Ray William Johnson: True Story Podcast - This Maniac Killed His CoWorker - The Tom Monfils Story

Episode Date: December 24, 2025

Tom Monfils’s death in 1992 at the James River paper mill in Green Bay became one of Wisconsin’s most controversial homicide cases. After Monfils made an anonymous call reporting a coworker for theft, the recorded tip was improperly released to the mill, exposing him and heightening already strained workplace tensions. He vanished during his shift, and the next day his body was found submerged in a pulp vat with a rope and weight attached. Investigators concluded he had been murdered in retaliation.

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That's fantastic. And critics say it's one of the best superhero movies of all time. Marvel Studios, the Fantastic Four First Steps, now streaming on Disney Plus, rated PG-13. What time is it, Ben? It's Clubber Time! So this guy reports a co-worker for stealing, and then they end up killing him over it. Now, this story starts with this guy, Keith. And Keith is around 41 when all this begins, and he's living in Wisconsin.

Now, Keith, he's just a total jerk. Like he works at the local paper mill, and he's known around work as a dude you don't want to mess with, because he can get pretty violent. Bro, he's very much a thug. And one day, in 1992, he comes up with a very, very, stupid idea. He plans to steal about 10 to 15 feet of electric cable from his job at the mill. And this cable is expensive. And he would probably get away with this theft except that this guy finds out about the plan, Tom. Tom also works at the mill and he's a really nice guy and a hard worker.

Now Tom could just keep his mouth shut about this potential upcoming theft, but he's not that kind of guy. While most of the workers there enjoy hitting the strip club and grabbing a drink after work, Tom, he's not really into all that stuff, so he's somewhat of an outsider there at the mill. So when he hears about Keith's plans, he decides to report him. But he doesn't report him to his bosses at the mill, because he doesn't want anyone at work to know that he's snitched. Instead, he calls the police. So he's on the phone with them, and he tells them that he would like to report an upcoming theft, and also that he wants to keep this call anonymous.

Presumably because Keith, the thief, is known to be a violent guy and Tom is worried about his safety. And so police agreed to keep the call anonymous. Then police contact security at the mill, and they let them know that their employee Keith is planning on stealing some very expensive cable. So then hours pass and it's the end of the shift and Keith is leaving the mill and security stops him and they're like, let us take a look in your bag, Keith. But Keith refuses. He's like, nah, I got to go. I'm in a hurry. And he just leaves. The next day, he comes into work. And right when he shows up, he gets sent into a disciplinary review meeting. And at the meeting, it is

decided that because he wouldn't let security search his bag, he will get suspended for five days without pay. And this, of course, pisses Keith off. How dare they discipline him for ripping off the company. Meanwhile, Tom, he's still paranoid that word is going to get back to Keith that he's the one who called police on him. So he calls police again. And he tells them that he's worried that Keith is going to find out. But police assure him that that is not going to happen. His call was anonymous and that there is no way they would ever release the recording of it to the suspect. Now, it's not long before Keith starts to realize that someone must have snitched on him. And by the time he's back at work, he's telling all the workers that he's going to find out who told on him

and he's going to get him. Then he gets an idea. What if the police have a recording of the call? If he can get a copy of that recording, he'll recognize the voice and he'll know who called. So Keith starts making calls to the police department and he asks them to get him a recording of that anonymous tip that they got. Meanwhile, Tom is quietly freaking out. He knows Keith is trying to piece together who ratted him out. So over the next several days, Tom calls the police department multiple times, begging them not to release the recording of him calling or any information about him calling. He even tells one detective that Keith is crazy and that he fears for his life. And again, police assure him that they would never release any information. It is simply against their policy.

However, here's where police really screw up. See, Keith, he's been bugging them about. releasing a recording of the call to him and for some reason they actually do they end up giving him a cassette tape with a recording of the call on it so now Keith has the tape and he wastes no time bringing it into work and he immediately plays it for everyone there that wants to listen and soon almost 40 of his co-workers have heard the tape and everyone recognizes that it's tom's voice and they all now know that he's the snitch. So now, Keith feels that it's time to confront Tom. So he brings the tape to the control room where Tom is stationed,

and he busts in, and he plays it right in front of him and another coworker. And Tom, he just sits there, stunned. He doesn't know what to say. All he can do is quietly admit that, yeah, it was him, in fact, who called the police. Now, by this point, it's not just Keith who's upset at Tom. It's actually a bunch of his coworkers, because here's the thing. All of these guys are part of a union. And there's apparently some unwritten code in their union that you don't snitch on a fellow union member.

So pretty quickly, Tom's coworkers start giving him shit. I just can't believe you did that. You're lucky you didn't do that to me. And at some point, Tom has to do his job and change the paper roll in one of the machines. And not long after, he gets cornered. by Keith and some other guys. And these guys are still pissed. And they're shaking the tape in his face

and they're shouting at him and they're calling him a snitch or a rat or whatever. And I don't know if Tom is talking trash back or just not apologizing enough for Keith, but it's during this moment that Keith finally just snaps. And pow, he punches Tom in the face. Then a whole group of guys jump in

and boom, boom, they start beating him down and they apparently beat him down pretty bad. But I guess Keith feels that this just isn't enough punishment. And he decides that the only other thing that they can do to Tom is murder him. So with Tom barely still alive, some of the guys pick him up and they carry him over to the nearest paper vat. Then they tie a cord around his neck so he can't breathe and they attach a 45 pound metal weight to the other end. Then they lift him up high and they toss him over into the vat, which contains tissue pulp and,

With that weight tied to him, he sinks 20 feet to the bottom. And he, of course, doesn't survive. Now, eventually, Tom doesn't come home from work, and his family, they get worried, and they call the police. So police get involved, and suddenly a big search for Tom is launched, and they end up emptying out the pulp vats at the paper mill, and there they find Tom at the bottom of one of them. So now police know that he's been murdered,

and they start investigating and questioning all the workers at the mill, but not surprisingly, none of them are willing to talk. I guess these union guys stick together. I mean, not only that, I mean, they all just saw what happened to a guy who just snitched, so I'm sure a lot of them are also scared. Regardless, Keith becomes the main suspect, because of the known beef that he had with Tom. But police, they don't really have any evidence against him,

and so the case goes cold. Until At some point Keith's dumb ass gets drunk at a bar one night and he starts talking about what they did to Tom and doing a reenactment of the beatdown aka basically confessing to the murder

and then one of his friends ends up going and telling police all this and so bam Keith is arrested also bam five of his co-workers who participated in the murder are arrested and unfortunately I couldn't find any 90s mugshots of any of them, so you don't get any real pictures. Anyway, all six of these guys

are found guilty, and all six of them get life in prison. Not only that, but eventually Tom's wife sues the police department for releasing that tape and ultimately getting Tom killed, and she's awarded $2 million. Starting a business can seem like a daunting task, unless you have a partner like Shopify. They have the tools you need to start and grow your business. From designing a website to marketing to selling and beyond, Shopify can help with everything you need. There's a reason millions of companies like Mattel, Heinz, and all birds continue to trust and use them. With Shopify on your side, turn your big business idea into sign up for your $1 per month trial at Shopify.com slash special offer. Good for her.