.005 --> 0:05:21.005 and murder in Arkansas. So what really happened to Billy 0:05:21.045 --> 0:05:25.485 Jean Phillips. I'm Catherine Townsend. Over the past five years 0:05:25.485 --> 0:05:28.805 of making my true crime podcast, Helen Gone, I've learned 0:05:28.845 --> 0:05:31.365 that there's no such thing as a small town where 0:05:31.445 --> 0:05:35.165 murder never happens. I have received hundreds of messages from 0:05:35.165 --> 0:05:38.125 people all around the country asking for help with an 0:05:38.165 --> 0:05:41.485 unsolved murder that's affected them, their families, and their communities. 0:05:42.205 --> 0:05:44.285 If you have a case that you'd like me. 0:05:44.245 --> 0:05:46.685 And my team to look into, you can reach out 0:05:46.685 --> 0:05:49.365 to us at our Helen Gone Murder Line at six 0:05:49.405 --> 0:05:53.525 seven eight seven four four six one four five. That's 0:05:53.525 --> 0:05:56.725 six seven eight seven four four six ' one four 0:05:56.805 --> 0:06:54.485 or five. This is Helen Gone Murder Line. After Billy 0:06:54.565 --> 0:06:58.045 Jean was found dead Madison County Sheriff Randy Baker called 0:06:58.045 --> 0:07:01.485 the Arkansas State Police. He talked to an investigator named 0:07:01.525 --> 0:07:04.045 Doug Fogley. And this, by the way, is according to 0:07:04.045 --> 0:07:08.325 an amazing investigative article in the Arkansas Democrat Gazette. When 0:07:08.365 --> 0:07:11.925 Sheriff Baker called the ASP investigator and told him that 0:07:11.965 --> 0:07:15.405 Billy Jean was dead, he said, quote, Rusty Kane has 0:07:15.445 --> 0:07:18.325 been fucking her. How do you keep the deputy prosecutor 0:07:18.365 --> 0:07:23.605 out of the crime scene. Sheriff Baker was referring to 0:07:23.605 --> 0:07:27.205 the fact that Rusty Kane, the deputy prosecutor for Madison County, 0:07:27.605 --> 0:07:30.045 had been having a very public affair with Billy Jean 0:07:30.085 --> 0:07:34.485 Phillips for several years. I talked to Terry Jones, the 0:07:34.525 --> 0:07:39.405 prosecutor for Madison County, Rusty Kane's boss. Terry Jones is 0:07:39.445 --> 0:07:42.845 the person who ended up prosecuting Billy Jean's case, and 0:07:42.925 --> 0:07:45.365 he said it is a case he will never forget. 0:07:46.365 --> 0:07:49.965 In fact, he later wrote a book called Mister Prosecutor, 0:07:50.045 --> 0:07:53.525 in which he discussed at length all the crazy twists 0:07:53.525 --> 0:07:54.765 and turns that happened in the case. 0:07:55.285 --> 0:07:59.005 I mean, we played with this for it seems like 0:07:59.125 --> 0:08:02.365 three years, and we went down and had all the 0:08:02.445 --> 0:08:05.285 top detectives in the state gathered down at a little 0:08:05.325 --> 0:08:09.925 roye in the state Police office, and brains stormed the 0:08:09.965 --> 0:08:13.885 defenses and the evidence. I mean, this case was looked 0:08:13.885 --> 0:08:16.365 at more than any case I ever had in my 0:08:16.605 --> 0:08:25.205 entire life. 0:08:26.125 --> 0:08:29.565 After the police were called, Billy Jean's parents called Billy 0:08:29.605 --> 0:08:32.165 Jean's sister. Her name was Una, and she was a nurse. 0:08:32.725 --> 0:08:35.365 So Una raced to the house and she walked in 0:08:35.485 --> 0:08:38.405 and saw what she described to the Arkansas Democrat Gazette 0:08:38.445 --> 0:08:40.005 as a horrible. 0:08:39.605 --> 0:08:40.245 Bloody scene. 0:08:41.365 --> 0:08:44.245 But because Una was a nurse, even though I cannot 0:08:44.285 --> 0:08:47.045 imagine how traumatic this must have been for her, she 0:08:47.405 --> 0:08:49.845 was from the beginning kind of looking at the scene 0:08:49.845 --> 0:08:52.965 with an investigative eye. She was noticing details that other 0:08:53.005 --> 0:08:57.045 people missed. It was clear that Billy Jean fought hard 0:08:57.125 --> 0:09:00.285 for her life. Two of her fingernails had been ripped 0:09:00.285 --> 0:09:03.845 completely out. Yuna actually found a piece of her sister's 0:09:03.885 --> 0:09:08.485 middle finger on the bed. She noticed that Billy Jean's 0:09:08.485 --> 0:09:12.845 body was stiff already in rigor mortis. Full rigor mortis 0:09:12.845 --> 0:09:15.525 can happen in around four to six hours, then the 0:09:15.525 --> 0:09:18.285 body remains stiff for twenty four to forty eight hours 0:09:18.645 --> 0:09:23.125 and then relaxes again. Using the physical evidence of the 0:09:23.165 --> 0:09:27.365 scene and after piecing together timelines, investigators were able to 0:09:27.445 --> 0:09:30.805 narrow down billy Jean's time of death to approximately between 0:09:30.845 --> 0:09:33.725 ten thirty pm and six thirty am the next morning. 0:09:34.805 --> 0:09:37.605 There was also a bedroom clock that had been ripped 0:09:37.605 --> 0:09:40.205 out of the wall at exactly three thirty five am. 0:09:43.725 --> 0:09:46.525 All hell was breaking loose at the Madison County Sheriff's 0:09:46.525 --> 0:09:50.205 office again because Billy Jean had been having an affair 0:09:50.445 --> 0:09:54.925 with the local deputy prosecutor, Rusty Kane. This was a 0:09:55.005 --> 0:09:59.245 major conflict of interest. Rusty was in charge of prosecuting 0:09:59.285 --> 0:10:01.245 the case, and now they needed to keep him out 0:10:01.245 --> 0:10:04.765 of the crime scene. Rusty Kane did show up at 0:10:04.765 --> 0:10:08.205 Billy Jean's house and a couple of police officers later 0:10:08.325 --> 0:10:12.085 signed statements that said that Rusty Caine had something on 0:10:12.125 --> 0:10:14.645 his shoes. They said they looked like it could be 0:10:14.685 --> 0:10:18.845 spots of blood. Those shoes were taken into evidence, but 0:10:18.885 --> 0:10:21.765 not until later that day. And to be honest, I've 0:10:21.845 --> 0:10:24.565 never found anything else in anything I've read about this 0:10:24.605 --> 0:10:29.045 case about what happened to those shoes. Yuna and her brother, 0:10:29.165 --> 0:10:31.925 Robert McKnight who was Billy Jean's baby brother and very 0:10:31.925 --> 0:10:35.365 close to Billy Jean, told The Democrat Gazette that Rusty 0:10:35.565 --> 0:10:39.165 looked disheveled, like he hadn't slept, and they believed he 0:10:39.205 --> 0:10:43.245 was acting strange. They immediately suspected him, and they weren't 0:10:43.245 --> 0:10:47.365 the only ones. But this case was tough because Rusty 0:10:47.445 --> 0:10:50.125 Caine was far from the only suspect here. He was 0:10:50.205 --> 0:10:56.565 not the only man in Billy Jean's life. Billy Jean 0:10:56.605 --> 0:11:00.285 Phillips was born Billy Jean Knight in nineteen fifty nine. 0:11:00.325 --> 0:11:04.645 Her parents, Earl McKnight and Edna McKnight, were successful. They 0:11:04.725 --> 0:11:07.565 ran several businusinesses in Huntsville, including a mini mall and 0:11:07.605 --> 0:11:11.125 a drive in movie theater. They also ran the Ozart Shop, 0:11:11.165 --> 0:11:14.885 a convenience store. Billy Jean worked there, which put her 0:11:14.925 --> 0:11:16.565 in contact with a lot of people. 0:11:18.125 --> 0:11:20.285 A lot of people love Billy Jean, but she also 0:11:20.485 --> 0:11:22.445 got into a lot of conflicts. 0:11:23.165 --> 0:11:26.405 Pretty Much every media report you read talks about how 0:11:26.645 --> 0:11:30.805 sexually precocious Billy Jean was, and I can imagine that 0:11:30.845 --> 0:11:33.285 would have caused Billy Jean a lot of friction at 0:11:33.285 --> 0:11:36.125 that time, and in that neck of the woods, I 0:11:36.205 --> 0:11:38.245 just want to read a quick passage from one of 0:11:38.245 --> 0:11:42.045 those articles. This is from an article in Ay magazine. 0:11:42.085 --> 0:11:44.645 And this article, by the way, is from twenty twenty three, 0:11:45.165 --> 0:11:47.925 and it reads, quote pack tight. In her thirty five 0:11:48.005 --> 0:11:51.045 years were three marriages, involvement in two deaths, and a 0:11:51.085 --> 0:11:53.765 sex life that spanned Madison County from lawman to bad 0:11:53.805 --> 0:11:56.885 boys one of the Mgnite family. Billy Jean was a 0:11:56.925 --> 0:11:59.565 hard worker, just like her folks, but she wasn't interested 0:11:59.565 --> 0:12:01.805 in their church going ways. She had more than the 0:12:01.805 --> 0:12:05.365 Bible on her mind. That became evident when at age fifteen, 0:12:05.845 --> 0:12:07.885 Billy Jean was caught by her daddy in a state 0:12:07.925 --> 0:12:11.525 trooper's car, there being nothing lawful about the encounter between 0:12:11.525 --> 0:12:15.565 her and the older guy end quote. 0:12:18.685 --> 0:12:20.125 And that's referring to. 0:12:20.125 --> 0:12:22.925 The same incident that the Democrat Gazette mentioned, which is 0:12:22.965 --> 0:12:25.725 that at age fifteen, Billy Jean was involved with a 0:12:25.765 --> 0:12:26.445 state trooper. 0:12:28.445 --> 0:12:30.085 I love the Democrat Gazette. 0:12:30.085 --> 0:12:32.165 I think they did a brilliant investigation, by the way, 0:12:32.485 --> 0:12:35.005 but I don't love the way that a sexually active 0:12:35.045 --> 0:12:38.805 young woman is referred to. I've talked about this before. 0:12:38.885 --> 0:12:42.045 I call it post mortem slut shaming. And I don't 0:12:42.045 --> 0:12:44.805 think it's right. I don't like the fact. For example, 0:12:44.845 --> 0:12:48.205 they used the phrase took her first lover about a 0:12:48.245 --> 0:12:50.845 fifteen year old and a grown man who was twenty 0:12:50.885 --> 0:12:53.765 three years old at the time. And since this happens 0:12:53.765 --> 0:12:55.685 a lot with this case, I'm going to keep calling 0:12:55.685 --> 0:13:01.045 it out. Billy Jean had three sisters and a brother. 0:13:01.525 --> 0:13:04.045 She was closest to her baby brother, Robert mc knight. 0:13:04.125 --> 0:13:07.525 They seem to have a really special bond. And when 0:13:07.725 --> 0:13:11.245 Robert mcnight developed a drug problem and got addicted to methamphetamines, 0:13:11.605 --> 0:13:12.805 Billy Jean was there for him. 0:13:13.125 --> 0:13:14.325 She would pay his drug debt. 0:13:14.365 --> 0:13:17.365 She let him sleep at her house and sometimes, and 0:13:17.445 --> 0:13:20.205 this is a little bit weird but becomes important later, 0:13:20.845 --> 0:13:23.165 he would crawl in through the window and sleep in 0:13:23.245 --> 0:13:27.645 her guest room. And everyone said that this behavior continued 0:13:27.725 --> 0:13:31.405 right up until the time when Billy Jean died. Billy 0:13:31.485 --> 0:13:34.405 Jean married young. While she was still a teenager. She 0:13:34.565 --> 0:13:38.805 married Randall Wayne Sharp, and they apparently said I do 0:13:39.405 --> 0:13:46.845 on the diving board of a swimming pool. Randall, Billy 0:13:46.885 --> 0:13:49.125 Jean's first husband, had a gambling problem, and they would 0:13:49.125 --> 0:13:50.445 get into violent arguments. 0:13:51.125 --> 0:13:52.685 Once the newspaper. 0:13:52.205 --> 0:13:55.005 Reported he tied her up and threw her into a 0:13:55.045 --> 0:13:58.885 closet while he went out with his friends. And again 0:13:58.965 --> 0:14:01.485 this went both ways. Because Billy Jean was not a 0:14:01.525 --> 0:14:05.885 shrinking violet, she had a temper. Eventually they set rated. 0:14:06.525 --> 0:14:08.605 Randall was twenty nine at the time, and he went 0:14:08.645 --> 0:14:12.765 to Alaska to work on a pipeline. Now during this time, 0:14:12.965 --> 0:14:18.245 according to Ay magazine, Billy Jean was having affairs, including 0:14:18.245 --> 0:14:23.045 some flings with members of law enforcement. Randall came back 0:14:23.045 --> 0:14:26.845 to town on December tenth, nineteen seventy nine. He checked 0:14:26.885 --> 0:14:30.085 himself into the Jan Ran Motel in Huntsville. He was 0:14:30.125 --> 0:14:32.365 there hanging out with a friend when Billy Jean and 0:14:32.405 --> 0:14:35.805 her brother Robert showed up. Now what happened next is 0:14:35.925 --> 0:14:39.725 still controversial, but a few minutes after Billy Jean and 0:14:39.765 --> 0:14:51.165 her brother arrived, Randall was dead. Randall's friend told police 0:14:51.205 --> 0:14:54.205 that at some point he and Billy Jean's brother Robert, 0:14:54.245 --> 0:14:57.965 went outside, leaving Billy Jean and Randall alone in that 0:14:58.005 --> 0:15:03.165 motel room, and then, apparently while she watched, Randall grabbed 0:15:03.165 --> 0:15:05.245 a Colt forty five he had in there and shot 0:15:05.325 --> 0:15:07.485 him mself in the head right in front of billy Jean. 0:15:09.085 --> 0:15:11.725 When police showed up, she was cradling his head in 0:15:11.725 --> 0:15:17.525 her lap and screaming, I love you. She seemed extremely distraught. Now, 0:15:17.605 --> 0:15:20.085 Randall's family have said over the years they do not 0:15:20.205 --> 0:15:23.005 believe that Randall took his own life. They believe either 0:15:23.045 --> 0:15:25.525 Billy Jean did it or that she somehow goaded him 0:15:25.525 --> 0:15:29.485 into shooting himself. Randall had been shot through the right 0:15:29.525 --> 0:15:32.045 temple and the gun was in his right hand, but 0:15:32.165 --> 0:15:35.605 randall Sharp's mother said Randall was left handed. She said 0:15:35.645 --> 0:15:37.885 he could not have shot himself with his right hand 0:15:37.925 --> 0:15:42.685 like that. Arkansas State Police criminal investigator Dug Fogley, who 0:15:42.725 --> 0:15:47.085 would investigate billy Jean's death much later, did test for gunpowder, residue, 0:15:47.125 --> 0:15:50.885 and metal on Randall's hands. Police said that billy Jean 0:15:51.005 --> 0:15:55.165 tested negative for residue. So police came to the conclusion 0:15:55.245 --> 0:15:58.005 that Randal did shoot himself, that he had been using 0:15:58.045 --> 0:16:01.645 both hands kind of wrapping one over the other. They 0:16:01.725 --> 0:16:04.205 believed that Randall and billy Jean were having an argument, 0:16:04.285 --> 0:16:08.365 things escalated and he may have done something like threatened 0:16:08.365 --> 0:16:10.605 to shoot himself or maybe try to fake her out, 0:16:11.325 --> 0:16:13.725 but he ended up somehow doing it for real. 0:16:15.045 --> 0:16:15.605 But over the. 0:16:15.605 --> 0:16:19.485 Years, rumors have persisted that the sheriff Ralph Baker, who 0:16:19.485 --> 0:16:21.845 by the way, was a friend of Billy Jean's, and 0:16:21.925 --> 0:16:23.725 some said more than a friend, but there was never 0:16:23.765 --> 0:16:26.725 any evidence of that had not looked too hard into 0:16:26.805 --> 0:16:30.325 Randall's death. On a side note, Sheriff Baker himself is 0:16:30.365 --> 0:16:32.805 a very controversial figure, and you can't really tell this 0:16:32.925 --> 0:16:36.525 story without going into some of the history in Madison County. 0:16:37.085 --> 0:16:43.085 We'll come back to that in a few minutes. Back 0:16:43.125 --> 0:16:46.125 to Billy Jean and Randall. Billy Jean was traumatized after 0:16:46.165 --> 0:16:48.685 Randall's death. She moved back in with her parents, and 0:16:48.765 --> 0:16:51.125 it wasn't long before Billy Jean met her second husband, 0:16:51.325 --> 0:16:54.645 a truck driver for Tyson Foods named Dale Harp. They 0:16:54.645 --> 0:16:58.885 got married in nineteen eighty one. Dale later talked to 0:16:58.965 --> 0:17:02.365 a journalist named Michael Whiteley, the writer who did this 0:17:02.405 --> 0:17:06.565 great investigative piece for the Arkansas Democrat. Zette. Dale said 0:17:06.685 --> 0:17:09.445 Billy Jean liked the finer things in life, she liked money, 0:17:09.485 --> 0:17:11.605 and he felt like he just never had enough for her. 0:17:12.325 --> 0:17:16.325 He also said they had gotten into violent arguments. He 0:17:16.365 --> 0:17:19.085 admitted to the journalists that one of their arguments ended 0:17:19.125 --> 0:17:23.565 with him holding a gun to Billy Jean's head. He said, quote, 0:17:23.965 --> 0:17:26.365 she could play me like a drum. She was good 0:17:26.365 --> 0:17:28.685 to look at, and she'd flirt around and make me jealous. 0:17:29.045 --> 0:17:30.885 She could cut you so low it would take a 0:17:30.885 --> 0:17:33.165 step ladder to climb onto a matchbox. 0:17:33.485 --> 0:17:36.205 End quote. 0:17:38.605 --> 0:17:40.845 Of course, I would never blame the victim. No one 0:17:40.885 --> 0:17:44.125 deserves to be physically abused. But we can see that 0:17:44.165 --> 0:17:48.165 there's this pattern where she's very confrontational. She has no 0:17:48.285 --> 0:17:51.525 problem getting up in people's faces, and when you combine 0:17:51.565 --> 0:17:54.405 that with someone with violent tendencies, you've got a very 0:17:54.485 --> 0:17:59.445 voutle situation. Billy Jean and Dale eventually divorced, and then 0:17:59.565 --> 0:18:02.725 she met Chick Phillips, the Federal Poultry plan inspector who 0:18:02.765 --> 0:18:08.445 became her third husband. Billy Jean and Chick were together 0:18:08.725 --> 0:18:11.605 for a few years, and over that time he was 0:18:11.645 --> 0:18:13.965 the one person who kind of seemed to be able 0:18:14.005 --> 0:18:18.845 to handle Billy Jean. She was still confrontational and she 0:18:19.005 --> 0:18:21.925 could be verbally abusive, but Chick was different. He would 0:18:21.925 --> 0:18:25.645 walk away or drive away in a four wheeler. They 0:18:25.685 --> 0:18:29.205 stayed together for eight years and had their son, Mackenzie. 0:18:29.405 --> 0:18:32.165 And it's also interesting to note that Chick is the 0:18:32.205 --> 0:18:35.245 one former partner of Billy Jean who, when he was 0:18:35.285 --> 0:18:42.965 contacted by journalists, said nice things about her. The rumor 0:18:43.005 --> 0:18:46.645 around town was that Billy Jean was dating Rusty Kane 0:18:46.685 --> 0:18:48.165 while she was still married to Chick, and that he 0:18:48.285 --> 0:18:53.165 knew about it. Eventually, Billy Jean and Chick's marriage broke up, 0:18:53.845 --> 0:18:57.725 and after they split, Billy Jean's affair with Rusty Kane 0:18:57.765 --> 0:19:01.525 heated up even more. She was pressuring him to leave 0:19:01.525 --> 0:19:06.285 his wife, Sharon Kane. The prosecuting attorney, Terry Jones, said 0:19:06.485 --> 0:19:09.805 that Billy Jean's love life made the murder difficult to 0:19:09.845 --> 0:19:12.645 investigate because there were a lot of pissed off people, 0:19:12.725 --> 0:19:15.005 including a lot of wives and girlfriends. 0:19:15.485 --> 0:19:18.845 She had a sexual contact with a lot of people, 0:19:19.005 --> 0:19:21.285 so there were a lot of suspects, people that might 0:19:21.325 --> 0:19:26.125 have had either had sex with her or whose husband 0:19:26.205 --> 0:19:28.845 may have been having sex with her. We had a 0:19:28.885 --> 0:19:31.925 couple of cases where she was having sex with a 0:19:32.005 --> 0:19:34.805 woman's husband and she'd call them on the damn phone, 0:19:35.005 --> 0:19:38.725 the wife while they were in the act, and so 0:19:39.245 --> 0:19:42.085 she had offended a whole lot of people in Madison County. 0:19:47.525 --> 0:19:50.325 Not only did Billy Jean know some of these men's 0:19:50.365 --> 0:19:53.965 sexual secrets, but she also knew a lot of their 0:19:54.005 --> 0:19:59.085 other secrets. Outside the bedroom, she reportedly told people that 0:19:59.165 --> 0:20:02.045 she had a briefcase with dirt on a lot of 0:20:02.125 --> 0:20:07.085 prominent men and prominent figures in town. Billy Jean was 0:20:07.125 --> 0:20:11.125 involved with another mysterious death. One night, she was partying 0:20:11.165 --> 0:20:14.165 with some friends, including a woman named Christy Box, the 0:20:14.245 --> 0:20:17.605 daughter of a local doctor. Billy Jean was at Christie's 0:20:17.605 --> 0:20:21.325 place with Christie's boyfriend, a guy named Thomas Garrett. Thomas 0:20:21.405 --> 0:20:25.365 worked at the Ozark shop with Billy Jean. While they 0:20:25.365 --> 0:20:29.125 were driving, there was a horrible car crash. Christie Box 0:20:29.245 --> 0:20:33.005 was killed. Both Thomas Garrett and Billy Jean were seriously injured, 0:20:33.725 --> 0:20:35.965 but when the police got to the scene of the accident, 0:20:36.045 --> 0:20:40.205 Billy Jean was nowhere to be found. The rumor around 0:20:40.245 --> 0:20:42.765 town was that Billy Jean was the person who was 0:20:42.845 --> 0:20:47.245 driving the car, but that was never proven. Instead, Thomas 0:20:47.285 --> 0:20:50.285 was prosecuted as the driver. He ended up getting four 0:20:50.365 --> 0:20:53.885 years probation and a fine, no jail time. Billy Jean 0:20:54.005 --> 0:20:57.645 was never charged with anything, and Rusty Kane was the 0:20:57.725 --> 0:21:02.045 prosecutor on that case, so not only did Billy Jean 0:21:02.285 --> 0:21:06.325 not have any criminal penalties? Apparently, Rusty Kane also got 0:21:06.325 --> 0:21:09.605 Billy Jean a twenty one thousand dollars settlement from Thomas's 0:21:09.605 --> 0:21:14.165 insurance company. The word around town was that Rusty had 0:21:14.205 --> 0:21:17.525 fixed that situation for Billy Jean. I'm guessing either because 0:21:17.525 --> 0:21:19.485 he loved her, or he was a little bit afraid 0:21:19.485 --> 0:21:26.685 of her, or maybe both. Leading up to the time 0:21:26.725 --> 0:21:29.245 of her death, we know Billy Jean potentially had a 0:21:29.245 --> 0:21:29.965 lot of enemies. 0:21:30.325 --> 0:21:31.925 But let's go back to the evidence. 0:21:32.005 --> 0:21:35.285 What was Billy Jean doing on September second, the last 0:21:35.365 --> 0:21:38.885 day she was alive. Police say Billy Jean spent that 0:21:39.045 --> 0:21:41.925 entire day with her mom, Edna. Billy Jean was buying 0:21:42.045 --> 0:21:45.645 Rusty Kane some presents. She went to Sam's Club and Dillard's. 0:21:46.005 --> 0:21:46.885 She was supposed to have a. 0:21:46.845 --> 0:21:50.125 Date with him that night, but according to Rusty Kane's 0:21:50.125 --> 0:21:54.165 former attorney, that date never really happened. Rusty had said 0:21:54.245 --> 0:21:56.885 he did stop at Billy Jean's house at around five pm. 0:21:57.845 --> 0:22:01.125 While he was there, he gave her two hundred dollars. 0:22:01.725 --> 0:22:03.285 Rusty told police. 0:22:02.925 --> 0:22:04.845 That Billy Jean gave him his gifts, but he said 0:22:04.885 --> 0:22:06.485 he wasn't going to be able to see her later 0:22:06.525 --> 0:22:09.965 because he had family in town. But investigators did find 0:22:10.005 --> 0:22:12.965 a card from Rusty Kane out on Billy Jean's kitchen counter, 0:22:13.325 --> 0:22:15.805 which seemed to indicate he had been there and they 0:22:15.845 --> 0:22:20.445 had exchange gifts. After Rusty left, Billy Jean drove to 0:22:20.485 --> 0:22:23.125 the Ozark shop, where she started her shift at six pm. 0:22:23.645 --> 0:22:25.685 She was closing up at ten pm when her mom 0:22:25.725 --> 0:22:29.165 stopped by. She and her mom just had a brief talk. 0:22:29.285 --> 0:22:31.205 Her mom said it was nothing out of the ordinary, 0:22:31.885 --> 0:22:35.045 but Edna did say that they did have a brief 0:22:35.085 --> 0:22:39.085 conversation about Billy Jean's safety deposit box. Now, apparently Billy 0:22:39.165 --> 0:22:43.565 Jean shared multiple safety deposit boxes with Rusty Kane, and 0:22:43.805 --> 0:22:46.645 she told her mother something a little bit strange. She 0:22:46.685 --> 0:22:49.405 had mentioned that she and Rusty had a safety deposit 0:22:49.485 --> 0:22:52.365 box that only had a single piece of paper in it. 0:22:53.285 --> 0:22:55.845 At some point after Billy Jean was done closing up, 0:22:56.125 --> 0:22:58.245 she apparently told her mom, you need to get out 0:22:58.285 --> 0:23:00.685 of here now, which her mom took to me, you 0:23:00.805 --> 0:23:02.485 need to head out. I've got to finish up, I've 0:23:02.485 --> 0:23:05.765 got plans. Billy Jean never told her mother what she 0:23:05.805 --> 0:23:10.805 was planning on doing. Now, there was someone else, another witness, 0:23:10.845 --> 0:23:13.325 someone who said Billy Jean left the Ozark shop at 0:23:13.325 --> 0:23:16.405 around ten forty five pm, and that billy Jean's car 0:23:16.525 --> 0:23:19.725 was driving behind this person's car for about fifteen minutes. 0:23:20.485 --> 0:23:23.085 Then this witness, who was familiar with Billy Jean and 0:23:23.125 --> 0:23:26.645 her car, saw Billy Jean turn off toward her house, 0:23:27.085 --> 0:23:30.445 which would mean, if that's accurate, that Billy Jean would 0:23:30.485 --> 0:23:32.765 have gotten home shortly after eleven pm. 0:23:35.085 --> 0:23:36.045 When the reporter for. 0:23:36.005 --> 0:23:39.365 The Democrat Gazette did his article, he did ask billy 0:23:39.405 --> 0:23:42.125 Jean's parents, Earl and Edna, about the safety deposit box, 0:23:42.485 --> 0:23:44.725 the one that supposedly had the single sheet of paper 0:23:44.765 --> 0:23:47.245 in it. Earl and Edna said they never found it. 0:23:47.885 --> 0:23:50.765 So what happened to that? I wonder was it never there? 0:23:50.845 --> 0:23:53.525 Could someone have removed it? Maybe someone in law enforcement. 0:23:54.405 --> 0:23:56.885 I do think it's strange. Why would Billy Jean say 0:23:56.885 --> 0:23:59.805 there was one piece of paper inside a box if 0:23:59.845 --> 0:24:07.045