American Homicide - S1: E29 – The Mountain Man Murders, Part 2

Episode Date: May 8, 2025

A quiet man known for playing the flute is accused of a brutal double murder. As the trial unfolds, an unexpected revelation shifts the narrative and leaves the defense lawyers defending themselves.  Reach out to the American Homicide team by emailing us: [e-mail].  Robin Barefield hosts the True Crime podcast “Murder and Mystery in the Last Frontier”. She also authored a book by the same name. See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

You're listening to an iHeart podcast. This week on Dear Chelsea with me, Chelsea Handler, Connie Britton is here. I think you should encourage your friend to go ahead and not be holding out for any man to have her babies. She could be waiting another 10 years before she finds the right guy. Connie didn't meet her right guy until you were what, 50 Connie? 52. 52.

I kept thinking, oh, I'm going to meet the guy, I'm going to meet the guy, I'm going to meet the guy. I finally was like, what am I waiting for? And I did it. And I'm just so glad that I did. Listen to Dear Chelsea on the iHeartRadio app, Apple podcasts, or wherever you get your podcasts. Something unexpected happened after Jeremy Scott confessed to killing Michelle Schofield in Bone Valley Season 1.

Every time I hear about my dad, it's, oh, he's a killer. He's just straight evil. I was becoming the bridge between Jeremy Scott and the son he'd never known. At the end of the day, I'm literally a son of a killer. Listen to new episodes of Bone Valley Season 2 on the iHeart Radio app, Apple Podcasts, or wherever you get your podcasts. It's April 2020. A woman announces on Facebook that she has COVID and won't be seeking medical attention. I didn't want to be talked out of this plan.

Then she disappears. Uh, anyone else think this is strange? be talked out of this plan. Then she disappears. Anyone else think this is strange? I just had to know, how did this happen? Listen to What Happened to Talina Czar on the iHeart Radio app, Apple Podcasts, or wherever you get your podcasts. I'm Soledad O'Brien. wherever you get your podcasts. It turns out Mary was connected to a very powerful man. I pledge you that we shall neither commit nor provoke aggression. John F. Kennedy. Listen to Murder on the Toe Path with Soledad O'Brien on the iHeartRadio app,

Apple Podcasts, or wherever you get your podcasts. I never could quite make a decision as to whether he was a dangerous man or whether something snapped. A quiet Alaskan man known for his ability to live off the grid was accused of murdering his neighbors. They found him in the creek and they found her about a week later. She'd been shot in the head and there was evidence of sex and they thought it was post-mortem. As the investigation heated up, the suspect took off. He went on the run pretty quickly when it became obvious that he was the focus of their

investigation. A month later, the suspect was in custody and faced the fight of his life. They just couldn't believe he did it. They fundamentally couldn't. The guy they knew wouldn't do something like that. By the end of his trial, the tables would be turned, and the defense lawyers would be the ones defending themselves. He said, you have convicted an innocent man.

Today, we're in Chulitna, Alaska, for the conclusion of the Mountain Man Murders. I'm Sloane Glass, and this is American Homicide. Just a note that this episode contains some graphic content. Please take care while listening. Murders in cities and towns, you know, they happen all the time. But a double murder in the middle of the wilderness is unique. It's different. Maybe you've seen those videos where women of all ages are asked the same question.

If you were stranded in the woods, would you rather be stranded with a random man or random bear? The answers were overwhelmingly one-sided. And 90% of females are choosing to be stranded with a random bear over a random man. I don't think there's anything scarier in the wilderness than a human out to kill someone. Robin Barefield authored Murder and Mystery in the Last Frontier,

a book about true crime in Alaska. Her book covers the murders of husband and wife Rick Beery and Debbie Rehor. Over Memorial Day weekend in 1997, the couple was murdered near their cabin in the remote woods of Chulitna, Alaska. Chulitna is not a town, but it's a designated wilderness area. Most people who live in the wilderness are prepared to run into bears or angry moose or other animals that you need to watch out for. And you don't expect to run into a murderer in the Alaska wilderness. So I think that's one of the reasons that made this story such a big deal.

Located miles from the nearest road and an hour from the closest town, Julenna is as off the grid as you can get. People who live in the wilderness, they do so because they want to be independent. They want to live on their own. They enjoy that freedom. So you're on your own much more up here.

And it's frightening when you realize that. At the time, there were only a dozen or so cabins in the area where Rick and Debbie lived. In Alaska, neighbors are important. You want people to live close enough to you so that you can help each other if you have a problem. Rick and Debbie's nearest neighbor lived about a mile away. His name was Paul Staveniord. Paul was a year-round resident.

That was his home. While Rick and Debbie came and went. At the time, Paul Staveniord was 46 years old. He had long hair, a thick bushy beard, and wore round wire-rimmed glasses. Years earlier, Paul hurt his back working for the railroad. That injury forced him to quit his job. That's when he started making artwork, playing the flute and living an off-the-grid mountain man lifestyle.

And sometimes people living in a wilderness setting look at the people who come and go like that as outsiders. You know, they don't appreciate them, they resent them, and I think that probably was part of the problem with his relationship with Rick and Debbie. They suspected he stole things from their cabin and he seemed to have a real problem with them. Rick and Debbie. They suspected he stole things from their cabin, and he seemed to have a real problem with them. Rick and Debbie's family knew this. Rick and Debbie talked about it quite a bit.

Paul was the lead suspect in Rick and Debbie's murder. Upon searching his property, they found a journal that detailed an affair Paul was having with Debbie. So what was it? Were they enemies or lovers? His family and friends described him as a kind man who was spiritual and was nonviolent. They did not believe he could have killed two people.

Not only that, but Paul had an alibi for the weekend Rick and Debbie were murdered. He said he'd gone to Fairbanks for the weekend, and he even gave them the names of restaurants where he stopped, places where he stopped to get gas or stopped to get snacks, but he did not have any receipts. Paul explained that he didn't have any receipts because his off-the-grid lifestyle meant

he didn't have credit cards or a checking account. He only paid in cash. And when the troopers followed up, nobody remembered seeing him at any of the places where he said he'd gone. So his alibi did not hold up. After the police asked for a sample of his DNA, Paul Staveniord went on the run and vanished into the wilderness. The manhunt was a big deal and the troopers threw a lot of resources at it. I know a woman who had a cabin in Chulitna at the time and she said it was crazy up there after all of this happened because there were choppers flying overhead all the time.

She felt like she was in a war zone. It was just crazy for a few weeks until they finally found him. After four weeks on the run, Paul Staveniord turned himself in, but he wasn't alone. He had hired a lawyer and explained to the police that something in his past caused him to run, unrelated to the murders of his neighbors. He had had unfortunate experience with law enforcement

prior to this event. That's Paul's friend, Keith Beha. Trusting policeman was probably not his first reaction. So let's talk about why. Growing up, Paul struggled with drug addiction and was expelled from high school. Over the course of two years, he was arrested five times for breaking into cabins, stealing a car, and other crimes.

Author Robin Barefield explains. Paul's biggest run-in with the police was when he was released from prison for a liquor store robbery. He and his two friends decided to rob the First National Bank of Anchorage in Seward. In 1971, Paul and two others pulled off one of the biggest bank robberies in Alaska's history. They stole $150,000 but they weren't very good criminals. They hadn't really planned their getaway very well. And they picked one of the worst places in Alaska to try to escape from because it's

not remote, but there's only one road that goes into it. So the police chief easily arrested him and sent him back to prison. Four years in prison was enough for Paul Staveniork to make some changes. He decided he wanted to turn his life around and he took a job with the Alaska Railroad inspecting the tracks, married a waitress for the railroad and they had two children, built a cabin in Chulitna, he loved the Chulitna area. And Paul became very introspective. He became very spiritual, and he started to do artwork. That's when Paul adopted his sort of hippie lifestyle and threw himself into the arts. He carved flutes, and he also became very skilled

at playing the flute, and he ended up recording three albums of flute music. But playing the flute didn't pay the bills. His wife divorced him in the early 1990s and told the court Paul didn't support her emotionally or financially. She got custody of their children and moved away. Paul remained in Chulina. There was two sides to Paul Stabenhjord.

The peaceful, calm person that most people considered him now and then this guy who couldn't stay out of trouble when he was younger. Two sides of Paul Stavanyord. That's what lawyers would have to argue over when he went on trial for the murders of Rick Beery and Debbie Rehor. Suddenly the trial wasn't about us proving it was him. It was he had a story to tell. And that changes the complexion entirely.

This week on Dear Chelsea with me, Chelsea Handler, Connie Britton is here. I think you should encourage your friend to go ahead and not be holding out for any man to have her babies. If she is passionate about becoming a mother and she has her eggs frozen and she has her life together, go for it. She could be waiting another 10 years

before she finds the right guy. Connie didn't meet her right guy until you were what, 50, Connie? How long have you guys been together? Yeah, no, 52. 52. 52. I adopted my son as a single mom because I kept thinking, oh, I'm going to meet the guy, I'm going to meet the guy,

I'm going to meet the guy. I finally was like, what am I waiting for? And I did it. And I'm just so glad that I did. I want to change the narrative about single parents and also help to create a community for single parents so that they can not feel alone in it. One of the big things is it's so hard, especially for women, to ask for help.

Listen to Dear Chelsea on the iHeartRadio app, Apple Podcasts, or wherever you get your podcasts. I'm Soledad O'Brien, and on my podcast, Murder on the Towpath, I'm taking you back to the 1960s. Mary Pinchot-Mey Meyer was a painter who lived in Georgetown in Washington, DC. Every day, she took a daily walk along the tow path near the E&O Canal.

So when she was killed in a wealthy neighborhood... She had been shot twice in the head and in the back behind the heart. The police arrived in a heartbeat. Within 40 minutes, a man named Raymond Crump Jr. was arrested. He was found nearby, soaking wet, and he was black. Only one woman dared defend him, civil rights lawyer

Dubby Roundtree. Join me as we unravel this story with a crazy twist, because what most people didn't know is that Mary was connected to a very powerful man. I pledge you that we shall neither commit nor provoke aggression. John F. Kennedy. Listen to Murder on the Toe Path with Soledad O'Brien on the iHeartRadio app, Apple Podcasts, or wherever you get your podcasts. It's the early days of COVID, April 2020.

A woman in a small town in Oklahoma makes a strange post to Facebook and then disappears. I'm on day nine of this virus, and I am pretty sure it has reached my lungs. I made the decision at the onset that if it got bad enough, I would not go to the hospital. Pretty quickly, a ragtag group of women on the internet start their own investigation. It felt like I was living out one of my fantasy dreams of being a detective. But the world they uncover is beyond their wildest imagination. How did this happen?

Listen to What Happened to Talina's R on the iHeartRadio app, Apple Podcasts, or wherever you get your podcasts. Something unexpected happened after Jeremy Scott confessed to killing Michelle Schofield in Bone Valley Season 1. I just knew him as a kid. Long silent voices from his past came forward. And he was just staring at me. And they had secrets of their own to share. Gilbert King, I'm the son of Jeremy Lynn Scott. I was no longer just telling the story. I was part of it.

Every time I hear about my dad, it's, oh, he's a killer. He's just straight evil. I was becoming the bridge between a killer and the son he'd never known. If the cops and everything would have done their job properly, my dad would have been in jail. I would have never existed. I never expected to find myself in this place. Now, I need to tell you how I got here. At the end of the day, I'm literally a son of a killer. Bone Valley Season 2. Jeremy. Jeremy, I want to tell you something. Listen to new episodes of Bone Valley Season 2 on the iHeart Radio app, Apple Podcasts,

or wherever you get your podcasts. And to hear the entire new season ad free with exclusive content, subscribe to Lava for Good Plus on Apple Podcasts. In 1998, Paul Staveniord went on trial. He was accused of killing his neighbors, Rick Beery and Debbie Rehor. Over the course of eight weeks, the jury heard conflicting testimony from dozens of witnesses from both sides. Even Gavin Saha, the man who camped near Rick Beery's dead body, testified. All of it left the jurors looking puzzled and confused

and wondering who the real Paul Stavanyard was. He went on the run pretty quickly when it became obvious that he was the focus of their investigation. And he was able to stay on the run for quite a while. Judge Eric Smith presided over the trial that had divided the small Alaskan town. It hit the community pretty hard. I think the circumstances of it, the manner in which they were killed, was also pretty shocking. And I know that Mr. Stavanger's supporters were very affected by the whole story. They just couldn't believe he did it. You always wonder what's come of our community when something like this happens.

Prosecutors would have to prove beyond a reasonable doubt that the soft-spoken defendant was capable of murdering his neighbors. But they were limited in what they could say. We kept his criminal history out of the case. So the jury didn't know about his criminal history. The time Paul stole a car? Inadmissible. The time Paul robbed a liquor store? Inadmissible. And the time Paul robbed a bank?, inadmissible, and the time Paul robbed a bank, also inadmissible. I found that Mr. Stavanger's criminal history, especially the armed robbery and the escape,

would tend to make the jury think he was a criminal and therefore make him more likely to have done what the state alleged he had done. So prosecutors had to rely on DNA evidence found on Debbie Rehor that pointed back to Paul Staveniord. The autopsy on Ms. Rehor's body revealed there was evidence of sex. They found semen on her body and they did a DNA test. The DNA did match with what was found on Ms. Rehor. In their opening statement, the defense team surprised everyone

when they admitted Paul did shoot Rick Beery. But they said he did not shoot Debbie Rehor. And they claimed the sex between Debbie and Paul was consensual. All of this caused the courtroom to stir. Mr. Stavenjord, he and his attorneys didn't say much of anything publicly until opening statements in the trial. So it was pretty dramatic. The defense also called a half dozen witnesses who spoke to Paul Stavenjord's peaceful and

spiritual demeanor. But first, they spent a lot of time attacking the character of one of the victims, Rick Beery. They painted a picture of Mr. Beery as a very difficult, arrogant, angry man. A handful of neighbors testified that Rick and Paul did not like one another and that they often clashed. One of the run-ins had to do with Mr. Beery believing that Mr. Stavenjord had taken some

equipment from their cabin and confronted Stavenjord about it. The defense also called a half dozen witnesses who spoke to Paul Stavenjord's peaceful and spiritual demeanor. They did say that he had become this very mellow mountain man, that he lived a simple life and that he was an artisan. He made this jewelry and he was a flute player and kind of a very new agey kind of guy. And then the defense pointed out that troopers found a flute in Rick and Debbie's cabin, one they believe was a gift from Paul.

They painted a picture of Mr. Stavengjord having very antagonistic relationships with Mr. Beery, but a very good relationship with Ms. Rehor. And so they tried to persuade the jury that it would be a natural thing under those circumstances for Ms. Rehor and Mr. Stavengjord to have this sexual relationship. On the stand,. Stavengjord to have this sexual relationship. On the stand, Paul Stavengjord took several deep breaths and spoke very slowly as he discussed

how he cared for Debbie. He's an articulate, intelligent man, and he was pretty calm and collected on the stand. He said that on the Friday before Memorial Day weekend in 1997, he was out on a walk and bumped into Debbie. Mr. Stavanger had claimed that he met Ms. Rehor on kind of a grassy knoll above the creek and they had sex together. So the DNA match came from the consensual sex that he claimed he had with Ms. Rehor. But afterwards, everything changed.

And I think he was playing his flute for her when Mr. Beery showed up on his four-wheeler and got very upset and started shooting. According to Paul Savignorn's testimony, Rick Beery yelled, I'm going to blow your head off, pulled out his gun, and fired at Paul. But Rick missed and struck and killed his wife Debbie. He accidentally shot his wife in the head and Mr. Stavenjord returned fire and shot Mr. Beery in the head. He was shooting at me and I believed that I was going to be killed. That was the voice of Paul Stignard on the witness stand,

describing what happened. It seems like an awful coincidence that she would actually have been hit by a stray bullet. District Attorney Bill Estell. His scenario was that they were having consensual sex, that when they heard the approach of a four-wheeler, he stood up to see who it was, which one wonders why would one stand up where somebody can see you.

And that Rick Berry saw him-defense at some number of yards with a cheap little.22 pistol standing there naked. It was implausible. During cross-examination, Paul Staveniord said his story was so outrageous that he didn't think anyone would believe him. The details about his relationship were totally at odds with everybody in Deborah's acquaintance, her family, her co-workers, her friends. None of what he described was believable to them that she would have behaved in that way.

Paul Staveniore testified that afterwards, he felt sadness, terror, hopelessness, shame, guilt, and remorse. So, he panicked, and said he got rid of the evidence. He picked up bullet casings and burned his clothes. Even with his bad back, he said he managed to drag Debbie's body under some tree limbs. He said Rick's body had floated away to a deep hole in a creek, and that's where he left it. His story was inconsistent with what he said first. Paul agreed and admitted he'd lied to troopers and even to his friends.

Here's more from Judge Eric Smith, who presided over the trial. Mr. Stavanger lied a lot. The prosecution, you know, relied quite heavily on the fact that he lied. Paul Stavanyard said one lie led to another. And that's when he realized he was in too deep. And in order to keep his story straight, he wrote down what happened. He had a journal. And in the part of the journal, he had written out notes.

And it appeared it was like he was writing down the story he was going to tell the troopers about where he was and what he did. her life together? Go for it. She could be waiting another 10 years before she finds the right guy. Connie didn't meet her right guy until you were what, 50 Connie? How long have you guys been together? Yeah, no, 52. 52. I adopted my son as a single mom because I kept thinking, oh, I'm gonna meet the guy, I'm gonna meet the guy, I'm gonna meet the guy. I finally was like, what am I waiting for? And I did it. And I'm just so glad that I did. I want to change the narrative about single parents and also help to create a community for single parents so that they can not feel alone in it. One of the big things is it's so hard,

especially for women, to ask for help. Listen to Dear Chelsea on the iHeartRadio app, Apple Podcasts, or wherever you get your podcasts. I'm Soledad O'Brien, and on my podcast, Murder on the Towpath, I'm taking you back to the 1960s. Mary Pinchot-Meyer was a painter who lived in Georgetown in Washington, D.C. Every day she took a daily walk along the towpath near the E&O canal. So when she was killed in a wealthy neighborhood, She had been shot twice in the head and in the back behind the heart.

The police arrived in a heartbeat. Within 40 minutes, a man named Raymond Crump, Jr. was arrested. He was found nearby, soaking wet, and he was black. Only one woman dared defend him, civil rights lawyer, Dubby Roundtree. Join me as we unravel this story with a crazy twist because what most people didn't know

is that Mary was connected to a very powerful man. I pledge you that we shall neither commit nor provoke aggression. John F. Kennedy. Listen to Murder on the Toe Path with Soledad O'Brien on the iHeartRadio app, Apple podcasts, or wherever you get your podcasts. It's the early days of COVID, April 2020. A woman in a small town in Oklahoma makes a strange post to Facebook and then disappears.

I'm on day nine of this virus and I am pretty sure it has reached my lungs. I made the decision at the onset that if it got bad enough, I would not go to the hospital. Pretty quickly, a ragtag group of women on the internet start their own investigation. It felt like I was living out one of my fantasy dreams of being a detective. But the world they uncover is beyond their wildest imagination. How did this happen? Listen to What Happened to Talina Czar on the iHeartRadio app, Apple Podcasts, or wherever you get your podcasts. Something unexpected happened after Jeremy Scott confessed to killing Michelle Schofield

in Bone Valley Season 1. I just knew him as a kid. Long silent voices from his past came forward. And he was just staring at me. And they had secrets of their own to share. Um, Gilbert King. I'm the son of Jeremy Lynn Scott. I was no longer just telling the story. I was part of it. Every time I hear about my dad, it's, oh, he's a killer. He's just straight evil.

I was becoming the bridge between a killer and the son he'd never known. If the cops and everything would have done their job properly, my dad would have been in jail. I would have never existed. I never expected to find myself in this place. Now, I need to tell you how I got here. At the end of the day, I'm literally a son of a killer. Bone Valley, season two.

Jeremy. Jeremy, I want to tell you something. Listen to new episodes of Bone Valley Season 2 on the iHeart Radio app, Apple Podcasts, or wherever you get your podcasts. And to hear the entire new season ad-free with exclusive content, subscribe to Lava for Good Plus on Apple Podcasts.

Jers had to decide who was the real Paul Staveniord, a loner who snapped and killed his neighbors Rick Beery and Debbie Rehor, or a peaceful, flu-plane mountain man who killed Rick Beery in self-defense. It was a hotly contested case, and there was a lot of emotion running through it. Judge Eric Smith presided over the case. So the whole notion of Mr. Stavanger being this peaceful guy and Mr. Beery being this angry guy was very essential to their case.

Paul Stavanger testified that Rick Beery caught him having an affair with his wife, and then took out his gun and fired at him. But the bullet hit Debbie by mistake. Paul said he returned fire and killed Rick in self-defense. They played into this sort of mellow guy in the wilderness, and the flute was a key piece of the picture they painted. According to Paul, he played his flute for Debbie just before the two of them had sex. And that's when things in the courtroom got even more weird.

Paul's lawyer asked the judge to allow Paul to play the song he performed for Debbie. So the flute playing would play into the effort they were trying to make of him as a peaceful man. And they were certainly allowed to make that argument, just as the defense was allowed up to a point to make the argument that Mr. Beery was a violent man because it was a self-defense case. Ultimately, none of the jurors got to hear Paul play his flute, although he did have his courtroom performance. I decided that that was of utterly no relevance to the jury, but the attorney insisted that he play the flute for the record.

So at the end of the trial day one day, I excused the jury, sent them home, and then had him play the flute. And I will tell you, he was really good. He was really good. Relatives of Rick and Debbie were furious that Paul was allowed to play the flute. It probably felt really inconsequential and performative. So they got up and walked out of the courtroom. Meanwhile, Paul's supporters sat and listened. Meanwhile, Paul's supporters sat and listened. The environment was tense and the tension was palpable. Assistant District Attorney Bill Estell

The families of Rick Beery and Debbie Rehor were there throughout, and they were living through the nightmare and on the other side were the people that were there to support Stavenjord because they believed in him. During closing arguments, prosecutors admitted they didn't know the exact reason why Paul Stavenjord killed Debbie Rehor and Rick Beery. But they were certain he did it. He just decided that he was going to take things not just from Rick Beery's cabin, but take his wife, take his life, and take everything he had. After two long months, it was up to the jurors to decide who the real Paul Stavenjorn was. Well, you're always nervous because you have to prove a case beyond a reasonable doubt.

And keep in mind, the jury never heard about Paul Stavenjorn's previous crimes, including his 1971 bank heist. They weren't familiar with the fact that he was a bank robber, that he had had a violent past. Three days passed before the jury handed Judge Eric Smith their verdict. Mr. Stavenjord was convicted of murder in the first degree for killing Mr. Beery and murder in the first degree for killing Ms. Rehor. The jury found Paul Staveniord guilty on the two biggest charges,

but acquitted him of sexual assault. One of the jurors told a local reporter that he found Paul Staveniord to be evasive and unbelievable on the stand. On his sentencing day, Paul Staveniord had the opportunity to address the court. It was called the right of allocution. And I was very curious what his allocution was going to be. So when I asked him if he wanted to say anything, he said, and I believe this is all he said,

you have convicted an innocent man. I kind of expected, given the nature of the tragedy, that he would have shown some remorse or some sorrow or some recognition about what an awful thing that had happened. And he didn't. And I sentenced him to 99 years on each count. And then I made those sentences consecutive. The judge wanted to make sure Paul Savignord would never experience freedom again. Even 99 years concurrently would make that true. But Judge Smith wanted to make a point. I don't think there was any other appropriate sentence. Assistant DA Billestell. I think it was a foregone conclusion that he would get the maximum sentence on each

count because it was just malice of forethought. I believe Judge Smith in his remarks made it very clear that they all suffered and that the sentence should reflect that. But this case didn't end there. In my opinion, this is a travesty of justice. That's Paul's friend, Keith Beha. I read somewhere that the initial vote among the jury was 9 to 3. So there were some of the jurors who weren't convinced

that first degree murder was the appropriate charge. A local newspaper report backed up that story. But ultimately, the jury voted unanimously to convict Paul. However, the case had a new development about the murder weapon, which could change everything. Well, after the trial and the conviction, Paul went to the judge with the allegation that he had used a rifle, not a pistol, to return fire. The prosecution was focused on this Jennings pistol, which incidentally is a low-quality

pistol, as the murder weapon. Paul had told him he had a rifle that day, a Marlin rifle. That was the weapon that he returned fire with, not that junk pistol. But the attorneys chose to have Paul testify that he used the Jennings pistol, and he did, against his better judgment. In other words, Paul claimed he used a rifle to shoot and kill Rick Beery. But his lawyer said he used a pistol. So which weapon was the murder weapon? His attorneys, you know, gave him bad advice about testifying about his use of a pistol.

Making things even more confusing, during the trial, the prosecutors argued the murder weapon still had not been found. None of that made any sense to me. After his conviction, Paul Stavanyard's attorney asked to withdraw from the case. They cited a total breakdown in their attorney-client relationship. Then, Paul petitioned the court for a hearing where he would tell the court where to find the rifle.

And he drew a diagram of where the rifle could be recovered. And the diagram was given to the troopers. The troopers went there and did recover the rifle. All of that turned the case upside down and led to more hearings. After Mr. Stavangerd was convicted, he made a claim that he had been ineffectively assisted by his attorneys. Judge Eric Smith listened as Paul attacked his defense team. Put simply, Mr. Staveniord requested a new trial because he argued that his attorneys made him lie. I had an extended evidentiary hearing to determine whether in fact the attorneys had provided an effective assistance to counsel.

Two years after Paul Staveniord was convicted, the two defense attorneys who originally represented Paul stood in front of Judge Smith. They defended themselves against allegations that they ignored evidence and forced Paul to lie on the stand. His former lawyers fought back and told Judge Smith, they weren't the problem. It was Paul's persistent dishonesty.

And Paul's new lawyer wanted a do-over. They filed a motion for new trial arguing that his attorneys had convinced him to make this story up. And I denied that motion. I found that his attorneys had done a fully adequate job. He had highly competent attorneys at all stages of this, both the two, the representative initially and then the public defender agency when they took it over. But still, Judge Smith said his decision was a close call.

Today, Paul Staveniord remains in prison. And all these years later, people still wonder what really happened over Memorial Day 1997. Was Paul Stavingord a cold-blooded murderer? Or did the finding of that rifle mean an entirely different story had unfolded in the woods? Here's Paul's friend Keith Beha. That appeal was denied and that's the end of it. What's happened has happened and that can't be changed.

Paul's a friend, has been a friend, still is a friend. I'd like to see him released. If somehow that could happen, I'd do everything I could to help him get situated in a positive situation. Here's author Robin Barefield. Paul Staveniord is probably what people think of when they think of a loner living in the Alaska wilderness. I think it was a case of Paul Staveniord probably spending too much time in the wilderness with his own thoughts.

And I think it was just a matter of him snapping. And this would not be the first time or the one of those stories of a loner who terrorized another tiny Alaskan town. I'm Sloane Glass. Join me as we head to Manly Hot Springs for the case of Michael Silka. That's next time on American Homicide. You can contact the American Homicide team by emailing us at americanhomicidepod at gmail.com. That's americanhomicidepod at gmail.com. That's American Homicide Pod at gmail.com.

American Homicide is hosted and written by me, Sloane Glass, and is a production of Glass Podcasts, a division of Glass Entertainment Group in partnership with iHeart Podcasts. The show is executive produced by Nancy Glass and Todd Gans. The series is also written and produced by Todd Gantz, with additional writing by Ben Federman and Andrea Gunning.

Our associate producer is Kristen Malkuri. Our I Heart team is Allie Perry and Jessica Kreincheck. Audio editing, mixing and mastering by Nico Oruka. American Homicide's theme song was composed by Oliver Baines of Noiser, music library provided by MyMusic. and Mastering by Nico Oruka. American Homicide's theme song was composed by Oliver Baines of Noiser Music Library provided by MyMusic. Follow American Homicide on Apple Podcasts

and please rate and review American Homicide. Your five star review goes a long way towards helping others find this show. For more podcasts from iHeart, visit the iHeart radio app, Apple Apple podcasts, or wherever you get your podcasts. This week on Dear Chelsea with me, Chelsea Handler, Connie Britton is here. I think you should encourage your friend to go ahead and not be holding out for any man to have her babies. She could be waiting another 10 years before she finds the right guy.

Connie didn't meet her right guy until you were what, 50 Connie? 52. 52. 52. I kept thinking, oh, I'm going to meet the guy, I'm going to meet the guy, I'm going to meet the guy. I finally was like, what am I waiting for? And I did it.

And I'm just so glad that I did. Listen to Dear Chelsea on the iHeartRadio app, Apple Podcasts, or wherever you get your podcasts. Something unexpected happened after Jeremy Scott confessed to killing Michelle Schofield in Bone Valley Season 1. Every time I hear about my dad, it's, oh, he's a killer. He's just straight evil. I was becoming the bridge between Jeremy Scott and the son he'd never known.

At the end of the day, I'm literally a son of a killer. Listen to new episodes of Bone Valley Season 2 on the iHeart Radio app, Apple podcasts, or wherever you get your podcasts. It's April 2020. A woman announces on Facebook that she has COVID and won't be seeking medical attention. I didn't want to be talked out of this plan. Then she disappears. Anyone else think this is strange?

I just had to know. How did this happen? Listen to What Happened to Talina's R on the iHeartRadio app, Apple podcasts, or wherever you get your podcasts. Heart Radio app, Apple Podcasts, or wherever you get your podcasts. I'm Soledad O'Brien, and on my new true crime podcast, Murder on the Towpath, I'm taking you back to 1964 to the cold case of artist Mary Pinchot-Meyer. She had been shot twice in the head and in the back.

It turns out Mary was connected to a very powerful man. I pledge you that we shall neither commit nor promote aggression. John F. Kennedy. Listen to Murder on the Toe Path with Soledad O'Brien on the iHeartRadio app, Apple Podcasts, or wherever you get your podcast. You're listening to an iHeart Podcast.