Cold Case Files - REOPENED: Circle of Friends

Episode Date: March 2, 2023

When a teenager goes missing in a small town investigators are desperate to identity a culprit, but few are willing to talk. Following a series of several dead ends and false leads, officers struggle to uncover who killed Shannon Siders.

Hey, Cold Case fans, we have something special for you. We're bringing you double the episodes every week. We know you dedicated fans need your fix in between new episodes. So every Thursday, we are back bringing some of our best episodes from previous seasons. Let us know which classic episodes you'd like to hear again in the comments. And don't worry, we'll see you back here every Tuesday for all new episodes of Cold Case Files 2. Now, on to the episode. On July 17th, 1989, Bob Siders kissed his daughter on the forehead. He told her he'd see her the next

day, then left for the night shift at the Pepsi plant where he worked. Shannon, who was 18, had plans of her own. She joined a group of teenagers for a party in the woods. Shannon had just graduated from high school, and she was enjoying her summer break. She might have gone to college in the fall or moved to Ohio to marry her boyfriend, but Shannon didn't do either one of those things. She didn't come home that night,

and Bob Siders never saw Shannon again. There are 120,000 unsolved murder cases in America. Each one is called a cold case. And only 1% are ever solved. From A&E, you're listening to Cold Case Files, the podcast. Can you keep a secret? Some people are better at it than others. I used to be a therapist.

I was in the business of keeping secrets. Some secrets are great, like a surprise party or a gift. A bad secret throw, an uncomfortable one, that's different. Those kind of secrets can be harmful. Let me explain. The logical part of most human brains wants to tell the truth. Let's just get the facts out there and move on. But when you keep a secret, that part of your brain can't move on and it slows down.

Meanwhile, the creative parts of your brain are imagining the outcomes of disclosing or not disclosing the hidden information. Basically, your brain is stuck on repeat. A person who has a negative secret cycling through their brain can be distracted or even not able to sleep. Sometimes, that secret causes health issues like high blood pressure or wrinkles. One of the worst parts of keeping a secret is when the secret randomly shows up in your thoughts. You can't push it away, and you're forced to once again think about the terrible thing that happened. How does this relate to Shannon's case, you might be wondering? Well, after Shannon was killed, two people shared a secret.

A dark, terrible secret. They had this secret inside of them for 20 years, showing up when they didn't want it to, reminding them of what happened to Shannon Siders. When Shannon didn't come home, her father began to search for her. When his initial search led nowhere, he called the police. Shannon was 18, though, and the police didn't seem too concerned. She might have just gone to be with her boyfriend. She might have just gone out on her own.

Bob Siders knew his daughter, and that didn't sound like her. I had missing person flyers printed up and sent copies of the flyers to every police post in the state. He went door to door looking for his daughter. If the police weren't going to search for her, that wouldn't stop him. He walked up and down the streets talking to everyone and hanging up flyers. Meanwhile, when Shannon remained missing, the police began their investigation. They did have a lead, according to Sheriff Pat Hedlund. One of the tips that came in indicated that there was a Shannon hiding out at a drug house in a nearby town.

The girl was hiding from her father, and she didn't want to go home. This is a small community. How many Shannons could be hiding from their dad? Because of Shannon's age and rumors that she was trying to get away from her overprotective father, police didn't tell Bob, assuming she was acting on her own volition as a legal adult. All the while, Bob Siders continued to search for his daughter. He'd go out into the woods with his dog and wander around looking for clues. Looking for anything. It wasn't until two months later that the police even thought of Shannon again.

A man found two ID cards and a pair of jeans along the road leading to the woods. The cards had Bob's name on them. Bob told the police that he'd given them to Shannon, but he couldn't say for sure if the jeans were hers or not. The police searched the area, but they didn't find anything that looked suspicious. Investigators eventually did go to the drug house to talk to Shannon, but it didn't do much good. Unfortunately, it wasn't the right Shannon. In October, almost three months later, a body was found in the same woods that the police and Bob Siders had searched.

A body that was so decomposed that dental records were needed for the identification. It was Shannon. Shannon's body was found almost three months to the day from when she was reported missing. Local medical examiner was brought in. The injuries were examined thoroughly. She had several injuries in several different locations. She was brutally beaten, and ultimately the cause of death was blunt force trauma to her head.

That was Mike Stevens, a cold case investigator. There was evidence that Shannon had been assaulted. Her shirt was pulled up. Her underwear was pulled down. Parts of her body had been cut and mutilated. One of her hands was missing, probably due to animals. Shannon's right hand, the one that was still there, provided some insight to investigators. Her class ring was missing. She never took it off. Shannon's father wanted to bury his daughter. He wanted to take care of her the only way he could now. I went to the local funeral home and made the arrangements for the funeral. One thing I knew for sure, she'd been in the wedge

for three months. I never viewed her, didn't want to. For the pallbearers, I had some difficulty with that because I felt that whoever killed her knew her. Not knowing who killed her, how do you pick pallbearers? I didn't use any of her friends, buddies, crowd that she hung with because of that. So I used cousins, and they were all females. Nobody knew who did it, so somebody's still out there. And I said, I don't want somebody that killed her to be a pallbearer. Shannon was the first person that had been murdered in this small town since the 1800s. The emotional impact was widespread.

Almost the entire high school attended Shannon's funeral. Some of Shannon's friends asked Bob if it was okay for them to drop letters into the casket. He agreed. And because they were Shannon's letters, he never looked at what they said. Secret words between Shannon and her friends. The investigation into Shannon's death is told in part by a team of cold case investigators. You've already heard from Mike Stevenson and Pat Hedlund, but you also meet Scott Rios, Adam Mercer, and John Forner. The original investigators had asked the Michigan State Police behavioral analysis

team to build a profile to try to find any potential killers. The profilers asserted that the crime was sexually motivated and most likely involved drugs or alcohol. They also said that she was most likely killed by someone she knew, and that it was probably more than one other teenager. Living in a small town made that statement especially scary. When there's more than one murderer in a town of 1,300, odds are you probably know the killer. In order to start their investigation,

the police had to go back to the day when Shannon went missing. They had to create a timeline based on memories. They used a fairly unusual resource. When Shannon was found, there was a forensic entomologist brought in to help try and determine a timeline as to when she was killed. The entomologist looks at what type of bugs and larvae are on the body and in what cycle they're in. I would say it's fairly uncommon to use an entomologist because we don't get a lot of cases where a body is dumped out in the woods and it's not found for weeks or months. People are usually found a lot sooner, even murder victims. They were able to determine that Shannon had been killed mid to late July or in early

August. Finally, through a series of interviews, police discovered that Shannon had gone out to the pit the night she was murdered. The pit was a party spot in the woods where teens would go to drink without getting caught. Shannon had been there with eight other people, but none of them came forward. Here's Mike. I was very confident that one of the local kids in that group that night knew something about the case, but they were either afraid to come forward or unwilling to come forward. Now we have eight suspects we have to either confirm or eliminate as being responsible. The circle of friends, the eight people who last saw Shannon, were Jenny Stevens, Norman and Billy Shields, Ricky Gomez, John Evans, Clint Guthrie,

and brothers Paul and Matt Jones. All eight people told the same story to investigators. Ricky picked Shannon up at home around 10 30 and they drove to the pit together. They drank beer for a while around the fire and then Shannon was taken home by Paul and Matt Jones. Because they were the last ones to see her alive, the Jones brothers were brought in for extensive questioning. The brothers described their route to Shannon's house. They even told investigators about seeing someone in Shannon's home when they pulled away. They told police that was around 1.30 a.m.

The police investigated the route and even gave the brothers a polygraph test. It was determined that they were being truthful. Evidence was scarce. Tips were few and far between. The police just weren't able to solve this case, so it went cold. But in spite of everything, Bob kept looking. It becomes a hole in your heart. She was my only child. I never remarried. And I'll never have grandchildren. The fact remains that there was a killer out there among us and nobody knew who it was. I ran into Bill Burd and I got 45 or 50 people on the M-37 corridor to put who killed Shannon Sider. Somebody knows something.

I knew I had to keep it out there in the public's eye. 22 years after the murder of Shannon Siders, the Cold Case team was formed. Many of the officers on the team had been influenced by Shannon's case in choosing a career. They felt like it should be solved, and they hoped to be the ones to do it. I'm going to take a second to introduce you to someone else, Amy. I never did stop thinking about Shannon. I worked at the Sheriff's Department during the summer when I was 15 years old. Amy had been working at the police station around

the time Shannon went missing, and it was the talk of the town. There were whispers, rumors, speculation, and then during one of her shifts, Amy received a strange phone call. The voice was excited. He was almost yelling into the phone. He said, I just killed Shannon Siders. And then he hung up.

I didn't know what to do. I just started crying. She immediately spoke to the detectives at the time, and they looked into the call extensively, but nothing ever came of it. For Amy, though, this call made a huge impact. And I didn't stop thinking about that phone call. So I decided I'm going to solve this murder. My motivation behind it was justice for this family.

A 15-year-old answering phones at the police station took a tip about a death, and 22 years later, she was still searching for a murderer. Amy wasn't a detective, though. She wasn't even in law enforcement. She just wanted to help. Amy Bonner is a civilian. She was working in her own capacity, trying to generate tips, trying to help solve the case. The Cold Case team made a Facebook page, and that was how they met Amy. Amy became so active on the page, people assumed she had started it and not the police. Amy and the team had the same goal, but different ways of getting to it. Through Facebook, a girl named Stephanie reached out to Amy.

She said her own family might be responsible for Shannon's death. So much incest and abuse and crazy stuff went on in that family. Stephanie tells me that there is a house on the lake that has a creek that runs underneath of it. Stephanie tells me Shannon was raped there by several people after being drugged. Stephanie claims that they kept her there for a couple of days.

Then they took her from that location by a van out into the woods, and then they ran her over. So I asked her to bring me there. When she brought me to that house and I saw that there was in fact a creek running underneath that house, my mind is running wild thinking, oh my God, what did Shannon go through? So if that house has to be true, I knew this had to be it. Amy realized the importance of her discovery and called Sheriff Pat right away.

He and the team came to investigate. They were told the house had a creek running underneath it and that Shannon had been kept in the basement for several days. Though the family members living in the house were traced to many crimes, none of those crimes were related to Shannon. The house was searched and it did have a creek running underneath it. Not surprisingly though, that means it didn't have a basement. Another false lead in Shannon's case. Police had one other place to look, though it was their last choice. Remember the letters that were put into the casket?

Investigators got a tip that one of those letters could help solve Shannon's murder. With shovels in hand, the cold case team dug up Shannon's body. They read the letters from Shannon's friends about how much they missed her and how sad they were, but that was it. There was no confession letter, no one saying I'm sorry. The police did find something else though. She had some hair in her right hand. Glob of hair found in any victim's hand. I would assume that they probably fought back and got it from that person. So we resubmitted these items

to have them tested for the presence of DNA to see if they could obtain a profile, something that we could compare to a possible suspect. There was a match to the hair that Shannon held, but it wasn't the big break that they were hoping for. The hair in her hand belonged to Shannon. This detail makes me sick Trying to guess how her own hair ended up in her hand makes me imagine things I'd rather not picture

During the investigation we interviewed approximately 400 people We talked to all the people that knew Shannon During the investigation, we interviewed approximately 400 people. We talked to all the people that knew Shannon. That led us to Julia Littich. Julia Littich was a friend of Shannon's. Julia had been interviewed by the original investigators, but it appeared that time helped her to come forward with more information,

perhaps even divulging what was once a secret. Julia and Shannon had plans on the night Shannon went missing. They were going to get together a little after 10. Julia lived close until she knocked on Shannon's door almost every half an hour from 11 45 p.m to 3 a.m. In their original story, the Jones brothers told investigators that Shannon was home well before three. Someone was either lying or mistaken. Police contacted the witnesses from the time of Shannon's death. They talked to a girl named Lindsay. She had dated Paul Jones. Lindsay Bradley was friends with Shannon. She also dated Paul Jones. Lindsay told us about a class ring that she saw in Paul's ashtray. She confronted him and said,

you're asking me on a date when you have another girl's class ring. And then he said, let's face it, she's probably dead. Let's face it, she's probably dead. Is that a terrible secret trying to find its way out? Or just a poor choice of words by a troubled teenager? They began to dig for more information about the Jones brothers, but they didn't find anything. Then a lead came in, but not to the detectives. Amy found out that a woman named Jenny was rumored to have some information.

But Jenny wasn't just anyone. She was Amy's friend. A friend who knew that Amy had a personal stake in this case. I bet that was hard for both of them, one revealing a secret and the other feeling betrayed. How might Jenny's life be different if she hadn't been there that night? Jenny told Amy what she remembered. A secret finally revealed. Jenny told us she may have seen something relevant to what happened to Shannon that night. According to Jenny, she had been with Dean Robinson that night.

They weren't part of the group of friends at the fire, but they were driving around near the woods. They came across the Jones brothers, and they were positive that Matt and Paul Jones had murdered Shannon. Shannon left her house sometime after 10.30 p.m. on July 17, 1989. She was picked up by someone she knew and taken to a party spot in the woods. She asked for a ride and the Jones brothers offered, but they didn't take her home. I wonder what they said. Did they tell her they were going to another party? Did they tell her just to cooperate and it would be okay? It wasn't though. It was not okay. According to Jenny and Dean's accounts, Shannon was probably running terrified through the woods at this point, running for her life. Let me go back. Dean and Jenny said they saw the brothers

alone in the woods, without Shannon. Dean got out of his car. Jenny stayed inside. The brothers said they were looking for a girl, but Dean said he hadn't seen her, and ultimately he and Jenny drove off. So Shannon had been in the car with the brothers, but for whatever reason, and I can make my own assumptions about what was going on in that car, she fled, escaping alone into the woods. They chased her, and they found her. Before the brothers could take off again, a car pulled up. It was Dean and Jenny, again. They spotted the car and thought maybe someone needed help. They were right. Someone did need help. It was Dean and Jenny, again. They spotted the car and thought maybe someone needed help.

They were right. Someone did need help. It was Shannon. She was lying there on the ground next to the car. Dean got out of his car and ran towards the brothers. He tripped, though, and as he lay there on the ground, he recognized Shannon. Paul Jones came out of what seemed like nowhere and kicked him in the face. Matt came at him with a hammer. Dean was somehow able to get back to his car, hurt and scared, but alive. Jenny asked what happened, and Dean told her that it had to be a secret.

Jenny could never tell anyone, ever. They would get in trouble for being together because Jenny wasn't yet 18. He also told Jenny the Jones brothers were taking Shannon to the hospital for help. I imagine Jenny realized that wasn't true early on. I wonder though if that little bit of information was what helped her stay silent for all those years. So Matt and Paul Jones got Shannon in their car by offering to give her a ride home. Sometime during that ride, she felt the need to run and even managed to escape into the woods.

But they caught her, and the attack was brutal. We believe this was a sexually motivated crime, and they took turns raping her. With Jenny's testimony, investigators were able to arrest and try both brothers for the assault and murder of Shannon Siders. Matt Jones was convicted of first-degree murder and sentenced to life without parole. Paul Jones was convicted of second-degree murder and sentenced to 30 to 75 years in prison. There were so many secrets at the heart of this case. Jenny and Dean needed to keep their relationship secret.

The secrets began to mount when they witnessed something horrific, but were forced to keep quiet because of their relationship. I wonder what it feels like to keep a secret of that magnitude for so long. Jenny was clearly haunted by it. And what about the brothers and their friends? Matt and Paul brutally raped and murdered someone. How did they manage to keep that under wraps for so long? Someone in that small community must have known something, right?

But none of their friends came forward. And the brothers kept their dark, terrifying secret for decades. I wonder about the effect a secret like that can have in a small town. How many people knew something? How many people shared this secret? And how did keeping that secret affect them? I'm sure many people breathed a sigh of relief once the brothers were imprisoned. And in a lot of ways, I'm sure there's a certain freedom in their incarceration.

As always, I wonder if this is justice. By solving the case, did the cold case team get justice for Shannon? I don't think it's really up to me, but Bob makes his opinion pretty clear. You're not supposed to bury your children. Your children are supposed to bury you, but life goes on. She would have been 45, but I'm sure she would have had children. She wanted to be a mom, and she would have been a good mother. So I would have had grandchildren. I missed all that. All the stuff that goes with your daughter becoming a woman and getting married, giving your grandchildren the ups and downs of their life.

Hopefully they have a better life than you had. But we got justice. We met Jen and finally got the justice she deserved. I love you. We're mixed and distributed by Podcast One, Cold Case Files, the TV show, as produced by Bloom House Television and Ample Entertainment. Check out more Cold Case Files at aetv.com.