Latest / The Evolution of Evil - True Crime Stories / True Crime Documentary - Psycho In-Laws Hired a Hitman to Kill Their Daughter's Fiance

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True Crime Documentary - Psycho In-Laws Hired a Hitman to Kill Their Daughter's Fiance · The Evolution of Evil - True Crime Stories

0:06
Speaker 1: Nashville, Michigan, October third, nineteen eighty five. It happened on
0:15
Speaker 1: a fall night like any other, except for one thing.
0:20
Speaker 1: Rodney Fancher is about to take his last breath.
0:25
Speaker 2: This is a small town. Things like this don't happen here.
0:30
Speaker 1: The hunt for an unknown killer begins, leaving investigators desperate
0:34
Speaker 1: for clues.
0:37
Speaker 3: Who is he running with, Who's he dealing with? Is
0:39
Speaker 3: he involving criminal activity himself?
0:42
Speaker 1: As the web of the crime slowly begins to untangle,
0:46
Speaker 1: the truth behind the murder is far more disturbing than
0:49
Speaker 1: anyone imagines.
0:51
Speaker 3: Somebody's going to get hit Tonight.
1:05
Speaker 1: Co Nashville, Michigan, population sixteen hundred and eighty four. A
2:12
Speaker 1: quiet town two hours west of Detroit, but one that
2:16
Speaker 1: feels like a lifetime away. Once the record holder for
2:21
Speaker 1: the world's longest ice cream Sunday. A town where everyone
2:25
Speaker 1: knows each other, where residents keep their doors unlocked. A
2:30
Speaker 1: town where murders don't happen. Forty minutes east of Lansing, Michigan,
2:40
Speaker 1: twenty four year old Rodney Fancher, on leave from the army,
2:44
Speaker 1: lives with his mother Mary, mother and son reside in
2:49
Speaker 1: the nicest home on Beulah Street, in one of Lansing's
2:53
Speaker 1: toughest neighborhoods. Rodney occupies his day's job hunting to his
3:00
Speaker 1: mother and looking after the house. Yet it isn't all
3:08
Speaker 1: work and no play for Rodney, as someone next door
3:11
Speaker 1: catches his eye. Next Door to the Fanchers, in a cluttered,
3:21
Speaker 1: shabby house are the Bouchard family matriarch Anna and his
3:26
Speaker 1: youngest daughter, Cora, Cora's two young sons, and occasionally Anna's
3:32
Speaker 1: eldest daughter Peggy, along with her husband, Harold Snake Stevens.
3:39
Speaker 3: Their next door neighbors fell in love, started dating anyway,
3:43
Speaker 3: and then he had to go to another tour. When
3:45
Speaker 3: he came back, they started getting very serious at that point.
3:48
Speaker 3: So when the opportunity present himself, Rodney moved in. Was
3:53
Speaker 3: quite a quite a group of people in a very
3:56
Speaker 3: small house.
3:56
Speaker 1: Quite frankly, the loss of their fourteen month old daughter,
4:03
Speaker 1: Peggy and Harold moved back in attempting to cope with
4:06
Speaker 1: the tragedy.
4:09
Speaker 2: Peggy and Harold had been living in Arizona, and they
4:11
Speaker 2: moved back closer to home to be with family after
4:14
Speaker 2: suffering their loss.
4:18
Speaker 1: Still grieving, Peggee and Harold find Solace and Cora's two
4:22
Speaker 1: young children, their nephews, Brian and Brad, with Harold taking
4:26
Speaker 1: an exceptional liking to young Brian. Harold sees Brian as
4:32
Speaker 1: a totem of what could have been. He sees him
4:35
Speaker 1: as another chance to be a father.
4:40
Speaker 3: Cora had a six year old son and a two
4:43
Speaker 3: year old son live it was at the time, so
4:47
Speaker 3: Rodney assumed the role as a father there because the
4:49
Speaker 3: father was not around. But before Rodney showed up, Harold
4:54
Speaker 3: Stevens and Peggy Stevens were the ones that kind of
4:58
Speaker 3: looked after young Brian. He developed a real good relationship
5:01
Speaker 3: with them. That's where the problem began.
5:09
Speaker 1: Cora's five hundred dollars a month child payments and her
5:12
Speaker 1: part time job with the National Guard go towards the
5:15
Speaker 1: bills for the little house on Beulah Street, as Anna,
5:21
Speaker 1: Peggy and Harold are all on welfare. But after months
5:25
Speaker 1: of living in tight quarters and with Rodney finding the
5:28
Speaker 1: odd job here and there, the young couple decide it's
5:32
Speaker 1: time to move out. Rodney is always on the hunt
5:44
Speaker 1: for work, so when a call comes from a man
5:48
Speaker 1: named Rich Hoover looking for someone to help him unload
5:52
Speaker 1: a truck. He jumps at the chance. Rodney asks Hoover
5:59
Speaker 1: where he found his name and phone number. Hoover tells
6:03
Speaker 1: him that it was posted on a work wanted bulletin
6:05
Speaker 1: board at a truck stop in the city. Rodney asks
6:12
Speaker 1: the Bouchards if they know anything about his name up
6:15
Speaker 1: at the truck stop, and Anna says she and Peggy
6:20
Speaker 1: put it there to help him out. Rodney's not thrilled
6:25
Speaker 1: with the actions of his in laws, but is grateful
6:28
Speaker 1: for the chance to prove himself. With tensions running high
6:38
Speaker 1: in the household, Peggy and Harold plan a trip to
6:41
Speaker 1: Bay City, Michigan, an hour and a half north of Lansing,
6:46
Speaker 1: to visit a friend and to take on a job
6:48
Speaker 1: of their own delivering a trailer down to Florida. Though
6:54
Speaker 1: employed in the Eton Intermediate School district, Harold has issues
6:58
Speaker 1: holding down employment, so a quick job comes as a
7:02
Speaker 1: relief to him and Peggy. On the night of October third,
7:11
Speaker 1: nineteen eighty five, Rodney leaves the busherd home in Lancing,
7:15
Speaker 1: says goodbye to his mother, and meets Hoover at a
7:19
Speaker 1: bar in Potterville, Michigan, twenty minutes outside the city.
7:25
Speaker 2: That's the last time anyone sees Rodney Fancher alive.
7:30
Speaker 1: Rodney pulls into the bar's quiet parking lot, spotting Hoover's
7:35
Speaker 1: truck under a burnt out lamppost. Ducked away from the
7:38
Speaker 1: other vehicles, Rodney carefully approaches, peering into the shadows. Within
7:50
Speaker 1: a hand emerges from the darkness, beckoning Rodney inside. Hoover
7:58
Speaker 1: lures Rodney with some eighty dollars for one evening's work
8:02
Speaker 1: to help unload a truck. Rodney doesn't know where the
8:07
Speaker 1: truck is, only that Hoover insists that they take one
8:11
Speaker 1: vehicle and leave Rodney's behind. Rodney engages Hoover as they drive,
8:24
Speaker 1: discussing the job and wages. Rodney tells Hoover about his family,
8:30
Speaker 1: about Cora, Brian, and Brad. He tells the man how
8:35
Speaker 1: grateful he is for the work, and that he's been
8:38
Speaker 1: saving up to rent an apartment with his fiancee, a
8:42
Speaker 1: place that they can start fresh, a place to call
8:45
Speaker 1: their own. The two men drive on, finding themselves in Nashville, Michigan.
8:53
Speaker 1: As the evening descends, becomes uneasy and asks Hoover if
9:02
Speaker 1: they're approaching the truck. Hoover says nothing. Hoover brings the
9:18
Speaker 1: truck to a stop down a deserted gravel road, then
9:22
Speaker 1: asks Rodney for his help moving something in the back.
9:27
Speaker 1: Rodney Fancher, the twenty four year old father of two,
9:30
Speaker 1: steps out into the night at the bequest of rich Hoover,
9:35
Speaker 1: unaware of the fate that awaits him. But why did
9:54
Speaker 1: rich Hoover shoot Rodney?
9:57
Speaker 2: For whoever did this to Rodney, it was up close
10:00
Speaker 2: and personal. After they kill him, they roll his body
10:03
Speaker 2: into a ditch and leave him there like a piece
10:06
Speaker 2: of roadside trash.
10:14
Speaker 1: Nashville, Michigan, a quiet town of over five point six
10:18
Speaker 1: square kilometers with the population of fifteen hundred. Nashville is
10:24
Speaker 1: quintessential small town America, from its rolling farmlands to its
10:29
Speaker 1: many back roads. But on the night of October third,
10:36
Speaker 1: nineteen eighty five, everything changes when Rodney Vancher is murdered
10:41
Speaker 1: in cold blood.
10:48
Speaker 3: The Vanchers and the Bouchards lived in Lansing, Michigan.
10:54
Speaker 4: But Potterville, you.
10:56
Speaker 3: Know, they never have anything like this going out there,
10:59
Speaker 3: and that all of a sudden it's on the map.
11:01
Speaker 4: You know, this is where the abduction.
11:03
Speaker 3: If you will, took place, and probably it wasn't an
11:05
Speaker 3: abduction at some point, because actually what happened was Francer
11:08
Speaker 3: got in a car voluntarily expecting to go on loaded trucks.
11:11
Speaker 3: They don't really have an abduction anyway. But the whole
11:14
Speaker 3: thing was put in the beginning was there in Potterville,
11:17
Speaker 3: so you know, it's a small community.
11:19
Speaker 4: So that's like, all of a sudden, they're part of
11:21
Speaker 4: this action.
11:22
Speaker 3: And then you've got Nashville, like twenty five miles down
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Speaker 3: the road where Francer's body is found.
11:27
Speaker 4: So all of a sudden, they're like, Wow.
11:30
Speaker 3: People in the rural counties that were speaking of Barry
11:33
Speaker 3: County in this case, Michigan and Eaton County.
11:36
Speaker 4: And this impact of on them thats big news.
11:38
Speaker 3: That's the discussion of coffee shops and the bars and
11:40
Speaker 3: that type of thing.
11:43
Speaker 1: On the outskirts of Nashville, where miles separate the nearest neighbors,
11:47
Speaker 1: a local farmer notices something strange. He approaches the site,
11:53
Speaker 1: thinking he's uncovered an injured animal. Instead, he stumbles upon
11:59
Speaker 1: the discarded body of Rodney Fancher.
12:13
Speaker 3: Civilian found the body laying in the woods next to
12:16
Speaker 3: a road. The shrif's department called out handled the scene
12:19
Speaker 3: that day and through their checking they learned about the
12:23
Speaker 3: Potter bio and then involved in our department at that time.
12:26
Speaker 3: So we initially had like four departments working on this case.
12:29
Speaker 3: Eaton County, Sharf's apartment, the Burry County Share Experiment, Potterbook Police,
12:32
Speaker 3: and the state police at the Leipzig Post.
12:35
Speaker 4: I was not at the scene.
12:36
Speaker 3: I do know from the report or from the memory
12:40
Speaker 3: that he was murdered. The mmate determined within twenty four hours.
12:45
Speaker 1: The quiet town is now a buzz with the news
12:47
Speaker 1: of Thatcher's murder, but the small police force is ill
12:52
Speaker 1: prepared for a case like this. Still, investigators flocked to
12:57
Speaker 1: the scene, quickly taking note of what appears to be
12:59
Speaker 1: the possible cause of death, a point blank shotgun wound
13:05
Speaker 1: to Rodney's chest.
13:08
Speaker 5: Unfortunately, his body was already in an advanced state of
13:11
Speaker 5: decomposition within that short twenty.
13:13
Speaker 1: Four hour time period.
13:15
Speaker 5: He was in a ditch with outside elements such as rain, wind, heat,
13:24
Speaker 5: and those factors of the environment will increase the process
13:31
Speaker 5: of a decomposition. Within a twenty four hour period, you
13:35
Speaker 5: can get like a black, blue, bloated and very discolored
13:39
Speaker 5: face and body that are actually unrecognizable. So the importance
13:46
Speaker 5: of using other terms like his identifier of his fly
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Speaker 5: tattoo that is very unique and on a specific part
13:55
Speaker 5: of his body that a loved one can view will
13:58
Speaker 5: help in determining that it is a positive identification.
14:03
Speaker 1: Investigators also determine there are no signs of a struggle.
14:08
Speaker 1: Rodney's body doesn't appear to have any defensive wounds. Upon
14:12
Speaker 1: searching his remains, it's discovered that Rodney still has his
14:17
Speaker 1: keys and wallet in his possession. It becomes very clear
14:23
Speaker 1: quickly that this is not a robbery gone wrong. No,
14:27
Speaker 1: this is intentional. Meanwhile, at the Bouchard house, Cora is
14:43
Speaker 1: seeking answers. Rodney has yet to return home from the
14:47
Speaker 1: night before. Aware that he's made arrangements to meet with
14:51
Speaker 1: Hoover at the bar in Potterville, Cora takes matters into
14:54
Speaker 1: her own hands. She calls the bar, hopeful that Rodney
14:59
Speaker 1: is there, that maybe he overdrank and did the responsible
15:03
Speaker 1: thing by sleeping in his truck. The bartender tells Coorra
15:09
Speaker 1: that there's a similar looking truck in the barking lot,
15:13
Speaker 1: but they're unsure if anyone's in it. That's all Corara
15:17
Speaker 1: needs to hear, She hangs up and dials the police,
15:21
Speaker 1: wishing for the best, but preparing for the worst. Police
15:28
Speaker 1: rushed to the bar where they find the truck. Investigators
15:32
Speaker 1: make a note of the license plate and radio it in.
15:36
Speaker 1: Dispatch quickly confirms the truck belongs to Rodney. With this discovery,
15:42
Speaker 1: Cora's worst fears come true.
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Speaker 3: It does not appear to be robbery. Okay, he's targeted.
15:49
Speaker 3: Who wants to target him? So you start performing a
15:52
Speaker 3: movie called victimology, doing the background on Rodney in this
15:55
Speaker 3: case to determine who's he running with, Who's.
15:58
Speaker 4: He dealing with?
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Speaker 3: Is he involving criminal TV himself? Is he you to
16:01
Speaker 3: see someone else's wife? You gotta go that route basically,
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Speaker 3: and start identifying possible suspects.
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Speaker 1: With his body in decomposition, investigators show Cora the one
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Speaker 1: identifiable piece left of Rodney. When Cora sees his house
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Speaker 1: fly tattoo, the world crumbles around her. Investigators speak with Cora,
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Speaker 1: who's still in shock from the murder of her fiancee.
16:37
Speaker 1: She tells them that she has no idea who could
16:39
Speaker 1: have done such a thing to Rodney, that he's a
16:42
Speaker 1: good man with a good heart. He has no enemies
16:48
Speaker 1: that she knows of. Police then speak with Anna Bouchard,
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Speaker 1: who tells them that a man named Rich Hoover hired
16:58
Speaker 1: Rodney for a quick job unloading a truck, and that
17:05
Speaker 1: Hoover got Rodney's information from a work wanted bulletin board
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Speaker 1: at a truck stop in South Lansing.
17:13
Speaker 3: The day he left with his killer at the Blinkerlate Bar,
17:15
Speaker 3: he came from his work job to his mother's house,
17:18
Speaker 3: where he showered up, and then took off to the
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Speaker 3: Blinkerlate Bar to meet the person who eventually killed him.
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Speaker 1: Cora confirms her mother's story, but tells investigators that Rodney
17:31
Speaker 1: isn't the one who placed his information there, and a
17:36
Speaker 1: Bouchard and Peggy Stevens did. When the call comes from
17:52
Speaker 1: Rich Hoover looking to pay Rodney for an honest day's work,
17:56
Speaker 1: the young father of two jumps at the opportunity. Does
18:00
Speaker 1: he know it will be the last job he ever takes.
18:11
Speaker 3: At that point, we have a name of Rich Hoover,
18:13
Speaker 3: the trucker supposedly used, So we're trying to run down
18:16
Speaker 3: some information on a Rich Hoover checking at the truck
18:20
Speaker 3: stop with Rodney Fancher's picture, asking employees, asking truckers, asking mechanics,
18:26
Speaker 3: things like this, does anybody know Rich Hoover?
18:28
Speaker 4: Anybody's seen this guy here?
18:31
Speaker 1: But nobody has seen Rodney or knows anyone named rich Hoover.
18:37
Speaker 3: Because no one observed Rodney Fancher at that truck stop
18:44
Speaker 3: posting notice that he wanted work. Nobody observed anybody at
18:48
Speaker 3: that truck stop making.
18:49
Speaker 4: That post, nobody knew the name rich Hoover.
18:53
Speaker 3: Didn't mean for sure that everything went down as it
18:57
Speaker 3: initially appeared to be in that man that's his name
19:01
Speaker 3: was up there.
19:05
Speaker 2: The only suspect police have is a person by the
19:08
Speaker 2: name of Rich Hoover, but without any description of what
19:11
Speaker 2: he looks like or a location for him, they really
19:14
Speaker 2: have nothing else to work with.
19:19
Speaker 1: As the investigation ramps up, the search to find the
19:23
Speaker 1: mysterious Rich Hoover begins, but several questions remain. Who is
19:29
Speaker 1: Rich Hoover and what role does he play in Rodney
19:32
Speaker 1: Pancher's murder. Twenty four year old Rodney Fancher has been
19:48
Speaker 1: murdered and police are on the hunt for a man
19:51
Speaker 1: named Rich Hoover, with whom Rodney had been traveling to
19:54
Speaker 1: a job site. A crime scene with a severe lack
19:59
Speaker 1: of evidence, leads investigators from the Michigan State Police, Eton
20:04
Speaker 1: and Barry County Sheriff's departments, and the Potterville Police to
20:08
Speaker 1: join together to help bring a murderer to justice. Police
20:16
Speaker 1: circulate Rodney's photo to employees and patrons of the bar
20:20
Speaker 1: in Potterville where he was last seen, truck drivers and
20:23
Speaker 1: restaurant workers at the truck stop where rich Hoover allegedly
20:27
Speaker 1: retrieved Rodney's information, but no one recognizes Rodney and no
20:33
Speaker 1: one knows who rich Hoover is.
20:37
Speaker 3: We see a lot of situations where strangers are perpetating
20:42
Speaker 3: to crime, but more often or not as somebody who
20:46
Speaker 3: knows the victim. Maybe they don't know him directly, but
20:49
Speaker 3: indirectly they do. They're down the street, whether related, or
20:52
Speaker 3: they're in business where there's some kind of connection to
20:55
Speaker 3: the victim. Is not random.
21:08
Speaker 1: Rodney's mother, Mary, tells police that her son is a
21:12
Speaker 1: good man, that he's been trying to secure a stable
21:15
Speaker 1: life for him and his family. She believes the murder
21:18
Speaker 1: wasn't random. She believes it was a setup, a grudge job.
21:26
Speaker 1: But who holds a grudge deep enough against Rodney to
21:29
Speaker 1: want him dead. Investigators pressed Rodney's girlfriend, Cora on Mary's statement.
21:41
Speaker 1: Cora mentions that Rodney and her brother in law, Harold Stevens,
21:44
Speaker 1: did not get along, but doesn't believe he or anyone
21:48
Speaker 1: in her family is capable of committing murder. Police speak
21:55
Speaker 1: with Peggy and Harold Stevens. The couple went out of
22:01
Speaker 1: town the night of the murder, and their alibis confirmed
22:04
Speaker 1: by their friend James Oswald, whom they stayed with in
22:08
Speaker 1: Bay City, Michigan, before taking on a job delivering a
22:12
Speaker 1: trailer down to Florida.
22:16
Speaker 2: Sure they have an alibi, they just happen to be
22:19
Speaker 2: out of town in the days leading up to the murder.
22:22
Speaker 2: The timing of this all seems just a little too convenient,
22:25
Speaker 2: given the history between Rodney and Harold.
22:32
Speaker 1: Police search for a break in the case. Days turned
22:35
Speaker 1: into weeks, weeks turn into months. With a lack of
22:39
Speaker 1: witnesses and evidence, the case turns cold.
22:45
Speaker 2: One of the most difficult things for an investigator at
22:48
Speaker 2: this point is the feeling that you're potentially letting the
22:51
Speaker 2: family of the victim down. They just want closure.
22:58
Speaker 3: A lot of times you're waiting an information that you
23:02
Speaker 3: want to get before you take the next step.
23:05
Speaker 4: You want to maybe conduct.
23:06
Speaker 3: An interview with somebody, but really you want to get
23:09
Speaker 3: some information before you talk to them.
23:11
Speaker 4: You want to have all your ducks in line.
23:12
Speaker 3: And so when you apply for the information, either informed
23:15
Speaker 3: of a search warrant or you're waiting for someone else
23:17
Speaker 3: to step forward and give you some information somebody specific. Well,
23:20
Speaker 3: you don't want to go to b before you've dealt
23:23
Speaker 3: with a Sometimes it gets dragged down a little bit.
23:27
Speaker 3: In this case here we have no information. There's just
23:29
Speaker 3: tied with any other home sites. It really looked like
23:33
Speaker 3: Rodney was targeted. And if you're being targeted, because generally
23:38
Speaker 3: somebody knows you, and I don't think we really figured
23:41
Speaker 3: at the time as a hit man involved. You don't
23:43
Speaker 3: see that that much TV all the time, you know,
23:46
Speaker 3: but you don't see that many times.
23:47
Speaker 4: A hit matter. Maybe in the drug culture, the drug world,
23:50
Speaker 4: you know, you do, but not in.
23:52
Speaker 3: Lancing, Michigan, or Charlotte in Nashville and all these places.
23:57
Speaker 4: Man, No, you don't do that.
23:58
Speaker 3: So you think mainly there's gonna be somebody that knows him,
24:02
Speaker 3: but he's gotten involved in something else and he's ripped
24:04
Speaker 3: somebody else off or something.
24:05
Speaker 1: Like that, investigators go back to the drawing board and
24:18
Speaker 1: examine the facts. Though he has no more than an
24:25
Speaker 1: eighth grade education and constantly struggles to hold down a
24:29
Speaker 1: steady job, Rodney promises Cora that he'll take care of her,
24:35
Speaker 1: that he'll give her and her two sons a better life,
24:39
Speaker 1: no matter what the cost. But Harold sees himself as
24:47
Speaker 1: a father figure to Brian and Brad and decides there's
24:50
Speaker 1: no room in the boy's life for one more. Tensions
24:55
Speaker 1: are high in the small house, mainly between Rodney and Harold.
25:01
Speaker 1: Harold Stevens wants nothing more than to be a father
25:05
Speaker 1: to Cora's young sons, to have a chance at redemption,
25:09
Speaker 1: to be the father he believes he's destined to be.
25:13
Speaker 1: But when Rodney enters the picture, Harold's fantasy slowly begins
25:17
Speaker 1: to crack. Living off Cora's part time salary and her
25:27
Speaker 1: five hundred dollars child welfare checks is enough for Rodney
25:30
Speaker 1: and Cora to begin searching for a home of their own,
25:35
Speaker 1: somewhere far away from the crowded house on Bulah Street.
25:40
Speaker 1: But the tension between Rodney and Harold isn't the only
25:43
Speaker 1: one about to boil. Over in the small house, Anna
25:51
Speaker 1: learns that Cora and Rodney are planning on moving out,
25:54
Speaker 1: and Anna doesn't want her daughter going anywhere.
26:00
Speaker 3: Bouchard became aware that Cora and Rodney Fancher were out
26:05
Speaker 3: apartment shopping. So at that point and I realized, I'm
26:11
Speaker 3: never real happy with my future son in law Franchier. Anyway,
26:15
Speaker 3: I've got my daughter Peggy and son in law Harold,
26:19
Speaker 3: who definitely don't like him.
26:20
Speaker 4: And if Cora and.
26:23
Speaker 3: Fancher move out to another partiament, there's a great loss
26:26
Speaker 3: of income.
26:32
Speaker 1: Police questioned the Stevens's, who confirmed the bad blood between
26:37
Speaker 1: Rodney and Harold, yet maintain their innocence. They're not killers.
26:45
Speaker 1: They reiterate their alibi. They visited a friend in Bay
26:49
Speaker 1: City the night of Rodney's murder, then they traveled to
26:54
Speaker 1: Florida taking on a job of delivering a trailer. Even
27:01
Speaker 1: though the Stevenses have an alibi, Do they know more
27:04
Speaker 1: about Rodney's murder than they've let on? Or is Rodney's
27:11
Speaker 1: murder a case of a job gone wrong? Could a
27:15
Speaker 1: dispute about wages have sent Rodney to his grave. With
27:23
Speaker 1: all the facts that have come to light, two possible
27:26
Speaker 1: theories emerge. Scenario number one. Rich Hoover, a hot tempered
27:34
Speaker 1: man with a no nonsense attitude, takes advantage of low
27:38
Speaker 1: skilled workers looking for odd jobs, low balling their worth
27:42
Speaker 1: for strenuous tasks. Hoover calls Rodney looking for a one
27:48
Speaker 1: time job to help him unload a truck. They arranged
27:53
Speaker 1: to meet in the bar parking lot of a Potterville bar,
27:56
Speaker 1: with Hoover paying Rodney eighty dollars for his services. Rodney agrees,
28:02
Speaker 1: then hangs up. He questions the fact that Hoover says
28:06
Speaker 1: he got his information from a truck stop bulletin board,
28:10
Speaker 1: which he didn't do. Anna admits she and Peggy did
28:15
Speaker 1: it to help Rodney out. Though he's upset with his
28:18
Speaker 1: in laws, Rodney's excited at the prospect of earning his keep.
28:25
Speaker 1: Rodney meets Hoover at the bar the night of October third,
28:29
Speaker 1: nineteen eighty five. From there, the two men pile into
28:34
Speaker 1: Hoover's truck to head to the job site, leaving Rodney's
28:38
Speaker 1: vehicle behind. Rodney voices his concerns about the distance they've
28:46
Speaker 1: traveled and how long the job will take. He lets
28:50
Speaker 1: Hoover know that he expects to be paid more for
28:53
Speaker 1: his time. Hoover tells Rodney he won't pay him more
28:58
Speaker 1: than he agreed upon him ount, which causes the men
29:01
Speaker 1: to argue, with Hoover pulling over onto the side of
29:04
Speaker 1: the road in a rage, and perhaps Hoover exits the
29:09
Speaker 1: truck to cool down. Rodney watches from inside. I'm sure
29:14
Speaker 1: how to proceed. He decides to go talk to Hoover
29:19
Speaker 1: to calm decease, but hot headed Rich Hoover is waiting
29:23
Speaker 1: for Rodney. When he steps out, he shoots Rodney in
29:29
Speaker 1: the chest at close range, killing him instantly. He then
29:35
Speaker 1: drags Rodney's lifeless body into the ditch, leaving him for
29:39
Speaker 1: nature to consume. Or is it in fact the second
29:54
Speaker 1: possible scenario is Rich Hoover nothing more more than an alias,
30:01
Speaker 1: a man invented to throw investigators off the scent of
30:05
Speaker 1: the true murderer. Peggy and Harold Stevens have an alibi
30:10
Speaker 1: for the night of Rodney's murder, But given the toxic
30:13
Speaker 1: relationship between them and the Stephens' desire to be like
30:17
Speaker 1: parents towards CORU's children, did Peggy and Harold hire someone
30:21
Speaker 1: to kill Rodney? Is it possible The Stephenses want Brian
30:28
Speaker 1: all to themselves, so they recruit a hit man to
30:31
Speaker 1: murder Rodney. Did. They meet at a bar in Potterville
30:36
Speaker 1: and devise a plan. The hitman calls Rodney, pretending to
30:41
Speaker 1: be Rich Hoover, asking Rodney to help him with a job.
30:46
Speaker 1: The stephens Is know Rodney's situation. They count on him
30:50
Speaker 1: to accept the offer, and he does, sealing his fate well.
30:55
Speaker 2: Rodney and Korra seem to have their future mapped out
30:58
Speaker 2: for them. They plan to move volt together and live
31:01
Speaker 2: as a family.
31:03
Speaker 1: Rodney meets with whom he believes is Rich Hoover at
31:07
Speaker 1: the bar in Potterville. From there, the two men pile
31:11
Speaker 1: into the truck and head to the job site. As
31:17
Speaker 1: Rodney and the unidentified man drive, the man grabs a
31:21
Speaker 1: joint and begins to smoke, offering some to Rodney, who
31:26
Speaker 1: gladly accepts. Did. The driver stop his truck on a
31:32
Speaker 1: deserted gravel road, telling Rodney he needs to grab more
31:35
Speaker 1: weed from the back, but there is no pot, only
31:41
Speaker 1: a sowd off shotgun. The man eyes the gun, then
31:50
Speaker 1: calls out for Rodney's help, and when Rodney exits the
31:55
Speaker 1: vehicle he's greeted by his killer, pointing a saw off
31:59
Speaker 1: shotgun square at his chest. But if this is how
32:11
Speaker 1: the crime occurs, who is the unidentified man that the
32:14
Speaker 1: stephens has hired. Twenty four year old stepfather of two,
32:43
Speaker 1: Rodney Fancher has been murdered, but with limited evidence, no witnesses,
32:49
Speaker 1: and a suspect that can't be traced, the investigation is
32:53
Speaker 1: at a standstill. After months of searching and hundreds of
32:59
Speaker 1: unama answered questions, a surprising witness comes forth with some
33:03
Speaker 1: damning evidence, giving investigators the break they've been searching for.
33:18
Speaker 2: So Stephenson's take a trip to Bay City the day
33:21
Speaker 2: before Rodney's murder and stay with their friend James Oswald.
33:27
Speaker 2: It was only when James Oswald phoned the police and
33:30
Speaker 2: provided that tip that everything fell into place.
33:35
Speaker 1: James breaks down Beggie and Harold's visit. He and the
33:39
Speaker 1: stevens Is go to a nearby bar the night of
33:42
Speaker 1: Rodney's murder, where Harold acts strangely. Not soon after, Harold
33:50
Speaker 1: begins talking about an unnamed child abuser, one who's about
33:54
Speaker 1: to get picked up, bumped off, snuffed out.
34:01
Speaker 3: We learned that there's a man named Jim Oswald and
34:04
Speaker 3: Harold Stevens. He says to his friend, let's go to
34:08
Speaker 3: a bar where you are known, and that we can
34:10
Speaker 3: sit around and establish an alibi here, because somebody's going
34:15
Speaker 3: to get hit tonight. A child abuser is going to
34:18
Speaker 3: get hit tonight.
34:25
Speaker 2: Harold Stevens proposes a toast to the death of the
34:28
Speaker 2: abuser at exactly eight thirty pm on the night of
34:30
Speaker 2: the murder. You make sure to point out the time
34:34
Speaker 2: to James Oswald, and James knows this as being somewhat strange.
34:44
Speaker 1: Cora denies that Rodney ever laid a finger on the children.
34:51
Speaker 1: James also mentions the police that he spoke with the
34:54
Speaker 1: stephens Is upon their return from Florida when Harold came
34:59
Speaker 1: to purchase James's old motorcycle. When James tells Harold about
35:06
Speaker 1: the news of Rodney's passing, Harold tells James he expects
35:10
Speaker 1: the investigation to be a short.
35:12
Speaker 3: One and they made some incriminated statements to as were
35:17
Speaker 3: at that point.
35:19
Speaker 1: Yet, even with this new information, the question remains. If
35:24
Speaker 1: the Stevens's did, in fact orchestrate Rodney's murder, then who
35:29
Speaker 1: did they hire to pull the trigger? While searching for
35:38
Speaker 1: the trigger man. Police catch a lucky break when they
35:41
Speaker 1: pull the phone records of the busherts and find several
35:45
Speaker 1: calls from an unidentified number that matched the time when
35:48
Speaker 1: the supposed Rich Hoover rang. After some digging, investigators discovered
35:56
Speaker 1: that the phone number is that of Tony Hill, an
36:00
Speaker 1: old friend and current coworker of none other than Harold Stevens.
36:11
Speaker 1: Tony Hill, a janitor living in Charlotte, Michigan, is brought
36:15
Speaker 1: in for questioning. He tells investigators that Harold often discussed
36:21
Speaker 1: his troubles with Rodney, but that his friend isn't capable
36:24
Speaker 1: of murder. For his alibi, he claims to have been
36:29
Speaker 1: at home the night of October third watching television, but
36:35
Speaker 1: with no one else to back up his claim and
36:38
Speaker 1: his intimate knowledge of Harold Stevens's vendetta against Rodney, police
36:42
Speaker 1: keep Tony as one of their top suspects. James Oswald
36:51
Speaker 1: then reveals that he sold his motorcycle to Harold, who
36:54
Speaker 1: then passed it on to Tony as a down payment
36:57
Speaker 1: for the murder. But the biggest break yet comes from
37:04
Speaker 1: Peggy Stevens herself. She tells investigators everything in exchange for immunity.
37:14
Speaker 6: Peggy Stephens is an eyewitness to this crime, which is
37:18
Speaker 6: a crucial piece of evidence to the prosecution. And so
37:21
Speaker 6: that's why in a situation like this, where there's not
37:24
Speaker 6: a lot of other evidence linking the accused individuals, the
37:28
Speaker 6: police and the prosecution may be willing to cut a
37:31
Speaker 6: deal and offer someone immunity and exchange for that information.
37:39
Speaker 1: Peggy's chain of events paints a horrifying picture as the
37:42
Speaker 1: case goes to trial, but nothing could prepare anyone for
37:46
Speaker 1: the truth. The Stevens, is still reeling over the loss
37:53
Speaker 1: of their fourteen month old daughter, take a special liking
37:57
Speaker 1: to Cora's eldest son, Brian, particularly Harold, who sees himself
38:02
Speaker 1: as a father figure to the boy. But all that
38:06
Speaker 1: changes when Rodney comes into the picture.
38:09
Speaker 3: To them, Brian is like, it's my kid now because
38:14
Speaker 3: I'm helping raise them and we get a special relationship.
38:16
Speaker 3: And now this clown's coming in here and telling me
38:19
Speaker 3: we're no longer going to get to see him, and
38:21
Speaker 3: we got rules of that live by. You can get
38:23
Speaker 3: an idea maybe how much hatred it developed between them.
38:29
Speaker 1: Harold feels that Rodney is trying to remove him from
38:32
Speaker 1: Brian's life, so Harold does everything within his power to
38:36
Speaker 1: make Rodney suffer, even claiming Rodney abuses the children, something
38:42
Speaker 1: Cora denies. When that doesn't work, the Stevens's opt to
38:50
Speaker 1: send Rodney a more serious message. At first, they discuss
38:56
Speaker 1: beating him up, but then decide they need to do
38:59
Speaker 1: something a little more permanent. Harold, who recently found work
39:08
Speaker 1: in the Eton Intermediate School Division with his friend, vance
39:12
Speaker 1: his frustrations to Tony, eventually convincing his friend to murder
39:16
Speaker 1: Rodney for a thousand dollars. Knowing Rodney is desperate for work,
39:23
Speaker 1: Tony calls the Busherd House, pretending to be Rich Hoover
39:27
Speaker 1: and alias created by him and the Stevenses. From there,
39:32
Speaker 1: the plot in Rodney Thatcher's life is set into motion.
39:47
Speaker 1: Tony allegedly purchases a shotgun, which is later retrieved by
39:51
Speaker 1: the investigators. The auto reveals that the plastic from Tony
40:01
Speaker 1: Hill's shotgun lodged itself into Rodney's chest. Police believe the
40:08
Speaker 1: case is solved. The Stephenses and Tony Hill are behind
40:13
Speaker 1: Rodney's murder. Both Stephens and Hill are arrested in late
40:18
Speaker 1: December nineteen eighty five, almost three months after the crime
40:22
Speaker 1: has been committed, But soon after Peggy's first confession, she
40:28
Speaker 1: reveals a final accusation that changes everything. On a gravel
40:45
Speaker 1: road just outside of Nashville, Michigan, Tony Hill stops his truck,
40:50
Speaker 1: telling Rodney Fancher he needs to grab more weed from
40:53
Speaker 1: the back. While outside, Tony calls out for Rodney's help,
41:00
Speaker 1: but before Rodney realizes what's going on, he finds himself
41:03
Speaker 1: face to face with Tony Hill, a shotgun pointed square
41:07
Speaker 1: at his chest. Then, according to Peggy, Tony mutters the
41:16
Speaker 1: last words Rodney will ever year.
41:20
Speaker 2: Tony Hill tells Rodney, this is for the way you
41:23
Speaker 2: treated Brian. This is the way Grandma wants things done.
41:37
Speaker 1: Tony Hill, Peggy Stevens, and Harold Stephens are merely just
41:41
Speaker 1: puppets on a string in an elaborate plot put into
41:45
Speaker 1: motion by none other than Cora's mother, Anna Bouchard. With
41:53
Speaker 1: Peggy's testimony and the recovery of the murder weapon, it's
41:57
Speaker 1: enough to put Harold, Tony and Anna away. All three
42:03
Speaker 1: received life sentences for first degree murdering conspiracy, with Anna
42:09
Speaker 1: and Tony both receiving an additional thirty to sixty years
42:12
Speaker 1: on the conspiracy charge. But there's still one more surprise
42:18
Speaker 1: in store. A mistrial during Anna's court appearance threatens the
42:23
Speaker 1: very fabric of the case.
42:25
Speaker 6: An appellate court concludes that the circuit court judge aired
42:29
Speaker 6: by not allowing prior testimony to be read back to
42:32
Speaker 6: the jury in Anna's case, and that this could have
42:34
Speaker 6: potentially affected her right to do process. So Anna's conviction
42:38
Speaker 6: is overturned and she's granted a second trial, at which
42:42
Speaker 6: he can again argue that the prosecution has not proven
42:45
Speaker 6: their case beyond a reasonable doubt.
42:49
Speaker 1: However, an unlikely witness takes the stand during Anna's retrial,
42:54
Speaker 1: or cellmate Ronda howlittt tells the court that Anna confessed
43:02
Speaker 1: to everything during their stay in prison. She corroborates Peggy's
43:06
Speaker 1: version of the events down to a tea. Anna Bushard
43:11
Speaker 1: is hopeful that her second trial will change her life sentence,
43:15
Speaker 1: and her wish comes true. For the most part, Bushard
43:19
Speaker 1: receives two life sentences instead of one. Cora Bushard claims
43:27
Speaker 1: Anna called her after her second trial, but not to
43:31
Speaker 1: ask forgiveness about her daughter and grandchildren, but rather about
43:36
Speaker 1: the little House on Beulah Street, a house once bursting
43:41
Speaker 1: at the seams with the laughter of children, now quiet
43:45
Speaker 1: and cold and empty. Rodney Fincher was a man with
43:51
Speaker 1: his whole life ahead of him who wanted nothing more
43:54
Speaker 1: than to be a father and provide for his family.
43:59
Speaker 1: And a small town out two hours west of Detroit,
44:03
Speaker 1: one where things like this don't happen.