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He Killed Without Remorse — And Almost Got Away With It · FBI Files

• 0:07
  Speaker 1: In Minnesota, a gruesome murder left few clues behind. A
• 0:14
  Speaker 1: local drug boss became a suspect, but he was well
• 0:19
  Speaker 1: insulated against police. FBI agents and local detectives had to
• 0:27
  Speaker 1: infiltrate a dangerous cartel to get to a pair of
• 0:31
  Speaker 1: gangsters who killed with no remorse.
• 1:05
  Speaker 2: A burning body in a dark alley shed light on
• 1:09
  Speaker 2: a cold-blooded killer. His partners in crime would tell the
• 1:12
  Speaker 2: story if they lived. In the underworld of the drug trade,
• 1:18
  Speaker 2: even a childhood friend can quickly become an enemy. I'm
• 1:22
  Speaker 2: Jim Kallstrom, former head of the FBI's New York office.
• 1:27
  Speaker 2: A trail of drugs and money led FBI agents to
• 1:30
  Speaker 2: a murderer who underestimated the power of forensic science.
• 1:43
  Speaker 1: June 24th, 1990. At about 3 a.m., a St. Paul,
• 1:49
  Speaker 1: Minnesota resident was enjoying the quiet of a summer evening
• 1:52
  Speaker 1: when he noticed a car drive into the alley behind
• 1:55
  Speaker 1: his house. Moments later, he heard the distinct sound of
• 2:00
  Speaker 1: a fire erupting, then the car speeding away. Checking the alley,
• 2:08
  Speaker 1: he discovered a large object engulfed in flames He feared
• 2:15
  Speaker 1: the fire would ignite his property. He called 911. St.
• 2:26
  Speaker 1: Paul emergency units responded. When firemen extinguished the flames, they
• 2:33
  Speaker 1: realized it was more than an act of vandalism. The
• 2:40
  Speaker 1: object was a charred human body wrapped in a melted
• 2:43
  Speaker 1: plastic tarp. Homicide detectives arrived at the scene. They questioned
• 2:57
  Speaker 1: the resident, but he hadn't seen the car or who
• 2:59
  Speaker 1: was in it. Police found no identification on or near
• 3:07
  Speaker 1: the body. Investigators hoped an autopsy would provide more information.
• 3:21
  Speaker 1: If they could identify the victim, it might help lead
• 3:23
  Speaker 1: them to those responsible. A medical examiner determined the victim
• 3:31
  Speaker 1: was a black male in his mid-20s and that he
• 3:34
  Speaker 1: was dead before the fire was set. Cause of death,
• 3:41
  Speaker 1: multiple gunshot wounds to the head. The examiner extracted three
• 3:47
  Speaker 1: small caliber slugs they would be sent to the ballistics
• 3:51
  Speaker 1: lab for examination. Despite the fire damage, the examiner found
• 3:58
  Speaker 1: powder burns on the victim's head, indicating he'd been shot
• 4:01
  Speaker 1: at point-blank range. If enough of his fingerprints remained, they
• 4:07
  Speaker 1: might help identify him. The prints were entered into the
• 4:14
  Speaker 1: automatic fingerprint identification system. APHIS is a national database containing
• 4:21
  Speaker 1: the prints of 23 million persons. The body had probably
• 4:29
  Speaker 1: been burned to make identification difficult. With the APHIS technology,
• 4:34
  Speaker 1: it might be possible. But running the prints would take
• 4:39
  Speaker 1: some time. Police believed such a gruesome murder was probably
• 4:46
  Speaker 1: drug related. The Minneapolis-St. Paul area had recently become a
• 4:54
  Speaker 1: popular import spot for narcotics. With the drugs came an
• 5:04
  Speaker 1: increase in violent crime. Special Agent John Tindall of Minnesota's
• 5:10
  Speaker 1: Bureau of Criminal Apprehension investigated drug running in the area.
• 5:17
  Speaker 3: The primary way that people moved cocaine into the state
• 5:21
  Speaker 3: at that time would have been through public transportation, that
• 5:24
  Speaker 3: being either by bus or by airplane.
• 5:30
  Speaker 1: Police created drug interdiction teams assigned to the Minneapolis-St. Paul
• 5:34
  Speaker 1: airport to try to stop the influx. Agents monitored travel
• 5:40
  Speaker 1: to and from cities like Miami and Los Angeles where
• 5:43
  Speaker 1: the drugs originated. Their job was to spot drug traffickers
• 5:50
  Speaker 1: among legitimate passengers. On June 25th, 1990, the day after
• 5:59
  Speaker 1: the body was recovered in the alley, agents were watching
• 6:02
  Speaker 1: the counters where same-day tickets were issued.
• 6:07
  Speaker 3: These two guys approached the ticket agent and stood there
• 6:10
  Speaker 3: for quite some time doing what we felt was negotiating
• 6:15
  Speaker 3: the sale of some tickets. They pulled out a wad
• 6:19
  Speaker 3: of cash, and they paid cash for the tickets. They
• 6:21
  Speaker 3: then left the ticket counter.
• 6:27
  Speaker 1: The agents would check at the counter and learn that
• 6:29
  Speaker 1: the men were flying under the names Jeffrey English and
• 6:31
  Speaker 1: Harry Babs. Agents caught up with the men at their
• 6:37
  Speaker 1: gate as they waited to board their flight. They asked
• 6:41
  Speaker 1: if they would answer some questions.
• 6:45
  Speaker 3: We explained to them that they had no obligation to
• 6:48
  Speaker 3: talk to us if they didn't want to. They weren't
• 6:50
  Speaker 3: under arrest. They were free to leave.
• 6:55
  Speaker 1: Both men consented to be interviewed and said they were
• 6:57
  Speaker 1: just heading back home to L.A. They said they had
• 7:03
  Speaker 1: come to St. Paul to visit a friend named Ken Jones.
• 7:09
  Speaker 1: The officers asked for permission to search the bags they'd
• 7:11
  Speaker 1: checked at the counters. Both agreed, so a search warrant
• 7:17
  Speaker 1: was unnecessary. The bags hadn't been loaded onto the aircraft yet.
• 7:28
  Speaker 1: Inside the one belonging to Jeffrey English was a plastic
• 7:31
  Speaker 1: bag containing rolls of cash totaling $ 13, 000. All right, got it.
• 7:34
  Speaker 1: Tucked into a shoe was a.
• 7:35
  Speaker 4: 22 caliber Derringer pistol.
• 7:45
  Speaker 1: It would have been easy to miss.
• 7:49
  Speaker 3: It was a tiny revolver, five-round capacity, with a barrel
• 7:53
  Speaker 3: that was only one inch long, and the entire gun
• 7:57
  Speaker 3: was approximately four inches long, a gun that could be
• 8:00
  Speaker 3: concealed simply by palming it in your hand.
• 8:07
  Speaker 1: In the other bag was another handgun. Neither had been declared.
• 8:15
  Speaker 1: That violation plus the suspicious amount of cash provided enough
• 8:18
  Speaker 1: probable cause for an arrest. The officer radioed his partner.
• 8:28
  Speaker 1: They had to detain Babs and English before they took off.
• 8:35
  Speaker 1: The plane was still at the terminal. Thanks, sir. The
• 8:45
  Speaker 1: agent boarded the plane and found the men already seated.
• 8:50
  Speaker 1: In a later interview, English would claim that the money
• 8:53
  Speaker 1: was from selling a car. He said he bought the.
• 8:56
  Speaker 1: 22 Derringer on the street in Minneapolis.
• 8:59
  Speaker 3: And he went on to add that he had no
• 9:02
  Speaker 3: idea where the gun had been. I thought that was
• 9:07
  Speaker 3: a strange response for a person to back away from
• 9:11
  Speaker 3: the gun's history. And that was the first inclination that
• 9:16
  Speaker 3: either of us had, that the gun might have been
• 9:19
  Speaker 3: used in some type of crime, simply by the way
• 9:22
  Speaker 3: he framed his response to the question.
• 9:27
  Speaker 1: Agents became more suspicious when English admitted he was flying
• 9:30
  Speaker 1: under a false name. His real name was Jeffrey Barnes.
• 9:40
  Speaker 1: There was no evidence against Barnes or his companion for
• 9:43
  Speaker 1: anything but misdemeanor weapons violations. Both men paid fines and
• 9:51
  Speaker 1: were released. Their guns were held until agents could check
• 9:56
  Speaker 1: police records to see if they'd been used in earlier crimes.
• 10:03
  Speaker 1: Two weeks later, St. Paul police received the fingerprint comparison
• 10:06
  Speaker 1: from the man found burned in the alley. There was
• 10:13
  Speaker 1: a match from Southern California. The victim's name was Duan Walker.
• 10:22
  Speaker 1: The 26-year-old Los Angeles area resident had a record for
• 10:25
  Speaker 1: intent to sell narcotics. Walker's death made the papers in
• 10:32
  Speaker 1: his hometown. His uncle read the article and called the St.
• 10:37
  Speaker 1: Paul authorities.
• 10:38
  Speaker 3: Operator.
• 10:38
  Speaker 1: St. Paul police, please. He told detectives his nephew had
• 10:45
  Speaker 1: gone there to meet a man named Ken Jones.
• 10:48
  Speaker 4: Yes, sir.
• 10:49
  Speaker 1: Thank you very much for your information. We appreciate that. Yes, officer,
• 10:53
  Speaker 1: my name is... When Walker didn't return from St. Paul,
• 10:56
  Speaker 1: the uncle had contacted Jones, who said Walker had already left.
• 11:00
  Speaker 3: It's going to be a big help.
• 11:02
  Speaker 1: All right. Bye-bye.
• 11:06
  Speaker 3: I think I got the folder right here.
• 11:08
  Speaker 1: St. Paul narcotics detectives were familiar with Jones. They had
• 11:13
  Speaker 1: been investigating him for years. He was reputed to be
• 11:18
  Speaker 1: the largest supplier of cocaine in the region. Jones was
• 11:25
  Speaker 1: careful with his drug business and well insulated against investigation.
• 11:34
  Speaker 1: By publicly donating to urban charities, Ken Jones also portrayed
• 11:38
  Speaker 1: himself as a community benefactor. Police knew it was a cover.
• 11:45
  Speaker 1: like his legitimate businesses they believed he used to launder
• 11:48
  Speaker 1: drug money. His reputation was different on the street. Among
• 11:58
  Speaker 1: dealers and addicts, Jones was known to rule his interests
• 12:01
  Speaker 1: with an iron fist. If he didn't get paid, people
• 12:08
  Speaker 1: got hurt. Hold on, I got your money.
• 12:11
  Speaker 2: I got all your money.
• 12:14
  Speaker 1: For years, detectives had been searching for a way to
• 12:16
  Speaker 1: shut the drug boss down. Detectives knew that murder victim
• 12:23
  Speaker 1: Duan Walker was with Jones before his death. If they
• 12:28
  Speaker 1: could prove the dealer was involved, they could finally take
• 12:31
  Speaker 1: him off the street, but they needed more evidence. Investigators
• 12:39
  Speaker 1: went to interview employees of Jones' business. Hi, can I
• 12:42
  Speaker 1: help you? They hoped someone would know about Jones meeting
• 12:48
  Speaker 1: Duane Walker.
• 12:49
  Speaker 3: Never seen him before.
• 12:50
  Speaker 1: Never seen this person at all? Uh-uh. But none of
• 12:52
  Speaker 1: the employees were willing to talk. Drug boss Ken Jones
• 13:01
  Speaker 1: continued his narcotics trafficking. He seemed to be beyond the
• 13:05
  Speaker 1: reach of the law. On June 24th, 1990, St. Paul
• 13:16
  Speaker 1: authorities had found the body of 26-year-old Dewan Walker burning
• 13:20
  Speaker 1: in an alley. Just before his death, he had met
• 13:28
  Speaker 1: with drug boss Ken Jones. Police believe Jones was involved
• 13:34
  Speaker 1: in the murder. But witnesses wouldn't talk, and no physical
• 13:40
  Speaker 1: evidence implicated him. Investigators got an unexpected break three months
• 13:50
  Speaker 1: later when St. Paul police stopped a man for a
• 13:52
  Speaker 1: routine traffic violation. A computer check revealed there was a
• 14:04
  Speaker 1: warrant out for the arrest of Charles Shuck. Police took
• 14:10
  Speaker 1: him into custody. They contacted the investigator who had issued
• 14:16
  Speaker 1: the warrant, Special Agent John Tindall of the Minnesota Bureau
• 14:19
  Speaker 1: of Criminal Apprehension.
• 14:24
  Speaker 3: The arrest warrant was issued for Charles Shuck for importing
• 14:28
  Speaker 3: two kilos of cocaine. We attempted to find him at
• 14:32
  Speaker 3: the address that he had given, and he wasn't there,
• 14:35
  Speaker 3: and we had no way of knowing where he was
• 14:38
  Speaker 3: at that time.
• 14:42
  Speaker 1: Several months earlier, A drug interdiction team at the Minneapolis-St.
• 14:45
  Speaker 1: Paul airport had spotted the courier. They watched Chuck pay
• 14:50
  Speaker 1: cash for a full fare last minute ticket to Los Angeles.
• 14:54
  Speaker 5: That would be one way or round trip?
• 14:55
  Speaker 1: Round trip. Chuck didn't check a bag and carried only
• 14:59
  Speaker 1: one onto the plane.
• 15:01
  Speaker 3: Forty and pass here.
• 15:05
  Speaker 1: The next day, agents saw him return. Now with two bags.
• 15:16
  Speaker 1: They knew couriers often had extra bags when returning from
• 15:19
  Speaker 1: a drug pickup. They told Chuck that they could not
• 15:26
  Speaker 1: arrest him, but they could hold his luggage for inspection.
• 15:32
  Speaker 1: Authorities could not open his bags without his consent, and
• 15:36
  Speaker 1: he did not give it. Chuck's response was not that
• 15:41
  Speaker 1: of innocent travelers.
• 15:45
  Speaker 3: If you tell them that you're going to detain their bags, typically,
• 15:49
  Speaker 3: if they have nothing to hide, they want to stay
• 15:51
  Speaker 3: with their bags. They don't want to leave those bags behind.
• 15:54
  Speaker 3: Shuck had none of that. He had no questions. He
• 15:57
  Speaker 3: had no concerns. His primary concern was getting out of
• 16:00
  Speaker 3: there just as fast as he could.
• 16:08
  Speaker 1: Shortly after Shuck left, a canine unit examined the bags.
• 16:12
  Speaker 3: Here, check.
• 16:15
  Speaker 1: One was clean, but in the other, the dog smelled narcotics.
• 16:23
  Speaker 3: You can't get a search warrant based strictly on the
• 16:26
  Speaker 3: actions of the dog. The dog was an integral part
• 16:30
  Speaker 3: of it in the request for the search warrant, but
• 16:33
  Speaker 3: it wasn't the only part. We also had to detail
• 16:35
  Speaker 3: the fact that we had seen Chuck the previous night
• 16:39
  Speaker 3: come in and buy a high-dollar round-trip ticket to Los Angeles.
• 16:44
  Speaker 3: with return flight being the following morning. These things are unusual.
• 16:50
  Speaker 3: The fact that he carried one small bag on the
• 16:52
  Speaker 3: aircraft and carried two off is also unusual.
• 16:59
  Speaker 1: Agents secured a search warrant to open the bags. Inside,
• 17:04
  Speaker 1: they recovered two kilos of cocaine. Investigators suspected Shuck was
• 17:12
  Speaker 1: carrying the drugs for someone else.
• 17:16
  Speaker 3: At that time, we weren't able to make a connection
• 17:18
  Speaker 3: as to who he might be working with or working for,
• 17:23
  Speaker 3: but my gut feeling was that he was a courier
• 17:27
  Speaker 3: for somebody at a higher level.
• 17:32
  Speaker 1: Now that he had been arrested, Chuck learned of the
• 17:34
  Speaker 1: evidence against him. He had his attorney propose a deal.
• 17:42
  Speaker 1: In exchange for sentencing consideration, He would give up information
• 17:45
  Speaker 1: on the man he ran drugs for. More importantly, he
• 17:51
  Speaker 1: would also provide details about the unsolved murder of Dewan Walker.
• 17:58
  Speaker 1: Shuck said that the man who employed him as a
• 18:00
  Speaker 1: courier was the same man who had ordered the murder.
• 18:05
  Speaker 1: The man's name was Ken Jones. For every kilo of
• 18:10
  Speaker 1: cocaine delivered, Ken Jones would pay Shuck $ 1, 000. Shuck had
• 18:17
  Speaker 1: worked for the drug boss since high school. It was
• 18:21
  Speaker 1: precisely because their relationship was so strong that Jones did
• 18:24
  Speaker 1: not retaliate for the lost cocaine. But Shuck was not
• 18:30
  Speaker 1: the only courier. Jones' girlfriend also played a major role
• 18:34
  Speaker 1: in the trafficking organization.
• 18:39
  Speaker 3: Charles Shuck told me that she was intimately familiar with
• 18:42
  Speaker 3: his drug dealing operation. In fact, she had been a
• 18:45
  Speaker 3: stewardess for an airline for a lot of years and
• 18:48
  Speaker 3: had acted as a courier for him bringing in kilos
• 18:51
  Speaker 3: when she was working as a stewardess.
• 18:55
  Speaker 1: Investigators asked Shuck if the girlfriend knew about the murder.
• 19:01
  Speaker 1: He said that around the time Walker was killed, she
• 19:03
  Speaker 1: had been very upset. Irene. She told him that Jones
• 19:10
  Speaker 1: had ordered her to clean up the bathroom of his condo.
• 19:15
  Speaker 1: There was a great deal of blood by the bathtub.
• 19:21
  Speaker 1: Shuck had heard Walker had been shot there. He said
• 19:25
  Speaker 1: the killer's name was Jeffrey Barnes, an enforcer for Jones,
• 19:29
  Speaker 1: and the same man whose suitcase held $ 13, 000 in cash
• 19:31
  Speaker 1: and a. 22 Derringer pistol.
• 19:38
  Speaker 3: He felt that Barnes had shot the victim, Duann Walker,
• 19:41
  Speaker 3: in the head and that left town the following day
• 19:46
  Speaker 3: after being paid by Ken Jones for that hit. Shuck
• 19:51
  Speaker 3: alleged that the $ 13, 000 cash that was found in the
• 19:54
  Speaker 3: suitcase was at least part of the hit money that
• 19:57
  Speaker 3: was paid to Barnes by Jones for doing the hit
• 20:01
  Speaker 3: and that the. 22 caliber revolver that was found was
• 20:05
  Speaker 3: the murder weapon.
• 20:05
  Speaker 1: Just know that it wasn't Michael K., Chuck knew the
• 20:09
  Speaker 1: caliber of the murder weapon and other details of the
• 20:11
  Speaker 1: crime that hadn't been made public.
• 20:16
  Speaker 3: So we felt that there was some credibility on Chuck's
• 20:20
  Speaker 3: part that Barnes and Jones could be considered as legitimate
• 20:24
  Speaker 3: suspects in the murder of Walker.
• 20:28
  Speaker 1: Agents realized they might have the murder weapon already in custody.
• 20:32
  Speaker 1: Let's see what we got here. If they could prove
• 20:35
  Speaker 1: it was the gun that killed Dewan Walker... They could
• 20:37
  Speaker 1: move forward with a murder case on drug boss Ken
• 20:40
  Speaker 1: Jones and his enforcer Jeffrey Barnes.
• 20:43
  Speaker 3: Let's take it.
• 20:45
  Speaker 1: They retrieved the. 22 caliber Derringer from the evidence locker.
• 20:53
  Speaker 1: Investigators sent the Derringer to the St. Paul Ballistics Lab
• 20:56
  Speaker 1: for testing. Examiners compared grooved striations inside its barrel to
• 21:03
  Speaker 1: the grooves on the slugs.
• 21:04
  Speaker 3: Removed from the victims.
• 21:08
  Speaker 1: But their report was disappointing.
• 21:13
  Speaker 3: The results were inconclusive, in part due to the fact
• 21:17
  Speaker 3: that it only had a one-inch barrel, and the opportunity
• 21:20
  Speaker 3: to pick up striations from the lands and grooves within
• 21:23
  Speaker 3: this barrel were limited. The longer the barrel, the better
• 21:26
  Speaker 3: the opportunity to pick up the striations. A short barrel
• 21:28
  Speaker 3: like this gives you very limited opportunity.
• 21:34
  Speaker 1: Without a forensic examination matching Barnes' gun to the bullets
• 21:37
  Speaker 1: that killed Walker, Authorities had only the word of a
• 21:40
  Speaker 1: drug smuggler to bring to trial. Agents shipped the gun
• 21:46
  Speaker 1: to the Alcohol, Tobacco, and Firearms Lab in Washington, D.C.
• 21:52
  Speaker 3: The feeling was that their laboratory was somewhat more sophisticated.
• 21:55
  Speaker 3: They were accustomed to doing things like that on a
• 21:57
  Speaker 3: routine basis, and with their sophisticated equipment, they might be
• 22:01
  Speaker 3: able to come up with a determination that was more specific.
• 22:06
  Speaker 3: After it was examined by ATF, they came to the
• 22:08
  Speaker 3: conclusion that it was, in fact, the weapon that was
• 22:11
  Speaker 3: used to murder Dewan Walker.
• 22:18
  Speaker 1: Investigators now knew that enforcer Jeffrey Barnes was in possession
• 22:21
  Speaker 1: of the murder weapon the day after Walker was killed.
• 22:27
  Speaker 1: But they still had no proof that he had fired
• 22:29
  Speaker 1: the fatal shots or that Ken Jones had ordered the hit.
• 22:32
  Speaker 1: Excuse me, ma'am. Agents and detectives sought witnesses who could
• 22:40
  Speaker 1: connect the two men to the homicide. Whether due to
• 22:47
  Speaker 1: loyalty or fear, authorities were met with silence.
• 22:55
  Speaker 3: One after the other, the people we attempted to talk
• 22:58
  Speaker 3: to would not talk to us. And they would not
• 23:03
  Speaker 3: give up anything. So we were back to the point
• 23:07
  Speaker 3: of having only the statement given to us by Charles
• 23:10
  Speaker 3: Shuck and no palpable way of corroborating any of the
• 23:15
  Speaker 3: information that he gave us through other witnesses.
• 23:23
  Speaker 1: Investigators applied for a warrant to search Jones' condominium, but
• 23:28
  Speaker 1: the judge refused to grant one because they couldn't corroborate
• 23:31
  Speaker 1: the story of the blood on the floor. After almost
• 23:36
  Speaker 1: a year, investigators realized that the case would not be
• 23:39
  Speaker 1: solved without additional resources. They contacted the St. Paul FBI's
• 23:47
  Speaker 1: Drug Task Force for assistance. Having worked narcotics for 20 years,
• 23:56
  Speaker 1: Sergeant Tom Donaski was well aware of the reputations of
• 23:59
  Speaker 1: Ken Jones and Jeffrey Barnes.
• 24:03
  Speaker 5: Both of them were very intimidating and imposing individuals. They
• 24:06
  Speaker 5: had a violent background. And when we'd go and interview people,
• 24:10
  Speaker 5: everyone would pretty much try to avoid either having contact
• 24:15
  Speaker 5: with us or they wouldn't tell us the straight story.
• 24:20
  Speaker 1: The task force believed that the only way to get
• 24:22
  Speaker 1: to the drug boss and his enforcer would be through
• 24:25
  Speaker 1: a cooperating witness. They needed to find someone who could
• 24:32
  Speaker 1: give them firsthand information and perhaps solicit a taped confession.
• 24:40
  Speaker 1: The investigator approached a confidential informant he had developed on
• 24:43
  Speaker 1: earlier cases. The informant couldn't place Barnes with the victim,
• 24:53
  Speaker 1: but he did know that the enforcer had a nephew
• 24:55
  Speaker 1: who had recently been released from prison. The nephew's name
• 25:02
  Speaker 1: was Russell Barnes. known on the street as Ice. After
• 25:09
  Speaker 1: leaving prison, he had come to St. Paul to begin
• 25:11
  Speaker 1: dealing cocaine with contacts provided by his uncle, Jeffrey Barnes.
• 25:20
  Speaker 1: The nephew was anxious to make money. He just hoped
• 25:25
  Speaker 1: to use his eagerness to their advantage. Investigators developed a
• 25:33
  Speaker 1: new strategy in the fall of 1992. The enforcer's nephew
• 25:41
  Speaker 1: would become their new target. FBI Special Agent Grant Biese,
• 25:52
  Speaker 1: a specialist in wire intercepts, was called in as part
• 25:55
  Speaker 1: of the plan.
• 25:58
  Speaker 4: We went after Russell, number one, because he was pretty
• 26:03
  Speaker 4: good-sized dope dealer. And number two, he dealt with his uncle, Jeffrey,
• 26:11
  Speaker 4: and we felt that if we could get a case
• 26:17
  Speaker 4: made against Russell, that would help us make a case
• 26:21
  Speaker 4: against Jeffrey.
• 26:24
  Speaker 1: To get him, agents would somehow have to infiltrate the
• 26:28
  Speaker 1: closed ranks of a dangerous drug underworld. In 1992, investigators
• 26:38
  Speaker 1: believed a St. Paul drug boss and his enforcer had
• 26:41
  Speaker 1: killed Dewan Walker. They had already recovered the murder weapon.
• 26:52
  Speaker 1: But Sergeant Tom Donasky, assigned to an FBI drug task force,
• 26:56
  Speaker 1: needed corroborating evidence in order to arrest drug boss Ken
• 26:59
  Speaker 1: Jones and his enforcer, Jeffrey Barnes.
• 27:04
  Speaker 5: Just having the weapon alone wasn't enough to get him
• 27:06
  Speaker 5: prosecuted for it. We felt that we're going to have
• 27:09
  Speaker 5: to identify some people or bring some people into court
• 27:13
  Speaker 5: that will be able to testify that Jeff Barnes and
• 27:15
  Speaker 5: Ken Jones were involved, you know, in the murder.
• 27:20
  Speaker 1: FBI Special Agent Grant Beasley believed that if they first
• 27:23
  Speaker 1: arrested the enforcer's nephew, drug dealer Russell Barnes, he might
• 27:27
  Speaker 1: provide the information they needed.
• 27:32
  Speaker 4: We had sources of information that were close to Russell
• 27:36
  Speaker 4: that gave us the indication that he knew that his
• 27:42
  Speaker 4: uncle had committed the murder. We didn't know to what
• 27:47
  Speaker 4: extent that Russell knew about it.
• 27:55
  Speaker 1: To build a narcotics case against Russell Barnes, the FBI
• 27:58
  Speaker 1: enlisted a trusted informant with credibility on the street. and
• 28:02
  Speaker 1: I can hear what I'm saying coming back through here.
• 28:05
  Speaker 1: Agents wired the informant, who would engage in controlled drug
• 28:08
  Speaker 1: buys with the enforcer's nephew. Task force members would record
• 28:17
  Speaker 1: each buy. It was a risky operation. If the informant's
• 28:24
  Speaker 1: wire was discovered, he would likely be killed. Agents wanted
• 28:33
  Speaker 1: to build trust and avoid any possibility that Russell Barnes
• 28:37
  Speaker 1: might suspect it was a setup. At first, the informant
• 28:46
  Speaker 1: bought small amounts. Over time, the transactions increased in size
• 28:54
  Speaker 1: and frequency and each was recorded.
• 28:56
  Speaker 3: That's a nice package. Everything's everything.
• 29:06
  Speaker 1: But Russell Barnes refused to speak about his knowledge of
• 29:09
  Speaker 1: the murder.
• 29:10
  Speaker 3: Later, later.
• 29:13
  Speaker 1: Agents were no closer to solving the crime. The FBI
• 29:25
  Speaker 1: needed to plant someone closer to the enforcer himself.
• 29:32
  Speaker 4: That did? I see.
• 29:34
  Speaker 1: In May of 1993, they discovered their way in. Help
• 29:35
  Speaker 1: me in. An informant working for the St. Paul FBI
• 29:42
  Speaker 1: on another case mentioned that he and Jeffrey Barnes had
• 29:45
  Speaker 1: done time together. He claimed they were very close and
• 29:52
  Speaker 1: that Barnes trusted him. He said he was sure he
• 29:57
  Speaker 1: could get Barnes to sell him cocaine. and to talk
• 30:00
  Speaker 1: about the Dewan Walker murder. Agents tested the informant's credibility
• 30:06
  Speaker 1: by having him call the enforcer. Within moments, it became
• 30:16
  Speaker 1: clear Jeffrey Barnes was comfortable talking to the informant. It
• 30:26
  Speaker 1: was the break investigators were looking for. Now they needed
• 30:31
  Speaker 1: to find a place for the drug buys, a controlled
• 30:34
  Speaker 1: environment that could be adequately wired.
• 30:39
  Speaker 4: At the time, the informant was living with a relative
• 30:42
  Speaker 4: and couldn't really do things at his home. We obtained
• 30:48
  Speaker 4: a house from HUD and moved the informant into the house.
• 30:57
  Speaker 4: and the informant agreed to record certain conversations that he
• 31:02
  Speaker 4: might have with Jeffrey Barnes.
• 31:10
  Speaker 1: Investigators set the informant up in a government-owned house on
• 31:14
  Speaker 1: the west side of St.
• 31:15
  Speaker 4: Paul.
• 31:18
  Speaker 1: He was to contact the FBI any time the enforcer
• 31:21
  Speaker 1: was planning to visit the house for a drug deal.
• 31:25
  Speaker 1: FBI technicians wired the house with electronic listening devices in
• 31:29
  Speaker 1: three rooms. Agents knew Barnes liked to boast about being
• 31:36
  Speaker 1: a hitman, referring to himself as Murder Incorporated.
• 31:44
  Speaker 5: With that information, we tried to encourage the informant to
• 31:50
  Speaker 5: try to bring him to a point where he would
• 31:52
  Speaker 5: talk to him about... you know, acts of violence that
• 31:56
  Speaker 5: he was involved in and things like that. And this
• 31:57
  Speaker 5: is something that Jeff Barnes' reputation was all about and
• 32:00
  Speaker 5: something that he liked to brag about.
• 32:05
  Speaker 1: Agents coached their informant on how to draw Barnes out
• 32:08
  Speaker 1: about the murder of Dewan Walker. He was to lead
• 32:14
  Speaker 1: the enforcer into talking about the hits he'd performed in
• 32:16
  Speaker 1: the past. In one tape conversation, the informant pretended he
• 32:26
  Speaker 1: wanted Barnes to help him rob a drug dealer. Jeffrey
• 32:33
  Speaker 1: Barnes suggested that they just kill him.
• 32:38
  Speaker 4: Barnes told the informant that doing a hit on somebody
• 32:43
  Speaker 4: is not a problem. And he described how he could
• 32:47
  Speaker 4: do it. He would walk up behind the individual pop
• 32:53
  Speaker 4: him in the head with a handgun, let him fall
• 32:57
  Speaker 4: on the floor, wrap him in plastic, and drag his
• 33:02
  Speaker 4: body outside and put it.
• 33:04
  Speaker 1: In an alley.
• 33:06
  Speaker 4: And this was the exact same way that DeJuan Walker
• 33:11
  Speaker 4: had been killed.
• 33:12
  Speaker 1: Don't want to take up too much of your time.
• 33:15
  Speaker 1: Let's see if we get down to business. It was
• 33:20
  Speaker 1: good circumstantial evidence but by itself, it wasn't enough. Because
• 33:30
  Speaker 1: the buys had been arranged by telephone, investigators secured a
• 33:33
  Speaker 1: warrant to tap the suspect's phone lines. Although the wire
• 33:41
  Speaker 1: intercepts captured no information on the Walker murder, they did
• 33:45
  Speaker 1: produce details of the drug operation. In January 1994, The
• 33:52
  Speaker 1: task force decided it was time to arrest Russell Barnes
• 33:55
  Speaker 1: and hope he would turn on his uncle. On January 29th,
• 34:02
  Speaker 1: they set up another controlled drug buy with an informant.
• 34:07
  Speaker 1: It would happen at a downtown St. Paul hotel. Investigators
• 34:15
  Speaker 1: wired the room for sound. Keep him down. Okay. The
• 34:21
  Speaker 1: reliability of the eavesdropping devices was essential.
• 34:29
  Speaker 4: Testing. One, two.
• 34:30
  Speaker 3: One, two.
• 34:31
  Speaker 1: The recordings would be used in court. And agents would
• 34:40
  Speaker 1: be monitoring from an adjacent room. If Russell Barnes discovered
• 34:46
  Speaker 1: the setup, they would be able to protect their informant.
• 34:49
  Speaker 3: Okay, go ahead and give me a signal.
• 34:51
  Speaker 1: Testing one, two, three, Mary had a little lamb. When
• 34:53
  Speaker 1: the room was ready, they would have the informant call
• 34:55
  Speaker 1: the enforcer's nephew and order several ounces of cocaine. Mary
• 34:58
  Speaker 1: had a little lamb.
• 34:59
  Speaker 4: Testing one, Mary had a little lamb.
• 35:01
  Speaker 1: Mary had a little lamb.
• 35:02
  Speaker 5: Investigators from the St. Paul Police Special Investigations Unit were
• 35:06
  Speaker 5: conducting the surveillance at Russell Barnes' residence, and after the
• 35:10
  Speaker 5: phone calls were made, with very short delay, Russell went
• 35:14
  Speaker 5: to the hotel.
• 35:20
  Speaker 1: Russell Barnes had delivered to the informant before. He brought
• 35:28
  Speaker 1: cocaine and the equipment he needed for measuring it. He
• 35:35
  Speaker 1: suspected nothing. To him, it was just another deal. He
• 35:44
  Speaker 1: set up shop and began the transactions. unaware that every
• 35:50
  Speaker 1: word was being recorded. It was important to get a
• 35:54
  Speaker 1: drug dealer off the streets. But what agents really wanted
• 35:59
  Speaker 1: was for Russell Barnes to give a statement about drug
• 36:01
  Speaker 1: boss Ken Jones and enforcer Jeffrey Barnes committing murder. When
• 36:08
  Speaker 1: details of the drug deal were on tape, investigators moved in.
• 36:18
  Speaker 2: Put your hands up behind your head.
• 36:22
  Speaker 1: Okay, we're clear. They had indisputable evidence of Russell Barnes
• 36:27
  Speaker 1: selling roughly two ounces of cocaine.
• 36:32
  Speaker 5: On your knees.
• 36:33
  Speaker 1: Investigators explained to him that as a three-time narcotics offender,
• 36:36
  Speaker 1: Russell was looking at a minimum of 15 years in prison.
• 36:43
  Speaker 1: They wanted a statement about his uncle.
• 36:46
  Speaker 2: All right, Barnes.
• 36:48
  Speaker 5: We sat him down and we talked at some length
• 36:51
  Speaker 5: about Jeffrey Barnes and his involvement with the Dwan Walker homicide.
• 36:57
  Speaker 5: Being somewhat reluctant because this was his uncle, it took
• 37:00
  Speaker 5: some persuasion and after a while we gained his confidence
• 37:03
  Speaker 5: and he eventually told us his knowledge about the Dwan
• 37:08
  Speaker 5: Walker homicide.
• 37:13
  Speaker 1: Jeffrey Barnes had told him Walker tried to steal cocaine
• 37:16
  Speaker 1: from Ken Jones. So they killed him. The enforcers said
• 37:26
  Speaker 1: they then dumped Walker's body in an alley, doused it
• 37:28
  Speaker 1: with gasoline, and lit it afire. It was, at best,
• 37:36
  Speaker 1: a secondhand confession. Russell Barnes was taken into custody. All right,
• 37:47
  Speaker 1: let's go. Agents also arrested their informant so no one
• 37:50
  Speaker 1: would know he cooperated. Drug boss Ken Jones was still
• 37:58
  Speaker 1: on the street, as was his enforcer, Jeffrey Barnes. But
• 38:05
  Speaker 1: the FBI task force was closing in. By 1994, While
• 38:16
  Speaker 1: trying to dismantle a Minnesota drug ring and solve a
• 38:18
  Speaker 1: four-year-old murder, the FBI and St. Paul police had arrested
• 38:23
  Speaker 1: dealer Russell Barnes, who agreed to cooperate. He offered details
• 38:30
  Speaker 1: on the crimes committed by his uncle Jeffrey Barnes, including
• 38:33
  Speaker 1: nationwide drug trafficking and the 1990 murder of Dewan Walker.
• 38:41
  Speaker 1: According to Sergeant Tom Donasky, Investigators had plenty of evidence
• 38:45
  Speaker 1: against Jeffrey Barnes, a known enforcer for drug boss Ken Jones.
• 38:51
  Speaker 5: We've got a weapon that's been recovered at the airport.
• 38:55
  Speaker 5: We've got Jeff Barnes making a comment to one of
• 38:59
  Speaker 5: our informants that this is how you murder somebody. That's
• 39:04
  Speaker 5: a dope ripoff type of situation. And the actual procedure
• 39:09
  Speaker 5: that he went through when he killed Dwan Walker, and
• 39:12
  Speaker 5: now we have his nephew telling us that he's been
• 39:14
  Speaker 5: at his house, blood relative, that we're going to have
• 39:17
  Speaker 5: testify in court that he actually told him about the murder.
• 39:23
  Speaker 1: In August 1994, investigators staked out the apartment where Jeffrey
• 39:28
  Speaker 1: Barnes was staying. They knew the enforcer was often armed
• 39:35
  Speaker 1: and willing to kill. He had no time to react.
• 39:40
  Speaker 2: Prosecutors did not yet charge him with murder.
• 39:48
  Speaker 1: They went forward with a drug conspiracy case instead. Dealing
• 39:53
  Speaker 1: drugs to his ex-cellmate earned Barnes 30 years in prison.
• 40:01
  Speaker 1: They would hold the murder case until they had more
• 40:03
  Speaker 1: evidence against him and Ken Jones. Special Agent Grant Beasley
• 40:10
  Speaker 1: believed having Barnes in prison would make witnesses more willing
• 40:13
  Speaker 1: to talk.
• 40:18
  Speaker 4: Jeff Barnes had the reputation of being an enforcer. He
• 40:22
  Speaker 4: scared people. We felt that getting him off the street
• 40:27
  Speaker 4: would take away the intimidation factor against some of these
• 40:33
  Speaker 4: other people. It would be better for us to be
• 40:38
  Speaker 4: able to talk to these other folks with him being
• 40:41
  Speaker 4: locked up.
• 40:45
  Speaker 1: The plan worked. After Barnes's arrest, investigators met with an
• 40:50
  Speaker 1: associate of Ken Jones. Facing a long prison term on
• 40:55
  Speaker 1: drug charges, he offered to be a government witness. He
• 41:01
  Speaker 1: said he had extensive knowledge about Jones's drug cartel and
• 41:04
  Speaker 1: that he had met Dewan Walker just before his murder.
• 41:11
  Speaker 1: In mid-June 1990, Jones had ordered the cooperating witness to
• 41:16
  Speaker 1: drive a pickup truck to St. Louis, where he was
• 41:18
  Speaker 1: to meet Walker. The truck had been fitted with a
• 41:22
  Speaker 1: second fuel tank. Upon arrival in St. Louis, Dewan Walker
• 41:29
  Speaker 1: stuffed several bags of cocaine into the false tank. When full,
• 41:35
  Speaker 1: the tank held about 30 kilos of the drug. That
• 41:41
  Speaker 1: amount of cocaine would have been worth more than a
• 41:44
  Speaker 1: million dollars. The cooperating witness then drove the truck back
• 41:51
  Speaker 1: to St. Paul where he turned it over to the
• 41:53
  Speaker 1: drug boss. Walker had arrived earlier and was staying with
• 41:59
  Speaker 1: Jones at his condominium. Jones hadn't paid Walker for the
• 42:05
  Speaker 1: drugs yet. In fact, he and his enforcer decided not to.
• 42:13
  Speaker 5: The two of them conspire to take the dope and
• 42:17
  Speaker 5: to eliminate the problem and just execute Dwan Walker.
• 42:25
  Speaker 1: The witness's testimony would explain the motive for the killing.
• 42:30
  Speaker 1: He told the agents that several days later he got
• 42:32
  Speaker 1: a call from the drug boss. He was ordered to
• 42:37
  Speaker 1: come over to the condo immediately. It was Sunday morning,
• 42:45
  Speaker 1: June 24th, 1990, the day following Duan Walker's murder. Ken
• 42:52
  Speaker 1: Jones seemed very nervous. He ordered the cooperating witness to
• 42:57
  Speaker 1: get rid of the truck he had driven up from St. Louis,
• 43:01
  Speaker 1: the one with the false gas tank. The drug boss
• 43:05
  Speaker 1: demanded that no one be told about the cocaine run.
• 43:12
  Speaker 1: The witness said Jones' girlfriend had also told him about
• 43:15
  Speaker 1: cleaning up blood in the bathroom after the murder. In
• 43:22
  Speaker 1: the summer of 1995, prosecutors convened a grand jury to
• 43:26
  Speaker 1: secure witness testimony under oath. Jones' girlfriend was subpoenaed to testify.
• 43:34
  Speaker 1: That would be Irene, the sister. But she denied telling
• 43:38
  Speaker 1: anyone that she cleaned up blood in Jones' bathroom. If
• 43:44
  Speaker 1: authorities couldn't prove she was lying, they might never be
• 43:47
  Speaker 1: able to indict Ken Jones and Jeffrey Barnes for murder.
• 43:51
  Speaker 1: In June 1995, Grand jury testimony from others proved that
• 44:01
  Speaker 1: one witness perjured herself when she denied cleaning up blood
• 44:04
  Speaker 1: in the bathroom of drug boss Ken Jones.
• 44:06
  Speaker 4: I'm not sure what you're talking about, sir.
• 44:09
  Speaker 1: On June 21st, the grand jury indicted Jones and his
• 44:13
  Speaker 1: main enforcer, Jeffrey Barnes, for the 1990 murder of Dewan Walker. Barnes,
• 44:23
  Speaker 1: the alleged hitman, was already in prison on drug charges.
• 44:31
  Speaker 1: The day after the indictment, investigators staked out the home
• 44:34
  Speaker 1: of drug boss Ken Jones. Although he had insulated himself
• 44:45
  Speaker 1: well against the investigation, Ken Jones was finally arrested for murder.
• 44:53
  Speaker 1: FBI Drug Task Force member, Sergeant Tom Donaskey, was determined
• 44:56
  Speaker 1: to find physical evidence to back up witness testimony at
• 44:59
  Speaker 1: the trial.
• 45:03
  Speaker 5: Through the investigation, everything focused on the fact that DeJuan
• 45:09
  Speaker 5: Walker was murdered in the bathroom and he was shot
• 45:12
  Speaker 5: in the head there. I was thinking that we might
• 45:16
  Speaker 5: be able to still find a trace of blood in
• 45:19
  Speaker 5: the grouting on the floor in the bathroom.
• 45:26
  Speaker 1: Bureau of Criminal Apprehension technicians process the bathroom. After Jones
• 45:33
  Speaker 1: was arrested, new tenants had moved into the condo. They
• 45:39
  Speaker 1: gave their consent for the search. The technicians tested for
• 45:45
  Speaker 1: the presence of blood using luminol, a relatively new technique
• 45:48
  Speaker 1: at the time. Luminol reacts with proteins in blood, rendering
• 45:54
  Speaker 1: minute traces of it visible under ultraviolet light.
• 46:00
  Speaker 5: We were able to determine on the underlayment underneath the
• 46:05
  Speaker 5: tile that there was a significant amount of blood. They
• 46:08
  Speaker 5: were unable to obtain a DNA off that test, but
• 46:13
  Speaker 5: they were able to obtain a test that showed there
• 46:16
  Speaker 5: was a significant amount of blood, and it was human
• 46:18
  Speaker 5: blood that was still traceable back even five years.
• 46:23
  Speaker 2: Mr.
• 46:23
  Speaker 1: Barnes and Mr. Jones are, in fact, the head On
• 46:29
  Speaker 1: October 31st, 1995, Ken Jones and Jeffrey Barnes went to
• 46:34
  Speaker 1: trial in St. Paul. Prosecutors outlined what they believed occurred
• 46:41
  Speaker 1: in DeJuan Walker's final hours.
• 46:43
  Speaker 2: These two gentlemen here are responsible for all of this.
• 46:48
  Speaker 1: Walker had delivered roughly 30 kilos of cocaine to Jones.
• 46:56
  Speaker 1: The drug boss decided he didn't want to pay. That night,
• 47:02
  Speaker 1: he and his main enforcer, Jeffrey Barnes, partied with Walker. Eventually,
• 47:09
  Speaker 1: Walker headed into the bathroom. Jones and Barnes had planned
• 47:15
  Speaker 1: the hit to take place there. Dewan Walker was unarmed.
• 47:29
  Speaker 1: Barnes fired three shots from his. 22 caliber Derringer. As always,
• 47:37
  Speaker 1: Jones maintained his distance. Walker died immediately. Later that night,
• 47:50
  Speaker 1: they wrapped Walker's body in plastic sheets to contain the
• 47:53
  Speaker 1: blood and loaded it into a cart. they drove to
• 48:02
  Speaker 1: an alley and dumped the body. To make identification more difficult,
• 48:13
  Speaker 1: they doused the body with gasoline and set it ablaze.
• 48:23
  Speaker 1: Jones used his girlfriend to cover his tracks after the murder.
• 48:29
  Speaker 1: The bathroom floor was covered with blood particularly the area
• 48:32
  Speaker 1: around the tub where Walker had fallen. She was able
• 48:38
  Speaker 1: to clean the surface, but blood had seeped down into
• 48:41
  Speaker 1: the subflooring. Five years later, technicians would find it there.
• 48:51
  Speaker 1: Ken Jones and Jeffrey Barnes were convicted of murder and
• 48:54
  Speaker 1: drug charges. In March 1996, they were both sentenced to
• 49:01
  Speaker 1: life in prison without the possibility of parole. Jeffrey Barnes,
• 49:10
  Speaker 1: who had once boasted he was murder incorporated, was no
• 49:13
  Speaker 1: longer a threat to those outside the prison system. Ken
• 49:22
  Speaker 1: Jones had tried to create an image of himself as
• 49:24
  Speaker 1: a community leader, but his greed led to murder and
• 49:30
  Speaker 1: he will never leave prison alive.