WEBVTT - Hell and Gone Murder Line: Fred New Jr. 0:00:46.480 --> 0:00:51.921 School of Humans. Helen Got Murder Line actively investigates cold 0:00:52.040 --> 0:00:55.361 case murders in an effort to raise public awareness invite 0:00:55.401 --> 0:00:58.761 witnesses to come forward and present evidence that could potentially 0:00:58.840 --> 0:01:02.961 be further investigated by law enforcement. While we value insights 0:01:03.001 --> 0:01:06.160 from family and community members, their statements should not be 0:01:06.200 --> 0:01:09.961 considered evidence and point to the challenges of verifying facts 0:01:10.041 --> 0:01:14.000 inherent in cold cases. We remind listeners that everyone has 0:01:14.080 --> 0:01:17.160 presumed innocent until proven guilty in a court of law. 0:01:17.961 --> 0:01:20.840 Nothing in the podcast is intended to state or imply 0:01:21.041 --> 0:01:23.601 that anyone who has not been convicted of a crime 0:01:24.121 --> 0:01:27.121 is guilty of any wrongdoing. Thanks for listening. 0:01:29.520 --> 0:01:33.200 At one forty am on Saturday, September twenty eighth, nineteen 0:01:33.241 --> 0:01:36.800 seventy four, police got a call about a traffic accident 0:01:37.121 --> 0:01:41.360 on State Highway seventy seven in Crittenden County, Arkansas, three 0:01:41.481 --> 0:01:45.121 miles north of the Late David Overpass. When they got there, 0:01:45.601 --> 0:01:49.521 they found a nineteen sixty four Chevrolet which was stopped 0:01:49.520 --> 0:01:53.120 in the southbound lane of the highway. Near the abandoned 0:01:53.161 --> 0:01:56.321 car in a ditch, they found the body of thirty 0:01:56.361 --> 0:02:00.160 five year old Fred Knew Junior, a married father of three, 0:02:00.240 --> 0:02:02.761 who worked the night shift at a local trucking company. 0:02:03.881 --> 0:02:07.281 Fred had been shot three times at very close range 0:02:07.361 --> 0:02:09.881 with a shotgun. He had been shot in the neck, 0:02:10.161 --> 0:02:13.961 the side, and the elbow. His shoes and socks had 0:02:14.001 --> 0:02:18.241 been removed, and he had no identification on him. Fred's 0:02:18.281 --> 0:02:21.041 pockets were turned out and the money he had on him, 0:02:21.081 --> 0:02:23.881 which according to his wife was around two hundred dollars, 0:02:24.121 --> 0:02:28.160 had been stolen. Police later said they believed that whoever 0:02:28.281 --> 0:02:33.161 killed Fred also took his wallet in keys. There was 0:02:33.281 --> 0:02:35.801 blood in the front of the car and Fred was 0:02:35.881 --> 0:02:37.680 lying in a pool of blood near the back of 0:02:37.721 --> 0:02:42.401 the vehicle outside the car, so it seems like either 0:02:42.441 --> 0:02:44.841 his killer or killers threw him out of the car 0:02:45.641 --> 0:02:48.681 or he stumbled out after being shot and his killer 0:02:49.041 --> 0:02:54.400 could have fired the final shot or shots outside. Police 0:02:54.441 --> 0:02:57.800 got the call about Fred's car after another driver crashed 0:02:57.801 --> 0:03:00.441 into it as it was stalled on the highway, but 0:03:00.561 --> 0:03:05.081 that other driver fled the scene. They later found the driver, 0:03:05.561 --> 0:03:07.800 and they dragged the hit and run driver out from 0:03:07.881 --> 0:03:10.961 under a bed at a local motel. But that was 0:03:11.121 --> 0:03:15.001 just the beginning because near where Fred's body was found, 0:03:15.281 --> 0:03:18.240 police learned that a local gas station had been robbed. 0:03:18.961 --> 0:03:21.841 So now police had a robbery, a hit and run, 0:03:21.881 --> 0:03:25.481 and a brutal execution style murder, all in the same 0:03:25.601 --> 0:03:32.001 night in the same small town. I'm Catherine Townsend. Over 0:03:32.041 --> 0:03:34.761 the past seven years of making my true crime podcast, 0:03:34.761 --> 0:03:38.281 Telling Gone, I've learned that there's no such thing as 0:03:38.321 --> 0:03:42.521 a small town where murder never happens. I've received hundreds 0:03:42.521 --> 0:03:45.641 of messages from people all around the country asking for 0:03:45.681 --> 0:03:48.681 help with an unsolved murder that's affected them, their families, 0:03:49.001 --> 0:03:52.081 and their communities. If you have a case you'd like 0:03:52.161 --> 0:03:54.121 me and my team to look into, you can reach 0:03:54.161 --> 0:03:56.481 out to us at our Helen Gone Murder line at 0:03:56.521 --> 0:03:59.801 six seven eight seven four four six one four five. 0:04:00.281 --> 0:04:03.641 That's six seven eight seven four four six one four five, 0:04:04.201 --> 0:04:07.001 or you can send us a message on Instagram at 0:04:07.281 --> 0:04:57.400 Helen gonepod. This is Helen Gone Murder Line. From the beginning, 0:04:57.640 --> 0:05:01.561 this seemed to be a confusing crime scene. Police had 0:05:01.641 --> 0:05:04.721 a possible car accident, a possible hit and run, a 0:05:04.761 --> 0:05:08.881 convenience store robbery, and a murder. Now law enforcement had 0:05:08.921 --> 0:05:12.161 to figure out how and if any of them were connected. 0:05:13.881 --> 0:05:17.921 This murder happened more than fifty years ago, but Fred 0:05:18.041 --> 0:05:20.760 New's family are still trying to figure out what really 0:05:20.801 --> 0:05:25.001 happened to him that night. According to Frednw's son, Jason, 0:05:25.401 --> 0:05:27.641 he doesn't remember much about the day his dad died. 0:05:27.961 --> 0:05:30.760 He was only three years old at the time, but 0:05:31.081 --> 0:05:33.520 over the years he has talked to his mom about 0:05:33.521 --> 0:05:36.961 his father and learned that Fred was a loner and 0:05:37.001 --> 0:05:40.281 that his family still doesn't know exactly what he was 0:05:40.361 --> 0:05:43.801 doing on the day he was shot. Fred New was 0:05:43.801 --> 0:05:47.441 born on September thirtieth, nineteen thirty eight. After graduating from 0:05:47.521 --> 0:05:50.640 high school, he served in the military. He worked for 0:05:50.681 --> 0:05:53.921 a trucking company in Memphis called Bowman Truck Lines and 0:05:54.001 --> 0:05:57.121 had had that job for about five years at the 0:05:57.161 --> 0:06:00.880 time he was fatally shot. Fred was just days away 0:06:00.921 --> 0:06:04.641 from his thirty sixth birthday. He was married. His wife 0:06:04.681 --> 0:06:07.761 worked as a respiratory therapist, and they had three children, 0:06:08.241 --> 0:06:11.281 three year old Jason, one six year old daughter, and 0:06:11.321 --> 0:06:15.001 another daughter, Kim, who was nine at the time. We 0:06:15.201 --> 0:06:18.721 spoke to Kim. She remembered a bit more about the 0:06:18.801 --> 0:06:20.161 day that her father was killed. 0:06:21.081 --> 0:06:24.961 I just remember mother saying, there's been a horrible accident 0:06:26.001 --> 0:06:28.921 and your daddy's been taken from us, is what she said. 0:06:29.881 --> 0:06:32.761 And she didn't go into a lot of detail at 0:06:32.841 --> 0:06:36.521 that point. You know, she just reassuring us how much, 0:06:37.161 --> 0:06:41.601 how much she loved us, and that she would want us. 0:06:41.801 --> 0:06:45.081 The kidntinued to be good little girls named Jason be 0:06:45.281 --> 0:06:49.921 the little boy, and he wasn't coming home, and and 0:06:50.041 --> 0:06:54.281 Jason said when willman and daddy be back? And she 0:06:54.441 --> 0:06:58.161 of course said, baby, your daddy's not coming back. 0:07:00.801 --> 0:07:04.801 Police interviewed Buster Wyrick, the cashier at the gas station 0:07:05.001 --> 0:07:07.641 who was working the night of September twenty seventh and 0:07:07.721 --> 0:07:11.961 witnessed the robbery. Buster told police that two men came 0:07:12.001 --> 0:07:14.921 into the gas station. He described the first one as 0:07:14.961 --> 0:07:18.161 a white male, approximately twenty five years old, about six 0:07:18.201 --> 0:07:21.001 foot two weighing around one hundred and eighty to one 0:07:21.041 --> 0:07:24.641 hundred and ninety pounds, with brown shoulder length hair with 0:07:24.721 --> 0:07:29.121 alongside burns. He described the second man as a smaller, 0:07:29.161 --> 0:07:31.840 white male, about twenty one to twenty two years of age, 0:07:32.161 --> 0:07:35.681 around five foot four inches tall, with brown, medium length hair. 0:07:36.681 --> 0:07:39.041 Buster said that the two men waited for the other 0:07:39.081 --> 0:07:41.881 customers to leave, and then one of them asked for 0:07:42.001 --> 0:07:45.881 change for a dollar. Said the larger suspect pulled out 0:07:45.881 --> 0:07:48.961 a twenty two caliber pistol a gun, which is sometimes 0:07:49.001 --> 0:07:52.201 referred to as a Saturday Night special, and told him 0:07:52.281 --> 0:07:55.241 to give him all his money. Buster said that the 0:07:55.281 --> 0:07:58.001 second man came around behind the counter at that point, 0:07:58.281 --> 0:08:00.561 took the money he had on him and shoved him 0:08:00.601 --> 0:08:04.361 down into a chair. That's when the second suspect saw 0:08:04.361 --> 0:08:07.681 the twelve gage pump shotgun that they kept hidden behind 0:08:07.681 --> 0:08:11.401 the counter with some shotgun shells. The two men ended 0:08:11.481 --> 0:08:14.601 up stealing one hundred and seventy five dollars, which would 0:08:14.641 --> 0:08:17.561 be a little over eleven hundred dollars in today's money. 0:08:18.601 --> 0:08:22.001 Buster told police that the two men took the money, 0:08:22.201 --> 0:08:25.041 the shotgun, and the box of shotgun shells, and then fled. 0:08:25.681 --> 0:08:27.681 He said that he saw them running through a field 0:08:27.881 --> 0:08:31.321 located behind the service station. At this point, he said 0:08:31.361 --> 0:08:34.160 he saw a car, which he described as a light 0:08:34.201 --> 0:08:38.521 colored nineteen sixty four Chevrolet. Buster said that the Chevy 0:08:38.680 --> 0:08:41.160 was parked on the service road near the Interstate Highway. 0:08:41.721 --> 0:08:44.761 He told police he believed that this was the car 0:08:44.920 --> 0:08:48.560 used by the robbers. After the robbers fled the scene, 0:08:48.680 --> 0:08:51.641 Buster ran next door to the Penis service station. He 0:08:51.761 --> 0:08:54.281 told the operator there to call the Sheriff's office to 0:08:54.321 --> 0:08:57.521 report the robbery. When he went back to the scene 0:08:57.521 --> 0:09:00.160 of the crime, he found out that the phone lines 0:09:00.201 --> 0:09:04.241 at his service station had been cut. One of the 0:09:04.280 --> 0:09:07.241 things that's not immediately clear is the timing of the 0:09:07.321 --> 0:09:12.361 robbery and the homicide, which one happened first. There's no 0:09:12.601 --> 0:09:15.961 exact time on the police reports. One of the only 0:09:16.041 --> 0:09:18.761 clues to timing is the statement from Buster's nineteen year 0:09:18.801 --> 0:09:23.161 old son, Terry, who worked at another nearby Fhena gas station. 0:09:24.641 --> 0:09:27.361 On the night Fred was killed. Terry told police he 0:09:27.441 --> 0:09:29.841 was out with some friends. The girls he was with 0:09:29.921 --> 0:09:31.761 had to be home by midnight, and on the way 0:09:31.801 --> 0:09:34.081 to drive them home, he said they stopped by his 0:09:34.161 --> 0:09:36.920 dad's gas station at around eleven fifteen so that one 0:09:36.921 --> 0:09:39.841 of the girls could use the bathroom. Before they left, 0:09:40.161 --> 0:09:43.041 he and his friends noticed a white car sitting outside 0:09:43.041 --> 0:09:46.001 the gas station. He described it as a sixty three 0:09:46.201 --> 0:09:50.361 or sixty four Chevrolet White, but he didn't think anything 0:09:50.361 --> 0:09:54.121 more about it at the time. After dropping the girls home, 0:09:54.401 --> 0:09:57.001 Terry said that he passed by the station again, but 0:09:57.081 --> 0:09:59.481 his dad wasn't at his gas station. He was at 0:09:59.481 --> 0:10:03.280 the Phenis station next door. That's when Buster told Terry 0:10:03.321 --> 0:10:05.161 to get down that he had been robbed and that 0:10:05.241 --> 0:10:09.200 the men had guns. Given the distances driven and the timings, 0:10:09.721 --> 0:10:13.801 that should have put the robbery sometime around midnight. Police 0:10:13.841 --> 0:10:15.881 got the call about the body by the road at 0:10:15.881 --> 0:10:19.641 one forty am. So it seems like the robbery did 0:10:19.761 --> 0:10:23.641 happen before Fred was murdered, But since no one had 0:10:23.681 --> 0:10:26.321 cell phones back then, the people in the accident had 0:10:26.361 --> 0:10:29.121 to be driven to a phone to report this, there 0:10:29.161 --> 0:10:32.841 was a delay before police were called. These two events, 0:10:32.921 --> 0:10:37.121 the robbery and the shooting, happened very close together time wise. 0:10:37.801 --> 0:10:41.641 According to police documents, the robbery happened about forty five 0:10:41.681 --> 0:10:45.681 minutes before the discovery of Fred Knew body. But here's 0:10:45.681 --> 0:10:49.441 where it got complicated. Buster and his son both said 0:10:49.521 --> 0:10:52.761 they saw light colored nineteen sixty three or nineteen sixty 0:10:52.761 --> 0:10:56.920 four Chevy, and that's the same description as Fred Newscar 0:10:57.841 --> 0:11:12.161 So was Fred involved in the robbery? Were Fred's shooting 0:11:12.201 --> 0:11:16.601 and the convenience store robbery related? Early on in the investigation, 0:11:16.921 --> 0:11:19.921 there was a lot of confusion and misinformation was spread. 0:11:20.441 --> 0:11:23.761 For example, Roy Akers, the Deputy sheriff of Crittenden County, 0:11:24.280 --> 0:11:26.601 told a reporter that Fred had been shot in the 0:11:26.681 --> 0:11:29.081 side with a shotgun and in the neck with a pistol, 0:11:29.561 --> 0:11:33.160 but according to his autopsy report, that wasn't true. Only 0:11:33.241 --> 0:11:36.721 one weapon was used, a four to ten gage shotgun, 0:11:37.001 --> 0:11:41.401 And then police made statements to local newspapers that indicated 0:11:41.481 --> 0:11:44.001 they thought that Fred news homicide in the gas station 0:11:44.161 --> 0:11:48.841 robbery were related. This happened because police were following a lead. 0:11:48.961 --> 0:11:51.721 They had a detailed description of the car at the 0:11:51.761 --> 0:11:55.081 scene of the service station during the robbery. Police told 0:11:55.161 --> 0:11:58.641 local media the description of that car matched the description 0:11:58.721 --> 0:12:04.241 of Fred newscr. So at first police believed Fred had 0:12:04.321 --> 0:12:06.641 been one of the people who robbed the service station. 0:12:07.641 --> 0:12:11.440 According to police reports, Buster was shown a picture of 0:12:11.561 --> 0:12:14.841 Fred on September twenty ninth, and he identified Fred as 0:12:14.881 --> 0:12:17.481 one of the men who robbed him. In fact, he 0:12:17.521 --> 0:12:19.761 said that Fred was the man who held a gun 0:12:19.801 --> 0:12:22.481 on him, but it turned out that it was more 0:12:22.521 --> 0:12:26.761 complicated than that. A later police report dated October twenty eighth, 0:12:26.801 --> 0:12:30.481 nineteen seventy four, stated no identification could be made by 0:12:30.481 --> 0:12:32.761 Buster when it came to Fred being one of the 0:12:32.801 --> 0:12:36.081 people inside the stoor who robbed him that night. The 0:12:36.161 --> 0:12:39.601 report stated Fred knew had good character and a steady job, 0:12:40.041 --> 0:12:43.441 and at some point it's not clear whether this was 0:12:43.481 --> 0:12:47.761 a misidentification by Buster or what happened next, but police 0:12:47.801 --> 0:12:52.641 apparently determined Fred Knew was not involved in the robbery. 0:12:52.881 --> 0:12:56.721 Crittenden County Sheriff David Doyle told the Son newspaper that 0:12:56.761 --> 0:13:00.201 their investigation had determined that Fred Knew was not one 0:13:00.201 --> 0:13:02.081 of the two men who had robbed the service station, 0:13:02.721 --> 0:13:06.361 and over the years, Fred's son Jason told us the 0:13:06.521 --> 0:13:09.281 detectives have told him his father was not involved in 0:13:09.321 --> 0:13:12.641 the robbery. So how did they figure that out? And 0:13:12.721 --> 0:13:16.041 what was police's working theory? There is a lot we 0:13:16.201 --> 0:13:20.041 just don't know. According to the article, police assumed that 0:13:20.081 --> 0:13:22.641 the robbery and Fred's homicide were connected just because they 0:13:22.681 --> 0:13:26.721 happened in close proximity to one another, and potentially because 0:13:26.721 --> 0:13:29.481 of Fred's vehicle having a similar description to the one 0:13:29.561 --> 0:13:33.001 used in the robbery. The sheriff also said at the 0:13:33.041 --> 0:13:36.401 time that police were doing quote a full scale investigation 0:13:36.721 --> 0:13:40.881 into Fred's murder. After Fred was killed and left in 0:13:40.881 --> 0:13:44.881 the ditch, his car was abandoned and one crashed into 0:13:44.921 --> 0:13:49.001 that park car and fled the scene. Police tracked down 0:13:49.081 --> 0:13:52.481 the man who hit Fred's car. His name was Billy 0:13:52.561 --> 0:13:57.081 Joe Smith. They interviewed Billy on October fifteenth, nineteen seventy four. 0:13:57.801 --> 0:14:00.401 Billy said that on September twenty seventh, he got off 0:14:00.441 --> 0:14:03.041 work at around five pm. In the afternoon, he said, 0:14:03.081 --> 0:14:05.921 he went back to his place with his girlfriend. Then 0:14:06.081 --> 0:14:08.001 they went with a friend of his named Charles, to 0:14:08.041 --> 0:14:10.361 the Town and Country liquor store and bought two six 0:14:10.441 --> 0:14:13.601 packs of beer. The group went over to another friend's 0:14:13.641 --> 0:14:18.041 house while Charles's date and Billy's date got ready, Then 0:14:18.121 --> 0:14:21.721 they stopped for more beer. Billy said that at this point, 0:14:21.801 --> 0:14:24.281 Charles was driving, and that as they were turning on 0:14:24.361 --> 0:14:27.001 to the service road of the I fifty five, they 0:14:27.121 --> 0:14:30.201 saw a man beside a white car waving them down 0:14:30.281 --> 0:14:33.041 to stop, which he said they did. Billy said that 0:14:33.121 --> 0:14:35.081 Charles asked the man what was wrong, and that the 0:14:35.121 --> 0:14:38.161 man said he was out of gas. The man asked 0:14:38.161 --> 0:14:40.681 if they had any and Charles told him no. He 0:14:40.801 --> 0:14:43.681 told the stranger there wasn't any place open at that point, 0:14:43.841 --> 0:14:47.081 so Charles told the man sorry, they couldn't help him. 0:14:47.281 --> 0:14:50.121 Billy also said that Charles asked the man where he 0:14:50.241 --> 0:14:54.761 was from, and the man said Caraway. Now Fred knew 0:14:54.921 --> 0:14:58.521 was from an area north of Caraway. But there's nothing 0:14:58.561 --> 0:15:01.601 in the police report to indicate that they exchanged names. 0:15:02.681 --> 0:15:05.401 After that, Billy said that he, Charles, and the two 0:15:05.441 --> 0:15:07.921 women went on to a local nightclub, the Starlight Club, 0:15:07.961 --> 0:15:10.801 at around nine thirty or ten pm. He said that 0:15:10.841 --> 0:15:12.881 he and his friends were dancing and drinking there for 0:15:12.921 --> 0:15:16.161 a while. He said they left around midnight, though Billy 0:15:16.241 --> 0:15:19.721 said he wasn't sure at the exact time. While they 0:15:19.761 --> 0:15:23.801 were driving home, Billy said his car broke. He said 0:15:23.801 --> 0:15:26.321 the shifting rod fell off and the vehicle jumped out 0:15:26.321 --> 0:15:29.041 of gear. He stopped to try and fix it or 0:15:29.081 --> 0:15:32.801 to slide it into fourth gear. Eventually, he said, he 0:15:32.921 --> 0:15:35.481 was able to drive away. They made their way toward home, 0:15:35.961 --> 0:15:38.201 and that's when they saw the glimpse of a car. 0:15:39.321 --> 0:15:42.921 It's not clear from the police reports that this was 0:15:43.161 --> 0:15:47.081 fred Knew car. There are indications in the notes that 0:15:47.281 --> 0:15:49.121 seemed to say that it might have been, but there's 0:15:49.161 --> 0:15:52.521 nothing in Billy's interview that confirms it, so it is 0:15:52.681 --> 0:15:56.321 a little bit confusing. Billy said that his car was 0:15:56.321 --> 0:15:58.721 out of control at that point and traveling around fifty 0:15:58.761 --> 0:16:01.081 miles an hour. He said he tried to miss the 0:16:01.121 --> 0:16:02.881 car that was on the side of the road, but 0:16:02.961 --> 0:16:05.721 his right front fender hit the left front fender of 0:16:05.761 --> 0:16:08.961 the stalled vehicle. He said that when they hit, he 0:16:09.041 --> 0:16:11.761 instinctively grabbed his girlfriend's head, but she had already hit 0:16:11.801 --> 0:16:14.081 the windshield and she was screaming about being in pain, 0:16:14.801 --> 0:16:16.641 so Billy said he jumped out of the car to 0:16:16.721 --> 0:16:20.321 make sure everyone was okay. Charles went to look at 0:16:20.321 --> 0:16:22.761 the car they hit, and when Charles walked back to 0:16:22.761 --> 0:16:26.481 their vehicle, Billy said that Charles told him you just 0:16:26.601 --> 0:16:30.721 killed a man. At some point, Billy said, two black 0:16:30.761 --> 0:16:32.521 men stopped and gave them a ride to be a 0:16:32.561 --> 0:16:36.321 nearby service station. Billy said once he got to the 0:16:36.321 --> 0:16:39.641 service station, he asked an employee there to call the police. 0:16:40.241 --> 0:16:43.001 Then at some point he walked to town and learned 0:16:43.001 --> 0:16:46.961 that the police had arrested Charles. Billy said he got scared, 0:16:47.761 --> 0:16:50.161 so somehow he ended up back at the motel where 0:16:50.201 --> 0:16:52.841 he had been staying. He said that's when someone came 0:16:52.881 --> 0:16:55.441 in and told him he was wanted, so he crawled 0:16:55.521 --> 0:16:58.761 under a bed to hide. The police found him, but 0:16:58.801 --> 0:17:03.441 after questioning Billy, they released him. Fred Knude didn't die 0:17:03.521 --> 0:17:07.441 from injuries from a car crash. He died from three gunshot. 0:17:07.481 --> 0:17:12.961 Winds police interviewed another man named Oscar Woods. Now Oscar 0:17:13.041 --> 0:17:15.761 Woods also stopped at the scene of the accident that night, 0:17:15.880 --> 0:17:18.241 but he was not one of the two men who 0:17:18.281 --> 0:17:21.201 gave Billy and Charles a ride. In fact, he told 0:17:21.201 --> 0:17:24.481 police when he stopped, they didn't seem concerned about getting 0:17:24.521 --> 0:17:27.121 a ride. They told him to get out of there. 0:17:27.921 --> 0:17:31.400 Oscar said. This would have been around one am. And 0:17:31.441 --> 0:17:34.321 it's interesting because Oscar said that when he stopped, he 0:17:34.360 --> 0:17:37.840 saw two or three white males. There's no mention of 0:17:37.880 --> 0:17:40.640 any women. And when he asked if everyone was okay, 0:17:40.840 --> 0:17:43.561 one of the men told him not really, someone was, 0:17:44.840 --> 0:17:47.680 and then he said the man said something odd and 0:17:47.721 --> 0:17:51.441 that the men were laughing. At this point, Oscar asked 0:17:51.441 --> 0:17:53.361 if they had called the police, and they said yes. 0:17:54.321 --> 0:17:56.201 After one of the men told him there was a 0:17:56.241 --> 0:17:59.441 dead man there, they asked Oscar if he had a flashlight. 0:17:59.761 --> 0:18:02.441 He said he always kept a pocket flashlight with him, 0:18:02.521 --> 0:18:05.600 so he got out his pocket flashlight and saw Fred 0:18:05.721 --> 0:18:07.681 lying there on the side of the road in a 0:18:07.681 --> 0:18:12.080 pool of blood. Oscar said, they reiterated that they had 0:18:12.121 --> 0:18:15.761 already called the police and suggested that quote the best 0:18:15.761 --> 0:18:17.841 thing that he could do is drive away from here 0:18:18.201 --> 0:18:21.561 end quote, and Oscar said that's what he did. He 0:18:21.761 --> 0:18:24.401 seemed to realize he might have walked into a very 0:18:24.441 --> 0:18:28.801 bad situation, and he got out of there fast. Now, 0:18:28.801 --> 0:18:32.201 this is a weird sequence of events. Billy hiding from 0:18:32.241 --> 0:18:35.481 the police seems a bit suspect, but then again, he 0:18:35.561 --> 0:18:38.761 could have been driving while intoxicated, and also he may 0:18:38.801 --> 0:18:41.201 have believed that he killed a man in that accident. 0:18:41.921 --> 0:18:45.121 This could explain why he hid from police. But if 0:18:45.161 --> 0:18:50.360 that's the case, why was he allegedly laughing. Police attempted 0:18:50.361 --> 0:18:53.801 to verify Billy and Charles's stories. One of the owners 0:18:53.840 --> 0:18:56.361 at the Starlight nightclub, who said she was collecting cover 0:18:56.481 --> 0:19:00.561 charges on September twenty seven, remembered that Charles Bardino and 0:19:00.641 --> 0:19:03.521 Billy Joe Smith came in at around ten pm with 0:19:03.561 --> 0:19:07.120 two women. This person told police that the four of 0:19:07.161 --> 0:19:09.721 them sat at a table and left at around eleven pm, 0:19:09.881 --> 0:19:14.041 and they did not return that night. So police seemed 0:19:14.080 --> 0:19:16.840 to be solving the mystery of the hidden run, but 0:19:16.921 --> 0:19:20.080 when it came to Fred's murder and the robbery, the 0:19:20.161 --> 0:19:23.921 police were stumped. There's no evidence in this case, Faule. 0:19:24.041 --> 0:19:27.201 The police ever tracked down the two women who were 0:19:27.281 --> 0:19:30.721 with Charles and Billy to get their stories. I would 0:19:30.761 --> 0:19:33.840 have had a lot of questions for them, what time 0:19:34.001 --> 0:19:37.400 the women went home, and also if Charles or Billy 0:19:37.561 --> 0:19:39.801 noticed the blood in the front seat of the car 0:19:40.121 --> 0:19:45.080 or the burnmarks on the driver's seat. Police also stated 0:19:45.080 --> 0:19:47.961 publicly after that that they did not believe that Fred 0:19:48.001 --> 0:19:50.321 was involved in the robbery, but that his vehicle may 0:19:50.361 --> 0:19:53.521 have been. So did Fred know the men involved in 0:19:53.521 --> 0:19:56.841 the robbery or was the shooting just a total coincidence. 0:19:57.721 --> 0:20:00.561 I wonder if they were related, but maybe not in 0:20:00.601 --> 0:20:03.761 the way police think, because we learned something else from 0:20:03.801 --> 0:20:07.600 Fred's son, Jason. Fred worked the night shift at the 0:20:07.641 --> 0:20:10.801 trucking company and he normally came home in the mornings. 0:20:11.241 --> 0:20:14.640 But on the morning of September twenty seventh, Fred Knew 0:20:15.041 --> 0:20:30.961 never came home. So where was he that day? According 0:20:31.001 --> 0:20:34.561 to police notes, Fred's father, Fred new Senior, believed that 0:20:34.601 --> 0:20:37.160 his son got off work at around eight fifteen am 0:20:37.361 --> 0:20:40.721 on the morning of September twenty seventh. Now, normally Fred 0:20:40.721 --> 0:20:43.041 would have come home after that, but on that Friday 0:20:43.401 --> 0:20:47.120 he did. Fred's father told police that other than a 0:20:47.161 --> 0:20:51.041 single DWI, Fred Junior had never had any problems with 0:20:51.080 --> 0:20:55.441 the law and had no criminal record. But Fred's son, Jason, 0:20:55.481 --> 0:20:59.201 said he's always wondered if his mother hid things from him, 0:20:59.441 --> 0:21:02.521 things about his father and what she believed his father 0:21:02.601 --> 0:21:05.600 may have been doing that day, possibly drinking or hanging 0:21:05.601 --> 0:21:08.080 out with other people or other women. 0:21:09.041 --> 0:21:11.281 That's stuff that as I got older, you know, I 0:21:11.321 --> 0:21:14.041 had more quizkis. I always thought she might have been 0:21:14.080 --> 0:21:16.721 hiding something till mean she was till I got opened 0:21:16.801 --> 0:21:21.201 with I remember when my grandmother on my mother's side died. 0:21:21.641 --> 0:21:25.801 You know, my grandpa was like Jason, if he would 0:21:25.801 --> 0:21:28.201 have been home, that wouldn't happen me. 0:21:30.121 --> 0:21:32.321 After the time when Fred would have gotten off work. 0:21:32.321 --> 0:21:35.721 On September twenty seventh, It's not clear what happened that day, 0:21:36.241 --> 0:21:39.721 but police did discover that at some point Fred was 0:21:39.761 --> 0:21:44.241 hanging out at Maudet's Diner and Joiner. Arkansas interviewed a 0:21:44.241 --> 0:21:48.201 waitress named Charlene Dixon. She said that around six pm, 0:21:48.681 --> 0:21:51.561 Fred came in and sat by himself in a corner booth. 0:21:52.361 --> 0:21:55.120 Police showed her a picture of Fred and she positively 0:21:55.161 --> 0:21:58.080 identified him. She said she knew the man is Fred, 0:21:58.441 --> 0:22:01.441 she didn't know his last name. She said that Fred 0:22:01.481 --> 0:22:04.841 didn't talk much and that quote he was pretty well 0:22:04.921 --> 0:22:07.681 drunk when he came in. She said that he drank 0:22:07.721 --> 0:22:10.321 about four cans of beer, played the jukebox a couple 0:22:10.321 --> 0:22:12.761 of times, and that at some point he hit on her. 0:22:13.241 --> 0:22:15.001 That he asked her to go out with him, and 0:22:15.041 --> 0:22:19.201 that she refused. Charlene said that Fred was wearing a 0:22:19.321 --> 0:22:22.481 check shirt with faded Levi jeans and that around eight 0:22:22.561 --> 0:22:25.360 thirty or nine pm, Fred left the diner and that 0:22:25.441 --> 0:22:28.400 he did not come back. One of her co workers 0:22:28.521 --> 0:22:32.360 also said she saw Fred at the dinner alone. Where 0:22:32.361 --> 0:22:35.880 did Fred go after he left the dinner? Nothing in 0:22:35.881 --> 0:22:40.721 the case fall indicates that police ever found out. Jason 0:22:40.961 --> 0:22:43.401 is still trying to figure out what his father did 0:22:43.401 --> 0:22:43.961 that day. 0:22:44.840 --> 0:22:47.601 He was supposed to have gotten off work Friday mornings, 0:22:47.881 --> 0:22:51.521 and he didn't come home. I think he'd been out drinking. 0:22:52.121 --> 0:22:55.441 There might even been maybe other women, you know, but 0:22:55.761 --> 0:23:00.600 a thief, a robber, you know, he was not. My 0:23:00.721 --> 0:23:04.281 dad was a loner, you know, he didn't run with 0:23:04.401 --> 0:23:05.080 many people. 0:23:06.481 --> 0:23:09.120 Jason said that even though his father's car matched the 0:23:09.121 --> 0:23:11.761 description of the vehicle seen near the scene of the robbery, 0:23:12.161 --> 0:23:14.880 he did not believe that his father would have ever 0:23:15.080 --> 0:23:18.641 purposely been involved in a robbery. He wondered if maybe 0:23:18.641 --> 0:23:22.281 something else happened, If maybe his father was the person 0:23:22.321 --> 0:23:25.081 who ran out of gas, who Charles and Billy had encountered, 0:23:25.721 --> 0:23:29.281 and then maybe the men who robbed the convenience store 0:23:29.321 --> 0:23:32.281 also saw him there and decided to rob him too. 0:23:32.561 --> 0:23:34.241 You know, I ex played it out in my head 0:23:34.361 --> 0:23:37.160 that somebody robbed the gas station and seen him and 0:23:37.241 --> 0:23:38.080 robbed him too. 0:23:40.321 --> 0:23:43.801 Maybe Fred New's car had a breakdown, maybe his kill 0:23:44.001 --> 0:23:47.481 flagged him down. Or could it be possible that Fred 0:23:47.561 --> 0:23:50.201 knew was in his vehicle with the men who robbed 0:23:50.201 --> 0:23:53.121 the service station. Did he hang out with those men 0:23:53.281 --> 0:23:55.921 or meet up with them and then somehow unwittingly get 0:23:56.001 --> 0:23:59.680 dragged into the robbery, or could he have been kidnapped 0:24:00.001 --> 0:24:03.481 or just stopped randomly to give them a lift. All 0:24:03.521 --> 0:24:07.601 of these were scenarios that the police probably considered. Then 0:24:07.761 --> 0:24:11.761 there was the state of Fred's vehicle. Investigator's notes indicated 0:24:11.801 --> 0:24:15.160 the driver's seat had been burned, that the car was 0:24:15.321 --> 0:24:18.281 completely out of gas, and that a line leading to 0:24:18.321 --> 0:24:21.881 the battery had been cut. This was never really explained 0:24:21.921 --> 0:24:25.041 because after an initial flurry of interviews, there were no 0:24:25.161 --> 0:24:29.561 more newspaper clippings, the case disappeared from headlines, and no 0:24:29.641 --> 0:24:34.081 one was arrested or charged. In December of nineteen seventy four, 0:24:34.161 --> 0:24:38.001 according to police records, the case was declared officially closed 0:24:38.281 --> 0:24:42.241 due to all leads being exhausted. And then one year 0:24:42.321 --> 0:24:46.801 later there was another, this time at the Penis service station. 0:24:47.641 --> 0:24:52.321 Another attendant was attacked and this time the robbery ended 0:24:52.441 --> 0:24:56.880