True Crime All The Time - The Gitchie Manitou Murders

Episode Date: December 2, 2024

On November 17th, 1973, five teens went to the Gitchie Manitou State Preserve on the Iowa-South Dakota border to hang out and play guitar. Three brothers found them sitting by the fire and began shooting. Only one of the teens survived the night. Join Mike and Gibby as they discuss what has become known as the Gitchie Manitou murders. The only survivor was a 13-year-old girl. She was dropped off at home by one of the men, and she was able to give the police many details about what had happened that night. The brothers all had a different story to tell, with each of them blaming someone else for the shootings.You can help support the show at patreon.com/truecrimeallthetimeVisit the show's website at truecrimeallthetime.com for contact, merchandise, and donation informationAn Emash Digital productionSee Privacy Policy at https://art19.com/privacy and California Privacy Notice at https://art19.com/privacy#do-not-sell-my-info.

Hello everyone and welcome to episode 412 of the True Crime All the Time podcast. I'm Mike Ferguson and with me as always is my partner in true crime. Mike Gibson. How are you? Hey, I'm doing okay. How about you? I'm doing great. Yeah.

We're all getting ready for Thanksgiving. Yes, we are. At the time this comes out, Thanksgiving will be over. But I hope everyone had a great one. We don't know yet because we're taping before. Yeah. Thanksgiving. I got my turkey cooking, my hands.

my ham cooking, this cooking and that cooking. While you brought it all over to my house to use my equipment, I don't know. But you loading it all back up cooked to take home is going to be hard to do. It's wrong, but you know what? It saves me a lot of electricity.

Yeah. You said, Hey, hope you don't mind, but I brought all this over. And hey, we're gone. Hey, when I said,

Hey, do you mind if I use your oven? You never expect it. No. Let's go ahead and give our Patreon shoutouts. We had Nicole Trigenza. Hey, Nicole. Bob Brongley. What's going on, Bob? Danette. Hey, good old Danette. Jason LaRue. Hey, there's Leroux. Salina Barton. Hey, Selena. Rebecca Joe jumped out at our highest level. Well, thanks, Rebecca.

Dave. Hey, good old Dave. Cynthia Lee. Hey, Cynthia. Chief. Chief. I like that. And last but not least, Ranger Gal. Hey, Ranger Gal. And then if we go into the vault. This week we selected Les. Hey, thanks, Les. Yeah, so we appreciate the new support, the continued support. We also had a couple of great PayPal donations from Garland Amick.

Hey, Garland. And Kim Van Gilles. Ah, thanks, Van Gilles. So appreciate all the support. Yes. We have an episode out right now on Unsolved, where we're talking about Brandon Lawson. Pretty well-known case, a young man from Texas who disappeared in August 2013. on a remote highway.

So that's out. Make sure you pop on over and listen to that. We also dropped a brand new Patreon episode Saturday night. Like our 74th or something. Yeah, number 74. Yeah. But it was on Donna Screvo. And this is a mom who murdered and dismembered her adult son.

Yeah, I think she should lose her mom card. Well, this case is. beyond mystifying because she's never even come out and said why she did it. The prosecution put forth the theory, but there really wasn't like a concrete motive. It's a very fascinating case. All right, buddy, are you ready to get into this episode of true crime all the time? I am ready. On November 17, 1973, five teens went to the Gitchie Manitou State Preserve on the Iowa.

South Dakota border to hang out and play guitar. Three brothers found them sitting by the fire and began shooting. Only one of the teens survived the night. So we're talking about what has been referred to over the years as the Gitchie Manitou murders. It's a pretty well-known case. The victims were 13-year-old Sandra Chesky, her boyfriend, 17-year-old Roger Essem, 18-year-old Stuart Beatty, his brother 14-year-old Dana Beatty, and 15-year-old Mike Hadra.

Sandra was in the 7th grade. In 1973, she had moved to the T South Dakota area within the previous year from Minnesota. Earlier that summer, she was walking back to her car from the concession stand at a drive-in, theater in Sioux Falls, and saw a handsome boy. It was Roger Essum, who stopped. to talk to her and asked for her number. Oh, the old concession stand at the drive-in theater. Oh, good times, man.

I remember, you know, people piling into trunks just to get around paying for, you know, a group of people. There was something kind of magical about the drive-in. It really was. Do you remember the concession stand commercials? Oh, yeah. You know, the hot dog dancing, popcorn dance. Absolutely.

But it's just, you know, one of those things that has kind of slowly gone by the wayside. Yeah. For whatever reason, people stopped wanting to watch movies in their car. Maybe it's because they didn't want to hang that speaker, you know, on the side. Scratch your whole side of your car. Yeah, they were like big metal behemas. So, you know, they meet at the drive-in. They went on three or four dates, often accompanied by Roger's friend, Stuart Beatty,

who drove them around in his van. Roger and Stewart were in high school. Sandra didn't think much of the age difference because she spent time in the foster care system and was used to being around older kids. Sandra told the Argus leader that her mother's husband convinced her foster care and a mission school was the best way to deal with Sandra. her and her siblings. She said, I wasn't a bad girl.

I just think he made a mistake marrying a woman with four kids and didn't know how to get rid of us. I think I grew up faster because I had been in two foster homes and then to school at Marty Mission. That was a hard place to be. Kind of forced to grow up pretty quick, I think. Yeah, I think in certain situations. But how tough is that?

I mean, you got four kids and all of a sudden you marry a man who, apparently didn't want the kids around. And that was the solution to put them into the foster care system, rough on them. Either put the kids in foster care or lose me. What kind of person puts a mom in that situation? Yeah, I don't know if that's exactly how it happened, but if so, pretty rough. I want to go back to this age difference, you know, 13 years old, 17 years old. You know, four years is not that big a difference. But, you know, to me it is when you're one, I'm 13. And it's your daughter? Yeah, and it's my daughter. That would kind of be a, a tough sticking point. Yeah. And I don't believe I'd be okay with it. No, I don't think you

would either. Some people would. Some people wouldn't be. I mean, I guess it's just, you know, it varies by this situation. On the night of November 17th, 1973, Roger asked Sandra to go to the Gitchie Manitou State Preserve. They were going to build a campfire, smoke a few joints, and listen to Stewart play his guitar. Stewart planned to bring along his younger brother Dana and their friend Mike Hadry. Sounds like a good time. Well, you know, 73.

Let's get into the, what was probably a VW van, you know. Let's load up. Let's go, you know, smoke some joints. set out by a campfire. Heck, I don't know. People might be doing that today, but they're probably doing it in an apartment. They just don't need the campfire.

And it's all legal. And it's all legal in most places. The four boys were all close friends. According to Stewart and Dana's brother, Leland Beatty, they were kids that pretty much kept to themselves. There were bullies back then, too. So it was the four of them that hung out by themselves,

minded their own. business, my brothers were into music. Stuart could play guitar pretty good, and Dana was learning to play the bass. Those two were real close. I got a whole daze and confused vibe going on. Yeah, because we're, you know, in that time period. That night, their mother was in the hospital with bronchitis. Leland stopped by the house to ask his brothers what their plans were. They said they were going to, apart, to build a fire and play guitar. Mike's older, brother Bill Hadron couldn't remember if Mike told him where he was going. He spoke to the Argus leader about Gitchie Manitou, a well-known party spot in Lyon County, Iowa and said, I was probably

out there myself at one time or another when there were probably a hundred other kids out there. There were a lot of parties at that place, a lot of beer parties. Growing up, been to a lot of big outdoor parties, you know, back in the high school days and really junior high too. And I'm sure you've been to many of them as well. Yeah. I don't remember going to a lot of outdoor parties. Now, they were, they might have been outdoor, but they were at somebody's house. For some reason, there was always somebody's parents who weren't home. Yeah. And I can tell you, it was never my parents. That's for sure. because the last thing in the world I was going to do was throw a big kegger at my house.

Yeah. And put my ass on the line. I don't see that being good for you. No. If somebody else wanted to do it, I'll show up and have fun. But you're not going to wreck my house or get me in trouble. You probably were the person promoting it to one of your buddies. Like, hey, your parents are gone. Let's get a keg. Let's have a party here. I might have thrown it out. Instigator. A few times. But I'm sure a lot of people listening, you know, can think back to kind of the party spot.

Yeah. Maybe that they had around their area where people would meet up and, you know, drink a little beer and do whatever. Mike's sister Lynette Hadrith doll recalled that Mike told his mom he was going to spend the night with Roger Essem. She gave him some money and watched him leave the house. And this is something that you and I have talked about a lot that we both did growing up, which was the whole, hey, I'm going to spend the night at so-and-so's house when really the plans were something much different, much different. But that was a cover story.

Sure. Now, maybe he was going to spend the night with Roger, I don't know. Stewart drove the group to Gitchie Manitou in his blue van. He parked in the tall grass near a stone shelter. They walked down a narrow path with the Big Sioux River, 30 yards behind them, and settled into a clearing near a natural courtsite wall. So, I mean, it does sound like a cool place. Just to hang out, you wouldn't think you're going to be bothered. Yeah.

Just have a chill night around the fire. Yeah. They built a fire and Stewart played his guitar. Roger stood with his arm around Sandra. and Dana and Mike sat by the fire. They'd been there about 20 minutes when they heard sticks snapping. Roger started walking towards the noise and said, per the Argus leader, Who the hell are you?

What are you doing there? The teens encountered three brothers, 29-year-old Alan Fryer, 21-year-old James Fryer and 24-year-old David Fryer from Sioux Falls, South Dakota. Okay, I just mentioned you know, this sounds like a pretty cool place to have a, you know, what you would think would be a chill night. Yeah. Well, that all goes out the window when you encounter three people. Now, you don't know what they're there to do, right, in the beginning, but you, you've got to be a little

worrisome, I think. And they're significantly older. I mean, really, 29, 24, 21. Yeah, they're old. but pretty quickly. The teens heard a gunshot. Roger was hit and fell to the ground, dying almost immediately. The teens saw the three men standing on top of the court side ledge. They shot at the group again. Stuart and Mike were both hit, but not seriously wounded. In her interview with the Argus leader, Sandra recalled that everyone dropped to the ground.

Stewart screamed, I've been shot. It hurts. It hurts. The brothers moved. moved down from the ledge and yelled at the teens to come out of the trees. They kicked at the feet of the teens lying on the ground and told them to quit playing dead. Alan Fryer claimed they were police officers and the teens were in trouble for having marijuana. David said, Roger would be all right and he had been shot with a tranquilizer gun. And Sandra said she believed the brothers at the time. Again, though, this girl's only 13 years old.

Right. I mean, most people would know that there is a huge difference between the sound of a tranquilizer gun and a real gun being fired. And it's also coming from somebody a lot older than her, 24 saying, hey, this is what's going on. You don't need to really be worried. Well, and you got one kid on the ground screaming. I've been shot. It hurts. It hurts.

So the whole, you know, Roger's going to be okay. We just shot him with a tranquilizer gun, probably a little hard to believe. Sandra, Stewart, Dana, and Mike were forced to walk up a path at gunpoint. And Mike was hurt, so Sandra had to help him walk. She still didn't think, though, that they were in real danger. The boy said nothing and showed no signs of fear. Sandra thinks that if they did show fear, she would have tried to run. and would have been killed.

She told the Argus leader years later, I think they were trying to protect me. And that's what makes them such heroes to me. And we set it up front, Gibbs. There's only one person that makes it out of this thing a lot. Right. And so for her to say that she believes they were thinking about her, didn't want her to panic.

And, you know, she thinks of them as heroes. I mean, it's really. touching if that's the way it went down. Yeah. Sandra's hands were bound as she was placed in the brother's truck. She thought the others were going to jail in another vehicle. The last thing she told them was, well, I guess I'll see you in school. Sandra told the Argus leader, I really thought we were all going to some kind of detention

school. Yeah, she felt, you know, her hands are bound, put in the car like it was an official arrest or something. Alan Friar got into the truck and untied Sander. He told her she was too young to be busted in a drug deal. When Alan drove off with her, Stuart, Dana, and Mike were still alive. Law enforcement believes that James and David Friar lined up the boys in front of Stewart's van and shot them after they left. So I think we need to, you know, stop and take a minute to talk about these boys.

Yeah. You know, Roger was killed first very quickly, but then, you know, you have Stuart, Dana, and Mike who are left behind. And at a certain point, Gibbs, they had to have known what was getting ready to happen. If they were lined up in front of a van and guns were, you know, drawn on them. It's like a firing squad. It had to have been a terrifying situation. And then at the opposite end of the spectrum, you have Sandra who wasn't really that worried. I'm sure she thought, well, I'm going to get in trouble.

You know, I was smoking pot or whatever. But she wasn't in fear for her life. She figured, well, I'll see him all Monday. Yeah. You know. Alan took Sandra back to South Dakota. He stopped at a convenience store in Sioux Falls and bought her a soda. She still believed he was a police.

officer at this point and said that if she had known differently, she would have tried to run when she had the chance. I bet she would have. And she had the chance, right? He went into the convenience store, left her alone, but she didn't think that she needed to run. The brothers met at a farmhouse near Hartford, South Dakota. Alan Friar got out of the truck and James Friar got in, told Sandra to take her clothes off and raped her. When Alan returned to the truck, Sandra told him, per the Argus leader,

I was a virgin, you know, he responded, nah, no you aren't. She told Alan she was only 13. And he appeared shocked and said, I'll do what I can to get you out of this.

What a nightmare. So, you know, we go from Sandra believing that, yeah, she's in some type trouble, but it's not, you know, life threatening or it's not the end of the world to her being told to remove her clothes and being raped at the age of 13. Well, obviously, she knew right then and

there. This was not what she thought it was. These were not official. These were not police officers. Yeah. This thing was not what she thought it was. At this point, you got to be really scared. Yeah. I'm sure her fear level rose. dramatically and then, you know, obviously devastating to be raped like that. But then you have this guy, Alan, saying after finding out that she was only 13, almost acting like he's going to try to help her out. Try to be the good guy now. Alan told his brothers he would get rid of her.

He had a club with him and told her they needed to go into the farmhouse to look for and kill a rodent. She said she didn't want to go with him and Alan didn't make her. Alan drove her home and told her not to talk about what happened. And it's such a strange situation, right? These boys were shot and killed. Sandra was raped. Not by Alan, but he was part of the group. And then he just drops her off at home and says, hey, don't talk about this. Whatever you do, don't tell anybody. Like she's not going to. She's not going to. going to find out later that all of the friends she was with, including her boyfriend, were murder.

Yeah. And she's still going to remain quiet after that? No. Terry Johnson, a retired agent with the Iowa Bureau of Criminal Investigation, told the Argus leader, Alan wasn't the brightest bull after the boys were gunned down. And it was just him and her in the truck. I think he became aware of her as a person rather than just somebody standing. out in the woods, she remained calm and they talked. And he couldn't bring himself to kill her.

Well, I mean, she was smart. She got him to see her as a individual. As a person. And you hear that a lot, whether, you know, someone's been abducted and their loved one is trying to appeal to their abductor. And they're doing it in a way to really humanize the person who's, you know, been abducted. You want the abductor to see that person as a, as a real person, a human. Now, did she do that on purpose or did she do it just because she didn't think she was in that much trouble or that much danger? So she was able to stay pretty calm because it wasn't a life and death situation from what she knew of it. Yeah, that's a good point. And so she's just talking like she would have talked to anybody else.

Sandra couldn't sleep that night because she was worried about her friends. She called Rogers home around 8 a.m. But no one answered. Sandra and a friend hitchhiked into Sioux Falls and called again. One of Roger's brothers told her to stay where she was and he would come get her because something bad had happened. On November 18th, Edwin Scott and his wife found the bodies while visiting the nature preserve.

They stopped at a picnic shelter and saw that. three boys lying in the tall grass. They thought they were asleep. So Scott blew his horn. He went over and saw that they were dead. He and his wife drove out of the park to call the police. And we kind of talked a little bit about this on our Patreon episode that came out on Saturday night.

But, you know, someone out doing something, you know, these people were going to a nature preserve to have a picnic. Yeah. I'm sure the last thing they thought they were going to encounter were dead bodies. Oh, for sure. Last thing they would ever think they'd see. They were probably just excited about looking at the landscape. Maybe some birds, animals, things like that.

Roger Essum's body was found the next day at the clearing where the shooting first started. On November 19th, the sheriffs of Minnehaha County, South Dakota, and Lyon County, Iowa, held a press conference, and gave detailed descriptions of the suspects they were seeking. They didn't say how they got those descriptions. Sandra Chesky wasn't identified in the initial news coverage of the murders because she was being held in protective custody. Also, she was only 13 years old. Good point there. I wouldn't think they would have given her identity anyway.

In the days that followed the murders, Sandra looked at. over mugshots, gave statements, and drove around trying to find the farmhouse where she was raped. But some officers doubted her story. Sandra told the Argus leader, they weren't mean to me. They just thought that I knew the names of the people that did it and they wanted them. They didn't want to do all this driving around because in their minds they thought, why would they let her go? Why did only one of the three rape her? To them, it seemed unbelievable. Now, unfortunately, we have heard many times of the authorities not believing someone's story. But you can see here why her version of events would seem unlikely to the authorities.

You know, if they gunned down for people, why would they then, after she had seen all their faces, drive her home and just let her go. It doesn't seem like something a group of murderers would do. Yeah, it's definitely a hard pill to swallow. It is, even though that's the way it happened. But you'd have to figure out if the story wasn't true, why was she lying to him? Yeah, I can't imagine that they thought this 13-year-old girl was involved in the murders. So what would be her reason?

to lie about it. On November 29th, 1973, Sandra identified the farmhouse in Hartford. And, you know, you have to really feel for this young woman, girl, right? She's a 13 year old girl. She was raped. She then later found out that her boyfriend and three of her friends were all murdered. And she's sitting there looking at mugshots. She's driving around with the police. trying to find the farmhouse where she was raped. Yeah. That's a lot to put on a 13-year-old. It's a whole lot.

But she did it. While the officers were looking for evidence, Alan Fryer passed by in the same truck he used to kidnap Sandra. According to the Sioux City Journal, an Iowa Bureau of Criminal Investigation agent stopped the driver. To ask who owned the farm, Sandra approached the truck and shouted, that's him, that's the boss.

So, I mean, I'm getting even more badass vibes. Yeah. From this young girl. She couldn't control it. She's, that's him, you know. She needed to shout it out. Yeah, she's pointing him out. She referred to Alan Friar as the boss because he told her he was the leader of the police

group making the bust. Alan Friar and his brothers were arrested that day. They were each charged with four. counts of first-degree murder, authorities offered no information about the three suspects. The press reported that Allen was a married farmhand with a large family. The other brothers were single and had worked as construction truck drivers. And you know these murders and the rape were shocking to people. Of course.

And then the identification of these suspects had to be shocking as well. why would these three brothers do what they did? Why would they just go out to this preserve, shoot four people, kidnap a girl, rape her, and then drop her off back at home? I'm thinking Alan's family,

you know, he's got this large family. What are they thinking? Oh, he's married, he's got a bunch of kids. And maybe it's part of the reason why he couldn't bring himself to harm.

Yeah. Sandra, after he figured out what her true age was, you know, he had a bunch of young kids. He was a father. And maybe that's why he let her go. He kind of related to her age and said, I can't do this. It's possible. Alan and David were soon extradited to Iowa. But James remained in South Dakota because he was serving a 90-day sentence for attempted

grand Larson. Before his arrest, he was participating in a work release program. program. Sandra was released from protective custody after the arrest. Well, I guess they felt pretty comfortable. They had all the suspects, so she wasn't in danger. Yeah. I don't know how safe she felt, but I don't know after an incident like that, Gibbs, if you ever really truly feel safe again, probably not. The innocence is gone. Sure. And you're never getting that back. There are going to be times. where, you know, those memories flood back.

And that's going to be tough to deal with, I think, for the rest of someone's life. James Fryer fought extradition. But his habeas corpus petition was denied on February 11th, 1974. Among the extradition papers were statements given to BCI agent Terry Johnson, which indicated two of the brothers had implicated each other. In Allen's statement, he wrote that James was present. at the park and took part in the murders. However, James said Allen opened fire and shot one of the teens around the campfire. And what do we always talk about? You know, a lot of times it's not family.

It's a group of people and they're thick as thieves. Sure. Until they're caught. And then it's every person for themselves. Quickly turn on each other. Well, here you have three brothers who you would think if anybody would stick together, it would be three brothers, but even they turned on each other. On February 12, 1974, David Friar pleaded guilty to an open charge of murder for the death of Stewart Beatty. The judge said a hearing to determine his degree of guilt before sentencing. The prosecution wanted David to be found guilty of first degree murder. But his attorney argued he should be convicted of second-degree murder because the state failed to prove deliberation and premeditation. I think that would be hard to prove.

Yeah, it seems like with the facts we have, it would be. I mean, these guys just came out of the woods and started shooting people. Now, if one of them, you know, testified that they planned to go to the preserve to try to find somebody to kill or they were driving around trying to find somebody to kill or they were driving around trying to find somebody to kill, that would be a different story. Sandra testified publicly for the first time on February 19th at the evidentiary hearing. She said that although she was smoking marijuana that night, it did not impair her powers of observation. And you know, that's something that the defense was probably going to try to hammer her on.

You know, you were hot. How can we trust your testimony or what you see? said you saw that night. She said they were sitting around a campfire when they heard twig snapping. Stuart and Roger went out to get more firewood. She testified that she saw David and Alan Friar holding shotguns in the clearing where the shooting started. And you said earlier, this is something out of a horror movie.

It really is. You know, it's dark. You're sitting around a campfire and all of a sudden you see men holding gun. Okay. You almost want to piss yourself, I think. Yeah, I mean, I'm hoping that's all I do. Because it could go, it could go further than that. It could. Sandra testified that she heard two shots and Stuart and Roger fell to the ground. Alan Friar came forward and ordered her, Mike and Dana to come out. Mike said, Who the hell do you think you are and was shot?

Alan marched the survivors up the trail. She never saw Roger after he was initially shot. When Alan drove her away, she saw David and James pointing guns at Dana, Stewart, and Mike. So, yeah, she might have been smoking that night. I don't know how high she was, but she gave pretty detailed testimony. Well, I think what happened that night was ingrained her in her memory. Wasn't going to go anywhere. Yeah. Oh, I absolutely agree with that because it was such a traumatic thing. And I think that can work both ways. Sometimes, you know, being involved in an extremely traumatic experience can make you block things out. Yeah. Or it can kind of cement things into your memory. Sounds like for her it was the latter. But, you know, this test.

about seeing David and James actually pointing guns at the three boys as she was being driven away. That's huge testimony because obviously all three of those boys were shot and later found dead. Yeah. Defense lifts. Right. Yeah. I'm assuming they didn't have any weapons with them. Lined up like a firing squad. Why would they need weapons? They're out at a campfire, smoking doobies and strumming guitars. Yeah, they just wanted to have a good night out around the campfire. Right. It's the 70s, you know.

We want to go do a campfire right now by the time you got your repellent spray out and got that on. My hat with the net on it, the mosquito net. You know, do the fire the right way, the Mike Ferguson way. It's going to be morning time. I am a big fire diet, but I do like to make my fire. is a very certain way. Yes, you too. I have a Lincoln log type system that I use. Three hours later, the fire begins. The defense noted that Sandra didn't say she saw David fire a gun. David admitted to shooting Stewart, but claimed it was an impulsive act after James shot him first.

So I just said it was good testimony right on her part, but she only could say that she saw the two guys pointing guns. I don't think she saw them actually shoot. So here's where, you know, the brothers are, you know, kind of probably turning on each other. Everything turns kind of to self-preservation, right? At that point. And their defense attorneys are involved in that as well. But claiming it was an impulsive act. I only shot him because my brother shot him first. My hand just went off like that. Seems like a strange statement. It's a very strange statement.

On February 26, 1974, David Fryer was found guilty of first-degree murder and sentenced to life in prison without parole. So obviously, Gibbs, the jury didn't buy the impulsive act. Yeah. Concept? Because they went with first-degree murder. Alan Fryer's trial started on May 14th, 1974.

papers reported that back in February, Sandra was not asked to testify about what happened to her at the farmhouse. But she did file a statement that one of the brothers sexually assaulted her. During opening statements, the county attorney told the court that one of the brothers raped Sandra, but didn't name the perpetrator. The defense argued that Allen was not guilty of murder. Only one shot had been fired from the gun identified as Allen. and the three boys were still alive when Alan took Sandra away. At Allen's trial, Sandra testified that David Friar fired the first shot that hit Stewart Beatty and Alan fired the second shot that hit Roger Esso.

Alan also shot Mike in the arm. She testified that Alan kept up the pretense that the brothers were law enforcement and they were busting the teens for marijuana. He told Sandra he would try to get her out of the situation. He bought her a soda and said it would hide the scent of marijuana on her breath. Trying to act like a good guy. She testified that Alan drove her to the farmhouse and identified James Friar as the rapist. She said Alan drove her home and threatened to get her if she told anyone what happened.

She gave her first police statement the following morning. So, you know, obviously, Alan is trying to say, you know, I didn't kill anybody. I didn't rape anybody. But she's testifying that he fired a shot that hit Roger. Yeah. And he also shot Mike. And he delivered her to the rapist. Yeah, he absolutely did that.

Alan's defense attorney asked Sandra how much she smoked and if she was hot. Sandra said she smoked two joints, but she didn't feel very hot. Sandra was asked if it was possible that James Friar shot the boys out of her line of vision. She said as quoted by the Sioux City Journal, I suppose anyone could have done the shooting. I mean, for her kid, she's doing really good. Well, she's trying to be truthful. Sandra repeated that she saw David aiming a gun at Stewart and Alan aiming a gun at Roger. but she didn't actually see them pull the trigger.

A pathologist testified that all four boys were killed by shotgun wounds. They were each shot multiple times. A BCI agent introduced Allen's 12-gauge shotgun into evidence. Initially, Alan told the police he threw the gun into a pop. But he later admitted it was at his home in Sioux Falls. A ballistics expert testified there was only one shell casing. fired from Allen's gun, and it contained number four shot. The only body which had number four shot in it was Mike Hadruth.

So number four shot, do you want to explain that? Yeah, we don't talk about shotguns all that much, but shotgun shells can either contain shot, which is basically a bunch of, you know, small lead balls or pellets or whatever you want to call them, and they can vary in size. which is designated by the number. So you have birdshot, buckshot,

and obviously buckshot is a lot bigger as far as the pellets. There's less of them, but they're bigger. Because of the intended target. Yeah, because of the intended target. You can also have slugs too,

which are obviously not made up of a bunch of small pellets. It's a slug. Yeah. But this is number four shot. And it's interesting. thing in that they could determine, you know, what size shot was in each body. And they determined that only one body had number four shot in it. And that was Mike. But this evidence seemed to contradict Sandra's statement that Allen killed Roger Esson. Allen's statement to the BCI was also presented

at trial. Alan said the brothers came to the park, saw the van and walked to the camp. side, they saw two boys and returned to the truck to get their guns, intending to rob them of their marijuana or whatever else they had on them. They lined up on the ledge and the shooting occurred. They marched the teens up the path and he left the scene. So, you know, if he's being truthful, you know, he does provide some insight into at least what they were thinking in the beginning, which was, hey, we know these kids got marijuana. We're going to take that. We're also going to steal whatever else they have on them. So their attention was never to kill anybody. It was just to rob them. According to him.

Yeah. And for me, it was always going to be kind of hard to believe that, you know, these three brothers went there with the sole intention of murdering these specific people. Right. I don't, they didn't know them. How could they have known they were there? It always did seem like a crime of opportunity. And that's kind of the picture that Alan is painting. But it went much further, obviously, than a robbery. It ended up with the murder of four people and the rape of a 13-year-old girl. In closing arguments, the prosecutor told the jury that Allen should still be convicted, even if he didn't kill anyone because it's just as if he pulled the trigger himself. I can't disagree with that.

Well, you know, that's part of the law in many places. You know, if you and I go in to rob a liquor store and you shoot the clerk, I would be charged with murder as well. In most places, I believe that's how it works, even though I technically didn't pull the trigger. Now, I don't know about 1973. I don't know specifically, you know, state by state, but the prosecutor is arguing it. It's just as if he pulled the trigger himself. I think it's a good argument. The prosecution speculated that Allen may have used a 12-gauge pump shotgun to commit the murder. The gun that was identified as Allen's was semi-automatic. So what's the difference that they're looking at there?

Well, most people are very familiar with a pump shotgun, right? You see them in movies all the time, that distinctive sound of somebody pumping the shotgun. You're loading the shotgun shell by doing it. It's kind of like racking the slide on a pistol. But a semi-automatic shotgun is very similar to a semi-automatic pistol. Every time you pull the trigger, it shoots a shotgun shell. There is no, pumping is just how fast can you pull the trigger. And it just automatically advances the next. Yes. Always remember that lady in Terminator.

Did the one. The one hand rack. Yeah. And I think that's why the pump shotguns are used so often in movies because you do get that sound. It's a dramatic effect. It's very distinctive. You know when you hear that sound, you're facing a formidable weapon.

Very true. You don't get that sound with a semi-automatic shotgun, although arguably a semi-automatic shotgun is much more deadly because you can pull the trigger a little bit faster than you can pulling the trigger and pumping the shotgun to then pull it again. Yeah, a lot quicker. The defense pointed out that Roger Esson was the only victim who was dead when Alan left the scene and Roger was killed by a gun that did not belong to Al.

So you can see what they're doing here. But it's very clear the defense is saying, you know, hey, Alan didn't kill anyone. They also claimed that Alan wanted to save Sandra. The prosecutor responded to this in rebuttal, saying the defense has talked about the nice character of Alan Fryer. His character is so nice. He took a 13-year-old girl to be raped by his brother. I mean, so true and perfectly said to the jury. Yeah, now, ultimately, he did take her home.

There's no denying that. But there's also no getting around the fact that he took her from the scene, took her back to that farmhouse where his brother raped her. But the defense is trying to do their job, right? They're trying to paint him as a better guy than his brothers. He just mixed up with the wrong brothers. On May 20th, 1974, Alan Friar was found guilty of four counts of first-degree murder.

But his sentencing was delayed because his attorney was sick. Then on June 19th, 1974, Alan and James escaped from the Lyon County Jail. Alan pried the lock off his cell door and freed James from another cell. They were arrested later that day in Gillette, Wyoming, driving a stolen vehicle. Now, I got to ask, you know, how good is your jail when somebody can just pry the lock off of the cell door? Very good. I mean, this is not Alcatraz, obviously, we're talking about. I know you've been inside a few of those jail cells and you

understand how flimsy they can be sometimes. Yeah, that one you kept me in in your basement at your house for a week was not all that sturdy. I'm still a little sore about that. See, how do you turn that on me? But seriously, how do you pry the lock off of a cell? Sounds like he was very resourceful. He must have been. It's not like he had a whole set of craftsman tools in there, I'm assuming. Maybe McGuver or maybe McGuver.

McGruber. He pulled the McGruber. On August 13th, 1974, Alan Fryer received four concurrent life sentences. So, you know, we talked about it earlier. this concept of no matter really what your participation is in the actual pulling of the trigger. If you're involved in a crime where a murder or murders occur, oftentimes you're given the same consequences as the person who did pull the trigger because you participated in the crime.

Yeah, he didn't do anything to stop them from killing anybody. And he didn't go to the police to report anything. either. James Friars trial started on December 12th, 1974. At this trial, Sandra testified that James Friar was sitting in the truck during the initial shooting and joined his brothers when they walked up the trail to a shelter house at the park. She again testified that James Friar raped her. Her handwritten statements were admitted as evidence. She wrote that at one point James pointed his gun at them and said, you stand right where you are, or I'll blow your blanking heads off. And I can't say enough, Gibbs, about this, this young girl, Sandra. I mean, you've been on the stand

before. I've been on the stand before. As an adult, as a 40-some-year-old man, it was nerve-wracking for me. Sure. And I wasn't in trouble, but I was testifying, you know, as to what I knew about something, it's very nerve-wracking when, you know, the defense attorney is cross-examining you. The prosecutor, not so much because a lot of times there's prep involved. You sit with the prosecutor, kind of know what some of the questions are going to be, but you have no idea what the defense is going to ask you. You don't. What they're going to say and how they're going to try to paint you. Now, my involvement wasn't really anything like that. It was pretty simple testimony, but still it was nerve-wracking. I can't imagine what it would be like for a 13-year-old girl

who's maybe a little older at this point because the trials are happening a little later. Maybe she's 14, but still to get on the stand in front of all these people and say, this man raped me. This man shot so-and-so, or this is what I saw, you know, that takes a lot of sand. Yeah, I think it would be very difficult, but clearly she's remarkable. Two BCI agents testified about James's statement to authorities. James told an agent. He met his brothers on the evening of November 17th, and they went to several drinking spots before they came to Gitchie Manitou and encountered the five young people. One of the brothers said, they've got marijuana and we've got to get it.

James claimed that he fired his gun into the air to scare the teens and Alan cut loose. According to James, Alan fired the shot that killed Roger Esso. So again, we talked about it, right? Brother turning on brother. You know, at this point, I don't know that it mattered. Two of the brothers have already been convicted and given life sentences. James is probably apt to say whatever he has to say at this point. Yeah, he's just trying to save his own ass at this point.

He's not going to hurt his brothers, I don't think, any more than they've already been hurt. James said he left and went back to the truck. The group appeared several minutes later. Stuart Beatty was having trouble breathing because he was shot in the chest. James claimed he drove away in Stewart's fan, but the engine gave out after a short drive. He heard two or three shots and returned to the shelter house area. Alan took the girl away. James and David drove to Sue Falls to get David's vehicle and looked for Alan.

James claimed they found Alan smooching Sandra at the farmhouse. Smooching. Well, you know, first of all, James has a very different story than anybody else, including Sandra. You know, if you look at his story, he didn't do anything. Gibbs, right? His version of events paints him out to pretty much be excluded from anything, including the killing.

He also claimed Sandra removed her clothing and said she would have sex with all three of them. James claimed he had what he called sexual relations. with Sandra and David did after him. Well, it sounds like he's just trying to get out of the fact that he raped her. Yeah, I mean, in his version of events, he has a 13-year-old willingly removing her clothing and agreeing to have sex with all three of the brothers. Now, if you're a member of the jury who has seen this girl testify on the stand

and talk about what happened to her. How much of that story are you believing? Because to me, I'm saying none. Absolutely not. I'm seeing through that, you know, as a guy who's lying and willing to say anything to try to get out of trouble. It's actually going to piss me off if I was like. Yeah. Yeah.

I'm with you. That would actually anger me. On December 20th, 1974, James Friar was found guilty of four counts. manslaughter in the death of Roger Esham, first degree murder in the death of Michael Hadrith, first degree murder in the death of Stuart Beatty, and first degree murder in the death of Dana Beatty. On January 7th, 1975,

James received three life sentences plus eight years and a thousand dollar fine. I always love when they do the plus eight years or whatever, right, after the life sentences. just to like really. Oh, and what gets me is the $1,000 fine. Like, okay, you've just been handed down three life sentences and then they tack on eight years.

And by the way, you're going to have to pay $1,000. But it is interesting that he didn't get the four first degree murder convictions. He got manslaughter in the death of Roger Essen. According to the Des Moines Register, because James was going to serve life without parole, the DA felt there was no need to subject Sandra Chesky to a rape trial. And I don't know whether the DA, you know, consulted with her on that. If she was okay with that, you know, I'm sure that was not going to be an easy trial for her. Right.

She'd already been through a lot. At some point, she probably wants to get her life back on track. Yeah. So that might have been a good thing for her. I don't know. I think you could also have a person who, even though they know this, their perpetrator is probably going to spend the rest of their life in jail, once them convicted of what they did to them as well. I think some people would want that, but I don't know in this case. Sandra Chesky now in her 60s is a mother, aunt, and grandmother.

In 2013, she spoke with the Sioux Falls Argus leader. about what she went through. She said that her classmates shunned her because their parents told them to. She dropped out of school a few months after the murder. Why would this girl need to be shunned? What did she do wrong? She smoked a couple of joints. Yeah.

You know, sometimes I think back then things were handled incorrectly. Oh, well, yeah, throughout history. A lot of things have been handled incorrectly. I think what jumps out at me here is it's not, at least as it was reported, the kids on their own doing this. It was at the parents urging. Hey, don't talk to that girl. She's bad news. Yeah.

Why? Because she was having fun, wanting to go sit by campfire, listen to somebody playing the guitar. And then something really horrible happened to her. Yeah. And she stood up like a freaking rock star and helped get all these people convicted. I think you'd say, befriend her. That's a person you want in your life. Well, it's sad.

It's sad. Now, her mother was supportive, but she was busy working two jobs. And it was said that Sandra's stepfather was not supportive. Sandra kept her head down for years because she felt ashamed and alone. Many people judged her for hanging out with older boys that night. Some even alleged she survived because she was in on the murders. Wow. That's, I don't, I don't get people, man.

I really don't. I don't understand why there seems to be a need by some to really kick people when they're already down. Not bad enough what this girl went through. But then she has to have, you know, people. telling untruthful conspiracy theories, you know, on her and saying she was involved in the murders and she got what she deserved. I'm assuming that's the type of stuff that was, you know, the type of vitriol that was coming her way. And that's a shame. It is. Sandra felt ready to

tell her story in 2013 because she wanted her family to hear it from her. She told the Argus leader, my grandchildren are going to Google, Gitchy Manitoo, and they're going to see my name and read horrific stuff that they don't know about. I just don't want them to find it and be shocked and upset. I want them to know that it was a huge tragedy and that grandma wasn't doing anything bad. And that's such a interesting and very sad statement at the same time.

Yeah. You know, we have talked about this before, whether, you know, it's somebody who was killed while they were a sex worker. Or in this case, a girl who happened to be with her older boyfriend smoking a couple joints. That doesn't mean that you deserve to have these terrible things happen to you. Not at all. And then for people to pile on. I mean, I just think that's so wrong. I can't emphasize it enough.

That's just some shitty people. The Friar brothers are in their 70s and are still incarcerated. They have never fully revealed their motive. And I don't even know if they had a motive. You know, they're out. They've been drinking. They know these people have pot. They want the pot.

Now, they could have taken the pot and taken any money they had and just left. Why they chose to shoot. four people that night and then take Sandra why James, you know, chose to rape her. If they don't come out and say those things, then there's nothing you can do but speculate. But it makes you wonder if they were able to so easily shoot and kill that day. Did they do it before? Yeah, it's not like it seemed to be a big deal to them. Yeah.

So traumatizing to him. Yeah, maybe they were involved in a lot of other things that have never come out. Not sure. Early media reports suggested the brothers were at the preserve trying to poach deer. Former law enforcement officer Kevin Kunkel told the Argus leader, these guys went pheasant hunting that day but didn't get any pheasants. So they went deer hunting but couldn't find any deer. That's when they decided to hunt the one thing they could find.

Humans. Okay. Scary thought. But I don't know that he's that far off. You know, was this a case where, you know, they didn't want these people to be able to identify them? It doesn't seem to me to be that. You know, in a lot of cases, people are killed because the perpetrator doesn't want to take the chance that they'll identify them later. Yeah.

If that's the case, why didn't they just shoot Sandra there at the preserve as well? The whole thing seems, you know, a little random, chaotic. What's the word I'm looking for? Almost like thrill seeking. Right. Maybe. Maybe there was an aspect of that to it. I don't know.

I'm guessing Alan and the brothers wish that Alan hadn't taken her away from the scene. And taking her home? Yeah. Yeah. I'm sure they do. But luckily he did because. You know, I don't know that we'd have the answers that we have in this case. And it really is a fascinating case. It's tragic because four people, four young people lost their lives. One young

girl was scarred, I'm sure, although it sounds like she's doing pretty well now, but it altered the course of her life. I don't think there's any doubt about that. That's it for our episode on the Gitchie Manitou murders. We've got some voice. Males, Gibb. You want to check those out? Let's hear them. Hi, Mike and Gibby. I don't think you'll ever play this, but I wanted you to know you, but huge fan in Los Angeles, California. I am literally obsessed with the podcast. I think it is the perfect mix of, I tune in because I love listening to you guys. I think you're hilarious, like hilarious. And I know the point of the podcast is not to be funny.

And of course, I know that you're not. And I never feel like you're making light of people's But just some of the comments that you guys make have me literally dying. I love this podcast so much, but I would not want to listen to these cases from anyone else. It's truly you guys that I tune in for. So thank you. And sorry, one more thing. I wanted to suggest you do the case of Scott Radigan out of, I believe it's Fairfax, Virginia, or Arlington, Virginia. Very weird case where they have something on video of a guy, but like no leads, literally no something.

suspect, like no life and crime, it's like very, very bizarre. So, suggestion for that case and keep your own time picking. You know how you get your voicemail played? Say you probably won't play this? Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. Now, that was a very nice voicemail.

It was. Definitely wanted to play that. Although I probably should have played an unsolved because her suggestion was an unsolved case. But, hey, you just roll the way you want to roll. I do. Hi, Mike and Jerry. It's dispatcher Lisa. Long time, no chat.

I was just listening to the Tammy Leaknick episode, how the husband wanted her, or wanted the police to take the gun and give it to her because he didn't want to see her. That's not a thing the police department has time to do, to be honest with you. I'm in Illinois also, as you well know. I remember this case. But if we did that for one person, that's all that the police department would be doing is going and dropping things off to people. We have people call all the time wanting us to pick up their keys from so-and-so

and bring them to them. So the officers will stand by while somebody retrieves property or drops off property or drops off the children. one of those things, but they're not just going to go and pick up something and drop it off. That is just not the way things work. Anyway, hope we have a, had a great Thanksgiving because by the time you hear this, it'll probably be after Thanksgiving. Love the show still, still listen to it every week, and have a great day.

Bye-bye. I think she met she was in Illinois. Yeah, I think she said Illinois. way. But hey, we always love hearing from dispatcher Lisa as she calls herself. But, you know, that makes sense. You know, the police are not courier services. They have those. You used to work for one of them. I did. If you need something taken from point A to point B, that's not what the police are there for. Give it to give me. He'll get it done. He'll get it done in his short brown shorts. That's right. All right, buddy, we had no mailbag this week. So that is it for another episode of

true crime all the time. So for Mike and Gibby, stay safe and keep your own time ticking.