Sword and Scale - Episode 133

Episode Date: March 9, 2019

Three vicious murders in rural Northeastern Maine stun the small city of Amity’s 238 residents.  A missing truck, three innocent victims killed with surgical precision, and a crime scene just a few miles West of the US/Canadian border leave detectives with few clues.  Like a trained assassin creeping through the Maine thicket, 20-year-old Thayne Ormsby commits one of the state’s most heinous triple homicides, all apparently - by mistake.  A tale of vigilante justice gone horribly wrong when the truth is finally revealed.  See Privacy Policy at https://art19.com/privacy and California Privacy Notice at https://art19.com/privacy#do-not-sell-my-info.

Sword and Scale contains adult themes and violence and is not intended for all audiences Listener discretion is advised He just said he was scared The family's not needed to know know. No, we do. Welcome to Season 6, Episode 133 of Sword and Scale, a show that reveals that the worst monsters are real. Thank you for joining us once again before we get started a little bit of housekeeping just to let you know you may have noticed we're still on Patreon and we're gonna be for a little while because we wanna transition everyone smoothly

to the new platform. The new platform is not yet ready. It takes a lot of work to build such a complex piece of code like this. And we want it to be easy to use. We want it to be simple. We want it to be a lot more user friendly than Patreon. So we really appreciate your patience while we get it just right.

Now, once we do, we'll be asking for some of you to join a beta so that you can try it out and try to break the new system. So there's going to be a little bit of a waiting period for everyone to come on board. But what we will be offering is a free month's membership if you're already a member right now, along with a brand new perk, which we're gonna disclose pretty soon. Now, that perk will only be available to those of you that are currently on Patreon and migrate to the new system.

So if you wanna take part in that, make sure you're still supporting us now. All right, that's gonna do it, and now on with the show. Gather your things for we are going killing tonight. Remember your shoes, the souls quiet and insignificant in their markings. Your clothing, loose and black is night. And bring also your sword, sharp and confident. Irish playwright George Bernard Shaw once said that assassination was the ultimate form of censorship.

That's a Quellenotherman's voice in addition to his body. Well, now that was the purest form of death one man could suffer at the hands of another. Today we examine the case of the self-trained assassin, a man born and bred of pain, abuse and resentment, with only one goal in mind. One quest. To eliminate the men he saw personally responsible for ruining his life. Thane Ormsby saw himself as a modern-day version of the original assassin come to life. Stalking the mountainside under the cover of darkness, he planned to carry out a double murder with surgical precision, and, as assassins do, quietly disappear into the night.

But his darkness often presents uncertainty. So two did the minutes immediately following his arrival to carry out what he viewed, his sacred orders. As readily as the best laid plans of mice and men go awry, so too did Thane Orm's bee's plan. His path towards vigilante justice took an unexpected and cruel turn for the worse, and when confronted with the choice to abandon his terminal trajectory, he stayed true to his course, and carried out one of the most gruesome murders in Maine State history. This is the story of the failed assassin. June 23, 2010. A calm 62-degree summer evening settles in just a few miles west of the U.S.

Canada border in rural Amity, Maine. The small town, if you can call it that, is made up of just 238 people and sits in Maine's northmost county of Arustic. It's the type of place where the cliche may actually ring true that most of the neighbors really do know one another. The familiar honk and gentle neighborly wave commonplace each morning as the few residents pass along the city's only major road, US Route 1.

Robert DeHon shuffles anxiously in his vehicle. Outside a small trailer, nestles in the thick wooded lot belonging to his brother Jason's close friend, Jeffrey Ryan. Robert hasn't seen his brother Jason's close friend, Jeffrey Ryan. Robert hasn't seen his brother since the previous evening, when he failed to return home after reportedly stopping at Ryan's trailer. He was driving his four-wheeler, and hoping Ryan could help him troubleshoot engine problems he had observed with the ATV earlier that day.

This is Robert's third trip back to the Ryan home to see if his brother will surface. And this time, he shines his flashlight inside the trailer. He immediately notices a large amount of blood and retreats to phone his father. Both men eventually enter Ryan's trailer where the elder Dehan discovers the body of Jeffrey Ryan's 10-year-old son, Jesse. They immediately call police. Officers arrive at the scene a short time later and discover the

bodies of Jeffrey Ryan and Jason D'Han. All three of the victims dying as a result of a vicious, precision stabbing. Three people are dead, including a ten-year-old boy at state police are calling their deaths a homicide. Investigators say a relative found the bodies last night in a mobile home on Route 1 in the town of Amity, just south of Holton. And they still don't know who did it. Police estimate that the de Han's discovered the crime scene approximately 12 hours after

all three victims were killed. Amadee's close proximity to Canada presents investigators with a unique debacle. That the killer or killer is responsible could well be hundreds of miles into another country by now. As news of the murders travels throughout the small rural community, close family and friends of Jeffrey Ryan begin gathering outside of the yellow crime scene tape at his home. Police initially contact Ryan's ex-wife's father, Robert Strout Sr., as a viable next of kin. Everyone is shaken up, confused, and seeking more detailed information as to what exactly happened.

Ryan's ex-wife Tamara and father Robert immediately offer comments to the media. Only they don't seem to worked up about the murders. Well, we're quite scared to tell you the truth. This is really, you know, for something like this to happen in a small town like this, you just can't believe it. Can't believe it. They were all stabbed and they said they couldn't tell us much, but Mariah, just as soon as we find out, you'll find out. So, it's really sad.

And I don't know what to say, but I hope they catch whoever done it. Authorities believe the person or people who killed them did so early Wednesday morning and stole Jeffrey Ryan's Ford pickup and took off. The Ryan and Strout parented their 16-year-old daughter Mariah together and divorced many years before, it was common knowledge in the town that the two families did not share a bond of civility or decency with one another. Tamara's parents, Robert and Joyce Strout lived in the next town over, in Orient, Maine. Police made contact with them early in the investigation and allowed 16-year-old Mariah

to come to Ryan's property to pick up his pet cat. Early reports revealed that Mariah and her father were estranged as well, and indicated that her grandfather Robert had a particular disdain for Jeffrey Ryan. For all of the trouble, he had put his daughter and granddaughter through after the divorce. Police visited the Stroud Home in Orient early in the morning after the bodies were discovered on June 24th. Questioned Robert at length as to his belief of who would commit such a heinous and senseless crime, he and his wife Joy sat at their kitchen table with police, all the while harboring

a dirty little secret, a yet nameless, 20-year-old, dishevelled man, lay quietly listening in their back bedroom as police questioned the elder Stroud. His presence went undetected by police that morning, and Robert and Joy made absolutely no mention of him, a minute detail that would reveal much significance later on in the case. my name is Dale, this is David Beckett. Mr. St. Novice, should we manage you? If we are with the main state police, we are investigating at the full length of the happenings up north there. And I think I've only been home in a few minutes.

This is so funny. So we're a little tired. I'm not as you if names. And if I ask you a stupid question, I apologize, I'm not trying to get stupid. So I'm just naturally stupid. And we're from different areas, too, the buildings. 20-year-old Thane Ormsby sits in the front of an unmarked main state police car the following week on June 29 with detectives Dale Keegan and Adam Stautamire.

Keegan and Stautamire have made the 287 mile drive from Amity Main down to Dover, New Hampshire. After learning Thane had been staying in the Strout home up to and shortly after the murders. The crime scene in Jeff Ryan's trailer presented many clues to investigators early on. There were multiple half-full Budweiser beer bottles on the kitchen counter, and also a very distinct hand-rolled cigarette butt burned out in an ash tray on the kitchen table.

Both the cigarette butt and beer bottles were swabbed for DNA. Full profiles were present for both Jeffrey Ryan and Jason DeHon, but one bottle and the unique cigarette butt contained the DNA profile of another person simply described in the report as an unknown male. Unknown Mail On the surface, the label doesn't leave much to the imagination, and hadn't given detectives much of anything to go on. Except in the days immediately following the murders, police returned once more to the Strout Home. They wanted to ask additional questions of Robert Stroud senior, but daughter Tamara indicated he had left

on a last minute trip out of town with their house guest, Thane Ormsby. She blurted out to police that Stroud was driving Ormsby down to Dover, New Hampshire, where he would be moving into Robert Stroud Jr's apartment. But who exactly was Thane Ormsby? And why had the Strout's conveniently neglected to mention him to police when he had been sleeping

just a few feet away? Detectives were immediately interested in learning more about the Strout's secret Stowe-Way guest, who was now being quietly transported across state lines as if… into hiding. Could Ormsby be the unknown male police knew they so desperately needed to identify? They wasted no time in going and finding out. I don't watch TV. I like to have a lifestyle. More relevant stuff, I used to do in Mariah. And I was very brief.

I only recently came home to that area. I spent time in Western Maine, my last few years in Western Maine. I'm of politics. They served as a live-in campaign aid for Republican John Ferry, a congressional candidate running the unceased US representative, Mike Meshad, during the 2008 election two years prior.

The campaign ultimately proved unsuccessful, but others began to recognize the incredible potential in this youthful, shaggy-heared campaign aid. He was described as unfailingly polite, but presented immature tendencies and seemed to lack focus. After the campaign ended in defeat, Ferry took Thane in for a short time and hired him to do chores and help with upkeep at his rural farming tin home. The largest state

more aptly described as an inn housed other caretakers over the years. They described frerry inn akin to the overlook hotel in Stanley Kubrick's The Shining. The desolate, lonely property sat approximately 200 miles southwest of Amity, and afforded Ormsby a reliable shelter and small salary. Ferry described how Thane commented that he had never slept with sheets on a bed until coming to stay in his home. So you're running, how long does it take? I mean, that's an old statement to say.

I've been running. I don't really run anymore. You run into my smoke center. What's the father's favorite? That's an old statement to say I've been a runner. I don't really run anymore. Do you run? I smoke soccer games. What's the father's you ever run? 16 miles. You know what I'm saying? I don't know.

I'm secondally. I don't understand your stuff. I'm kidding, huh? Took me two hours. So basically if you're going to run then I don't know what you're going to go, I'll never get you. I'm not. Even though you smoke.

I might hate running. Detectives are cleverly playing into thanes obvious narcissistic tendencies. I'm not even know you're smoking. I like my heat running." Detectives are cleverly playing into Thane's obvious narcissistic tendencies, pretending they want to get to know him better, as if they care how fast he can run, or good of a wrestler he was in high school. All the while, fluffing his ego. Meanwhile Professor Fraery described how Thane seem to have lost all sense of purpose after the campaign ended, and that he wandered aimlessly with no structure in life. Thane had spoken intermittently before about his desire to join the United States Marine Corps

as an officer, but those plants fell through as he dropped out of high school just a few weeks before graduation. He seemed to constantly be chasing a new dream, but had difficulty in following through on his goals. Ferry described how he was extremely impressionable when given a task, that he would follow it through to the end without question, but that he lacked motivation and follow through when it came to advancing his own interests. For these reasons, he fared well in politics. When given a strategy, he excelled. He was a smooth talker and could get along with just about anyone.

But when left to his own devices, he promptly spun out of control. Detectives played the smooth talker in Thane, boasting his confidence while getting to know him better. Curious as to his connection with Robert and Joyce Strout, and as to why he so suddenly moved South to New Hampshire. My mother was abusive towards me and my situation that wasn't good I'd been staying in a tent for the month of February. I was really, yeah. She's a lesbian, she's kind of got a thing against men. And I was doing my part to be the man of the house, cooking and cleaning and watching the kids. And doing what I could while I was there trying to get my car running because I just got back. Back from, back from Oakland.

Professor Fraury commented publicly after the murders on Thane's innate ability to, as he described it, transform himself like a chameleon, recalling Matt Damon's character in the film The Talented Mr. Ripley. In it, Damon played the role of a poor college student who quickly transforms himself into a wealthy, affluent, socialite, his character demonstrating alarmingly sociopathic like tendencies. Ferry would eventually connect Thane with Father Lewis Glidden of the Stephen the Martyr Anglican Church in Oakland, Maine.

After it was clear that what he was lacking the most was a consistent loving father figure. So Father Glidden took Thane in, and he quickly adapted to the church, impressing many with his seemingly deep commitment to the cloth and his faith. After seeing Thane's potential business acumen, the two quickly began formulating plans

to open a small antique shop together. But plans eventually fell through after fellow parishioners of the church, described Thane's alarming mood changes whenever Father Glidden was not around, and his propensity to steal. Others described how Thane moved very rapidly and unpredictably from extreme highs to extreme lows

in his behavior, and that people were generally growing afraid of him. He was removed from the parish and Father Gliddon's home in February of 2010. But you have brothers and sisters? Six. None of them are actually full, full, full relation. I have two older half-siblings of the world. From my father's side.

I don't really know them. And then my mother's girlfriend has four children. When she went to go? Meal on to me. She changed her name. So she is a normal man. Yeah, they're old men. They've had a little ceremony.

And I've been as supportive as I can. I'm here to do it, to mother. So what? I mean, in that situation, I don't get along so well with the park all for. THAN quickly glosses over his mother and her lesbian partner's turbulent relationship. The foundations of his upbringing

arguably anything but stable. Maria and Camille Ormsby fought regularly with drugs and alcohol allegedly fueling their escalating violence in the home. At age 12, one of Thane's friends' mothers phoned the police after hearing one of their violent, prone outbursts, and the Department of Humane Services promptly removed him from their home. He would spend the next five and a half years living with his uncle Steve, who provided him a relatively stable shelter, and would serve as Thane's father figure until he unexpectedly dropped out of high school, just weeks shy of graduating.

It was during a high school military history class where Thane's passion for wanting to join the Marine Corps turned into an obsession. An obsession he unwittingly abandoned the minute he dropped out of high school and no longer met the Marine's minimum entry qualification standards. Detectives Keegan and Stautamire are finally beginning

to see and understand that Thane is a man who seems to have lost his way. Time and time again, floating from one father figure to the next, regularly convincing others of his intellectual prowess, all the while quickly losing focus and abandoning his goals every few months in the absence of the careful guidance grooming and direction of his next temporary father figure. The timeline is entirely too convenient for main state police detectives to ignore. They left Amity for Dover the very next day after the bodies were discovered. He had been staying with Robert and Joyce Strout since May, and just like that, he abruptly left, and Robert Senior provided him transportation.

It all seems a little convenient, you know? Given the fact that three murders have just occurred, and police still have no clue who their unknown male DNA profile belongs to. Detective Stautomire sits in the backseat and begins to notice Thane's abnormal body language. Every time Detective Keegan pauses to jot down notes in his notebook, Thane, without moving his head, carefully looks down to see what he is writing. And then, he slips up. Thane reaches into his pocket and pulls out a small box, retrieving a rather unique looking hand-rolled cigarette, the kind without a filter. He just became

prime suspect number one, otherwise known as the unknown male. I'm not going to do anything. This is cars. Yeah, it's a car. It's a car. Yeah, it's a car. Yeah. They're all in there. They're all in there. No smell. Oh, OK. So you came down here on Friday.

Mm-hmm. Did you have something for a child? Well, that's what I had been doing while I was just able to come to this Thane comfortable, picking him up and parking in the lot directly adjacent to Robert Strat Jr's apartment. They even pick out a nice calm spot that provides a cooling cover of shade and allow him to sit in the front seat. They have not handcuffed him and they are not putting him through an embarrassing perp walk in the Dover Police

station. They are grooming him to talk, accommodating his every need, they have ordained him the one in control. They listen to him carefully, and soon begin to point out the things he's saying that do not make any sense. And why his story is growing further and further from coherence. So what was going on last week at the house? There's no, there's happened on a two-dino Wednesday. When the murder happened, two-dino Wednesday. Well, so what was going on? Yeah, with the family and stuff. And there's nothing that's like the family things were quite.

They were pretty quiet. They were pretty quiet. And then, you said you're only there and all said, and why we got a call or something, what does the whole thing happen? We got a call, and it must have been after midnight. Everyone was a bed. What did the call say?

That... I think that Jeff and Jesse had been shot. That's what the call said. So we didn't know what had happened. So did you guys get up and stay up all night? Or was your last good night out of Jeff? No, no, no. They got up and I got up in the early New Year's.

They were talking, but I didn't know Jeff. I met him once. You went in that jet on time. It was a, oh, we came over to Lava Joyce just for 15, 20 minutes. Was that one of the last couple weeks you were up there? It hasn't been over the years. So when I first got in that day, so it had been on his last couple weeks and you're up there, you haven't been on the years. So when I first got up there, so it had been a few weeks' time. Thane is exhibiting all the telltale signs of someone who is lying, repeating Detective

Keegan's questions, one after the other, as if buying himself extra critical seconds to carefully think through his next response. The long, awkward silences. Detectives comfortably settling in between each long pause, watching his every move. He fidgets with his hand-rolled cigarette and has to be reminded several times to keep it near the open window. At times, he dusts imaginary lint particles from his clothing, anything to project an air of concern without giving away what he actually knows and how he actually feels about Jeffrey Ryan. to tell you the truth. He I asked him about work. He could help me find a way to never get chance to check him. The one about his is the buddy Jason.

But I mean, he never met his son. He said he talked about it. He said that Jesse had gone down to live with his mother, but he thought he was going to be picking him up shortly. So he said, so have you ever been down in Jesse's house? Once. What was the label now? I came down just asking about work and he had a beer with me. I'm not telling you that. that work and she had a beer with me.

I'm not telling you that. No, that's what. Oh, I don't want to tell you too late. We gave him. And he said he couldn't find anything, but. I forgot to mention to you at the very beginning this thing. I don't care what you guys do. I mean, I don't fret on my head.

But there's a lot of people who do drugs, pills and all that stuff. And people get nervous that you can talk to your son, that's a story, okay. A short time, then I saw him. They, again, tries to derail detectives by redirecting the topic of discussion, emphasizing the drug and alcohol abuse that plagued his childhood home, and not the fact that he wasn't even of legal age to them. This is not fair, especially the thing is not right. So I appreciate you being on it. You said you had a beer with them, you know, do you remember when that was? It must have been almost the same day.

A couple weeks ago? Yeah, the same day I met him. Oh, I thought you said that he came down there. He came down there and I went back up with him to have the beer. So it was one occasion, I met him. He came down the balls and he must hit it off and he would go back with it. He knew my mother and he's like, oh Maria's time, okay. I said, yeah, I just had a fling with his daughter. I was kind of curious to meet him. I just, you know, had a fling with his daughter. Thane was 20 years old at the time of the interview, and Ryan's daughter, Mariah, had just turned 16.

Well, we may never know for sure. It's a pretty educated guess that Jeff was not incredibly excited to meet the 20-year-old man that was engaging in a sexual relationship with his teenage daughter. When he had you here, where did you have an inside-out side? The 20-year-old man that was engaging in a sexual relationship with his teenage daughter. So we sat up the counter and we sat up the table outside. What bearded you drink, what type of beard? Maybe it was the love of lasso. All or in, all. Did you get it, yeah? Yes.

And then I believe I left it in the soup. Probably ended up in the reduction. Hopefully, and uh, was Jason there during this time? Did he have a beard to, or see that? No, like I said, I never met him. I never met Jason, never met Jeff's son. How many years did you have during that? I also got a beard.

I'm not a big drinker for the end. Fame claims he has never met Jeff's friend Jason, or his son, Jesse. But detectives are already aware that the few Budweiser beer bottles left on Jeff's kitchen counter place him, Jeff and Jason together within a reasonable amount of time. And there is that mystery cigarette butt that was left to burn out in the ashtray at Jeff's kitchen table. A very distinct, hand-rolled variety, stuffed with a unique blend of pipe tobacco, and no filter. Things are shaping up like an open and shut case of forensic files. Only police have no evidence connecting Thane directly to the murders, so they encourage

him to keep talking. Yeah, I was going to check in with him a couple weeks down the road and I had heard that his son had just made it back, so I was getting ready to go say hi to him. And this happened. So you got a call the whole night that they were shot. The ball got a call away. They were shot at ball and to a tenel. How did they handle that? They were shot. Yeah. It was pretty upsetting news. And then it was coming down. They started calling other families. They started reaching out to the other. They sat down and talked at the

table. They started calling people. Did they get in their car or anything? Go down and Did Robert Strout senior inadvertently become the newest father figure to Thane? Or was it all by design? A man who apparently personified horror, courage, and commitment? The Marine Corps motto, Semper Fidelis, or always faithful. No matter what. It seemed Thane was constantly longing for guidance, for leadership, for nothing less than a father. The many men before him at some point all fell short.

His uncle Stephen, Professor Fraury, father Glidden. Each of them extended their kindness and patience to Thane, but none of them could withstand his erratic and inconsistent behavior. Their trust in this promising young man completely eroding, the minute they realized it was all an act, a simple charade. None of them, that is, until Robert Stroud Sr. came along. The decorated Vietnam combat veteran, a war hero, a father, and in Thane's eyes, the one he would inevitably do anything to please. Robert allegedly told Thane endless tales of his many deep, dark nights while out in patrol

in Vietnam, locating, stalking, and killing the enemy Viet Cong. Better them than us, he would say. In Thane's eyes, Robert represented all he had aspired to be over the years. A trained and honorable killer. But could he have ever imagined that his stories could inspire the unfailingly impressionable young man? To kill. Detectives Keegan and Stautomire weren't about to let Thane out of their sight until they could find out for themselves. Apparently, Robert Strout's seniors fascinating tales denend with Midnight Jungle Warfare in

Vietnam. They included his growing disdain and frustration with daughter Tamara's ex-husband, Jeffrey Ryan, how terrible a father he allegedly was to his granddaughter, Mariah, and how he was allegedly one of Amity's top drug dealers, a detail that resonated strongly with Thane, who saw alcoholism and drug abuse in the home throughout much of his early childhood. Detectives begin to piece together his story and discover many holes. How he met Jeffrey Ryan only once, but that the initial meeting evolved into informal

beers at Jeff's property, one mile up the road from the Strauts. None of it made any sense. It seemed unlikely Ryan would so warmly welcome the man who had dated his underage daughter into his home. And the cigarette butt, with an unknown male's DNA profile still intact, the beer bottles, which seemed to suggest the killer had met and been in general proximity of both of the other victims, Jason DeHon and 10-year-old Jesse Ryan. Detectives Keegan and Stadamire bring Thane back in for questioning three days later

on July 2nd. Only this time, they borrow an interview room in the local Dover Police Department. The previously cool, calm, and collected Thane Ornsby seems to be having trouble remembering exactly what he told them just 72 hours earlier, as his story changes quite drastically. I was going to find a job. I'm going to spend a lot of time in the field. You would have been talking to him and he couldn't find you anything and you had to be here and all that stuff. Tell me about that. Okay. So I go out to talk to him.

How long go after the first visit? A week. A week later. Okay. And what's going on when you're up there this week later? It's Jeff Jeff's alone drinking a beer mom and it's long. House side, and how's Jeff your Jeff was doing good? Jeff was talking about his son saying he was going to be back. So Jeff, Simon was not there. So this was about a week before this happened.

You only lived there three weeks ago, right? Yeah, it's all such a short proximity. Right, so you were there, you made it, and then about a week later, you go off, so that would have been a week before this whole thing happened. You were there, and he's mowing along. He's mowing along. Pusher rider.

Push mower? Brider lawnmower. Push. Push mower. And he's having to be here so that's a bit of not raining. No, it's not raining when it's mowing along. It's a bright sunny day. I'm fine.

I'm trying to mow it. It's just a tough thing to do. I'm a very visual guy. OK. Don't come up to say hi to me and he welcome me right in. What type of dog is that? What type of dog? It was a rock rock rock.

It was a two-dollash-aid rock rock rock. Dorah, shadow, and shadow is the one that is tethered by the door. For someone who spent all of 15 or 20 minutes with someone, they ain't as able to recall a remarkable amount of detail. This having been his first and only time at Jeffrey Ryan's trailer. Detectives begin to suspect that he knew more than he was letting on. He's more known as he's about to move on.

He stopped moving along. He talked to me and invited me in, said, have a beer. I had a beer with him, I sat and drank a beer with him. And Joy actually called. Joy knew what I was that. Called me and told me, come back and help me with the garden. And I'd go on that time, Barrett. Yeah, well, what time of day was that, do you think?

You're doing that time period? Yeah, well what time of day was that, you think? Midday. Because as you call, these must call, text. How before? What afternoon? It was just one morning and I decided to stop and then say hi and ask him. And how did you get there? How did I get there? I walked out.

You walked out? That's the shortest. You didn't take your bite. Detective Keegan has heard and seen enough. Thane sits with a fresh cup of black coffee, his chair backed all the way into the corner of the small interview room. He rests his chin on his hand, three fingers neatly covering his mouth, the others pointing towards his ear, holding his head upright, another telltale sign of deception, the hand of the liar quietly and subconsciously covering the mouth, telling lies. Something is off. Then continues repeating every question and assertion Detective Keegan throws at him, like a flea market salesman bartering for just a few more seconds of freedom. Here we have Tachuma. Here's your refrigerator where I got to be. Here's the door to the house. Here's the porch. Here's Shetham. This is the living space here.

How does this work? There's more than one room in there. I know there's a room somewhere in there. There's a room. There's a room. There's a room. There's a room. There's a room.

There's a room. There's a room. There's a room. There's a room. There's a room. There's a room. There's a room. There's a room.

There's a room. There's a room. There's a room. There's a room. There's more than one room in there. I know there's a room somewhere here and I know there's a room but there's a bathroom and there's a bedroom. So here's the toilet. The bedroom. So, I can just try to look. This is cool. This is true. Thane's nervous humming, and the familiarity with Ryan's back bedrooms, bathroom, and general layout of the property outdoors, is telling.

Yet he confidently draws a detailed overhead map of Ryan's entire lot, along with the layout of the back rooms, to near blueprint scale. He is precise and calculated in his presentation and alarmingly polite. Thane's narcissism is growing more readily apparent by the minute. A sly grin permanently chiseled into a thin, believable face, as he tries repeatedly to neatly wrap up his alleged interactions with Ryan the week before the murders, and move on as though he has places to be, or things to do. He's almost slightly annoyed at the inconvenience of having to be there, yet willing to help in any way that he can. I met his dog, I walked over to bed and his dog, I walked in, and we told him to come along

and grab a beer, and then he's got chairs here. We sat down here, it was a hot day, we came back outside, sat down here. That was it. How is it? They in a so confident that he taps the detectives a little rhythmic conclusion to his explanation of where he traveled through the Ryan property. Open and shut onto the next question. He grows increasingly overconfident in his responses to detectives who are beginning to notice more gaps in his recollection of events. How long will you learn anything?

Half hour. Half hour. Any of you have already showed you around the place before this? You showed me a sample. Before this visit. Before this visit. No, this isn't the visit. There are only a few.

There are at least two visit. You said the first time, the very first time you met me, you went down the other way. Then you said, I asked you, it was the second of third visit that this happened. And you said, it was the second visit. I'll be straight forward because there's no reason I can't. I appreciate that. I do have a bicycle. I don't even know this much. Okay. And I have... Is it a 10 speed with a handlebar or a skim down around? No. Okay, what that will die, is it?

No, it's a... 8 by 3. On your 4 speed? Okay. Okay. Two in a few head of bike, right? Hi! Okay, tell me about that.

I appreciate three knots. Well, because they just... Okay. Alright. There are only two occasions I've met Jeff. I appreciate the renaissance. Well, because they just... Okay. There are only two occasions I've met Jeff. The one where he comes down to the house. Right. And I combine those two occasions of all.

A week later I come back. And you're on your bike this time? And I'm on my bike this time. And I ride my bike, but I ride my bike on the roof. Right. And I ride it on the wall. Okay. And I park it right here somewhere.

Okay. I come in and I have a beer with him, and he shows me around the house. To an abyss. Yeah. To an abyss. And that's the only visit though. But I made the Jeff.

Well, no. You said the first time. He visited me and I visited him. The same occasion. You said the very first time he met you, you asked him to get a job, he's going to come on. Two different occasions. I combined the two and one just to be simple. No, each time you were here, how many times you're at this house?

Once. Once. I've only been there once. I've been to his house once and it was just to be here. And this time he showed you around. And he showed me around. So the first time you said you went there after you met that very first time you met him. I said, but really that was the way later. Just to be simple. Why would you do that? Why would you confuse me like that? I confuse the things. Because it's irrelevant.

Because it's... Well, it's not really irrelevant because we got three people dead. So that's why it makes it very relevant. I am especially when people are not tell the truth. I understand. But I mean, I had nothing to do with that. OK. So I didn't want to be getting, will you ever

open this area? No. He can press his him just a little bit harder and begins systematically identifying where Thane's story has changed. He asks him to take another marker, a red one this time, and draw the path he took onto and throughout Ryan's property. What should prove relatively clean and straightforward begins to look like a five-year-old scribbling

indiscriminately across the lines of the children's maze on the back of a highlights magazine. You know, the kind they used to set out at the doctor's office. The more he's challenged, the more thin retreats. The inner five-year-old boy inside of him coming out to play. Fingers covered in marker, pleading to daddy that he didn't just to face the wall directly behind him. Bobby's house. Why are we finding that? Are you confused? Maybe you've forgotten time. Do you remember what the bike can come in out to the woods in front of Bobby's house? Because we get your bag there and they came in all last though. The misery thing. Did you forget that?

It's okay we did. I'm just trying to see when we get back. Do you remember this year in a common hell in the front of that? You forget that? No, no, no. That was just, uh, I had just gone over to check out the junkyard. Where's the junkyard? It's right beside Bob and Joyce. Okay, across the street. No. I don't know where it is.

We have canines and stuff and dollars. Yeah, I understand. And the tracks to the deer, he said there would have been a grow here probably one in the morning and stuff and where somebody went through the woods and stuff, bikes and all that stuff. But the punchline has a cost to real from Bob and Joy, someone came out right there. Some of them came out.

Bob and Joy, right? Yeah. Sorry. Across from Bob and Joy, someone came out of the woods right in that area. No, I haven't. No, I haven't. Probably a bike. That's why that's what came.

Bike tracks. What we get, we get bikers up and down. Pedal bikes. Pedal bikes. Pedal bikes. Pedal bikes. So that was not you. No, that wasn't me. Okay.

Now, when you're in the house doing, you say, yeah, that's why I don't want to be confused. Cause there are, that's why I'm confused. Yeah, yeah. That's why I need to hear from you. It was actually, what happened? Okay, you were in that house. I'm going to tell you there are other bikers.

I understand. That's right, we blocked the several of them. Okay. Now, you only have one beer in that house, you said one beer. And it was a Bud Roger bottle. Bud Roger. And you said to me the other day, you drank it all. Yeah. Okay. What happened that after you drank that beer? I told you I left it on the counter in the sink. I don't recall. You'd have to end the counter or end the sink. On the counter or end the thing. On the counter or end the thing. Okay.

I know you told me that but is that what you really did? Yes. Okay. You smoke. Do you have any smokes in the house? Smoke cigarettes. You smoke any cigarettes in the house? In his house?

Yes. Jeff's house. I smoke from the fifth cigarettes. What type of cigarettes was that? I don't know the cigarettes. You have a brand. What type of cigarette was that? You know what brand. I don't know. What type of tobacco was that?

No, it was filtered. What type of filter was it? Was it brown? It must have been brown filter. If I told you it was white, that's good. Yeah, I don't know. A rolled cigarette. The confirmation is noticeable in Thane's response.

He begins to realize that the detectives are on to him. The beer bottle. The cigarette. Fingerprints. Thane suddenly seems to realize he has likely left a proverbial clusterfuck of DNA at the crime scene and doubles down as detective Stadamire chimes in. Where were the nails right in the black line up there where we were in the kitchen area?

When you said he showed you the house, did you go through the house? Do you think you're on my room or do you just say- I don't go down in here. No. How do you know what was a bathroom there? You threw a bathroom there. You threw a bathroom there because I asked. You asked him where the bathroom was.

Did you go to the bathroom? No. Why not? I didn't have to go to the bathroom. What did you ask where the bathroom was? In case I needed to go to the bathroom. You were kidding me. You said, I have a white house.

You never had to go to the bathroom. You never had to go to the bathroom. I never had to go to the bathroom. You said, I have a white house. You never had to go to the bathroom. I said, I have a bathroom. You said, I have a kidding me. You said, I have one hand. I never had to sit in the bathroom. The bathroom's down the hall and you said, well, where's the bathroom? You mean, you and I have been together now for a couple. You want to go to camp 10 minutes, you said.

Why would you ask him a 10 minutes? Hey, where's the bathroom? Down the hall. You know, you were the last number over a couple. Why would you? You never once asked him. Our conversation's wandered. Yeah, you're there for 10 minutes.

You asked where the bathroom is. He told you and you didn't go. I heard conversations wandered. Yeah, you heard every 10 minutes, you asked where the bathroom is, he told you, and you didn't go. I mean, I was, okay, so you've never ever been down that all the way. So there's no way in hell that your DNA is gonna be down in the cereal anywhere. That's what you're telling me. That's what I'm saying.

All right, and there's no way in hell that your DNA is gonna be back in here anywhere. And you had a cigarette, what happened to the cigarette? You smoked it, you said. I smoked it. I might have put it about in my back pocket or from the doctor. Did you say you're kind of not warning what even butts around, you told me that the car is the day,

right? But you actually smoked the cigarette, OK? Have you ever been on these streets up in the cigarette? No. Oh, you've been one pound of the bike back and forth here. Yes. So this event here, where you were inside inside was about a week before this murder happened. Maybe two.

Maybe two weeks. Never met Jason. Never met Jason. Well now we have a problem. Jeff Ryan had a party at his trailer on Monday, less than 48 hours before he and his ten year old son and friend Jason were brutally murdered. He and his friends gathered for beers and horseshoes out in the front lawn. Police had already spoken to numerous people that were their late

into the evening on Monday, and they all described how they had helped Ryan clean up before calling it a night, taking all the beer bottles out to the recycling, and dumping all described how they had helped Ryan clean up before calling it a night, taking all the beer bottles out to the recycling and dumping all the ash trays into the trash. Thane was lying and they knew it. His admissions coming slowly but surely, his story evolving with every new detail Keegan and Stautamire reveal. Yes, he was there on Tuesday night and he did, in fact, meet Jason. And yes, he did share a beer with them. Detectives are about to call Thane's bluff on his losing hand. And they are fuel beer. You go to refrigerator, get the beer because you have one before you open the beers cap. He's in great room here? You're soft, you set up the table, you're sitting here,

and you're having a smell. At this point, you have a smell. Right? Yeah, I smell zeros. Yeah, you have at least two cigarettes. I was trying to smoke a black hug, that night. Yeah, the white hug. You know more than I do. What did I know everything? I know.

No more. And as soon as you're going to know that I know, then you know that I know that I know that I know. Right. Okay. Follow that. Okay. So the more advanced we're doing, but you know that I know. So you have a smoke. Something goes terribly wrong. The shaft comes outside, we think. Something happened right down this area. We have an outside. It came over here by the garden. We'll pass him over to John. Down here by the garden area.

I'm sorry. Nice one to join with Jason. He's not to join with Jason. Okay. Jeff didn't smell. Still not know the boys there yet. Yeah. Okay.

So you smoke a joint down in this area. I'm just going to join it there with Jason. Like I said, I asked Jeff about work. And he, and we were talking about carpentry and all sorts of different things. And he said he had some nails for me. And that's why you have my prince towards the shed. I'm bad at it, he was talking to me when I was Dane has now placed himself at each of the locations where a body lay slain early Wednesday evening in the small town of Amity. No more excuses, no more lies. He has nowhere left to hide and a decision to make.

He'll either go silent and consult an attorney or do what he believes the honorable thing is and begin to talk, to tell detectives the truth. When were you all there about the sheds? Dad, that night. Tuesday night, in the sheds. That, that night. Tuesday night in the Wednesday morning, Tuesday. It was Tuesday night, yeah. I was home shortly thereafter.

Thank you. That's truth. I know you want the truth. And what, I'm gonna have to take the fifth. It's okay. This, I mean, you want to stop talking. For a minute, I'm gonna go get another coffee. Okay, here we go.

I'm gonna take a cigarette and a red cap. Bring the enjoyment, maybe. Okay, here's what we're gonna do. All right, I'm honest. All right, here's what we're gonna do. I appreciate you being honest, all right. I appreciate that a lot. I want you to, we'll get you kept positive.

We'll give you a test break. If you want us to fully make that out, I'm not a big deal. They norms be confides in detective Stautomire outside while they are having a cigarette, asking him what he feels the best case scenario would be given his obvious guilt. He encourages Thane to do the right thing and tell them the truth. To do what any good Marine would do, the honorable thing, and tell them precisely what happened when they returned back to the interview room and why. Detective Keegan, the skilled interrogator, appeals to the young boy in Thane, desperate to escape. The boy who obviously has drifted along in his young adulthood, still craving the love and attention of a caring father figure, any man who will show him the love and attention

he's so desperately desires. You're a good boy. You're a good man. You know, a boy or a man. And no, don't come in. You don't think you're a man? Not her, not to serve. Mistakes happen. Like I said, my dad always told me that's why they put your racers on pencils. That's why they put the Leakees on computer. See this more right here? I'm giving you a racer to erase some of the mistakes that happen that way. There's a train leaving the town. No, I'm not as a destroyer. I'm sorry, London. Perhaps I do need a word.

But how could it be? Someone so capable of brutally destroying three innocent lives suddenly feels compelled to talk by honor. Detectives persuade him to speak without an attorney present. Two fathers now looking out for their proverbial son. to my tools or maybe to my process. I'm a little getting this off. No good. Since I'm not getting it done, I didn't know I had to get it done.

I wonder how I think I'm going to do. Alright? Super. Alright. Alright. Alright, alright. I'm sorry. Good age again, babe.

Hey, buddy. Huh? Yeah. And I want you to know that I'm here for the best I can be. I cannot make many promises for both the media. I can't make many promises. That's way over my head. I will go to that for you. I will go to that and talk about this conversation. I will go to that for you. I will stand up for you. I know what you tell me in here and what how you're cooperating and stuff like that. Their strategy is working to perfection. The little boy comes out of hiding and doesn't even know what detective Kegan is referring

to when he explains that he will go to bat for him, as if he has no reference from his own childhood to pull from. The father standing out in the yard playing ball with his boy. Nothing. No one. Until now. Bro, would you like to start? When did you go up there that night? Tuesday night.

Tuesday night? What time? Before or after? Before or after? Six, seven. Jason was there at this point. Is that the first time you met him? That was the first time.

Okay. What happened? You want your pedal bite? That's not my pedal bite. Okay. What happened? You want your pedal bite? I have some, I don't like it. What happened? Everything was going fine. To tell you the truth. And I didn't see Jesse. Jesse was in the living room.

He was playing a game. He was just a lot of play-treaters. And he had a beer and everything like I said. But everything wasn't fine. Thane told fellow neighbor Donald Hilton's of the Royal Oak apartment complex at 149 Portland Avenue in the days prior that he was an alcoholic himself and that he quote, gets very vicious when he drinks.

I'll tell you what I know about Jeff Ryan, even though he said things I've known without reading him. And you do this from pan-wrestling? I know this from all sorts of people in my life. You love that he was a good girl, a dealer. I know he wasn't doing much now, but I know he used to walk, and I know he hurt, and I know I am. He hurt my right, and he hurt Craig.

And he hurt Craig. And he hurt a lot of people. And I don't believe in what he does, because I don't believe in, I mean, yeah, I don't believe in trunks. Like, it goes out of your hands fast because your mom is like everyone. Everyone I know has been hurt.

So you said when you got there, I'm sorry. It's cancer. Yeah, cancer cancer. So you said when you got there, everyone's in the house in the kitchen area, and the little boys playing the tendor or something on the computer. Not every time you do all the TV.

You said you're just kind of like introduced and passing. Yeah, we just introduced and taught and outside to smoke the join, the jazz and stuff. And they got a good one. They got a good one. They have no only nice. No, he was nice to me. Which makes it strange. Right.

But I did have it out for him. You did? Yes. What did it turn from everything going fine to? Not so much. He say something to you? I... No.

No? Did he... did he have to? No. No? Did he have to? No, no. Where are you from? I'm from my prince. My DNA in the shed, or are you a show of your nails? He was up to the show, he had some nails, it was something. And he went over to get to the nails. What happened?

I think you know what happened. I like the air from you. I have theories. I like to hear your side of the thing. I know what happened. I want to see if you could tell me what happened. If I can tell you what happened. How he rationalizes murdering three innocent people is simply astounding. The same psychopathic tendencies he exhibited while denying any involvement in the murders carries through his entire confession, the calm, polite confidence, the presumed control,

and the fact he allegedly knew that they knew all of it. Total and complete bullshit, likely to fulfill his own self-image of being something more, something feared. So he was bent over. No, back to you. He was back to you. And you stayed in the back. I'm asking. And where did you get the knife? It was my...

There was a day and that type of knife? Large. Large knife. That's the way to keep sharpening all the time. Right? That was your men, you brought that with you because you always wear it I knew you knew that much yeah so I knew that he's outside okay he's up to your brother shed and Jason's in the house Jason and the boy are in the house

Jeff had Jason and Jesse are in the house Jason sat down next to Jesse and the couch and you guys are outside and you think it now it's time he never Jason Jetsley, I'm in the house. Jason sat down next to Jesse. Right. And you guys are outside. And you think it now is time. He never said anything to you. He was just trying to help me. OK. How many times did you step in, do you think?

Those are questions I don't know the answer to. Are you saying one or 100? I mean, multiple times. OK. Obviously, more than one. So you have them and does he fight you that? Well, terribly, but I didn't want it to be a prolonged thing. I wanted it to be as clear as possible and unfortunately

I mean, it wasn't long but it's not like television. It's different from what you expect. I mean, it's not like television. It's different from what you expect. And I'm not even much of a TV watcher, obviously. I have enough intellect to know that it wouldn't be like television. The Enorms B favors himself an intellectual phenomenon. The brilliant mind who carefully planned and carried out one of Maine State's worst murders. The knife he would ultimately use to kill all three victims was the popular fixed blade

Khabar fighting knife, made famous by none other than the United States Marine Corps when it was first issued to troops during World War II. The Khabar, the preferred tool of the trained killer, also became the preferred tool of the trained killer also became the preferred tool of Thane Ormsby, his passion to serve his country turned into an obsession to kill. He didn't understand why we do this. He asked you what's the father's wife? Stop holy shit Jesus Christ. Those things. You said it to him? No. Never said a word. No. So finally he drops. Okay. What happened was the next day? Well, in my mind, I knew that I couldn't just leave in there with two people, just saw me. Is daylight at this point, man?

Are you getting dark, or? Obviously, this is pre-meditated murder. It's determining years for it. I don't know. Yes, it is. Did you go there to plan and kill him? Yes. You had.

How long before this were you planning this? It was really kind of a new revelation. Were you planning it like for days, weeks? When did you start planning this? Maybe days. You plan it for days. I thought about it. I thought about it.

Consider it. So when it come time that day, when you were... I want to go back to explaining... Okay. Sure, well my plan was... What is your plan? My plan was to kill Jeff Ryan. Yeah. Take his vehicle and to kill Alvin's own speed. And we've known what this witnesses in evidence. Cut. Unfortunately, Jason was there. Unfortunately, Jason and Jesse were there. Arms be claims that he had reason to believe Jeffrey Ryan and the other man, Alvin Silzby,

were at one time the biggest drug dealers in and around Amity, that they were terrible people bringing great shame and harm to their community, that he was there on a vigilante justice mission to kill them both for the betterment of all. So you kill him outside, do you hide him at this point or do you go take care of the other two? I go. Okay.

What happens then? We have a lot of blood on you this one. Okay. And then you what do you do? You're coming around up the stairs in the house? This point on you know, I'm scared and I have to finish what I started. In my mind, it was a job, it was like a hit to me. And they were on the couch. I started with Jason, but it wasn't. Jesse ran to the back. No, Jesse, was he sitting on the couch?

If I thought you would stand up to him, I'm asking him. Yes, you stand up? Yes. And does he stand up? Does he just stand up him on the phone, I'm asking him. Yes, you stand up. Yes. And does he stand up? Does he just stand up? I stabbed Jason. They were sitting side by side. I see him into the background. It's I thought Jason was done.

You thought Jason was. I didn't think he was going anywhere. Yeah. Does Jason stand anything to you this morning? They both all of them talked. What did Jason say? He obviously. Sure.

How detailed do you want to be? As much as you can. It's a word which is spoken everywhere. What do you walk me through? I'm already guilty. I might as well. The humorous soliloquy that Thane uses to provide sub-narrative through his confession to detectives is pretty disgusting.

To him it was a job, a hit, and he had to finish what he started, leaving no witnesses behind no matter how gruesome the task. Some means of justification. I thought something couldn't grow from taking away that. So you went. So like I said, everything was going fine and we were talking about, I've been talking about spending a winter in the forest. Just camped out. In the forest? Yeah, you've been building a hut. Sure. And he said, oh, I got nails. I took me to the shed to show me nails and nice down in the back. He's saying, what's the fuck? It's a toilet. Okay. You don't

say anything else. Okay. He's down. And you know, back in. I even like go back in. Is that Jason and Jesse here into the bathroom? So I chased Jesse and he was the quickest. He just said he was scared. The family's not needed to know that. No, we do. Police found 10-year-old Jesse Ryan crouching behind his bedroom door, down on his knees as if praying, with multiple stab wounds on his back. Jason wasn't down. He wasn't down.

He got up and he ran outside and he ran down the road. And I chased him down the road and that's why he was in the ditch. And he did pull into the ditch because I wasn't going to leave him in the road. He went, you pulled him into the ditch. Yes, okay. Does he stay in the interior? Does he is trying to get away from you? Yeah, he didn't understand because obviously I just met him and there was no reason to him. You're really only mad as a very diverse person. It was really the first time I met him. Yeah. And you're stabbed, man. I mean, he doesn't understand.

And did you do something else besides that, man? I got this through. You cut this throat. How many times did you cut this throat? Two, maybe three slashes. Two, maybe three slashes. And it's obviously something I had never done for. It was just

What did you do from there? I made my round waist around the back of the front building and when inside You know I took a look and picked up whatever I had dropped. I had lost bracelet in this struggle. We found it. I found it and I had lost a hat and I had found it. I knew I had the beer bottle and I thought I had the beer bottle. To be honest with you, I thought I'd put it back in the truck.

If you look where you found the truck, you'll find the beer bottle. I thought it was mine.. You grab chest by mistake. That's what we couldn't understand how to just ball and get at the scene. You grab chest by mistake. I think that bottle was already in the back of the truck. Okay. I threw my bike in the back of the truck. I went around and tried to wipe off any evidence. You wiped up the sink? I found that wash cloth that you found on the table. And I washed off in the sink. You must have seen it.

You saw it tonight. Where's Jesse at this moment? I'm sorry to go back here. But you said that Jesse went up and went running. He went back there. He went to his back bedroom. And this is why I know where the bathroom is. Prime scene investigators first on scene believed one or more men had been responsible for

killings. As it seemed highly unlikely, one individual could completely overpower two grown men and surroundings intimately familiar to both of them. Detectives were confused. How could Thane Ormsby, a scrawny, shaggy haired 20-year-old, completely eliminate all three victims with no sign of defensive wounds to either them or him? One of the reasons I asked you a very proficient what you did. Where did you learn this? That's just it is. That's not a thing that's curious about,

did you learn how to do this from any military training, martial arts training, TV movies, videos, video games? The way you said, it was very proficient. Self knowledge. I mean, it was my first time that I first had anybody really, I had a little shot of deer. That's my very own shot of deer. I mean mean I've cleaned the deer, I cleaned the skunk, I really, very hearted.

But it was just mental focus. And I've studied things that I shouldn't have studied, and no things I shouldn't have studied. With every plunge of the knife, they fully twisted the blade to its deepest point 90 degrees, an exceptionally effective method for causing maximum pain and arterial damage, rendering a victim quickly helpless as they bled profusely to death. In my mind, we have the concept of a sheatian, and what a sheatian is is where we get the derivative of the word assassin.

And if you ever heard of the story of the old man on the mountain. Tell me the fortress that I've moved. What I know about the story is that there was a group of Hachishins. They were known as the most police of all time. I'm sure that's my downfall. but the magic of the magic of the magic of the magic of the magic of the magic of the magic of the magic of the magic of the magic of the magic of the magic of the magic of the magic of the magic of the magic of the magic of the magic of the magic of the magic of the magic of the magic of the magic of the magic of the magic of the magic of the magic of the magic of the magic of the magic of the magic of the magic of the magic of the magic of the magic of the magic of the magic of the magic of the magic of the magic of the magic of the magic of the magic of the magic of the magic of the magic of the magic of the magic of the magic of the magic of the magic of the magic of the magic of the magic of the magic of the magic of the magic of the magic of the magic of the magic of the magic of the magic of the magic of the magic of the magic of the magic of the magic of the magic of the magic of the magic of the magic of the magic of the magic of the magic of the magic of the magic of the magic of the magic of the magic of the magic of the magic of the magic of the magic of the magic of the magic of the magic of the magic of the magic of the magic of the magic of the magic of the magic of the magic of the magic of the magic of the magic of the magic of the magic of the magic of the magic of the magic of the magic of the magic of the magic of the magic of the magic of the magic of the magic of the magic of the magic of the magic of the magic of the magic of the magic of the magic of the magic of magic of the magic of the magic of the magic of the magic of the magic of magic of the magic of the magic of magic of the magic of the magic of the magic of the magic of the magic of magic of the magic of the magic of the magic of the magic of the magic of the magic of magic of magic of the magic of magic of the magic of the magic of the magic of the magic of magic of the magic of the magic, but one of the Eastern Roman emperors, Byzantine emperors, of course John Ferry was a editor for the encyclopedia of Byzantine history. So he edits book of this history. So I know something about these stories.

Great. I mean, how full of shit can this guy get? But what it comes down to is December, you know, comes to take this fortress and it's just this place in the mountains near Damascus, you know, you know, I can show it to you. I'm not bad with geography. Okay, so what happens is he brings this, he amasses a sludge army to come take this place and all that other modernness is the sheatians. The police are in charge of the murder. The police are in charge of the murder. The police are in charge of the murder. The police are in charge of the murder.

The police are in charge of the murder. The police are in charge of the murder. The police are in charge of the murder. The police are in charge of the murder. The police are in charge of the murder. The police are in charge of the murder. The police are in charge of the murder. The police are in charge of the murder.

The police are in charge of the murder. They don't come in with the dagger, they leave him not on his dead post saying that if you don't get the fuck out of here and move your army, we're gonna kill you. And he was so impressed that they made it there without getting caught that the next day he packed up camp. And I mean this is just, you know, part of the origins of the word where you get the word assassin and you're right, I wanted to be a Marine and no one taught me anything I know a couple moves. But I've prepared myself for years to be a soldier, to serve my country." Detectives noticed during the interview that Thane's eyelashes are singed, melted nearly entirely off his eyes. noticed during the interview that Thane's eyelashes are singed, melted nearly entirely off his eyes.

He admits to having met up with Robert Strout Sr. immediately following the killings, and alleges that he accompanied him the next day to burn Jeff Ryan's truck, and with it any remaining evidence tying him to the crimes. Thane then reveals that Strout Sr. recommended he immediately leave the state and offered to drive him down to his son Bobby Jr.'s place nearly 300 miles southwest, so the two of them could get on with their lives after the murders. Though Strout Senior would deny the claims he ever helped cover up Thane's gruesome crimes, including the vicious stabbing of his former grandson Jesse, he was sentenced to 10 years in prison in May of 2012. All but four years of his sentence for hindering apprehension and arson were ultimately suspended. Strout senior originally claimed that Thane threatened to kill him and his entire family,

unless he helped dispose of the evidence, so he had agreed. Though there was never any indication of any threats actually being made. Very pleased with the outcome today, lawyers did a very fine job. He has three life sentences, plus twenty-fifty years. And he's never seen a lighter day again.

And he'll have his day once he meets the Lord. I mean, there's not going to be any justice, you know. I mean, our family is gone and they can't be replaced. You know, I mean, so all you can do is hope for this. You know, and that he'll go where he's supposed to be going. Ironically, the very father figure that would take Thane in during his last few weeks of freedom, who allegedly shared countless stories of how terrible and lawless a man Jeffrey Ryan was, was also

convicted on charges of aggravated furnishing of scheduled drugs as part of a larger conspiracy to deal drugs in and around the Amity area. Robert Strout Sr. has since passed away. Thane's trial also commenced in 2012 in two parts. In the first, he was found guilty of three charges of first degree murder. In the second, he was found competent to stand trial and criminally responsible for his role in the crimes.

He was sentenced to three consecutive life terms in prison without the possibility of parole. To this day, he continues advancing appeals of his conviction with no success. They say the best laid plans of myson men often go awry. They inorbs be the self-proclaimed, self-trained assassin, was no different. Not a man at all, but a boy trapped inside a young man's body, searching, seeking and longing for a father. He decided to take matters into his own hands. Only the matters, it appears, were completely fabricated by someone else with

ulterior motives. This impressionable assassin, moving quietly through the night, missed his target entirely and brutally killed three innocent people. In the end, he was no assassin, just a cowardly little boy with a knife that was in the mood to kill.