Latest / Crime Stories with Nancy Grace / An Alabama Mystery Endures as Three Men Who Vanished in 1956 Have Yet to Be Found | Crime Alert 6AM 01.13.2026

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An Alabama Mystery Endures as Three Men Who Vanished in 1956 Have Yet to Be Found | Crime Alert 6AM 01.13.2026 · Crime Stories with Nancy Grace

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  Speaker 1: At this hour. A decade's old disappearance in north Alabama
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  Speaker 1: remains one of the state's most perplexing mysteries. On the
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  Speaker 1: rainy night of March third, nineteen fifty six, three relatives
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  Speaker 1: Billy Howard Dye, Robert Earl Dye, and their cousin Dan Bresher,
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  Speaker 1: left a party in rural Jefferson County and simply vanished
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  Speaker 1: without a trace. Billy Dye was nineteen years old, his
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  Speaker 1: brother Robert twenty three. Their cousin, Dan Bresher, was thirty eight.
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  Speaker 1: The three men drove away together in a dark green
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  Speaker 1: nineteen forty seven Ford and were never seen again. Investigators
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  Speaker 1: quickly suspected foul play. Witnesses later told authorities the men
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  Speaker 1: may have been involved in an argument earlier that night
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  Speaker 1: with local bootleggers at a time when illegal moonshine operations
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  Speaker 1: were widespread across rural Alabama. In the days following the disappearance,
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  Speaker 1: rumors began circulationading throughout the community. Some claim the men's
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  Speaker 1: car had been buried beneath what later became highway construction sites.
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  Speaker 1: Others reported seeing men carrying shovels and tools late into
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  Speaker 1: the night near wooded areas. One detail that drew particular
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  Speaker 1: attention came from a local store clerk who recalls selling
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  Speaker 1: cleaning supplies to a man seeking to remove what appeared
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  Speaker 1: to be a blood stain shortly after the disappearance. Over
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  Speaker 1: the years, law enforcement has reopened the case multiple times.
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  Speaker 1: In the nineteen seventies, investigators drilled into areas along US
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  Speaker 1: Highway seventy nine following metallic readings that raised hope of
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  Speaker 1: finding the missing car. Those efforts turned up nothing more
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  Speaker 1: than scrap metal. In the nineteen eighties, a prison inmate
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  Speaker 1: claimed responsibility for the killings, but investigators were unable to
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  Speaker 1: corroborate his story, and the confession ultimately collapsed. Today, the
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  Speaker 1: disappearance of Billy and Robert Dye and Dan Bresher remains
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  Speaker 1: the oldest active cold case in Jefferson County. The men's
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  Speaker 1: vehicle has never been recovered, and no physical evidence has
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  Speaker 1: ever confirmed what happened that night. Even after nearly seventy years,
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  Speaker 1: investigators say they are still willing to review credible tips,
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  Speaker 1: holding out hope that advances in technology or a long
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  Speaker 1: kept secret could one day bring answers to one of
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  Speaker 1: Alabama's most enduring mysteries when we return a deadly shooting
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  Speaker 1: spree in Mississippi, a closely watched double murder trial in Virginia,
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  Speaker 1: and an execution scheduled in Florida. Stay with us new
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  Speaker 1: details now in a deadly shooting spree that has devastated
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  Speaker 1: a rural Mississippi community. Authorities in Clay County, Mississippi, have
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  Speaker 1: charged twenty four year old Dereka Moore with multiple care
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  Speaker 1: ounce of murder after a series of shootings left six
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  Speaker 1: people dead, including a seven year old child. Investigators say
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  Speaker 1: the violence unfolded across three separate locations near the town
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  Speaker 1: of Cedar Bluff, just outside West Point. Police alleged Moore
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  Speaker 1: first killed his father, his brother, and an uncle inside
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  Speaker 1: a family mobile home. Authorities say More then drove to
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  Speaker 1: a nearby residence belonging to relatives, forcing his way inside,
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  Speaker 1: and shot a young cousin. Another child in the home
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  Speaker 1: was able to escape without injury. The final shootings occurred
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  Speaker 1: at a third location, where two additional adults, including a
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  Speaker 1: local pastor and his brother, were killed. Law enforcement officers
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  Speaker 1: arrested More later that night at a roadblock without incident.
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  Speaker 1: Authorities say there is no ongoing threat to the public,
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  Speaker 1: but they have not publicly identified a motive. Prosecutors indicated
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  Speaker 1: they may seek the death penalty as the case moves forward.
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  Speaker 1: The community remains in mourning as investigators continue to piece
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  Speaker 1: together the events that led to the violence. In northern Virginia,
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  Speaker 1: a high profile murder trial is getting under way in
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  Speaker 1: Fairfax County. Former federal law enforcement agent Brendan Banfield is
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  Speaker 1: standing trial on charges of aggravated murder in the twenty
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  Speaker 1: twenty three deaths of his wife, Christine Banfield, and a
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  Speaker 1: man named Joseph Ryan. Prosecutors alleged Banfield conspired with the
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  Speaker 1: couple's Brazilian ou pair, Juliana Perez Magileysh, to lure Ryan
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  Speaker 1: to the family's home under the guise of a consensual encounter.
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  Speaker 1: According to prosecutors, the plan was to make it appear
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  Speaker 1: that Ryan was an intruder who stabbed Christine Banfield, prompting
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  Speaker 1: Banfield to shoot Ryan in self defense. Investigators say the
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  Speaker 1: scene was staged Magalaya. Bush later pleaded guilty to a
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  Speaker 1: reduced manslaughter charge and has cooperated with prosecutors authorities. A
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  Speaker 1: digital evidence shows a fake online profile created in Christine
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  Speaker 1: Banfield's name was used to communicate with Ryan before the killings.
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  Speaker 1: Defense attorneys dispute that version of events, arguing the online
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  Speaker 1: communications originated directly with Christine Banfield. Banfield has fleeted not guilty.
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  Speaker 1: In addition to murder charges, Banfield faces child abuse and
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  Speaker 1: neglect counts because his younger daughter was inside the home
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  Speaker 1: at the time of the killings. Jury selection is under
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  Speaker 1: way and the trial is expected to last several weeks. Finally,
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  Speaker 1: this hour, Florida is preparing for its first execution of
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  Speaker 1: the year. Sixty four year old Ronald Palmer Heath is
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  Speaker 1: scheduled to be executed by lethal injection February tenth at
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  Speaker 1: Florida State Prison in Stark was convicted of first degree
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  Speaker 1: murder for the nineteen eighty nine killing of Michael Sheridan,
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  Speaker 1: a traveling salesman who prosecutors say was lured from a
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  Speaker 1: bar in Gainesville to a remote area. Authority say Heath
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  Speaker 1: and his brother, Kenneth Heath robbed Sheridan, then beat and
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  Speaker 1: stabbed him. The brothers later used the victim's credit cards
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  Speaker 1: in the days following the killing. Kenneth Heath received a
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  Speaker 1: life sentence after accepting a plea deal Ronald Heath has
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  Speaker 1: spent decades on death row, and his attorneys are pursuing
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  Speaker 1: final appeals in state and federal courts. If carried out,
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  Speaker 1: the execution would mark floridas first of twenty twenty six,
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  Speaker 1: following a year in which the state conducted a historically
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  Speaker 1: high number of executions.