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Man Kills Wife in Ambush Witnessed By The Kids · Murder Files Unsealed

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  Speaker 1: Welcome to another deep dive. Today. We're going to be
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  exploring a case that really, I think highlights how appearances
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  can be deceiving. We're talking about the Diane King case absolutely.
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  So we've got some excerpts here from an article that
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  goes into a lot of detail about the investigation and
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  the trial and case. It's a really really interesting one.
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  So to give everyone a little bit of background, we're
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  going back to nineteen ninety and Diane King is. You know,
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  she's living what seems like the American dream. She's a
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  successful news anchor in Michigan, beloved by the community, a wife,
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  a mother. Yeah, and she's also expecting her second child
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  at the time, a baby girl. And they'd recently moved
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  to this It sounds like a really beautiful historic farmhouse,
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  kind of like the perfect picture of success and happiness.
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  But just days before Diane is due to give.
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  Speaker 2: Birth, things take a turn.
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  Speaker 1: She gets this handwritten note in her mailbox right that
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  says you should have gone to lunch with me. Yeah,
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  and it was it was delivered by hand Oh wow,
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  not even mailed.
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  Speaker 2: So that adds another level. Someone was watching her and
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  knew where she lived.
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  Speaker 1: It's creepy. I mean, imagine like you're about to have
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  a baby, yeah, and then suddenly you realize like somebody
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  is watching you. Right, It's it's really unsettling.
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  Speaker 2: It really cracks the surface of this, you know, picture
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  perfect life, right, kind of foreshadowing what's to come.
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  Speaker 1: So fast forward three months. Okay, Diane's given birth to
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  a healthy baby girl, and you know, on the surface,
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  it seems like life has gone back to normal. But
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  on February ninth, nineteen ninety one, everything changes.
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  Speaker 2: That's when tragedy strikes.
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  Speaker 1: Diane is shot and killed in her driveway. Oh wow,
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  just moments after getting.
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  Speaker 2: Out of her car in her driveway.
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  Speaker 1: And to make it even more horrifying, her two young children. Yeah,
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  her three year old son and her three month old
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  baby are in the car when it happened. Oh my gosh,
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  and her son later described the scene saying, uh, I
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  remember my mom getting out of the car and then gunshots.
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  One minute she's there, the next she's gone. Ugh.
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  Speaker 2: What a haunting, What a haunting memory for a young
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  child to have to carry that.
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  Speaker 1: I know. It just it really emphasizes the lasting impact
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  of violence. You know, it's not just on the victim,
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  but it's on everyone who's connected to them, right. And
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  as investigators start trying to piece together what happened, they
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  uncover secrets that really paint a very different picture of
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  Diane's life than what it seemed to be on the surface.
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  A lot more complex, uh huh, and far less idyllic.
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  Speaker 2: A lot darker.
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  Speaker 1: So we've got this perfect life, right, shattered by this
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  violent act, and the police are starting to dig and
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  they're uncovering all these secrets and it makes you wonder,
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  did anyone really know Diane?
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  Speaker 2: Yeah? And the investigation pretty quickly focuses on someone who,
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  at first glance, seemed to be just a grieving husband, right,
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  Diane's husband, Bradford King.
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  Speaker 1: Yeah. And he seemed to have it all too right.
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  I mean, he was a part time teacher at the
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  local university, he voted husband, father. But as investigators start
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  peeling back the layers, a very different picture emerges.
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  Speaker 2: And it's not a good one, not at all.
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  Speaker 1: It turns out that Brad was living a double life,
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  the double life, yah, having affairs with students, telling them
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  that he was separated from his wife. Oh wow, So
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  not only is that a betrayal of his marriage vows.
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  But it also kind of suggests this pattern of deception
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  and manipulation.
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  Speaker 2: Yeah.
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  Speaker 1: Absolutely, like he was willing to create this whole false
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  narrative to get what he wanted.
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  Speaker 2: It makes you think about that note, right, the one
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  Diane received right before she gave birth.
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  Speaker 1: Yeah, the creepy one.
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  Speaker 2: Yeah. Investigators started to suspect that maybe, just maybe Brad
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  was behind that and maybe even other incidents of harassment.
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  Speaker 1: So you're saying he might have staged his own wife stalking.
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  Why would he do that?
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  Speaker 2: Well, think about it. If she was being stalked, then
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  if something were to happen to her, the suspicion wouldn't
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  immediately fall on him.
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  Speaker 1: That's cold.
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  Speaker 2: It's a way to deflect, to create this whole other narrative,
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  right to throw the investigation off.
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  Speaker 1: Course, Wow, that's really calculated. But the affairs and the
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  potential stalking, that's not all. The investigation also uncovered that
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  Diane and Brad's marriage wasn't as perfect as it seemed.
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  They were in marriage counseling. Oh really, and Diane had
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  told friends that she was thinking about a big career change.
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  Speaker 2: Hmmm.
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  Speaker 1: This is interesting and I can only imagine what kind
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  of tension that must have created in their marriage, right, No,
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  she was ambitious, success driven. Her success could have really
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  threatened his ego, maybe his lifestyle.
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  Speaker 2: And on top of that, sources close to Diane revealed
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  that she was actually considering divorce.
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  Speaker 1: Really, so not just a career change, possibly ending the
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  marriage altogether.
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  Speaker 2: Which adds a whole other layer to this story. A
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  financial motive, oh right.
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  Speaker 1: Because they had just bought that big farmhouse exactly.
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  Speaker 2: Divorce could have been a huge financial blow for Brad.
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  Speaker 1: So so he's got personal reasons, maybe financial reasons, to
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  want Diane out of the picture. He may have seen
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  her success in independence as a.
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  Speaker 2: Threat, yeah, a threat to his sense of control.
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  Speaker 1: But motive isn't enough to convict. The investigators needed hard
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  evidence to link Brad to the crime. So we've got
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  the motive, the secrets, the lies, But like, did they
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  find anything concrete you know what I mean, like something
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  to really tie Brad to this.
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  Speaker 2: Well, the search for the murder weapon, Yeah, it led
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  investigators to a creek nearby and they found it submerged
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  in this thick mud.
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  Speaker 1: Oh wow, Like someone tried to really hide it.
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  Speaker 2: Almost like they wanted to make it disappear for good.
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  And it's important to note that the type of weapon
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  they found was a rifle, okay, not a handgun. This
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  suggests premeditation. It wasn't a crime of passion, you know,
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  it seems like it was planned.
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  Speaker 1: So we got the hidden weapon. Possible premeditation. But how
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  did they actually connect it back to Brad?
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  Speaker 2: Remember how Brad told the police that he was out
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  for a walk on his property when he on Diane. Well,
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  a canine unit was brought in and that dog followed
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  a scent trail that matched the path Brad likely walked
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  that night.
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  Speaker 1: Oh wow.
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  Speaker 2: Yeah, the trail led straight to the creek where that
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  rifle was found.
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  Speaker 1: So the dog basically led them right to the murder weapon.
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  Speaker 2: Pretty much. It directly links Brad's movements to where that
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  rifle was hidden.
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  Speaker 1: It's like all the pieces of this puzzle are just
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  clicking into place.
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  Speaker 2: And there's one more piece to this Brad's owne family. Yeah,
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  they identified that rifle as belonging to him. It had
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  been passed down through generations. Oh wow, and his mother
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  actually confirmed that Brad was the last person who had it.
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  Speaker 1: So we've got the motive, We've got the deception, the
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  hidden weapon, the link through the canine and the family confirmation.
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  What happened next.
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  Speaker 2: With all of that, the case went to trial okay,
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  and in November of nineteen ninety two, Bradford King was
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  found guilty of murdering Diane King. Wow, and he was
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  sentenced to life in prison without the possibility of barol.
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  Speaker 1: Justice served but at a huge call.
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  Speaker 2: Yeah, a tragic one.
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  Speaker 1: Her children left without parents because of their father's actions.
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  Speaker 2: It really makes you think about the ripple effect of
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  these crimes. You know, it impacts families and communities for
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  years and years. This case is a reminder that things
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  aren't always as they appear. It's about ambition, hidden secrets,
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  and the terrible consequences of betrayal. And it leaves us
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  with some disturbing questions like what could have prevented this?
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  Were there signs that people missed? And what can we
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  all learn from this? How can we protect ourselves and
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  the people that we love? I think those are questions
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  worth considering.
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  Speaker 1: It reminds us to be aware and trust our gut
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  and never underestimate just how much darkness can be hidden
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  beneath the surface. And that's it for a deep dive
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  this week. Thanks for listening,