Prime Crime: Solved Murders - Three in Chicago Pt. 2: The Missing Heiress

Episode Date: November 9, 2022

In February 1977, 65-year-old candy heiress Helen Brach disappeared, and her case went cold almost immediately. Over a decade later, investigators searching for her killer stumbled upon a vital clue that might not only solve her case, but the case of three missing Chicago boys decades earlier. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Due to the graphic nature of this murder case, listener discretion is advised. This episode includes discussions of violence, intimidation, abuse of animals, and murder. We advise extreme caution for children under 13. By 1977, the mystery of the so-called three in Chicago was nothing more than a memory. Over 20 years had passed since John Schuessler, Anton Schuessler, and Bobby Peterson were killed by an unknown assailant. That case remained unsolved, a collection of half-baked leads that went nowhere

and stacks of interview transcripts that gave nothing away. Now, it all amounted to a bunch of folders left to sit in a filing cabinet somewhere in the deepest reaches of Chicago PD. In the time since that terrible tragedy, the city of Chicago had changed dramatically. The industries that used to power the city, city started to shrivel up, and new ones took their place. Meatpacking became a relic of old Chicago, as mythic as the ghost of Al Capone. Urban renewal projects reshape neighborhoods,

gentrifying the city's northwest side. Even the skyline looked different. In 1973, the Sears Tower became the tallest building in the world. But some things hadn't changed. Chicago politics were still notorious for corruption, nepotism, and exploitation. Former mayor Richard Daly had become the de facto image of these exact problems, hinting at an underground world of shady deals and quid pro quo arrangements. This was the Chicago of 1977, and this is where our story took its next pivotal step. In February of that year, 65-year-old Candy heiress, Helen Brock vanished. Her mysterious disappearance may have seemed like a run-of-the-mill case

at first, but this was just the beginning of a long, unexpected journey into the city's darkest corners, unveiling an entire ecosystem of violence and greed. In fact, this one investigation would lead detectives to solving another crime entirely. Little did detectives know that each step in the search for Helen Brock brought them closer to catching John Schusler, Anton Schusler, and Bobby Peterson's killer. Welcome to Solve Murders, True Crime Mysteries, a Spotify original from Parcast. I'm your host, Carter Roy. And I'm your host, Wendy McKenzie. Every Wednesday, we step into the world of true crime's most fascinating murder cases and tell the tale of how real-life detectives close the

case. You can find episodes of Solve Murders and all other Spotify originals from Parcast for free exclusively on Spotify. This is our second of three episodes about the murder of John Schusler, Anton Schusler, and Bobby Peterson. This week, we'll follow the story of Helen Brock, a wealthy heiress whose disappearance led detectives to Chicago's so-called horse mafia. Next week, we'll move to the 1990s, when the pieces finally come together and the police catch the person who killed three boys in 1955. We have all that and more coming up. Stay with us. Own it all. Pay off your home. Travel for life. Drive a Ferrari.

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Monopoly is a trademark of Hasbro. Hasbro is not a sponsor of this promotion. By the 1970s, Helen Brock had lived a charmed and unexpected life. In some ways, her story felt like it was ripped out of a romantic movie from old Hollywood. She started out as a coat check girl and hostess in a Florida country club. and quickly caught the eye of one of its wealthy patrons, candy magnet Frank Brock. Frank Brock was smitten with a young woman,

and the two became inseparable. A matter of months later, the pair were married, and Helen suddenly found herself living the life of a rich heiress. She and Frank moved into a sprawling 18-room house in the Chicago suburb of Glenview and spent parts of the year lounging in a second home in Ohio off the Tappin Reservoir. If this was a movie that might have been the end of Helen Brock's story.

But unfortunately, time trudged on, bringing with it less cinematic events. After over 20 years of marriage, illness came knocking. Frank Brock passed away in 1970, leaving Helen the sole heir to a $30 million estate. As a widow, Helen chose to busy herself with light social engagements and a series of projects. She'd spend time with her female friends, chatting on the phone or going ballroom dancing. Charity was another passion of hers, particularly animal rights, and Helen would regularly donate to groups fighting for the cause. Money was never an issue for Helen, and she took to indulging inexpensive trips, even just to go to the doctor. She regularly traveled to the Mayo Clinic in Rochester, Minnesota for her annual checkups.

and on February 17, 1977, that's exactly what she did. Her houseman, Jack Matlick, took her to the airport and off she went. This is around the time when the story of Helen Brock gets a little muddy. Conflicting accounts make it hard to know what took place during that trip. All we can do is follow what happened afterwards. Because 10 days later, on March 4th, Jack Matlick walked into a Glenview police, station to deliver some harrowing news. Hello, sir.

Is there someone I could speak to about an emergency? That'd be me. What seems to be the problem? My employer, Helim Brock. Well, she's missing. All right. And when was the last time you saw her? February 21st.

And you just thought to tell us now? Jesus, son, that's nearly two weeks. I assume you also know that only a relative is able to file a missing person's report. Oh, um, well, I could call her brother. I'm sorry, officer. You come back here with the relative and we can get things underway. Matlick did as he was instructed. He contacted Helen's brother Charles and coaxed him into making the official report to the police.

Charles was, in theory, Helen's only heir to her fortune. But still, the two weren't exactly close. It wasn't unusual for him to go many months without hearing from his sister. And when he joined Matlick back at the station on March 7th, Charles let the butler do most of the talking. After all, the last time Charles had heard from Helen was two weeks prior when they had talked on the phone. Matlick, however, was far more forthcoming.

Well, Mrs. Brock arrived at O'Hare from her appointment around 4 p.m. on February 17th. I brought her home. She had some phone calls, some friends, and then Richard Bailey. He's a gentleman friend of hers. Sergeant Joe Bowman wrote down that name, Richard Bailey. This so-called gentleman friend could be a useful person to talk to. but still the officer allowed Matlick to continue. Mrs. Brock was home for a few days, but she had plans to take another trip

down to the penthouse she and Mr. Brock owned in Fort Lauderdale. That was on the 21st of February. I drove her to the airport around 7 a.m. I remember she gave me her fur coat to take home. She said she wouldn't need it in Florida. And that's the last time I saw her, sir. That's it. In the following weeks, a group of investors,

began to retrace Helen Brock's steps, following the general timeline that Matlick gave. Around this time, Sergeant Bowman also tracked down Richard Bailey, Helen's so-called gentleman friend. Immediately, he seemed like a shady character. Detectus found it odd that a 48-year-old man would spend much of his time with a woman nearly 20 years his senior. Though, by all accounts, Bailey was known as a charmer, especially of older women. It also appeared that Bailey had helped Helen out with one of her pet projects. In the 1970s, it seemed she had become interested in racehorses, and Bailey had helped her purchase a few.

Perhaps their relationship was just a matter of business and friendship. Either way, Bowman knew he had to speak to this mysterious Mr. Bailey, but when the moment finally came, Bailey proved to be an unexpectedly difficult person to talk to. He refused to answer any questions, opting instead to plead the fifth. Sergeant Bauman tried multiple times to coax information out of him, but Bailey wouldn't budge. At least for now, Richard Bailey was a dead end. The investigation continued in earnest, but soon the detectives ran into an unexpected snag. the more they looked into Matlick's claims about Helen's schedule,

the more impossible it became to prove them. Investigators could place Helen Brock in Minneapolis on February 17th. A shop clerk remembered ringing her up, but no one had seen her since then, not on a return flight to Chicago and not at O'Hare on her alleged trip to Florida. Sergeant Bowman poured over Helen's phone records, focusing on the weekend between the 17th and the 21st of February. Multiple calls had come in over those days, mostly from friends.

But when detectives reached out to these callers, they discovered another strange detail. Yes, I did call Helen on the 20th, but I never got to speak with her. Sorry, what? I only spoke to her butler, Matlick. He told me that Helen wasn't available. I even tried calling her back later that day, but I got the same thing. Matlick just said she wasn't around. Detectives got the same comment from multiple people.

It seemed like no one was able to speak to Helen directly at all. It left a bad taste in Sergeant Bowman's mouth. Most, if not all, Matlick's statement had fallen apart. There was that old adage, the butler did it. But Matlick wasn't some more. mustache twirling villain from a TV show, he had been a loyal employee of Helen Brock for nearly 20 years. Sure, his claims were suspicious, but that alone wasn't enough to prove that he was somehow involved in Helen's disappearance. It had only been a few weeks, but already Sergeant

Bauman found himself surrounded by unanswered questions, confusing contradictions, and no end in sight. But one thing was clear. Something fishy was going on. Coming up, the investigation lurches down an unexpected path. They say time heals all wounds, but sometimes time can do anything but. Welcome to Cold Cases, the new Spotify original from Parcast. I'm Carter Roy. Every Monday, join me as I revisit the clues and miscues of some of the most elusive criminal cases in history. From burglary and arson to kidnappings and murder, each episode of cold cases explores the many types of crime, the many ways they remain unsolved, and how long it takes to find the answers, if ever.

Will justice be served? Only time we'll tell. Follow cold cases free and only on Spotify. And now, back to our story. By the end of 1977, months had done. past since Helen Brock had disappeared, and the Glenview police were no closer to finding her. By and large, detectives suspected foul play. But that didn't do much to help further the investigation. There were no leads, nobody, and no evidence that could definitively point to the identity of the killer. Still, the mystery of the missing candy heiress had become headline news in Glenview and throughout the city of Chicago. Splashy stories, speculating.

about whether she had simply run off with a mysterious lover, or of some medical emergency it caused her to fall ill in some unknown hospital. But beyond everything else, there was immense speculation about Helen's butler, Jack Matlick. Even the police had grown suspicious of him. The so-called houseman had given a detailed description of his final days with Helen, but virtually all of his information had fallen apart under closer scrutiny. That certainly seems suspicious, and as the police trudged forward without any major developments, the press descended upon the once-quiet Glenview estate of Helen Brock,

desperate to glean any shred of information. Matlick! Matlick! Is it true that you forged checks in your boss's handwriting in order to give yourself a late Christmas bonus? No, Mrs. Brock gave me a Christmas bonus. It was just late. She's a very generous employer. Don't you mean she was a generous employer? Oh, Jesus Christ. And Matlick, how do you explain the purchase of a meat grinder before Helen Brock disappeared?

It looks pretty fishy, doesn't it? Is this how your porters get off? What in the world are you talking about? We bought a meat grinder for its intended purpose. To grind meat! You're all creating ghouls and monsters where there aren't any. Well, you have to admit, Mr. Matlick. I am not admitting to anything.

Now, if you'll excuse me, I have errands to run. While the media frenzy swirled around Matlick, Sergeant Bowman and his team of investigators tried in earnest to find any lead that could help them make a break in the case. And a great deal of their efforts focused around the butler. Money seemed like an obvious motive at first. After all, Matlick was perhaps the closest person to Helen Brock

and thus had access to her personal bank account. Perhaps the butler had gotten rid of his influence, employer in an effort to take her massive inheritance. But quickly, that theory fell apart. Apart from a few small checks, Helen's bank account had remained untouched since February 17th, the last day that the police could confirm her whereabouts. Surely Bauman figured the killer would have drained her savings by now. The investigation went on like this for months, well into 1978.

Boughman followed lead after lead, convinced that Matlick was somehow involved in Helen's disappearance, but nothing was strong enough to prove it. For Bowman, Matlick was like a cipher. He just couldn't crack. It seemed like the more that the butler evaded suspicion, the more Bowman pushed to find something, anything, to prove his theory. At one point, the Glenview Police requested FBI involvement. but they declined stating that there was no evidence that a federal law had been violated. After an entire year with no developments, Bowman was forced to recognize that his hunch had been nothing more than a waste of time.

Sure, Matlick seemed suspicious, but that wasn't enough to prove his guilt. Without any promising leads, there were just not enough resources left for the investigative team to keep pushing. Slowly, the entire case began to dry up. The story of the missing candy heiress was chalked up as an unexplained mystery. For a while, there was very little reported on the Helen Brock case. Her state was quietly divided up, and that was that. But in 1979, an unexpected tip hinted at a new lead. During the initial investigation, Richard Bailey had seemed like a suspicious character,

He was Helen's male companion, after all, and he could have known intimate details about the heiress's life. But Bailey had stonewalled the detective on the case and refused to answer even the most basic questions. This certainly seemed to work in Bailey's favor. With nothing to go off of, Sergeant Baumann and his team had no choice but to drop Bailey and focus on Matlick instead.

And the butler had proved to be suspicious in his own right, a red herring that was too tantalizing to ignore. But this anonymous message thrust Bailey into a new, ominous light. In the summer of 1979, he was brought in for a deposition hearing. But this time, Bailey brought a lawyer with him, Joanne Wolfston, a fierce defense attorney with a reputation for playing hardball. As previously stated, my client is exercising his fifth of Amendment rights and will not be responding to this question under fear of incrimination.

He is under no obligation to provide any information at this time. The detectives kept asking questions anyway. Did Bailey know whether Helen Brock was alive? Did he know her at all? But always, Wolston's response was the same. She only allowed Bailey to answer one question, his name. Eventually, the detective. had to give up. Around this time, the police conducted another deposition hearing and invited the man responsible for Helen Brock's estate, Everett Moore. Unlike Richard Bailey, Mr. Moore wasn't under suspicion

and was therefore far more willing to disclose information to the police. And one thing in particular caught the detective's eye. As you know, gentlemen, Mrs. Brock was an avid animal lover. and became very interested in horse races in the last decade. Between 1975 and 1977, she bought quite a few race horses, but looking over her personal documents, I can say that she seemed to make repeated bad investments in her purchase of these animals.

Moore explained that in that short time, Helen Brock had initially bought three horses at a total of around $100,000. But quickly, the animals proved to be terrible on the track, prone to illness, more generally impossible to train. Eventually, Helen had to sell some horses and replaced them with others. By the time of her disappearance, Helen had a stable of nine horses, though none of them seemed to be very good runners. As an animal lover, she couldn't bear to have any of the lame horses euthanized and chose instead to weather the losses.

more elaborated on the massive cost of these failures. These animals just never turned a profit, and it was far, far more expensive to maintain them. Here's an example. After her death in 1978, one year of owning these horses cost the estate $70,000. And when you add up the total losses over these few years, it's astounding.

I hate to rag on Mrs. Brock, but she owned horses for less than. than four years. And she lost over a quarter of a million dollars on these frivolous equestrian pursuits. Now, it's not impossible for racehorses to perform poorly or to fail after a few runs on the track. But to have this many failures from so many different horses, that sounded like too much of a coincidence. And for the investigative team, this set off a million alarm bells. Richard Bailey was Helen Brock's connection to the world of horse trading. He had personally sold her these horses and was therefore responsible for attesting to their quality.

From what Moore had explained, it sounded like Richard Bailey might have intentionally sold Helen Brock a bunch of duds. And not just that. These low-quality horses wouldn't have been worth the huge amount that Bailey sold them to her for. $100,000 for three horses was an immense amount of money, even for top performing stallions. All signs pointed to the possibility that Bailey had seriously upcharged Helen for these animals and fleeced her for years. Everett Moore had effectively thrown a bomb into the Helen-Brock case. Now, Richard Bailey looked very suspicious. Without Bailey's cooperation, there wasn't really a way to investigate this theory.

The detectives hoped that with this new information, Judge Schaller, who was in the depositions, would order that Bailey be put on the stand. But the judge disagreed. Bailey used his rights under the Fifth Amendment. Plus, by 1979, the investigation was floundering. This tantalizing theory got slotted in with the rest of the dead-end leads, and the Helen Brock case slowly faded into obscurity. But for a few detectives, the mystery of Richard Bailey was too intriguing to ignore. They still suspected that Bailey was up to something, but they just couldn't prove it.

At least, not yet. Little did these investigators know they were inching closer to something huge. A discovery they couldn't possibly imagine. Coming up, the police fall down the rabbit hole and make a shocking discovery. I knew about investing, but I really didn't know how to go about it. Meet Corey, a wealthfront client. With Wealthfront, it could put money in, and it would automatically distribute it into a diversified portfolio. Then it starts to compound. The compounding compounds on the compounding. Just let it wrong, and it's great.

Over one million clients trust Wealthfront. Get started at Wealthfront.com. Client was paid $1,000 for their testimonial, creating a conflict of interest. Outcomes vary. Investment management and advisory services provided by Wealthfront Advisors LLC and SEC registered investment advisor. Investing involves risk to principle regardless of the strategy used. performance does not guarantee future results. Now, back to the story. By the 1980s, over 10 years had passed since Helen Brock vanished. And officially, her case remained closed.

But there was one lead that a few detectives couldn't quite shake, Richard Bailey. Even as the Brock case went cold, these investigators chose to look closer into Helen's former gentleman friend, conducting a probe to see if they could garner any useful information without the need to interview him. The project focused on two fronts, Bailey's connection to the world of horse racing, and his relationships with older women. In 1980s, Chicago, the horse industry wasn't exactly known for being above board.

In fact, it was notorious for bad behavior and suspicious practices. Horses would accidentally die in a fire or because of an unknown illness. Stables would burn to the ground, leaving. the owners to quietly pocket the insurance money. All of this smelled fishy to the Chicago and Cook County Police, but for decades it had been virtually impossible to get anyone to talk. The horse industry was already a relatively discreet business with deals going on behind closed doors,

but it was all the more impenetrable because of one man, Silas Jane. Silas was the de facto boss of the insurance. entire horse business in the Chicagoland area, and he ruled over his dominion with an iron fist. In the book, Shattered Sense of Innocence, one horseman phrased it perfectly, saying, quote, If Silas Jane liked your horse and made you an offer, you'd better let him have it, or he'd get it somehow, even if he'd have to kill it. Silas seemed to be able to intimidate anyone into cooperating. No one spoke a word unless Silas gave the okay to do so.

And for the detectives looking into Richard Bailey, that quickly became a problem. Take a look at this photograph. This man is Richard Bailey. Does it look familiar to you? Get this picture out of my face. I'm not identifying anyone. I plead the fifth. We have it on good authority that Richard Bailey worked with this stable and sold horses here.

You're the veterinarian. There's no way you wouldn't have seen him. Now, I'll ask again, does he look familiar to you? Are you deaf? I plead the fifth. This kind of exchange became commonplace for the detectives working on the probe. As the 1980s slowly ticked by, the group tried and failed to chip away at the relationship between Richard Bailey and the horse industry. But it seemed like as long as Silas Jane was alive, no one would talk. So the group of investigators...

changed tactics. It was no secret that Bailey kept the company of rich elderly women, so the detectives began to look a little closer into these relationships. They discovered a shocking pattern of behavior. Bailey's female friends were overwhelmingly older widows, the lonely hearts type, who might appreciate the company of a younger, charming man. But there was another common trait among these women. After becoming close with Richard Bailey, they all suffered terrible financial losses.

Some of the most alarming information came from Carol Carstinson, a woman very similar to Helen Brock, wealthy, widowed, and interested in racehorses. When Carol first met Bailey in 1972, she saw Richard Bailey as a charming, lovely man to spend her time with. Richard seemed to know so much about horses And he was so There was a charm about him You'd trust him with anything With your money, with your life

He just had that quality In addition to his business help Bailey began spending more and more time with Carol Taking her to dinner And showering her with endless compliments When her health began to decline Bailey rushed to her side, helped her with medications, and made sure she adhered to her doctor's strict diet. All of this endeared Carol to Bailey, so in October of 1973, when Bailey made a business proposition to her,

Carol easily agreed to it. He said we could go into horse breeding together. We'd lease out a brand new stable and create a whole enterprise around it. I thought it was wonderful. I did love him then, and this just seemed like a dream come true. Of course, I had no idea what the truth really was, or who he really was.

Bailey had Carol front $100,000 for the stable, which she readily gave to him. He explained that he would take care of choosing the right horses and promised only the best thoroughbreds money could buy. Everything seemed fine, but soon problems started to arise. While in the hospital and incredibly sick, Bailey tried to coax Carol into signing him over power of attorney. She refused the contract, and Bailey was furious.

A few weeks later, one of Bailey's men from the stables came to the hospital with bad news. Well, there was a lot of them. an issue with the first group of horses we bought. Apparently they were in bad shape, so we had to sell them. We bought some mares in the hopes they would be good breeders, but then there was another problem with our stud, our prize stallion. I didn't get the chance to visit the stables until well after Richard had me buy the horse. The whole time I had envisioned this beautiful, powerful stallion. But that poor creature, it had foam all around its mouth.

It was sweating. There was no way it was the stud I had been promised. But it was too late. The horse was mine. That same night, the horse mysteriously died. Carol had already shelled out a little over $200,000. But Bailey wasn't done with her just yet. In an effort to maintain her confidence,

Bailey bought Carol a new stallion named Elmage. The cost of the horse, plus its own. upkeep would tack on another 68 grand to our expenses, but Bailey promised it would be worth it. She did buy the horse, but she was growing wary of Bailey's charm. Plus, a local vet had called her to tell her the conditions of the stables weren't good enough for the horses and suggested that they be moved to his own stables. Suspiciously enough, this vet had come at the recommendation of Bailey and his associates. So, just to be safe, Carol hired her own appraiser to go to the stables and examine the horse personally.

But when the expert arrived, he discovered that Elmage had mysteriously died. Carol reeled from the news. Clearly, something was very wrong, and she knew Richard Bailey was behind it. But when Carol began preparations for a suit against him, she started getting frightening phone calls. I still remember it. Some man's voice. I don't know who it was. He said,

you're rocking the boat. Do you know what happens to people who rock the boat? They drown, and their kids drown too. Shortly after receiving these calls, Carol's stable burned to the ground. Eventually, Carol went through with her civil suit against Bailey, and in the process,

She learned exactly how much she had scammed her. Carol had bought her final stallion, Elmage, for $25,000, but Bailey had originally bought it for only $900. And Carol was far from the only woman who had been conned by Richard Bailey. Throughout the 1970s and 80s, the detectives conducting the probe discovered that Bailey had fleeced almost a dozen other women. Always the scam had the same structure. Investments in racehorses that proved to be worthless, costing these wealthy widows their entire life savings.

And once the work was done, it seemed like Bailey simply disappeared, off to find yet another aging heiress to swindle. Shady horse sales, physical intimidation, it all sounded extremely suspicious to the detectives, and above everything else, it sounded familiar. All signs pointed to the idea that Helen Brom. had been one of Richard Bailey's many cons. After all, she never made a profit on her racehorses. Animals Bailey had encouraged her to buy. It was easy to imagine how things had gone south from there. Maybe Helen had gotten wise to the con,

and Bailey decided to get rid of her. But in order to test this theory, the detectives would need some serious muscle. Up until this point, the probe into Richard Bailey had been nothing, more than a glorified side project. Something conducted by a few officers across the Chicagoland area. But now, with these new discoveries,

the team felt that they had enough evidence for a full-scale investigation. In 1984, Helen Brock was declared legally dead, but in 1989, it was official. The Helen Brock case was reopened, and this time, the focus was squarely on Richard Bailey. The team of detectives wanted definitive proof that Richard Bailey had played a role in Helen Brock's disappearance. And that meant retracing some of their steps. I see no way around it.

Clearly Richard Bailey was part of some ring of horse paddlers. We need to figure out who those other people are. I know you're right, Detective, but we already tried that during the probe. No one will budge. It's like talking to a brick wall over there. But, sir, everything's different now. When you guys were trying to strong-arm stable hands, Silas Jane was still alive.

He's dead and buried now. And I'd wager without him hanging around. We could get some tongues wagging. Well, detective, I sure hope you're right about that. This time, the police went wide in their inquiry. It wasn't just a question of Richard Bailey and Helen Brock. Investigators spoke to trainers, stable workers, veterinarians, and virtually anyone who might have known anything about a legal

activity in the Chicago horse world. No detail was too small for them. Asking such broad questions might have seemed like a good tactic. Get as much information as possible and then narrow down the leads later. But as the detectives conducted these interviews, they discovered that this case was far more complicated than they thought. The truth was that people were more comfortable talking to the police in the wake of Silas Jane's death, but what they said was shocking in a way that the cops weren't prepared for. Honestly, I'm kind of surprised it took you cops as long to do anything about it. Well, better late than never, I suppose.

Yeah, I figured everyone knew about the horse killings. Sorry, horse killings? Yeah, you know, a guy by the never, I suppose. buys a horse, takes out a huge insurance claim on it, then the horse, I don't know, dies in a fire or something. There's a guy here. They call him the Sandman. He kills horses like it's an art. The more the police spoke to people in the horse industry, the more insurance fraud and animal cruelty they discovered. Detectives balked at the sheer number of ways that horses were killed, a match in a stable, electrocution, and other methods too gruesome

to describe. As they learned all this new information, it's easy to imagine that the detectives began to piece together so-called accidents that had happened in the past. Over the years, Silas Jane Stables seemed to develop a habit of burning down. The circumstances were often suspicious, but it was difficult to prove that it was, in fact, arson. Now, those accidental fires existed in a totally different context. Illegal activity seemed to permeate the horse world like a virus, infecting everything and everyone. There was simply no way that these fires had been the product of a misplaced cigarette butt or a lantern that was knocked over by a horse's hoof. And thinking about these fires, there was one in particular that stood out from the rest. Back in the 50s, Silas Jane's idle hour stables,

had briefly been the subject of investigation. Some neighbors had heard screaming the night that John Schusler, Anton Schusler, and Bobby Peterson went missing. Nothing had come of it, though. Nobody at the stable had heard anything suspicious, and eventually, that lead was dropped, like all the rest. But in 1956, as the case was going cold,

an interesting event had taken place. No one seemed injured, And by all accounts, it looked like an accident. But on May 15th of that year, a mysterious fire broke out at the stables and burnt the whole place down. The 1989 investigation had begun with a deceptively simple goal. Find out who killed Helen Brock. But now, it looked like things were going to be a bit more complicated than that.

Thanks again for tuning into. solved murders. We'll be back next Wednesday with Part 3 of the Mystery of the Three in Chicago. For more information on the disappearance of Helen Brock, amongst the many sources we used, we found the book Hot Blood by Ken Englade, extremely helpful to our research. You can find all episodes of Solve Murders and all other Spotify originals from Parcast for free on Spotify. We'll see you next time. Solve Murders is a Spotify original from Parcast, executive produced by Max Cutler. Our head of programming is Julian Boisro.

Our supervising sound designer is Russell Nash, with Nick Johnson as our head of production and Trent Williamson as our senior production specialist. Stacey Nemick is our supervising editor, and Derek Jennings is our writing lead. This episode of Solve Murders is written by Georgia Hampton, edited by Giles. Holfseth, fact-checked by Mary Mathis, researched by Mickey Taylor, produced by Freddie Beckley, and sound design by Michael Langsner. The amazing cast of actors includes Tiana Camacho, Joe Hernandez, Kai Jordan, Cameron Nicod, Rebecca Thomas, and Charlie Wes. Our hosts are Wendy McKenzie, and me, Carter Roy.