Snapped: Women Who Murder - BONUS: Gustafsons (Killer Siblings)

Episode Date: December 2, 2021

We are bringing you a special bonus episode featuring a case from Oxygen's hit series, “Killer Siblings.” Watch Killer Siblings on Fridays at 8/7c on Oxygen! It returns Friday, December 3rd.After their brother is convicted of murder, three siblings hatch a deadly plot to avenge him by targeting the star witness in his trial; the plan goes awry when the wrong person is on the receiving end of their vengeance.Season 1, Episode 1Originally aired: October 27, 2019Watch full episodes of Killer Siblings live or OnDemand for FREE on the Oxygen app: https://oxygentv.app.link/KillerSiblingsSnappedPodcastSee Privacy Policy at https://art19.com/privacy and California Privacy Notice at https://art19.com/privacy#do-not-sell-my-info.

Hi, I'm Lindsey Graham, the host of Wonder East Podcast American Scandal. Our newest series looks at the story of OxyContin, a popular painkiller that helps spur an epidemic of addiction and drug abuse, in which prompted a broad campaign to hold the pharmaceutical industry accountable. Listen to American Scandal on Amazon Music or wherever you get your podcasts. Hi Snap listeners. We're bringing you a special bonus episode today from Oxygen's hit series, Killer Siblings. Returning with all new episodes tomorrow, Friday, December 3rd at 8-7 Central.

You can also watch full episodes live or on demand on the free Oxygen app by clicking the link in our description. Enjoy! The explosion itself had almost completely destroyed the home. One of the neighbors said it felt like an earthquake. Who would want to mail a bomb to an 19-year-old kid named George Kerr? George started to hang out with Raymond Chilian, Doug Guffsison. They're interesting guns, brought them together. Just disaffected in wild, feral teenagers.

They can't be surprised at someone died as a result of that gunshot. I usually wouldn't ride out my friend. Doug's older sister Peggy was firmly convinced that Doug was innocent. The people with the best motive also had the best alibi. I could even think that he could talk his sister into doing this, and she did it. -♪ -♪ -♪ -♪ -♪ -♪

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-♪ -♪ -♪ Trigiac is a real community located approximately 15 miles out of Anchorage. A relatively safe area. No one was prepared for what happened that day. A neighbor hears the explosion, calls the Chuguyak volunteer fire department. They don't know what's happened.

Initially, they thought it was a natural gas explosion. I just heard a loud explosion at a rocked her house, and then a couple minutes later, my five-year-old had looked out the window and saw some smoke. The explosion itself had almost completely destroyed the home. There's debris everywhere. When first responders arrived, neighbors quickly pointed them to the home of 44-year-old David Kerr and his 34-year-old wife Michelle. They were both pillars of the community, and neighbors feared they were in that house when it blew up.

The emergency responders are calling out, is there anybody home? Is there anybody here? Unfortunately, David Kerr was killed by the explosion. Michelle Kerr, amazingly, never lost consciousness. So she hears them yelling. She manages to physically sit up out of all this rubble that she's covered with.

She has a piece of the door jam sticking out of her body cavity. She's got all this blown in installation stuck to her. She tells the emergency responders that was a package that had exploded. When they realized that this was a murder by a male bomb as a federal case. And that's when the postal inspectors got involved. I arrived on scene.

There was considerable damage exterior to the house. The front window had been blown out. One of the neighbors described the blast as it felt like an earthquake. The male victim, David Kerr, was blown back across the kitchen away from the counter where at open the device. He was pretty well mangled from the blast. The explosive fire had changed the shape of his face, so he looked like he'd been windswept or sandblasted.

I assigned one of my team members to go with the body to the corners for an autopsy and collect evidence from the body. We started for an autopsy and collect evidence from the body. We started setting up for major recovery of evidence on the scene. They bring Michelle to Alaska Regional Hospital here in Anchorage and immediately start working on her. She has between 2,000 and 3,000 individual projectiles,

pieces of metal, glass, ceramics, wood, driven into her body, and into her face at supersonic speed. They're working on her frantically trying to save her life. The Anchorage Police Department responds to the hospital and an officer put a little cassette recorder next to her head to ask Michelle questions, which everybody expected to be a dying declaration. This is the other simple, police officer's here. Just to keep what you said to her. Well, we got a...

back in... towards your house. I must say that last time. The female victim revealed that the parcel was addressed to her steps on George Kerr. Who would want to mail a bomb to an 18, 19-year-old kid named George Kerr? George Kerr was born March 2nd, 1972. He grew up in the rural town of Sugiyak,

small suburb of Anchorage, Alaska. In grew up in the rural town of Sugiyak, small suburb of Anchorage, Alaska. In Alaska at that time, you have this pipeline boom, suddenly all this new money starts coming into Anchorage. Sort of peed was out in the 90s, and you get this generation of what I call bad seeds. Just disaffected and wild. Just lost kids.

I've known George Kersen's elementary school. George lived right up the road for me. We were good friends growing up. We worked at JD's barbecue pit together. How I come to meet George, he worked for my big brother. We owned barbecue restaurants in the state. We would hire high school kids to help us run them during the summer times and stuff. George seemed to be, you know, just a regular kid there, you know.

He'd done well in school as far as I know. His dad was a real good guy, but somewhere along the line, there George got to thinking he wanted to be a tough guy. About that time, George started to hang out with Choukiak's resident bad boy, Raymond Chile. Raymond Chile, a social person. Most of his friends called him RD. I've known RD Chile since 8th grade,

we started wrestling together in the same wrestling team. Then he started driving us to junior high because he had a license before, you know, most kids can get licenses. Raymond Chile was well known in the community as being kind of a feral teenager. His parents got him his own apartment because getting to and from his house

was pretty iffy in the winter sometimes. Raymond Chile had quite the entourage at Shoukiaq High School, including Douglas Gustafson. Doug was very awkward. He had no self-esteem, I don't think, at all. It was called the lizard by a lot of people. So that's that in itself is, that says a lot, I think. He was our deas friend, and a lot of people

would be like, why'd you bring him? You know, why's he here? Their interesting guns brought them together. Doug was smart, but Doug also had some weird quirks. Like, his reading was the anarchist cookbook. I mean, who reads that? He was fascinated with firearms, fascinated with explosives,

would make statements like his goal was to become an assassin. He was really sort of an oddball and was viewed that way, even by these other kids that were part of this group of misgrants. Doug's parents were devouches of all his witnesses, but they weren't devout parents. Peggy Gustas and she's eight or nine years older than him.

Their parents both worked full time, and so Doug's older sister, in effect, became the caregiver for Douglass after school. Peggy Gustasin was like so many Alaska women. She was a caring woman and cared about her family. Peggy was kind of the older sister that never got in trouble trouble and was trying to keep her younger brother Doug out of trouble. So they were particularly close. They had a very close connection as siblings.

Their other sibling, Craig Guffs, is the who was the middle child between Peggy and Doug, not so much. Craig was a hardworking guy. He was a mechanic, but he had other jobs. He kind of went on his own path. Craig was a hardworking guy. He was a mechanic, but he had other jobs. He kind of went on his own path. Doug and Craig were not very close.

Aside from Peggy, Doug was pretty much a loner. 1990, the year the Doug Raymond and George graduated high school with absolutely no plans for the future. The three teens post-graduation has been most of the time hanging out at JD's barbecue pit where George Kerr was employed. They got to talk into some of the hell's angels and different guys that hung around our barbecue restaurant. They've seen some things right that might be the best way They got to talk into some of the hell's angels and different guys that hung around our barbecue restaurant.

They seen some things right that might have appealed to them. Hey, I want to be like that, too. With this little group, they started committing, you know, acts of mayhem out in the Eagle River in Chugac area. Acts of vandalism, burglaries, for lack of a better term, they were bad kids. You get those three together and they're thinking, OK, how can we steal?

How can we make money? How can we do this? This? They were bad news together. Those three. Raymond, he was the brains behind all of it. They were out burglarized and stuff. The most noteworthy of the unlawful activities

was they burned to rear mics meets. MUSIC George Kerr, Gustafson and Sheely, thought it'd be a swell idea. Let's rob the joint. In the middle of the night, they break into Mike's meat through the back door and make off with the entire safe.

There was a substantial amount of funds in the safe. We obtained approximately $20,000 from Mike's meat. They immediately took that cash and they went out and purchased some high-end firearms the day after the burglary. An AR-15, semi-automatic Uzi, and an HK-91. Doug Gustas and brought an HK-91. That's a sniper rifle. Doug always wanted to be a sniper. The next day, on October 19, 1990, all three of them

had been out firing these weapons out at a gravel pit. They had just finished up doing that and got into their car. Raymond Sheely, who's the driver, Douglas Gustafson, who's the front seat passenger, and George Kerr, who's a passenger in the rear seat. They're driving to Anchorage, and the intention was is that they were going to party. They were going to have a good time, again, using the proceeds of this meat market burglary.

Douglass Gustafson has, in his lap, an HK-91. Doug is shooting at signs on the sides of the road. K-91. Doug is shooting at signs on the sides of the road. And this little red sports car came around them. The other vehicle crossed in front of the Cheely, Gustasen, and Kerr vehicle, and is exiting on an off-ramp. Our deaccusum of cutting him off. Doug decided to teach him a lesson. Raymond Chili accelerates the car

and lines up Doug gustison to fire a shot. Doug gustison takes that sniper rifle, leans out the passenger side window, aims it at the rear window of the car in front of him, and fires. He comes back into vehicle and says, I missed him. He didn't miss him.

Sibling loved it's gone just totally right. This sister Peggy was convinced that George Kerr, who was a one who fired the shot, they want revenge. September 17, 1991, 44-year-old David Kerr opens the package addressed to his son, George, and is killed instantly. So the question is, who'd have a motive to want the harm or kill George Kerr? George had a reputation of being involved in some unlawful activities with some of his friends,

Doug Gustafson, and Artie Cheely. One night, Doug Gustafison leans out the window, aims at the other vehicle, and fires one round. He comes back into the vehicle and says, I missed him. He didn't miss him. That round that he fired went right through the back window, and it hits the front seat passenger, Jeffrey Cain,

right in the head, and kills him instantly. Driver pulled the other, stopped, looked over at his buddy, and his buddy was dead. We pulled into the parking lot, and there's Robbie's car with a blanket or something over the window. Of course, they wouldn't let me get within 50 yards of a tad off, but I could see Jeffrey still sitting at it.

Jeffrey came once at 2Giak High School, like we did. It seemed to be a nice kid, man. He didn't deserve what he got, that's for sure. It was just full of life and joy. In fact, the night that he died, he came upstairs and he was gonna go out with Robbie. And I said, you need some money. And I got to find out.

And he looked at me and he said, Mom, I really love you. And I'm like, oh, yeah, yeah, yeah, everybody loves me. You want he looked at me and he said, Mom, I really love you. And I go, oh, yeah, yeah, yeah, everybody loves me. You want some more money? And he said, no. But I really love you. And I'll feel it.

And that was the last thing she told me. Cheely, Doug Guffsison and George Kerr continued on into Anchorage. They go to a local motel. They call some young women and they have a party. They drink, they smoke some weed, and then they finally go to sleep. At that point, they didn't know that Doug Gustas

and Killed Jeffrey Kane. The next morning, George Kerm's walking into his house he sees on the doorstep the Anchorage Daily News. He realizes instantly that holy smokes, that was us. I don't believe Doug aimed that gun to kill anybody. I don't believe our demon. He might have said shoot, but I do not believe that that bullet was meant to kill Jeffrey Cain.

Is it an accident that Jeffrey Cain has killed instantly by the shot from that sniper rifle? Why have a sniper rifle, if you don't intend to be a sniper? They can't be surprised that someone died as a result of that gunshot. It's on all the TVs about this kid getting killed that night. RD and Doug are trying to get rid of all the evidence they're trying to do whatever they can to cover up.

So that's the time the gun disappeared. But George is starting to get the cold feet. He agonizes for much of the day about what to do. George even went to those guys and he said, we got to turn ourselves in. They were the ones that said, no, no, no. It was just one of them clean grimes that nobody would ever figure it out.

George Kerr, he thinks about it. He thinks about it. He finally talks to his boss on the restaurant he worked for. And George was real close to him. He finally talks to his boss on the restaurant he worked for. And George was real close to him. Tells my big brother what happened. Phelps tells him you have to do the right thing here. You gotta go to the police, George.

So he does. They arrange for him to go down to the Anchorage Police Department. He meets with homicide detectives and George agrees to cooperate at that point. These guys are friends of okay friends, I would say. I mean, and I usually wouldn't write out my friends, but this is just so severe, I gotta do it. Ultimately, George recognized that this was a very, very serious matter. Obviously, very much more serious than anything

these kids had ever done before. George tells the police, Doug Gustas leans out the window, aims and fires one round. Did you actually aim it like a rifle? It was really quick. I don't know. Obviously, in the back, you know, I was telling them, you don't want to do that.

I still didn't think you'd do it. In any case, in which you have somebody coming in and telling you a story about somebody else committed a crime, you have to get some kind of corroborating evidence. Some reason to believe this person is credible. What George has to do is get Raymond Chilian Doug Gouffeson to talk about the shooting directly to him to get it on tape.

And there is your evidence. That's when they wired Kerr up and had him talk to Gustas and then Chilean. Gug Gustas and gleaned out the window with that sniper rifle and he killed Jeffrey K. And George Kerr, who's in the back seat, saw it all. If George Kerr keeps his mouth shut, he's an accessory to this crime.

And I think that was probably most of the motivation for George to go and report this to the police. So the police, based on what George Kerr told them, went and obtained a warrant. That's when they wired Kerr up and had him talk to Gustasin and Chile. I've worked a lot of cases where you have cooperating witnesses, wired up, and that's always pretty intense.

He's always pretty intense. George goes out and meets with Doug Gustafson. And they talk about the shooting that had occurred the night before. And George says to Doug on that recording, he says, Doug, why did you have to kill that guy? And Doug responds, I didn't mean to, George. That's all they needed. It was an admission from Doug Gustason

that he had pulled the trigger and fired the shot that murdered Jeffrey Kin. George also is wired up and has conversations with Chilean, Chilean is much more circumspect in his responses to George Curz prompting questions. So they don't obtain a smoking gun admission like they did from Doug Gustasson,

but ultimately they obtained enough that they felt that they were ready to charge Raymond Chile. MUSIC Doug got arrested first, and then R.D. got arrested. they felt that they were ready to charge Raymond Chilli. MUSIC Doug got arrested first, and then R.D. got arrested. Guffsison and Chilli, they're charged with murder for killing Jeffrey Cain. George's decision to cooperate leads to a decision for him not to be charged by the state of Alaska

for any exposure he might have had for the Jeffrey Cain murder. That greatly upset Doug's older sister Peggy. As siblings, they're very close. Peggy was firmly convinced that Doug was innocent of the Jeffrey Cain homicide. I was two or three days after my son was killed at the District Attorney, called the house,

and he said, I believe we've got the people that killed your son. And I said, that's good news. But you better get a conviction, because if they get on the street, I'll take care of the problem myself. Ah, the Bahamas. What if you could hang out with celebrities living a penthouse above the crystal clear ocean with all your best friends and have it be 100% paid for? FTX Founder Sam Bankman freed made that dream a reality, but US prosecutors say he was hiding a dark secret.

Barely 30 the young crypto billionaire became a powerful financial figure. But in just one month, his exchange would collapse. And SBF would find himself in handcuffs. It's one of the most dramatic faults from Grace and represents one of the most spectacular failures of corporate control in American history. Here exclusive tape of Sam and his former girlfriend and business partner, Caroline Ellison, who later admitted something had gone very wrong inside their operation. From Bloomberg and Wondery comes Spellcaster, a new six-part docu-series about the meteoric rise and fall of FDX, and its founder, Sam Bankman Free. Follow Spellcaster, wherever you get your podcasts. Hey,

prime members, you can listen to episodes ad-free on Amazon Music. Download the Amazon Music app today. The turnaround from the arrest to the trial is remarkable. Today, you'd be lucky to get a case like that to trial in a year and a half, much less four or five months. The Jeffrey Cainmer trials had been high profile. Everybody in town was aware of what had happened. And we're following the media coverage.

Gustus and Achille trials were severed. So they had two trials. Gustus and went first. His trial was in early March of 1991. George Kerr, of course, is the main witness for the state of Alaska. Obviously, his testimony is the key component. It wasn't like the aim thing was just pointed

in the general direction of the car. Prosecutors sought the conviction of both chili and gusty sin. The reasoning was, is that chili purposely positioned that car so gussison could take that shot. If Chile hadn't cooperated fully by positioning the car that way, the murder never would have happened.

So Chile is just as guilty of the murder of Jeffrey Cain as dug up to some. 19-year-old Douglas Gustafson and 20-year-old Raymond Chile were tried and convicted for killing Eagle River resident Jeffrey Cain in a drive-by shooting on the Glenn Highway. Chile and Gustafson were sentenced to 60 and 65 years in prison respectively. Peggy Gustafson genuinely believed her brother, Doug Gustafson, wasn't the shooter. I think she really believed he was innocent.

And that George Kerr was lying. In fact, she was convinced for whatever reason that George Kerr was probably the one who fired the shot at Jeffrey Cain. Peggy was in total denial that her baby brother, the one she'd raised all of his life, could be killed in such a heat as crime. She was sure someone else must have pulled the trigger.

Following the trials in March of 1991, George is still here in the community. He ceases to be part of the Cheely crowd, because those kids don't want to have anything to do with them. He decides, at some point, that he's going to join the Navy. So in September of 1991, early September, George departs the state to join the Navy.

MUSIC Dave Kerr picks up a package from the post office and it's for George, and he takes it home. His wife, Michelle, is in the kitchen just down the hall. Dave Kerr opens the package. He's killed instantly. They're processing the remains of David Kerr in an autopsy at the state crime lab. A number of things were collected from the body.

One of the key things we found was forensics were able to recover chemical traces of MMAN. And the reason that was important is because MMAN is added to an explosive called Tovex. It's a high explosive that is frequently used in things like mining and logging. But the single most important piece of physical evidence was a piece of the micro switch that was used to set off the explosive. This little piece that's recovered from David Kerr's body cavity is part of a roller switch, and this is typically something that is used

to complete an electrical circuit. So as long as the switch is closed, the circuit isn't complete with the wiring that goes between that switch, so that when David cut the tape on the box and lifted the flap, it completed the circuit into the Tovex and detonated the explosives. It was only by a miracle that Michelle Kerr survived.

Later, investigators were able to talk to her. Well, we got a package for a dog from the stator Alaska. I know, it's from Sheldon. How do you know that it was from Doug, Michelle? I told her, what is it, Jail? So you start connecting those dots. It became pretty clear that Doug, that she was referring to, was Doug Gustuson. But the people with the best motive also had the best alibi.

They were incarcerated. I know, she's young. How do you know that it was from Dad, Michelle? That's true. What is in jail? The problem the investigators have with the theory that Doug Guffs is in the Raymond Cheelyer involved is how could they do this for prison? How would they have the technical know-how to design an explosive device?

Where would they get the components from? They didn't have access to a post office in prison. So that presented a big challenge to the investigators. But then they finally got a break. On the heels of the explosion, there are prisoners over at the prison where Raymond Chilius housed and where Douglas Gustasson had earlier been housed.

They have a couple of prisoners tell us that they actually saw a written hit list that Raymond Chilius had prepared of people that he wanted to kill. He primarily said it on those involved in his conviction. On that list was the judge, the prosecutors, and the witnesses, and at the top of the list, George Kerr. Shealy and Doug Gustison are really angry with Kerr. Angry with him because he was in on the initial horrible event. Angry with him because he was in on the initial horrible event.

Angry with him because he didn't turn state's evidence. And maybe angry because he might have been lying, who knows? And so they won't revenge. They were able to pass notes in jailhouse, Wingo, they call them kites. They would utilize the assistance of other prisoners like, hey, can you give this to Doug over in the other jail cell? They were also able to coordinate a specific time and day

to call the Cheely House. They have two separate phone lines that come into that home, and that someone out there was taking the phones, literally turning mouthpiece to earpiece, and they were able to talk to each other over the telephone that way. So these hurdles, like, how could these guys do this from prison? It's becoming increasingly clear that it's really not

that difficult. Now, investigators have to deal with the issue of these guys are in custody. It's probably next to impossible that they constructed this bomb themselves in a correctional facility and mailed it to George Curr, so someone had to help them. The investigators start looking at all the people that were close to Gustafson and Cheely.

They'd find out about who these people have been talking to and what they've been talking to them about their family, friends. Doug Gustasson has an older sister and an older brother, Peggy and Craig, who are living in the area. So we determined that we need to know a little more about those people. So we decided to review the prison tapes, trying to find any think of evident those people. So we decided to review the prison tapes,

trying to find any think of evidentiary value. How you doing? Oh, God, I'm so glad to call. Doug has many conversations with his sister, Peggy, before the bomb went off. I had all these phones in my entire here big time. Yeah, that these phones are mine, I say. Oh, yeah.

By Thanksgiving, we're all in the Anchorage Police Department listening to tapes. It seemed like it was endless. There was some bleak time, for sure. One of the prison tapes that we listened to, Peggy, relates to Doug, that she has a dream. I dreamed that so gorgeous, he's hiking. And I looked around, I seen nobody not yet.

There's just a puppy flying on my car, and I looked at him, and he was still alive. And I broke the cap. I hope you took the cario the car wash afterwards. He's involved in the hatred of George. She's of the same mind he is in getting even with George. We all have headphones on, and we're all listening to recordings of these things.

And Glenn Porter says, boys, I think I found something. And now this picture is highly remembered. Doug Gustasson speaking with Peggy in a code, the more we listened to it, the more plain it became that they weren't talking about a car. They were talking about a mailbox. As soon as you find out which way is on, which way is on, on the sliding one, gluing place like I described right below the surface.

So that when it's pushed towards the side, it's on when it's pushed towards the center, it's on. Right. OK. What it sounds to me like, this is a triggering device for a bomb. She burns up some switches and batteries trying to make the device work.

He tells her in one conversation that, you know, to get certain switches from Radio Shack. This piece of metal that came from the body that was part of a switch was examined back in the lab was identified as being sold by a radio shack. Well, I first did it, I was just separate and I was separate. Uh-huh. That's how I tried to get here, so I really put my hair on.

I wouldn't believe how stupid I am when it comes to hearing that like our humanity. Is there a book I can find? A book. I don't think it'd be smart to go out for my book on that type thing. Douglass is becoming frustrated with Peggy about her inability to wire up whatever she's wiring up. I like to get things worked out, but I can't over here, you know. I'm heading out to the brain to have any help. Okay, did you get everything straight out with you?

Yeah. Very good. We determined through interviews and contacts that, for brains, is their brother Craig, the middle child, who happens to be a mechanic and understands electrical wiring. It was a eureka moment. Peggy Gustafson had talked to Douglas Gustasson about assembling what the investigators believed to be an explosive device.

And strongly suspected their brother Craig Gustasson assembled that device. It was a eureka moment. That caused them to focus even more on the gussars and siblings. Craig was perceived to be the black sheep of the family. He wasn't necessarily a strange from them, but Craig was not necessarily close to Peggy or Doug. So we start focusing on Craig who appears to be sort of a weak link here. Really what we needed was evidence.

We had an idea of how the events occurred and what transpired. But without evidence, you don't have anything that you can go to trial on. And one of our inspectors on the team had built a little rapport with Craig, and had we gained some trust with him. Craig is contacted initially. He's not cooperative with the investigators.

Craig wasn't necessarily hostile to the investigators, but he certainly wasn't forthcoming. So they had had this continuing contact with him, which was increasingly becoming more frequent, a little more friendly. It increasingly becomes clear that Craig was very troubled by the fact that David Kerr had been murdered as a result of this explosive device.

And then finally Craig decides to pick up the phone and he wants to talk. On March 12, 1992, to the surprise of many, Greg Gustafson calls postal inspectors so that he could confess to the crime. Greg Gustafson told the investigators that he was involved in making the bomb, and his sister Peggy was involved in making and mailing the bomb, and they did so at the direction of their brother Doug, from prison. Doug Gustasson and Raymond Cheely had been involved in this bombing plot. Doug had asked Peggy to

build this explosive device that she was able to get the components that she's having difficulty assembling the device. Craig had been over at Peggy's, observed her attempting to put the device together and was concerned for her safety. Because Peggy's about nine months pregnant. So Craig tells her, I will put that device together for you. I don't want you to blow yourself in the children up. Craig takes all the components, assembles the device, and gives it to Peggy.

Peggy, in one of the great lapses of judgment in human history, drives to the post office, with her daughter in the car over a bumpy road and a bomb in the back seat. And for less than $3, Peggy mails the bomb to the home of George Curve. And think of all of the postal workers, the truck drivers, everybody else that came in contact with that package could have been killed in a heartbeat.

When Craig decides to give them this information, it's huge because it corroborates exactly what they thought had happened. We decided to not take him into custody right away. Without Craig Gustafson, the case goes away. We needed him to testify. We needed to ask him more questions to get more things to corroborate. We need him to make our case. And if we arrest him and lock him up,

our ability to talk to him is over, except through his lawyer. Because of Craig's cooperation, we had the probable cause for search warrants. except through his lawyer. Because of Greg's cooperation, we had the probable cause for search warrants. We did search taggies, residents, her parents. We found nothing distinctly already cheesy. His parents live out by Lake Aclutna, which is a rather remote area.

They have a considerable acreage. And so they've got a number of law enforcement officers that had to cover that entire property to try and find if there is some location where these bomb components have been stored. One of the outbuildings on the property was indeed where these things had been housed. We also find a lot of abandoning cars on the premises,

which have evidence of explosive damage. Doug was a bookworm, so he learned that a soldier of fortune magazines about building pipe bombs. And so we'd build these bombs, man, and go out and blow trees up. You know, we'd go to the creeks, man, and throw pipe bombs down and blow up salmon. Clearly, this is something they had been interested in

and that it wasn't something like they were starting from scratch on this. They had the technical know-how, the understanding of how to build an explosive device. The investigator had enough evidence that they could be satisfied that they had the right people and put it together for a case. The investigators know that, indeed,

they have a conspiracy involving four people, Raymond Cheeley and Douglas Gustasson, who are able to form this bomb plot. They know that Peggy Gustasson is involved in assembling and ultimately nailing the device. They know that Craig Gustasson, in fact, built this device. Craig Gustasson's confession was the turning point. That pretty much said in motion,

getting charges filed against the whole family. Cheely was arrested this morning at Cookin' Let pre-trial. Guffison was arrested at its Spring Creek ensuer. Peggy Guffison Barnett was arrested at her anchorage home this morning. Count one of the complaint charges each of these defendants with mailing explosives with the intent to kill. Count two charges each defendant with the use of a destructive device

during an in relation to a crime of violence. Craig Gessison has also been charged in the federal complaint, but he has disappeared. On March 29, a couple of weeks after his confession, Craig Gustafson surprises again by disappearing. The investigators try and get a hold of Craig Gustafson and they can't find him. His girlfriend says he left. She doesn't know where he is. Craig Gustafson is still at large.

We do have a warrant for his arrest. We are looking for him. One of the best pieces of evidence in a conspiracy is getting one of the conspirators to talk to you and fess up. Without Craig Gustafson, the case goes away. We needed him to testify. Officials are offering a $10,000 reward for information leading to the arrest

in conviction of Craig Gustafson. He's maintaining contacts, you know, with his girlfriend. He would call her from time to time from a pay phone, but it was several weeks. We did obtain a tap on his girlfriends, telephone, and she agreed to cooperate with us in order to keep him from getting injured or hurt. He makes a call from a pay phone on April the 18th. This girlfriend is able to keep him on the line during that

particular phone call long enough that they're able to trace the call. They determine it's coming from this pay phone at the Roosevelt Hotel in the Los Angeles area. On the phone call, Greg tells his girlfriend, they will never catch me, at which time we're here, you're under arrest, freeze. And he drops the phone. So now, by April 18, all of these folks, Raymond Cheely, Douglas Gustafson, Peggy Gustafson, and Craig Gustafson are in federal custody.

All these individuals were ultimately indicted by the federal grand jury here in Anchorage for their involvement in the mail bombing murder of David Kerr. Craig, Gustafson, decided to plead guilty relatively early on. So we say in the year's attorney's office, he joined America's team, entered a plea agreement, under which he agreed to plead to certain crimes, and part of his deal was he would cooperate

with the government and testify. Peggy made a number of admissions at that point. Peggy said, we didn't intend to kill anybody. This whole thing was just meant to scare George Kerr into telling the truth, because she's got a very strong belief that Doug has been wrongfully convicted for murdering Jeffrey Cain. Peggy was desperate to help her brother.

The large extent, she was a victim to, you know, she was a victim of the quicksand as she got drawn into, you know, because of her brother. Peggy ultimately pled guilty to her participation in the bombing and agreed to cooperate. However, there is a twist. Doug agrees to plead guilty. It's conditional upon Peggy receiving leniency

in her sentencing. This is sibling love. Sibbling love that's gone just totally awry. I could even think that he could talk his sister into doing this, and she did it. Peggy wound up getting roughly 28 years. Craig, he was sentenced to about 22 years. Raymond Shealey was convicted of conspiracy,

of mailing an explosive device causing death, which carries a maximum sentence of life in prison without possibility of parole. The gussies and gets the same sentence as Chilly, life without the possibility of parole, these guys are in fact, they're gonna die in custody. Unfortunately for the gussies and parents, all three of their children are convicted murderers,

unusual case to say the least. People reached out from prison and used their own family to kill innocent people. It's astonishing. You know, the most memorable thing for me is Michelle Kerr, quite frankly. Michelle testified at trial. She was a strong witness. And so just having to go through and tell the story, you know, it's extremely tough because

it brings all of those emotions and all those feelings back. That's about strong of an individual as you're ever gonna encounter. Surviving male bomb victim Michelle Kerr, sued the Alaska Department of Corrections for negligence. She was awarded an $11.8 million judgment. Dave Kerr was a salt of the earth. Great God.

It should never happen to him. Me and Georgia still friends to this day, so, you know, he's got to live with a lot, a lot of things in his life that are pretty rough to deal with. I think it weighs on him. It took a total amount of a lot of families, you know. We think of Jeffrey all the time. He's still as a bedroom. I have his coat still hanging in the closet. We just named him on it. So, you know, even the grandkids saw us Jeffery's room.

And they're all old now, but they know it's Jeffery's room. You know, he was alive once, you know, so let's keep him in our hearts. Let's keep him in our hearts. [♪ Music playing in background, music playing in background, music playing in background, music playing in background, music playing in background, music playing in background, music playing in background, music playing in background, music playing in background, music playing in background, music playing in background, music playing in background, music playing in background, music playing in background, music playing in background, music playing in background, music playing in background, music playing in background, music playing in background, music playing in background, music playing in background, music playing in background, music playing in background, music playing in background, music playing in background, music playing in background, music playing in background, music playing in background, music playing in background, music playing in background, music playing in background, music playing in background, music playing in background, music playing in background, music playing in background, music playing in background, music playing in background, music playing in background, music playing in background, music playing in background, music playing in background, music playing in background, music playing in background, music playing in background, music playing in background, music playing in background, music playing in background, music playing in background, music playing in background, music playing in background, music playing in background, music playing in background, music playing in background, music playing in background, music playing in background, music playing in background, music playing in background, music playing in background, music playing in background, music playing in background, music playing in background, music playing in background, music playing in background, music playing in background, music playing in background, music playing in background, music playing in background, music playing in background, music playing in background, music playing in background, music playing in background, music playing in background, music playing in background, music playing in background, music playing in background, music playing in background, music playing in background, music playing in background, music playing in background, music playing in background, music playing in background, music playing in background, music playing in background, music playing in background, music playing in background, music playing in background, music playing in