Latest / The Empire of Wealth / Cop Runs Into Secret Killer Dumping Body Parts In River

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Cop Runs Into Secret Killer Dumping Body Parts In River · The Empire of Wealth

0:02
Speaker 1: Who are you?
0:03
Speaker 2: Stop right there? Go ahead and stop right there.
0:06
Speaker 3: This Sidaho state officer is pointing his flashlight at seventy
0:10
year old Alan Bruce. He has no idea that the
0:14
man he just ran into was in the middle of
0:17
dumping human body parts in a nearby river after murdering, dismembering,
0:22
and meticulously covering up the crime scene.
0:25
Speaker 2: Okay, so what are you doing prop going on down here?
0:31
Speaker 1: That guys? All right?
0:32
Speaker 2: So you're just trying to keep an eye on stuff?
0:34
Speaker 4: Then, yeah, I got you e shotted all right.
0:38
Speaker 3: After Alan walks away, it would take investigators days to
0:42
discover exactly what he dumped in the river, leading them
0:45
through a twisted maze of misleading clues and disturbing discoveries
0:50
and what might be the worst crime these small town
0:54
officers will ever uncover.
0:58
Speaker 1: Oh it stinks bad.
1:00
Speaker 5: You can pick your friends and you can pick your nose,
1:03
but you can't pick your family.
1:04
Speaker 4: Where is no life found?
1:05
Speaker 2: Here?
1:06
Speaker 4: Is reduced down Another time.
1:13
Speaker 3: It's a routine late spring in central Idaho, tucked deep
1:17
within its mountains, since the remote town of Chalice, a
1:21
place surrounded on all sides by rugged terrain and long
1:24
stretches of wilderness, and at the center of it all
1:28
runs the Salmon River, better known as the River of
1:32
No Return. The small town of Challice is home to
1:35
fewer than a thousand residents. Crime rates here are remarkably low,
1:40
and serious violent homicides are unheard of. But that's about
1:44
to change, because a heinous crime happens somewhere in this town,
1:48
and what's left of it now is in the Salmon
1:51
River waiting to be found. The investigation begins on an
1:59
early Saturday afternoon less than a year ago, when an
2:02
elderly woman walks into the local police station to report
2:06
someone missing.
2:07
Speaker 5: Means that's it.
2:08
Speaker 6: I'm just surpriaed you haven't been back to see That's
2:10
why I'm concerned.
2:12
Speaker 7: No, do you know what he was wearing last when
2:14
he left?
2:14
Speaker 6: Pair of boots bridgeans and I think it was a
2:18
dark T shirt and baseball cab. And he's got a
2:21
little pug rider that is whipping everywhere.
2:24
Speaker 1: Who is Patrick?
2:25
Speaker 6: It is one of your kids that I've taken under
2:28
my wing.
2:29
Speaker 1: Okay, so not biological?
2:31
Speaker 7: Okay, picture yeah, picture Okay? That does this picture look
2:40
resemble what he looks like right now?
2:42
Speaker 6: And his beard is a little fuller and his hair
2:45
is better shape than that.
2:48
Speaker 3: The man in those photos is forty seven year old
2:50
Patrick Shelton, his adoptive mother. Helen goes on to explain
2:55
that Patrick spends most of his time up in the
2:57
mountains cutting and selling firewood, hot and late at night.
3:01
He's got a chainsaw, usually at least one weapon on him,
3:05
and his dog Writer is always by his side. In
3:08
most missing person cases, it takes days before investigators get
3:12
a solid lead to work with, but in the town
3:14
of Chellice, that process is about to be cut short.
3:18
Speaker 7: I remember you mentioned something about when you talked about
3:21
him going to Alan Bruce's. It seemed like you said
3:24
something to where they had some conflict recently they have Yeah, okay,
3:28
do you know why he went there?
3:30
Speaker 6: And he is supposed to go move his mother homes
3:33
And when got out there, Alan movement.
3:35
Speaker 4: With a bulldozer.
3:36
Speaker 7: Okay, not good.
3:38
Speaker 6: Probably screwed up the transmissions.
3:39
Speaker 4: And I don't.
3:40
Speaker 3: Know the name. Helen mentions. Immediately rings a bell because
3:45
officers know exactly who she's talking about. Seventy year old
3:49
Alan Bruce is a local resident with a rural property
3:52
just out of town, working odd jobs, including welding, and
3:55
mechanical work, but that's not what people in Challice know
3:58
him for, because Alan has a different reputation built on
4:02
constant disputes and ongoing conflicts with other locals. Just earlier
4:06
in the year, he was reported for allegedly throwing gas
4:10
bombs and setting a woman's property on fire. So, based
4:13
on Helen's statement, officers prepared to head out and speak
4:16
with Alan see if he can point them in the
4:18
right direction. At this point, officers aren't too surprised that
4:21
Alan's name came up and don't expect anything serious. In reality,
4:26
something already happened between Allan and Patrick just a night
4:30
ago that ended very gruesomely. While officers are on their
4:38
way to question him, Alan is still in the middle
4:41
of covering things up. In just a few seconds, a
4:44
deputy pulls up to his property.
4:46
Speaker 8: Hey, Alan, how's it going? One thing after another? Hey,
4:53
I was just coming to chat with you. We had
4:55
had a report that no one knows where Pat is
4:58
right now? Yeah, okay, And I just wanted to touch
5:01
bases with you because I know he was getting or sorry,
5:04
you got the stuff off your property, but he was
5:06
gonna come by to pick it up, right, Yeah, did
5:08
you ever see.
5:08
Speaker 1: Him on that? I get okay, they came out here.
5:11
Speaker 4: He was unhappy, very.
5:12
Speaker 8: Unhappy, okay, but just it was just all kind of
5:15
verbal argument or something.
5:17
Speaker 9: Or he was okay and he went and got his
5:19
stuff then, or.
5:19
Speaker 4: Well hesed toll at some stuff here. He said he
5:22
were wanting to go cut some way.
5:24
Speaker 1: He needs some money, so he's probably out somewhere out there.
5:26
They broke down, and I don't know.
5:28
Speaker 8: I'm just trying to create a timeline for so I
5:31
know who last saw him.
5:32
Speaker 9: So when when was that he showed up here?
5:35
Speaker 4: Two nights ago?
5:36
Speaker 8: Two nights ago, Let's see what Thursday night?
5:40
Speaker 1: Okay.
5:41
Speaker 3: In the middle of the conversation, the deputy notices something
5:45
off about Ellen's demeanor. His responses are short, controlled, almost rehearsed,
5:51
but as the deputy continues asking questions, things start to
5:55
feel even more strange.
5:57
Speaker 9: And then did he hang around here longer?
5:59
Speaker 8: Did he just go right over back and forth, back
6:01
and forth coming back onto the property?
6:03
Speaker 9: Does he still stab stuff here?
6:05
Speaker 4: Then?
6:05
Speaker 9: Does okay back that.
6:07
Speaker 4: Shed wouldn't shed just his yeah?
6:10
Speaker 9: Okay, retires in it.
6:12
Speaker 4: I'm looking.
6:12
Speaker 10: Here's a pickup rack just over the board.
6:16
Speaker 9: Oh, just the steel there, ok up, Okay, okay, so
6:21
he would and we are the backing trackers. Okay, there's
6:25
kind of a bunch of crap laying around. Okay, so
6:27
he got some of it though.
6:29
Speaker 1: Yeah.
6:29
Speaker 9: Do you know where he was taking it to?
6:31
Speaker 4: Kicking down at more homes?
6:33
Speaker 1: Oh?
6:33
Speaker 9: Where is motor homes?
6:34
Speaker 4: Right here?
6:35
Speaker 5: You?
6:36
Speaker 1: Okay?
6:38
Speaker 10: Oh there, they're just Ran Charger and the other ones
6:41
in the fronduct.
6:44
Speaker 3: The motor home Alan is pointing to does indeed belong
6:47
to Patrick, but more importantly, it holds items that might
6:51
explain what really happened to him. Alan goes on to
6:54
explain that he moved Patrick's motor homes himself because of
6:57
the ongoing disputes and problems between the which sounds normal
7:01
considering their frequent business partners. But as the conversation continues,
7:06
the deputy takes note of Allen's shifting body language and
7:09
quietly requests another officer to the scene. There's a noticeable
7:13
tension in the way Alan carries himself. This is because
7:17
while he's speaking to the deputy, his sole focus is
7:20
on the barrels sitting just a few feet away, with
7:23
Patrick's dismembered body parts hidden inside.
7:28
Speaker 1: Ah, you's running along with me.
7:31
Speaker 2: I was just on a phone call for a minute,
7:32
so I didn't want to bring that out here.
7:34
Speaker 9: So did he stay here last night or okay?
7:39
Speaker 1: Okay?
7:39
Speaker 9: And he didn't tell you where he was going to get.
7:41
Speaker 4: The wood hold on? I'm asorroicly night? He that terre
7:44
not last night?
7:45
Speaker 1: Okay?
7:46
Speaker 9: You know, does he have any favorite spots? So we
7:48
can just go up.
7:50
Speaker 11: There bay Horse, pretty close to the top. You go
7:52
up there, before you get to the rest area of
7:54
the post, she really kicks off and goes down the
7:57
hall across the creek. Uh huh with that in there,
8:01
there's a paper quid cutting spot for him.
8:03
Speaker 1: Oh okay, okay?
8:04
Speaker 8: Is that the only one you know about Floyd while
8:06
he took me to Oh okay, you may be the
8:09
last person to saw them, because he would have then
8:11
gone up there that night potentially, yeah, okay.
8:14
Speaker 3: Notably, Allen's demeanor shifts once again with a second officer unseen.
8:19
He becomes more composed and careful with how he answers questions.
8:24
Despite this noticeable shift, Allen provides deputies with something useful,
8:28
a location where Patrick might be. The place he mentions
8:31
is a remote area about twenty miles out near the
8:34
so called River of No Return. Naturally, it's somewhere deputies
8:38
need to check. But before heading out there, they decide
8:42
to take a quick look around the motorhome Ellen point
8:44
to two earlier, a small decision that will give police
8:47
something useful to work with later on.
9:00
Speaker 9: The doors are ratchet strapped closed, looks like it's cut.
9:08
Speaker 4: These your footprints, No, take a photo of those.
9:18
Speaker 1: Yeah, it looks open. That looks I think it looks
9:21
cut if that is a dead bolt. But you know,
9:25
that's an additional.
9:26
Speaker 9: I'm assuming Alan had to access it to put it
9:29
in neutral. Technically you could be looking at some awful entry.
9:34
Speaker 3: Clearly the locks have been tampered with, consistent with Allan's
9:38
explanation that he moved the motor home himself. It's a
9:41
small detail, but one that could give officers grounds to
9:44
detain him later on depending on how this unfolds. But
9:48
without a warrant, officers can't search inside the motor home,
9:51
so they step back, leave the scene and head towards
9:54
Big Hill, where Patrick might be. At this stage, there
9:57
is still no confirmed crime Allan has. It's been forthcoming
10:01
and nothing directly points to anything serious just yet, but
10:04
by the end of this night, police will have more
10:06
than one suspect on their hands and what might be
10:10
the worst crime this town will ever see. But before
10:14
we get to that, it's important to note that cases
10:17
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10:19
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10:23
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get ten percent off your first month. With that said,
11:18
let's get back to the video. Roughly two hours later,
11:26
and deputies arrive at Big Hill, where Patrick was known
11:29
to frequent for cutting firewood on the ground. Deputies notice
11:32
tire marks and begin following them, and as they continue
11:35
along the trail, they spot something in the distance, a
11:38
red pickup truck matching the description of Patrick's vehicle with
11:43
a damaged windshield.
11:45
Speaker 11: At Yeah, I think that's normal.
11:51
Speaker 1: I believe so, Pat.
11:55
Speaker 2: At dist Shirt's office. Here, dogs in the seat alive.
12:09
Speaker 1: What was the dog's name? Uhriter, Rider, Buddy Writer, be awake, No,
12:16
that's moving.
12:18
Speaker 4: Dog's been in here a while. He's messed himself.
12:22
Speaker 9: Oh, he's moving. It's definitely a heat. By the way,
12:26
my baby.
12:28
Speaker 4: Here.
12:29
Speaker 12: Okay, we're gonna get you some water.
12:31
Speaker 2: Okay, where'd he go?
12:37
Speaker 4: Where did he go?
12:40
Speaker 3: Miraculously, Patrick's dog Writer is still alive after two full days,
12:45
but he's severely dehydrated. As deputies pull Rider from the
12:49
vehicle and give him water. They noticed something else. Patrick's
12:53
chainsaw is missing from the truck, suggesting he might still
12:56
be somewhere nearby, and while they discussed their next step,
13:00
Writer suddenly begins reacting to something in the air. Dogs
13:05
like Writer have a sense of smell up to one
13:07
hundred thousand times more powerful than humans, comparable even to
13:11
trained police canine units. Without realizing it, officers have stumbled
13:15
onto their strongest lead yet, and Writer might guide them
13:19
directly towards the answer they're looking for.
13:22
Speaker 4: Poor buddy.
13:26
Speaker 13: No, okay, so that makes me think he could be
13:31
down lower if he would because he's his chainsaw's not here.
13:34
Speaker 5: Yeah, he always has his chainsaw.
13:37
Speaker 1: I'm thinking, so.
13:38
Speaker 4: I'll do with you.
13:39
Speaker 2: I kind of want to walk down there and see
13:41
if his behavior still points that right. Let's walk up, dude.
13:58
Speaker 8: You gotta give me a break.
14:04
Speaker 12: We can't go down that.
14:06
Speaker 9: That is a completely down There is no angle to that.
14:10
Speaker 4: Are you with the dog?
14:12
Speaker 3: As luck would have it, the dog picks up a
14:14
scent but can't pinpoint a specific location. The reason for
14:18
that is something officers haven't realized yet, Because there is
14:21
no single place where Patrick might be. He's already been
14:25
dead for two nights, dismembered with his own chainsaw and
14:30
scattered across the very mountains, deputies are now searching. Some
14:34
of his remains are already floating down the River of
14:37
No Return, just twenty miles from where they're standing. None
14:42
of this is apparent deputies yet, so they decide to
14:44
take a closer look at Patrick's pickup truck for any
14:47
additional clues. What they notice inside is very sketchy, dark
14:52
red staining across the interior, heavily soaked towels on the
14:55
driver's seat, items marked with blood, and a discarded mel
15:00
letter with the name Alan Bruce on it. Something violent
15:03
happened here, and the more deputies think about it, the
15:07
more obvious what happened to Patrick becomes. So before the
15:11
evening ends, they secure the scene and returned to town,
15:14
where they talk to other acquaintances of Patrick, who collectively
15:17
make one thing crystal clear. Alan had an ongoing feud
15:21
with Patrick. He recently moved his motor home using heavy
15:24
equipment and damaged it in the process, and he's the
15:28
only person anyone can think of who might want to
15:31
hurt Patrick. With that in mind, investigators formally identify Alan
15:35
Bruce as the primary suspect in Patrick Shelton's disappearance, but
15:40
the reality and discoveries awaiting investigators in the coming hours
15:43
are anything but straightforward, as they'll soon find themselves investigating
15:48
more than one suspect. For the time being, though, search
15:51
warrants are requested for both properties, and Idaho's State Police
15:55
are called in, bringing in a team of experienced detectives. However,
15:59
has the multi agency effort is underway, someone in town
16:03
is simultaneously running their own homicide cover up operation. As
16:09
night falls, Alan moves quietly, continuing to dump body parts
16:13
into evidence in the river and burning anything that could
16:16
tie him to what he's done. At the same time,
16:20
police's search and rescue units are mobilized, preparing to comb
16:23
through the surrounding terrain for any sign of Patrick. Around midnight,
16:28
Deputy Mike is sent a patrol near Patrick's truck, monitoring
16:32
the area in case anything changes. A few hours into
16:35
his shift, something.
16:36
Speaker 1: Does who are you.
16:50
Speaker 2: Stop right there? Just go ahead and stop right there?
16:56
So what do you come out here for?
16:58
Speaker 4: That?
17:00
Speaker 11: Stephen Patrick Kelton that's just stopped. I kind of looking
17:06
after a little bit, okay, car down here and I
17:09
comes down here and best skates you so gripping them off?
17:12
Speaker 1: Okay, I didn't know if you guys.
17:14
Speaker 2: Okay, well I turned my lights on and uh, you
17:18
still were shining your light at me.
17:20
Speaker 4: You had your lights on me.
17:21
Speaker 11: I couldn't see where.
17:22
Speaker 1: I was going.
17:24
Speaker 2: Okay, I'm saying I turned my red and blue lights
17:26
on and you were still spotlighting me. And then I
17:29
told you, I instructed you to turn it off.
17:32
Speaker 11: I don't like lights and eyes without as much as
17:34
you don't. You know you had yours and mind so
17:36
I got free.
17:37
Speaker 2: No, it's not even okay, So what do you what
17:41
are you doing? You're just keeping an eye on Patrick
17:44
sheltering me.
17:45
Speaker 11: Okay, that peter a problems going on down here, and
17:50
I stre.
17:50
Speaker 4: Work than that.
17:51
Speaker 2: Guys, do you have a little what problem? What thievery?
17:57
Speaker 4: Okay, doctor Kelly about down he'll tell you.
18:00
Speaker 2: Okay, all right, so you're just trying to keep an
18:02
eye on stuff, then.
18:03
Speaker 4: Yeah, make sure nobody's record shut off.
18:05
Speaker 9: Younger, Okay, So excuse me for if I got you.
18:10
Speaker 2: Excited, all right, seventy we can calm down, unpoked for.
18:20
Speaker 3: Out here in complete darkness. Alan Bruce suddenly appears. Nothing
18:26
about this encounter adds up, because at this point, Allan
18:29
isn't just the last person to see Patrick alive. He's
18:32
been in a dispute with him, moved his motor home
18:34
after he disappeared, and now he's out here in the
18:37
middle of the night, claiming he's checking on Patrick's property
18:40
and protecting it from theft. In reality, he came here
18:44
to finish what he started to destroy evidence he didn't
18:47
have time to deal with earlier when deputies interrupted him.
18:50
Worse yet, just minutes ago, he was at the River
18:53
of No Return, a couple miles away, disposing of what
18:57
was left of Patrick. Deputy Mike doesn't know any of
19:00
this yet, but this creepy encounter makes it clear that
19:03
Allan knows something police don't. Unfortunately for him, this is
19:07
where things begin to crumble, because coming back here tonight
19:10
is the mistake that's about to collapse his entire cover
19:14
up operation. In the early hours of the following morning,
19:22
investigators use the overnight developments and the encounter with Alan
19:26
to accelerate the approval of search warrants. With everything they've
19:29
seen so far, it's clear Allan knows something they don't,
19:33
and they need to find out what that is. To
19:36
do that, they put a plan in motion. First, get
19:39
Alan off the property, search it, and if any hard
19:42
evidence is found, bring him back and confront him with it. So,
19:45
while detectives get the search warrants approved, one deputy is
19:48
sent to Allan's property with a simple objective, get Allan
19:52
into the car and keep him away from the property
19:54
to avoid destruction of any evidence. Allan, on the other hand,
19:58
believes he's already taken care of all the incriminating evidence
20:02
and that there's nothing left to find. When Deputy Kelly
20:05
arrives at the lot, Allan has no clue how quickly
20:08
his entire cover up plot will come crashing down on him.
20:13
Speaker 9: Hey, Alan, how's it going?
20:18
Speaker 8: Hopeful their days a little better than when I last
20:20
ran in. You said everything was well, your truck's still
20:22
broken down. I guess, so maybe that's not the case.
20:25
All right, you're just topping the front there.
20:32
Speaker 4: Hope we've got fish business.
20:35
Speaker 8: Yeah there, he's still got stuff on your property to
20:38
to get off too.
20:38
Speaker 1: Huh.
20:39
Speaker 8: So, I mean, y'all were getting along for a while there,
20:41
but then, what I mean, what happened there? Even he
20:45
just started accusing you stuff or yeah, nothing.
20:48
Speaker 4: I can take you ton binge him, Well.
20:51
Speaker 8: I appreciate you being available to just chat with him
20:54
a bit more. There, they're the professionals. They've got they've
20:57
got questions. I probably didn't ask you.
21:01
Speaker 3: Even as the deputy tries to subtly probe for more information,
21:05
nothing useful comes out of it, and Alan sticks to
21:07
his story. Interestingly, though, Alan appears noticeably more relaxed, likely
21:13
because he's confident that there's no way police can tie
21:16
to a crime. Roughly thirty minutes later, deputies and detectives
21:21
arrive at the property while Alan waits inside his car.
21:24
The discovery of the evidence he failed to cover up
21:27
starts with Patrick's motor home.
21:42
Speaker 9: Sheriff's Office, make yourself known.
21:57
Speaker 6: This is.
22:10
Speaker 3: Patrick's empty gun box. Is consistent with earlier statements that
22:13
he always keeps a firearm with him. The problem is
22:17
that gun is nowhere to be found in the motor home,
22:20
and it was never found in his pickup truck the
22:22
previous day. With Patrick's motor home cleared, officers move over
22:26
to Allan's property. Alan owns multiple structures and vehicles on
22:30
the lot, and after clearing a few of them, deputies
22:33
find no obvious signs of a crime. It seems like
22:36
Allen's cover up operation is successful so far, but that
22:39
begins to change as deputies noticed something unusual lingering across
22:44
parts of the property.
22:48
Speaker 4: It's a mistakes.
22:50
Speaker 1: Oh it stinks bad.
22:51
Speaker 4: I just kind of pulled me down in family.
22:53
Speaker 9: So we're gonna we're just gonna hold on on this
22:56
trailer until we.
22:57
Speaker 4: Can get keys. If he won't give us keys.
23:01
Speaker 1: Then we'll go from there.
23:02
Speaker 11: But we're gonna we need to hold on this until
23:05
we get that.
23:07
Speaker 14: Robert William, that freshman moment, until we want to call
23:09
out the caver dog.
23:11
Speaker 1: Let's go ahead and do it.
23:12
Speaker 5: Well, we're here, we've got it cleared.
23:14
Speaker 1: It might be the best way to get something to
23:17
hold him.
23:18
Speaker 3: As the search continues, deputies can smell an odor of
23:21
burnt meat across parts of the lot, but no clear source.
23:26
After checking around the structures again and searching the open areas,
23:30
they can't find anything. So to pinpoint the source, deputies
23:33
call in a cadaver dog trained to detect human remains,
23:37
and a few minutes later, police canine spy arrives on scene.
23:41
After running the dog across the property, spy begins, alerting
23:44
to the presence of something inside a set of barrels.
23:53
Speaker 9: Clean out.
23:55
Speaker 1: Yeah, okay, so let's look.
24:00
Speaker 11: Yeah yeah, now we got our we got our window.
24:09
Speaker 4: In it burned, but a.
24:13
Speaker 1: Latex gloves windows.
24:18
Speaker 4: M HM, and doggy treats.
24:19
Speaker 1: I'm gonna get a package picture.
24:24
Speaker 3: Inside the barrel, officers begin to uncover when Alan tried
24:28
to hide broken window glass of a car consistent with
24:32
a bullet impact, latex gloves, and traces of blood on
24:35
the filter of a vacuum cleaner. After searching other barrels,
24:39
officers find night vision binoculars, Patrick's baseball cap marked with blood,
24:43
and most concerning of all, bone fragments and suspected human
24:48
remains on multiple pieces of clothing. Additional items are recovered
24:52
as well, including ammunition and magazines, but no firearms, suggesting
24:57
the weapons may have been moved or hidden somewhere else.
25:00
Among the findings, detectives note the missing firearms, the lack
25:04
of any intact remains, and the speed at which the
25:07
scene appears to have been cleaned something particularly peculiar, leading
25:12
them to consider that Allan may not have acted alone.
25:17
After these discoveries, Allan's property is officially treated as a
25:20
crime scene, The areas secured, and forensic examiners are called
25:24
in to process the evidence. Detectives now have the hard
25:28
evidence they need to confront Allan, but while they prepare
25:31
to do so, an unexpected development happens when Allan's younger brother, Larry,
25:35
suddenly shows up at the scene. Hours earlier, police received
25:39
an oddly timed phone call from him claiming that if
25:42
anything happened to Patrick, it was his own fault. Not
25:46
only that, Larry made additional statements about Patrick that led
25:50
detectives to question whether they might be dealing with a
25:53
second suspect.
25:55
Speaker 5: Yeah, he's been feeling shit of my brothers and he
25:58
said thread them and wave to get a big ass
26:01
gun at him.
26:02
Speaker 1: Somebody else said.
26:03
Speaker 5: That he's a straight up the some opportunities. He's going
26:07
to take advantage of anything that he can.
26:09
Speaker 1: You know, he thinks he can get.
26:10
Speaker 8: Away minute, right, Okay, So he was kind of concerned
26:12
Pat might Patrick might do something stupid, use again.
26:16
Speaker 1: Or something's going to kill.
26:17
Speaker 12: Him, you know.
26:18
Speaker 3: Right on the call, Larry made it clear that Patrick
26:22
was the aggressor and the one who had been threatening Allan.
26:25
Meeting investigators to suspect he might know more than what
26:28
he shared on the phone, so naturally and their suspicions
26:31
arise when he arrives at the search warrant scene unannounced.
26:35
Once detectives begins speaking with him, Larry seems confident he
26:39
can prove that Patrick was the problem.
26:42
Speaker 9: How's it going?
26:43
Speaker 13: And you are I'm Al's brother, Okay, I'm sorry to
26:46
title the state police.
26:47
Speaker 1: So obviously your brother got himself.
26:49
Speaker 4: In a lot of trouble.
26:50
Speaker 1: That's what it sounds like on the trailer.
26:53
Speaker 4: We're the trailer.
26:54
Speaker 1: We're not getting rained on.
26:56
Speaker 4: You said that Shelton.
26:58
Speaker 1: Is that the guy's name, Patrick Shelton? Yeah? And he
27:02
was threatening your brother, right, right?
27:06
Speaker 13: And so is that something your brother told you or
27:08
do you have other knowledge of that?
27:10
Speaker 5: That's something my brother told me. My brother said, Hey,
27:13
he pulled a pistol and waved it in my face
27:15
and threatened me.
27:16
Speaker 1: And how long ago did your brother tell you that?
27:18
About a week? That was probably about two weeks ago.
27:23
Speaker 5: You know, if somebody was waving a gun at me,
27:25
you know what I'd probably be, you know, one to have.
27:29
Speaker 1: Something to defend myself to.
27:30
Speaker 5: You know, but you know my brother had been asking
27:34
Shelton to move for months, okay, and Shelton was like,
27:40
you you know basically, So my brother took the little
27:45
road grade or the little dozer and pull the stuff
27:51
and put it out here on the other side of
27:54
the fence.
27:55
Speaker 15: Is this something your brother told you? Is something you
27:56
saw as far as moving the stuff. I came by
28:01
the day that he was moving stuff on the way home.
28:03
What I done now when my brother had moved the stuff,
28:07
Just to try to get the pressure off of my brother,
28:10
I text Shelton and I told him, hey, I moved.
28:13
Speaker 12: Your clap off of my brother's lot. So then he
28:15
text me back when he got to town, going, I
28:18
got a beef with you. I mean, Shelton's a drunk
28:21
and a dope being okay, so getting your.
28:33
Speaker 5: Okay, He goes, I'm trying. I broke down trying to
28:37
get a ride.
28:38
Speaker 13: And you said, never mind, I moved it before you
28:40
give Alan back whatever.
28:41
Speaker 4: You take it has?
28:42
Speaker 5: Yeah, I was, He goes, who is this Allen's bought?
28:46
Speaker 4: Uh?
28:46
Speaker 5: Brought the beef to me? Anyway, I don't have any
28:50
of his Well, Alan kept swing many pictures of stuff
28:54
that was missing, you know where it was and missing,
28:57
and Patrick was like one of the only the only
29:00
people in here. So Archie, I have a beef with
29:04
you too, Okay, let's put bring your beef. We know
29:08
who you are, drug addicts. Just remember me with all
29:12
of us. And I'd taken pictures from the sheriff offs
29:16
parking lot, thinking that, well maybe he think I'm a
29:19
sheriff and maybe he package, you know, or leave Alan
29:23
alone and get them out of town, you know, So
29:25
I put put.
29:27
Speaker 1: Me with all of us. You'll you'll lose.
29:30
Speaker 5: The best thing for you to do is pack up
29:32
and leave Custer County and don't come back.
29:35
Speaker 3: Allen's brother goes on to pull up additional messages between
29:38
him and Patrick. The messages he shares show the feud
29:41
escalating over time, primarily over Patrick refusing to move his
29:45
property off the land and accusations that he'd been stealing
29:48
from Allan. As detectives read through them, it becomes clear
29:52
that Allan's brother wasn't just aware of the conflict, he
29:55
was involved in it at some point. This only adds
29:58
to investigators societ fisis, So instead of continuing to circle
30:02
around it, the detective says exactly what He's thinking.
30:06
Speaker 5: Yeah, it's no sign of Shelton though, huh find a
30:10
body or anything.
30:11
Speaker 13: Or there's signs of shelter and just not living signs
30:14
of shelter.
30:15
Speaker 1: One of the things I'm trying to wrap my head
30:16
around is I'm like, how did he that by himself?
30:20
He's not a very big.
30:21
Speaker 13: Guy, Like, how would he move things around without somebody
30:24
helping him? Like if he let's just say that, if
30:28
he shot Shelton and took him somewhere and dropped him
30:30
to his body, who would he call it help?
30:33
Speaker 1: I have no clue. I mean, he wouldn't call me, right,
30:37
That's what I'm saying.
30:37
Speaker 9: Does he have good friends that.
30:39
Speaker 1: I don't know?
30:40
Speaker 5: I don't know what he's capable of, you know, I
30:42
mean right, I don't know anybody that would help him
30:47
move something, you know, help him commit a crime, you know.
30:49
Speaker 1: I mean my wife would shoot me if I helped him.
30:52
You know how long you've been married.
30:55
Speaker 5: Since twenty sixteen, in nine years. Last night she's like going, well,
31:03
this is that, you know, and what if it was Ellen?
31:05
What if it comes it kills us in our sleep?
31:07
You know? I was like, you know, because I mean,
31:10
she was watching that criminal minds for a long time,
31:13
you know, after she retired from the DA.
31:16
Speaker 1: You know it's like, yeah, serial killers.
31:19
Speaker 9: You know Teler Baby's Custer County.
31:22
Speaker 1: You be worry about serial killers. Well, it's all said
31:26
and done. Everybody will know everything.
31:28
Speaker 5: You can pick your friends and you can pick your nose,
31:32
but you can't pick your family.
31:34
Speaker 3: On that interesting remark, Larry shifts from defending his brother
31:38
to no longer being certain and begins to see things
31:42
the way investigators do. With nothing else to add, police
31:45
wrap up the interview with Larry still uncertain of his involvement.
31:49
Now they can finally turn their attention back to Ellen,
31:52
who's still sitting in the car, completely unaware of what's
31:56
just been uncovered on his lot. At this point, instigators
32:00
have enough to place Alan under arrest and pursue homicide charges.
32:04
The problem is they don't have a body and they
32:07
don't have a confession, both of which are critical in
32:10
building a solid case, especially when it comes to proving
32:13
exactly what happened and how. But with the evidence discovered
32:17
on his property, this is their best chance to confront
32:20
Alan directly and push for a confession. The stakes are
32:24
extremely high. If Alan place his cards right, A skilled
32:28
defense attorney can create just enough reasonable doubt to get
32:31
him out of this scott free.
32:33
Speaker 13: We've got a cadver dog hitting on other spots on
32:36
the property that have bone fragments, and the only.
32:40
Speaker 15: Thing that dog is trigged to hit on is dead humans.
32:43
Speaker 1: Now, there was only two people here that night.
32:45
Speaker 16: You owant him, right or nobody else that I can
32:48
talk to can't find him.
32:50
Speaker 1: And if you didn't do it, somebody else did. Can
32:52
you point me in the right direction.
32:54
Speaker 4: I can't do that.
32:56
Speaker 17: I'll go anybody else's occer's like I said either.
33:01
Speaker 3: Even after hearing this, Alan continues his denial. But this
33:06
is exactly why investigators brought him back to the property.
33:09
It's a part of a strategy known as crime scene exposure.
33:13
Experienced detectives use this technique to confront suspects with something
33:17
directly tied to the crime, like the scene itself or
33:20
key pieces of evidence. This creates psychological pressure, making it
33:25
harder to maintain a lie and often triggering unexpected reactions
33:30
or slips in their story. So investigators take Alan out
33:33
of the car and bring him back to the center
33:35
of the lot, back to the very place where everything
33:38
likely happened to see if he will finally break.
33:42
Speaker 9: Well, we just we want to be able to tell
33:43
across for you.
33:44
Speaker 16: You helped us every which what you could put.
33:51
Speaker 9: My like what I don't know. I can't tell you
33:54
what I can't tell you now. You don't have to
33:57
go through.
33:58
Speaker 1: Right now yet.
34:00
Speaker 13: So the way it works here is he doesn't feel
34:03
like we should let you stay free.
34:05
Speaker 2: Right So we're.
34:07
Speaker 13: Still going to continue to investigate this case with your help,
34:10
without your we're still gonna dick through.
34:13
Speaker 16: But there's still some things that like concerned me, Like
34:16
and I don't know if you were ask him about
34:18
how who drove the truck up in the mountains?
34:21
Speaker 4: Nobody drove it? I told you up there? You told
34:23
her up there?
34:24
Speaker 1: Okay? With which we here? My dog?
34:27
Speaker 17: You know, okay to up here? Oh okay, what'd you
34:31
do with the dog left in the truck? Just that dude,
34:37
But they're not just leave the truckle maybe.
34:41
Speaker 4: Yeah, that dog didn't know. I don't want to kill it. Yeah,
34:46
I didn't do nothing.
34:48
Speaker 14: Yeah, yeah, just I mean, we're we're in a rock
34:52
and a hard place right now.
34:53
Speaker 13: Right It's where we've been all day It's where we're
34:57
going to continue to be until we can and me
35:00
wrap this up to figure.
35:01
Speaker 4: Out what that last twelve before you think you can,
35:03
I can walk on the hotel.
35:05
Speaker 14: Yeah, we're not gonna leave this on the week. I mean,
35:08
we'll walk it all up and bring it in the gate.
35:15
Well that's part of it that he also destroyed some evidence.
35:21
Speaker 4: Well, look at you.
35:23
Speaker 1: I don't know. I've never been in.
35:24
Speaker 4: That situation, dude. Come on, did you burn a body?
35:28
Come on, I.
35:29
Speaker 16: Did, and you didn't tell anybody, So, like, look at
35:32
it from from from our.
35:33
Speaker 1: Point of view.
35:35
Speaker 16: You know, we gotta do the right thing for for
35:37
Patrick's family, you know what I mean. We got to
35:39
try to find that body. You know, we got to
35:41
do the right thing for his family.
35:43
Speaker 4: There is nobody produced down to nothing nothing.
35:47
Speaker 1: Did you chop him up?
35:48
Speaker 4: No?
35:48
Speaker 10: I think burn would have put the leg underneath him. Yeah,
35:51
chop him up. Drink the Chaine thought, Joe, Okay, where's
35:55
the chainsaw?
35:56
Speaker 4: It's come on? Did you throw it in the I
36:00
got rid of it, burned it. You've burned the chainsaw? Yeah?
36:03
Speaker 1: Is it in the barrel?
36:06
Speaker 16: And I've never changed out of body, but I think
36:08
I would be like blood and skin and gristle and stuff.
36:12
Speaker 4: You know. Yeah, I was ugly and so like, where
36:15
where's that at?
36:16
Speaker 1: Where's like, how did.
36:17
Speaker 4: You clean that up?
36:18
Speaker 10: Took a shovel right, ricks up everything. I could, walk
36:21
it down with a hose and put four offs on it.
36:25
And the chainsaws where even burgot last a.
36:30
Speaker 3: Alan finally cracks, admitting that he shot Patrick, dismembered him,
36:36
and burned the body before disposing of the remains. With
36:40
a confession now on record, investigators turned their attention to
36:44
a critical question, did Alan act alone or is there
36:48
something even darker He's still hiding. But before detectives can
36:52
pressed further, Alan makes a surprising claim.
36:56
Speaker 4: He came over with that discal do it.
36:59
Speaker 1: And we're not arguing.
37:01
Speaker 16: We're not arguing that point. We're just trying to figure out,
37:03
like what you did with the body, how you did it,
37:05
and where it's at.
37:06
Speaker 1: If there's anything.
37:07
Speaker 4: Left, not much?
37:10
Speaker 9: Did you have any help with it?
37:14
Speaker 4: I'll say your shoot shut up in trouble.
37:19
Speaker 16: G see our point. I mean, look, we're trying to
37:21
do at all. Alan, I tried to hide it and
37:26
get away with it.
37:29
Speaker 1: Yeah, And I said, we're just.
37:31
Speaker 16: Trying to, you know, get some closure for his family
37:34
and present the picture so that that that everybody understands
37:38
why you did what you did.
37:42
Speaker 4: Said you better pull a trigger. Mother, Things come up
37:46
to God. At that point it was me or again.
37:51
Speaker 3: But despite Allen's claims that he killed Patrick in self defense,
37:58
it hardly explains the brutality and concealment that followed. Following this,
38:03
Allan is arrested and charged with first degree murder, along
38:07
with multiple additional charges. Later that day, dive teams and
38:10
officers are sent to the river area where Allan claimed
38:13
he dumped the remains, but despite extensive search efforts, nothing
38:17
of evidentiary value is recovered. In the days that follow,
38:22
police obtain a warrant to search Allan's phone, where they
38:25
find the most critical evidence in the case. On Allan's phone,
38:29
detectives find a hostile exchange from May seventh, where Patrick
38:33
texts Allan you will be seeing me soon. Make your peace,
38:38
and Alan responds never be at my place after dark
38:42
or else. But it's in the camera role where they
38:45
find what they had been unable to locate for days,
38:48
a photo of Patrick dead inside the cab of his
38:51
truck with his silver pistol next to him. The photo
38:55
was taken at six twenty five am on May eighth.
38:58
When asked about it, Alan claims he took the photo
39:01
his proof in case he ever needed it. A couple
39:07
months later, in July twenty twenty five, police receive a
39:10
call from fisherman reporting a burn barrel floating in a
39:13
different area of the Salmon River. Officers and divers recover
39:16
the barrel and transport it for forensic examination, but no
39:20
human remains or items linked to Patrick are found inside,
39:24
likely because everything had already been destroyed or lost in
39:27
the River of No Return. As for the missing firearms,
39:31
investigators later uncover both the rifle and Patrick's silver pistol
39:36
at the residence of an associate of Allen. The man
39:39
claims Allan brought the weapons to him, asking him to
39:41
sell them, and with no evidence tying his associates or
39:45
his brother to the homicide or the cover up, investigators
39:48
determined that Allan acted alone. In October twenty twenty five,
39:53
Allan's initial charges were reduced to second degree murder and
39:57
destruction of evidence after Allan entered an out for plea,
40:00
meaning he maintains his innocence while acknowledging that prosecutors have
40:04
enough evidence to convict him. In November twenty twenty five,
40:08
a judge denies Allan's last minute attempt to withdraw the
40:11
plea and sentences him to twenty years in prison. He
40:15
must serve at least ten years before becoming eligible for parole,
40:19
meaning he will get a chance to walk free in
40:21
his eighties, but given the severity of the crime, there
40:24
is a very real possibility he never leaves prison at all.