Criminology - The Maurin Murders

Episode Date: March 16, 2019

In 1985, 81-year-old Ed Maurin and his wife 83-year-old Minnie Maurin were shot to death in Washington State. Their murders shocked and saddened the small community where they lived. Residents were asking themselves who would want to kill this friendly and well-liked couple. The police began to investigate the murders but couldn't put anything concrete together. For almost 27 years, the murders of the Maurins went unsolved. But, in 2012, police got the break they needed to finally solve this haunting and baffling case. You can help support the show by going to patreon.com/criminology An Emash Digital production Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

Criminology is a true crime podcast that may contain discussion about violent or disturbing topics. Listener discretion is advised. I'd like to welcome everyone to episode 52 of criminology. Morph, how are you? I'm doing good. How about you? No, I'm doing great. You know, last week we put out the episode on the Amanah Hatchet murders, got a lot of great

feedback. I think that was a case that for a lot of people was mysterious, back. fuffling, puzzling, you know, you can use all those adjectives. And we got some emails on it as well and actually some really smart emails. We got one in particular where an individual, and I can't remember his name because I'd give him a shout out, but he was asking about the individual or individuals that were supposed to be occupying that room, but didn't. Right. That's that's the reason why the room freed up. I think his question or his theory was, could that person or those people have been the intended target for the murderer or murderers? And I actually thought it was

very smart, very interesting. It's something that obviously you and I didn't talk about. It's something I never even really thought about. And I wonder if someone would have access to information about who canceled a room. And if somebody makes a reservation at a hotel, are they given their room number in advance before they get to the hotel? In that instance, I could see a case of mistaken identity where somebody was expecting so-and-so to be in that room, but they canceled at the last second. So I wonder if there's any information out there about that.

Well, you and I didn't find it, right? It's probably why we didn't talk about it during the episode, but it's interesting. And I think that's for me, you know, one of the amazing things about the true crime community, right, whether it's podcast listeners, online detectives. I really like that part. I like when people listen to an episode or research a case and then they start to develop their own questions, their own theories. I think that's part of the allure of true crime, especially when you're talking about the unsolved. One more thing people really wanted to know about was the locked door.

We mentioned the door was locked and the maid had to use a house key, a pass key, to get into the room. And they wanted to find out was the room locked with a regular lock or chained? And we actually reached back out to Sheriff Roder, who clarified that it wasn't chained, it was locked in its normal way. So I think it's a case of one of those doors that's weighted in the attempt. typical hotel room that shuts behind you and locks. And that's the kind of door that it was. So that was a little bit on last week's episode. And we're getting ready to talk about

another really interesting case. But before we get to it, let's do our Patreon shoutouts. We had Audra, Caitlin Noelle, Judy Gayline, Emily Smith jumped out at our highest level, Claire Sarah Melvin, Trisha Phillips, Iloni Holcomb. Claire Burton, Michelle Hamilton, and Elisa V. So, morph, a lot of really great new support. And we appreciate it. We appreciate all the new Patreon support. We appreciate the continued support we get on Patreon as well.

Yeah, that really is some tremendous Patreon support. And we can't thank you enough. And we just talked a little bit about the manna Hatchet Murders. we had so much audio from the interviews in that case that we're going to be releasing those in chunks on the Patreon feed. So all of our Patreon supporters will be able to hear them in their entirety. And to get those and everything else we have on Patreon, all you have to do is go to patreon.com slash criminology and sign up. Don't forget crime cons coming up June 7th through 9th. If you're going and you haven't bought your badge yet, make sure you use our promo.

code Criminology 19, you'll save 10% off your standard badge price. And the next three people that use our promo code, Criminology 19, to register for CrimeCon, will also get a sweet criminology gift pack with a mug, copies of our books, and stickers delivered to you in person at CrimeCon. So save some money and get some criminology merch in the process. All right, Morph, now that we have all of that out of the way, it's time to dive into this case.

and we're starting on Christmas Eve, 1985, when police found the bodies of 81-year-old Ed Moran and his 83-year-old wife, Minnie Moran, along the side of a logging road outside Shahelis, Washington, the elderly couple had been shot to death. What followed these murders was fear from a terrified and saddened community. Obviously, the authority, are going to start to hunt for the couple's killer or killers, but the community had questions, right? Who would want to murder this elderly couple? And to make matters worse, this wasn't a case that was solved quickly. For nearly 27 years, the murders of the morons remained unsolved. But then finally, in 2012, an arrest was made and the wait for justice was over.

Edward Ed Morin was born in June 1904, and Willamina Mary Minnie Moran was born on Christmas Day, 1901. Minnie had four children, Delbert, Hazel, Dennis, and Daly with her first husband. After he passed away, she met and married Ed Morin. By 1985, the couple owned 120 acres of land in the town of Ethel, Washington, where they raised cows for beef and grew Christmas trees. every year. Ethel Washington is an unincorporated area in Lewis County, about 100 miles southwest of Seattle. We're talking about a really small community. In the 1980s, when these murders took place, there were less than a thousand people in that town. It's a rural area with lots of woods and mountainous spots. It's a big logging area. Ed and many were well liked by the residents in that

small community, and most people in the Ethel area knew them. The elderly couple would often play cards with some of their neighbors. Their favorite game was a game called 500. This was a really happy couple that found each other and were in love during their golden years of their lives. They planned on quietly spending their remaining years together on their farm. Sadly, that wasn't to be. Ended December 1985, the community was devastated when they learned what happened to Ed and Minnie. On Thursday, December 19, 1985, friends of Ed and Minnie arrived at their house in Ethel for a Christmas luncheon, but they arrived to find that no one was there. The Morin's family members were notified and gathered together at their Ethel home located

at 2040 U.S. Highway 12. They called police and reported Ed and many is missing. Around 6.10 p.m., deputy Michael P. and deputy Joe Donch arrived at the Morin home, followed by Detective Richard Harrington. Upon entering the residence, they found no evidence of a struggle, no evidence of forced entry. Minnie's son Dennis arrived at their house and shortly after called his son Mike. As they looked around Ed and Minnie's house, they found a folded newspaper sitting on the dining room table. They also found some playing cards spread out. It looked as if someone had been playing a card game, Rummy O. It also looked as if the card game was interrupted, and the Morin simply got up from the

table and left. As the police officers continued to look around, they found a couple things that looked troublesome. First, there was an impression of a shoe print visible on a furnace. It didn't seem to the officers that either the Morins in their 80s would be standing on top of a furnace. They also discovered a broken window on the backside of the farmhouse. The search for clues continued into the night. Police collected any fingerprints they found along the way, and they didn't stop searching the home and property until after 1 a.m. on Friday morning. When Mike walked into his grandparents' home, he saw bank statements on the floor

that his grandparents usually stored in shoe boxes. He knew something was wrong. The shoe boxes were spread out on the floor. One of the boxes was in the bathroom, and one bank statement was opened by the telephone. Mike and other family members noticed many stories. purse under some newspapers sitting behind the couch. The purse contained $160 in cash. The family members knew that many would never leave home without her purse. There were also three sets of plates and three sets of silverware in the dishwasher. As police looked through the

home, they found an additional $2,100 in cash, which was alarming since the couple didn't normally keep that kind of cash on hand. Ed's pickup truck was parked in the back, but the couple's 1969 green Chrysler was missing. And Morph, if you mentioned three sets of plates, three sets of silverware in the dishwasher, I do think this is something that caught the attention of the police. It caught the attention of the family. For the fact that you have an elderly couple living in this house, you would think, more often than not, the plates, the silverware, the cut.

cops, everything would be in sets of two. So to have three, I think some people, police, family felt was odd. And to your point, I think those are the kind of little clues and details that police look for to see if any of that stuff lines up with what they know about their victims. Yeah, I think if they're doing what they're supposed to be doing, they should be looking at all of that, right? at around 9.25 a.m. on December 20th, an employee at the Yardbirds Shopping Mall reported a vehicle matching the description of the Morin's missing vehicle. They said it was parked at the far northeastern edge of the parking lot behind a row of big trucks. The employee at the mall called police. This is December 20th in Washington State. It was an icy morning. And when the detectives arrived, they couldn't even see inside the car.

And they didn't want to touch the car. They didn't want to disturb any fingerprints that might be on it. So a detective blew warm air onto one of the windows to try to gain some visibility inside the car. And eventually that did work. They could see that the car's keys were still in the ignition. there were cigarette butts in the ashtray, and that was significant because the Morin's didn't smoke. Now, eventually police are going to make their way into this car.

They checked the trunk, but it was empty. So authorities didn't find much inside the Morin's car. They did find dozens of fingerprints inside and on the exterior of the car. But after they were analyzed, they all came back as either belonging to. to the Morins or their family members. And you would think that the cigarette butts in the ashtray would be huge. And more if I think in a case today, they would be, right? With the DNA technology that we know exists, I don't know if that was the same back in

1985. In 2019, the cigarette butts definitely would have been collected. But in 1985, I don't know that that would have been the case. I mean, that's one of those type of things that you hear about in the case and you think, oh, okay, they have cigarette butts. They're going to be able to do this, this and this. The problem in this case is we just couldn't find any information about the collection of the cigarette butts, what they did with them.

Obviously, they're not doing DNA testing at that point in time, I don't believe. But we couldn't find anything about testing for saliva, just really nothing. After Ed and Minnie disappeared, their granddaughter, Denise, got together with family members at her parents' house along with search and rescue. They had a huge map of the area, and the family was given a section to go look for Ed and many. Altogether, it was said there was about 200 people, including law enforcement officers that were involved, and the group searched a pretty massive area.

But they didn't find any signs. of the couple. Early on, detective suspected that one of the scenarios was that the couple had been kidnapped and was being held somewhere. The couple was well-off financially, and many's son Dennis owned one of the largest logging companies in the Northwest at that time. But there were no obvious signs of foul play. No blood were evidence of a struggle in the car or back at the couple's home. It was on Tuesday, December 24th, on Christmas Eve, six days after the morns vanished. that Mike decided to go out driving around looking for any sign of his grandparents. He was driving around searching different county roads, hoping that he would find something,

anything that might answer some questions. But at the same time, he was fearful of what he might find. And it was while Mike was driving around these back roads that he got the call over the radio that someone found the bodies of his grandparents. It was a man traveling down Stern's, road near Adna, Washington. This is about 20 miles northwest of the Morin's home. He saw what appeared to be a CPR dummy alongside the road.

But as he got closer, he realized it was the body of an elderly woman. Then he saw the body of an elderly man nearby in some brush. So police were called to the scene. And I think very quickly morphed, they knew that these were the bodies of Minnie and Ed Moore. So their investigation suddenly went from a missing person's investigation to a double homicide investigation. Detectives noticed drag marks and blood trails on the ground, showing that the couple was dragged from their car and dumped. essentially like you would dump a bag of garbage alongside the rope.

Minnie was dressed in her housecoat and Ed was wearing pants, a shirt, and a jacket. Their clothing was pushed up, making it appear as though they'd been dragged there by their feet. After observing the bodies, detectives determined the couple had been shot to death with a shotgun. Many was shot in the back. Double-a-buckshot pellets went through her left shoulder and a portion of her face. Ed was shot pretty much dead center in the back. Now, later, police would determine that the shotgun used to kill the couple was a 12-gauge shotgun that had a shortened barrel similar to a sought-off shotgun.

I think it's a good time to talk a little bit about shotguns and shotgun ammo for listeners that may not be familiar with some of the terminology or the differences. The smaller the number of the gauge of the shotgun, the stronger the shot is. So a 12-gauge is a stronger and more powerful gun than, say, a 16-gauge or a 20-gauge. If you saw off the barrel, it makes the shotgun easier to maneuver in close quarters, but the pattern of the shot widens, spraying a larger area with pellets. As far as shotgun shells, they come in a variety of sizes and loads. Small game loads have many more small pellets.

Buckshot shells for shooting larger game like deer have less pellets, but they have a much larger diameter. Being shot with a 12-gauge shotgun with either kind of shell could certainly be fatal, but being shot with double-up buckshot would be much harder to survive as the pellets from those shells do a lot more damage. And I think this is a really brutal way to kill anyone, but when you look at the couple, the unelderly couple in their 80s, it just seems really cruel. Yeah, there are a lot of different types. of, you know, shotgun ammo. You got slugs, which are used a lot in hunting. I think more for in recent years, they've come out with more of a shotgun type self-defense ammo. So it's a mixture of pellets and larger, almost like disc-like things that come out. So, but I think the key is,

and you said it, being shot with a shotgun is, is, a horrible proposition, especially when you're talking about a 12-gauge shotgun in very close proximity with any type of load, let alone, you know, double-a-buck shot. Yeah, it's really a brutal way to kill anyone, and the fact it was used to kill an elderly couple, it's just awful. To just toss her bodies out afterwards like garbage is despicable. I think the police knew early on that they were dealing with a ruthless killer or killers. Yeah, I have to agree. You and I have done a lot of cases, research many more cases.

What I tend to find through audience participation, you know, emails, the social media things that we get, some of the toughest murders to talk about are when the victims are either very young or very old. You know, if you've made it to your early 80s, you're like you said, I think early on more, if you're in the golden years of your life, people don't expect an elderly couple like this that is well liked in the community to, number one, be executed by a sought off shotgun. And then number two, like you talked about, you know, tossing their body, out like garbage. I think both of those acts takes a special kind of depravity. But police didn't find any sign of the shotgun used to kill the morons with the bodies. The biggest piece of evidence detectives did find was a bank receipt from Sterling Savings and Loan in Shahalas, Washington.

This was found in Ed's Pants Pocket. And we mentioned Shahalas early on. It's about five miles northeast of where the bodies were found, about 20 miles northwest of the Morin's home. So police contacted the bank and they found that at around closing time on December 18th, this is the night before authorities believed Ed and many were murdered. Ed Morin called the bank to. request a withdrawal of a large sum of money. Then he called back again the next day,

between 9.30 a.m. and 10 a.m. And he asked a bank teller. Ed did. Do you have any money? This bank teller, Pat Hull, thought Ed was joking around and replied, yeah, we have a dime or two. And Ed apparently said, well, I'm going to need more than that. When the bank teller asked Ed how much, he said $8,500. And the reason that he gave the bank teller was that he was going to buy a car. A short time later, Ed arrived at the bank around 10.30 a.m. But the money wasn't ready yet. The bank teller asked Ed where Minnie was, and he said she was in the car because she wasn't feeling well. While they got the money ready, Ed returned to the car to wait. When the money was finally ready, the bank teller proceeded to take it outside to Ed.

But before she got too close to the car, Ed got out and walked up to her. She thought she saw someone else in the backseat of the car moving around, but she couldn't be sure. After learning about the large withdrawal of money, detectives wondered who knew the morons had that much money, and also who had access to their home. They started taking a closer look at family members. Some were looked at more than others because of their history. The Moran's grandson, Mike, was one of them. At the time, he was drinking too much and involved in things that he should have been involved in. They also looked at another grandson, Roger.

Detectives interviewed both grandsons, but there was no evidence pointing to either one of them being involved in the murders, and they were never arrested. Between 1984 and 1986, there were a number of major crimes. murder, rape that occurred in Washington's massive acres of forest. This is roughly 2,500 square miles. It was also during that time that the Green River killer, Gary Ridgeway, was killing and dumping multiple bodies in and around these areas. Interstate 5 runs right through Lewis County. And because of that, it brings some transients.

but it also brings some criminals to the area. So I guess in saying all of this, the key is police definitely had their work cut out for them because the killer or killers of the Morin's could have been literally anyone, you know, someone from town or a random stranger that rolled into town. Ed and Minnie Morin were laid to rest on December 28, 1985. detectives were staked out in cars and they videotape the funeral, most likely because they thought the murderer might be brazen enough to come forward and attend the funeral.

And this is something that we know killers have done before. It's been well documented. Some killers want to put themselves into the action of the case for a last. of a better term, whether that's showing up at the funeral, whether that's asking a lot of questions about the case, trying to insert themselves in the case at some point in time. But during this time, police weren't ruling anyone out. Their thought was that the killer or killers was possibly someone close to the couple. Many son Dennis said years later, quote, At their funeral, I laid my hand on their casket, and I said, I will find out who did this.

On December 31st, 12 days after the murders, a man and woman came forward and told police they saw a man carrying a rifle at yardbirds, where the Moran's 1969 Chrysor was found. The couple were walking through the parking lot when they noticed the man carrying the gun was walking fast towards nearby trees. The woman thought it was strange for him to be carrying a gun across the parking lot. She also thought it was weird that the gun was wrapped in something in such a way as to disguise the fact that it was a gun. It wasn't a gun case, and he wasn't just carrying the gun by itself. He had it wrapped up almost as if he was trying to disguise it. She described the man as having dark, brown, wavy hair with a small growth of beard on his face, and he wore a stocking cap and a green army coat.

Based on her description, police had a composite sketch drawn. Then they took pictures of anyone who fit the description of the sketch. People who worked at the Morin's Christmas tree farm were considered suspects. So police took pictures of them too. And there were other witnesses as well that started coming forward with details. Two men reported seeing a white car pulling out of the Morin's driveway about 9.30 a.m. on December 19. Another witness reported seeing two white males walking about a mile from the Moran home on the

19th sometime between 8 and 9 a.m. And another witness reported seeing the Morins driving on Highway 12 around 11 a.m. on the 19th. So more of you mentioned that detectives were taking pictures of a. essentially anyone that they believed could be a suspect, they took all of these pictures and made a photo montage, which they then showed to all of the different witnesses that they had spoken with up to that point. None of the witnesses could identify the killers from any of the photos in the montage. A few years passed, and in April 1990, detectives received the phone call,

that someone had important information about the Moran case. The informant said, I just found out about a guy that done a double murder. I'm talking about my brother. The caller's brother was Scott Coulter. He was previously married into the Moran family. At that point, police focused on Scott Coulter. He had a history of burglaries and violence

and was known to be involved in the drug world. They also learned that he was seen in the area where the car was found. Because of his history, detectives had no reason to believe if they interviewed him, he would tell them anything. But in November 1990, detectives had an idea. They decided to launch an undercover investigation to extract information from Coulter. An undercover detective, who Scott Coulter trusted, met him at the Seattle-Tacoma International Airport. Once they started talking, the undercover detective asked Coulter to tell him something that he had done, which was so serious, he would never dare tell anyone

about it. The undercover detective talked to Coulter about the double murder in Chehalis and that he had heard that Coulter was involved. Coulter started to talk about the case as if he might be involved. He told the detective that he took the couple to yard

birds and shot them with a handgun. Police knew that he was giving them bogus information and that Scott Coulter was not their man. And detectives were back to square one. In 1991, police got a tip that they should interview Robin Riff.

Robin was the ex-wife of a man named Rick Riff, the two married in the 80s. Robin already had three kids from a previous relationship, and Rick was unemployed. Normally, Rick worked for a logging company, but he was receiving disability at the time. Rick Riff and John Gregory Riff, who went by Greg, were two of three brothers and and the Rift family, they were said to have been inseparable. Now, Rick was clearly the leader. Greg was the follower. Rick allegedly used and sold drugs on the side to earn money.

In 1987, Rick and Robin separated and she moved out to Arizona. At that point, Rick and Greg moved to Alaska. But now it's 1991, and police are acting on this tip. that they received, they want to reach out and speak to Robin. But they found out that she was incarcerated in an Arizona prison. So a detective ends up speaking with Robin and says to her that he wanted to talk with her about an old homicide that happened in Lewis County. And allegedly, as soon as he mentioned that, Robin said, quote, you mean the one where

the two old people were killed. Well, obviously more if that's exactly what he meant. So I think from this talk with Robin, police start to zero in on Rick and Greg Rift. And we mentioned that by this time they had moved to Alaska, detectives go to Alaska to talk to these two men. And I think very early on in this process, police realized that Rick and Greg matched the descriptions of many of the witnesses who had seen two individuals near the Moran's home and in their car. So apparently during Greg's interview, he broke down, started crying. Not usually a good sign. I think what it did was that it gave police reason to believe.

he knew much more than what he was telling them. In Rick's interview, he admitted that he had cut down a 12-gauge shotgun for a friend. He even said that he had fired it. In the time that he had it before he gave it to his friend, he said that he used to own a green army jacket and said his brother probably did as well. So Rick is really giving the detective some information that, they got to be salivating about. But the key in these interviews is that neither man admits to the murders.

And in fact, they deny that they were involved in killing the morons. And detectives didn't have enough evidence against the brothers to arrest them. They had to let them go. So this is 1992. And the case goes cold. In the suburbs of D.C., a woman, fails to show up for work and is found brutally murdered. I wonder what's emergency.

We just walked in the door and there's blood in the foyer. For the next two decades, the case remained unsolved until new technology allowed investigators to do but had once been impossible. A new series from ABC Audio in 2020, Blood and Water. Listen now wherever you get your podcasts. In May 2004, almost 19 years after the Mourns' Rewan, murdered. Bruce Kimsey became lead detective with the Lewis County Sheriff's Department. His first objective was to solve the Morin case. Based on witness statements, Kimsey was able to create a map

that showed the route the Morans in their car took the morning of their murders. He traced the route from their home to the bank and eventually to Yarburg's where the car was found. Kimsey discovered that the Morans had another bank account that contained $30,000. It was left untouched, so he theorized that it was possible a family member didn't kill the couple after all, because a family member would most likely know about the other bank account. He started looking once again at the Christmas tree farmers employed by the Morins. He got out the photo montage previous detectives had created. They were black and white copies which made it difficult to see all the features of each individual. Kimsey retrieved the originals which were in color and had them enhanced using modern

technology. The pictures look better and he could even make out eye color. With the enhanced photos, Detective Kimsey spoke with all the original witnesses again. This included one in particular who had given her original statement. Back in 1986, she had seen the suspect with Ed and Minnie Morin. So Detective Kimsey showed her the enhanced color pictures and she picked out the man that she thought she had seen with the Morins. It turned out to be one of the Rift brothers. So this was big. But Detective Kimsey still needed more to go on before he had enough to make an arrest,

but he wouldn't have to wait long. Because in November 2005, the Morin's grandson, Mike, was in Vancouver, Washington when he ran into an old friend, guy by the name of Jason Shriver. He went by Jake. So they're talking. And at one point, Jake asked Mike what was going on with his grandparents case. And Mike told him there really wasn't much going on. And it's at that point that Jake said, quote, Mike, I'm sorry.

Please forgive me. I can't do this anymore. And Mike asked him, what are you talking about? You can't do what? Jake said, I have to tell you something. You have no idea the hell I've lived with. this has been on my mind for the last 20 years. So go back to 1985.

Jake Shriver was only 17 years old. And in all the years since the murders, he'd never told anyone, but he knew what happened to Ed and many more. And I don't think there's any doubt more that Jake Shriver was scared about what he knew back in 1985. But after speaking with Mike in late 2005, Jake went to the police and he gave a statement to them implicating the Rift Brothers in the murders of the Morans. This was the big break that the police needed. Detective Kimsey was excited and he began to piece together what happened to the Morins starting on December 18th,

1985 the night before they were killed. Rick and Greg Riff were known drug addicts and criminals in the area. On December 18, 1985, they knocked on the Morin's door and forced their way in looking for money. They didn't find any. They kept the elderly couple secured in their home against their will and stayed there that night. They made Ed Morin call the bank to make sure he could get access to cash. The next morning, they forced Ed and many Morin to drive them to the bank. The Rifts got their money and then took the couple up a logging road and killed them.

Next, they dragged the bodies into the woods and dumped them. After disposing of the bodies, they dropped the car off at the Arborch's parking lot. Two to three years later, the brothers moved to Alaska. So the authorities are zeroing in on the Rift Brothers. But before they can put a plan in place to arrest them, Mike decided to take matters into his own hands. He knew now that the brothers had moved to Alaska. So he packed up his things and moved there as well. I mean, he went as far as getting a job in Alaska so that he could start the process of trying to track these guys down. And he found out eventually where they were. So he had made

the decision. He was going to take care of the situation and get justice on his own. essentially an eye for an eye. He scoured the bars looking for them, but he couldn't pin them down, right? People that he talked to either hadn't heard of them or if they had, they didn't want to admit that they'd heard of them. But as Mike is doing this, he gets a call from his father, Dennis. Dennis knew why Mike had gone to Alaska and he told him on the phone. What he was. He was he was doing wasn't the right way to handle it. His grandparents, Ed and Minnie wouldn't want him to do this. And I think his father finally got to Mike. Mike packed up reluctantly and went back home, waited for the police to make an arrest. And more if I do think it's hard to fault Mike

for wanting to avenge his grandparents cold-blooded murders. I think most people, people in that situation would, after finding out who killed their loved ones, would want some type of revenge. Now, I don't know how many people would pack up and move to Alaska to try to exact it. Yeah, I agree. I think it's human nature to want to go after these guys, knowing that they did this to your grandparents. But then that opens up a can of worms for him. If he goes, through with it, he's the one going to jail. But luckily, in this case, his father was able to talk him down. Yeah, I'm not advocating it for sure. It's not a good idea. But I think in a lot of people's minds in these types of situations, the thought is there. Luckily, not many people act on it,

but you cannot fault somebody for thinking it for sure. I think a lot of people think about, man, if I could just get my hands on them, I'll take care of it myself. And the wait for an arrest was a long one. Finally, in July 2012, Detective Kimsey had enough information to go to Lewis County prosecutor Jonathan Meyer to request warrants to arrest the Rift brothers for the murders of Ed and Minnie Morn. On July 6th, Kimsey got his warrants and booked flights to Alaska. It was then that he learned that Greg Riff had died the week before.

Greg died of natural causes, but Kimsey knew that Rick Riff was still alive. So a team of investigators were dispatched from the Lewis County Sheriff's office to Alaska to make the arrest of Rick Riff in connection with the moron murders. And it was on July 8th, 2012. This was more than 26 years after the murders. 53-year-old Rick Riff was arrested in King Sam in Alaska. He was charged with two counts each of first-degree murder, kidnapping, robbery, and one count of burglary, and held on a $5 million bail. He declined to waive extradition proceedings, and at his first hearing, he declined a public defender and said he was going to hire his own attorney.

Rick's trial for the murder of the Morins began in October of 2013. And the prosecution really had no physical evidence. tying Rick to the murders, the prosecution's case was based almost entirely on various eyewitness identifications made from the montage of photos or the composite sketch. One witness, Nonna Pierce, testified that she saw a suspicious man looking around the neighborhood on December 18. 18, 1985. She said he appeared to be in his 20s. The young man stopped his truck on Highway 12 and got out. He looked at the surrounding houses, including the Morans, and then approached her house. He asked Pierce if he could look around her property for some gas because his truck had run out of it. She told him, no, I don't think so. Maybe ask another neighbor.

this guy left. It was in 2012 that Detective Kimsey met with peers and he showed her all of the photos. When he asked her to pick out the suspicious man that she saw that day, she picked out a photograph of Rick Riff. On the seventh day of the trial, Marty Lee Smelter took the stand. In 1985, he told police he overheard Rick and Greg Riff plotting to Rob and later murder in El couple near Ethel Washington. At trial, Smelter told the jury that a week before the murders, he was at a party with his cousin. Rick and Greg were there, and they were all drinking. That's when he overheard the Rift Brothers conversation about robbing and killing an elderly couple. During his testimony, he often said that he couldn't remember the details of the party other than the conversation.

Smetzler also testified that a week before the murders, Rick and Greg were driving around in a little white car. Other witnesses who testified told the jury that a white car pulled out of the Morin's driveway the morning of December 19, 1985. This is the day that the couple was reported missing. But during cross-examination, Rift's defense attorney asked Smetler if he suffered from memory loss. And he said that he was slow at remembering stuff. It takes me time, is what he said. Because back in 1980, Smetzer fell off a barn and he sustained a serious brain injury. He was in a coma for some time. So at trial, there were things that he could not remember.

He couldn't remember the names of the police officers he spoke with in 1985. And the defense grilled him on it, asking him, are you sure that some of these conversations even happen? But Smetzer said he was positive that they had. Another key witness for the state, Donald Burgess, suffered a heart attack in August 2012, and he was scheduled for surgery October 24th. The prosecution wanted his deposition to be done prior to the surgery, and the judge authorized the deposition. He ordered it to occur before October 24th and that it be videotaped,

so it could be seen by the jury if he didn't survive. Burgess survived the surgery and was able to do that. testify. He told the jury that a friend came by his home back in 1985 about three or four days after the murders, either to buy or sell drugs. The man, Scott Gilstrap, brought along Rick Riff. Somewhere along the line, the conversation turned to the mourns, and Riff acknowledged that he was involved in their murders. According to Burgess, Rick believed he would get away with it. The conversation made Burgess uncomfortable, and he asked the men to leave his house. And we talked about Robin Riff.

This was Rick's ex-wife. I think in some ways she led authorities down the path of looking at Rick and Greg. But Robin died before she could testify. However, two of her siblings did testify about Christmas Day, 1985. They were at a family gathering in Gray's Harbor County. Larry Vessie told the jury that, he and his brother, along with Rick Riff, went duck hunting before the holiday dinner. He said Riff was wearing an olive green army coat.

And Vessi said that Riff asked him a very strange question. Is there a way you can trace shotgun pellets? Now, it's unclear what Vessi's response was, but he had more to say at trial about his sister and Rick Riff. He said they were really poor. They never really had a lot of nothing. You know, this is a quote from Larry. The kids wore hand me down clothes. They just had nothing.

That Christmas, 1985, Rick and Robin bought gifts for everyone. And according to Vesey, Rick gave him a bag of cocaine that was said to have been worth about $300. So I think the key here is. is Larry Vessie wondered where Rick got the money. He didn't have a job at the time. As he said, the family was very poor. Where is Rick Riff getting $300 to buy this bag of cocaine to give as a gift?

Vessie also testified that he witnessed Rick use a hacksaw to cut the barrel off a 12-gauge shotgun in either September or October. of 1985. Over the course of the trial, more witnesses took the stand. Some of their testimony differed from their original statements to police in 1985, but that could be because of the amount of time between the murders and when the trial finally started almost 27 years later. The trial lasted for about a month and a half. On Monday, November 18, 2013, a jury of eight women and four men found Rick Riff guilty on all seven felony counts, including first-degree murder, robbery, kidnapping, and burglary. The jury deliberated for about a day and a half before reaching its decision. Less than a month later in early December, Rick Riff was sentenced to

103 years in prison. He didn't speak at sentencing, but his attorney, John Crowley, said, Rick Riff makes no apologies to anybody. He feels no remorse for something he did. He doesn't speak. not do. Crowley also said that they would appeal the convictions and the sentence, and they did. On January 3rd, 2014, the state court of appeals received a notice that Rick Riff was contesting his convictions and sentence for the 1985 murders of Ed and many more. Around this same time, Rift was ordered to pay more than $25,000 in restitution costs for expenses, associated associated with his trial, Ed and many Morin's funerals, as well as his extradition from Alaska to Lewis County, Washington. He was also ordered to pay restitution in the amount of about $8,500

for the money he stole from the Morins before their murders. Unfortunately, Rick Riff has never told anyone who actually shot the Moran's that tragic day, whether it was his brother or himself. When Riff was arrested in 2012 for the Moran murders, prosecutors also learned that he had been previously questioned but never charged with the sexual abuse of a young girl during the mid-1980s. That young girl was 10 years old at the time and was Riff's stepdaughter. In early 2013, while Riff was awaiting trial in the murders, prosecutors filed charges of child rape and molestation against him. The trial took place later in that year, and in October 2014,

Riff was sentenced to six years for sexual abuse of a child. At sentencing, the victim told the judge, I am a victim of Rick Riff. He knows that. Nearly 30 years ago, I had a horrible childhood and a horrible life with that man. him and my mother and his brother were horrible people, but today I am here as a survivor. I am a survivor of nature by chance, and most importantly, a survivor of life. The victim spoke for a total of five minutes, and Rift never looked up from the table. In November 2015, Rick Riff lost his appeal in the Morin case, and he sits rotting in prison today.

Bad enough that he was involved in killing two people. But then you find out that this guy raped and molested his own stepdaughter. You know, as a stepdad more if you take on the responsibility of the kids, no matter how many there are, you're supposed to be there for them. You're now their protector in a lot of instances. This is not what Rick Riff was. He was a predator rather than a protector. And sometimes when these killers are en masse, you find different layers of who they are and the crimes they've committed and just how bad a person they are.

And that seems to be the case with Rick Riff. Yeah, I think you go back to, you know, somebody like Joseph J. DeAngelo, right, the alleged Golden State killer. It's never that you find out, okay, this person did X. Like you said, when you start to peel back the layers, you find out that they did a whole bunch more. And I always think there was, there's probably even more than what we know about. And I bet you that is true in the case of Rick Riff as well.

So he was convicted of the two murders. He was convicted of the, the child abuse, the rape, the molestation. You're telling me that that's all there was to the atrocities committed by Rick Riff. I highly doubt it. That's all we know about, but I bet you there's a lot more. There's more victims

that just has never come out. And this was such a tough case to cover. I think any time the victims are young or elderly, that really gets to you because those are the most vulnerable people that can wind up being victims. But luckily in this case, justice prevailed. It took three decades. And although one of the brothers died without facing justice, at least Ed and many's families got some answers that they had been waiting for for so long. Yeah, I think you feel for all victims, right? In any of the cases that we cover, but I get a lot of emails. I know you do two more, if messages, emails, it is tough when you are talking about young victims or elderly. victims because as you said, those individuals are just so much more vulnerable, you expect people

to look out for them, not take advantage of them, murder them, steal their money, sexually molest them, any of that. It shouldn't happen to anyone, but I know people get even more fired up when we're talking about children or the elderly. But that's it. That is it for the case of, of the Morin murders. And this, I think, Morf, could have easily been one of those mysterious and puzzling unsolved crimes. But luckily it wasn't, right? Like you said, it took almost 30 years.

But they eventually figured out who murdered these two people. Thanks goes out to Debbie Buck at truecrime diva.com for writing and research assistance with this episode. If you haven't done so yet, please go out, give us a five-star rating. On whatever podcast app you listen to the show on, it's a big help. It really goes a long way towards helping other people find the podcast. And don't forget, you can interact with us on social media on Twitter by finding us with the handle at Criminology Pod.

We're on Facebook as well. You can just search for Criminology Podcast on Facebook or join our Facebook discussion group, which is criminology podcast discussion and fans. Our friend Paul Holes just started a new true crime podcast called Jensen and Holes, the murder squad. Be sure to go check that out. All right, Morf, you got anything else before we wrap up this episode? I am good.

I'm glad that we found some answers in this one, and I look forward to the next episode. Yeah, me too. And we will come to you with that next episode next Saturday night. So for Mike. And Morf. we will talk to you then. Take care, everyone.