Cold Case Files - The Flaming Gorge Falls

Episode Date: May 26, 2021

In the summer of 1996, Bob Duke calls 911 after his wife and young son fall from a high cliff in the Flaming Gorge Reservoir in Green River, Wyoming. Their deaths are ruled an accident, but to investigators, the circumstances look suspicious. Three years later, an informant raises suspicions even further, and say that Bob Duke may be plotting a new scheme. Check out our great sponsors! Klaviyo: To get started with a free trial visit Klaviyo.com/coldcase  Madison Reed: Find your perfect shade at Madison-Reed.com to get 10% off plus FREE SHIPPING on your first Color Kit with code CCF Total Wireless: Get an unlimited talk, text and data plan for $25 per month. 1 gig at high speed, then 2G. Terms and conditions at TotalWireless.com  Change your scenery with Apartments.com - the most po pular place to find a place!

Thank you for listening to this Podcast One production, available on Apple Podcasts and Podcast One. Thank you for listening to this Podcast One production, available on Apple Podcasts and Podcast One. An A&E original podcast. Green River, Wyoming is a bucolic mountainous area. Nearby is a popular hiking spot known as Lost Dog Trail. It leads through a range of mountains and drops off into the Flaming Gorge Canyon. At the end of the trail is a cliff known as The Point. It's a little rocky, but flat enough to walk around on.

That is, until the sudden 100-foot drop-off. That's about 30 meters. However you measure it, that's a long way down. On August 10, 1996, Bob Duke called 911 at around 3 p.m. He said his wife and child had fallen off of a cliff. He told the police that his family had planned a picnic. His son was running around, chasing lizards, having a fun time. But then it all went wrong.

Duke says he went back to the car to get a drink, and when he returned to the cliff, his family was missing. They'd fallen over the edge, and he didn't know how to help them. From A&E, this is Cold Case Files. I've never been to Flaming Gorge, but like any respectable armchair detective, I use the map on my phone to zoom in really close. It looks high to me, but I live where it's flat, so my perspective is a little biased.

The cliff was less intimidating to Lieutenant Doug Stewart, a rescuer who was experienced with the terrain. This is Lieutenant Stewart. We went about 30, 40 yards north, walked down the hill to the victims. It wasn't real easy. It's pretty steep terrain, very rocky, a lot of loose rock, but it wasn't that difficult. We've dealt with worse. Leanna and Eric Duke, wife and son, were dead when the rescuers got to them. Lieutenant Stewart radioed up and told the fire department he needed a Stokes basket. When I googled to find out what that particular item was used for, I discovered it's also called a basket stretcher or a Stokes litter. Basically, it's a human-sized basket used in search and rescue, and in this case, to secure the bodies as they were

raised from the gorge. This is Lieutenant Stewart again. I recall when we placed them in the stokes, we put the mother in first, then we put the baby in. We took Mama's arm and put it over the baby. Somebody patted the little fella on the head and said, sorry, little buddy, it's not right. This team of firefighters basically made a living from rescuing people from the flaming gorge. But they reported that this particular rescue made them feel uneasy.

This is Lieutenant Robert Clevenger from the Green River Fire Department. It just didn't seem right. The whole deal, the whole situation was not right in my mind. That opinion doesn't really qualify as evidence. It's a feeling. Sometimes we describe it as our gut. Sometimes our gut feelings are right, but other times they're not. They're not reliable and therefore shouldn't be admissible in court.

A person's gut feeling can be so strong sometimes that it creates what's called confirmation bias, which is a tendency to interpret new evidence as supporting what you already believe. It seems, however, like the entire crew was bothered by the situation. The clips you hear next are from unidentified members of the rescue team. He seemed very nonchalant at the time. To begin with, I was attributing it toward shock, but the more conversation that I listened to him have with other people, it just, it didn't sit right with me. Seemed rather calm, just very quiet. Didn't really say anything.

If you asked him a question, he would answer the question, but really wouldn't elaborate on anything. That type of bias makes me so uncomfortable because there's no correct way to react to trauma. Everyone is different. If a medical expert is needed to testify about physical injuries, then shouldn't someone's emotional injuries also require expert medical testimony? Here's some more of the comments made by the unidentified firefighters. We all, I'm sure, thought the same thing. How could this happen to two of them?

That seemed to be the general consensus. It was a shock to all, and nobody could actually believe that it did happen as an accident. It just didn't seem possible. It's a stretch of the imagination for me to believe a mother and child both fell off the edge of a cliff. It's not. It's a stretch of the imagination for me to believe a mother and child both fell off the edge of a cliff.

It's not impossible, though. I couldn't completely rule it out without any other kind of evidence. At this point, the case seems closed. Because, at the time, that's procedurally the right thing to do. Here's one last unidentified clip from a firefighter. Just the lack of evidence. There was, as far as I could tell, no physical evidence at the scene. There wasn't anything that you could actually stick out and use as evidence, as a smoking gun. The deaths are ruled accidental, and Bob Duke collects $60,000 in life insurance money.

The case remains uninvestigated for a little over two years, until some new evidence is presented. In 1998, Bob Duke moved to Houston to live with his brother Mike. Roger Brauberger and Bob Duke grew up together. Bob was the popular kid, and Roger was the rebel. This is Roger. I didn't like the guy from the get-go. He was cocky, arrogant.

Ended up going up the stairs in middle school one day. He was walking with a crowd, and I needed to get up the stairs. Ended up kicking his ass in seventh grade. After that, we became friends. As the boys grew into men, it was more of the same. Roger frequently found himself in trouble with the law, and Bob seemed to be living the dream. I always thought Bob had the perfect life.

He's got a good job, he works for himself, makes really good money. It didn't seem like he could ask for any more. Roger almost sounds jealous of Bob's life, doesn't he? Bob called Roger in the fall of 1998 to make an offer Roger couldn't accept. This is Roger again. He says, well, I want you to do something for me. Like, what are you talking about?

He says, well, I want you to kill my parents. And he offered me 20 grand. He goes, I know you need the money, I'm giving you the first offer, the first shot at this. Whether you do it or not, it will be done. Roger wasn't surprised by this offer. I wish he was. The thing is that Bob Duke had called him a couple of years before,

and the two friends had a very similar conversation. Only in the original conversation in 1996, it wasn't his parents that he wanted dead. Bob wanted Roger to kill Eric and Leanna. Here's Roger to explain. He said, OK, how much is it going to cost? He goes, I'll give you 20 grand. He goes, I'll leave the 22 out behind the shed.

We'll be barbecuing Thursday. Shoot me in the arm, try and miss the bone. Shoot my wife and kid in the head and chest. And take out as many neighbor kids as you need to to make it not look so isolated. And I told him, this is out of line, it's crazy. And then on the third and final time he offered me money to kill his wife and kid, I told him, you need to do yourself a favor and get a divorce.

You know, because this is just unacceptable. You can't just go around killing people. Roger was, of course, suspicious when Leanna and Eric died. But he didn't know what to do. Not only was Roger not a fan of the police, but they also weren't fans of his. How might their gut feelings weigh what Roger says against that of a grieving father? Roger might have been a rebel, but he knew how to keep a secret. This time it felt different for Roger. The time before he could laugh it off as a twisted joke. But now he had information that could save Bob's parents.

Roger decided he had to tell someone. I went to my father first because I couldn't believe it was happening again. I told my dad, you know, this is the way it was with the wife and kid and this is what happened. And now he's coming to me about the parents and I don't want to see anybody else killed. And he told me to go to the police. Roger starts small. He calls a friend from back in their school days, who also happens to be a lieutenant with the Green River Police. This is Lieutenant Mott Meacham. He called me at the house, really didn't want to talk over the phone, said he said he needed some help. He was in big trouble. And I tried to get over the phone, said he needed some help, and he was in big trouble. And I tried to get, I said, Roger, what's going on here?

Roger tells the lieutenant everything. About the call in 1998 to murder Bob's parents. About the call in 1996 about murdering Leanna and Eric. Roger even shares his suspicions that Bob's wife and son didn't accidentally fall off the cliff. Here's Lieutenant Meacham again. The thing that probably convinced me the most was his state of panic. I mean, this was somebody that was in need of some help. We walked him through the story for probably two hours.

And anytime someone makes that type of an allegation, your next step is to get proof somehow. Meechum asked Roger to make a recorded call to Bob Duke to see if he would incriminate himself. When Roger gets Bob on the phone, Bob's changed his mind. Roger will be the lookout, and Bob will do the shooting. Here's a clip from that call. What was the plan then, as far as, like, a signal? That's just, that's something, I don't know, it's going to depend. You know, I mean, it might be something like, you know, if the porch light is off, turn it on. I mean, something simple like that. Having heard this call himself,

Meacham is even more convinced that Roger's story is true. Lieutenant Meacham puts in a call to the FBI. They agree to help investigate the case. This is Special Agent Todd Scott. The FBI took this very seriously, and we immediately began a background investigation on Bob Duke very rapidly, trying to find out who this gentleman was, what his past was, where he was living. After a look at Bob Duke's financial records, Agent Scott learns that he's been living off the life insurance money he collected in 1996. The problem is, the money's gone.

But if his parents died, he would be financially set. Here's Agent Scott again. Bob Duke had been struggling financially for quite some time. Credit card bills, rent, things were adding up, and he was having some financial problems. The investigators agree. The best way to gather evidence is to get Bob to share the details of his plan. They arrange for another call between Roger and Bob.

Remember when we talked before about the $20,000 for killing your parents? Yeah. Hey, I'm thinking I might want that. Do it. The telephone conversation that occurred on January the 7th, 1999, Bob Duke went into great detail in the plans of how he was going to, how his parents should be killed. That was Agent Todd Scott. At 22, it's quiet enough.

Right. Because they can anything more than a door slamming. Okay. And everybody's closed up this time of year. Nobody has opened windows or anything like that. Right. Just wait until they walk in and then catch them off guard? Yep.

Okay. Gotta be together because my dad does have a gun now. Right. What disturbs me the most is how very normal this conversation sounds. It feels like they're talking about the weather or what they're having for dinner, not planning a murder. Here's Agent Scott's impressions. It just seemed very cold. And the tenor of the conversation on January the 7th was one that was very cold and calculated. The management and the FBI and the police department, we felt that we couldn't let this go on any longer.

Roger kept listening when he heard a commotion in the background. He knew it was the FBI. Bob was tackled and handcuffed. And then the phone went dead. Roger played an important part in Bob Duke's arrest. This is Agent Scott again. Bob Duke told the FBI agents in Houston at the time of his arrest that, yes, he had talked to Roger Browberger about killing his parents,

but that he believed that it was all a joke and he wasn't serious about it. In 1999, Bob eventually pleaded guilty to use of interstate commerce facilities in commission of murder for hire, meaning he tried to hire a killer in a different state using the phone. In an agreement with the prosecution, he's given 120 months in prison, three years of supervised release, and a $3,000 fine. While Bob is spending time incarcerated, the Sweetwater County Patrol Commander, Tim Merchant, is taking another look into the deaths of Leanna and Eric Duke. This is Commander Merchant. I've seen my share of homicides in 18 and a half years in this department.

This is the most gruesome, heinous case that I have ever been involved with. And I wasn't about to give up. It never crossed my mind. Eric's birthday was actually August 8th, two days before this happened. The victim's death had been ruled as accidental. There was no physical evidence pointing to Duke, and the only surviving witness was the alleged perpetrator. The case felt almost impossible to solve. Commander Merchant agrees. Well, I actually didn't think I could make a case, but considering the fact that Mr. Duke was probably lying about what happened at the scene, then we had a homicide. And I just wanted to get involved in it.

Merchant starts with the one piece of evidence that is available, Roger's memories of Bob asking him to kill Eric and Leanna. It's a start, but the commander needs more than the words of a self-proclaimed former druggie to charge Bob with murder. He asks the county prosecuting attorney, Harold Moneyhun, for help. Moneyhun wants to know why Merchant is convinced that the death was not an accident. This is Commander Merchant. And I took him to the crime scene. I think that drove it home.

He took one look at that crime scene and said this was no accident. After visiting the point and looking over the edge, Money Hun decides to join the investigation. This is Prosecutor Money Hun. Seeing that area in person, there was almost a visceral feeling that no parent is going to allow a child to play there. The two investigators look for evidence to confirm their suspicions. They start with the crime scene photos. This is Harold Moneyhun again. There was one particular photograph of Leanna where there appeared to be a linear bruise across her neck. When I first saw that photograph, it looked like she had been strangled, possibly

strangled, ligature marked. The photograph was emailed to a forensic pathologist along with a question. Could the bruise have been caused by a rope around Leanna's neck? Here's Money Hunt again to share the results. And within a day or so, he emailed me back a response that it indeed did look to him that it could be a ligature mark. And that he advised that we exhume the bodies. And that really got the investigation going. Bob had been meticulous in choosing headstones for Leanna and Eric. Eric's grave is right next to his mother's. The name Eric Robert is etched on the top, followed by the words, son of Bob and Leanna Duke. Then his short time on this planet is told not only through dates, but also through pictures.

A little boy and a dog, and a truck on a mountain. Leanna's headstone has a picture of a blooming long-stem rose laying across the top, and there are two birds, doves I think, sitting on the stem. The flowers followed by her name, Leanna Mae Duke, and the dates of her birth and death. At the bottom, it says loving wife and mother, and the corners are framed by fallen leaves. The scene is peaceful and beautiful in its own way, which is why I don't envy Commander Merchant's duty to inform Leanna's family of the next logical step in the investigation. This is Tim Merchant again. What bothered me is I had to go to Leanna Duke's parents

and tell them that I was going to dig their daughter and their grandson up and take them to Cheyenne for an autopsy. Now that was tough for me. And there were a lot of tears on their part, and they were very upset. And they weren't happy to see this thing getting drug open again, but they were very supportive. On July 7, 2000, the bodies of Leanna Duke and her son Eric were exhumed from their graves. The remains were taken to forensic pathologists.

They were looking for any indication of murder. A human body can decompose within a month, but it varies based on how a person is embalmed. It had been four years. There was no soft tissue left on Leanna's neck. Four days later, the pathologist returned the report. Here's Tim Merchant again. When we got their report, there was nothing from the pathology that would indicate or help us determine whether this was an accidental fall or a homicide.

The investigation didn't make any progress by exhuming the victims' bodies. Determined to produce any kind of scientific evidence, the investigators ask for help from an expert on falling. They want him to help reconstruct the crime scene. The men return to Flaming Gorge with large dolls that were the same height, weight, and shape as the victims. They wanted to determine if the bodies landed differently based on if they had fallen or if they were pushed.

The man you're going to hear next is representing the fall expert's statements. These two pegs show where the bodies came to rest. The little boy was here, Eric, and his mother was right down there. They hit approximately 30 yards up that slope and came down this rock slide. Came to rest right there. So what we were able to find out is that it didn't really matter where you go off or whether you were pushed or whether you slipped, you're going to end up in the same spot.

Once again, the attempt to establish forensic evidence is unsuccessful. It appears the case for murder is as strong as it will ever get. The state indicts Bob Duke for the murders of Leanna and Eric. On August 12, 2002, Bob's murder trial begins. The prosecution relies heavily on the statements of Roger Brauberger, Bob's former friend. The defense is hard on Roger, telling the jury they shouldn't believe a former drug dealer and addict. Remember Prosecutor Moneyhun's reaction when he saw the cliff? Just in case, here it is again. Seeing that area in person, there was almost a visceral feeling that no parent is going to

allow a child to play there. He tried creating that same feeling for the jury members. So they loaded into a bus and visited the point. Each juror looked over the edge down the 100-foot drop to where the mother and son had landed. Then, after eight days of deliberation, the jury returned a verdict of guilty and sentenced Bob Duke to life in prison. Roger Brauberger, knowing this might be his only opportunity, sought out Leanna's father at the trial. He asked for his forgiveness.

Here's Roger. I told him, Father, I'm sorry. And he thanked me for coming forward. I feel responsible for the murder because I hadn't said anything. And he thanked me.

It was tough to hear thank you from her parents. This case was difficult for investigators to try. There was no witness and no physical evidence. Ultimately, the prosecution used the emotions of the jury and witness testimony to prove their case. Tim Merchant's determination was the key to Bob Duke's conviction. I think it's appropriate to let him have the last word. I think he's probably the only person on earth

that believes that this would pass as an accident. Everyone that has seen that crime scene and everyone who ever will will come away in absolute disbelief, and that's what got James Robert Duke. Cold Case Files is hosted by Brooke Giddings, produced by McKamey Lynn, Scott Brody, and Steve Delamater. Our executive producer is Ted Butler.

Original music by Blake Maples. We're distributed by Podcast One. The Cold Case Files TV series was produced by Curtis Productions and hosted by Bill Curtis. Check out more Cold Case Files at AETV.com and by downloading the A&E app.