Small Town Murder - #374 - The Man In The Box - Kankakee, Illinois

Episode Date: March 31, 2023

This week, in Kankakee, Illinois, a phone call from the police, telling a man that there's been a burglary at one of his properties send him out of the house in the middle of the night. The next call that comes to the house will be a ransom call, demanding $1 million for the man's safe return. These kidnappers also tell the family that the kidnapped man is being kept in a box, buried in the ground, with 48 hours of oxygen. Either come up with the money... or he dies! A real white knuckle kind of episode!Along the way, we find out that at least some members of The Sugar Hill Gang are still alive, that you probably don't want to kidnap a personal friend of the governor, and that it's hard to estimate how much oxygen a PVC pipe can deliver to an underground box!!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.

Wondery Plus subscribers can listen to Small Town Murder early and ad-free right now. Join Wondery Plus in the Wondery app or on Apple Podcasts. What if you married the love of your life and then stood by them as they developed 21 new identities? What would you do? This Is Actually Happening is a weekly podcast that features extraordinary true stories of life-changing events told by the people who lived them. Listen to the newest season of This Is Actually Happening on the Wondery app or wherever you get your podcasts. Hello and welcome back to Small Town Murder Express. Yay and choo-choo.

Yay indeed, Jimmy. Yay indeed. My name is James Petrigallo. I'm here with my co-host. I'm Jimmy Wissman. Thank you folks so much for joining us all aboard the murder train, pulling away from the station. Let's get it on. We have a crazy, crazy, crazy story. So very quickly up at the top, head up, head on. We have a crazy, crazy, crazy story. So very quickly up at the top, head up, or head over to, not up to, over to shutupandgivememurder.com. You most certainly want to get tickets

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Oh, I can't wait. It's available for seven days after the 20th, too. You can order it any time in there. You can watch it a bunch of times. You can do anything you want with it there for seven days. And it's going to be a lot of fun, just like a regular live show, except where are you? Home.

Yeah, home. Comfortable. Sitting back, lounge and drink in your hand bong in your hand whatever you got in your hand jimmy's doing yourself jimmy's gonna have a bong in his hand too because i'm gonna make sure that it's gonna be a harrowing experience for young jimmy wistman it's gonna be a lot of fun can't wait for that so it's gonna be awesome get in there for that that's shut up and give me murder.com also you certainly certainly want to head over to patreon.com slash crime and sports all the bonus stuff tons of back episodes

150 plus bonus episodes plus every other week you get two new episodes this week no different and you get them both for crime and sports you're going to get the murder of bruiser brody the wrestler very well done on dark side of the ring not very funny though we'll make sure it is for small town murder something very fun haunted hotels that's going to be great so we can't wait for those bonuses get in there patreon.com slash crime and sports and you of course get a shout out at the end of the regular show where jimmy messes your name all up even though he wants to get it right he really does speaking of names that are easy to mess up wait till we get to this town name but first before that before that before we before we get to the town name yeah where are

you right now what are you doing you're at work okay that makes sense you're listening at work where are you what do you mean, you're a barista? Wow, that's interesting. You're making coffee drinks? Well, make sure on your next drink, rather than writing the name of the person on the name of it, write something else on there. Then when it's ready, I want you to stand up on the counter, look at the cup, look out for everybody and shout, Shut up and give me murder.

And then whoever claims that cup is pretty cool and you can be friends with them. Now. Now. So that said, let's go on a trip, Jimmy. Yeah, let's do it. Let's do it. We're going to Illinois here to a town. Here is the town, K-A-N-K-A-K-E-E.

It is Kankakee. There's a G. They pronounce it with a G in there, like Kankakee. Kang? Yeah, like one of the Simpsons aliens, Kankakee, Illinois. Okay. It's about an hour south of Chicago, so it's not in the very far southern reaches of the state here. Population, 24,903, so a decent amount of people here.

Median household income, it's a little low here, 32,265. Jesus. Which is well under the national average. 30% of people here make under $20,000 a year. That is a lot. An hour make under 20,000 a year. That is a lot. An hour from Chicago. That is a lot.

That's bad. Yeah. This is one of these towns that everybody seems to say used to be like a manufacturing place, used to be that kind of place. And it's kind of fallen with much of the rust belt in that area. And it's too far from Chicago to commute. I mean, I guess you could, but in traffic it's going to be more than an hour even. It's going to be brutal. It's not easy. Median home cost here, $117,300

though. And they're not even trying to make it a commutable place. The nickname here, it has a nickname, this town, the City of Restaurants. Oh. The county website boasts over 160 restaurants. Have been to chicago i bet they

bet they have more yeah there's probably more than there should be like per capita but it's not a whole lot and i looked at what they are they have olive garden red lobster there's the same shit it's just strip mall restaurants tons of strip mall restaurants here history of this town um they think it was named it was derived the name from the miami illinois word the miami indians there uh the uh meaning uh their word was tia kiki which meant open country exposed land land in the open or land exposed to view in other words very flat land you can see all the way the fuck across is what that is. Not a hill in sight it should be called. There used to be a marsh here as well.

They think that's what it was. The town itself was founded in 1854 officially. Quickly, reviews of this town, oh boy, they run the gamut. A lot of people don't like it here, put it that way. Here is five stars. I love Kankakee

it is my home and a very special place to me i was born and raised here and i want to help it grow in any way they love it desperate to make it better i love i will make it better but five stars yeah here's three stars okay quote it's a town that seems to have lost a lot of its big employer market, but is still holding on and trying its best to recover through focus on arts and community. Close enough to the city to commute, but far enough to know your neighbors. Kankakee has drawn the Chicago Bears home summer training camp for over 15 years. Oh. So that's what's going on here. Now, here's two that are one star.

Very not good um here's one i left uh k3 i guess that's because there's three k's in it i guess they call it that um better than kkk i suppose yeah uh 30 years ago and took a bus to miami it was the best thing i ever did i've been working and raising my family in a beautiful house with my beautiful wife. So leave here and more attractive people will want to fuck you, is what he's saying. Get on a bus. Get on a bus. Letting the days go by, enjoying the sun. Get out of there no matter what!

Four exclamation points. But he hasn't been there in 30 years, so what the hell does he know? 30 years ago it was real bad. Couldn't have got better, probably. Here's one star. Okay. One star. So much crime and lots of gang-related shootings every day now.

Really? Every day. 24,000 people. Every day. Let's see how that's possible. All that is left to do in town is buy drugs. That's an activity. No good, and the good is all capitalized,

no good jobs, really. Everybody is in a gang nowadays or sells drugs. Everybody. All the people, all the people there. Why is that such a, why does everybody go to that? I don't know, because it's easy to say. What's the last time you saw, yeah, I guess. Everybody's in a gang or selling drugs.

That's the problem. Really? Never heard of that probably not um if you don't have a gun you better get one that's what it says here so yeah woke up this morning yeah these motherfuckers are yeah they're they're sitting in their house paranoid and probably don't live a very fun life so um just from the no good everybody's in a gang or sells drugs just the everybody the sweeping not more gang activity than i'd like to see or you know that kind of sucks it's been some of the every single person i know is in a fucking gang trying to sell me meth i hate it so rhubarb festival are things to do here okay yeah the old rhubarb festival it's the 33rd

edition of the rhubarb festival on It's the 33rd edition of the rhubarb festival. We run a whole festival surrounding that awful vegetable. Join us as we celebrate the pie plant. Yeah. Well, when your rhubarb requires something else to make it edible, i.e. strawberry, it's a bad plant. Stop it. Yeah. It needs a better tasting fruit in there is the problem. Yeah.

That's the deal. It needs a good tasting fruit to mix in with this shit uh live entertainment great food vendors old car display and more okay now there's that and then there is the merchant street music fest okay now we're talking you're close to chicago You can get it booming. Let's see what's booming here. Two-day music festival and arts festival here. Blah, blah, blah. It features celebration featuring local, regional, and national music talent on three stages. Oh, wow. It says Kankakee is located 60 miles south of Chicago and is a multicultural blend. Its convenience to Chicago and Champaign makes it an ideal location.

Okay. 2020, I don't have the 2023 lineup, but the 2022 lineup featured the headliners, the Sugar Hill Gang. Oh, really? Yeah. Remember that song they had from 1978? Right. Can you do the hip it to the hop a one hip hop and you know do

that one more time one more again okay again can you start doing like wu-tang or something because this is boring now can you this is a this is a far cry from lollapalooza already fuck a mother folk nope uh that's the second band maggie speaks I hope she does because she's sitting fucking on a stage with a microphone. She better fucking say something. Get something out, Mags. It's Sugar Hill Gang and then it gets worse? They're the headliners, Jimmy. That's what I mean.

They're the top one. 2021 headliner, Tony, Tony, Tony. Tony, Tony, Tony has certainly done it again. How are you 60 miles from chicago and 30 30 years behind them fuck 40 and then 30 um the michigan rattlers it's a bad football team yeah uh the uh fuzzy jeffries and the king of and the kings of memphis i can do this all day tedious and brief that That's hilarious. We're boring, but we'll keep it short is what that says.

Don't worry. We're almost done. Dallas ugly. Well, that's just honest. Good for you, folks. That's nice. What else is here? Jesse Cotton Stone Band.

Is it a stone band or are you Jesse Cotton Stone? I'm not sure. The locals, the Southside Social Club, the silhouettes fruitland jackson it's not getting any better michael rockert like rockert yeah john prime time not prime time prime time but dion sent him a cease and desist probably here it was it was neon john neon john prime time oh man uh year before they had dorothy roberson as a t as tina tina turner in a tribute to tina turner and the unified voices Unified Voices of Kankiki, which must have been very stirring. Jesus Christ. Very stirring. This is so bad. 1.21 gigawatts is one of them.

Back to the Future reference. Yeah, not bad. That's enough, I think, for those bands. I think so, man. I mean, I'd do this all day. I could listen to everyone. There's also, hold on. There's also DJ Jason will be there be there so there you go that's

the last one i gotta say dj jason holy shit he's so creative what does he do bar mitzvahs and shit like dj jason hey kids dj jason is here and he's like hey hey, guys. That said. He better at least have a Jason mask or some shit. That said, now that you're all fucking out of breath from the Sugarhill Gang's performance, we have for you. Let's talk about a murder here. Okay. Let's do it. Let's go back to 1987. Okay.

Okay. Talk about September 2nd, 1987. All right. Yeah. Talk about a guy here named Stephen B. Small. James B. Tall. Stephen B. Small. Jimmy B. Small. Jimmy B. Bearded. He was born in Chicago. He's 40 years old in 1987. Born in Chicago. His father had died. He's still got a mom. Now, this morning, it's 1230 a.m. on September 2nd. Okay, so middle of the night. The phone rings.

Weird, okay. So Ramsey, who is his son, 15-year-old son, he answers the phone here, and a deep voice is on the phone. And this deep voice is saying that they're with the Kankakee Police Department. So this is the police department, and he said there's been a break-in at the Bradley House, which is Stephen is working on a Frank Lloyd Wright-designed house that's in town known as the Bradley House.

And he is restoring it and going to turn it into a museum type of place. So the cops are calling me to tell me there's a – why don't y'all go? Well, they call the owner still when there's a break. And the owner will come down to secure the locks and all that kind of shit because if they've broken locks or whatever. Okay. So the cops are theirs. Yeah. They would also need to catalog if something was stolen. You know, they need the owner there.

So they say Stephen's small. They ask to speak to him. The kid goes, wakes his dad up. Stephen wakes up. He says, oh, shit, okay. Talks to him. The kid went back and laid down. He said shortly after he saw his father walk past his room and then he heard the garage door open and close. As he left.

As he left. So this makes sense. Now, Small, got to give you some history of Small because it's kind of important in the small town dynamic and politics of the thing here. Small is the great grandson of Governor Len Small, who was a two-term Illinois governor from 1921 to 1929. So that's a lot. His aunt, Jean Small, is the editor and publisher at the time of the Kankakee Daily Journal, the newspaper. His father and his late uncle developed a newspaper and broadcasting conglomerate with a shitload of holdings. Like, this family is fucking loaded.

They have all these media interests um they uh they split the those partners split in 1969 and uh the broadcasting business called mid-america media branched out into cable television and uh small's mother was the chairman and chief executive officer of MidAmerican, and they sold the firm in three separate transactions in 86. So that's probably to a bigger – all these regional cable companies were swallowed up by the big ones. Sure. So they probably made a shitload of money, and they did because the purchase prices totaled $64.3 million. Oh, boy. Yeah, according to this. so that is hot shit so he's got a lot of money and his family's got money they come from money they have a lot of business interests

he does very well frank lloyd right for christ's sake that's what i mean he's restoring a frank lloyd right house people around town said it was pretty obvious that steven was pretty wealthy he would he had two mercedes that were brand new and had a ferrari oh and he 87 and 87 yeah like like a magnum pi ferrari or like a don johnson ferrari so he also owns a very nice boat that he rides around the kankakee river with his sons on so okay people yeah people see him he's the director of the kankakee River with his sons on. Okay. He's got a riverboat. Yeah, people see him. He's the director of the Kankakee Historical Society and, like I said, been restoring the Frank Lloyd Wright home. They said that, quote, he was really excited about renovating this old Frank Lloyd Wright house. He also bought a big house across the street from it and remodeled that.

He's got the Frank Lloyd and the fucking neighbor of it. Yeah, let's make it all nice. He's going to buy the whole neighborhood. So he bought it after a restaurant called Yesteryear had went out of business there. So he's going to turn it into a museum for paintings and antiques. So long time interest in antiques

for Stephen Small. His home was completely furnished with antiques. The home he lives in with his wife is a restored three-story Victorian that's more than 75 years old. He and his wife are high school sweethearts who went to school together and went to the prom. They were married after college. Like, it's this typical. What a beautiful life.

Yeah, this amazing life that we'd never figured out for ourselves. We could never do that. He married Nancy Peterson and so his wife is Nancy and they have three sons Ramsey and then they have 10 year old twins at the time in 1987.

He was a graduate of Lake Forest Academy in Illinois and Mark Hopkins College in Vermont. Not Johns Hopkins Mark Hopkins. He attended Drake Not Johns Hopkins. Mark Hopkins. He attended Drake University and also for graduate school and the Brooks Institute of Santa Barbara as well. The man has so much college education. He's got a lot, man.

Stephen himself joined Kankakee Cable, one of the Mid-America properties, in 1966. In 72, he was promoted to program director so he was picking what went on tv in that area that's awesome cool that's awesome i wanted that job when i was a kid and then 73 he was became manager and then he became vice president of mid-america and its subsidiaries and uh he held that post until they sold it the year before so he's doing very well um very well yeah it, it was 23, Jesus, $23.3 million is the one transaction, 39.9. Holy fuck, man. So they live, the home they live in, him and his wife,

won the National Honors in the 1975 Burlington House Awards for Interiors. The inside of his house has an award. Yeah, they live in that kind of, because it's all in antiques. Everything he does. It's a better homes and garden house. That's awesome. This is fucking insane. So they lived there on September, like we said, 2nd, 87, 1230.

He gets this call, and he's running out to check on his Frank Lloyd Wright house. All right? So he leaves. Everybody else goes back to sleep. They figure he'll be back soon. 3.30 a.m., The phone rings again. Yeah. And Ramsey, the son, picks it up again. And the and in a couple of moments, his mom and Nancy gets on the line as well. Now, Ramsey will say that the voice he heard this time was different from the twelve thirty callers voice.

he heard this time was different from the 1230 caller's voice. Different person. So Nancy Small gets a call, and it's an unidentified male who tells her that Stephen, your husband, has been kidnapped. Oh. We've kidnapped him. Then she heard Stephen's voice telling her that he'd been handcuffed and put inside a box. Oh, boy.

Okay. Buried under what he believes is a few feet of sandy ground. He said, quote, this is what he said, quote, I'm inside some, I guess, a box. It's under a couple of feet of sand or something, like underground, and I want you to get one million dollars. Okay. He said, I've got some handcuffs on and I'm inside this box. After the word box by the way, you hear a voice

over him, behind him say grave. Instead of box. So he said, I want you to get one million dollars. There's 48 hours of air for me. So apparently her husband's in a box with a 48-hour air supply, and she's got to get $1 million at 3.30 in the morning to make him not be killed, I suppose.

This is a James Bond plot. This is fucking insane. So he told his wife to contact the family attorney and investment manager and obtain one million dollars for ransom uh get whatever they want so she contacted family members and also the banks by the way if you try to get a million dollars in cash that gets reported that gets reported to agencies like if you spend more than ten thousand dollars in cash on something that's reported to a federal agency. Sure is.

So that's a thing that happens. This does too. So between that, family members with power, this word gets to police and FBI agents are also notified. So nothing – they have to wait. They just wait. They sit and they wait. Time goes by. 5.03 p.m. wait. They sit and they wait. Time goes by. 5.03 p.m. finally.

Oh, my God. That's late. 14 hours later. Yeah. She receives another call, Nancy does, from an unidentified male. She heard now her husband giving her directions for the delivery of the ransom money. Okay. giving her directions for the delivery of the ransom money.

According to Stephen's voice, she would receive a map in the mail with which to find him if everything checks out. That's what he said. So the money was raised. They got a quick million dollars, which is pretty amazing, and they were prepared to pay the ransom. But the quality of it was clearly a tape recording that was played. And the quality was so poor that she had already got the money by the time the tape came on. So she had it. She was wondering. She just wanted instructions for delivery.

Tell me where to go. Yeah. She couldn't understand all the instructions because the tape was garbled. Yeah. So she said, I could hear another voice in the background swearing then i realized out the fucking technology yeah he said then i realized it was steve's voice under it and he was trying to give me directions and you know she couldn't understand him so that's pretty fucking interesting um uh he was trying to give me instructions so a transcript because the fbi has tapped her phones and all that by now, a transcript from one said the kidnapper, you can hear the kidnapper telling Stephen Small over the phone here, if she pays the money, you'll be set free.

But if she don't, you're dead. And I ain't coming back to dig you back up. You got two days of air. That's it. And it's going to get real stuffy in here. Oh, my God. So, yeah, this is fucking wild. And we're relying on the fucking postal service to get the instructions?

Yeah. Something in the mail? I got 48 hours, man. It could be three weeks. Yeah. Remember we tried to send something 80 miles. It takes a month. So they were, the FBI traced the call.

You know this guy's rich and important because the FBI is there with trace shit set up within 12 hours of him disappearing. They didn't say, ah, maybe he's full of shit. If this was me or you, they'd be like, he might be full of shit. Wait a couple of days and see if he comes back. That's who owns Frank Lloyd Wright house. Yes. People who the FBI spring into action for. So for anybody, law enforcement of any kind so they trace this

call to a telephone booth okay at a service station in aroma park in kankakee okay now 5 40 p.m jean alice small the aunt who owns the newspaper there yeah she uh called the small home to tell us to say i gotta i just gotta off the phone with somebody i just gotta call and um it's pretty crazy here um she said an unidentified male called me and said that he knew the small the small phone was tapped and the caller told gene small that he makes his living from wealthy people who live in small towns, kidnaps them and shit. The caller told Gene Small that Stephen was buried in the ground, and if this guy calling, if I see any cops, there's going to be a shootout or a bloodbath,

and he would leave town, and Mrs. Small would never know where her husband was buried, and he'd die after two days of nowhere. would never know where her husband was buried and he'd die after two days of no air so uh the caller then also called back to threaten to kill gene and her husband as well in the event that she fucks up don't fuck this up or i'll kill you and your husband you're in a grave too this is crazy so she calls and said this just happened to me turns out the kidnapper was frustrated that the other one that nancy couldn't understand the direction, so they called her. We're like, listen, your phone's not tapped. Let me complain for a while.

The car they're looking for is a maroon 1987 Mercedes-Benz, and it is recovered by police at 7 p.m. in the area of Aroma Park, a small town south of Kankakee. All right. So they said the family now he's missing. His car has been found. They're freaking out. They release a statement. We're just desperate for him to get back alive. He's a wonderful person. He's a fine man.

This is absolutely tragic, whatever's going on. This shouldn't happen to anyone, including Stephen. Well, we lumped him in with anyone. That's fine. And then also an attorney who was an acquaintance of steven said he's stunned and quote this isn't the sort of thing that happens here okay not a lot of apparently like the reviews up top there that's all that's a lot of shows that we've done where this never happened which is kind of this is exactly why we do the show.

Right. Because that's what's amazing is everybody's comfortable and happy. Oh, no, they're not. Watch out. Someone's going to kill you. So another friend described him as unassuming, not the kind of guy to bother people, mild-mannered. That's the way – the best way to describe him. So they – like we said, the teletype messages were going to law enforcement about finding that money.

So everybody, you know, was involved. A neighbor learned that the car was missing in the morning. And the neighbor is a county sheriff's deputy who lives around the corner from the Smalls house and reported. She reported to her supervisor that she heard a car pull up near the front of her home at about 3 o'clock that morning. When she looked out the window, she saw the car had been stopped on the road. She saw it pull away, and a white customized van with large windows in the driver's side also pulled away from where it had been parked earlier. So this is very plot. Yeah. The driver of the van pulled out behind the car before this lady, the deputy,

could get a license plate number, but she noted the van had no front bumper. So there's that. Okay. Now, 11.28 p.m. that night, the last call has been the 503 call and then the call to the aunt. So 11.28,ancy receives a call from

another it's a ransom call again the call uh this call is also traced to a telephone booth in aroma park although not the one that the 503 call originated from so they went to a different different pay phone this is the wild part fbi agent mike Mike Evans and his partner arrived at the telephone booth shortly after the 1128 telephone call was placed. They saw a white male at the telephone. He also saw an automobile in the area of the booth and wrote the license plate number down. Good. They saw a white female with shoulder-length blonde hair in the driver's seat of the automobile. After the call was made, they saw the automobile make a U-turn and drive away.

They attempted to follow the car but lost it almost immediately. Good work, FBI. Good job on that one. 11.46 p.m., a fourth ransom call is made to the small home. In the same area? Well, we'll get to that. The call originated from a public telephone booth in kankakee which was okay there's three phone booths three in the entire

area they have two of them under surveillance which one do you think this phone call came from the other one the other one yes absolutely so the mail caller this time tells Mrs. Small, quote, you fucked up. You called the police. You fucked up. You fucked up. You keep saying you fucked up. And she keeps saying, well, I'd love to give you ransom money. Where can I leave it? And he keeps refusing it and just saying, you fucked up. You called police jesus christ so the guys who were doing the payphone shit at 11 30 they received a radio message from the dispatch that advised them a call is currently being made to the small residents from the payphone um wasn't one of the ones under surveillance so they went to the third phone there and uh found them no they do they they observe a dark colored car with illinois license plate scg or szg 507 parked approximately 15 feet from the telephone white female with blonde hair in the passenger in the driver's seat so there you go at 11 50 p.m an illinois state police officer saw the same automobile spotted by agent ev Evans with its trunk partially open,

driving away from Kankakee toward Aroma Park. 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 Aaron and Justin sit down to discuss a new case, covering every angle in 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. 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. Okay, FBI Special Agent Elizabeth LaManna testifies then at 1230 a.m., so another hour, here on September 3rd now. She and her partner were exiting the parking lot of a convenient food mart in Aroma Park when she observed a blue Buick drive past.

The passenger was a white female in her early 20s with blonde hair. The woman turned and looked at Agent LaManna and had a, quote, look of fright or panic on her face. Like, oh shit, cops. When the car passed, the woman turned completely around and stared at them out of the back window. And looked back. Very subtle.

Not a little move your eyes and look out the side view let's just turn around like an eight-year-old waving goodbye to her best friend because they're moving out of town what are you 17 and have a nickel bag in the fucking glove box fucking jesus that is terrible um the police department ran a check on the license plate number, and they find it is registered to a 26-year-old woman named Nancy Risch, R-I-S-H. And her boyfriend is a guy named Daniel Edwards, who's 31. The reveal that the automobile's registered to them, their address was 920 South Greenwood, Kankakee.

But you think, you figure, well, if someone was willing to kidnap an important person and possibly kill them, they probably wouldn't mind stealing a car either. So you don't know if that's her or not. Good point. Let's go talk to her. Now, a guy named Terry Dutor is a resident of Aroma Park. He's known Danny Edwards for a shitload of years. He said that while driving home around 5 p.m. on September 2nd, he observed Edwards at a payphone near the Phillips 66 station. There was a vehicle parked near the telephone with a white female with blonde hair sitting in it. The vehicle was parked six to eight feet away from the phone

booth, and Edwards had his back to the vehicle as he spoke. So this lines up with the times that phone calls were coming in. This information was given to police and FBI. The police officers, familiar with the identity of the car owner and others, they figure out that the woman who owns this car, Rish, fits the description of the blonde-haired woman in the car. And they find out that she lives with her boyfriend, Edwards. And here we go. So police officers begin a surveillance of the residents that they live in here in the

evening of September 2nd at 1 20 a.m. On September 3rd, Rish's automobile with its trunk partially open arrives at the residence. Surveillance is established from the parking lot of an apartment complex located 50 to 75 yards away from the residence. Surveillance is established from the parking lot of an apartment complex located 50 to 75 yards away from the residence. Okay. At 1.19 a.m., Agent Russell observes a vehicle with Illinois license plate SZG 507 parked in the driveway of the residence. They identify that car as being the same car they saw in the driveway

that was by the booth. So this is the car. It's to the house that was by the booth. So this is the car. It's to the house. No one stole it. TikTok, motherfuckers. 48 hours is almost up. That's what I'm saying. Jesus, God.

They're doing surveillance. It's like, can we not surveil it? Can we actually try here? You guys, I'm sitting in a chair, and I can't breathe. Let's go. That's what I mean. What are we doing here? So they watch them for a while.

They just keep watching them. They testify later that Edwards removed a bicycle from the trunk of the car. That's why it was partially open. At about 1.40 a.m. the same morning here, Edwards exited the residence and drove off in a white van. The agents followed Edwards, who went to a grocery store and a gas station. He made a phone call at a public pay phone at the gas station before returning to the residence. Edwards and Risch were kept under surveillance

a little bit more. Once the next morning their garbage is picked up. And when the garbage is picked up police pull the garbage truck over later on and ask him to empty his hopper before you go into this guy's neighborhood so we can you know

come in with a clean truck only one yeah so yeah um so they were stopped at his house um edwards came out while the garbage man was doing his thing and gave the garbage man an extra bag of trash this too yep the garbage man threw everything um all the bags already on the curb into the back of the truck so So the cops look at the garbage. This includes a paper bag containing gloves, a receipt to Danny Edwards from Radio Shack for one audio tape cassette and some electrical straps, which are of the type also used by police as handcuffs, you know, like zip ties.

And also observed a caulking gun and a saw okay so they're gonna search now obviously they gotta search this house um they gotta come you know search warrant and all this type of shit it's executed september 4th at 10 35 a.m oh god it's already too late jesus christ they enter enter the house and immediately, you know, frisk and handcuff everybody. She'll later say Rish said she, you know, was doing shit with her kids. And then she woke up to a guy with camouflage on with a pistol in her face. So she Rish is getting they get her out. They get everybody in here.

They take Edwards out of the house, escort him to a police car. They place him in a holding cell. Do the same thing with Rish. After this, out of the house to escort him to a police car they place him in a holding cell do the same thing with rish um after this they search the house okay here's what they find okay flipping through their phone book that they have in the house they find smalls fucking listing circled oh god damn it his address is everything the whole listing is circled oh no um the directory obviously is a interesting thing here um they also found uh maps notes and shit like that they were looking for stuff like that that's why they opened the phone book to say they were looking through it to see if there's any notes or anything they also said that they knew the that there was a bunch of ransom calls so how would they know the number there you go they also knew that they knew that there was a bunch of ransom calls, so how would they know the number?

There you go. They also knew that the kidnapper played a tape recording for Mrs. Small over the phone. So the boots, they seized some boots in this deal here, a man's boot that was found in the utility room behind the washer and dryer. Okay. Line the washer and dryer. Okay. They also take a putty knife with traces of clear glue-like substance, a notebook, and car keys. This is what they do.

So they're looking for a gun, also cassette recordings they love, and they'd love to find some bolt cutters as well. And they do, actually. They find all of these things. Everything. Everything. Lucky. So he's going to be arrested, obviously, for kidnapping at this point. Now, September 4th, search crews using aircraft

are looking for everything. They're going all around where the car was found, and all that kind of shit. They have searchers with police dogs. I mean, this is a big search here. So finally, they get Edwards to take them to where the body is or to where the box is.

This is actually real. They find him buried three and a half feet in sandy dirt in a wooden box. Oh, my God. They literally, they really buried him. He's found in there on his back in a red T-shirt and blue jeans. His shoes were off. No visible injuries on him. Small.

He is dead, though. That's a visible injury. A light jacket was rolled up behind his head like a little pillow and he had been handcuffed but the handcuffs weren't chained together. That's why they were looking for bolt cutters. So they said he had a little room sideways to move. I

would say it was less than three feet high so he couldn't have sat up. So in addition to Small's body in this box they found a light connected to one of two car batteries in there. So we could have a light, a one gallon jug of water, candy bars, gum, a flashlight and PVC piping, which came out of the end of one of the end of one of the ends of the box attached to each of Small's wrists was the handcuffs. At the end of one of the ends of the box, attached to each of Small's wrists was the handcuffs. There's also superficial abrasions on his legs.

And the cause of death is asphyxia due to suffocation. Oh, my God. They rigged up a 20-foot section of one-and-a-half-inch PVC pipe for a ventilation system. But they did not drill a hole in the box so that the pipe could enter the inside of the box. What? That's the part they messed up. Instead, they cut slits inside of the box and had run the pipe to the slits.

Oh, dear God. So he's got some slits and it's like a... Get his mouth to the slits and then suck in if he wanted to breathe? A medical examiner said apparently the air supply was just not sufficient. It wasn't like sealed off in there. He said before we can even do an autopsy, it looks like he probably suffocated because of the situation he was in. They said that they don't believe he lived more than an hour after he was put in the box.

They said there's no sign of a struggle. He didn't freak out in there or anything. they said he probably lost consciousness due to the lack of air yeah right thought he was my fucking mind scratching together oh my god he just relaxed it's crazy so they said uh yeah it was a homemade wooden box by the way we'll talk about that um holy shit they said he was definitely buried alive. It was three feet wide, three feet high, six feet long, and contained all the shit we just told you about, which is insane. That's so fucked up. That's so fucked up.

They buried this guy and just left him to die in a box. And gave him a pipe that didn't go through the box to breathe. Yeah, to breathe. And told him you got 48 hours of air like there was like it's a scientific experiment they said yeah 48 hours of air should yeah that's the conclusion they came to there you jerks pretty much so they said um edwards's fingerprints were found on both the pvc piping and duct tape recovered from the burial box sand scraped from a pair of boots found behind the washer and dryer at their house, as well as sand recovered from the interior of their van,

matched the sand sample taken from the burial site. White caulking material found on gloves recovered from Edwards and Rish's trash had the same chemical composition as the sample of white caulking material taken from the burial box. Not good. composition as the sample of white caulking material taken from the burial box not good um also you know it's not good because the uh at the time george ryan the uh lieutenant governor of the state you're in at the time said that mr small's victor mr small was a kind gentle guy a good he lived down the street from him and knew him well. Lieutenant Governor knows the man. You are fucked. Absolutely.

You picked the wrong guy. A gentle guy, a good neighbor, and we're going to miss him in the Ryan household. He was close to all of my kids, and they had a good relationship with Steve. Everybody here is saddened by his death. He guessed that drugs were at the root of all of this. In a lot of drug cases, they get desperate for money, he said. This is more elaborate. Speculate on TV.

Yeah. So they get Nancy in here, and between the days of September 4th and September 8th, she will give eight different statements to the police. Really? Yep.

They held her at the station. She requested, by the way, a specific attorney, a J. Scott Swaim, who had previously represented her because, you know, she's been in trouble before. And so she did that. What she didn't know, though, was that Swaim was friends with Small. So for the next four days, they questioned Rish with her attorney here who wants her to get caught pretty much. Yeah, you don't smell everything. Eight statements were eliciting her shit here.

Here we go. September 4th, 87, 11 a.m. She denies knowing anything about any ransom call made from Aroma Park during the night of September 7th or September 2nd. She indicates that at about 11 p.m. on September 2nd, she and Edwards went to Edwards friend Jack's house in her car to get her bicycle repaired on the way there. They stopped at a phone booth located near a gas station where Edwards got out and called Jack to see if he was home. Okay.

Now at this point, they advise her for Miranda rights, which they should have done to begin with because they fucking F2 is being surveilled because her car was. Come on. Jesus Christ. And she's chattering. Let's get all of this on the record.

Yeah. So she indicated that after Edwards called Jack, they drove past Jack's house because there were no lights on. They kept going. He stated she states then that Edwards told her Jack wasn't home because he was working on a second shift. Edwards told her Jack wasn't home because he was working on a second shift. So as to the events the day before, September 1st, 1987, she said that she had been home until 5. She took her son to football practice, picked him up at 7, and helped him with his homework until 10.30. She did not know if Edwards had gone anywhere that evening because she slept upstairs and he slept downstairs on the couch i could i couldn't have anything less to do with the guy really we barely know each other if i'm being

honest with you we're ships in the night on the couch sometimes yeah she indicated that she wanted to terminate her interview and consult with the attorney and that's when she brought the other attorney in so 2 30 p.m sept 4th, they resume questioning counsel present now. She this time indicates that on Sunday, the 30th of August, so a couple of days before that, at 6.30 p.m., she had a call from someone who asked for Danny. When she asked the identity, he stated, what's it to you and hung up. She said the same kind of call occurred again on september 1st she said at 10 30 p.m september 1st that edwards left the their house in his van she went out to look for him at 11 30 because she thought he was cheating on her i will find him and cut his tires i swear to god he is done for who is this man that's calling you in the middle of the night god damn it he's fucking someone ugly i heard the voice ugly she returned without finding him at about midnight uh she

indicated she left the residence again between 1 30 and 2 to look for him again god damn he must be a cheating motherfucker so hasn't she got a kid in the house yeah yeah he's sleeping though it's good uh edwards was at the residence when she returned. He was home. And he's like, where have you been in the middle of the night? You been out fucking somebody? And we have a real circular argument then. So during the afternoon of September 2nd, she took her dog to get nails clipped.

She repeated her account of taking the bike to Jack's house, adding that they passed Jack's house, drove to a gas station where he made the phone call. It took, according to her, about an hour and a half for them to travel from the gas station in Aroma Park to the one in Kankakee. She also said that on the morning of September 3rd, Edwards left the residence for breakfast. How do they have time? They're just so busy. So busy, Jesus. So the cops asked her to take them on the same route she and edwards had traveled on the second the route they took to the phone booth was the same

one she described and blah blah blah so she did all of that um but the route that she took from that pay phone to the one in mar at the marathon gas station was a completely different one than she described in her statement okay So that's not great. A ground search of the area around Aroma Park showed several items here. These items consisted of several feet of cassette tape, several small pieces of cassette tape, like someone broke it and spread it out. Ripped it up. One side of a Radio Shack brand cassette tape housing,

the other side of a cassette tape housing, and a bag containing pieces of a tape and one cassette tape. September 4th at 7 p.m., they come back to the station after their little ride here. The police asked her to give another statement. She added that when she went to look for Edwards a second time, that she looked in the aroma park area and didn't see him september 6th noon okay so she's now advised look we found the

guy's body yeah okay because it was just a kidnapping up to that point right so they ask her if she knows anything about a box and she said well um actually edwards had been building a large wooden box in the garage for a while now okay which you didn't know no hey what's that hey why are you building the coffin in the garage any particular reason and also why is it not there anymore yeah ladies guys you see your partner and they're in the garage building a large coffin shaped box, ask questions. And when it disappears, ask where it went. Where the fuck did that go? He,

she said that Edwards had given her two reasons for building the box. First, that he was going to give it to his brother. Yeah. Okay. The second was that it was going to be used to store firewood. Yeah. He,

he also will say he'll tell the police that in June or May of 87, Edwards sold the hill. He said he sold the block the box to a heavyset black man who had purchased their dryer. And he also wants a huge box. Can I also have a coffin? Yeah. Yeah. And, you know what? I want my I want dry clothes and somewhere to be somewhere for my eternal fucking remains to to be my eternal resting place and a dry fucking shirt so the uh she then indicated that after she and edwards picked up the dog from the groomers edwards uh directed her to the phillips 66 gas station in aroma park where he made a phone call at 5 p.m. September 7th, 87, 11 a.m. She states that after she and Edwards dropped the dog off at the groomer at 2 p.m.,

Edwards asked her if she wanted to see some horses. Then they drove to a place where some black people own a rodeo, quote unquote. Okay. Which I'm not believing that right off the bat. Ma'am, your story is clearly flawed. Story's full of holes. Yeah. So those are very different accounts of the same day.

Yeah. Why does she keep... It's almost like she's lying. It's super weird. Why does she keep inserting so many black people into her story too? Yeah. Everybody except her and her fucking... Yeah, trying to appear so progressive.

Yeah. You know, I just wanted to go to this black rodeo, you know, support. We like to support black-owned businesses, and we figure a rodeo really needs it. And then we were selling this dryer, and we refused to sell it to anybody but a black guy. You know what? We gave them a good price, too, because we're just those kind of people. And we threw in a coffin. And we said guy you know what we gave him a good price too because we're just those kind of people and we threw in a coffin and he said you know what you're gonna need somewhere to bury somebody sometime so they know that he she denies knowing anything about a tape recorder being used in any of the calls made by edwards so she said i saw him make these calls but he wasn't didn't

have a tape recorder up to the phone um she started to cry and dropped her head into her hands when she was told that her fingerprints were on a tape recorder that they had found oh which let's say they weren't on there right and they just said that to see how her reaction would be if she went crying ain't good if she went oh god that means that was pretty easy to crack you there also i got a feeling you don't know a single black person, Nancy. Nope. There's a lot of lies in here, Nance. Let's talk about this. Nance, we're going to sit down and just talk about your inability to tell the truth.

Then we'll get into this whole murder-kidnap thing. We're going to start with something more simple. She then indicated that she had, in fact, lied about the tape recorder and that Edward's son had left it in their duplex and she had moved it either upstairs or downstairs. That's why her fingerprints are on it. Not because she has anything to do with this, even though she was sobbing. I'd like to go home. Yeah.

She also testified that there's an old, or she'll testify later, there's an old car battery in the duplex and that Edwards had purchased another one from a junkyard on August 31st. So they complete the interrogation by telling her that her son had indicated that he had seen the box in the garage on August 30th and said, you said he sold it in June. So are you a liar or is your son a liar? Oney is a liar. And she was like, let me think about it. I'll talk to you tomorrow.

Or actually in a couple hours. So at 8.30 p.m., they talked to her again. She now admits that the box wasn't sold to a black man. Right. That's not true. I'm sorry. That's my bad. And that the last time she saw it was on August 31st.

So the two days before, she indicated that during the afternoon of September 1st, Edwards took her to a location where he wanted her to pick him up at 3 a.m. the next morning. So later on September 1st or early September 2nd, Edwards had her follow him to Greenwood Avenue. He got into a car and had her drive him south to Cobb Park. Cobb Park's located one block away from the small residence. She went home and picked him up from the above-mentioned location at 3 a.m. She drove him

back to his van parked on Greenwood Avenue where that detective saw it, or that officer saw it, and then returned home. She said Edwards was already there when she arrived she said she never got out of the car on september 2nd uh to look at horses rather just dropped edwards off and picked him up about an hour later there was no horses i'm just kidding there were no horses and no black people no black people or horses here total myths the myth of

black people and horses should be the name of this fucking episode. So she said she saw the tape recorder now in the car the night of September 2nd, 87. Now she's seen it. And that Edwards took it with him when he went to make his 1130 p.m. phone call. She said she told police that the tape recorder was discarded. But when the area was searched, it wasn't recovered. And he was telling her like, yeah, yeah, don't worry about it. Tape recorder's gone. So she thought it was gone.

11.30 p.m., between the 11.30 p.m. phone call and 11.50 p.m. phone call, they stopped along Pottinger Road where Edwards hid a duffel bag and some evergreens. She said that instead of going to breakfast on September 3rd, Edwards went out and picked up the duffel bag. So she lied before. So every new statement is a complete repudiation of her last statement. She also said that on August 30th, she and Edwards got into an argument when she returned late to their residence. Edwards ran upstairs, got a gun, pointed it at his head, and indicated he was going to kill her. Well, that's interesting. Point it to your own head and said i'll kill you okay um but she said he said i'm going to kill you your son and me all of us we're all going to die tonight you first though

september 8th at 9 30 a.m she adds to her story that in the early morning hours of September 2nd, after she followed Edwards to Greenwood Avenue and picked him up, she drove him to the Phillips 66 station in Kankakee where he made the phone call at about 1230. So she's filling in the timeline. She wants to be believed is what it is. So she also admitted that there was a pair of bolt cutters at her duplex and she knew about it and blah, blah, blah. She also admitted that there was a pair of bolt cutters at her duplex and she knew about it and blah, blah, blah. So September 8th in the evening, she indicated that there wasn't a pair of bolt cutters at her duplex. What? Yes.

And she stated that Edwards pointed the gun at her head, not his head during the argument. Okay. So in a few hours, it changed. Multiple things changed. So many times a steel pair a steel tool wasn't someplace it actually was and also rather than point the gun at him he pointed it at her so um she is obviously going to trial here yeah she's in a lot of trouble even though she's trying to make herself far too busy to be doing kidnappings and and yeah oh such. Oh, there is... My God, this woman doesn't sit still. There's more where she details exactly what she did

in her first statements. I mean, it's fucking asinine. Every little thing, I was here, then I was there. I went and picked up some lozenges for my sister. I took my son here. I took the dog there. I visited with this one. I went over here.

She's an errand- running son of a bitch errand running motherfucker so um she does successfully separate they get her trial severed from edwards trial and they get her a change of venue as well okay so karen thacker who's a former neighbor of stephen testified that uh approximately eight to ten times during the summer of 87, she saw a light-colored van with a tire on the back, which looked like Edward's van, drive through the alley, which separates her home from the small residence. This is not... That car kept going through the alley?

Through the alley. They were trying to figure something out. One morning in August, Mrs. Thacker saw a van stopped in the middle of the alley facing the front of the van from a distance of about five feet. Mrs. Thacker saw a white, blonde-haired woman sitting in the passenger seat and a white man in the driver's seat. Then the attention was focused on the woman, she said, who first looked at her, then the driver, then finally back to her again. at her then the driver then finally back to her again she's got some this is what they say like on the wire when you're watching uh you know and they're they're driving through and one of the

corner guys quote i fucks him for one second too long that's what this says yeah it's you know look look and look away and that's normal look look away look back look away look back again is i fucking the hell out of both of them absolutely yeah so um she said this thacker said that um um that the woman looks startled she all thacker also said that the van on she saw the van on earlier occasions and she noticed then as well it was occupied by a man and a blonde woman so she's not that busy to go for fucking surveillance rides she also testified thacker that the day after she discovered that Stephen Small had been kidnapped and murdered, she informed a law enforcement official of what she had seen and all that kind of thing. So another woman, Carolyn Mortal, a friend of the Small family and a resident of the same block as the Smalls, said that from her den window, she's able to see the small residence. At approximately 11 a.m. September 2nd, 87, she was looking out her den window when she

saw a white van with large vertical windows on the driver's side proceeding toward her home. The van stopped at the intersection in front of her home, and she saw that it was occupied by just one person, a woman in her late 20s or early 30s with blonde hair and makeup on. The woman seemed to be looking around the area. As Mortel continued to watch, the van turned left and proceeded toward the small home. Later that afternoon, between 1.30 and 3.30 p.m., they saw the same van once or twice again in the same area proceeding toward the small home.

So, yes, it's a lot. And this woman identified both Edwards and Rish here. She was asked to view a series of photographs of women who had their faces covered by tape because she said she didn't get a real good look at the face. The purpose was to determine whether she could select the hairstyle of the woman driving the van. So she did pick the right one. She picked the right hair.

She knows her hair. So, wow. Yeah, Rish is found guilty here of first-degree murder and aggravated kidnapping. Oh, shit. She is sentenced to, you, ma'am, may fuck off a shit natural life for the murder and 30 years for aggravated kidnapping oh my not great no for her um edwards here the prosecution argues that candy bars lights

and water along with the plastic pipe that they claimed was for air were used to lure him into the box like look it's safe, it's just 48 hours. It's going to be great in there. We're taking care. This is totally a ransom thing. We don't want to lose you. We just want the money. We don't want you dead.

Yep. They said, quote, Danny Edwards needed Stephen Small to make those tape recordings, because that's what he had to do if he didn't volunteer. He said so, and get in that box without a fight. So several witnesses saw Edwards constructing a wooden box in his garage during the summer. He gave various explanations for what he was doing with the box, saying that it would be used for a lemonade stand. I'm going to sell lemonade by the side of the road. That's what it's used for.

Like Wednesday. Yeah. Scary. Or for his brother for transporting things or at his brother's pool in Florida because you need a big box next to your pool. It's very important. Very important to have a huge box next to the pool. So while they were visiting a boat store that summer, Edward saw Stephen Small leaving the store in a sports car and he was heard to say by other people boy it sure would be nice to be able to afford stuff like that because he was pulling away from the boat store in his ferrari

small one so all i need is a million dollars a million dollars um these two remind me by the way they just remind me of fucking of raising arizona that's all I keep thinking of. When I picture these two people, I keep thinking of them. Right? Ha! Don't you picture that? Yeah. What was her name? Ed.

H-I and Ed. H-I and Ed. So they said a person who owed Edwards money had a pair of handcuffs stolen from him, and that was the same pair later discovered on Stephen Small. Another person who owed Edwards money had had a gun stolen. And when it was found by investigators in the countryside near Aroma Park, it was that guy's gun.

Edwards purchased a battery that was found in the wooden box. Bolt cutters belonging to a company owned by Edwards brother were found at a point between the where the box was uncovered and where the car was found. He just steals everything. Just steal shit and uses it. Closing arguments here for this. They say that the defense tries to say they were going to let this person out and this was his best intentions just for a fucking ransom. He said, quote, I never saw anybody come out of a grave, though.

Great point. You didn't have to bury him yeah just put him in a box and lock him in there he said take a good long look as they point they had the plywood crate in court look at it he said danny edwards greed for the big score drove those nails dug that grave and buried stephen small alive all All Danny Boy had to do was cash in on that jackpot that was Stephen Small in a box. He said, just put him in a box. He said he took the American dream

and turned it into an Edgar Allan Poe nightmare. Jesus. Which it is. He said Edwards was a man who made greed his god. Shit, that's rough. Defense attorney said, yeah the faulty air system caused the death he said but he pointed out that yeah he was buried with candy bars lights water nobody harmed him they didn't beat the shit out of him the defense attorney said it's an accident but it's not an intentional murder he gave him him a Butterfinger. Come on. Look at that. He's got Snickers in there.

It satisfies. He was totally fine. I gave him gum afterwards, you know, keep his ears from popping. I'm a good guy. How hard must this be for that attorney? Poor bastard. I mean, you know. So then the redo here from the prosecution recloses, quote,

you don't make a box by accident. Steven small didn't wander by and fall in. Exactly. That's pretty fair. A verdict comes back in 63 minutes, which is just enough time to fill those forms out. That is tough. Yes,

because this is a death penalty case. So a couple more forms and they find him guilty of murder and abduction. And he is going to be found. Let's see here. You, sir, may fuck off death penalty. Holy. Yeah. You got the old death penalty.

Oh, boy. Later on, it will be commuted in 2003 to life without parole when governor Ryan commutes all the sentences to life without parole. So even the guy's friend, that's interesting. Now, 2015, somehow Rish has convinced him.

I don't know what's going on or whatever's going on here to, he gives a deposition Edwards detailing his involvement in the crime. And he now says he threatened rish to force her to drive him and pick him up saying he'd shoot her and her young son if he didn't comply if she didn't comply free trying to get her free meanwhile she was seen doing so much surveillance on this i mean it's insane yeah so 2021 rish's lawyers have a new tactic here because there was a change in the law in 2015. And they said that the rich as lawyers said her conduct over more than three decades behind bars shows she's not a cruel person. She's used these many years to help others urge women to go to school, go to church, to get training, to avail themselves of the programming that's available.

They said despite being convicted of a heinous crime, she did not knowingly commit. She has not given up. She has not wasted these years. She's tried to use them for good. Yes. They said that the new law allows people convicted of felonies to challenge their sentences if they can prove their crimes were linked to being domestic abuse victims. Okay. So they're like, eh?

So the attorney general, the guy who co-sponsored the law, actually, said he opposes Rish's request because – I didn't know about her. Yeah. Her life term was based on the horrific nature of the crime in which she played an integral part. So, yeah, this has nothing to do with that is what he says. February 2022, she gets her life sentence cut to 70 years with the possibility of parole. Based on that law, they resentence her. Her lawyers asked to reduce her term based on that law.

She was she's 60 years old. They reduced her sentence to 70 years. Time served parole. She went home. She is out as of February 2022. At the resentencing hearing, she apologized to Small's family, saying the day he was kidnapped was, quote, the most horrendous day of my life. Yours? kidnapped was, quote, the most horrendous day of my life.

Yours? I mean, it's fine to say I didn't want to do it, but she said, I did not knowingly participate in the murder of Mr. Small. However, I do know I am responsible for my actions. And the Small family did not object to her being let out because they were told. Yeah. So there you go. That is Kankakee illinois and that is wow not fair she was seen for a month and change surveilling the house man like alone in the van

alone in the van sometimes with him surveilling the house she knew exactly what was going on why would he tell her the same bullshit he told the small family no no i'm building them a box it'll be fine everything's gonna be fine you know what i mean like it's tough and she was with him for all the phone calls where she said i wasn't with them all the agents saw her with him i don't like that so much so uh that's tough so either way if you like that story or don't like it let us know about it yeah head over to whatever app you're listening on give us five stars because it really really does help a lot it helps drive the show up the charts so thank you for doing that also follow us on social media we're at small town murder on instagram at small town pod on facebook at murder small on twitter make sure you do that make sure

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I'm getting Jimmy stoned. And we're going to tell you a great murder story just like a regular live show. But you're in your living room. So make sure to get that. Shut up and give me murder.com. Also, Patreon.com slash crime and sports is where you get all of your bonus materials. Holy hell. Everything there.

150 plus back episodes. Anybody $5 or above. You're going to get access to all that bonus stuff including every other week you're gonna get two new episodes this week no different for crime and sports which you get access to the murder of bruiser brody so the wrestler will make it funny it'll be good stuff even though it was terribly tragic and sad then for small town murder we're gonna talk about haunted hotels that's a lot of fun that's a fun subject i can't wait for that what's out there i've stayed in a couple of them i know one's going to be the peary in salt lake city because that's on all the lists and i've stayed

in the peary in the part that's haunted so it's fucking creepy awesome hotel but creepy i can't wait we'll talk all about it don't worry how can you hear it patreon.com slash crime and sports get in there right now and you'll get shout-out at the end of the regular show. If you want to get a hold of us for any reason whatsoever, very easy to do that. By the way, emails. If you want to send any cases, research at ShutUpAndGiveMeMurder.com. A lot of people have asked us that, so do that. Crimeandsports at gmail.com is how you get a hold of the show like that.

Also, how you can donate on PayPal is where you use that. Crime and sports at Gmail dot com is how you get a hold of the show like that. Also, how you can donate on PayPal is where I use that. Definitely do your Patreon and as well. Follow us on social media links to that for individual social media accounts are on the goddamn site right there. Shut up and give me murder dot com. This was a crazy ass episode. I'm glad we did this one. murder.com. This was a crazy ass episode. I'm glad we did this one. There was a movie that reminds me of this by the way, and I can't remember what it is, but in the movie, the guy like makes a phone call from a buried box in the beginning. It's from like the early two thousands,

the ox in some way, shape or form. I remember having an agent tell me when I was trying to pitch a screenplay that that's a good idea for a screenplay is that one. It's like yours. That one's already. Yeah, that's what good idea for a screenplay is that one. It's not yours. That one's already. Yeah, that's what he did. I said, well, that one's already written.

So can you do that again? And yeah, based on that. So anyway, thank you for doing that. Thank you for joining us. Thank you for following us, hanging with us, buying tickets, buying shirts, buying crap, reading books, doing it all. Thank you so much. And until next week, everybody, it's been our pleasure.

Bye. Bye. Hey, Prime members, you can listen to Small Town Murder early and ad-free on Amazon Music. Download the Amazon Music app today. 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. survey at wondery.com slash survey. I understand that anybody who's paid attention to the media would have to come to the conclusion that I killed my wife. Hi, my name is Zach Stewart-Pontier. I'm one of the filmmakers behind The Jinx, and I'm excited to bring you the official Jinx podcast. We'll be revisiting all six episodes of part one and watching along with part two as it airs on max starting April 21st.

Bye. Bye. The official jinx podcast. Listen on max or wherever you get your podcasts.