MrBallen Podcast: Strange, Dark & Mysterious Stories - A Shot in the Dark (PODCAST EXCLUSIVE EPISODE)

Episode Date: December 30, 2024

On a spring morning in 2017, a mother of three in Evansville, Indiana logged onto Facebook and noticed a story in her news feed that made her heart start to race. Just a couple of hours earlier, the body of a young woman was found in a field one town over – and police had no clue who the young woman was. The physical description was vague, but it matched all three of the woman’s daughters. So right away, she picked up her phone and began trying to reach them, to make sure each of them was okay. Her two youngest girls replied within minutes, but the oldest one of them did not. And with every minute that passed without a word from her oldest daughter, the woman became more and more frantic until she reached out to a friend of hers on the police force. And what she soon would learn, before the morning became afternoon, would change her family’s life forever... and change the course of two separate police investigations.For 100s more stories like these, check out our main YouTube channel just called "MrBallen" -- https://www.youtube.com/c/MrBallenIf you want to reach out to me, contact me on Instagram, Twitter or any other major social media platform, my username on all of them is @mrballenSee Privacy Policy at https://art19.com/privacy and California Privacy Notice at https://art19.com/privacy#do-not-sell-my-info.

Hey Prime members, you can binge eight new episodes of the Mr. Ballin podcast one month early and all episodes ad free on Amazon Music. Download the Amazon Music app today. On a spring morning in 2017, a mother of three in Evansville, Indiana logged onto Facebook and noticed a story in her newsfeed that made her heart start to race. Just a couple of hours earlier, the body of a young woman had been found in a field one town over and police still had no clue who the young woman was. Now, the physical description was vague, but it matched all three of the mother's daughters.

So right away she picked up her phone and began trying to reach each of them to make sure they were okay. Her two youngest girls replied within minutes, but the oldest one of them did not. And with every minute that passed by without a word from her, the mother became more and more frantic until she finally reached out to a friend of hers on the police force. And what she would soon learn before the morning ended would change her family's life forever, and change the course of two separate police investigations. But before we get into that story, if you're a fan of the Strange, Dark and Mysterious

delivered in story format, then you've come to the right podcast because that's all we do and we upload twice a week. Once on Monday and once on Thursday. So if that's of interest to you, please tape an air horn behind the follow button's front door to act as their new doorstop. Okay, let's get into today's story. They say Hollywood is where dreams are made, a seductive city where many flock to get rich, be adored and capture America's heart. But when the spotlight turns off, fame, fortune and lives can disappear in an instant. Follow Hollywood and Crime, the Cotton Club murder on the Wondery app or wherever you

get your podcasts. On the afternoon of Sunday, April 23, 2017, 20-year-old Haley Rathgeber walked across the busy dining room of the Texas Roadhouse Restaurant in Evansville, Indiana carrying two plates of hot food from the kitchen. Haley stopped at a table near a window and set the plates down in front of a pair of customers. Then she gave a big smile and told them to enjoy the meal. But as Haley walked back towards the kitchen, she happened to glance up at the clock on

the wall. And when she saw the time, her smile totally disappeared and she felt this jolt of anxiety. Haley knew in a little under an hour, her shift would be over and she would no longer have work to take her mind off this insane secret that she was keeping from almost everybody she knew. Earlier that month, one of Haley's best friends, a young woman named Jordan Hughes, had lost her 10-month-old baby in a devastating accident. Jordan's boyfriend, who was not the baby's father but was helping take care of him, had been home alone with the baby. He'd strapped the baby into a car seat and started walking down the stairs in the house

when he suddenly tripped over a diaper bag and he and the baby both went tumbling down the steps, which ultimately resulted in the child's death. Or at least, that's what he had told his girlfriend Jordan and the police. Jordan had gotten the news quickly about her child and rushed to the hospital, hoping her baby would survive. And she told Hailey everything that had happened and asked Hailey to go to her house to pick up some things for her and bring them back to the hospital. But when Hailey got to Jordan's house, she quickly realized that the story Jordan's boyfriend had told them didn't make any sense.

The diaper bag that the boyfriend had supposedly tripped over was neatly placed on the couch and it looked like it had never even been used, let alone tripped over in this dramatic fashion that the boyfriend had described. Haley had also noticed there was no scuff marks on the stairs or the nearby wall. Nothing anywhere inside the house appeared to be damaged or in disorder, and practically everything she saw seemed to contradict the boyfriend's story. And so by the time Haley had left Jordan's house, she was convinced that Jordan's boyfriend, a guy named Thaddeus Rice, was lying.

And when the baby had eventually died at the hospital, Hailey felt almost positive that Thaddeus had something to do with the baby's death. Back in the busy restaurant, Hailey grabbed more food from the kitchen and delivered it to one of her tables. For some reason, whenever she was helping customers or talking to her close friends she worked with, a small group that called themselves the Roadies, she could totally block out everything she'd seen in Jordan's house. The second she closed out her final table, Hayley felt like she might have a panic attack

right there in the middle of the restaurant. Hayley took a seat at the restaurant bar and tried to catch her breath. She removed her work apron and then reached inside the front pouch of the apron and pulled out a thick wad of cash, her tip money for the night. She slipped the cash into her jeans pocket and just kept taking deep breaths, trying as hard as she could to calm herself down. Hayley suddenly felt a hand on her back and she turned and saw her friend and co-worker, Ainsley Bowles, take the seat next to her.

Hayley had only shared the secret with two people, her mother and Ainsley. And while Hayley's mother had told her to go talk to the police immediately about Thaddeus, Ainsley understood why Hayley still had not done that, because Ainsley and Hayley were both afraid of Thaddeus, Ainsley understood why Haley still had not done that. Because Ainsley and Haley were both afraid of Thaddeus. He was their friend's boyfriend so they had always tried to get along with him, but they knew Thaddeus had a criminal record and had been involved in at least one rape case. Ainsley asked Haley how she was holding up. But before Haley could answer, another member of the roadie crew, Jake Allen, walked up

to the bar and announced that he was hosting a small hangout after he got off work and if anybody wanted to come over and have drinks, they were welcome. He said so far, their friend and fellow roadie, Isaiah, would be there, but he was hoping more people would come. Haley thought about it for a second. Now, she loved hanging out with Jake and Isaiah and the rest of the roadie's crew and, specifically, with Jake and Isaiah, she would typically confide in both of them about everything like she did with Ainsley. But right now, she just didn't want to tell these guys what was going on with her because Jake and

Isaiah could be very protective of Haley and Ainsley and she didn't want them doing anything stupid or drastic once they learned about her theory around Thaddeus and the baby. Also, Haley and Ainsley had a big exam in one of their college classes the following morning. And so ultimately, Haley and Ainsley thanked Jake for the offer but said they would both have to pass this time. Jake said he totally understood but if either of them changed their minds, they knew how to reach him. Jake returned to work and Haley and Ainsley stayed at the bar. And at some point, in a voice barely above a whisper, Ainsley asked Haley if she was going to finally tell Thaddeus' girlfriend, or the cops, about her suspicions.

Haley looked down and said she still had no clue. Every time she thought about it, she got so scared about what Thaddeus might do to her. Later that evening, Haley was at her apartment alone, studying for her big exam and still trying to keep her mind off of everything else when she heard her phone vibrate on the table. She put down her notes, looked at her phone, and saw a text message. After reading it, Haley thought about it for a second. She knew she really should keep on studying, but this diversion might

help her relax for a bit. So she picked up her phone and replied to the message, and then afterward, she headed to the bathroom to put on some makeup, and also change out of her t-shirt and sweats, and put on a pair of jeans, a long-sleeved shirt, and a jacket. She was ready to go out. The next morning, so April 24th, a woman was driving her daughter to school along the route she always took. She knew this route so well, in fact, that sometimes she found herself zoning out completely while driving it, almost like she was on autopilot. But on this morning, as she approached the soccer field that stood out from the endless

grassy overgrowth that surrounded the area, something caught this woman's attention. At first, she couldn't make out what she was seeing. All she could tell was that there was something strange in the soccer field's gravel parking lot. And then as she continued down the road and got a little bit closer and realized what she was seeing, the woman slammed on the brakes and told her daughter to wait in the car. The woman got out of her car and ran over to the soccer parking lot, hoping maybe her eyes had just played a trick on her and she hadn't really seen

what she thought she saw. But when she got closer, she knew she had been right. She grabbed her phone and called 911. She grabbed her phone and called 911. About 15 minutes later, so just after 7 a.m., Warwick County Sheriff's investigator, Paul Cruz, pulled up to the soccer field, got out of his unmarked police car, and made his way past the yellow crime scene tape. Cruz greeted the deputies and members of the forensics team

who had arrived shortly before him. Then he walked past them and continued a bit further across the lot and there he saw a young woman lying dead in the gravel. Cruz knelt down next to her and saw a wound in the back of her head, which clearly looked like it came from a gunshot, and he also saw a blue towel that was covered in blood lying next to her. Cruz scanned the ground near the body, and he didn't see any drag marks or anything to indicate that this young woman had been taken to this location by force. He and the forensics team would obviously need to do a lot more work, but for now, Cruz figured the most logical explanation was that this young woman had been walking through

the lot when someone approached her from behind and shot her. Cruz looked around the lot and got an eerie feeling. He didn't see a single street light or lamp post anywhere in sight. This area was totally desolate, so if this young woman had been killed last night or early in the morning, it would have been pitch black here. Cruz had no idea why this young woman was walking through this dark parking lot, but he did know it would have been really easy for someone to follow her without ever being seen. Cruz crouched down over the body again and he noticed an area of bare gravel on both sides of one of the dead woman's legs. It almost looked like she had made a partial snow angel in the gravel with that leg.

This really upset Cruz, because it likely meant that this young woman had not died immediately after being shot. She had fallen to the ground and squirmed before dying. Cruz stood back up and stepped away from the body and then asked a crime scene investigator if he or anyone else had found a wallet or any kind of ID at the scene. But the crime scene investigator just shook his head. The dead woman had nothing on her. No wallet, no cell phone, no keys, nothing. They had no idea who this victim was. Later that morning, about 15 miles away from that soccer field, Hailey's mother, Heather Collins,

poured herself a mug of coffee, sat down on her front porch, and opened up her laptop. Heather began by scrolling through Facebook, which she did every morning. But, as she read through the posts in her feed, she began seeing something that disturbed her. All her friends from town were posting the same story from the local news. It was about this unidentified young woman who was found dead that morning outside of town. Heather's kids were three young women, all close in age, and so Heather immediately felt the maternal instinct to check on them and make sure each of them was okay. And so she promptly sent text messages to her two youngest daughters and then also to Haley, her oldest daughter. And within minutes her phone lit up and Heather was relieved to see responses from her two

younger girls. But she didn't get a response from Haley. However, she wasn't surprised because she knew Haley had an important exam that morning and Haley usually prioritized school over anything else. But an hour went by and Heather still had not heard from Haley, so she called Haley's phone. The call went straight to voicemail. Heather left her daughter a message, trying to disguise how worried she was starting to

feel. The next 30 minutes slowed to a crawl as Hailey still didn't get in touch with her mother. And so finally, Heather picked up her phone again and she called Hailey's friend, Ainsley, who went to the same college as Hailey. Ainsley answered and before Heather could even explain why she was calling, Ainsley asked her what was going on. She said Hayley had not shown up to class that morning and missed the big exam. When Hayley's mother heard this, she immediately felt sick to her stomach and had this horrible

sense of dread come over her. Heather hung up and began talking aloud, trying to soothe herself. This was not her child out by the soccer field. It couldn't be her. It can't be her. Heather kept repeating this over and over again like a mantra, trying to convince herself that Hailey was really safe. But it didn't work.

So after desperately waiting to hear back from Hailey for a bit longer and still not hearing from her, Heather grabbed her phone once more and called a friend of hers who happened to be a detective for the Evansville Police Department. And when the detective answered, Heather told him that she had heard the news about the unidentified body and she couldn't get in touch with her daughter Haley and she was now really worried. Heather's detective friend told her that given where the body was found, that this case was actually out of his jurisdiction.

However, he did have some contacts at the Warwick County Sheriff's Office and he said he would call them to see what he could find out. Heather provided her detective friend a physical description of Haley. She had long, light brown hair with blonde highlights and her teeth were always really bright white. Heather also told the detective the type of clothing Hailey typically wore and she sent him pictures of Hailey's tattoos. Then she hung up and waited. A short time later, Heather's phone rang. It was now the Warrick County Sheriff's Office calling and when they spoke to her, they said they actually wanted to speak to her in person.

Hailey's mother immediately began to shake and she felt the blood drain from her face. She could think of only one reason why they would want to talk to her face to face, and she just wanted to curl up and die. Anything but face the news she knew she was about to hear. A short time later, Heather heard a knock on her door. When she opened it up, she saw it was deputies from the Warwick County Sheriff's Office. Heather immediately began to shake all over and she felt the blood drain from her face.

And as soon as she heard one of the deputies utter the words, I'm sorry, Heather broke down and collapsed to the floor. Her daughter, Haley, was dead. If you're listening to this podcast, then chances are good you are a fan of the Strange, Dark and Mysterious. And if that's the case, then I've got some good news. We just launched a brand new Strange, Dark and Mysterious podcast called Mr. Bolland's Medical Mysteries.

And as the name suggests, it's a show about medical mysteries, a genre that many fans have been asking us to dive into for years. And we finally decided to take the plunge and the show is awesome. In this free weekly show, we explore bizarre, unheard of diseases, strange medical mishaps, unexplainable deaths, and everything in between. Each story is totally true and totally terrifying. Go follow Mr. Bolland's Medical Mysteries wherever you get your podcasts, and if you're a Prime member, you can listen early and ad-free on Amazon Music. Hey, listeners! Big news for true crime lovers.

You can now enjoy this podcast ad-free on Amazon Music with your Prime membership. Listen to all episodes of my podcasts, Mr. Bolland's Medical Mysteries and Mr. Bolland's Strange Dark and Mysterious Stories, along with a huge collection of top true crime podcasts, completely. Bolland's Medical Mysteries and Mr. Bolland's Strange, Dark, and Mysterious Stories along with a huge collection of top true crime podcasts completely ad-free. No more wading through cliffhangers or dealing with ads because let's be honest, ads shouldn't be the most nerve-wracking part of true crime. To start your ad-free listening journey, download the Amazon Music app for free or head to Amazon.com slash ballin. That's Amazon.com slash B-A-L-L-E-N. Dive into uninterrupted true crime stories today. Later that afternoon, investigator Cruz walked away from the crime scene at the soccer field,

got into his car, and began driving across town. And as he drove, he felt very frustrated. Earlier, he'd gotten a call from the station, so he now knew his victim was a college student named Haley Rathgeber. But that was about all he knew. He and his team had thoroughly combed the crime scene and the area surrounding it, but almost nothing had come from their search. Not even a single shell casing had turned up. In fact, the only evidence that had been bagged at the scene was that bloody blue towel found

next to the body, which the medical examiner was sending off to the crime lab for DNA analysis. After a short drive, investigator Cruz pulled into the sheriff's station and he walked in just as Heather, Haley's mom, was arriving. She was there to get more information about what happened to her daughter. Cruz very gently approached Heather, who was clearly still crying, and he told her how sorry he was that her daughter was gone, and he promised that he'd find out who did this and bring that person to justice. Cruz understood now was not a great time to sit down and ask Heather a bunch of questions,

but he said he did need to ask her one thing. Could she think of anyone, anyone at all, who might have wanted to hurt Hailey? Hailey's mother didn't even hesitate. She looked right at Cruz and said she knew of one person for sure who would want to do this. Thaddeus Rice. When Cruz heard this name, he did a double take. Cruz knew this name very well, because Thaddeus Rice was a suspect in another case he was currently working on. So now Cruz really wanted to know more if Heather was comfortable still sharing. Heather said of course, and she proceeded to tell him the whole story. And as Cruz listened to Heather, he knew exactly where the story

was going. Because this story was the other case he was investigating. The death of Thaddeus' girlfriend's baby boy. Heather told Cruz that Hailey suspected Thaddeus might have been directly involved in the death of that baby. And so Heather said if Thaddeus knew Hailey suspected him, he would have every reason to want to shut her up. Before Cruz could even respond, Heather took her phone out of her pocket and told him she needed to show him something. She unlocked her phone and quickly pulled up a message that a friend of Haley's had

sent her just before Cruz had arrived at the station. It was a video that Thaddeus had recently posted to his social media. And in this video, Thaddeus is seen posing with a gun. Immediately after seeing this video, Cruz thanked Heather for the information and he turned around, got back into his car and drove to Thaddeus' workplace. And when he got there, Thaddeus happened to be outside on a break. However, the second Cruz stepped out of his car, Thaddeus waved him away dismissively and said he had nothing to say to him.

Cruz made it clear to Thaddeus that he was not there to talk about the dead baby. Instead, he was there to talk about Haley. Thaddeus just stared back at Cruz, and Cruz honestly couldn't tell if Thaddeus was confused or scared. Finally, though, Thaddeus said he wouldn't talk to cops without an attorney, and then he turned and walked away. Cruz knew he could go after Thaddeus, but he also knew it wouldn't make a difference. Thaddeus was not about to talk to him. Thaddeus had been involved in enough criminal cases

to understand his rights. But even without having a long conversation with him, Thaddeus' reaction to hearing Hayley's name had just made him seem a whole lot more suspicious. Around the same time Cruz was confronting Thaddeus, a young man named Isaiah Hagan sat on his front porch staring at his phone. Isaiah was Hayley's close friend and co-worker, one of the members of the Roadies crew, and right now he was looking at a series of text messages from other members of that group, specifically his friends Jake and Ainsley, saying that Haley had been found dead by the soccer field just outside of town.

And so Isaiah was just processing it and beginning to cry, and then right at that moment he heard his mother inside the house behind him, and he instinctively just got up, went inside and hugged his mom and began crying even harder. She asked him what was wrong and Isaiah told her about Haley and his mom couldn't believe what she was hearing. She worked for the county sheriff so she knew all about the young woman who'd been found at the soccer field but she had no idea this young woman was one of her son's good friends. Isaiah hugged his mother tighter and told her that none of this made any sense, because

he'd just seen Hailey the night before and everything had seemed fine. How could she be dead? Isaiah's mom pulled away from him and she told him she understood how upset he was, but he really needed to go talk to the lead investigator right away, because even if Isaiah didn't realize it, he might have seen something or heard Hailey say something last night that could help investigators find her killer. Cruz was at the station sitting at his desk looking through Thaddeus' rap sheet when his phone rang.

He picked up the call and Isaiah introduced himself and said that his mother worked at the sheriff's station. Cruz asked if everything was okay and Isaiah said he was calling about his friend Haley, the girl who'd been found at the soccer field. He explained to Cruz that he had just seen Haley the night before and he wanted to help if he could. Cruz told Isaiah that he could help by walking him through everything he remembered from the previous night.

This would help Cruz flesh out the timeline of Haley's final hours. Isaiah told Cruz that the night before he had been at his friend Jake Allen's place playing video games when he got a text message from Haley. Then in this text, she said she was going to meet someone at a local park where the college students sometimes hang out. And she asked Isaiah if he could give her a ride because she didn't want to leave her car there. Isaiah said that was no problem, so he had left Jake's place, went to Haley's, hung

out with her for a minute, and then drove her to the park. Isaiah told Cruz he had no idea who she was meeting, he said he didn't ask her about it because it felt like it was none of his business, especially if she was meeting up with some guy who she was romantically involved with. Isaiah said after he dropped Haley off, he just went back to Jake's house and kept playing video games until very early in the morning. Inspector Cruz kept listening and writing everything down, but then suddenly Isaiah just went silent and Cruz could hear him trying to catch his breath.

And when Isaiah started talking again, it was clear he was very upset. He told Cruz he felt really guilty now and he wished he had asked Haley who she was meeting because maybe he could have done something to protect her or, at a minimum, today been able to provide the police a suspect. Cruz told Isaiah that he appreciated him calling in and that he would follow up if he had any questions. After getting off the phone with Isaiah, Cruz quickly scanned the list of co-workers that Haley worked with at the Texas Roadhouse, and just as he remembered, there was

Jake Allen's name and a phone number right next to it. And so Cruz called Jake and asked him if he could verify the times he had hung out with Isaiah the night before, and Jake corroborated Isaiah's story. But while speaking to Jake, investigator Cruz looked up Jake's address and he saw that Jake lived very close to the park where Isaiah said he dropped Haley off, and that park was only a few miles from the soccer field where Haley was found dead. And so Cruz began to question Jake about his own activities the previous night, and pretty quickly the call took a very weird turn. Now Cruz considered all of Haley's friends and coworkers to be possible suspects, but

he really thought this call might just be a chance to cross Jake off his list. But Cruz noticed that Jake suddenly started to sound very nervous and defensive as soon as his actions were called into question. Jake insisted that he hadn't seen Hailey at all the previous night. In fact, he hadn't seen Hailey since work that afternoon. He said he had invited her and their other friend Ainsley over to hang out, but they both had declined. And then after talking about Hailey for a minute, Jake suddenly shifted gears back to

Isaiah, saying he thought it was very strange how Isaiah would just drive Hailey out to the park and leave her there. Cruz let Jake keep talking, but he wondered if Jake had something to hide, and if that's why he was throwing suspicion onto his friend Isaiah. After hanging up with Jake, Cruz went back to his list of everyone who had worked at the Roadhouse with Hailey. Up until this call, Cruz had really only been focused on Thaddeus, who didn't work at the Roadhouse, and he definitely still considered Thaddeus a major suspect with a very clear

motive. But now, Cruz felt like he really should put some additional attention on the Roadhouse employees, specifically Jake and Isaiah. On the evening of April 26th, so two days after Haley's body had been found, Cruz and a couple of members from his team arrived at Jake's apartment. Cruz knocked on the door and Jake's roommate answered. Cruz introduced himself and asked to speak to Jake. The young man turned and shouted for Jake, looking a little freaked out that a bunch of cops had just shown up at his door, and then the roommate walked away. A few seconds later,

Jake approached the door, wearing a dress shirt with an untied tie hanging on the collar. Cruz said he was the detective who had talked to Jake on the phone, and he needed to ask him a few more questions. Jake said he understood, but he was getting ready to leave for a candlelight vigil some friends and family were having for Haley. getting ready to leave for a candlelight vigil some friends and family were having for Hailey. This made Cruz pause for a second. His investigation wasn't even two days old, and he'd been going pretty much non-stop since it started, and he'd almost overlooked how young Hailey was and how many people her death

must have affected. Still, Cruz needed some answers. He told Jake he would do his best not to keep him too long, but he needed Jake to go through everything he had done after he'd seen Haley at work on the day she died. And just like Jake had said to Cruz on the phone, he said after work he had gone home and met up with Isaiah to play video games. It was basically the same story. However, during this in-person exchange, Jake also said something about Isaiah that

really stood out to Cruz and made him look at the case very differently. Cruz took notes on everything Jake told him, asked a few follow-up questions, and then he and his team left so Jake could get ready for the vigil. That night, a huge group of Haley's friends and family gathered by the soccer field where Hailey had been found. The candles they lit cast a glow over the otherwise pitch black parking lot. They laid down flowers, shared some of their favorite memories, and just talked about how much Hailey had meant to all of them.

Her closest friends from work left Hailey's name tag and her Roadhouse cap and sweatshirt right next to a big handmade sign that simply said, we love and miss you. Love your Roadies. On April 27th, the day after the vigil, Inspector Cruz received word from the crime lab that the results had come in on the bloody blue towel that had been found next to Haley's body. Only one DNA profile was found on the towel, and

much to Cruz's disappointment, it was Haley's. Cruz had hoped he would catch a break and that these results would lead him right to the killer, but now that he knew that was not going to happen, he methodically went through his list of Haley's friends and co-workers another time. Thaddeus, who remained one of Cruz's primary suspects, still refused to say anything without a lawyer, but almost everyone else who had known Haley was willing to help and tell Cruz whatever they could. And the more Cruz spoke to Haley's friends, the more convinced he became that he was much

closer to solving this case than he had initially thought. Because a lot of Haley's friends said things that pointed him in the same direction. So Cruz came up with an idea of how he might be able to track Haley's friends said things that pointed him in the same direction. So Cruz came up with an idea of how he might be able to track Haley's movements before she got to the soccer field where she was ultimately found. He got in his car, headed to Haley's neighborhood, and just started knocking on the door of every house or apartment complex he saw that had a security camera or a doorbell with a video camera. He asked anyone who answered if he could

have the footage from their cameras to help him solve a crime. And everyone he spoke to said he absolutely could. And so after Cruz collected all of that footage from Haley's neighborhood, he did the same exact thing in Thaddeus' girlfriend's neighborhood, which is where Thaddeus spent most of his time. Over the next couple of days, Cruz sat at the station and sifted through hours upon hours of security footage that he had collected. The experience began to remind Cruz of the old cliché about watching paint dry, and at times Cruz felt he'd much rather be looking at a freshly painted wall than at endless grainy footage of houses and apartment buildings in suburban Indiana.

Cruz kept fighting off sleep and tried to keep his eyes glued on the footage as hours passed by without anything eventful happening until he hit pay dirt. For a second Cruz wasn't even really sure he was seeing what he thought he was seeing. After all, watching this footage for so long had basically sent him into a daze, so he rewound the footage and watched it again and this time he was sure he did see something that would help him close the case and bring Haley's murderer to justice. Cruz watched more footage to make sure he wasn't missing something. He also worked with his team to collect cell phone data and he carried out a few more interviews

just to be certain he was on the right track and On April 29th just five days after Haley's body was found Inspector Cruz knew he had found Haley's killer He arrested them and after that he discovered exactly what had happened to Haley on the night. She died Based on surveillance footage, interviews, and evidence gathered throughout the investigation, the following is a reconstruction of what police believe happened to Haley Rathgeber on the night of April 23, 2017. Around 10.30pm that night, the killer fished a 9mm handgun out of the closet and then left to go meet up with Hailey. Hailey got into the killer's car and the killer began driving her to the soccer field, just outside of town.

When they got there, Hailey and the killer stepped out of the car and began walking across the gravel parking lot near the field, with only the headlights of the killer's car and the flashlight on Haley's phone to light the way. As they walked, the killer let Haley walk ahead of them, and without Haley noticing, the killer silently drew their 9mm handgun, raised it up, aimed, and fired a single shot into the back of Hayley's head. Hayley stumbled, and the killer took several steps back and watched as she fell. Hayley collapsed onto her back, the only part of her body that was working now was her left

leg, which she jerked back and forth in the gravel as her brain slowly shut down. The killer just stood there and watched as Hailey died. And in that moment, for a second, the killer felt bad about what they had just done. But regardless, after she was dead, the killer turned away from the body, went back to their car, and grabbed a blue towel they happened to have in the back seat. The killer then walked back to Hailey's body, knelt down and used the towel to wipe up some of the blood. After that, they put the towel down and then scooped up Hailey's phone off the ground. They also reached into her pocket and pulled out her wallet, which

contained $200 in cash. And then the killer stood up, took one more look at the body, and then turned and ran back to the car, carrying their gun and Hailey's stuff with them. Later that night, the killer went to their friend's place and hung out playing video games all night, without ever showing the slightest hint of what they had just done. Hailey's close friend and fellow roadie, Isaiah Hagan, was her killer. Isaiah, whose mother worked for the sheriff's department, had called Inspector Cruz and tried to make it look like he was helping the investigation. And Isaiah's call even threw some suspicion on his friend Jake for a time. However, when Cruz and his team met with Jake on the night of the candlelight vigil, Jake

started talking about his friend Isaiah. He hated to admit it because the two young men had been really close for years, but Jake said Isaiah had been acting really strange lately, and this was because Isaiah had run into some serious money problems. It turned out that leading up to the murder, Isaiah had borrowed hundreds of dollars from his father and from Haley. While Haley had not confronted Isaiah about the money he owed her, Isaiah's father wanted to get paid back.

So Isaiah decided to take the money he owed his dad from Haley. On the night of the murder, Isaiah was the one who texted Haley while she was studying and asked her if they could hang out because he really wanted to talk to her. And Haley decided she needed a break from studying and from everything else that was going on in her life, so she said yes. Isaiah picked Hailey up, but he never drove her to the park to meet someone else like he had told police. Instead, he drove right to the soccer field and shortly after getting out of the car,

he shot and killed her. It's not clear if Isaiah first tried to just ask Hailey for the money and maybe she refused to give him money and that's what led to the murder, or if Isaiah simply picked Hailey up with every intention of murdering her for the money. Either way, it resulted in Hailey's death and Isaiah stealing the $200 out of her wallet. In the morning following the murder, right before sunrise, Isaiah drove around town getting rid of his gun and Haley's belongings and then he went back to his house and left the $200 from her wallet on the kitchen counter for his dad.

After speaking to Jake in person, Cruz really began to suspect that Isaiah was the killer. But he still could not just write off Thaddeus, a man who had a criminal history, had potentially harmed or even killed a baby, and who Haley had been afraid of before she died. So Cruz collected cell phone data for Haley and also for both Isaiah and Thaddeus, and he also studied all the surveillance footage he had collected. Isaiah and Haley's cell phone data showed that they had at least been near the same locations, including the soccer field, at the same time on the night of the murder. And the surveillance footage showed Isaiah pulling up to Haley's place not too long

before she was killed. The footage also showed that Thaddeus had been at his girlfriend's house at the time of the murder and throughout the entire night. And so even though the murder weapon was not recovered, Cruz felt confident he'd cracked the case and he arrested Isaiah. Isaiah insisted he would never hurt Haley and that he was innocent, but during his trial, his mother was put on the witness stand and she testified that Isaiah had privately admitted to her that he'd been the one who shot Haley.

He had told his mother it was an accident, but the evidence in the case did not support that. It took the jury only four hours to find Isaiah guilty. In early August of 2018, he was sentenced to 60 years in prison. Thaddeus, who Haley believed had played a part in the death of his girlfriend's baby, was eventually found guilty of neglect of a dependent and reckless homicide in the death of the child. A quick note about our stories, they are all based on true events, but we sometimes use pseudonyms to protect

the people involved, and some details are fictionalized for dramatic purposes. Thank you for listening to the Mr. Bollin Podcast. If you enjoyed today's story and you're looking for more bone-chilling content, be sure to check out all of our studio's podcasts. This podcast, the Mr. Ballin podcast, and also Mr. Ballin's Medical Mysteries, Bedtime Stories, Wartime Stories, Run Fool, and Redacted. Just search for Ballin Studios wherever you get your podcasts to find all of these shows. To watch hundreds more stories just like the ones you heard today, head over to our YouTube channel, which is just called Mr. Ballin'. So that's gonna do it, I really appreciate your support, until next time, see ya. Hey Prime members, you can binge 8 new episodes of the Mr. Ballin podcast one month early

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