Dateline NBC - The Trouble at Dill Creek Farm

Episode Date: November 15, 2022

When pharmacist Ken Juedes is found shot to death in his Wisconsin farmhouse, investigators embark on a 15-year hunt for his elusive killer. Andrea Canning reports.

Tonight on Dateline. I'm going home with my husband. What do you see when you walk into the bedroom? A deceased male laying on the bed, blood on him. My brother has been murdered. Things like that just don't happen to a person, but they were happening. She said to me, they butchered my candy. How scared were you for your sister?

Oh, I was terrified. There was a piece of paper on the bed with a knife through it that said, bitch. I believe they came in there to kill my sister. This is a real whodunit. Correct. We had a cast of characters that we needed to look into. To make things even weirder, one of these men was Eddie Munster? Yes. Yes. An actor from, like, blasts from the past. That's exactly right. It's like, what do we got here?

Murder on the farm. A mystery from the heartland that will haunt you. I'm Lester Holt, and this is Dateline. Here's Andrea Canning with The Trouble at Dill Creek Farm. You'll find it at the end of Maple Road, a farm where years ago children played in the creek and rode their father's prize horses, where life was good. He was a gentle giant, and the farm nestled in the heart of Wisconsin

was his very own Shangri-La. Until the violence came, ripping them all apart. 911 emergency, can I help you? It was early morning, August 2006. A woman in a car tore out of the driveway and lurched to a stop at the neighbor's house. She hammered on the door, desperate to use the phone.

Her cries pierced the country's stillness. What's the problem, ma'am? There's blood all over my husband. I just can't breathe. What the hell is wrong with that? Then, just as suddenly, she was gone, racing to another neighbor's house, begging that neighbor to call 911, too.

I'm calling for Mrs. Tanyita. She's in the house here, and she said her husband house, begging that neighbor to call 911 too. An ambulance sped down the country roads. And word spread. Lori Yedis was on the other side of the country in Washington State when she got a call that something had happened to her older brother, Ken. Maybe a farming accident of some kind. I call the sheriff's department and say, what happened? And they said, oh, hang up the phone and we'll call you back. Is your heart pounding at this point?

Like, what is going on? It must be scary. I'm driving the car. I got my kids in the backseat, and then, like, the heavens opened up and the world cracked. Within minutes of arriving at the farm, an EMT called the Marathon County Sheriff's Department. I was actually in my squad car when the call came in. It looks like it might be a possible homicide. I was actually in my squad car when the call came in. Detective Sean McCarthy knew the people who lived there.

Dill Creek Farm belonged to 58-year-old Ken Yeadis, a local pharmacist, married to his second wife, Cindy. She was the woman who'd called 911 and was now holed up at her neighbor's house. The detective met up with his partner, Greg Bean, at the farmhouse. This was an active scene already, deputies everywhere. Active scene. We had the yellow tape cordoned off the area there at the end of the driveway. You come inside. What's the first thing you see? First thing I see is the butler off to my right. Not a real butler, a life-size Halloween mannequin. It was a ghoulish introduction to what was going to be a very strange case.

Did it scare the responding officers at first? Yes. It's almost like guns drawn and then, there's a butler. Oh, it's not real. Right, exactly. And you have to walk through this master bedroom. Their next stop was the bedroom. And on the bed was the victim. He was laying unclothed with some major injuries to his chest.

Bullet wounds. Bullet wounds. Ken had been shot twice at close range. And there was something else that caught the detective's eye. On the other side of the bed, there was a knife sticking through a pillow. It had a white note on it, and on the note side of the bed, there was a knife sticking through a pillow. It had a white note on it, and on the note was written the word bitch. Wow. That's something you see in the movies. It definitely got our attention. Like, we hadn't seen that before. That sounds like a revenge thing.

And then you wonder what's going on here and what was really meant to happen that night. Right. The detectives wondered whether the note was a message not for Ken, but for his wife. You got to think, was she a target as well? Across the country in Washington, Ken's sister Lori got a call back from the sheriff's department. And they said, oh, yes, your brother is dead. Wow.

I think I stopped breathing. Because I just, I couldn't believe it. Did you say how, why, where? I mean, so many questions. All of those. And all they would say is he was killed with two shots to the torso. Now it's murder. Yeah.

Now my brother has been murdered. Things like that just don't happen to a person, but they were happening. I felt like this was a nightmare. When we come back, who would want to kill Ken Yeatus? Investigators dig in. You're actively looking for the murder weapon in the house. You're talking like a 105-acre farm, so that's a lot of property to cover. Any security cameras, security system. They did have a camera on the garage. What would the first clues reveal? Farm assistant farmer Ken Yedis had been shot to death in his bed.

Detectives and crime scene investigators were searching Dill Creek Farm. The medical examiner said Ken had been killed with a shotgun. You're actively looking for the murder weapon in the house? Yes. Now, again, you're talking like a 105-acre farm, so that's a lot of property to cover. And he has a lot of guns. He's got a lot of guns.

Because he's a hunter. Yes. The detectives checked to see if any of the dozen or so rifles and shotguns Ken owned were used in the murder. We did an inspection of them. There was dust on them, no evidence that they had been recently handled or anything like that. Any security cameras, security system? That's a great question, because they did have a camera on the garage,

which would be facing the driveway, and I think one towards the back of the house. Did the cameras pick anything up? Anything unusual? Anybody who shouldn't have been there? Suspects? No. We looked at it. There was no footage of that night.

As investigators worked and day turned to night, there was still one important person who had no idea Ken was dead. His mother, Margaret. She'd seen Ken just the day before when he dropped by to mow the lawn and take her to visit his father at a nearby nursing home. He came to say goodbye. And what I never will forget is he said, you are the best parents a guy could have.

Twelve hours after Ken's bloodied body had been found, a pastor and two police officers knocked on her door. So they came in, and that's when they told me that Ken had been murdered. Ken's kid sister Lori and younger brother Don, who both lived out of state, rushed home to be with their mom. How is your mom doing when you get to her in Wisconsin? She is made out of some strong stuff, but she, it totally destroyed her. She had to go up and inform my father, who was in a nursing home, that his oldest son had just been murdered, and that had to be tough also.

Lori says Ken was her mom's favorite, although she probably wouldn't admit it. A standout athlete in high school, lettering in football and basketball. He'd scored top grades and worked a part-time job at McDonald's. And on top of that, had a very good party life. So I don't know how he did that. How did he do all this? In 24 hours in a day, he just didn't stop. He was just fun. When you were around him, you felt warm just because he had so much energy. Lori says Ken powered through college too the first in his family to graduate he trained to be a pharmacist that was beyond anything my parents ever thought possible they must have been so proud of Ken

my mother just revered him he was like the shining star and Ken adored her he dropped by at least once a week to help with chores and to hug his mother. He would come right up to her and wrap his arms around her, give her a big old bear hug and lift her up off the ground. He bought an old farm nearby, and that's where he proposed to his first wife, Betty. It was actually, you think you want to live here with me and do this together?

And I mean, that was the proposal. Together, they fixed up the farm, turning it into the perfect place to raise their four kids. When it came maple syrup time in the spring, they were out there with him collecting the sap. They were propped up on the backs of the horses. They got to ride in the parades that the horses were pulling the wagons in. Sounds like you were a happy family. We were. We were. Until things changed. They'd been married about 20 years when Betty says she noticed Ken growing increasingly restless. Do you think for you two it was less about disagreements or fighting more about just kind of drifting apart?

I believe so. It was just growing apart in our interests more than anything else. In 1998, he asked her for a divorce. Ken kept the farm and they shared custody of the kids. He started dating again, and a few years later, he introduced the family to Cindy Schultz, his new girlfriend. She did seem quite friendly, quite nice. Ken's mom liked her too. You know, she would help me.

She'd have the whole house clean, and just really nice. I can only describe it as one thing. They were in love. Pam Ewer is Cindy's younger sister. I've heard a couple of times that Ken and Cindy had major chemistry with each other. Right. You could see it when they walked into the room. They were arm in arm, hand in hand, his arm around her neck, hers around his shoulder. People said nobody could be that happy. In 2004, Cindy moved to the farm and they got married a few months later. It didn't matter what Cindy looked like. It didn't matter what she was wearing. That was his beautiful and that's what he called her. That was his nickname for her? Beautiful.

That's what he called Cindy in a message he left her a few days before the murder. I'll be here until 6.30. Okay. Bye. So what had Ken's beautiful scene that night at the farmhouse? Coming up... I opened up the door, and then I saw him. Cindy recounts that awful morning.

But was she the one now in danger? They said there was a piece of paper on the bed with a knife through it that said, Bitch. Did you think that was for Cindy? Oh, absolutely. When Dateline Continues. Investigators needed to talk to the wife of murder victim Ken Yedis.

She was the one who had found him lying on the bed in a pool of blood. She was the one who had made those frantic 911 calls from her neighbor's house. That's where detectives went to interview her in the hours after Ken's body was found. These two gentlemen would like to ask you a few questions. There's my husband. Cindy didn't seem to know yet that her husband was dead or what was going on. They haven't gone in to take care of him? Before breaking the news that Ken was gone,

detectives asked Cindy to go back to the beginning to tell them everything about that morning. She told them she hadn't slept in the house the night before. I've had a headache. There's something going on right there in me. the night before. Cindy said she'd been struggling to sleep for days, plagued by migraines. She said she was still groggy from her medication as she was talking to them. Okay. The phone rings all the time when he's on call, even in the middle of the night.

Okay. So two nights ago, he said, why don't you try resting down in the duckling so you don't hear the phone? The duckling was what Ken and Cindy called a camper they parked in the backyard, their special place to relax. With the help of some sleep medication, Cindy said she'd slept soundly there all night. She said she knew something was wrong when she went into the house the next morning and saw Ken hadn't made coffee. His car was still in the driveway.

She realized he hadn't left't work. And then I went to the kitchen floor, and all I could hear was screaming. Cindy said she was in shock and later realized she was the one screaming. Cindy, still at her neighbor Marion's house, asked detectives how her husband was doing. Well, Cindy, what I'm going to tell you is going to be tough, but Kenny is dead. Oh, Marion. Oh. I got a phone call at quarter after 10, and an officer said, told me that Ken had passed and that my sister needed me. Cindy's sister Pam went to pick her up at the neighbor's house.

She was sitting in a recliner, and the only thing that I could describe, she looked hollow. I had never seen her look like that ever. You know, and I said, Sin, what happened? And she said to me, they butchered my candy. Did you have questions? Like, who's they?

And what do you mean butchered? Oh, I had tons of questions. The next day, she had even more questions. When Pam asked detectives if Cindy could stop by the farmhouse, she says they told her about that note left on Cindy's side of the bed. Did you think that was for Cindy? Oh, absolutely. I believe they came in there to kill my sister.

100% they came in there to kill my sister and they didn't find her. Investigators agreed that the murder seemed like a targeted killing. When you have an armed robbery or an unknown suspect entering a home, there's broken windows, there's busted open doors, and there was none of that at this scene. So they began looking at the people closest to the couple, those with access to the farmhouse. It turned out there were quite a few, starting with a handful of teenagers. Cindy was licensed to take care of foster kids who had been in trouble with the law. She and Ken had taken in half a dozen boys over the years.

Some of these kids were high risk? Yes. With violent pasts? Violent past, difficult for the parents to control. Detective McCarthy remembered interviewing Ken and Cindy about one of the foster kids just the year before. I was called to respond to alleged sexual assault. Detectives quickly learned there had been other incidents. One of the foster kids had gone in trouble for taking a knife to school.

Cindy said another boy made threats against her. You really had to look at these teenage boys. Oh, yeah. We traveled to go get the backgrounds of these troubled youth and to find out if there's similarities in the crimes that they already committed to the crime we were investigating. Detectives had barely started tracking down the foster kids when Cindy told them about an even more disturbing suspicion. She said they should take a look at another kid, someone even closer to Ken.

Coming up. The police interview your children. Oh, yes. Trying to see if they had anything to do with this. Yes. Seems like none of the kids liked Cindy. There was a wedge there, and just trying to find out what that wedge was. Tucked away in the heart of Wisconsin farm country was Dill Creek Farm,

Ken Yedis' haven, his special place. After Cindy moved in, they decided to share it with a group of foster kids, some of them with violent pasts. Cindy had been a professional caregiver most of her life. Before she met Ken, she ran a group home for adults with disabilities. What was it about Cindy's personality that was a good fit with, you know, people who needed help? Just a caretaker. She was just a good caretaker. You know, wasn't in it for the money, but was in it to make their lives better.

Now that Ken was dead, investigators wondered if that kindness had come at a terrible cost. Could one of the couple's foster children be Ken's killer? Were any of the teenage boys living in the house at the time? Yes, but they weren't there that evening. Where were they? One was in a treatment facility. Another one was in a secure detention. Were they really in these places? Yes. Everything checked out with them. Pam says that didn't make her sister feel any better. She says Cindy was convinced whoever killed Ken could come for her next.

She installed a brand new alarm system at the farmhouse. And I said, Sam, I said, why don't you come and stay with me? She said, because I don't want to put you in danger. She said, if they kill me, I'll be with Ken. Detectives stopped by a week after the murder. They noticed something strange. The photos of Ken's biological children were taken off the wall. And Cindy's sister made the comment to me, yeah, Cindy took them down and she actually spit on them and threw them in the corner. Why would she do that?

Remember that note left on the pillow next to her dead husband? She went, you know, that's what the kids called me, was the bitch. I was the bitch. Cindy's thinking maybe one of the kids did it. Yes, yes. At the time of his murder, Ken's four children from his first marriage ranged in age from 23 to 16. Alex was the youngest.

Specifically, she's thinking Alex. She don't want to think that because, you know, this is a 16-year-old kid. You know, she don't want to think that, but it's possible. Cindy told detectives that Alex was angry about his mom and dad's divorce. She said he told someone at his high school that he hated her and Ken so much he could kill them. And there was more.

Cindy said that he stole a gun. She says that Alex was, like, taking ammunition, some of dad's ammunition, out of the house. And then she talked about the shotgun of hers that was stolen. Detectives were all ears as Cindy laid out her suspicions, especially when they found out that the missing shotgun was a 20-gauge, just like the murder weapon.

Did you think Alex could have left the bitch note on Cindy's pillow? Certainly a possibility at this point. Mm-hmm. But the accusations against Ken's kids didn't stop with Alex. Cindy told investigators about a conflict with another one of his sons, Noah. Noah had a vehicle that Cindy let him take down the college in Florida. And Noah was trying to get the title and the registration in his name in Florida, but Cindy found out about it and was very upset, very upset with Noah and arranged to have the car removed from Florida. Oh, so that was payback for him trying to take ownership of

the vehicle. Right. Yes. Seems like none of the kids liked Cindy. I think initially at the onset when they first met, I think that she did have like a stronger connection with Alex at that point. I think that dissolved relatively quickly and there was a wedge there and just trying to find out what what that wedge was and what are the underlying factors? Why are we at this point? Detectives went to talk to Ken's first wife, Betty, and the kids. The police interview your children. Oh, yes. Trying to see if they had anything to do with this. Yes. They came to my mother's house where we were staying. And they separated the kids. One went outside on a picnic table, one in the house, in various, you know, positions, and interviewed them about the murder.

Cindy told people that the kids you share with Ken would swear at her and call her a bitch. Had you heard anything about that? I don't know my kids to talk like that or be like that, although also being teenagers, and if they were upset or angry, they could have. The police also had questions for Betty. Turns out in the months before the murder, Ken and Betty were back in family court fighting over money in custody of Alex. Cindy told police things got ugly after one particular hearing. Ken and Betty were back in family court, fighting over money in custody of Alex. Cindy told police things got ugly after one particular hearing.

Cindy made the accusation that you said that everyone would be better off if Ken was dead. Sounds like something Cindy would say. You never said that. I never said that. But detectives were about to learn Ken had other strained relationships. The investigation was headed to a place called Monster Hall. Coming up, a sporty new investment for Ken, the Monster Hall Raceway. But the deal with a business partner was about to veer way off track. He told people if Ken continued to try and take away his business, he would kill him. When Dateline continues. In the aftermath of Ken Yedis' murder,

his current wife Cindy suggested investigators check out his ex-wife, Betty. Six years after the divorce, the exes had been clashing in court. What did you tell them when they asked you, did you kill Ken? No, I did not. Detectives said they believed Betty, but they still needed to check out Ken's children, starting with 16-year-old Alex. Betty said the conflict between father and son came to a head about two years before the murder. I drove Alex out to his dad's place for his week there and we were met with two big black garbage bags sitting on the porch and Cindy came out of the house and she said, Alex, you're no longer welcome

here. She said, I packed up your stuff. You can go and live with your mom. Oh. Yeah. That was a huge shock to me. And I can only imagine how Alex felt because he loved being out on the farm. Patty says Alex was confused and hurt, but that didn't make him a killer. Was Alex capable of killing his own father? No. Absolutely not.

He loved his dad so much. Alex told detectives he didn't steal the shotgun, and he didn't threaten to kill his dad. He said he'd always hoped to patch things up with his dad one day. And he said he had a strong alibi. He was at his mom's house that night with two of his siblings. After all was said and done with speaking with Alex, based on years of experience,

it was obvious to me that Alex would not have killed his father. As for Ken's son Noah, who'd been battling Cindy and his dad over that car, detectives determined where he was the night of the murder too. He was in Minnesota, and we had alibied him that night as well. Ken's sister Lori never thought for a minute that his children were behind the murder. She says everything just felt so surreal with her big brother gone. He was so full of life. You know, he was bigger than life. How could he not be here anymore?

And for a sister who lived thousands of miles away, she realized how little she knew about Ken's life. Of course, he was a pharmacist and he was devoted to his farm, but he was also passionate about something else. Ken was part owner of a local racetrack. Oh, he loved it. He was playing Ken at the track. Yeah, he had his camper sitting right there and, you know, there were all these things going on and people walking by and saying hi and stopping in and stuff like that. So, yeah, it was happy times.

It was called Monster Hall Raceway, a nod to the old 60s sitcom, The Munsters. Butch Patrick, the actor who played Eddie Munster, would come and sign autographs. But the pharmacist's fun side hustle had quickly turned into a disastrous money pit. Lori said the worst part for her brother wasn't his own financial loss. It was that he'd encouraged his friend and fellow pharmacist, Ed Kostlevy, to invest too. I think he felt a sense of responsibility that he had gotten his friend into this losing business and that his friend was suffering the consequences as well. Cindy's sister Pam said that wasn't the only strain on the friendship. Before Cindy met Ken, Ken went to Vegas. Ken did the old lap dances or whatever they do or whatever.

That was Ken. And Ed was his number one person that he drug around. But you say that all stopped when he met Cindy. Because he wasn't going to wreck this relationship. So bye-bye naked ladies. Bye-bye naked ladies. And Ed wasn't happy. He lost his partner in crime, so to speak.

Police tracked Ed down very early in the investigation. There were a lot of interviews, especially at first. Detectives asked Ed where he was the night Ken was killed. He said he was at home with his girlfriend, an exotic dancer he'd met years before. A friend of hers was there, too. They moved in with me about the Thursday before it happened. And then after the murder, I helped them get an apartment in Wausau. Ed said his friendship with Ken was solid and his alibi seemed to check out.

But detectives weren't done investigating Monster Hall Raceway. They had plenty of questions for the other part owner of the raceway. His name was Randall Landwehr. We found out that being in business with him, he wasn't the person we thought he was. Randall owned the campground next to the racetrack. Ed told detectives he had lied to him and Ken about the value of the raceway to get them to invest. They'd filed a lawsuit against him and were helping police investigate him for fraud. So how did Randall take all this, that they're coming at him to try to, you know, get him in trouble and drive him out? I was told that at a town hall meeting for the town that this racetrack was in, Randall told people at this meeting, if Ken continued to try and take away his business, he would kill him. Ed says he heard Randall threaten Ken to his face. It happened at their regular hangout,

the bar at the campground near the racetrack. And I was standing in between them, and Randall kept repeating that he was going to kill this MF-er. I was shocked. Do you know how Ken responded to this alleged death threat? Yes. It just made Ken more determined. More determined to push Randall out of Monster Hall for good. But detectives wanted to know, had Ken pushed Randall too far? They needed to talk to the business partner right away. Coming up. He does have a possible motive. Certainly not one to cross off the list. That list of possible suspects was about to get longer. They found a will.

And I said, oh my gosh, what does a will say? Cindy gets everything. leading up to his murder ken yedis had been feuding with his business partner from monster hall raceway randall landwehr he'd been helping police investigate randall and filed a lawsuit against him. Randy had a reputation as being somebody with a horrible temper. It was a very flammable situation. What happened when you went to go see Randall? He basically said, I want to meet with an attorney, which was certainly his right. With his attorney at his side a few days later, Randall denied ever threatening Ken and told police that he and his nephew were playing video games the night of the murder. I just didn't think I had the murderer at this point.

Just instincts were telling you? Yes. He does have a possible motive. There's a motive there. There certainly is. Certainly not one to cross off the list. But you put him on the back burner for now? Yes. While you continue to investigate? Yes.

As more time went on and the murder went unsolved, Pam says Cindy was living in fear. She made panicked calls to detectives and 911. There was a strange car in her driveway. She thought someone had opened her doors. And though it turned out to be a false alarm, she once reported an intruder in the farmhouse. This is Marathon County Sheriff's Department. Let's get a police officer here.

How scared were you for your sister? Oh, I was terrified. Ken's brother, Don, said he had no idea how Cindy was doing after Ken's murder. Cindy was not communicative with us. I think I placed three calls to her after Ken's murder, and she never returned one of them. Lori didn't particularly miss her. She says she hadn't liked Cindy from their very first phone call back when Ken and Cindy were dating. She says Cindy lied to her. She started talking about Ken's wedding earlier that spring to her in Las Vegas. Lori knew Cindy and her brother weren't married yet, but she says Cindy went on and on about it.

It was very romantic, and Ken could be very romantic, and I guess as a little sister, I wouldn't know that. And so here I am talking to this woman about a wedding that I know didn't happen. Did you call her out right there on the phone? I did. Wow. This is quite the first impression. But it gets even worse than that. So up to this time, she was just warm and buttery.

Hi, I'm Cindy. Her voice was very soft and mellow. As soon as I broke that news to her, it was like I was talking to a different person. She was just angry, and her voice even changed. Two years later, Lori's brother was dead, her mother grieving, and not a word from Cindy to anyone in Ken's family. Lori and Don were surprised to find out Cindy had been talking to the town funeral director. He mentioned that my brother's body was going to be cremated.

Now, my mother is very Catholic, and she already had a burial plot, so she didn't want him cremated. Is it possible that Ken had told Cindy that he did want to be cremated? I didn't know if it was his wishes or not, but I knew it certainly wasn't my mother's wishes. And I think that Ken was a good son and respected his mom and loved her so much that I doubted that he wanted to be cremated against her wishes. And at the very least, Cindy should be having a conversation with the family about the next steps. Yes, yes. Of course, as the spouse, Cindy had been on the detective's radar since day one, ever since her first interview with them. The moment you interact with Cindy

at the neighbor's house, how's she doing? What's her demeanor? She was flat. I would call it just flat, like talking real low, kind of muttering. And then I saw him, and he was a very weird color. And I said, Kenny. And just sitting on a recliner with her feet up as we go through this interview. A little too comfy? Comfy is a good word, yes. The detective said there was no sign Cindy, who was recently trained in CPR, had tried to help Ken when she found him covered in blood. Her white bathrobe was spotless.

But it was taking a look at the camper parked outside the farmhouse that really made detectives start doubting Cindy's story. Cindy said she'd slept there the night of the murder because she had a headache. I don't think it would be something anyone would do on a fairly warm summer day here in Wisconsin. The camper itself didn't have air conditioning. That was something you noticed right away? Absolutely. It was very warm that day. But she did need peace and quiet. It sounds like she kind of wanted a cocoon where she could just...

Yeah, and I would say the camper was also painted in the Harley-Davidson motif, so it was black and, you know, August sun beaten down on that. But it was, it was her cocoon, as you said. Detectives asked friends and family about Ken and Cindy's relationship. Nearly everyone said they seemed like a good match. Then investigators got a glimpse of something at the farmhouse, something Cindy apparently didn't want them to see. Detective McCarthy and myself were, again, speaking with Cindy in her home. And we're at this desk, and I looked down below the desk, and there was a clothes basket filled with paperwork.

And I happened to look up at Cindy, and she noted that I was looking at the stuff, and she took another pile of paper and put it on top of that. What was it? Well, I know it was life insurance documents. And it wasn't just life insurance. A few weeks after Ken's death, Lori got a call from her brother, Don. And Don said, they found a will. And I said, oh my gosh, what does the will say?

And Don said, oh, the will says that Cindy gets everything. What did you make of that? We couldn't figure that one out. The marriage was less than three years old. And so for him to cut his own children out just, again, seemed inconceivable. Maybe the pharmacist with the racetrack was worth more to Cindy dead than alive. Detectives named her a person of interest. And then a brand new lead landed on the detective's desk. A strange letter with something even stranger tucked inside. Coming up.

There was like a little jewel bag and it had a hair in it. In this letter? In this letter. What does that mean? I don't know. Are they trying to say the hair belongs to the killer? I don't know. This is a crazy twist to the story.

Right. When Dateline continues... As the weeks passed, Pam says Cindy listened to Ken's voice on the answering machine again and again. I knew if I wasn't going to call, but just checking. I'll be here until 6.30. Bye. Every day, she would listen to this same recording of Ken. She'd go about her day cautiously, believing it's not real. Pam knew her sister was being investigated for her husband Ken's murder, but she says Cindy was no killer. I would consider her perfect.

She's caring for everybody. And the person she cared for most of all, according to Pam, was Ken. When he lost his job early in their relationship, she said Cindy hadn't hesitated to step up. Cindy was the one that stepped forward and lent him money, $18,000 to live because he was paying child support and had his bills and everything. She was helping him get by. Yes, yes, definitely. At the time of his death, Ken was back to earning good money as a pharmacist. The family, the police, they believe this is all over the money, the life insurance money.

Cindy didn't care. As for Ken's will, Pam says Cindy knew nothing about that. She stumbled across it stuffed in the back of her wedding album. The family finds that awfully convenient that, you know, she happens to find this will in the wedding album and that, you know, everything, lo and behold, goes to her, nothing to the children. That's because Ken was mad at the kids. Ken finally stood up to the kids and wasn't going

to let them rule who he had a relationship or what he did, that he was no longer going to go back to their mother. Pam says there was also nothing suspicious about Cindy sleeping in that little camper. It was Ken's idea that Cindy sleep there. And as far as it being hot, we're talking about the end of August. By the time the sun starts going down behind the trees, it cools down. You know, I'm from Canada. The nights start to get a little chilly. Absolutely. Just like while we've been staying here this week, we're pretty close to the time that this happened. And it's cold at night.

Absolutely. Pam says Cindy had nothing to hide. She cooperated with investigators from day one, meeting them whenever they needed her. You know, she said, well, you can look at me. It doesn't matter. You know, you'd be remiss if you didn't, you know, investigate me. You're saying Cindy understood she's the spouse. Right. You know, the police always look at the spouse. They have to ask those tough questions. Right. In fact, Pam says Cindy was so determined to prove her innocence, she arranged to take a voice layer analysis at a neighboring police department. It's like a lie detector test, but measures your voice.

She got the results a week later. But if Cindy wasn't the shooter, who was? Cindy and Pam put up posters around town, offering a $25,000 reward for tips. Pam didn't bargain for what happened next. An anonymous letter showed up in her P.O. box. What did the letter say? I have a copy of the letter. Just, you know, paraphrase for us. That he wouldn't give up his bitch, so he got hers too, and Ken was shot twice. This is very cryptic. It's very cryptic. And then, if you don't believe what I'm saying, check out the baggie. What baggie? There was a little tiny, like a little jewel bag, and it had hair in it. In this letter?

In this letter. What does that mean? I don't know. Are they trying to say the hair belongs to the killer? I don't know. This is a crazy twist to the story. Right, right. Cindy offers a reward.

This comes in. Here we've got this, which turned out to be a pubic hair that wasn't Ken's. Yeah, that's what the detective said, that it was sent in and it wasn't Ken's. Why would someone do that? I don't know. Ew. I don't know. That's what the detectives told us. They said it was a pubic hair. Who are you thinking this letter's from? I have no idea. No idea. Think it's the killer? It's certainly possible.

The detectives sent the hair and letter off for analysis by the state crime lab and the FBI. But they got no new leads. Almost a year had gone by since Ken's death. Lori says the wait for answers was taking its toll, especially on her father. My father was in the last months of his life, and we knew it. Before he died, Lori's dad said he was sure Lori would figure out who killed Ken. Did you take that to heart, him saying that you're going to figure this out? Absolutely. Absolutely.

I didn't care if it took the rest of my life and every penny in my bank account. I was going to figure this out. For Dad and for Ken. Coming up... I said, hey, do you know anything about Ken's murder? A sister turned sleuth, questioning the business partner, the neighbor, and that will. It didn't look legitimate at all. A year after Ken's murder, there'd been no arrest. His children and Cindy were slugging it out in court over his estate.

So that first year, it was destroying all of us. It was soaking up our lives. Lori was determined to live up to her dad's faith in her that she would figure out who killed Ken. She decided it was time to act. Where do you start? Well, that's just it, right? Just imagine me. I know nothing. I know nothing about any of this. Where do I start? Before she became a stay-at-home mom, Lori had worked as a computer systems engineer. So I went back to the methods that I used to solve computer problems because that's all I knew.

And the thing that you do is gather data. Right? That's how you solve a problem. Lori flew home to Wisconsin and started hunting for clues. She knocked on doors around Ken's farm, asking if anyone had any information. And everybody pointed to this one neighbor, his name was Mark, that lived just a few miles from Ken and was very involved in the racing thing. The neighbor told Lori Ken wasn't acting like himself right before he died. He seemed on edge. And he had a strange story about going over to the farmhouse one time when Ken was out of town and finding the locks tampered with.

And at the end of my talking with him, I said, well, what did you tell police? And he said, well, they never asked me anything. And I just found that incredible. Lori also had questions about that copy of Ken's will Cindy said she found in her wedding album. It didn't look legitimate at all. You think Cindy

made it up? I do. She noticed the witness to the will was Ken's fellow pharmacist and friend, Ed Kostlevy. So she asked him about it. I didn't sign it. Both Candida's and myself were at work that day for all day. Lori sent a copy of the will and some of Ken's life insurance documents to a handwriting expert. What did she tell you?

What was her conclusion? She told me that because I had not sent her the original documents, she couldn't say conclusively. But she did say there was a high probability that those signatures were forged. Cindy has always denied forging the will, but Lori wasn't just focused on Ken's widow. My mom would babysit the kids and I would go talk to everybody, including people that I thought were involved in his murder. That could be dangerous. Yes. I really didn't care. She wanted to know everything she could about her brother's feud with his business partner, Randall Landwehr. This is a man that allegedly publicly threatened to kill Ken, and you're going to confront him? Yes. She took Ken's daughter with her. They found him at the campground bar next to the racetrack. It's like one of those old westerns

where there's a bar scene, and the is open and the person walks in and everybody stops talking well that's what happened I walked on this long long bar and I tapped him on the shoulder and he turned around and he looked at me as his eyes got wide like he had seen a ghost what did you say to him I said hey do you know anything about Ken's murder? And he said, no, he didn't know anything. He did go out and talk with me, though. He said that the first time that Cindy came to his bar campground thing, he said he thought she looked like she was surveying it, like, how can I get my hands on this? Did you feel like he was pointing the finger at Cindy?

Yes, I did. Were the police interested in hearing about some of the things you were finding out? Were they listening to you? No, no. The detectives say that's not true. They took Lori's calls and suggestions seriously. But Lori started bombarding local officials with complaints about the investigation. She wanted to know why detectives never tested Cindy's hands for gunshot residue.

And she wondered why they'd given the farmhouse back to Cindy after less than 36 hours. Did you think that in hindsight, maybe you should have kept the house longer? I think in this case, I think, and I'm sure you would agree with me, maybe holding this house for a little longer would help to maybe look through. Like I said, it was a large property. We felt that we had done our due diligence. Lori thinks that you did not do a good job. Right.

She started investigating on her own because she felt you weren't doing enough. I'd like to see her findings. Lorie thinks that you did not do a good job. Right. She started investigating on her own because she felt you weren't doing enough. I'd like to see her findings. Right. I would say, and I appreciate, you know, that her brother was killed in such a violent and brutal manner. I get that part. What Lorie became and her allegations really hindered this case. You feel like she got in the way? Yes. Oh, yeah.

There were times when they said that you were getting a little too involved, too much in the way. I may have been getting too involved as far as they were concerned because I was finding out things that they hadn't looked into. But detectives also weren't sharing everything they were up to. There were new witnesses and new stories. Coming up. Do you have any fears about sitting here today and telling your story. Yes. And what's this guy have to do with this case? Eddie Munster. An actor from, like, blasts from the past.

That's exactly right. When Dateline continues. It was just after dawn, the summer after Ken Yedis' murder, when Detective Sean McCarthy got woken up by an urgent phone call from the Marathon County Jail. Someone has information about the case. That's right. That someone was Brian Demler, a bartender at the campground attached to the racetrack. Brian was under arrest for his fifth drunk driving violation.

Why is he doing this? Why is he calling you? I think he was dealing with some of his own legal troubles, and I think he wanted some help that way. Maybe cut a deal? Possibly. The detective rushed to the jail with his tape recorder in hand. The bartender said he'd overheard some men talking about the murder. recorder in hand. The bartender said he'd overheard some men talking about the murder.

Brian said it was not Randall Landwehr, Ken's business partner at Monster Hall Raceway. He said there were three other men detectives needed to investigate. So who were they? According to the bartender, the first man was Jerry Gentry, a businessman they called California Jerry. Then there was Gary Upton, also known as Dr. Dissect, who scared visitors at the campground's haunted mansion. But it was the third name that really got the detectives' attention. Eddie Munster. Or more precisely, Butch Patrick, the child actor who played Eddie Munster

in the TV sitcom The Munsters. An actor from, like, blasts from the past. That's exactly right. He visited Monster Hall from time to time, signing autographs and hanging out at the bar. Why would someone have issues with Ketanel? I mean, what was, what do you think would have been? I think what happened was,

I'm pretty sure I know what happened, but Dan Afonno and ****** and drugs. Everything was reassuring. Brian the bartender said Ken had sold illegal drugs from time to time. In fact, the morning of the murder, he said he'd given California Jerry a ride to Ken's house to get some cocaine. And he said, The detective wasn't sure what to make of this. He thought the guy pointing fingers still seemed drunk, talking in circles. And then a few weeks later, detectives found out Brian the bartender was talking about the murder to people at the campground. Only his story had changed. He changes his story to where he was the getaway driver of these other three after they went in and killed Ken.

This is a big shift from being suspicious of these three to now he's actually involved. Right. Do you bring in the three guys that he implicates? Absolutely. Well, not quite everybody. The actor who played Eddie Munster wasn't so easy to reach. Butch Patrick had to be reached via a publicist. Hollywood.

Hollywood, right. Yeah, so he was out and about. Butch Patrick had to be reached via a publicist. Hollywood. Hollywood, right. Yeah, so he was out and about. But we did have a conversation with both Upton and Gentry. Both men denied the bartender's story. Jerry Gentry said he'd been in California the night of the murder. Gary Upton said he'd been home. What's more, the detectives found zero evidence Ken had been dealing drugs. There's a lot of dead ends in this case.

A lot of dead ends. For a while, the lead about the three guys from Monster Hall went nowhere. Until, several years later, a woman popped up with her own story about one of those guys. Rainey, do you have any fears about sitting here today and telling your story? Yes. Rainey is the ex-wife of Gary Upton, the guy who worked in the haunted house. She says Gary told her something nearly eight years after the murder. According to Rainey, Gary said he was there at Ken's house with some other guys the night Ken was murdered. And they went in the house and he says by the time everything was done, Ken was dead. He

was definitely dead. Unlike the bartender story, her story put Ken's business partner, Randall Landwehr, squarely at the center of the crime. Randall had asked Gary several times if he would kill Ken. And Gary would continuously tell him no. And he says, finally one day, I just said, okay, I'll do it. So he's like a hitman, essentially. Rainey says Gary told her to keep quiet. But she eventually worked up the courage to call the police. It was like almost a two-hour interview that day. She even handed over a shotgun she says she found hidden in Gary's belongings.

And you think this might be the murder weapon? Yes. Was this the break everyone had been waiting for? Coming up, a new detective with new questions about the actor known as Eddie Munster and about the widow Cindy. You think she's completely acting on the 911 calls? Yes. There was a brand new witness in the Ken Yedis murder investigation. A woman who said one of the guys from Monster Hall told her he was involved.

And a mystery shotgun stashed away in his belongings. But when investigators sat him down for an interview, Gary Upton said his ex-wife Rainey had gone off the rails. Gary told the investigators that you're a liar, you made up the entire confession story. I'm sure he did. Not only that, he says that you were paid off to make all this up and that he has emails to prove it. Oh, he said that? Did you ever accept any money from anyone to make up stories about Gary?

No. That's a harsh accusation he's making about you. If you were in that place, you'd probably fight tooth and nail to make it sound like I was lying about her too, wouldn't you? After a few conversations with investigators, Rainey says they never contacted her again. That gun she found? Police said it was the wrong gauge, not the murder weapon. The case seemed to stall. Years passed and Ken's family started to lose hope. How frustrating was it for you, Margaret, that all this time was passing and there was no arrest? Just was terrible, yeah. At

night you couldn't sleep very well. My mother waited every day for a phone call from the police that never came. Your family put ads in the newspaper on the anniversaries of Ken's death? We wanted to make sure that it didn't become a dead case and that they were going to continue to do it. And then finally, 10 years after the murder, the family got a call about a new detective. His name? Dennis Blazer. I had a reputation of looking at cases and not letting

it go until there was a resolution. He'd been handpicked by the original detectives to take a fresh look at the case. I had a whiteboard that was like four by six and at one point it was full of people that I needed to interview. As you're going through all these suspects, are you keeping everybody on the table in the beginning? Everybody started on it. Detective Blazer quickly ruled out Ken's kids and the foster kids. That still left a long list of potential suspects. Ken's widow Cindy, the business partner, the bartender, and the three men the bartender implicated in Ken's killing.

This is really like a central part of the murder investigation, this track. The detective headed back to Monster Hall Raceway. Randall Landwehr no longer owned the track. He'd moved out of state. But Blazer found his sister who backed up his alibi. She said that he was at home with her and her kids and they were watching movies that night. How important was that to you to get that piece of information? It's somebody who was able to tell me where Randall was at the time of the homicide. He still had to answer the question though. Did Randall get someone else to do it?

The detective got Randall on the phone. You didn't line anybody up to help kill Ken, anything like that? Absolutely not. How would a person even live with themselves? I mean, you know, there's no way. But what about Brian the bartender's story of driving three men to Ken's house the night of the murder? The bartender told the detective everything he said before was a lie.

He said he hadn't even been in town that night. You weren't involved. No, I was not involved. And you don't know who it was? No. Why make it up, though? Why would you put yourself at a scene of a crime that you weren't involved in? We talk a lot of times crime that you weren't involved in?

We talk a lot of times about people not making sense. Brian didn't make sense because he's an alcoholic trying to get out of a felony OWI charge. Did Brian have a decent alibi? Not that I could ever prove. None of these people I could prove. There were no records to prove California Jerry was in California. And as for the actor who once played Eddie Munster?

I'm going to make this as a promo if I can, sir. Detective Blazer surprised the actor at a Wisconsin car show. He said he couldn't remember where he'd been the night of the murder.

Obviously I wasn't there, but I travel still, so it's really difficult to pinpoint an exact date nine or ten years ago. He said his old promoter might be able to help. But instead of backing him up, the promoter told the detective she was pretty sure he'd been in Wisconsin around the time of the murder. Did he admit to you at all that he was involved in this?

I'm going to say no comment. The detective couldn't find any records to prove where the actor had actually been. Finally, Detective Blazer had to figure out what to do with Rainey, Gary Upton's ex-wife. He listened to the previous investigators' interviews with both her and Upton. What's Rainey got her teeth out against you so much for? I have no idea what her deal is. We didn't even have a bad marriage. Blazer decided Rainey wasn't credible.

He believed she was just sore about a bad breakup. He didn't even interview her. Why didn't you interview her if you're taking a new look at the case? Don't you think that might have been an important thing to do? From watching the interview that DCI did with her, I watched it multiple times, it didn't make sense to me. For the record, Rainey says that she is 100% telling the truth and that this was not about, you know, revenge or a grudge.

She was trying to do the right thing. But I don't believe that Rainey was telling the truth. The detective was far more interested in another woman in the case file. Another woman he thought was lying. Ken's widow, Cindy. In fact, he believed the very first words out of her mouth about Ken's death had been lies. You think she's completely acting on the 911 calls? Yes.

I didn't know that he didn't call him back. I just thought I had to call him. Sounds quite frantic. Everything in there is about Cindy. I, I, I, I found my husband. It's not about asking for help for Ken. He thought Cindy's description of how she'd found Ken's body was just as fishy. She said when she got up in the morning, she went into the house and she went to the bathroom.

Cindy told detectives she walked through the house to get to the bathroom, then back into the living room and kitchen before finally heading to the bedroom. But when the detective mapped out her route, it didn't make sense to him. The most direct route is to come in the house, take a right turn, go through the bedroom into the master bath. But then she would have to walk right past Ken. She would have seen Ken right away? As soon as she walked into the bedroom door. Too hard to miss, in your opinion, if she came in from the camper?

Yes. It was very obvious. But the clincher for the detective was this. Certain things had to be in place for the murder to happen that only Cindy would have known about. Ken, usually so conscious of security, had left all the doors unlocked. A house often full of foster kids was empty. The surveillance cameras were switched off. And it turns out Ken wasn't just naked. He was passed out drunk on his bed, unable to defend himself.

To have all of these things line up, she had to have been involved in it. It had been years since investigators had spoken to Cindy. So Detective Blazer picked up the phone and called her. Would I be able to sit down and talk with you? I suppose you could, yeah. Coming up. When they said that they were coming, Cindy was just so excited.

Finally. Finally they're going to do something. Cindy's excitement would not last long. You think that it's possible that I could have done that? Oh, definitely. When Dateline continues. Cindy's life had changed dramatically in the years since the murder.

She'd sold Ken's farmhouse, moved in with her daughter, and written a novel in which a husband covers up the murder of his wife. The title? Spider Lake. But Pam says Ken was never far from her sister's mind. When they said that they were coming to interview her, Cindy was just so excited because she said, finally, finally they're going to do something to find who killed my Kenny. Where are we going? I brought it back with you. Okay. Detective Blazer and his partner met Cindy

at her house. They asked her to tell her story one more time. She described those terrible headaches and Ken tucking her into bed in the camper to sleep. He says, make sure you take your meds and take everything that I put out. So I was really medicated. She said the surveillance cameras were switched off, but that was normal. He'd always want it off because the humming was so loud. It didn't take long for her to point her finger yet again at Ken's kids. And not just the kids. Well, I think that Alex probably had the gun.

But I think there was more than one involved. And I know that Betty, well, for one thing, I know that Betty Yitas, his mother, put that idea in his head, and Lori Ranney, Ken's sister, hated Ken. Do you know who shot Ken? I believe that it was... Let's just go yes or no. Do you know who shot Ken? No, not positively.

Did you shoot Ken? No, I did not. No. How does she feel as you're kind of pushing back? It got pretty contentious during the course of the interview. Do you think I'm lying? I'm on the fence. You're on the fence. So you think that it's possible that I could have done that? Oh, definitely. The detective suggested Cindy might have shot Ken during an argument. She said they never fought. So you got all these things going on. There's threats of lawsuits

and losing money and you have no idea what's going to happen next. And yet you guys never bickered. Tempers never got flared. Nobody ever got upset. Nope. I'm going to call

Call me I'm going to call You're going to call me a liar. Is she asking for a lawyer? Is she telling you, OK, you can go now? No. The detectives press Cindy again and again

to give them some kind of explanation about what happened. I want you to tell us. I don't want you to make up a story. Ken was drunk and I grabbed a gun and I shot him. Is that what happened? I f***ing know. Then what happened? I went to bed.

I woke up to a dead husband. What don't you***ing know. Then what happened? I went to bed. I woke up to a dead husband. What don't you get about that? After seven hours of talking, Cindy asked the detectives to leave. Okay. This is between, at this point, this is between you and your God. And I'm good with God. And Ken. And I'm good with Ken.

The interview produced fireworks, but no smoking gun. Even so, the detective shared everything he had with Marathon County District Attorney, Teresa Whetstone. You decided after that final interview with Cindy that you would go ahead and press charges. What was the tipping point that you finally said, after all these years, let's go get her? At that point, I felt that the detectives had done everything that they could do. This was the case. This was as good as it was going to get. Witnesses were getting older.

Memories were failing. So it was time. It was time to bring it forth. She sent Detective Blazer to arrest Cindy at home. What's the look on her face when you knock on the door after all these years? And you've got the cuffs. She kept saying that I didn't do this. I didn't shoot my husband. How surprised was she?

Let's just say she doesn't like me very well. Dennis sent us a picture or mugshot of being booked into the Marathon County Jail. And so we were happy. We were all very, very happy. And finally, it was a sense of relief that this was happening. The prosecutor wasn't ready to celebrate just yet. She knew her circumstantial case was no slam dunk. There were plenty of alternate suspects with shaky alibis the defense could point to. So she charged Cindy, not with pulling the trigger herself, but with being party to the murder. Are you essentially saying you don't know if Cindy acted alone?

I am saying that I don't know if Cindy acted alone, yes. But when Cindy's murder trial opened at the Marathon County Courthouse 15 years after Ken's death, the prosecutor had one sole focus. Good afternoon. Cindy. The defendant had found herself

the goose that laid the golden egg. Greed had driven Cindy to kill, the prosecutor told the jury. She said Cindy had been attracted to Ken for his pharmacist's income and that beautiful farm. But even that wasn't enough. She grew impatient. She knew the golden egg's real wealth, $1.2 million, wasn't hers until Ken was dead. And then the prosecutor called witnesses to show how Cindy had methodically stacked up insurance policy on top of insurance policy.

This one is just a flat fee, $280,000, if the death occurred. The amount of the coverage was $301,000. Five policies that added up to nearly $1 million. Throw in the property Cindy inherited from Ken, she stood to make a fortune from his death. And contrary to what Cindy told investigators, the prosecutor said there was tension in the marriage over money. The neighbor Lori found? He told the jury he overheard Cindy pushing Ken to sell some land. The prosecutor argued this is why Cindy had set in motion a murder only she could have pulled off. The only one to know that the surveillance system was off, the doors were unlocked,

the foster children would not be there, was the defendant. And if it was hard to believe that Cindy could be cold enough to shoot her husband twice at close range, the prosecutor asked the jury to listen to his mother, Margaret. How old are you, Ms. Yedis? One or two. Did you look at Cindy in the courtroom? Not directly, because she sat on the side, and I was looking at the jury, you know. I didn't want to.

Margaret told the jury how nice Cindy seemed before Ken's death. Afterwards, she was a completely different person. I asked her if we could have the body back so we could have a Christian burial, and she said no. She was going to take care of it. Did you have any contact with Cindy about having any of your son's remains given to you? Yes, but she said no. The prosecutor played a pleading voicemail Margaret left Cindy. I don't know why you don't give me a call back. Maybe you would know more about who murdered him than we do.

Would you please call back? Cindy didn't. Finally, the prosecutor directed the jury to take a look at one of the first clues detectives found at the scene. That note left on Cindy's pillow. She asked them to consider who had written it. There were notes on the mirror that were actually affectionate notes that Cindy Schultz-Edis had pretty clearly stated were from Ken to her. And there was a very distinct way of writing a B that looked like the number 6.

The prosecutor told the jury to check the B on the note found next to Ken's body. Could Ken have written that too? The detective certainly thought so. My personal opinion is that Ken and Cindy were arguing. There was a note that was stabbed in the pillow on her side of the bed. I think that Ken just had enough that day. And when Cindy came in and saw the note in the bed, she had enough and she just went and got a shotgun and shot her husband.

Your Honor, the defense calls Cindy Schultz to the stand. All right, thank you. Please come forward if you just want to. But now it was Cindy's turn to tell her story to the jury. And she was ready. Coming up... I didn't kill my husband, and I wanted to find out, I guess, who did. Cindy on the stand, and the other suspects too. Who would the jury believe? The Jury Believe.

Pam Ewer says the picture the prosecutor painted of her sister as a money-hungry murderer was plain wrong. She says Ken was the one who wanted all those insurance policies, not Cindy. Cindy wasn't planning for Ken to die. Cindy wanted her husband. Cindy wasn't looking for money. The prosecutor said that there was only one person who could have lined everything up perfectly, you know, to commit this murder, and that was Cindy. You know, she had the motive and the means to pull this off. What do I say to that? Somebody planned it, and it wasn't my sister. Believe me. Someone else did it. That was the crux of Cindy's defense in court, too. There was a man at the campground named Brian that was telling people there that he was the driver in the getaway car. Cindy's defense attorney, Earl Gray, called one of the campers who'd heard Brian's stories to the stand.

He told me that he was the getaway driver of the vehicle. The defense attorney also called Brian the bartender. It was something the prosecutor had expected and planned for, and it's why she made a bold decision before trial. You decided to give these men immunity. What was the logic behind that since you weren't even sure if they were involved? Because we needed the truth. Immunity meant the prosecutor could not criminally charge the men for any secrets they revealed on the witness stand.

Brian the bartender didn't reveal much. He denied being involved in the murder. He even denied telling some of those stories. Did you tell him anything about the murder of Ken Edis? No. Rainey's ex, Gary Upton, also denied being part of any murder plot. He did admit to knowing Cindy. Did you ever call her a witch?

Possibly. Butch Patrick was adamant, too. He didn't kill Ken. But the defense asked him what proof he had. The only proof that you have that you weren't here is zero, correct? You don't remember where you were on the days of the shooting. Is that right? Yes.

Then there was this defense witness, a friend of Ken's, who said a few days before the murder, Ken was afraid not of his wife, but something at the racetrack. So afraid, he told the jury, that Ken asked him to go there with him because he didn't want to go alone. I observed he was very nervous and looking around a lot more than he usually did. And in case the jury was wondering if Cindy and the guys from Monster Hall were in it together, the defense said there was no proof she conspired with them or anyone else. I'm here to tell you the truth, the whole truth, and nothing but the truth.

I hope you guys. Then it came time for Cindy to take the stand. I saw Ken on the bed. Ken, what did you do? Did you do anything? I remember making my way to the phone. And then as I'm looking at Ken trying to use the phone, I felt like I was floating above him, looking down, and I could hear screaming, and I didn't realize that it was me.

And she explained she'd done her best to help detectives, talking to them whenever they needed her. Why did you agree to all these interviews? Because I didn't kill my husband, and I wanted to find out, I guess, who did. The prosecutor pounced on Cindy in a testy cross-examination. You do not administer any aid whatsoever, correct? The first rule of CPR... Your Honor, I ask that you answer the question, yes or no. I already answered the question, please?

I did not administer first aid, no. When you opened the door to the bedroom from that bathroom, what did you see? I think you've asked me about this before, and I've answered it before, so ask and answered. The prosecutor asked Cindy how she could have slept through the murder. The camper was parked just steps from the house. I think the volume of the inconsistencies was compelling. You didn't hear two shotgun blasts?

No. You said you're a light sleeper, correct? Ordinarily, yes. But not that night? I was medicated. And the medication that you say you took allowed you to sleep so soundly that you slept through two shotgun blasts? Objection as argument. After nearly six hours of testimony, Cindy walked back to the defense table.

It was time for the jury to take the case. Then, after four and a half hours of deliberation, a verdict. We, the jury, as in for our verdict, find the defendant, Cindy Schultz, is guilty of first-degree intentional homicide as a party to a crime. What's that moment like? It was wonderful. It was absolutely wonderful. We were hugging each other. At the sentencing, Don read a letter written by his mother.

Were it not for Cindy's actions, Ken would now be 74 years old, still providing assistance to me and enjoying the best years of his life. Was that so painful for you, reading that on behalf of your mom in that courtroom? It was sad that I had to do it, yes. The judge sentenced Cindy to life without parole. Anything you want to say to her now? You're a beast, Cindy. That's all I can say.

That's how I feel. Cindy hired a new legal team to fight her conviction. The truth's going to come out. The truth is going to come out. So what do you say to people who say you're just blindly supporting her, you're naive? Oh, they're wrong. They're wrong. You think the real killer and accomplices are walking around free? All the liars? Oh, they're wrong. They're wrong. You think the real killer and accomplices are walking around free? All the liars? Oh, yes, they are. The other sister in this story, Ken's kid sister Lori, also thinks there are unanswered questions. She's convinced Cindy didn't act alone.

You feel like someone got away with murder. Yes, I do. Cindy didn't live to see another day in court. Nearly two years after her conviction, she was found beaten to death in her cell. Her cellmate has been charged with murder and is pleaded not guilty. Margaret Yedis died in February 2024. The rest of Ken's family is looking for peace, finding it in their memories of Ken,

a brother, a dad, a son, a man with a gentle smile and big dreams, who for a brief moment in time created his own little heaven at the end of a Wisconsin country road. That's all for now. I'm Lester Holt. Thanks for joining us.