Speaker 1: This series is inspired by true events. The stories you're
Speaker 1: about to hear are fictional, and so are the characters
Speaker 1: who are played by actors.
Speaker 2: Attention to the skier in the purple and white snowsuit, Yeah,
Speaker 2: you you can't ski in the downhill racing teams area.
Speaker 2: You're gonna get hurt. Please make your way safely to
Speaker 2: the green trail.
Speaker 3: Thank you.
Speaker 1: Back in February nineteen eighty five, I'm on the ski
Speaker 1: team at Mount Pine High School with my best friend Carla.
Speaker 4: I mostly joined ski club in the hopes that I'd
Speaker 4: get a boyfriend and we'd ride the ski lift together,
Speaker 4: make out behind the grounds keeping shed, and drink hoot
Speaker 4: coco in the lage.
Speaker 1: At that time, being on those slopes was a nice
Speaker 1: distraction from all the bad stuff. The bad stuff like
Speaker 1: Don Cartwright's murder that happened six months before. We were
Speaker 1: still thinking about it a lot.
Speaker 4: But then there was this one Friday night. I remember
Speaker 4: it so well. We had just gotten to the top
Speaker 4: of the hill. We heard sirens, lots of sirens. I
Speaker 4: remember we looked at each other and said, oh no,
Speaker 4: not again.
Speaker 1: I'm Nancy Clark. This is the Murder Years. Episode three, Daniel.
Speaker 4: So it's February twenty second, nineteen eighty five, and we
Speaker 4: were scared seeing all those police cars going by. So
Speaker 4: we left snow Bear soon after. When I got home,
Speaker 4: I told my mom about it, wondering if she or
Speaker 4: my dad knew anything. See, my dad was a paramedic
Speaker 4: and he was on duty that night, so maybe he
Speaker 4: knew something.
Speaker 5: Turns out he did.
Speaker 4: My mom said my dad called home and told her
Speaker 4: some elementary school kids fell through the ice at Miller Lake.
Speaker 1: Carla calls to let me know what she's learned about
Speaker 1: all those police cars. Later, I hear the kid who
Speaker 1: fell through the ice as eleven year old Mark Donahue,
Speaker 1: a rowdy kid from a big family. He's at the
Speaker 1: hospital with severe hypothermia, but will eventually be okay. I
Speaker 1: know the Donahue family. I used to babysit Mark. It's
Speaker 1: good news that he'll be okay. I actually dated his
Speaker 1: older brother, Teddy, too. He's agreed to talk.
Speaker 6: To be honest, I think I liked you more back
Speaker 6: then than you like me.
Speaker 1: That's fifty four year old Teddy Donahue today. Back in
Speaker 1: nineteen eighty five, Teddy is seventeen trying to rock the
Speaker 1: surfer look despite living in our frozen tundra.
Speaker 6: So anyway, you gave me the let's just be friends speech,
Speaker 6: which is always fun. But actually it was a blessing
Speaker 6: because then I started dating Tina Matthews. She was a
Speaker 6: great girl, bright red hair, a little awkward in her
Speaker 6: own skin, but that's what made her fun. That Friday
Speaker 6: night when my brother fell through the ice, I was
Speaker 6: at the movies with Tina seeing the breakfast Club's in there.
Speaker 7: Yes, where's your lunch?
Speaker 8: You're wearing it.
Speaker 1: Today Tina and Teddy are married and parents to twins
Speaker 1: who are now twenty eight years old. Here's Tina.
Speaker 9: I'd known Teddy since kindergarten. Our parents were friends. They
Speaker 9: went to mounta Pine High School together. Man, this town
Speaker 9: is small anyway. The morning after we went to see
Speaker 9: the breakfast Club, I had a swim meet. That afternoon
Speaker 9: I had to work at the bowling Alley.
Speaker 1: Pin Lanes has been opened since the nineteen forties and
Speaker 1: hasn't changed in Iota. Beautiful wooden lanes and seats. It's
Speaker 1: like walking into a time capsule. And because a lot
Speaker 1: of kids worked there over the years, it became a
Speaker 1: big hangout spot.
Speaker 9: I liked working at Lucky Pins. I would hand out
Speaker 9: shoes and clean them. It was a dirty job, but
Speaker 9: somebody had to do it.
Speaker 1: By midnight, the bowling Alley has cleared out and Tina
Speaker 1: finishes her shift and goes home. But the bar goes
Speaker 1: strong until two. It's one of the few places in
Speaker 1: town that stays open late. Things can get routy there.
Speaker 1: But what happens that night? No one sees coming.
Speaker 8: Nine one one.
Speaker 4: What's your emergency.
Speaker 2: Yeah, I'm the manager of Lucky Pins and you need
Speaker 2: to send Hope here.
Speaker 10: Now what's happening.
Speaker 2: Well, I went to throw out the trash or dumpster
Speaker 2: off back and there's a body inside.
Speaker 1: It's two thirty am when Mount Pine Police arrive on
Speaker 1: that frigid night. Detective Kurt Peters is working the case
Speaker 1: as the lead investigator. He's the same detective who sawved
Speaker 1: Don Cartwright's murder at the drive in.
Speaker 3: So we.
Speaker 11: Had a dead body and a dumpster didn't sound good
Speaker 11: at all.
Speaker 1: I asked him to take me back to the scene,
Speaker 1: and he says he still remembers it so clearly because
Speaker 1: of its brutal details.
Speaker 11: So I remember the first thing I saw as I
Speaker 11: walked over toward the dumpster. Was a wallet, brown wallet
Speaker 11: on the ground. I put on gloves and picked it
Speaker 11: up by the corner. Inside there was no money. There
Speaker 11: was only a driver's license and the name on it,
Speaker 11: said Daniel Walters. I wasn't sure yet if this was
Speaker 11: how Victim's wallet, but help so. It was always better
Speaker 11: to start with an ID than a Jane of John Doe.
Speaker 11: I then walked over to the dumpster and shined my
Speaker 11: flashlight inside. And it's hard to get some of these
Speaker 11: images out of your head.
Speaker 3: You know. There was all a victim face down.
Speaker 11: In a pile of trash, his shirt slacked. I could
Speaker 11: see multiple stab wounds in his.
Speaker 5: Back, Detective Peter says.
Speaker 1: After officers photographed the victim in the dumpster, Peters allows
Speaker 1: the coroner's office to lay the body on the ground.
Speaker 1: Detective Peter says that's when he sees that the face
Speaker 1: of the victim matches the face on the driver's license
Speaker 1: found in the brown wallet.
Speaker 3: How victim was twenty two year old Daniel Walters.
Speaker 1: Since graduating from Mount Pine four years earlier, Daniel Walters
Speaker 1: has been working as a mechanic at Jerry's Gas Station,
Speaker 1: a lot of kids.
Speaker 5: Around Mount Pine.
Speaker 1: Knew Daniel because he would buy alcohol for those of
Speaker 1: us who didn't have fake IDs. Daniel was always really
Speaker 1: nice to us. He kind of looked a little like
Speaker 1: a little like Kevin Bacon and Footloose.
Speaker 11: This one, it was like three am or so, and
Speaker 11: I turned my attention to the night manager, Robert Shield's
Speaker 11: nine one one caller.
Speaker 1: Robert Shields actually moved to Alaska after this. He agreed
Speaker 1: to speak to me over the phone from his home
Speaker 1: and Anchorage.
Speaker 8: Yeah, I told the detective what little I knew. I
Speaker 8: went outside and found him. I didn't recognize the guy.
Speaker 8: He wasn't in our bowling elle that night, and well,
Speaker 8: we've have some problems at the bar. It was a
Speaker 8: couple of months before I caught some kids getting high
Speaker 8: in the bathroom. We I SA had a domestic dispute
Speaker 8: and wife calling the cops on her husband. And then
Speaker 8: about a week before that happened, someone broke in and
Speaker 8: stole the cash register.
Speaker 11: I needed to gather more evidence. I didn't know if
Speaker 11: any of those incidents related to the murder. At that point,
Speaker 11: I wanted to know if there were any security footage.
Speaker 8: I told him no, no, the guy or guys that
Speaker 8: broke in a while back and stole a cash register,
Speaker 8: also smashed the two security cameras, and the owner never
Speaker 8: bothered to replace him.
Speaker 1: While crime scene investigators work into the early morning hours,
Speaker 1: Detective Peters says he heads out to make the dreaded
Speaker 1: death notification.
Speaker 3: So it was around five a m.
Speaker 11: When I knocked on the door and was greeted by
Speaker 11: Daniel's dad, Donald Walters. I could tell he was confused,
Speaker 11: and I could tell he was bracing himself. Then I
Speaker 11: told him his son was found dead and it looked
Speaker 11: like he was stabbed multiple times. He just stared at me.
Speaker 1: Back in nineteen eighty five, Donald Walters is forty five
Speaker 1: years old.
Speaker 5: Today he's eighty two.
Speaker 1: I actually couldn't believe he agreed to talk to me,
Speaker 1: but I was very thankful he did.
Speaker 3: So.
Speaker 7: I'll never forget it. The detective was sitting across from
Speaker 7: me at my kitchen table, telling me.
Speaker 12: My son was dead. I was in shock.
Speaker 3: I think I'm still in shock.
Speaker 7: Honestly, even after all these years, it never really goes away.
Speaker 7: Daniel was He was such a sweet boy. I never
Speaker 7: heard anyone I was divorced. He helped take care of me.
Speaker 7: After I found twenty feet off the ladder at work,
Speaker 7: who broke both legs, cracked a few rints. I couldn't
Speaker 7: walk for almost a year. I still have trouble getting
Speaker 7: around without a walker. Daniel made all my meals, helped
Speaker 7: me Bathe helped me get better.
Speaker 6: He was a sweet kid.
Speaker 7: Listen, the last thing any twenty two year old wants
Speaker 7: to do is bathe his dad.
Speaker 11: I asked him when he last saw his son. He
Speaker 11: said when he left for work that Saturday morning.
Speaker 3: He said, nothing was odd about the last exchange.
Speaker 11: I asked him delicately where he was that night, and
Speaker 11: he said he was home.
Speaker 3: Alone.
Speaker 7: I told him I did not kill my son. I
Speaker 7: did not kill Dan. I can barely stand up on
Speaker 7: my own. Look. I knew he was just doing his job,
Speaker 7: but still.
Speaker 11: The father didn't have an alibi, but he just didn't
Speaker 11: look good for it.
Speaker 3: So I asked him if.
Speaker 11: He knew anyone who'd wanted to hurt his son, and
Speaker 11: he said no. I asked again, no one. Was he
Speaker 11: having troubles with anyone? Maybe someone from work? Without taking
Speaker 11: a breath, he said Victor.
Speaker 7: I told the detective to talk to Victor.
Speaker 1: It's a bit after six am and Jerry's gas station
Speaker 1: just opened. That's where Daniel worked with Victor Potts. Victor
Speaker 1: was short and stocky. Detective Peters talks to the manager,
Speaker 1: who says, yeah, Daniel and Victor did not like each other,
Speaker 1: not one bit. But Detective Peters can't talk to Victor
Speaker 1: because he's called in sick. He's been out for several days.
Speaker 11: Well, I remember thinking that was an interesting day for
Speaker 11: him to call in sick. So I got his address
Speaker 11: and went to his house. I knocked and the guy.
Speaker 3: Who answered the door identified himself as Victor Parts.
Speaker 11: Yeah, this is Victor, and he actually looked sick. Victor
Speaker 11: told me it was true. It was no secret he
Speaker 11: hated Daniel.
Speaker 12: I didn't care for Daniel, but he didn't care for
Speaker 12: me either.
Speaker 3: But Daniel hated him right back.
Speaker 12: I nearly lost my job because of him.
Speaker 13: He ratted me out because I was taking some old
Speaker 13: car parts and reselling him.
Speaker 11: He said Daniel ratted him out to the owner one
Speaker 11: time for taking and selling some discarded car parts, and
Speaker 11: he almost lost his job.
Speaker 14: Then.
Speaker 3: I remember this clearly because it rattled me a little.
Speaker 13: No matter how much I hated that guy. I didn't
Speaker 13: kill him. I would have liked to.
Speaker 3: But I did.
Speaker 11: And then he said, just kidding, just kidding, it's kind
Speaker 11: of a half smile. It was strange.
Speaker 1: Detective Peters confirms with Victor's roommate, he's been home sick
Speaker 1: for a few days. So for now, it seems like
Speaker 1: Victor Potts has an alibi. Not a strong one, but
Speaker 1: an alibi. Nonetheless. Back at the Mount Pine Police Station,
Speaker 1: Detective Peters says he and his colleagues pour out the
Speaker 1: contents of the dumpster on four long, plastic covered tables.
Speaker 1: They're hoping to find the murder weapon or any other
Speaker 1: clues that can help point them in the right direction.
Speaker 11: So I remember we were going through all this trash
Speaker 11: with a fine tooth comb when I'm told the owner
Speaker 11: of Lucky Pens was at the station back.
Speaker 1: In nineteen eighty five. Alan Rizzoli is in his mid sixties.
Speaker 1: The Bowling Alley has been in his family for years. Thankfully,
Speaker 1: Detective Peters taped his interview because mister Rizzoli has since
Speaker 1: passed away.
Speaker 11: And I asked him about his business, and he mentions
Speaker 11: that they recently had a break in a robbery.
Speaker 8: And they broke into the basement, smashed the two cameras,
Speaker 8: and took the cash register. Guys must have worn gloves
Speaker 8: because the police got no prints. I kind of suspected
Speaker 8: one of our former employees, and police talk to him,
Speaker 8: but they didn't have enough to rest him him.
Speaker 1: Detective Peters asks for the names and numbers of his employees,
Speaker 1: former and current. It takes him another full day to
Speaker 1: interview the rest of the Bowling Alley and Bar employees,
Speaker 1: all of which turns up nothing. Detective Peters finds himself
Speaker 1: back at square one.
Speaker 11: I knew I I needed to ask more questions about
Speaker 11: that his life, who he associated with, So I asked
Speaker 11: his dad, Donald, to come.
Speaker 3: Down to station. I mean, did I have a girlfriend?
Speaker 3: Could have been a crime of passion?
Speaker 11: Could there be some sort of love triangle stabbings are
Speaker 11: usually personal.
Speaker 1: An hour later, Donald Walters arrives at the police station.
Speaker 7: I hadn't slept in what felt like days, and I
Speaker 7: couldn't stop crying. I had to call Daniel's mother break
Speaker 7: the news to her, and she lived in another state.
Speaker 7: That was the hardest thing I ever had to do.
Speaker 11: So I started by asking Walters about his son's personal life.
Speaker 7: I told the detective that Daniel didn't have a girlfriend
Speaker 7: in a couple of years. I guess there was a
Speaker 7: chance he was dating someone I wasn't aware of, but
Speaker 7: if he was, couldn't have been too serious. I mean
Speaker 7: he'd go to work and he come home, helped me out,
Speaker 7: we watch sports, he'd go to bed.
Speaker 3: Been like that for a while now.
Speaker 7: But I told Detective Peters that Daniel was close to
Speaker 7: his cousin Simone, so maybe she knows something. I told
Speaker 7: him My brother, Eugene and Simone moved to Mount Pine
Speaker 7: after Simone's mom died of cancer. Besides losing his wife,
Speaker 7: Eugene had some issues, some struggles in life, so being
Speaker 7: close to me and Daniel was good.
Speaker 1: Back in nineteen eighty five, Simone Walters is fourteen years
Speaker 1: old and a year behind us in school. She was
Speaker 1: a jock back then. She played both volleyball and basketball.
Speaker 11: I asked Simone Eugene to come down to the station,
Speaker 11: and they arrived at the station.
Speaker 3: Simone was very upset.
Speaker 1: Today, Simone lives in Ohio. She was kind enough to
Speaker 1: speak with me by phone, even though she says it's
Speaker 1: all still hard to talk about.
Speaker 10: I remember how sad.
Speaker 6: I was.
Speaker 10: I couldn't believe it. I had lost my mother and
Speaker 10: then Daniel. I was broken. I told Detective Peters that
Speaker 10: Daniel and I had just hung out that Friday night
Speaker 10: at my house. He bought me Chicago's new album. I
Speaker 10: was obsessed with that song, you Know You're the Inspurra.
Speaker 10: We put it on the record player and laying on
Speaker 10: the living room floor playing it over and over. Then
Speaker 10: we had pizza and I made him watch The Love
Speaker 10: Boat with me. You know, he was my cousin, but
Speaker 10: he was my friend.
Speaker 11: When I questioned her, so, Mom said she couldn't think
Speaker 11: of anyone who'd want to hurt Daniel. Then I asked
Speaker 11: her dad, Eujeene, a few questions. Eujane was a lanky,
Speaker 11: fragile looking man. Maybe all of his loss had taken
Speaker 11: a toll on him. He was about six inches taller
Speaker 11: than his brother, but even giving Donald's disabilities, Eugene seemed
Speaker 11: much much weaker. Eugene agreed with Simon, he didn't know
Speaker 11: anyone who'd wanted hurt Daniel. He said he was a
Speaker 11: good kid. Eugene was a man of few words.
Speaker 1: Two days later, the coroner comes out with her report,
Speaker 1: which Detective Peters shares with me. Daniel Walters had been
Speaker 1: stabbed thirteen times with a serrated knife, twice in the back,
Speaker 1: ten times in his hands and arms, which were defensive wounds,
Speaker 1: and the official cause of death was the thirteenth and
Speaker 1: final piercing stab wound to his heart. And the stab
Speaker 1: wounds show that the knife went in on a downward angle,
Speaker 1: which means the killer was probably significantly taller than Daniel.
Speaker 11: Look it had no leads, I was I was beyond
Speaker 11: frustrate it so returned to the media.
Speaker 14: Police are asking for the public's help to catch Daniel
Speaker 14: Walter's killer, offerating a five thousand dollars reward for any
Speaker 14: information that leads to the arrest and conviction of the
Speaker 14: perpetrator of this heinous crime.
Speaker 3: Walter's body was found in.
Speaker 14: A dumpster outside a Lucky Pin's bowling alley last Sunday.
Speaker 14: He had been stabbed multiple times.
Speaker 11: So the good news was the press conference work. Our
Speaker 11: department received a lot of tips, and the most promising
Speaker 11: tip came from a man who id'd the killer.
Speaker 6: I wasn't coming forward just because of the reward.
Speaker 1: I swear Carl Pfizer is no stranger around town then
Speaker 1: or now. Then he was in his early twenties. He
Speaker 1: had already had a few run ins with the law,
Speaker 1: mostly DUI's and public intoxication. There was also a domestic
Speaker 1: violence charge he brought against his ex girlfriend, but that
Speaker 1: eventually was dropped.
Speaker 11: Yeah, we knew Carl at the station. We knew him
Speaker 11: all too well. He could be a nice guy, but
Speaker 11: he had his demons.
Speaker 15: You know.
Speaker 11: I didn't know what he could tell me about this case,
Speaker 11: but I was open to hearing what he had to say.
Speaker 3: I was skeptical.
Speaker 1: Now today, Carl's totally cleaned up his act. He's married
Speaker 1: with children and works at the local hardware store.
Speaker 6: Okay, I remember when I saw it was Detective Peters
Speaker 6: who would be interviewing me.
Speaker 12: I was pissed.
Speaker 6: I should put it in nicer terms today, but back
Speaker 6: then I thought the guy was a total dick. Anyway,
Speaker 6: I told the detective I heard something about the robbery
Speaker 6: that happened at Lucky Pins, and that there was maybe
Speaker 6: a connection to that kid's murder. The robbery was inside
Speaker 6: job that was done by Dale Tompkins, a former employee,
Speaker 6: and his brother Stewie, and they really messed up that
Speaker 6: kid who caught them in the act. I mean Jesus,
Speaker 6: they beat him and stabbed him and the kids survived,
Speaker 6: but has serious PTSD over the incident. He's got flashbacks
Speaker 6: and he's been having trouble holding down a job ever since.
Speaker 11: I asked all several questions, and yeah, I was going
Speaker 11: to have the Robbery Division interview Dale and Stewie Tompkins
Speaker 11: recall didn't seem to have any real inful about Daniel's murder.
Speaker 1: An entire month goes by with no new leads. My
Speaker 1: friends and I are scared. No one has been caught,
Speaker 1: and there's a literal killer on the loose, maybe walking
Speaker 1: amongst us, and we have no idea who it is.
Speaker 1: Then a late night visit changes everything.
Speaker 10: We had to talk to Detective Peters right away.
Speaker 1: Daniel's cousin Simone and Daniel's father Donald are at the
Speaker 1: police station.
Speaker 7: I saw a Detective Peters and I was about to
Speaker 7: lose my mind. I didn't even wait for us to
Speaker 7: get into the interview room. I just blurted it out.
Speaker 16: My brother Eugene killed my son, and you need to
Speaker 16: do something so I don't kill him.
Speaker 10: There were no words to describe the devastation. I was feeling.
Speaker 10: My uncle was accusing my father of murder, and I
Speaker 10: was smack in the middle of it. My dad and
Speaker 10: I were fighting. He said I didn't appreciate everything he's
Speaker 10: done for me, and I told him, well, of course
Speaker 10: I did, but he kept saying I didn't, and he
Speaker 10: was acting so crazy. He was scaring me, and he
Speaker 10: said he did what he had to do to keep
Speaker 10: me safe.
Speaker 12: And then.
Speaker 10: He said he killed Daniel because he thought he was
Speaker 10: molesting me.
Speaker 3: Was he No, of course not.
Speaker 10: I told my father he was wrong. Daniel wasn't doing
Speaker 10: anything to me.
Speaker 7: My brother had been institutionalized for mental issues in the past.
Speaker 7: He was diagnosed with delusional disorder years ago, but he'd
Speaker 7: been fine for a long time. Look, I didn't know
Speaker 7: if he'd had a psychotic break or what, and I
Speaker 7: didn't care.
Speaker 12: I wanted to kill him.
Speaker 11: I asked where he was, and Simone said the last
Speaker 11: she saw him was at home. Me and six other
Speaker 11: officers high teled it to Eugene's house.
Speaker 3: When we got there, he surrounded it and told him
Speaker 3: to come out with his hands up. Moments later, he
Speaker 3: opened the door, then actually walked back inside.
Speaker 11: Officers stormed the house, toppled him from behind, got him
Speaker 11: to the ground and cuffed them. Then they put him
Speaker 11: in a chair at his kitchen table. Everyone's a drilling
Speaker 11: was through the roof. I asked him by then and
Speaker 11: there if he killed Daniel, and he said yes. I
Speaker 11: was stunned. He said Daniel was molesting Simon.
Speaker 12: That Saturday, Simone was at volleyball practice.
Speaker 3: He kept talking.
Speaker 12: Daniel came over to help him fix his car.
Speaker 11: When Daniel finished, they went inside and Daniel washed his hands.
Speaker 3: Then he asked to use the phone in the kitchen.
Speaker 15: I overheard Daniel on the phone talking about this girl
Speaker 15: he liked, and I thought he was talking about Simone.
Speaker 3: He became enraged.
Speaker 11: He grabbed a knife on the drawer, and when Daniel
Speaker 11: hung up the phone, he stabbed him in the back.
Speaker 3: Multiple times.
Speaker 11: Daniel turned around, they fought, and Eugene stabbed him until
Speaker 11: he was dead. Listening to Eugene described this was chilly.
Speaker 11: He had a flat effect, no emotion at all. I
Speaker 11: asked him what happened next.
Speaker 15: I put his body in a large stuffel bag, cleaned
Speaker 15: the kitchen while I waited for it to get dark,
Speaker 15: and then I put him in my trunk and drove
Speaker 15: around for hours looking for somewhere to dump the body.
Speaker 15: I got tired and gave up looking for the perfect place,
Speaker 15: so I pulled into the Bowling Alley parking lot.
Speaker 11: He got tired and gave him looking for the perfect place,
Speaker 11: so he pulled into the Bowlden Alley parking lot.
Speaker 12: And didn't see anyone around him. Put him in the dumpster.
Speaker 3: I asked him what he did with the knife.
Speaker 12: The knife is under my mattress.
Speaker 11: Officers into his bedroom and came out holding a five
Speaker 11: inch serrated knife. Blade had been wiped clean mostly, but
Speaker 11: there were small traces of blood still on it.
Speaker 3: We had, Oh God.
Speaker 1: Eugene Walters's charged with first degree murder seems like an
Speaker 1: open and shut case, right. Nope, because Eugene cleads not
Speaker 1: guilty by reason of insanity. Prosecutor Laura Wells is trying
Speaker 1: the case for the state.
Speaker 6: Eugene Walters claimed he had a mental break the moment
Speaker 6: he killed his nephew Daniel, So yes, he did it,
Speaker 6: but he shouldn't be held responsible.
Speaker 1: Remember, Eugene Walters has a history of mental breakdowns and hospitalizations.
Speaker 1: The judge orders the psychological examination to find out if
Speaker 1: he's competent to stand trial and if he'd be able
Speaker 1: to help his attorney in his own defense. Ultimately, the
Speaker 1: judge rules Eugene is competent to stand trial, but it
Speaker 1: takes another six months for the trial to start, and
Speaker 1: when it does, Daniel's father, Donald and Simone are there
Speaker 1: every day.
Speaker 10: My dad was sick. What he did was crazy. I
Speaker 10: didn't think he knew anything about what he did at
Speaker 10: the time that he killed Daniel. And of course, I
Speaker 10: still love my dad so much. I mean, he was
Speaker 10: the only parent I had and I still needed him.
Speaker 10: Uncle Donald didn't feel the same, of course, and my
Speaker 10: sticking up for Dad definitely drove a wedge between me
Speaker 10: and my uncle. I mean at the trial, we didn't
Speaker 10: even we didn't sit together. We sat on opposite sides.
Speaker 2: Of the courtroom.
Speaker 10: I couldn't even look at him, he couldn't look at me.
Speaker 12: It was just so sad.
Speaker 1: Several witnesses are called for the prosecution, including doctor Sally Pope,
Speaker 1: a psychologist and expert in the insanity defense.
Speaker 5: The trial was audio taped.
Speaker 7: Do you solemnly swear to tell the truth, the whole truth,
Speaker 7: and nothing but the truth, So help you.
Speaker 6: God, I do you may be seated.
Speaker 1: Doctor Pope testifies that, yes, it is possible to have
Speaker 1: a psychotic break.
Speaker 17: Considering Eugene Walters has some history of mental illness, it
Speaker 17: could be more likely to occur in him than someone else.
Speaker 17: But what doesn't add up is he took the knife
Speaker 17: out of the drawer and waited for Daniel to get
Speaker 17: off the phone before stabbing him. That shows an acknowledgment
Speaker 17: of potential consequences. He didn't want the person Daniel was
Speaker 17: talking to to hear what he was about to do.
Speaker 17: And then there's what mister Walters did after he killed
Speaker 17: his nephew. He didn't call the police. He waited to
Speaker 17: load Daniel's body into his car under the cover of darkness.
Speaker 17: He cleaned up the scene and drove around for hours
Speaker 17: looking for somewhere to dump him.
Speaker 6: I mean, the list goes.
Speaker 17: On and on.
Speaker 1: The trial lasts for five days, then the jury goes
Speaker 1: into deliberation. On day three, the jury four person sends
Speaker 1: out a note saying they are deadlocked. The judge urges
Speaker 1: them to try again. Two days later, the jury comes
Speaker 1: back with a verdict guilty. Eugene Walters is sentenced twenty.
Speaker 5: Five to life.
Speaker 1: His brother is still torn apart.
Speaker 12: It said to.
Speaker 7: Say this then and now, because what we were all losers
Speaker 7: in this.
Speaker 12: I mean, nobody won.
Speaker 7: I lost my son for God's sake, but in the end,
Speaker 7: my brother got.
Speaker 3: What he deserved.
Speaker 10: My dad was going to prison for a very long time,
Speaker 10: and I had nowhere to live. I didn't want to
Speaker 10: live with my uncle Donald, so I went to live
Speaker 10: with a friend in her parents and I went to
Speaker 10: see my dad when I could, but it was so hard.
Speaker 10: I really missed him, and God, I missed Daniel so
Speaker 10: much it hurts.
Speaker 1: So another one of us is dead and buried. Another trial,
Speaker 1: another devastated family. It's all becoming too much. My friends
Speaker 1: were as freaked out as I was.
Speaker 12: I was scared. I mean I just kept feeling it
Speaker 12: and saying it.
Speaker 1: I don't know, I'm sure I was a broken record,
Speaker 1: but I was really scared.
Speaker 10: I mean, it was like, how many more of us
Speaker 10: were going to die?
Speaker 3: And who would be.
Speaker 5: Next next time?
Speaker 10: On the murder years, as a guy came in, he
Speaker 10: pulled out a gun out of his coat, and he said,
Speaker 10: to me, give me all the money.
Speaker 1: Tragedy After the homecoming game.
Speaker 12: She said I got freaked out and just shot it
Speaker 12: was an accident?
Speaker 1: Was it an accident? Or something more sinister? The Murder
Speaker 1: Years is a production of AYR Media and iHeartMedia. Executive
Speaker 1: producer Elisa Rosen for AYR Media, co executive producer Paulina Williams.
Speaker 1: Written by Leah Rothman, directed by Michael Selditch. Original concept
Speaker 1: developed in partnership with Anne, Margaret Johns and Greg Spring.
Speaker 1: Casting by Eisenberg Beans Casting, Senior Associate producer Eric Newman,
Speaker 1: Associate producer Jill Pushesnik. Editing and sound design by Tristan Bankston,
Speaker 1: Mastering by Cameron Taggie, Audio engineering by Matt Jacobson, Studio
Speaker 1: engineering by Jay Brannan. Music by Nathan Bankston. Legal council
Speaker 1: for AYR Media, Janni Douglas, Executive producer for iHeartMedia, Maya Howard.
Speaker 1: Performances for this episode by Gabrielle Carteris as Nancy Clark,
Speaker 1: Kelly Deadman as Tatiana, Borla Cassidy as Melanie, Marie, Silda
Speaker 1: Garcia as Carla, April Adams as Prosecutor Wells, beau Kine
Speaker 1: as Alan Rizzoli, bou Kine as Robert Shields Caroline Jania
Speaker 1: as Bowling Ally Employee number two, Dathan B. Williams as
Speaker 1: Detective Peters. Desiree Rodriguez is nine one one Operator Desiree
Speaker 1: Rodriguez as court clerk, Jesse Hendrix as Tina Matthews, Justin
Speaker 1: Marriconda as Young Robert Shields, Jessin Mariconda as resort intercomm announcer,
Speaker 1: Joe Pichico as Bowling Ally Employee number three, John Ralston
Speaker 1: Craig as Reporter number one, lisil copp A is Simone Walters,
Speaker 1: Steve Felice as Teddy Donahue, Tom Virtue as Donald Walters,
Speaker 1: Tyler Hopkins as Bowling Ally Employee number one, Tyler Hopkins
Speaker 1: as Judge You, Donna dan Niels as Doctor Sally Pope.
Speaker 1: Additional voices by Alex Salem.