Cold Case Files - Murder in the Bayou: Horror in Starkville Mississippi

Episode Date: April 1, 2025

When Betty Jones, 65, and Kathryn Crigler, 81, are brutally attacked in a 1990 home invasion, the tiny community of Starkville, MS is left living in fear. Decades pass, until a detective devotes himself to cracking the case using new technology.This Episode is sponsored by BetterHelpBetterHelp: Visit BetterHelp.com/COLDCASE to get 10% off your first month.Greenlight: Start your risk free trial today at Greenlight.com/coldcaseProgressive: Multitask right now. Quote your car insurance at Progressive.com to join the over 28 million drivers who trust Progressive.See Privacy Policy at https://art19.com/privacy and California Privacy Notice at https://art19.com/privacy#do-not-sell-my-info.

Hi, cold case listeners. I'm Marissa Pinson. And if you're enjoying this show, I just want to remind you that episodes of cold case files as well as the A&E classic podcasts, I survived, American justice and city confidential are all available ad free on the new A&E crime and investigation channel on Apple podcasts and Apple plus for just $4.99 a month or $39.99 a year. And now on to the show. a month or $39.99 a year. And now onto the show. This program contains subject matter that may be disturbing to some listeners. Listener discretion is advised. Ms. Kruegler and Aunt Vette were very much loved. Why would someone attack these two wonderful ladies? I think you're sticking ahead if you're gonna prey on elderly women.

This was a brutal, brutal crime. Something this horrific, it's not supposed to happen in small town Starfield. There was a sense that there was some evil lurking in the community. I think we worked every lead out and we're begging for more. I just felt it was going to be solved.

Something's going to happen. And until it does, I will fight tooth and nail to make sure it does. There are over 100,000 cold cases in America. Only about 1% are ever solved. This is one of those rare stories. Starkville, Mississippi, a town with a population of 24,000 people, located roughly 125 miles northeast of Mississippi's capital, Jackson.

Andrea Self is a local reporter. People think of catfish when they think of Mississippi's capital, Jackson. Andrea Self is a local reporter. People think of catfish when they think of Mississippi. We produce a lot and we fry a lot and we eat a lot here in the state of Mississippi. Blues has its roots here in Mississippi. BB King, Elvis Presley. I am Starkville born and raised. What I love about Starkville is it has that quaintness

that one might associate with a Bayou town. Just about everybody here knows everybody else. I remember as a young child, riding horses, riding bikes, exploring in the creek. You know, it had a lot of crawdads or crawfish or whatever the little varmints are. And we were always out there looking for the alligator. People refer to us as a small town and we are,

but we're not a sleepy town. We are a college town, Mississippi State University. And so we have a very diverse community here. As safe as you felt in Starkville, there is always an awareness that something bad can happen. But nothing as heinous as we saw on Labor Day of 1990. We always had the awareness that we had to be careful, but did we think something like that would happen in our little town? Absolutely not. On September 3rd, 1990, Labor Day

weekend, dispatchers in Starkville get an emergency call from a local resident, 81-year-old Catherine Krigler. What's the problem, man? Well, this tonight is no terrible thing. There was one single young man, and he went in the front room where my friend was sleeping, and he came back in with his hands all bloody. And then he raped me. Catherine Krigler clings to life as her friend in the room next door succumbs to her injuries. I know what I did. It's just terrible. You know where this man went?

No, he's been gone. He kept threatening me that he was going to cut me up like my friend. OK, ma'am. That's all right. They're on their way. We're 10 to 9 minutes to, OK? Yeah, you better. I'm so tired. OK, ma'am. That's OK. They're on their way. We're 10 to 9 minutes too, okay? Yeah, you bet. I'm so tired.

Okay, ma'am, it's okay. They're on their way right now. Dolph Bryan is the former sheriff of Octoba County. I got called to come down to Ms. Krigler's house on 82 Highway and that Ms. Krigler and Betty Jones were there. It wasn't far away. I only lived maybe a half a mile from that location. I've been knowing Ms. Krigler since I was a little boy and I knew Betty since I was a little boy because we all went to the same church. They were nice to everybody, kind. I didn't have a lot of information. Just it had been a horrible crime there. When I arrived, Ms. Krigler was not there.

She had been transported to the hospital. Betty, she was in the house. I went in. Baseball game was still playing when I arrived. That's where the TV was in the living room, and that's where Betty's body was. Betty died from a knife wound to the throat, and it was it was bloody and it

was a brutal killing. This one would rank up with some of the worst that I've ever seen. I've seen a lot. When you see a friend of yours that's been brutalized like that, it's something that never goes away. Jennifer McQuarter is Taylor Betty Jones's niece. It was around 1040. The phone rang. And I thought it was my boyfriend calling at the time. And I thought, oh crap, I am in so much trouble

because my parents had a do not call past 10 o'clock rule. My dad answered the phone. And a relative of Miss Krigglers is on the other line. When my dad got off the phone, he told my mom something's happened, and they're saying that Betty's been murdered. And I can remember feeling so devastated, and so mad, and so angry,

and just wanting to know why. It was like, you know, what am I going to do without Aunt Bet? Aunt Bet was very much loved by the Star Bowl community. One reason was the Mississippi State baseball team. Jason Jones is Betty's step-grandson. One of the things that Mama Betty did at Mississippi State was she was the team mom, which was so cool. Betty would step in and make sure that they

felt they had home-cooked meals. She would bring bubble gum to the field to keep them from doing chewing tobacco. She was just a very kind and selfless person. Aunt Bettleway said, I've been blessed and I want to bless others. Betty was staying with Catherine, whose family was away at the time of the attacks.

Juki Hold is Catherine Krigler's granddaughter. Betty was more than happy to come over there and stay with my granny that night. A few years prior to the Labor Day incident, my granny had some medical complications and ended up having to have her leg amputated. The operation was just one of the many challenges that my granny overcame.

She is one of the strongest women I've ever known. She was an amazing pianist, and she also loved to sing. And singing in the choir at church, Betty was very active at the Presbyterian Church, and that's how Betty and my granny were so close. Why would someone attack two ladies that didn't pose a threat to anyone? Why did this have to happen? Investigators examined the crime scene. They pieced together what happened earlier that night. There was a knock at the door and Betty Jones went to the door.

She opened the door and once she opened the door, the person on the other side came in and immediately attacked her. He stabbed her. He then proceeded to another area of the house, which is where Katherine Krigler was. She was in a wheelchair. The perpetrator then finds her and proceeds to rape her. When Katherine wakes, the killer is gone, apparently leaving her for dead. She was able to somehow crawl to a telephone in another part of the house, call 911 to

beg for help. What's wrong, man? It's a whole I don't know. The fact that my 81-year-old granny survived such a traumatic event, to this day, I am still astonished at my granny's strength. Over and over again, we heard that this was a heinous, but haphazard crime scene. Nothing of value was taken.

There was a little bit of money that had been taken from one of the purses. It just did not give any clear answers as to why this happened, why someone came in and did this to these women. I didn't think it was personal because I don't think Ms. Krigler or Betty Jones would have ever made anybody mad enough to do this.

There was a sense that there was some evil lurking in the community. And it was scary. We started collecting evidence. We were looking for a very sharp knife. We never found one. There was other evidence collected. There were fingerprints.

The suspect apparently left a cigarette packaging there. The specific brand were only sold at two stores in town. We had some cigarette butts. Nobody in the house smoked. Pretty good reasoning that the perpetrator of the crime had left these cigarette butts. DNA was new to us. Get DNA from solalas. At the hospital, evidence is collected from Katherine.

In 1990, investigators collected this evidence, this rape kit. There was nothing they could do with it at that time, but someone had some foresight to know that this evidence might lead to something someday. Despite her life-threatening injuries, Katherine is still able to give detectives critical information about her attacker. She told them that it was a white male. She said he had blue eyes, swore the complexion,

and dirty blonde hair. We put out a drawing of what we thought. Ms. Krigler told us she gave a good description. If you got a picture description, you can come up with something. You got to solve this thing. You want to catch him as fast as you can. A person that's go commit this kind of crime,

these people are different creatures. Whoever did this is probably go do it again. The Labor Day murders shook the entire community. In 1990, there was no social media. The newspaper the next day went extensively into what happened. We were all invested in finding out who did this, why did they do this, and who's next. People were fortifying the houses because of this crime. They would call, what can I do?

Well, you make sure your house is secure. You need good locks. You need good windows. Something this horrific shouldn't happen in Starville, Mississippi. And when it does, it just kind of rocks the whole community. Investigators soon begin an intensive search for suspects. We talked to people, we checked people out,

we took written statements. We had all kinds of people who were trying to help. We had all kinds of information that people would call and say, I saw so-and-so. I think that initially that's kind of where the focus was, and that maybe this is not somebody who is a Starkville person. This is an outsider who has come in and done this really

horrible thing in our town. Ms. Krigler lived on Highway 82. It was the main thoroughfare through Starfield going east to west. But before detectives are able to look too far outside Starkville, they receive a call about a local man, Catherine's neighbor, 19-year-old Evan Fager. The name Evan Fager comes up because he fit the description Catherine Kruegler had given to detectives, and he lived a couple of houses down from where this took place.

And there are people who knew that he had this fascination with knives and Betty Jones was stabbed. He had a knife sharpening business. We knew it was a sharp knife was an instrument of death. Police also hear that on the night of the murder, Fager threw a party and some of the guests noticed something odd. Locals are saying that he had left the party at some point during the night and that

possibly he had made the trek to Katherine Krigler's home. Police come across other red flags. They also learned that he smoked the same brand of cigarettes that were found there at the house. He was right down the street. There seemed to be a lot of things that sort of put Evan Fager closer to the top of that list of people of interest. When Fager is asked whether he attacked Betty and Katherine, his response is troubling. He said that the good Evan wouldn't do this, but the bad Evan could do this. He was making sort of ambiguous statements about whether or not he would have or could

have committed this crime. We may have our guy here, because this is a lot of evidence that kind of points to this guy. The word kind of got out in the community that Evan Fager did it. Maybe this guy might have been involved. Between the things they found in the house, the things that they've learned about him, the evidence against Evan Fager keeps stacking and stacking and leading in his direction. Police bring Evan to the station and ask why he left his own party. The alibi that Evan Fager ends up giving detectives is that he had been with his girlfriend at the time that the murder happened.

Evan's girlfriend backs up his story, yet doubts about this Starkville local remained. Evan still got a lot of bad press because it just got out that Evan Fager did it. And that's what everybody was saying. Evan Fager did it. Despite the local whispers, Evan Fager is never charged with any crime. The reason we did not see an arrest of Evan Fager is because the evidence was circumstantial. They did not have a hard piece of evidence that connected him to that house at that time, to that crime.

Detectives collect Fager's DNA before letting him go. They carefully store it with the DNA samples from cigarette butts and the rape kit, hoping that someday this DNA might provide crucial information. I thought we would solve this case. I thought DNA would solve it for us. But at that time, we had such a small, small, small amount of DNA that we didn't have enough to work the case. You know, you had to take it the best you can

and do the best you can with what you got. We just had to wait. Aunt Bette's funeral was held at First Presbyterian Church in Stratville, Mississippi. It was chosen because that's Aunt Bette's church that she grew up in and was still a member of. It was a packed funeral. I think it was standing room only.

One thing y'all remember is watching the baseball team walking out behind Aunt Bette's casket. They were honorary of Paul Berris. As a kid, as I was thinking about who had done this, it really was scary. You find out that monsters are real and that they can come after the people that you love. This show is sponsored by BetterHelp. Let's be honest, taking care of your mental health

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Progressive Casualty Insurance Company and Affiliate not available in all states or situations. Prices vary based on how you buy. Two months after Betty's murder, Katherine also passes away. The funeral is just a blur. It was still so surreal and shocking that just, you just couldn't believe that this really happened. I do think she was just eaten up alive with feeling guilty of about Betty. She didn't want to eat. She didn't want to survive. The attack, the rape, the trauma was absolutely the demise of my granny. I passed by that house in some manner, everyday problem. It reminds you of that terrible incident

that happened in that house. I think it gives you an incentive that you got to solve this thing. It's really frustrating to have a crime that so many people are looking at you to solve. And these people are your friends and neighbors. It was a tremendous amount of work that went into that case. A lot of other agencies helped us. It just went nationwide.

Three years into the investigation, the case is also featured on a popular true crime series. Startwell BD had reached out and said to the producers, we have this case. And at that point in time, that's when America's Most Wanted became involved. We were hopeful that this might help shed some light on it. Maybe somebody will recognize this person or somebody will say something or hear something. It got several phone calls, but nothing really panned out.

But then the tips stopped coming into the Starkville PD and the investigation into the Labor Day murder goes cold. For years, my mom was the one that kind of stayed in touch with the police. I just came in and took over. You could tell it was wearing on her. I thought he would get caught, but as the years kept going by, you start losing hope. Bill Lott is a retired investigator from the Starkville Police Department. In 2004, approximately 14 years later, I take over the Labor Day murder case.

Detective Lott takes another look at the evidence saved from the original investigation. As far as the prints, all fingerprints that were taken at the scene were sent to the crime lab. But no suspects were ever able to be developed from those fingerprints. Science was evolving and a knew DNA was evolving. We tried on some of the cigarettes and never got a DNA profile and it's quite obvious the reason we didn't was because it was packaged in plastic. In 1990 they put almost everything in plastic and plastic is not a friend to DNA. You know, bacteria can grow in there or whatever. But the evidence from Catherine's assault kit is properly stored and unaffected by moisture.

It's all preserved in cardboard boxes and stuff. And there's blood vials and all that. And I'm like, man, if we could just get this profile developed on this sexual assault kit, we have a good strong piece of evidence. George Skiro is the director of the Scales Biological Laboratory. In 2005, the Starkville Police Department sent the sexual assault kit from Ms. Kriegler to Scales Biological Laboratory. The evidence collection back in 1990 was done properly and the DNA was

preserved. And as long as they're stored under climate controlled conditions, the DNA will last for many, many years. I get a call. They got a semen-based DNA profile. I said, holy crap, that's direct evidence from the suspect. The profile could be the smoking gun in this case. Now we just have to match it to a person. Once I have the semen-based DNA profile,

I'm able to go through that case file and start trying to eliminate person. Once I have the semen-based DNA profile, I'm able to go through that case file and start trying to eliminate people. We have five or six suspect sexual assault kits, and one that is of interest to everybody is Evan Fegers. Even years later, locals still whisper about Katherine Krigler's young neighbor. Him being the number one suspect, he'd never died. I run into people all the time that were convinced it was Evan. There's no way if I'm Evan that I'm going to live in Starville.

Later on, he was living way, away from here. When his DNA was submitted and it did not match Mr. Fager to the sample that was found for Ms. Kruegler, That excluded him as being the killer. I'm sorry for Evan Fager having to carry that load that he had to carry. Evan Fager took some really, really bad talk about him and this crime. Because of the magnitude and the scope and the violence of those murders

of those two elderly ladies, you'd be hard pressed not to have Evan come out of that not guilty. And then ultimately, you would hope he wouldn't get the death penalty if that happened, but you can't be assured that won't happen. At that point, I started the marathon of going through a whole bunch of people.

When you're talking blonde hair and blue eyes and tan, that's not an unusual thing in Mississippi. So we went through those as well. The sample that was collected from Ms. Kriegler's sexual assault kit was uploaded into CODIS, which is the National DNA Index System. But however, there were no hits. The case stalls once again, until 2013, when detectives learn of what could be a promising lead.

Newspapers have reported on the arrest of a suspected serial killer, Felix Vale, southwest of Starkville in Louisiana's Bayou country. Hugo Holland is a Louisiana special prosecutor. Felix Vale was 74 years old when I had him arrested for the murder of his wife in October of 1962. The Felix Vale case was tried in Calcasieu Parish. That's the parish in Louisiana where Lake Charles is located. Lake Charles, Louisiana is right on the coast. It's got bayous and waterways and lakes. It was in one of those waterways

that Vail's wife disappeared. Felix Vail's story to authorities was that he and his wife had set out some trot lines. His wife fell out of their boat and he can't find her. The body was found a few days later. Authorities at the time found it to be extremely unusual and Vail was investigated at the time, but when be extremely unusual, and Vale was investigated at the time. But when the coroner ruled the death a drowning, an accidental death, that was pretty much

the end of the investigation. It didn't resurface again until roughly 2013 because of the work of an investigative reporter. She didn't drown. She was dead before she went in the water. The reporter examines how two other women close to Vale mysteriously vanished without a trace. He had really beautiful blue eyes. And he had the blonde hair, and he was very tan.

And he had been from a little community, about 30, 40 minutes from Startville. So that intrigued us. And so I keep digging around, come to find out. In 1990, Felix Vail worked in the Startville Cafe as a dishwasher, which would be roughly two blocks from where the victim lived. So here we have, down in the bayou,

somebody who could be the serial killer. And here we have him close to the time frame when the murder and the rape took place. You're starting to paint a picture there of somebody that certainly needs to be interviewed. I was like, wow, I certainly got to go get his DNA. I'm excited and thinking maybe this is going to be your guy. It is logical for the Starksville police,

once they know we've got what we think to be a serial killer, to try to see if our serial killer that we're prosecuting in Lake Charles and who happened to live 25 miles for their victims had something to do with those homicides. He obviously was somebody that they needed logically to look at. I go to the jail to see Felix Vail and he's looking at me and he said what's going on? I could see where he could be charismatic. He spoke well. He could be friendly and gregarious and he's definitely an intelligent person. You know, the devil ain't gonna come at you with a pitchfork and horns. Some of the most likeable characters I've met have been killers. They can charm you if you don't watch it.

Felix denies any involvement in the murder and assault of Betty and Catherine. He's also reluctant to provide a sample of his DNA. I had a DNA search warrant, so I go over there and swab him, and I get out of there. We analyzed it and compared it to the sample from Ms. Kriegler's sexual assault kit. Felix Vail's DNA was not a match, so that

effectively ruled him out as the person who murdered Ms. Jones and attacked Ms. Kriegler. It's now 2018, 28 years after the Labor Day attacks. I knew I couldn't quit. I had to wait for the science. So I continue on working, and I'm reading and learning about genetic genealogy. DNA profile from the Kriegler-Jones case failed to match any DNA samples that were in the Mississippi or the national database. But for genetic genealogy, we widen the net of any potential DNA matches. If you are able to make an association between a sample and someone that's in a genetic genealogy database, then they could work back and create a family tree

to potentially identify a suspect. Forensic genealogists set to work. Just three months later, they get a match. When the genealogists did their work, there's potentially two brothers. One was a fairly well-to-do, successful businessman. The other one had a couple of run-ins with the law. Naturally law enforcement is going to start, at least, with the person who had the run-ins

with the law. When they came up with the name Michael Devon, this was someone who appeared to be a promising match. Police discover 51-year-old Michael Devon lives 100 miles outside of Starkville, near the town of Boonville. They find little else. As far as criminal databases, there was not a lot in there about him. miles outside of Starkville near the town of Boonville. They find little else. As far as criminal databases, there was not a lot in there about him.

This was someone who was never on detective's radar. That is, until DeVaughn is arrested on a drug charge in June 2018. They got Michael DeVaughn in jail, and so I need to run up to Boonville and get the DNA for Michael Devon. It needs to be confirmed that that person is the source of the DNA sample that was found on the evidence. In this case, discarded items were some cigarette butts and a water bottle that he had drank from. Mr. Devon was offered water and was allowed to smoke. And then he discarded the water bottle and the cigarette butts and those items were

then collected and we conducted a DNA analysis on those items. The results show that his DNA profile is a match. I'm riding home from Kroger with my groceries and about 630 I get a call and it's George Schreiber. He says, he says, Bill, you got your guy. That was surreal. We're finally going gonna solve this case. Before making an arrest, Detective Lott and his partner

planned to confront the suspect. And I said, we're gonna interview him. Let's try and get him to confess and own up to what he did and give us a motive. We know this is the guy. Kind of curious about what this is about, I'm sure. Yes, sir. So let's see what he's got to say for himself.

We're going to tell you everything. You have any idea why we're up here talking to you? No, sir. This message is sponsored by Greenlight. When I think about who taught me about money, I realize I learned most of it through trial and error as an adult. I turned out okay, but I'd like to give my kids a much better start. And now I can with Greenlight.

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we wanted to provide him an opportunity to give his side of the story and find out why he did what he did. Detectives questioned Devon about the time he spent in Starkville in his younger years. Why did you end up in Starkville? Uh, out of work. Like what kind of work? Construction. What's the name of the company you worked for, do you remember? It was with my uncle.

What kind of work did he do first? He only trained at fence. So he was building fences. His uncle was a sub-comm tractor, so they were building fences. When do you think the first time he came to Starle was? Maybe in 1990, maybe? 89, 90?

Somewhere, probably. OK. You stayed in the motel, right? In Starle. What did it look like? You remember anything? It had a swimming pool. A rectangle swimming pool right here,

then the part of the hotel. Yeah, that's the University Motel, what you talking about. He was staying in the University Motel, and the significance of that is, it's within six blocks of the crime scene. So he was placing himself in the time frame of 1990. Okay. We're obviously here for a reason. So he was placed to himself in the time frame of 1990. OK.

We're obviously here for a reason. We know what you did back there in the 20s and startling. We, we, it's 100% that you did it. And we have the, we have the physical evidence. You know, the most important thing, I think, is maybe to explain why you did it. I've been arrested several times for DUI, but I don't reckon I've gotten anything to hide. People might have some sympathy for you, you know. I'm not judging because I wasn't there.

I don't know what mindset you were when you were in your 20s. Yes sir, I know this day was coming. I've been expecting it a lot sooner than what it's here now. You know, technology is crazy, you know? And once the technology developed, we finally figured it out. It took a while. You say you know what went on and what happened? Yeah. Well, I think now's when I want to tell you

that I don't want to say nothing else. Michael Devon, at some point, decides he doesn't want to talk anymore. But we don't have to have a confession. With DNA evidence, police are confident they have enough for an arrest. Michael Devon is charged with both capital murder and sexual assault. He faces the possibility of death. My phone rings and it's Bill Lott. And he says, we got him.

I just remember standing there and just crying. And it was tears of joy and not sorrow. It was like, okay, we got him, ain't bet. We got him. When you see the person that did this type of crime, it was baffling to me. His photos made him look kind of sad, kind of run down. He did not look the part of the monster that we had in our mind's eye.

To have peace and know that this person was arrested, it was amazing. Thank you for joining us for this historical announcement for our community. The day we had the press conference, it was not planned, but that was the 93rd birthday of Betty. There's Betty. One-out birthday, Kay. I know I cried during that press conference, but I'm not ashamed of that. It was a good day.

Someone like Bill, you don't come across very often. My mom at one point said he's like a bulldog. He never gives up. But before DeVon faces the jury of his peers, he decides to make a deal. He was willing to plead to the charges to avoid the death penalty. DeVon is sentenced to life without parole.

To the frustration of the victims' families, he never explains why he committed the terrible crimes. I think what we've always felt that this just happened to be a crime of opportunity. That these were two vulnerable elderly women and perhaps in his coming to that door and knocking, perhaps there was a thought of a robbery or in some way stealing from these women. Maybe he thought they weren't home. Maybe he was surprised when she came to the door.

I don't know. I can't imagine what his motive would have been that night. Because everything was so haphazard, it didn't seem like a well-planned crime at all. I don't know if it was to rob the women or if it was drugs, whatever. It was just a horrible, horrible crime that there was no sense.

Good people do bad things, bad people do worse things. That's what it amounts to a lot of times. At DeVon's sentencing hearing, I looked at him one time, and then I had to look away, because I just, I saw evil. I told him that the hurt never goes away, and that I'm just thankful for this day, because this is a great day that justice is being served. I miss my granny so much.

She was one hell of a woman. She was strong. She could and would persevere in anything she was trying to do. She was pretty awesome. Mama Betty was just big in her spirit. When you were with her, you felt like you were the most important person in the world. I would give anything to have her back.

I miss St. Bets Spunk, her humor. She was just someone who was a huge encourager, who had a deep love for her family, and is still missed to this day. Pluto TV has all the shows and movies you love streaming for free. That means laughter is free with gut-busting comedies like The Neighborhood, Boomerang and Ferris Bueller's Day Off.

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