Small Town Murder - #274 - STM Express - The Perfect Crime - Hill City, South Dakota

Episode Date: April 16, 2022

This week, in Hill City, South Dakota, when bodily is found, horribly murdered, with the head & hands cut off, in a very rural area, it seems like a mystery, for the ages. Until they discover footprints, leading to some very important evidence, and an interesting person, who seems to have been leading up to this, all his life. This also leads to a seriously ridiculous interrogation, and a very unusual court outfit, that seems to do more to inspire terror, than put people at ease! All of this, and the killer still describes it as "The Perfect Crime"!Along the way, we find out that tin is a disappointment, when looking for gold, that forcing someone to witness a murder is never a wise choice, and that you should never dressed like Darth Maul, when standing trial for murder!!Hosted by James Pietragallo and Jimmie WhismanNew episodes every Thursday!Donate at: patreon.com/crimeinsports or go to paypal.com and use our email: [e-mail] to shutupandgivememurder.com for all things Small Town Murder & Crime In Sports!Follow us on...twitter.com/@murdersmallfacebook.com/smalltownpodinstagram.com/smalltownmurderAlso, check out James & Jimmie's other show, Crime In Sports! On Apple Podcasts, Spotify, Amazon Music, Wondery, Wondery+, Stitcher, or wherever you listen to podcasts!See Privacy Policy at https://art19.com/privacy and California Privacy Notice at https://art19.com/privacy#do-not-sell-my-info.

You're listening early and ad-free on Wondery app or wherever you get your podcasts. Hello and welcome to another express episode of Small Town Murder. Yay, indeed, Jimmy. Yay, indeed. My name is James Petrigallo. I'm here with my co-host. I'm Jimmy Wissman. Thank you.

Jimmy is ill today. Oh, boy, am I. Apologize for his voice. Scratchy throat. Scratchy throat. COVID finally caught up to him. It got me. Finally got him, and luckily, it seems like it's about what I had a couple months ago.

Luckily, I got it from my kid, and I think he's got it worse than me so everything's gonna be fine luckily my kid is much sicker than me yeah well he was he was the buffer between uh me getting sick and and the world getting sick listen kid you're young you can take it yeah you can take it i'm gonna fall apart i need some gauze for this to go through. You're the gauze. Absolutely. So anyway, here we are. We have a crazy episode for you. So this hopefully will make you feel better, Jimmy, and hopefully everyone feel better.

Very quickly here, just want to say, if you want extra Small Town Murder stuff, you can get that very easily on Patreon with patreon.com slash crime and sports. Anybody $5 or above, you're going to get access to crime and sports bonus episodes small town murders anything we do bonus wise everything everything this week very quickly we're going to do the secret life of tiger woods for crime and sports so we'll find out why he ended up with like a black eye and a broken suv and an angry wife that one time it's going to be very funny stuff here and then for small town murder one of our classics oh my goodness the prisoner dating game yes oh my this is our favorite for everyone the all violent felon edition of the prisoner dating game four bachelors four bachelorettes for jimmy he's going to get to pick one of each based solely on their dating profiles and then once he picks them we're

going to find out what everybody did and and that's a lot of fun. We'll find out how horrible of a person Jimmy has picked. So let's do that. And don't forget, May 5th, and available for 72 hours after that, virtual live show coming there. ShutUpAndGiveMeMurder.com is where you get your tickets for that. Let's do it.

Let's go on a trip, Jimmy. Let's run through it. We have here, we're going to Hill City, South Dakota. Hill City. Hill City. This is in southwestern South Dakota down there in the corner. It is, the county it's in has a nice panhandle. It's just shaped like Oklahoma, and this is right in there.

The west side of Dakota is Wyoming, yes? Over there, there's Colorado, Wyoming. It goes into all of that stuff. It's not Montana. Montana's on the east Wyoming, yes? Over there, there's Colorado, Wyoming. It goes into all of that stuff. It's not Montana. Montana's on the east side, yes? No. No, west, west, west, west of that. Yeah, Montana's...

Yeah, there's Dakota. Montana's next to Idaho? No. Yeah, Montana's between North Dakota and Idaho. Got it. Wedged snugly in between those two. Okay. I believe that.

There you go. So, it's geography with James with james this is a small town well just a couple of things here population 1074 oh and that's it's almost doubled since 2000 like the late 2000 teens here and especially since 2020 seems like when everybody started moving in 2020 this place really swelled for some reason. How's that? It started as a mining town, just like Deadwood, if you're a Deadwood person. Except here, tin mining was what they were into. Really?

I didn't even know you mined for tin. Tin doesn't make you much. That shit's cheap. Seems like you'd be looking for gold and you'd be like, Ah, shit, I found tin. It's just tin, you guys. Shut down the operations. operations it's just 10 we're moved to the next hill this is we're gonna move on yeah yeah it's goddamn 10 everywhere nobody needs that so but then our roofs need it i guess i mean there's we're gonna need some shed roofs that's the thing we're gonna do that the mount rushmore in the

1940s and custer state park and also sturgis Motorcycle Rally helps this area be a – helps their tourism a lot. It's a big deal. It's kind of just a tourist area, this area. It's a place where you go and they have a lot of restaurants and bars and things like that, wineries, and you just look at the hills. It's that sort of thing here. Okay. Pretty average in terms of money and cost. They make about the average.

The cost of living is about average here. More outdoor jobs than normal. And they claim on their website here that Hill City is a great place to get away from the hustle and bustle of city life. Oh. You can do that. They had a big thing controversy quickly about a dinosaur here there was a tyrannosaurus rex that they found a fossil and they named it sue after the woman who found it sue hendrickson uh who was a paleontologist and after the discovery there was some beef about it

where there was a controversy over who owned these fossils here so there was the landowner and then there was the tribe who originally owned the land and then there was the federal government that also was involved in it and then the black hills institute as well so all these people fought over dinosaur bones and it wound up in chicago is it that one i believe it well we'll talk about it here may 12th 1992 fbi agents seized the dinosaur they're coming for the dinosaur they seized the dinosaur from the institute over the course of three days and shipped it to the south dakota school of mines and technology to be held well an ongoing court battle happened and finally it was auctioned off by sotheby's auction house and

sold to uh by maurice williams who was uh found to be the rightful owner because he was a landowner happened, and finally it was auctioned off by Sotheby's Auction House and sold by Maurice Williams, who was found to be the rightful owner because he was a landowner, to the Field Museum in Chicago. There you go. I knew I'd seen it. For $8.36 million. That thing is $8 million? Yeah, it's an $8 million dinosaur right there.

Oh my God. When you look at that, be like, wow, this is like- That's unbelievable. Like seven Bugattis. This is a lot here. I had no idea it was worth that much money. Imagine seven Bugattis like Voltron all together in a dinosaur form. Just pieced up there like that.

That's what you got. That said, that's where we are. Kind of a rural- Nice area. Let's talk about this murder here because it's a lot of murder, and we want to get it in our short amount of time here. So let's do it. Got to go back to 1993 for this one. Okay.

On the morning of 1993, Jimmy knows exactly where he was on November 15th, 1993. Am I? Yeah. What, in like the eighth grade probably? Something like that? I was certainly in Phoenix. There you go. In Phoenix.

You weren't in Hill City, South Dakota that i was not and uh one man who was was a resident of hill city who was out deer hunting oh just out traipsing around the hills deer hunting and as you know if you're ever out deer hunting never look down no never you look straight ahead for deer running never at the ground look for deer and nothing else nothing else nothing else especially if, never at the ground. Look for deer and nothing else. Nothing else. Nothing else, especially if it's on the ground and in the shape of a human body. You never want to look at that. Well, they see what appears to be something in the shape of a human body. Oh, no.

Lying approximately 30 or so feet away from the edge of a Forest Service road. Okay. And so this guy, he didn't go investigate too closely but he flagged down a sheriff that drove by out of you might you this is you get paid for this i'm for you i gotta go this is what i do to relax understand like i do this to to relax this is my day off yeah i'm out here i got a couple of groundhog on the table for you so i gotta go this is this is what puts ground this is how the groundhog gets the table for you, so I've got to go. This is how the groundhog gets on the breakfast table. Do you understand?

This is how I do it. So the deputy here walks up to the body, and it is a body is what they find. And not only is it a body, this particular body has no head or hands. Oh, no. That's on purpose, really. It's hard to kill yourself and make your head and hands pop off that's it's a really difficult suicide and it's really hard to get like have like accidentally fall down and have your head and hands fall off like you know

i see what happened he tripped on this rock and his head and hands fell off and he just died on the side of the road it's a lot of pressure when you hit the ground. And sometimes your hands, yeah. Yeah, I've seen like people. That's where all the pressure goes. You've seen people's shoes fly off when things happen. So maybe your head and hands pop off too. And with like a straight, like a cut too, not even ripped.

Real smooth. Real smooth. So obviously he called for backup and secured the area. Several officers and technicians and all this shit, everybody descends on the place and turns into a crime scene out in the middle of nowhere. This poor deer hunter. Can you imagine? Whole day's ruined. That's it.

Fuck. Day's over. So they're asking for help identifying this body because it has no head or hands. Right. So at this point, they know they have a body and it's a male body. Yeah. Appears to be pretty young. Not, you know, not an older person.

They found, and this was back then more prominent and an easier way to tell. They found a tattoo on him. Hell yeah. And a scar from an old injury as well uh the the tattoo is a tear shot teardrop shaped peace sign with the letters a wall underneath and it was tattooed on his upper left arm so if you knew the guy very unique it's a very unique tattoo that's what i mean it's not like you know oh he had a panther on his on his you know it wasn't something like that he had a dragon on his forearm i saw it it was beautiful uh i'll tell you what it was a flame coming out of it and some kind of rotten that i don't know what the

hell it said it was some you know some one of them other countries with people running around wall is very specific it's very and a tear a teardrop shaped peace sign with a wall i feel like that definitely means something to this guy. So let's discuss a fella here now. Now that we have that set the table, that's what's going to happen. Let's talk about a fella here. William Joseph Helmer is his name. 24 years old is this guy we're going to talk about here.

Let's talk about him from the start. He's got quite the juvenile record to begin with. He's one of these guys that's just a problem from the start. Put it that way. George Thorogood. He is George Thorogood. Bad company. He's all of the above.

Five-finger death punch rolled into one. All of the above, definitely. So he, as a kid, at one point he's arrested for, as a teenager here we're talking, now he's not 12 or anything. This is like 16 year old asshole. He's arrested for eight counts of intentional damage to private property at one point, which is what eight counts. Oh, which is what kid?

I mean, kids do dumb shit. And, you know, sometimes they need to do something dumb and go, oh, wow, I get caught for that and get in trouble. That sucks. I don't want to do that. So another time he was caught driving a vehicle. to do something dumb and go, oh, wow, I get caught for that and get in trouble. That sucks. I don't want to do that. So another time he was caught driving a vehicle. This is right out of the court document here. Let me give you this. Driving a vehicle, not his own, over a cliff.

What? He stole a car and drove it off a cliff because he thought that would be fun. Because he thought it would be fun. You saw Thelma and Louise? i think it's 93 probably yeah i think it just came out he's like come on gina davis let's get in this car and let's do something hold my hand and we're flying off this fucking cliff i think maybe it's possible jean dress i think it's possible let's do it flash them gums gina let's get get it on so uh let's i don't know but either way the why would you do that that's a he drove it off and like barrel rolled out of it or what he drove off a i think he tried to land it like grand theft auto style i think he tried to you know san andreas that shit off a mountain and land on the tires he's a bit of an adrenaline seeker as we'll find out

from his actions here um number one just as a kid looking for trouble all the time driving a vehicle not his own off a cliff um in his yearbook in 1988 it lists him as being in the debate club the photography whatever the shit and wrestling uh on the wrestling team that's what it says in the yearbook but then a few years later the wrestling coach says that his name doesn't ring a bell so yeah that's how he was on the team but didn't you know even forge a memory of for his coach to even remember him a few years later i don't know i got a lot of kids as a person that existed you know so average in that way that hurts that hurts things that hurts maybe it was one of those things where his parents wanted him to do it and he was like i'm just gonna blend into the wallpaper here in

the background and not really i went in sixth grade my teacher meant the world to me and uh i was in my 20s and went back to tell her so and she didn't remember me she had no fucking idea who i am that happens so often that's so often i've seen brutal yeah there's even uh yeah that's happened like it's like a sitcom thing it's like yeah we're that they we definitely don't mean as much to them right they're like we can't wait for you to leave so i can drink wine later build them up to be such a big deal and then yeah you see them and they're like who are you well we don't what we don't realize is when we leave the classroom as children they go oh thank god

jesus christ they left finally god then they fucking pull booze out of their drawer and go i need this to not kill them. This is everything to me. I may be everything to them, but this is everything to me. Jesus. So he graduated from Rapid City Stevens High School, did William Joseph Helmer. And he goes by Bill, so we'll just call him Bill, Bill Helmer here. Now, in April of 1989, there's an article in the paper about him being injured in a motorcycle accident

see he's a he likes the a little bit of danger here yeah well and it's what he's doing it's all his fault too that's the funny part uh motorcycle accident after swerving sharply to avoid a head-on collision with a car on lake road about 12 miles from rapid city in that lane sir he the accident took place while helmer was reportedly passing a vehicle on sheridan lake road saturday at a speed exceeding 80 miles an hour of course he was he's a fucking dipshit luckily there was no cliffs nearby to jump off of he would have done some wily coyote shit he uh the driver of the oncoming car said he was coming around a blind curve when the motorcycle appeared in his lane my god that is frightening he's driving passing in a blind curve blind clearly a double

yellow at 80 at eight yes that's suicide this is the type of kid who drives a car off a cliff to see if he can land it you know somebody else's car oh i didn't realize too this is duke boy times too i mean he that was 10 years before he might have seen the reruns were on at this point he might have been like i want to duke's hazard this fucking thing off of this real bad because we all had that fantasy of course anyone who was alive and a child in the 80s knew of the dukes of hazard and wanted to jump their car over a cliff yeah i'm glad that i was not like 13 when jackass came out i would have jumped into ceiling fans for sure you would have been you would have your your genitalia would be have burn marks on it still if you were 13 when jackass came the amount of wheelchair olympics i would

have done oh my god it would have been terrible you would have been like on family guy when they did it that would have been the first time everyone's totally injured. So he's driving a maroon Yamaha, by the way. Yeah. That's his bike of choice. He swerved right and shot past the other guy.

And the driver said he watched in his rear view as the motorcycle wobbled and then went down because he did a crazy maneuver at 80, he weaved in between cars. The driver of that car

and the one being passed stopped to help him so they uh they charged him with reckless driving and passing in a no passing zone what hurts worse the road rash of those people seeing it yeah after you just did a dumb shit move and then they're like hey what's up there speedy how's it going okay what's up can't wait for a blind curve uh yeah is that was it worth it worth it is all you needed bud oh my god they're going your karma sucks and you're just like i can't move my arms yeah it's very different so another time here very like a month later he's busted and charged with grand theft for stealing hood ornaments.

Uh-huh. He's stealing shitloads of hood ornaments from car dealerships. From the dealer? He's going to the dealerships where there's tons of them and just plucking them off cars. The Monte Carlo was a pretty cool hood ornament. I stole a couple of those. In 93? I'm trying to think.

Probably pretty close. That was earlier. That was earlier. 92, 91? That was a cooler 80s one, I think. to think. Oh, probably pretty close. That was earlier. That was early. 92, 91? That was a cooler 80s one, I think. The boxy one, yeah. Yeah, that was like the 80s, I think. I mean, in 92, 93, I was stealing them.

Those cars were still on the road. I'm thinking from a dealership. No, no, no, no, no. I saw on, I think, Comedians in Cars Getting Coffee, the Rolls Royce has one where if you grab it, it sucks it back into the hood. Just like, boom, it's gone. Trap doors, that shit. But that Ram on the Dodge does not do that.

You can just pluck that shit off. That goes right in your pocket. When we were kids, too, the Mercedes emblems used to be upright standing, not attached to the hood. So that was the big one. You'd pluck that off and people would pop that bitch on a necklace and there you go. You've got something, you got something,

man. So he was pursued and arrested at 1259 AM after a dealer or an officer spotted him parked at a dealer's lot, uh, in a, in a 1984 Pontiac, which didn't fit into the dealership. So the police reported finding nine hood ornaments in his car.

Oh, boy. And his bail was set and all that sort of shit. But he ends up being charged with automotive depreciation, because it said that the felony charge couldn't stand up because the stolen automobile parts had depreciated to a true value of less than $200. Yeah, because they're broken. Exactly. So because he broke them, they're worth less, which is a very weird. So he gets charged with a crime that is that. That is less.

It's so weird. Fascinating. Yeah. Originally, it was estimated to be $500, but now it's less. So anyway, he gets 30 days in jail of 30 days of a 90-day sentence and 60 days suspended, obviously. And he has to pay $100 and placed on one year's probation. So that's what he had to do there. Now, from court documents here, it says he went from here to the Persian Gulf for the first Iraq War.

Really? When that started up, joined the army army wanted to go over there and jump into that in the early 90s what a choice he likes to drive cars off of cliffs yeah he likes to take 80 mile an hour blind curves you know blind curves at 80 miles an hour passing people and he goes there's a war fucking cool like you know that's just that's his personality he likes to he's an adrenaline guy you know and the and the the the narrative of that war was that it was like the least dangerous thing we could possibly do. Yeah. They set it up in the in the whole in the whole atmosphere of the country.

Because I remember that as kids, it was like a big paintball game that the guys were going to do. Like, we're going to go over there just to they're going to go over, beat up some Iraqis, give them some noogies. You know what I mean? And then come home, we'll give them a parade and just to, they're going to go over, beat up some Iraqis, give them some noogies, you know what I mean? And then come home, we'll give them a parade and then we'll all celebrate how tough we are. And that's what it kind of, you know, it sort of happened that way. Kind of panned out that way, yeah. You know, obviously not 100%, but, you know, for the most part. Yeah, I mean, a bunch of people still died, but.

But they still played it up that way. Like, hey, that was easy, all right. So anyway, when he gets, gets as an adult he also is arrested for eluding a police officer and possession of stolen property oh boy so he might have joined the army to get like some sort of legal you know ease i'm not sure easement here um a year later he's arrested for grand theft and intentional damage to property and also eluding a police officer wow now let's talk about what his neighbors say about him. Oh, I can't wait.

As a kid. This is always the best here. This is from the paper, and it says, quote, former neighbors say Helmer was a loner. This is by a guy named Hugh O'Gara. Okay. It says that, here he is, one neighbor says, quote, he was terrible.

Okay. And another one neighbor says, quote, he was terrible. OK. And another one just says strange. And another one says he was just another kid that was lonesome. We'll talk about these people here. His father is a retired oil field worker who died when he was younger. That's really. Yeah. He comes from kind of uh dead father who had a

little bit of money yeah that's yeah still but made good money too yeah he uh his mother operates a seasonal shop in hill city like a gift shop that's open in the summer called betty's sells t-shirts and knickknacks and you know postcards with fucking hills on it all that couple of hills where the titties go i know what it it is. You know how it goes there. Shot glasses with, yeah, humorous. The apron with the hills on it. I know how it goes. You know how it goes.

So the Helmer and his mother left the house that they're in about in about 1989. But the neighbors said they never forgot him. One said, quote, everybody rejoiced when he moved if he was in town i'd be worried wow that's how that's the kind of kid he is here he constantly carried what's called in the paper here a survival sheath knife so just basically a big rambo knife yeah serrated on top and this flat blade on the bottom. Yeah, and fake grenades. What? He just had fake grenades clipped to his belt walking around.

So, you know, he heard there was a war, and he's like, real grenades? Cool. That's all. Walking around with a knife. I think he was real into Rambo. I think this guy was influenced a lot by, like, 80s culture. Sly gave him hell. think this guy was influenced a lot by like 80s culture sly gave him hell he's like i'm gonna duke boy this car over that gully and then get on the other side and throw these grenades at the

vietcong and get back them pows because it's time what it's time fucking life it's been long enough they've been over there fascinating fella he's an interesting guy he would work on cars while playing music loudly in the driveway which is always endearing to the neighbors yeah yeah when you you blast when you blast your shame is a deaf leopard while you're yanking out the exhaust here i was gonna say what do you think he's listening to in 93 he's an 80s kind of a guy so i could see that i could see motley crew yeah he's running with the devil james i think i think motley that might be too much musicianship for him i think he's i think he's a motley crew guy i really do just dr feel good

on a loop you know what i mean i think he thinks he's dr feel good he likes that possible yeah does that and then he throws in a kickstart my heart once in a while late 80s crew though none of the early stuff yeah yeah none of the fun shit really the live wire no no no no no none of that stuff so um they said he was a loner and all that sort of shit and a suspect in several neighborhood burglaries where everyone in the neighborhood suspected him he's that kid from the neighborhood remember that guy yep sure do that's him pontiac james an 84 pontiac in 93 or 91 at the time so the neighbor said quote no discipline whatsoever there would be parties that lasted all night he was too young

for that he's crazy so he's he's the crazy kid in town another neighbor said that he was just a kid doing what kids do uh one kid said or one this guy here leo ham is his name with two m's quote he didn't spook me he was just another kid that was lonesome he said he did intimidate some of his neighbors but not him so he's like what do you care i don't give a fascinating choice of words don't scare me what none that's all just you don't spook me one bit one bit i sit down have a master brow with the young man and see how he feels he was frequently alone and um you know one guy said this is leo ham still he said he would just show up looking for companionship and wouldn't leave so he'd show up and if you were nice to him he'd just hang out with you forever

and be a chatterbox for a minute yeah i think he's lonely and also he's looking his dad died when he was young too so i think maybe that's a neighbor who's like an older guy if you hang out in the garage with him for a while i think he's pretty excited about that sure he had several motorcycles he would race through the hills and through the neighborhood and bother the neighbors and several several and he would like buzz around their yards and all over the streets. Leo Hamm here again said, quote, I don't think he really thought about it. When I talked to him, he stopped. Oh.

So it's almost like he's looking for somebody to. He's just having fun. Yeah. And until you tell him not to do it, he's going to do it. And he had no problems in the army, too, which makes me feel like he wants discipline. Yeah. And he just doesn't know where to get it. He just needs to be told what not to do. Yeah, exactly.

One classmate of his said he seemed normal. That's that's a good that's a ringing endorsement. He seemed normal. All right. Well, a lot of people seem normal. I mean, no shit. One girl is called him from high school school called him a real oddball. She said, I didn't know him personally, but I don't remember him ever having friends.

He was kind of quiet, a loner. He wasn't real friendly, never smiled. I always did try to say hi to him and smile at him, but he didn't even acknowledge the fact. This is like Molly Ringwald from The Breakfast Club here. He was a loner, kind of quiet. He didn't have friends like me. I was more popular. They cut that part out.

So August of 1993, we'll fast forward to. He's home from the war and all that stuff. There's a young lady named Angela Henson. And she first meets Bill Helmer while she's working for his mother at the gift shop that she runs there in town so that's nice it's a slinging shit of betty's yeah slinging it slinging titty uh aprons at betty's hot sauce and and pyrite and you meet this young man look at this hell yeah oh you know there's i bet it's like fake tin though because that's what's from there yeah of course you want to buy some fake tin it's more expensive than real tin because it's like fake tin, though, because that's what's from there. Yeah, of course. Want to buy some fake tin?

It's more expensive than real tin because it's just harder to make the whole alloy thing. But, you know, it's just better that way. Spray paint it up. Spray paint it silver. It costs way more than it would just to use tin, I got to say. It'd be cheaper if we just did tin. But we do pass the expense on to you, so I think it's better. So in October of 1993, Henson met Helmer's wife. Bill Helmer got married to a woman named Tracy.

And there's also another guy in the mix named Randy Dixon. Okay. So Randy Dixon had latched on to them at some point, latched on to Bill and his wife Tracy at some point in Arizona. Fascinating. They were all staying in Arizona. I don't know why, but whatever. Maybe it's when Bill got out of the Army. I'm not sure.

So they became good friends. And a lot of times the four of them, Randy, Tracy, Bill, and Angela Henson would all hang out and they would stay at Angela Henson's house in Rapid City. They'd hang out, whatever, have a dinner party. Traveling circus. Stay over. Yeah. It's fun.

They're all buddies. So on November the 13th, 1993, Bill Helmer and Randy Dixon stayed overnight at Angela Henson's house. Okay. Now, the next day, about 4 or 5 p.m. This is November the 14th, Helmer, Bill, he says, I really, really want to drive out to my campsite. I got a bunch of shit at this campsite outside of Hill City. I really want to get out there. Personal belongings.

Yeah, let's go take a ride. Let's go do this. So he asked Angela Henson and Dixon, come with me, guys. Come on. Don't make me go by myself all the way out there. Have a ride with me. Company. We'll go for a ride.

We'll pop some late crew on in there. We'll do, I'm on my way. It's a long one. I hope it's not a Bon Jovi guy. Oh, that'd be terrible. The worst. It's like, I don't know, kind of more into like Jovi, you know what I mean? At this point, that's like Better Roses and shit. That's not good. the worst it's like i'm kind of more into like jovi you know what i mean this point that's like better roses and shit that's not good like it's 1993 what are you

talking about how can you be into that yeah but that's how i feel too because he was in that's that's what was out when he was in high school so he's like if i could just get me an 88 camaro and just pump some kickstart my heart out of that I'll get all the women yeah I'll get all the ladies then be falling into my t-tops I won't even be able to stop them tumbling into it so they do that Henson ends up driving so come with me because I want you to drive yeah that's interesting drives them out to the intersection of China Gulch Road and Marshall Gulch Road. There's a lot of gulch roads here. She parked the car, because that's like the last place I think this car could go with the rugged terrain.

Oh, before we need a four-wheel drive? Yeah, so we get out and walk to the campsite from there is how this works here. So they do. They walk to the campsite. When they arrive at the campsite, there's a trailer he has there and stuff. It's a real, like, it's a setup. It's not just, I picture like a tent and a little campfire that's been put out with a little ring of smoke. Like a roll.

A roll sitting there that can be a tent if you're real creative, if you really want to put some work in. If you can find a good, strong stick. Two of them. Yeah, a couple of them. One to the front, one to the back. We can make a tent out of this i'm telling you i know he's got a trailer and everything all set up there awesome in may of 1980 near anaheim california dorothy jane scott noticed her friend had an inflamed red wound on his arm and

seemed unwell she insisted on driving him to the local hospital to get treatment while he waited for his prescription dorothy went to grab her car to pick him up at the exit, but would never be seen alive again, leaving us to wonder, decades later, what really happened to Dorothy Jane Scott? From Wondery, Generation Y is a podcast that covers notable true crime cases like this one and many more.

Every week, hosts Erin and Justin sit down to discuss a new case, covering every angle and theory, walking through the forensic evidence, and interviewing those close to the case to try to discover what happened. And with over 450 episodes, there's a case for every true crime listener. Follow the Generation Y podcast on the Wondery app or wherever you get your podcasts. You can listen to Generation Y ad-free right now by joining Wondery Plus. It's all a lighthearted nightmare on our podcast, Morbid. We're your hosts.

I'm Alina Urquhart. And I'm Ash Kelly. And our show is part true crime, part spooky, and part comedy. The stories we cover are well-researched. He claimed and confessed to officially killing up to 28 people. With a touch of humor, I'd just like to go ahead and say that if there's no band called Malevolent Deity, that is pretty great.

a dash of sarcasm, and just garnished a bit with a little bit of cursing. This motherfucker lied. Like a liar. Like a liar. And if you're a weirdo like us and love to cozy up to a creepy tale of the paranormal or you love to hop in the way back machine and dissect the details of some of history's most notorious crimes you should tune in to our podcast morbid follow morbid on the

wondery app or wherever you get your podcasts you can listen to episodes early and ad free by joining wondery plus and the wondery app or ons. So he enters the trailer and he comes back out and hands Angela Henson a silver case when he gets in that goes in there. And he also had a yellow bag that he pulled out and he takes out

from the yellow bag what's called in court in the court document here a quote nine millimeter submachine gun. Jesus. So yeah he's got I don't know like a, quote, nine millimeter submachine gun. Jesus. So, yeah, he's got, I don't know, like a nine millimeter Uzi or what? Tech nine. Like a tech nine? Yeah.

There's a lot of different, you know. It's probably a tech nine. A lot of ways that that happens and nine millimeters are pretty ubiquitous with shit. It's the most unreliable gun on the planet. Oh, it's terrible. Piece of shit. Not a good one at all. Every time I heard it in a rap song i

was like you ain't gonna hit me i mean you you might a couple of times but then it'll stop so um so but still a gun nonetheless and obviously you know very dangerous and if working properly extremely dangerous and terrifying as a weapon so the uh the she he takes this out and hands the bag to angela henson to carry now at the in the meantime while they're dealing with silver cases and and tech nines randy dixon is getting some items from a tent that was also located on the camp i don't know if these were his items or if he'd been directed to, hey, grab some shit over there. So the three of them leave.

They get back to the car, and Bill Helmer's carrying a large green bag, a smaller bag, a coat, a flashlight, and a double-bladed axe. Jesus. Looks like he's going out camping and chopping trees down. That's the survivalist right there, yeah. Yeah, he looks like he's going out camping and chopping trees down right there yeah yeah he looks like

he's going out lumberjack and just like like a lumberjack camp type of deal his own just him yeah so dixon gets to the car first and randy's leaning against the car smoking a cigarette and they're all just you know talking shit and angela henson unlocks the trunk and walks to the driver's side and leaves bill and randy at the back of the car. And then she says that she heard a very loud pop sound. Yeah. And she turned around and saw Helmer standing behind the car and Dixon laying on the ground with blood shooting out of his head. Yeah.

So she was like, oh, well, that's interesting. So if that's not weird enough, everything was fine and there's just like a mafia style execution. There's no murder. Yeah. Now a murder. At that point, now it gets really weird. Okay. Bill Helmer throws something in the trunk and tells Angela Henson, quote, you know nothing and you saw nothing and you and your daughter will pay if you do and your daughter will be next.

Dear Lord. So that's what he tells her. So, you know, nothing about what? This guy's still bleeding out on the ground. And you're like, what? He's trying to erase her memory already. I'm going, you could have just borrowed my car. Did I need to be here for this?

Why did you take me? Why did you show me that um well it gets way worse now okay helmer here bill then grabs dixon's by the ankles and drags him across and off the road drags him over the road and across and you know where he ends up being found over there walks the body uh walked back to the body again um you know looking looking over it angela henson's like okay i guess they're leaving him there he comes back to the car where angela is grabs the double-bladed axe oh dear lord okay well it's dark now jimmy yeah so i can't i can't do anything with this axe by myself i I need someone to hold the flashlight for me.

You got to hold the flashlight. Like you're an eight-year-old and your dad's trying to change a tire and you're out there. I'll be your dad with the rusty bolt. Oh, my God. You're making a shadow with my arm. Hi, hold it above. Aim it where I'm working. You're holding your arm with your other arm.

Over the thing. You're on the tire, for Christ's sake. We've all been there. Don't shake so she gets back and said listen here's what i need you to do get this flashlight and walk with me while i get this axe she said she begged to be made not to didn't want any part of this she could see where this was going and wanted no part of it but he said get the goddamn flashlight yeah fucking follow me where i'm going oh my so she said she did as she was told and went over there they walked across the road by the way that's a that's a quiet 50 feet yeah it's a long walk you've had this

conversation and now you're gonna go over there you can't just be like, hmm, he's really C.O. Ryan tonight. Like, you know, like. Isn't that a big difference? Wow, look at that. It's clear tonight. This is nice. I think that's Venus. Look at it. It's pretty.

Oh, look at it shine. Are you into astrology? I think that's cancer. I think that is. Anyway, we'll talk about it another time. But right now, hold this flashlight over this guy while I try to dismember him. Cool? Okay.

Wow. Mind you, this is, he is a, there's still, like, if you dismember him, there's still going to be a lot of blood everywhere. And this is not an easy thing to do. So she said she held the flashlight over but looked away. Which I can't, I have to be honest with you, I have a lot of problems with her story. This is all her story. You can't look away. You got to see where you're aiming, where you're aiming that light.

She went in the house. She went in the trailer with him. They dealt with the gun. Randy was out by himself. They walked out. They're by the car. He shoots her. He shoots Randy, then drags him away goes back says hold this flashlight come over

here we're gonna do this shit it's just all against her will and she's like oh i just beg not to be a part of it but he threatened my daughter it's just very convenient yeah now i don't know what her motivation would be to want to help but i don't know what his motivation is to want to kill him so it's who knows they might have decided that that Randy needed to go for whatever reason. So she said either way that she held the flashlight while she heard repeated hacking at the head and hands. Because it takes a while to get a head off with an axe. Yeah. One swipe ain't going to do it.

No. And you've got to keep chopping. And she said that she held the flashlight right there and could hear you know spatter and hear chunks coming out you know on the ground viscera and yeah not great um so he repeated this with the hands and the head did everything she said that when she looked back finally she can't you have to look or else the flashlight's not you can't hold the flashlight where you need to hold it the whole time unless you turn your head it moves five feet exactly and if you stay over there it's going to drift and then you're going to get the guy going i can't see his goddamn fucking wrist joints i'm trying to cut it

so uh she he she said she looks back and sees that dixon's head and hands have been chopped off. She didn't look at all to even know what parts he was chopping in her claim. He then, Bill, returns to the car. I guess it wouldn't be Randy returning anywhere at this point, not on his own volition anyway. He goes to the car, gets some plastic bags, and comes back to the body. and comes back to the body. He places the head in a bag and the hands in a different bag and brings them back to the car

like he just bought some goldfish at the pet store. And he's got the little water bag. Like he was on the cake walk. Yeah. He's filled the clown's mouth at the carnival. There it is. He got this. So they go.

They place them into the car. And then he returns to the body to get Dixon's wallet and, of course, his axe as well, clearly, which he wiped the body matter off on the ground. You know, did like a quick drag it through the dirt. Yeah. Yeah. And then he, according to Henson, ordered her to get into the car and we're going to drive to Sheridan Lake Road. Get out there. He pulls the car over onto a gravel area near a steep overlook and turn the car's lights off.

Took the keys with him and got out of the car. He opened up the back door to the car, got the head and the hands out, got his hand and head bags out, walked behind the car. She said he knelt down for a couple of seconds, like doing like a little prayer or a genuflect. I don't know what he was doing there. Take a knee. And then threw the bags one at a time over the edge of the overlook, just tossed them head and hands. So then he got back in the car and gave or, quote to give henson one of dixon's rings yikes that's what he did while knelt down took him off took the ring off the guy's hand there you go open the bag and got inside by the way you want this she said she took it but threw it in the back seat she's like like, I couldn't have it near me. Then, Jesus Christ, he refused to take her.

According to her, he refused to take her to pick up her daughter from the babysitter. And instead, he drove them to her house. Now, at the house, she said she went into the bathroom and vomited immediately. Of course. She held it in this whole time. Yeah. But now it's time to vomit. I would have done it on the body for Christ's sake.

I would imagine this, by the third chop, I'd be like, this is gross. If I didn't do it while there's blood coming out of a human being. Yeah, this is, I don't know. At this point, I don't know, though. I don't know the reaction to this. So he, at this bill, enters the bathroom while she's puking and washes his hands. He, at this bill, enters the bathroom while she's puking and washes his hands. And upon her exit from the bathroom, she said, can we go pick my daughter up again?

And he said, no, we're not going to pick your daughter up. We're going to the oyster pub. Oh, we want the bar now. Yeah, we're going out to the bar. Wow. So that's what we're doing. So upon their arrival, he ordered oysters. Oh, he got oysters and beers for himself and a soda for henson because she was didn't want booze what a choice he okay we've had a lot of different

murder choices it seems like beef is a popular choice for murder you got to get your your strength back the protein which again oysters full of protein as well. Full of protein, yeah. But you'd seem like you wouldn't really want oysters after you've been dismembering, I feel like. It's a specific texture. Yeah, there's too much. It's fleshy. There's too much of the not real certain. It's just too soft.

It just doesn't. Yeah, it seems at least the steak, if you had to in brain, go, oh, God, this is like human meat. At least it's cooked. Right. And even if it's meat, it's firm meat, where an oyster, you don't even chew that, you know? No, you're just swishing it around. This is an odd choice, but oysters and a beer. And he was like, all right, let's hang out here.

It's not a bad Sunday afternoon. I'm into it. It's a fine day. I love oysters and beer. But it's an odd choice post-emberment and body disposal that's all i mean so he remains at the bar chatting with the bartender having a good time sucking down his oysters and she played uh they had like you know lottery machines they had the yeah the gambling machines there on the counters. And she did that.

So they just hung out like it was any other night. You're not picking up your daughter. I want oysters. I want oysters. You want gambling. Let's go. So after he finishes his oysters, she says that she again said, please, can we pick up my daughter from the babysitter? And he said, all right, fine. Let's go. We can can pick her up then and then we'll all go back to your house because i'm

full of aphrodisiac now i'm full of oyster now he tried to force some on her i'm good that's fucking bad so he at the house angela henson and her daughter went into the bedroom and laid on the bed fully clothed. Okay. Now, I don't know how old the daughter is, by the way. She goes to daycare, so she's eight younger? I think she's little is what I'm thinking here. Plus, I think Angela Henson's in like her mid-20s also, so I think the kid is young.

So, during this time, Henson, Angela, hears bill open and close the outside door more than once comes in and out a couple of times yeah eventually bill comes into the bedroom and lays down on the bed next to her and quote requested to have sex with her yeah oysters girl i don't know if it was like a written request if you submitted like a form i have the requisite 1080 form here for you well it's all filled out all right we'll process it four to six weeks we'll get back to you uh but i everything looks to be in order apparently she acquiesced to this and they had sex and then later on in the evening when they're basking in the afterglow of dismemberment and oysters and post-coital bliss he leans back

puts his hands behind his head just you know and he says ah i've committed the perfect crime that's what he says. What a dope. I've done it. I just came five minutes ago, so that means I'm brilliant. So proud of me. Every man feels like a genius immediately after you're done. That's the thing. Post-dump, yeah. feels like a genius immediately after you're done that's the thing post dump yeah i'm a genius i'm amazing she let me do that to her that means i'm smart and i killed a man

i've never been more powerful i'm full of oyster meat and fucking vigor so oyster no load i am i am empty but full empty but full i've committed the perfect crime so the next day he tells her to remove the license plates from her car and report them uh report them stolen yeah say somebody stole your license plates that way if somebody saw your plates you can say somebody stole them. So the next day, November 16th, the officers, they're just investigating the crime scene and they see the body. What they do is they just follow some footprints that are in the ground pretty prominently. The only human footprints they can find. So they're like, oh, there's footprints going back and forth from this body. So they follow them all the way down a trail right up to a campsite.

Where there's a camper and shit? Well, there's like a camper. There's all sorts of stuff. Perfect crime. I've committed the perfect crime within walking distance of my campsite with my footprints leading to my front door. The perfect crime. With witnesses and everything my perfect crime he means very easy a criminal genius this guy is ah the perfect crime so they follow this they then discover bills and envelopes scattered around on the ground

like with somebody's name and address on them like a stack of mail that got blown away by the wind and they're they're all addressed to tracy with the last names of elliot erickson and helmer her current name his wife so they do a little more investigation on that follow the address it belongs to tracy helmer who resides in hot springs south dakota so later that evening they so they try to get a hold of her obviously figure out what her connection she has so later that evening bill calls the police department hotter than shit pissed off at them why the fuck are you trying to talk to my wife who the hell are you to try to talk what do you do like they were hitting on her they're investigating a murder and he's like

how dare you i heard you grabbed her ass so he's pissed off why are you looking for my wife so they said well there's this thing that happened and we're trying to talk to her you know maybe we could talk to you about it because this behavior makes them think, this sounds interesting. He seems like a character. So they said, well, why don't you come down to the sheriff's office and discuss it? So he said, fine, but I'm not bringing my wife. They're like, great. You got to stay away from her.

Yeah, not happening. I saw the way you were looking at her. I could feel it. You're thinking dirty things. He gets there. He gives an extended voluntary statement. Says he's been with his friends, Andrea and Chris Drain, who are people who are campers that are near that campsite. Okay.

Said that's where he was hanging out. He doesn't know any knowledge of Randy Dixon. I don't know where he is. I don't know how he is i don't know how he died i don't know he died i know nothing about it he said he agreed to accompany law enforcement officers to his campsite though so he can explain some things going on a field trip yeah during the field trip the law enforcement there the cops in rapid city locate the two people who he said were his alibi and they said we didn't see him that night

i don't know what the hell you're talking about right so he didn't straighten the alibi with them first he just that should have been yeah so much perfect not the perfect crime i would say here the perfect crime footprints leading right up to mail with my wife's name on it perfect it's perfect alibi that the people that i'm going with have no idea about. Never even talked to him. Perfect crime. Nice dismount. So then the cops tracked down Angela Henson from all of this because the people that he gave the alibi to said, well, he hangs out with this lady a lot.

Maybe talk to her. So the fact that he gave the cops those names are the only reason they talked to angela henson otherwise they wouldn't even have known she existed she doesn't have anything to do with anything her address is nowhere she doesn't exist according to the cops so instead they talk to her first she says i don't know what you're talking about randy dixon yeah i know the guy but i wasn't i don't know what you're talking about so then angela henson's sitting there a little while they go look you know we have this and this and she goes okay fine i saw the whole thing he chopped the guy's head off shot him in front of me you know but i didn't see

anything and i just wanted to go pick my daughter up and i gambled against my will afterwards and the sex was terrible it was bad honestly here's the. She could be just being held hostage this whole time. Possible. We don't know, but she does a lot of- There are things that you would do, yeah. You'll go out of your way to protect your daughter or your child when you're scared. And sometimes that incriminates yourself. The fact that-

But I just don't believe you could hold a flashlight over a dismemberment properly without looking at it. I can't believe that you have to see that yeah yeah and maybe that's that's that's her way of um i don't know that she might i can't tell what happened with her but she ended up spilling the beans anyway so i think maybe they said look do you want to be a witness or a suspect i think is probably what they said because that's what homicide detectives say and then she said oh i'm a witness believe me and that's what homicide detectives say. And then she said, oh, I'm a witness, believe me. And that's the story. I've seen it. Oh, I've definitely seen it.

So at about 3 a.m., Helmer and law enforcement officers return from their campsite visit, and he's arrested about 4 or 5 in the morning. They're like, yeah, we're going to go ahead and take you in. They've ended up finding, because Angela Henson told them where the other body parts were thrown.

So a couple of days later, they find the head, they find the hands. And they said the mutilation of the body had to do with the concealment of the death. They were trying to, you know, obviously, so you couldn't identify him. So when they talked to him, he initially says he's with friends, obviously. Then he says he ends up saying, I don't want to talk. He's with friends, obviously. Then he says, he ends up saying, I don't want to talk. So then one of the officers here said, I don't know if he then tells one of the officers, though, after he said that I don't want to talk.

So I want a lawyer. But then he said, I don't know if God can forgive me for what I've done. Then he said that before the killing, quote, I knelt down and asked God to forgive me for the life I was about to take. About? You don't even have to. He's like, God, I'm going to take this life. God's like, hold on a minute. No, no, God, you can't talk.

I'm going to kill him. I just need your forgiveness. Normally we do like after the fact is when we do forgiveness. Like you kill him and then you go, I feel terrible, terrible. of say well you're forgiven my son you're this way is not you can't i oh shit god god did i just said did i just dab myself i do that all the time it's hilarious okay i'm sorry i'm sorry i'm sorry that's what's going on here, I feel like. This is ridiculous. So his first court appearance, he wears like this big, almost like a boxer's robe. You know how some boxers will come in, they have the hood that covers half their face?

Yeah, the cloak. The cloak. That's how he comes into court. To court. That's his jacket. There's a picture. I'll post it on social media with this. It is at Murder Small on Twitter, at Small Town Murder on Instagram.

It is frightening looking, and you look like a murderer when you're brought into court like that. You really do. Literally, boxers do that to look scary. Yeah, the Grim Reaper does that because we don't know what his face looks like. No shit, man. It's crazy so during the trial it's the trial's kind of a zoo because they're trying to suppress the statement that he made because he said well i'm not talking and then he said something that's clearly

so that's how that's a big point of contention well once he said he's not talking does that count now and the judge actually suppresses that really that him saying i ask god to forgive me for the life i was about to take they've suppressed that shit which is they're giving him a handicap yeah there he's starting out starting out pretty good here so that's a good suppression but angela henson is going to testify about everything here um they were like they've talked a lot about how brazen he is that rather than fleeing, he brazenly telephoned the police station and demanded to know why the police were looking for his wife. It's pretty awesome. Like all of that shit. So the strategy is he's fucking crazy.

That's his his lawyer. They're like they're saying he's crazy. He just snapped. Obviously, look at this. Angela Henson at one point in her statement said Bill just snapped. So they're like, even she said he snapped like she's a psychiatrist that was doing a full examination. stress disorder from the Gulf War and that that fed his already diagnosed paranoia. And he said and then he went, this is first degree manslaughter, obviously. I mean, we're not going to deny it happened, but clearly it's not murder. Clearly. So he's examined by shitloads of people who different psychologists and everything. They find no clear organic mental disorder and a good capacity for self-control.

He knows the difference between right and wrong and was sane at the time of the offense. Uh-oh. Yeah. So verdict comes in. Eight women, four men on the jury here. Not a long deliberation on this one. Verdict is announced. He is found guilty of murder.

Not manslaughter at all here. Now it's just whether he's going to die of lethal injection or be sentenced to life without parole here. Or stay in there until he dies. Stay in there until he dies. There's aggravators and all that sort of thing going on. The jury is

deadlocked 10 to 2 over this case. 10 to 2 they're deadlocked, whether they're in favor of the death penalty or not. And so they can't sentence him to death if the jury's deadlocked. It was 10 in favor of death, by the way. Is that right?

Yeah, 10 in favor of death. And two, I don't know what it is about, and this might be like a thing that guys have toward each other, but if a guy kills another adult guy, that's not a death penalty case to me. I don't know what it is. I can't. I'm like, life in prison is fine.

Whereas if you kill a lady or a kid, I'm like, that's when the people want to talk about it. But it's like, yeah, you killed another guy. Guys, even though obviously that makes no sense whatsoever. To me, though, it depends on how. Like, did he have a fighting chance? If he didn't, then that's death. If it's just a surprise murder, that's not cool. No, it's not cool.

But, like, I feel like, I don't know, it's got to have some extra stank on it if you're going to go that route. You know what I mean? Plugging a guy in the head and then taking it is pretty bad. That's pretty quick. That's pretty quick, you know? Nothing mean plugging a guy in the head is and then that's that's pretty quick that's pretty quick you know nothing nothing against randy dixon this is terrible i'm just saying that's maybe that's just because like i said guys have less respect for guys when it comes to shit like that yeah the guy can get shot and you're like he'll be fine you know like shake it off it's all right yeah i don't know what it is why That's why we have hospitals. Yeah, you have a doctor. Relax. Modern science will fix it.

So he is sentenced to, you, sir, may fuck off life in prison without parole. Oh, is that right? No parole. Or as the Rapid City Journal put it on July 11th, 1994, on its giant headline, quote, Helmer misses out on death row club. He almost got it. Almost. They made it sound like he was just right there.

He worked his whole life for it. What number? He just missed the Powerball number. He was almost there. Almost there. So he appeals this based on the fact that they said that there is a there was a jury problem. on the fact that they said that there was a jury problem, number one. He claims that they wouldn't allow jurors who own their own businesses

to be on the jury panel because those people said, I can't take off because I run my own business and I don't have employees to do my thing for me and I won't have any money. So he said by allowing them to be excused that was a way of kind of tarnishing it yeah tarnishing them and those for some reason the entrepreneur class here they would understand where i'm coming from they understand murder they they get they get it well they get the they get the logical progression of you kill him you want

to hide the body you cut his head and hands off it's not an emotional thing it's just business they get it i guess that's his thought when you have an accounts payable department that's when you really grasp you know how it is and also there's his statements as well because even though they took out the statement of i'm pray to god to forgive me for the life i'm about to take. They still let other statements in that happened while the one cop was in the room. So it made it whatever. And the Supreme Court, the state Supreme Court says, yes, that was wrong to allow those statements in. And that is an error, but not enough error to change the outcome of the case with with

an eyewitness right there and him admitting doing it all over the place to others and everything else still not gonna mean shit you sir can keep on fucking off and uh head somewhere here for life without parole so lucky we didn't give you death if it was death we commute it but you're muted he remains in prison obviously there yeah angela henson just uh or as he put it i've committed the perfect crime and my penis feels good could you have a better night and then he put his cloak on and went out there like a fucking maniac like darth maul for christ's sake the hell are you doing what are you doing sir it was a face painted red yeah he came to the he came to court like bernard hopkins comes came to the ring back in the day like the you're not the execute we're

looking like i'm the executioner i swear i didn't do this this is not good at all here for him so anyway there you go there is hill city south dakota and uh the case of the perfect crime being committed anything anything but the perfect crime and uh obviously we hope you enjoy these short episodes yeah you can listen if you want longer episodes not the same stories obviously different stories that have kind of more backstory to them and shit like that you can listen every thursday to small town murder there you go of course and even listen to crime and sports every tuesday as well because those stories are crazy you really don't have to like sports especially the next couple weeks we have a couple really wild ones coming up so check that out and check out wait

till you hear small town murder the next week one here coming up the next one oh my god crazy stuff can't wait for everybody to hear it if you if you've ever played grand theft auto you'll be interested in this so or even seen it anyway thank you so much for joining us and uh we will see you next week Bye. Thank you. Or you can listen early and ad-free with Wondery Plus and Apple Podcasts. Before you go, tell us about yourself by completing a short survey at wondery.com slash survey. plus, religion and crime collide when a gruesome murder rocks the isolated Montana community. Everyone is quick to point their fingers at a drug-addicted teenager, but local deputy Ruth Vogel isn't

convinced. She suspects connections to a powerful religious group. Enter federal agent V.B. Loro, who has been investigating a local church for possible criminal activity. The pair form an unlikely partnership to catch the killer, unearthing secrets that leave Ruth torn between her duty to the law,

her religious convictions, and her very own family. But something more sinister than murder is afoot, and someone is watching Ruth. With an all-star cast led by Emmy nominee Sanaa Lathan and Star Wars' Kelly Marie Tran, Chinook is available exclusively and ad-free on Wondery Plus. Join Wondery Plus in the Wondery app or

on Apple Podcasts.