True Crime with Kimbyr - Part 2: TRIPLE Family MURDER SHOCKS Florida Vacation Town - The Rogers Family Deep Dive | True Crime Stories

Episode Date: April 10, 2026

In Part 2 of True Crime with Kimbyr, Kimbyrleigha dives deeper into the devastating fate of Michelle, Christie, and Joan Rogers. As investigators begin to piece together their final days, disturbing discoveries and chilling clues start to emerge. Who crossed paths with the Rogers women during their trip—and what went so horribly wrong? With her signature compassionate and analytical approach, True Crime with Kimbyr unravels the evidence, explores key suspects, and raises the questions that still linger. The deeper you go, the darker this case becomes. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Although he knew that Joe and his girls were not coming back. Own it all. Pay off your home, travel for life, drive a Ferrari. In celebration of the world premiere of the Monopoly Big Board Buckslot Machine by Aristocrat Gaming, Yamava Resort and Casino at San Manuel is giving one person a $1.6 million dream package. The biggest prize in Yamava's history. Club Serrano members can earn daily instant prizes and secure a spot in the finale May 29th. Don't pass go and own it all.

Only at Yamava, celebrating its 40th anniversary. You win? Details at Yamava.com must be 21-20. Please gamble responsibly. Monopoly is a trademark of Hasbro. Hasbro is not a sponsor of this promotion. He couldn't help but cling to the hope that they would return. And every time he heard the phone ring or someone walking through the door, he thought it was going to be them. He thought he was going to hear their voices again. And whenever he looked towards the house, he thought about his family being back together again. He felt like his wife and daughters were going to roll up into that driveway

from Florida at any moment, and he regretted his choice not to go on that vacation. And I can only imagine how that would have affected him. I think there would have been so much guilt, so much regret. An overwhelming number of people attended the funeral service to pay their respects. Around 300 people were there, and as a result, the small congregation had to cram into the basement and their fellowship hall of the church. Hal remembers seeing at least 12 news vans. They were just parked all along these country roads.

He was on his way to his family's funeral service. He realized that each one of these news stations was there to try to be first with the most interesting story and the best pictures that they could get about what happened to his wife and daughters. It was their murder and it was surreal. Hal didn't have to think about what to wear because he only owned one single suit that Joe had bought for him many years ago. It was a gray pinstripe suit.

and he paired it with a fuchsia shirt. Joe always said that it made him look really handsome. And there they were right in the front of the church, the three caskets. And next to them were pictures of Joe, Michelle, and Christy, just smiling brightly. And inside each casket, Hal requested a teddy bear be placed. There was not one person with a dry eye in that entire congregation. Hal wore sunglasses, as he usually did. It was just one of his signature looks.

I've seen him wear these tinted dark lenses in other pictures. This time it was helping to hide his tears. He even saw his mother at the funeral, and at first it really, it shocked him. He was still mad at her for accusing Michelle of lying, but he knew this was not the right moment to be upset and give any of that attention. After the ceremony, everyone went to a small cemetery across the street from the church to bury Joe, Michelle, and Christy. And there's a picture of one of Christy's friends sobbing as they lowered her casket.

At some point, Hal just turned to his family and said that he just wanted to be left alone. And not too long after this, he was seen tending to the farm again. It probably helped him get his mind off of everything. This place was all he had left. His family were the ones who helped him create this beautiful farm. He didn't want to let that die with them. By now, investigators realized they had to put a pause on any more accusations pointed Hal's way for the time being. It was back to Florida where something of significance was found inside the Osmobile.

As the crime scene technicians were combing through all the papers and the brochures, they stumbled upon the only other one with handwriting on it. It was a brochure for Clearwater Beach, and on the back were words, Days In, Courtney Causeway Route 60, and at the bottom were directions. It said Courtney Campbell Causeway, at 60 Days In. Also at the top left were the words Boy Scout and Collective. which are actually roads that lead toward the hotel. It was Joe's handwriting that wrote Boy Scout in Columbus.

But the directions weren't in Joe's handwriting like the last set of directions. This was written by someone else. And when compared to handwriting samples of Michelle and Christy, it wasn't their handwriting either. What it proved was that these women encountered someone who knew that they were staying at the days in. Maybe they had gotten lost, and asked someone for directions to their hotel.

They were probably near Boy Scout and Columbus and given directions toward where their hotel would be. So did this person who helped them have any clue that could help police or worse? Was this the person who killed them? It had been hours after the directions were written that these women met their fate on a boat in the middle of the Gulf of Mexico.

So was this a connection? Investigators were not sure. They weren't sure of many things. They don't even know if, if this was one person or two people. It seemed more plausible at this point that it would have taken more than one person to subdue three women,

especially if each one of them had to be bound and forced to have intercourse and then thrown over one by one. But on the other hand, the perpetrator could have threatened the women at gunpoint or had a weapon, not even. It was probably enough to merely threaten to push them overboard because none of them

could swim well if at all. It's a terrible thought to envision each woman being bound and having to watch the others being taken advantage of and then left to drown. And there was nothing that they could do. It is just so evil. What kind of monster would do something like this? That's what the investigators really want to find out. They're focused on that handwriting because it was all they had.

And it sounds crazy, but they took samples from every employee who was working at businesses in the radius that they mapped out. From where they thought the women were when they received the directions, here's Boy Scout, in Columbus with this major highway nearby called Dale Maybury so investigators are focused on all of these establishments in this area between the highway and the hotel it was a huge operation and still nothing months went by there were rewards offered the media was given tons of information about the case to put out there to the public everyone in the area knew about it and still there were no leads they thought this case was never going to be solved but an even bigger

her lead was to come in October of 1989, four months after the murders. Detective Capel saw a bulletin that caught his eye. There had been an unsolved case where a woman from Canada claimed that she had encountered a man in St. Petersburg while she was on vacation. And this man also asked her if she wanted to go on a boat ride at Madeira Beach. But the unthinkable happened instead of getting pictures of a sunset, she was attacked and forced to engage in intercourse. However, this woman survived, and they wanted details.

It wasn't every day that you hear about a case like this where a woman was on a boat where these type of things occurred. So this fact piqued the detective's interest. It was also within a very tight time frame. This happened on May 15th, just two weeks before the Rogers women were found dead. This is Madeira Beach. It's on the St. Petersburg side, but still close to the Skyway Bridge and the vicinity where the women were found. Not only that. The woman had described the boat as being a light blue color with a white.

interior. That was enough for detectives to fly to Canada and speak with this woman. And I was able to listen to this poor woman recount what happened to her. And I have to tell you it terrified me. It also made me very sad. Of course, I'm going to explain. To protect her identity, she went by the name Jane. She was 24 years old. She just graduated from college and her and her friend decided it was time to celebrate, have some fun for their accomplishments. So they decided to go to Florida. A beach to be exact and it seemed perfect. It was a small beach town well known for its sea-themed John's Pass Village and a 1,000-foot boardwalk along the intercoastal.

It's lined with tons of really cute beach style, restaurants, lots of bars, and it was considered a safe area. So Jane and her friend were excited for their adventure. On the evening of May 14th, the two Canadian tourists were walking into a 7-11 convenience store to grab a few things before heading out to the bars to have some fun on the boardwalk. And that's when they bumped into a guy. He was sitting in a dark colored SUV and he started chatting it up with them. He introduced himself as Dave Posner. He just struck up this friendly conversation with the girls. He was kind of tall, tan, muscular, kind of had like long,

blondeish hair. He looked at the surfer type, very Florida. And he seemed to be in his 30s. He was just very friendly. They just talked about where they were going that night, and that's when the guy offered them some tips because he was a local. He warned them that the area they were going to could be a little crazy and they better be careful, and he made a comment about them being two pretty girls. He didn't want to see anything bad happen to them because it was kind of a high crime area. Well, this was news to them. They thought that they were going to be fine. So he offers to at least give them a ride there, so they didn't have to walk since he didn't think that was going to be safe. The girls took him up on his offer. It was way better to get a ride and he seemed nice enough.

It was about a four minute drive, but the walk would have taken them maybe 30 minutes. When they were on the way, they were still talking and he mentioned he owned a boat. Now Jane's friend got excited. She wanted to go on a boat ride and he said, you know what, it would be really fun and a great experience for you while you're here. So he offered to take them out the next day. There were a lot of places where you could pay to get a boat ride. But free is much better. So it sounded great to the girls. He told them where the dock was.

It was called Dawn's Doc. It was right in the area. And the girls agreed to meet him in the morning. However, as the night went on, the girls were pretty tired. They had partied into the early morning hours. And Jane's friend, she was not feeling it anymore. Even though it was kind of her idea to begin with, but Jane wasn't the type of person to sell someone out.

She thought it was going to be rude if they didn't show up. even if it was just to let the guy know, you know what? We can't make it. Let's reschedule for another time later in the week, that sort of thing. So Jane heads out early in the morning to meet up with Dave. When she gets there, he's already ready with the boat and he says, where's your friend? Jane explained that, you know what, my friend just didn't want to go. And Dave's like, you know what, that's fine. No worries.

Let's have some fun. And they actually did. They spent the entire afternoon going up and down the intercoastal waterway. This is this area right here in between. all these little islands, so to speak. It's very calm, lots to see, big houses, waterfront restaurants. It's very nice. And Dave acted like a tour guide showing her all around. They had a great time. He even brought fishing poles and he showed her out of fish and they did that for a little while. He wasn't acting strange at all. He was normal, very cordial. They were together for a few

hours. This wasn't just a short date. It was an all-day affair and they had a lot of fun. So much so, She agreed to come back for a sunset cruise. So Dave told her to grab her camera and try to convince her friend to come out because she wouldn't want to miss this opportunity. This was an amazing chance to get pictures of the sunset over the water. Of course, Jane was in. She agreed and she was excited. And she told her friend how fun it was and what a relaxing day she had on the water.

But for some reason, her friend had no interest in going with her on a night cruise. Maybe she had some kind of intuition. but Jane was not going to stand up Dave, especially after all he did for her that afternoon, so she goes back to the dock before sunset to meet him again, camera in hand. This time, when Jane explained that her friend declined, Dave did seem kind of disappointed,

but it was more about how her friend was really going to miss out on some very remarkable moments on their Florida vacation. The thing is, Jane was not familiar with the waters. She wasn't aware that Dave wasn't taking her on the same route they did before. This time, they were headed out to sea. Out into the vast waters of the Gulf of Mexico. Does it sound familiar? Because it's a much different area, no people, no restaurants, no one can hear you scream.

This is the same Gulf that investigators believe the Rogers were taken before they were thrown overboard to drown. And all of a sudden, it seemed like Dave's personality kind of switched. The further they got from the shore, he seemed to be more agitated. He did explain that they were going to go to more of the open water area because the pictures were better. Nothing would obscure your view. And Jane was fine with that, but she did tell Dave, she needed to be back to the dock before it got dark. So they anchored.

Dave took out the fishing poles again, telling her, you know what, this is a great time to fish when the sun goes down because the fish come out to eat. Jane's snapping pictures the whole time. Dave took the camera and got some really nice. shots of Jane on the boat with her fishing the sunset and Jane took pictures of the sunset too and of Dave and then it was like all of a sudden there was some urgency to stop fishing which was fine with Jane she didn't in mind because it started to get dark but instead of turning back Dave moved in on Jane and made a move on her Jane kind of figured this would happen like why would this guy this random guy take you on this random tourist ride without expecting something

in return. It shouldn't be like that, but she kind of just had this feeling and it was happening. At first it started with a hug, but Jane just wanted to make him aware she wasn't interested in going any further, especially because her friend was expecting her back soon. Well, that did not go over well with Dave. He became visibly upset. He started to speak to her in a really rude tone of voice and then he grabbed a hold of her and he began to force her down. Jane realized that Dave was going to have sex with her no matter what. Still, she tried to push away. She told him no.

And she warned him, if you do anything to me, I'll remember your face and I'll go straight to the authorities right away. Jane was struggling. She was screaming. And at this point, Dave said, what are you going to do? You're wasting your time. No one is going to hear you. And then what are you going to do?

Jump? He told her, good luck with that. These waters are infested with sharks. But Jane thought about it. She could see the lights of the shore. And though they were far away, it was better in her mind at that moment than to let this man have his way with her. He told her to stop screaming or else he was going to take some duct tape and put it over her mouth. And that really scared her.

She couldn't imagine not being able to breathe out of her mouth. And then Dave said something. He asked her, is sex really something you want to lose your life over? Wow, he really said that. It's unbelievable. Sometimes I want to ask these same men. Is sex something worth killing? someone over and then going to prison for the rest of your life or getting the death penalty?

All of this scared her into submission. She knew no one was going to hear her scream and she realized if she didn't let him do what he wanted, he was probably going to kill her. I felt so bad for her because in the interview, this is when she really starts to cry. It was this part of the story because she blamed herself. She said it was her fault, that she made so many mistakes, that she was always taught not to talk to strangers and especially not to go somewhere with one. And now look at her, she thought, here I am in this compromising situation. And then she thought to herself, I should have known better. So many thoughts were going through her head, but she let Dave have his way with her. She knew there was no other way. And afterward, this man gives her some water.

He tells her, wash herself off. Then he grabs her camera, removes the film, and throws it into the water. He turned on the boat engine and he just goes right back to the shore and at this point, Dave's demeanor changes again. He seems scared. He even starts to get sick and he leans over the boat and throws up. Then he apologizes saying, I've taken something from you that you can never get back. Jane didn't know what to think of all this.

A man who had just done something terrible to her was now talking to her like a friend. And it didn't stop there. He told her he knew she was going to report him, but he begged her to wait a little while. He said, my mom's sick. I don't want the police to show up at her door and give her a heart attack because it would probably kill her.

Jane thought that he was being genuine until she realized he was most likely scared because he probably planned to kill her but realized her friend could identify him and now he had to let her go. So that's why he was probably throwing up. He was scared. Soon enough, they were close to the dock, but Dave didn't drop her off there.

He took her to a more dark, secluded spot where she actually had to wade through the water and climb up an embankment with no clothes on from the waist down. She finally got back to shore, and this poor woman, God, I feel so bad for her. She's so lucky to be alive. She was able to finally get back to her room, and she kept her word. She went straight to the police, and she reported what had happened, and the police tried to find this Dave Posner person, but he didn't exist. He had given her a fake name. Of course he did. There was nothing for them to go on, and Jane was set to return to Canada. She really thought

that he would never pay for what he did to her. At this point, though, the Florida investigators truly believe that Jane's case is connected to the Rogers murders. Both involved women who were from out of town. They were targeted. They didn't know the area well, and the man offered to help them in one way or another, kind of befriending them, then offered to take them out on a boat ride, a sunset cruise at that, the duct tape, the threats, the blue and white boat, the fact that they happened two weeks apart, and they involved forced intercourse, leaving the women with no clothes on from the waist down. And even though Jane got away, he did threaten to kill her, especially if she tried to resist. There were way too many similarities for this not to have been the same guy.

And another thing that I realized, and it wasn't mentioned anywhere that I read about, remember the tip that initially came in from the lady who said, I saw the car at the boat ramp at 2 p.m. Well, this was kind of brushed to the side, not really taken into account because once the investigators developed the photos, they saw that this was probably around 730 or 8 that the women met this man at the boat ramp. I know I'm not an investigator. It's not my job, and I don't usually make assumptions. But think about this.

What if another connection between Jane and the Rogers women was that they did go on an afternoon boat ride first, just like Jane. And everything was fine, just like it was with Jane. Recall the picture of Michelle later that evening. She had a sunburn. And of course, she's been in Florida for many days. It's hot and sunny. But what if? What if this is this guy's MO?

To make it seem like he's Mr. Nice Guy take you out on this normal boat. ride, then invite you back for a night cruise, just like he did with Jane. The Rogers could have done the same thing and went back at 8 p.m., believing just like Jane did, that nothing was going to go wrong, that this man was going to be a tour guide, not a killer. Typically, these kind of boat rides are quite pricey, and we know that Joe used a discount card for the hotel. They didn't have a lot of money to spend for the three of them to go on a boat ride. So they could have thought that this was a pretty good deal. This nice man going to take them out on a cruise for the sunset. To me, I truly believe that they had been on that boat twice. It just makes more sense to me, especially if this was the guy.

I really saw that as a connection. And it was just a possibility that was not discussed again. But back to the story. Jane also kept another promise that she wouldn't forget what that man's face looked like. So she helped the sketch artist create a composite of the suspect. And this is what looked like. The man was said to be about 510, medium husky build, 33 to about 40 years old, light hair, mustache, and Jane was even able to remember what the boat looked like. And I'm talking detail. It was an older boat with a blue faded hole and it had a dark colored canopy that was down. It was a single engine that was white and it lifted up. A white completely open interior with two places to kind of sit on the stern and back. And there was a spongy black

material covering the steering wheel. A storage area was up front where you could actually step down into it. There was a windshield and two seats up front and Jane remembered a lot. Investigators were anxious to get this information out to the media. Before the investigators left Canada, Jane provided them with one final detail about the assailant. She said that the man told her he owned an aluminum business and that his house was about two hours away by boat. The investigators had a lot of hope. They were certain someone from this area is going to recognize this man or his vote or both. And the very next day, it was on every news station.

They ran the story everywhere. At the time, this was the most important case. Everyone at both of these departments were working on it. Hundreds of hours went into it with the hope that this was it, that this composite and the boat sketch would leave to a tip that's going to solve this case, but it didn't. Now, hundreds of tips came in. but none of them panned out. There was one that seemed really promising at one point.

There was a guy who had an unlicensed boat that was giving boat rides to tourists at the dock, the dock where they found Joe's car. The detectives tracked this man down and they discovered some compelling information about him, including his arrest for several crimes, burglary, grand theft, aggravated assault with a deadly weapon, and this man lived only about five miles from that boat dock.

So they questioned him at his house. And when they arrived, they found a blue and white boat parked there. Their inspection of the area revealed concrete blocks, very similar to those tied to the victim's ropes. A spot on one of the concrete blocks appeared to be a dark stain, which they thought could be blood. And when they peeked inside the boat, they saw rope. It was the same type used in the murders. So it seemed like this guy was a real potential suspect. So they knocked on his door and they questioned him with his.

wife. They asked him, what were you doing the days of the murders? And the man told him he was fishing with his friends in his boat. And the detectives realized, okay, this man just placed himself on the bay when the Rogers women were thrown in. But then he pulled one of the detectives aside. He didn't want his wife to hear what he was saying. And he said, listen, I wasn't fishing on the night of the murder. I was with my girlfriend. And he gives them her information. And this was his alibi. It was confirmed. He agrees to take a polygraph and he passes it and they clear him. But I hope that these investigators let that poor woman know that her husband was guilty of at least one thing, being a cheater. But once again, they're at a dead end. They felt helpless. They were determined to bring justice

to the Rogers family. To inspire themselves to keep going, they displayed photos of Joe and Michelle and Christy on their whiteboards to remind them why they had to keep fighting for the truth. Look at all these case files on the shelf. So many, and each, with every tip that they had collected, yet they just sat there for months. Soon they were collecting dust, and the task force was dismantled. Officers had to work on new cases, and the Rogers case went cold. Poor Hal never got closure,

even though the investigators had moved on from accusing him that didn't stop people in his town from whispering. Many thought he was guilty. They couldn't fathom that the Rogers women were just randomly chosen out of thousands of people that take trips to Florida. It was hard for me not to feel bad for Hal, especially when I heard that the hotel still charged Joe's credit card for the entire stay, meaning even though she and her daughters had merely hung out there in the room for a few hours and then they were brutally murdered, the room was still

checked in under her name and not checked out of until a week later when the police arrived. So it was still Joe's responsibility to pay as far as the hotel was concerned. and Hal was stuck with the bill, which came out to $321.41.46. He didn't dispute it either. He just paid the bill. That wasn't closure, though. He even tried to get some by actually taking the same trip on the same route his wife and daughters took. He drove from Ohio to Florida, and he stopped to see the place their bodies had been found. He left a few days before Christmas, and he actually placed wreaths in different locations, especially where the Coast Guard had responded.

Hal was depressed for a long time before the murders, and Joe was the only one that could be there for him, to be his rock, to pick him up when he was down, but now she was gone. He was more depressed than he'd ever been. He even thought about ending his life so that he could rest in peace with his family. But somehow he found the courage to press on

because he wanted to see the killer brought to justice. The year anniversary was approaching, but time stood still, the police station where all the Rogers files lay unopened. But that was about to change. Sergeant Glenn Moore was transferred to the homicide department as the new supervisor. He had worked on the Rogers case when it first broke,

but only briefly, however. This is the one case that stuck with him, especially because he had two daughters that were the same age as Michelle and Christy. He was determined to breathe new life into this case. So we asked all the investigators who had worked on the case previously to brief him on what they had already found. Well, they seemed to think they had done everything they could and that there was nothing else to look at. Well, Sergeant Moore wasn't so sure.

He wasn't going to give up that easily. He asked his commander to give him a chance on this case. He said, please, just let me review it. If there were truly nothing we can look into, fine, but we got to try. The commander said, okay, you got two weeks and that's it. They had already spent a lot of resources on this case at this point. So Moore formed a task force of six investigators and he picked the best of the best. They scoured the files. They went through each and every interview, every tip, the autopsy reports, the pictures, everything, jotting down any thoughts or questions that came to mind. They had a method where they sat around a table wearing gloves and they would pass each piece of evidence around the table and look at it one by one in the presence

of everyone else, and they would talk through anything they noticed. After the two weeks were up, Moore and his team had come up with 150 unanswered questions. These were things that they think had never been investigated. That was more than enough to reopen this case. The most important piece of evidence, though, according to Moore, was that Clearwater brochure. Remember the one that had the directions to the days in? We'll get this. It had never been examined. for fingerprints. And if someone else had written on it, Moore thought for sure it could be processed for prints. And not only that, it was already noted that the brochure had directions to the days in. The crossroads of Boy Scout and Columbia were written by Joe. But on the map,

there was actually a circle drawn around the days in, but a second area was labeled with an X. And Sergeant Moore believed the Rogers family had encountered their killer at that spot where the X was marked. However, he had to discover where this was and why the women were there. As you can see, though, this is a very ambiguous area because this map is in detail. The X could be anywhere. It wasn't to scale. There were no landmarks on the map, really. There's only a few different areas there. So how could they figure out where this location was? Moore was kind of desperate, so he decided to ask someone on the outside of the investigation. He wanted someone to think like a tourist. So he asked his wife of 20 years, Carol, she was a mom, and he said, you could probably think like Joe.

So they went and drove together the same route that Joe would have driven to get to the days in. And Carol realized something. She said if you weren't familiar with this area, it would have been very confusing. One of the roads looked like an exit, but it wasn't. She believed what happened was that Joe thought she was getting off at an exit, but instead she took a wrong turn. So instead of going the right way, Moore and his wife took the wrong turn on purpose, and they ended up near a McDonald's. Carol believed Joe probably pulled over to try to get her bearings straight, to look at the

maps, to breathe, say, okay, where are we? Let's look at some landmarks. We're going to be fine. We'll get there. And that is when they believe she encountered the killer. Just like Jane and her friend said he was friendly. He seemed to want to help. He probably acted the same way with Joe.

that X on the map and it really did match to where the McDonald's was. After thinking about all this, Moore believed the killer went one step further. To pretend that he was really concerned, he thinks that he called the Days Inn and he asked if the women had made it there safely. When he gets transferred to their room and he speaks to them, this is when Moore believes he offered to give them a ride on his boat. Remember, the directions were written by Joe on the Days Inn stationary. It makes sense if she was on the phone, she would grab the stationery and mark down the directions. The stationery came from the hotel room, unlike the brochure that was already in the car. This made sense to me too.

So, so orchestrated and creepy. So now, instead of focusing on the map, the detectives decided to focus on the handwriting itself. It was very distinctive, but of course, they didn't have anything to compare it to. They weren't sure how they could use it to find any connections, but it turned out there was a palm print lifted from the brochure. So if they were to find someone whose handwriting matched, they could use the print to connect them to having been with the Rogers before they died.

However, this wouldn't prove that they were the killer, but they had enough information to believe it probably was. What they really wanted at this point was a profile of what a person that carried out a crime like this may be like. So the FBI stepped up, And they agreed to allow their behavioral analysis unit, the BSU, create a profile of the killer. And here's what they compiled.

They believed he was a serial killer, that it wasn't his first time doing this, that he would do it again until he was caught. But the next time, he would be more careful because he learned from his mistakes. He would make sure to do a better job to not get caught. He would leave behind less evidence, and he would make sure the bodies were hidden.

because it had been almost two years at this point since the murders, and he hadn't been caught. So the BSU believed he was confident in his abilities to keep killing and going undetected. However, he wouldn't look like a killer. In their perspective, he would be the guy next door. He'd blend in. They think he's a white male from 30 to 40 years old, above average intelligence, neat and meticulous, very personable, well off enough to afford a book. and respected throughout his community.

Yikes. This sounds like it could be anyone. He wouldn't look like a monster, but he sure as hell was. As a matter of fact, they believed he was deranged. According to the BSU agents, the killer covered the woman's mouths but left their eyes uncovered so that they would have to watch what was happening to their loved ones. He wanted to feel their fear,

and he actually got off on the fact that he was the fact that he was watching these poor women fear for their lives, especially as he pushed each and every one of them overboard to their deaths. They knew they were next. They knew their fate, and that is just more evil. It's not even human. This person was truly a monster. The VSU believed that this man lived in the Tampa Bay area and was very familiar with his surroundings. He was probably on the prowl right now looking for more victims. After giving this profile, this Sergeant Moore, the FBI gave him a piece of advice. They told him, use the media on this one. And this went against what Moore was taught. He was taught to keep the best evidence under seal,

but now he's being told to go against everything he's ever known. But sometimes, if you want different results, you have to take a different course of action. So he did. He held his very first press conference of his entire career and he laid everything out on the table, literally. The biggest piece of evidence they had at this point was the handwriting. So he figured this was his chance to use it. They shared it with the news outlets. Every reporter was present in that room. They got the first hand look and the opportunity

to run with this story and they did. Every newspaper, news station, they were all posting about the handwriting on this brochure. Sergeant Moore was confident at this point that the handwriting belonged to the killer. So he decided to make a very firm statement and he did it on purpose and on camera. He said, if they found,

the person who wrote those directions, they found their killer. He did this to send a message to the killer himself that they were onto him. And to prompt the community to act now, if this handwriting looked familiar, come forward. Now you may be wondering how in the world could someone actually recognize handwriting, but think about it. Think about someone that's close to you. I know for me, it's my mom. I could recognize my mother's handwriting right off the bat. I just know her. I know her handwriting it's very distinctive and remember I said that this handwriting was too well look at it closely something that stood out was the way this person wrote a capital t in the middle of a word see he did it with a's as well they'd be capitalized he also had a really weird way of writing the letter why it was

kind of swirly at the end more really thought this was it but we know that's happened before and just like the past it repeated itself no viable leads yet so So many tips came rushing in. Some of them taking them on wild goose chases, wasting valuable time, and by 1992, two years had passed. A new chief had joined the St. Petersburg Police Department by February, and he told more that they had six months to solve this case. And after that, they had to switch gears and focus on other cases, and the task force would have to be dismantled again. These investigators were working around the clock. Non-stop.

They were desperate. And one detective even suggested, you know what? We should post the handwriting on a billboard right in the area where the women were murdered. It's a touristy area with lots of traffic. This had never been done before. They did already have billboards up and they had Michelle, Joe and Christy's photos. But crime scene evidence posted up on billboard, that was insane to them. It was unprofessional and also expensive.

But they got the billboard company to donate the space for free. So that's exactly what they did. Even Moore's own father pitched in for resources. It was really a combined effort. So many people cared so deeply about these women who lost their lives in such a horrific way. It became personal to so many people. Their faces became the faces of everyone's children, everyone's wife. They were determined to find the killer.

And so was someone else, someone that had been working on this case this entire time, someone without a badge or experienced solving crimes, someone who thought the task force weren't working. fast enough and they were furious about the way the case was being handled. It was a Tampa resident named Joanne Steffy. She called the police department specifically asking if she could speak directly to Sergeant Moore. And usually calls like this would not be transferred, but Joanne said she knew who killed Joe,

Michelle, and Christy. And at this point, the investigators needed all the help they could get. When Sergeant Moore was connected with Joanne, she was yelling at him. She was telling him that they were not taking her seriously. And she was about to hire a private investigator to solve the murders of Joe, Michelle, and Christie herself. Sergeant Moore had no idea what this woman was talking about. He had never spoken to her before.

He had no clue who she was, but that was her point. Joanne told the sergeant that six weeks ago when the suspect's writing was first published in the newspaper, she sent them a fax containing a handwriting sample of her former next door neighbor. She had suspected he was responsible for the murders long before that, and she had been working on proving it was him, especially ever since that composite sketch was released. Joe thought she knew exactly who it was. He was living right next door to her at the time.

Throughout 1989, Joanne closely followed the case. She related to the Rogers family. She even shared a name, sort of, Joanne, with Joe Rogers. Sergeant Moore was all years, and he continued to be shocked by what Joanne was telling him. with the fact that this neighbor of hers was an aluminum contractor. He worked on pool enclosures and things like that. He drove a dark colored deep Cherokee and lived minutes from the dock where the Rogers vehicle had been found. To top it off, the guy owned a blue and white boat. That is until a few months after the murders because he sold it. Yes, he did.

Joanne also explained that everyone liked this guy. They thought he was so nice and so friendly, such an upstanding citizen, but not Joanne. Not at all. She could see right through the his facade. The very first time she met him, before the murders, he made the hair on the back of her neck stand up. And she had never experienced that in her entire life. But once she saw that composite sketch and she looked at him while she was driving by his house one afternoon, she just thought to herself, damn, that's him. So why did she wait so long to call the police? Well, because she asked a friend what they thought. And they weren't so sure. They didn't know if the composite sketch looked like him. And her friend warned her, don't go around making accusations.

about people because it could ruin an innocent man's life. And this guy was married and he had a little girl, so Joanne hesitated. She was also worried that she was right about his identity and that he would come after her if he found out that she was the one that offered him up and he'd kill her for it. That's a really hard place to be in. However, she actually did report it anonymously. She had a deputy take her statement, but she kept her name out of it. And for some reason, this tip was never followed up or even turned in.

This was back in 1989, and it really makes me angry, especially when you hear this whole story. Please bear with me. I know it's long. Joanne wondered why no one had ever followed up with her. She thought that maybe they had actually interviewed her neighbor and cleared him. She'd just never know, especially since he and his family moved away without even telling anyone. That was back in 1990. Joanne's sister even called in a tip after they watched an episode of Unsolved Mysteries featuring the Rogers case. She told them all about Joanne's suspicion, and they promised that a detective was going to reach out.

He said he did, but that he got no answer. It was the press conference that brought the case to Joanne's mind again. When Moore said that finding the person who wrote those directions would find the killer. So Joanne was determined to either prove her neighbor was him or to exclude him. And she remembered something. A neighbor friend of hers, Moselle Smith, had hired this man to do some work on her home, so she begged her to please dig through your old paperwork, see if there was a chance that you had anything that he wrote on.

And she did. She found the contract and the check that he signed. So Joanne took both of those documents and she faxed it over to the sheriff's office and she waited, but it just got lost in the sea of other tips and all the hundreds of other documents of other people who claim the same thing. But when that billboard went up after she already sent everything over to them,

she became furious. She just kept wondering why, hadn't they looked at what she faxed? It was Joanne's persistence that really paid off because finally they were taking a look. But visually, they weren't sure it was a match. The contract was on a carbon copy. It was not the original one on top.

It was very faded. But to me, it looks exactly like the handwriting on the brochure. I can see those teas clearly. But they just couldn't be sure. However, once they got a picture of the man that she was talking about, they were stunned at his resemblance.

His name was Oba Chandler. Not Dave Posner. When they were provided with his old address, they noticed it was on Dalton Ave right here, not far from that McDonald's that they thought Joe may have stopped at, and only two miles from the boat ramp. They did a background check on him, and they could not believe what they found. He had an extensive criminal record. Even as a juvenile, Oba Chandler received 18 offenses from Florida and Ohio.

He was arrested for various offenses as an adult, too. Armed robbery, evading prison, counterfeiting, and he was charged with disorderly conduct in 1971 because he was caught peeking into an apartment window and touching himself. After running his name through every computer database available, the task force discovered that in 1992 Oba Chandler was 45 years old, married, had a young daughter, she was still a toddler at the time, and was living near Daytona Beach in Port Orange, Florida. That's two hours away from the Tampa area across the state. The detectives felt like they had enough information to consider Oba, their prime suspect.

So they wanted to set out to interview some people from his neighborhood, and it was chilling to hear what Oba's neighbors thought about him, that he was friendly and normal. But the creepy part was that he would actually offer kids a neighborhood a ride on his boat and to go fishing with him. But they still didn't have anything to link him concretely to the crime. But that's when they remembered the palm print on the brochure. Remember that? And they ran a comparison and it was a match.

And I was like, oh my God, finally, I want to know everything. I wanted to know every detail. And you know, I'm going to tell you. But although detectives knew that Obit Chandler had met Joe, Michelle, and Christy before their murders, they still need more evidence to prove his involvement in their murders. Well, that is where Jane comes in. Again, an investigator and now an assistant from the district. attorney's office flew to Canada. They had a photo lineup, so to speak. They wanted Jane's assistance.

They wanted to show her six photos of six different individuals and ask her if she could identify her attacker. When she was going through them, she got to the third one. She held it up close to her face, and her face was just flushed. But she went through the rest of them. When she was finished, she went back to photo number three. She showed it to the investigators and she said, this is him. It was a picture of Oba Chandler. It bothered her so much to look at his face and made her sick. She told the investigator, can you please not show that to me again? So he flipped it over while they continued to talk.

And although there wasn't enough evidence for an indictment on the Rogers family murders, there was enough evidence to arrest Oba Chandler for what happened to Jane in May of 1989. That charge alone carried a possible life sentence. They could use that to get him arrested, get him off of the street. and then they would always know exactly where he was as they built their case against him. He couldn't run or hurt anyone else. So he was under surveillance 24 hours a day. He became their prime suspect. They had planes flying over his house, detectives and unmarked vehicles outside during the day and all through the night. Even so, the detectives lost track of him on the day that he was

supposed to be arrested. I kid you not. But I shouldn't be that surprised by this by now. But yes, they set up this entire operation. He came out of his house, got in his car, and they let him drive away. The detectives were radioing into the command post. They're asking, uh, what should we do? This man was driving towards Georgia, and they still were not stopping him. I guess they kind of wanted to see where he was going to go. But then they feared he would cross the border and be outside their jurisdiction. Then they see him stop his car at a stereo store. They planned to him as soon as he got back to his car. But as luck should have it, a violent thunderstorm.

I'm not kidding, rolled in, the planes couldn't fly in the sky, cars couldn't see on the road, and somehow Oba rolled right past them. They couldn't figure out whether he knew that they were following him all along or what, but they had his phones tapped. And one week later, his wife gets a call from Georgia. It's him. And he says, I'm on my way home. now was their chance, and they did not want to screw this one up.

And the detectives followed him as he pulled into a gas station, and they surrounded him, and he never resisted. He did ask what he was being charged with, and they said sexual battery, and Obo was like, okay, it was like he was expecting it. And he even tried to apparently make a deal with one of the officers on his way to jail. He said, you know what? I know what I can do. I could tell you about a man who turns back odomiters on cars. And to them, this was such an insignificant crime in exchange to a triple murder.

They thought that was really weird because clearly this guy must have known, right? He must have known what he was really getting arrested for. Then he actually started to complain that they had his hands cuffed behind his back, the entire car ride back to Tampa. And he kept asking the detective, please, can you just at least cuff them up front? But as Oba kept complaining, the detective remembered. He remembered what he saw. Those cinder blocks tied to Joe, Michelle, and Christy's body. Those ropes around their neck.

Their hands tied together behind their backs. Their ankles tied together. So he told Oba, your handcuffs are fine. Deal with it. This dude is a monster. It reminds me in the tourniquet killer. I don't know if you remember that when I did it so long ago. That man had created a device.

so that he didn't have to use his hands because it hurt when he would strangle his victims. That was a totally different case. But back to Oba Chandler, another little crybaby when something happens to him following his arrest, Sergeant Moore and the detectives from his task force wanted to question him, but he lawyered up right away. They needed an indictment, so the district attorney was worried that there wouldn't be enough proof that Oba did more than meet these women and kindly give them some directions to their their hotel regardless of his past criminal record. Here's what they laid out as the state's potential case.

And if you have any other theories, please put them in the comments, as usual. I love reading through them. And even if I can't get to each and every one, all of you have such great insight. And I love reading through them. And you always think of things I never thought of. So thank you for that.

It's believed that Joe Rogers had pulled off the highway at the wrong exit while she was driving along I-275 between Orlando and Tampa. While Joe and her daughters tried to figure out their location on the map, they met up with Oba Chandler. Somehow, some way, they came in contact with him, and he was a smooth talker.

He probably saw that the license plate was from Ohio. This would have helped him appear as less threatening, like he was a good old country boy, because he's from Ohio, so he probably used that to bond with these women. And later that afternoon, they think that Oba Chandler called their hotel to check up on them,

and appear to care about their well-being and to make sure that they made it there safely. And that is when they believe he offered to take Joe, Michelle, and Christy out on a sunset cruise. He would tell them what he told Jane, that there wasn't anything like the sunset over Tampa Bay. He probably lured them with the promise of beautiful photos. Those on the forest believe that Oba was coming up a high, that he had gotten from committing the acts on Jane just two weeks earlier, and he was confident that he could take on three weeks. victims. It could also have been a fantasy for him to have more than one woman at once so that they

would have to watch each other in fear. Considering that he kept asking Jane, why isn't your friend coming? This time he was prepared with his duct tape, his ropes, and cinder blocks. When Oba trapped the Rogers women on that boat in the middle of the bay, he probably used a weapon to gain control over them and then force them to tie one another up. Or maybe he did it himself. Either way, afterward, Oba forced the three women to watch, as each one of their love. ones was violated and then who knows what else he did to them. They just sat there in fear. They were helplessly bound. They couldn't do anything. No one knows what Oba said to these women. Maybe he even said he was going to let them go or maybe he just tortured them the whole time,

telling them what he was going to do to them. Either way, once he dragged the cinder blocks out, they had to have known their fate. And that must have been terrifying, especially for Joe, who was scared, of water. She had a lifelong phobia of water. I can't even begin to imagine. It's believed that Oba tossed each of the girls overboard one by one after he was done with them. Joe being the first so that he could spend more time with the two other girls, the younger ones. And that's why Joe's body was so much further than the other two. But it was this last detail that was provided by one of Oba's own family members that pretty much sealed his fate at this stage anyway so that they could get this indictment. It was a statement from one of Oba's own daughters and adult daughter. Her name is Crystal Mays.

She's all grown up and married to her husband Rick Mays. She told the investigators that her father came to visit her unexpectedly all the way in Ohio in 1989 right around the same time that that composite sketch was made public. When he was staying with her, he confided in her that he was on the run and that police were looking for him in Florida in connection to two crimes. One involving a woman on a boat and the other one was for murdering some women. Plural. He did not go into detail, but what he said shocked his daughter so much. It was something she would never forget. Then her husband also came forward.

He told investigators that Oba told him even more about what he had done. According to Rick, Oba confessed he had forced a couple of women to have intercourse with him on his boat. And through at least one of these women overboard, Rick distinctly recalls Oba saying he murdered three women in total. After hearing the state's evidence, the grand jury indicted Oba Chandler

on three counts of first-degree murder in November 1992. In the months that followed, the prosecutors continued to search for more evidence because they knew that the defense would try to poke as many holes as possible, especially in regard to the statement from Oba's daughter and her husband. He hadn't exactly treated his family very well,

and they may have come forward just to get revenge on him, just to spite him. The timing was kind of interesting because why didn't they come forward way back then when it was happening? But the investigators and the prosecutor were determined to find as much incriminating information as they could between that time and the trial. Five years after Joe, Michelle and Christy were killed, Oba Chandler's trial began in September 1994. He just seemed so uninterested in anything that was happening. And he also seemed to have like a permanent smirk on his face the entire time. Now, I don't usually do this, so consider it more of an extra in this video, but instead of going right into what happened in court, I want to tell you about what prosecutors dug up

about Oba Chandler. Then all the evidence that they had and how they planned to convict him. And I will end with the final outcome as usual. Oba and his current wife, Deborah Ann Whiteman, were married one year before the murders. And in 1989, Oba's wife, gave birth to their daughter Whitney. However, unbeknownst to Deborah, this was actually Oba's eighth child and she was his at least third wife. There could have been more. While his wife was pregnant in 1989, Oba founded Tampa Customs Screens and it was an aluminum contracting business. Now he was unlicensed by the way. But using the profits and his personality to gain more and more of them, he bought a 21-foot blue and white bayliner boat. But well before Oba became this successful

husband and father that he appeared to be in 1992, he had a very different life. He was born in Cincinnati, Ohio, October 11, 1946 to Oba Chandler Sr. and Margaret Johnson. He dropped out of school when he was only an eighth grade, and as a child, when he was 10 years old, his father took his own life by hanging. His mother blamed his father's death on him. And Oba was so enraged about losing his father, that he jumped into the open grave during his burial while the dirt was being put on top of it just to stomp on his father's casket wow if that's not a sign of what the future may hold i don't know what is but i guess everyone grieves differently right when he was 14 he started stealing cars and was eventually arrested as many as 20 times 20 times before he was 18 years old and then as an adult i mentioned his record included

counterfeiting, burglary, kidnapping, armed robbery, and peeking into a woman's bedroom while touching himself. But you know what he was really doing. He also broke into a couple's home in Florida. He tied them up. He robbed them. And then he brought the woman into a bedroom and made her undress at gunpoint. And he would probably done more, but it seems like he ran out of time. He was apparently with an accomplice. So he could only go that far, but he took out his firearm and he rubbed it across this poor woman's stomach. That is so gross. However, though, he still managed to get some women to like him. Because most of Oba's early adulthood, he spent getting married and having children. And as I said, he has been married at least three times and has at least eight known children with

seven different women. Then he took a little break from being a family man and he went into the United States Marine Corps. At the end of his military service, he was honorably discharged. Oba's newest wife, Deborah, did not know that her husband had been in prison numerous times for various crimes. When Oba's wife discovered her husband's past, she realized, you know what, he's probably still committing crimes because he would carry around a large amount of cash. And she figured it was probably from drug deals. But she never questioned him about it. She just figured, you know what, that's just the way he was and she accepted it. They were married May 14th, 1988. Just seven months later, they moved into their Dalton Avenue home in Tampa in the

exact same neighborhood as Joanne Steffey. And in February of 1989, their daughter Whitney was born in Oba loved his daughter. He was a doting father and he was very attached to her. However, in the fall of 1989, Deborah began to notice changes in Oba's attitude. He would have a short views. He would be short with her and he yelled a lot more. He wouldn't even have sex with her anymore and they weren't sleeping in the same bedroom for months. This specific home, the one on Dalton Avenue was on the water. And that is where Oba kept his boat. It had access right to Tampa Bay through a canal in the back look.

You can see it right here. Very easy for him to come and go whenever he wanted. Also making him very familiar with the waterways, they found out he owned this boat at the time of the Rogers murders. But then he sold it just three months afterward. As soon as that composite sketch was released, Oba skipped town. He left Deborah.

and Whitney behind. Deborah had a feeling when she saw that sketch that it was her husband, but she hoped that it wasn't. Now, this was the time that Oba left Florida and went to Ohio to stay with his adult daughter, Crystal. And while he was there, he apparently called Deborah and said, hey, had the police come looking for me? And she said no. Later, Crystal contacted Deborah when Oba wasn't around. And she admitted that her father had just confessed that the police were looking for him in relation to a triple murder from May of 1989. Deborah didn't believe it. She said, look, there's no murders and no one is looking for Oba. She just genuinely thought that Oba was having some kind of mental break and he wasn't living in reality. She really did not

think he was a murderer. However, when Oba returned to Florida November of the same year in 1989, Debra did confront him, not about the murders, but about the Canadian tourist and he denied having anything to do with it. Deborah tried finally to just get past it all, and somehow she did convince herself that the sketch did not look like her husband at all. But as Joanne and Steffie mentioned, the family up and moved in 1990, they relocated to Port Orange. When they moved, they literally just stopped paying their mortgage, and eventually the bank foreclosed on that property. But get this, the current home that they were in was leased in their daughter Whitney's name. And this was because they wanted to avoid the bank looking for them and so they were able to get past their terrible

credit that they destroyed from not paying their mortgage and be able to rent a home. Opa was actually working as an informant for the U.S. Customs and Drug Enforcement Agency at the time. Don't ask me how he was able to get this job. But at that point, he was actually setting up drug deals and outing members of drug gangs. But by September of 1992, Obo was back being a criminal himself. The rent couldn't be paid and he was desperate. So he robbed someone and then he pawned their jewelry along with his wife's gold earrings. So now we're up to date on most of what Oba's life was like before the murders during and after.

But why move? Why evade authorities? Why stop paying your mortgage? Why tell your daughter that you killed people if you didn't? It had to be him but the state had to prove that it was and Oba remained silent. He insisted he was not their man. The most pressing matter was to prove that Oba was on the water the night of the murders and that he had the ability to carry out this crime without an alibi.

Here are some of the important fines that the state made. They located all of Oba's phone records from the house on Dalton Avenue. They didn't have cell phones back then, but they did have all the records from the house. And oddly, the May and June records, those were the crucial months, they were missing. They even tried to subpoena these records. And the company insisted, these records have had been purged from their system. How?

We don't know. However, there was one investigator, Steve Porter, that wasn't going to give up that easily. He found someone who worked at the company in the security department, and this person was able to find a way to retrieve these documents, and this was crucial, and you'll know why.

Two dates stood out, May 15th, 1989, which was the night of the incident involving Jane, and of course June 2nd, in the early morning hours, which would have been, after midnight, the night the Rogers went on that boat ride. There was a call that came in to the Dalton Avenue House, Oba's House, at 549 p.m. on May 15. And then on June 2nd, a number of calls came in. One at 1.12 a.m., another at 1.30 a.m., another one at 1.38 a.m.

Then one at 8.11 a.m. and the final at 9.52.m. The thing is, the number wasn't familiar. It's not one that Porter recognized. It was 813-2-2-3-0-0-0-0-0-0. He asked the person working at the company if they knew what this was from. Well, it turns out that this is a number that the company just makes up as a placeholder for any calls that come in from a marine phone. That's a phone that's on a boat.

Their collect calls placed by someone that was using a phone on board. How it works is that a boat has to radio in and connect to all different places, whether it's a Coast Guard, for example, or a Marine phone operator. That operator can assist them by connecting them to whatever number they're trying to reach. This meant records of this call would have to exist. These operators kept track of everything, including the caller's name, the time, the duration of the call. So finding the records took time. Remember, years had gone by, and these were paper records.

Someone had to search for them by hand, but luckily, after six hours of searching, an employee from the company was able to track them down. Wow. This information on the toll tickets for these calls go like this. The call on May 15th regarding Jane was from a boat called Gypsy One, and the person said his name was Oba. And on June 2nd, the calls were again made from Gypsy One. However, four of the calls did not have anyone named. But the last call did. The person said their name was Obie.

Close enough. And apparently when Porter dug into this, he found out that Obie, was one of Oba's nickname. So it's no doubt that he was calling from the waters on both of those nights. He had to have committed these crimes. It puts him there. They needed to know more, and they thought that maybe Oba's wife would be able to answer some of those questions,

but she didn't want anything to do with these prosecutors. She was standing by her man no matter what. She had to be subpoenaed, and of course she went on record with Oba's defense attorney there, and she basically answered no, or I don't know, or I don't recall. to every single question. Like, did you recall getting a collect call from Oba on those nights?

No, can't recall. She couldn't recall her phone number back then. You could not get much out of her. But she also said she didn't know where Oba was on those nights either. So she wasn't exactly providing an alibi either. But since they were not getting much information of value, the prosecutors tried to think like a killer. Why would Oba want to make these calls in the first place?

It was kind of weird. Wouldn't it kind of make you look guilty if you pulled up the records? We know it wasn't to tell his wife he killed people, that's for sure. Instead, it was most likely either to give his wife an excuse as to why he was still out at dinner time on May 15th, the time he was about to pick up Jane and a reason not to worry about where he was and why he didn't come home on the night of June 2nd after he killed the Rogers. But he was on the water. That's known for sure. At some point, though, he got off his boat on June 2nd. The thing is, he had scheduled a job and he had to go back on shore to do it at someone's house.

and he had employees that were helping him. At 7.30 a.m., a worker saw him at the work site. But records put him back on the boat making a collect call at 8-11 and 9.52. Why? You watch a lot of true crime, so you probably know many killers go back to the scene. For two reasons. One, to see if they got away with it,

to see if the cops had come, if the investigators were there, if everything was unfolding. Or in this case, perhaps to make sure his secrets were still hidden under the dark waters of the bay. But we know they weren't. Recall the first call that came into the Coast Guard around 9.15. He was on the water when that call was made.

He probably saw them taking the bodies out of the water, watching the sun unfold. He was on the water at 9.52. We know that the next call came in around 10 o'clock. He was still on the water, watching. This reminds me so much of the current Idaho case, and I'm sure there are so many others. We don't know if Brian Koberger is guilty. He hasn't gone to trial yet. But his phone apparently, allegedly, pinged in the area the murders occurred the morning after.

Why? Well, maybe for the same reasons that Oba had come back to the area if they were the killers. Why else would Oba stop working and go out on the water? It's not like he was a fisherman. It took time to get back on his boat, get all the wrong. out there, this wasn't some leisurely morning crews on a workday. And right now, his defense attorney, Fred Zinoper, was working on the reasons his client would give. Meanwhile, the prosecutors, Bruce Bartlett, Bob Lewis, Jim Haleckson, Doug Crow and Glenn Martin were working against everything they thought that Zenober would throw at them. These were seasoned attorneys,

Doug Crow being very well known as someone to fear. He could never forget one detail, He didn't even need notes. You can think Aaron Brockovich. He knew everything about his cases, and he was the lead prosecutor. Five years after the murders, he was the first to speak at the trial in September of 1994, and he told the jury that they would hear evidence of all the things I've already told you thus far. And he would prove that the three Rogers women were killed by Oba Chandler in the middle of the open water where no one could hear them scream and no one could offer them help or see who did it.

So what did the defense have to say? How do you explain all these connections that the investigators had made? Well, the obvious that Oba had met the three women the day that they were killed, but only to give them directions, and that the prosecution won't be able to prove he ever saw them again. The defense attorney said to the jury, it's a very straight and simple case. They have the wrong man. There is nothing more than circumstantial evidence and nothing concrete that can not. next Oba to the crime. He even admitted that his client met Jane, whose real name is Judy, by the way, but she wanted to remain anonymous, so I did not add her full name to the case, and it'll confuse you if I start using Judy, so we'll keep Jane. But yes, he admits his client

took Jane out on a boat ride, but he glazed over the attack. And then he drops quite a bombshell. He tells the jurors that they're going to hear all of this from Oba Chandler himself. Yeah. His client's taking the stand and Oba was going to tell you that he didn't do this. He also added, Oba is not happy about being accused of the crimes. He didn't kill anyone. The prosecution goes first, bringing in witnesses to showcase all the evidence from the handwriting experts testifying about the brochure and the palm print with fingerprint analysis and the calls that were made on the water from the boat. even Oba's own daughter, Crystal, and her husband took the stand to tell the jury about Oba admitting that he killed these women and also what he did to Jane. There were inmates that came forward saying that Oba had said incriminating things while waiting for trial

and the worst one that I heard was that he allegedly told one of the guys that he gave a woman an ultimatum on his boat. F me or swim. That's disgusting. Another thing he said was the only reason that girl's still alive is because she had a stupid friend waiting for her. just like Jane suspected. That's really sad. He wasn't sick to his stomach because he felt bad. He was sick to his stomach because he knew he probably wasn't going to get away with this.

Remember the worker who said that they saw Oba on June 2nd at 7.30? His name was Rollins Cooper. Well, he also took the stand and he said that on June 1st, remember the day that the girls got directions. On June 1st, Oba seemed to be in a hurry, and he asked him, hey, what's going on?

Why are you in a hurry? he said, I have a date with three women. This man is married, and he's telling this guy this. He's scum. The next morning at 7.30, Roland saw him again. And that's the day that Oba looked tired. He inquired, why are you so tired? He said, I was out on the boat all night.

Well, on cross-examination, the defense attorney ripped into Mr. Cooper. He said, you and Oba, you just don't like each other. You had a falling out over money, and now you just want to lie for revenge. but that's kind of an extreme lie over an argument about money. But then, of course, Jane took the stand, and it was an emotional day. The defense tried to get this testimony barred, but the evidence was crucial. It showed a pattern, and it was relevant to pass the legal standards and to be admitted. She talked about everything we know happened, including the man sitting in the courtroom,

being the guy who forced her to have intercourse, and then wiped his prints from her camera after he threw her film overboard. And the jurors cried. You could tell how compelling this testimony was. But the defense, they brought in other witnesses, people that said they saw the girls. Saw the girls with other people. Saw Joe alone with some guy.

Another one said they saw both of the girls at the mall with a young boy. And someone else said they actually hung out with Michelle and Christy and they saw them get into a shiny black car. But the prosecution poked holes in all. of these theories, the theory that someone else could have killed these girls. And then it was Oba's turn. It's not every day that the defendant takes the stand. This was huge. The courthouse was packed. It was packed every day, but this day in particular. Oba was speaking for the first time. Everyone wanted to hear it. And he used a very soft-spoken

tone. And he told the jury that yes, he ran into the Rogers women on June 1st. He had just finished a job and he needed to get some gas. So he went to the local gas station and he should off Interstate 4 close to one of the exits off the highway. When he came out of the station from getting a pack of cigarettes, he saw Michelle in the parking lot. She came up to him and asked him if he knew how to get to the days in. He said he began to give her some directions to a different day's in, but then all of a sudden he heard something.

He turns and another young girl poked her head out of a window of a car and corrected Michelle stating, it's the rocky point location. So Oba said he gave her the right directions explaining how to get her. back on the highway and make their way to their destination. He said the conversation didn't take more than two minutes. He admitted he wrote the directions on the brochure, but he never saw any of these women again. He never took them out on his boat, and he certainly never killed them.

Okay, but then why tell your buddy that you're going on a date with three women? Well, he says, that's a lie. But could he explain a way the collect calls made to his house on June 2nd in those early morning hours? He tried to. He said he was out fishing and he got out there around 9, 30, 10 p.m. And after he was done fishing, something happened to his boat. He tried to start the engine, but it just wouldn't start. He said he could smell gasoline and he was looking around, but it was so dark. He wasn't able to pinpoint where it could possibly be coming from. But then, after using a light, he examined the engine and noticed his fuel line had ruptured.

All the gas was just pouring out from this gaping hole underneath the boat. And it was everywhere. It was even on the boat's deck. So he tried calling his house, but he had no luck. He tried getting a towed, but somehow he couldn't. So he spent the night drifting at sea. And finally, when day broke, he used his shirt to flag someone down. It was a Coast Guard crew in a dingy, but they were busy at the moment, according to Oba, so they couldn't help him.

He found some tape at this point, and he used it to cover the hole. hole in the gas line. But it wasn't going to work anyway because he already ran out of gas. Finally, he said two men gave him a toe to the marina. He bought some gas and he went home. And he made a couple calls to his wife that morning before he set off. His attorney asked him one last question. Did you kill these ladies? To which he answered, I've never killed no one in my whole life. It's ludicrous. It's ridiculous. Well, I think the story is ridiculous and I think he's pathetic and he's narcissistic and he's a monster. He's someone who believes he's better than everyone else, smarter than everyone else,

and can fool everyone around him. Well, he's wrong. Obadin considered that his boat would ever be examined because he got rid of it. But the state's detectives tracked that sucker down. They found the new owner and they were able to purchase the boat to use as evidence. However, it wasn't until one of those investigators named Scott Hawkeye's Scott Hopkins heard Oba's testimony that he realized something. Hopkins had been one of the people on the task force examining Oba's boat.

He runs up to the prosecutor and says, I call bull crap on Oba statement. He's lying. All they would need was a mechanic and fast. While all this is going on, it is time for the prosecution to cross-examine Oba. And he did not go easy on him. And I'm happy about that. He pressed him about each detail by starting out with how many felonies he had.

And Oba answered six. He pressed him about his daughter's testimony and that of her husband's. Well, what did Oba have to say about that? He said he didn't get a chance to provide any information to contradict her statements, to which Crow was obviously trying to rattle him and said, well, weren't you just on direct? Wasn't that your chance? And Oba just sat there. You could tell he did not.

not like to be challenged. Well, that's too bad. It was when Crow brought up the case involving Jane that he had yet to go to trial for, by the way, that Oba said, I'm not here to talk about that trial. You could tell he was upset. And Crow asked if Oba was pleading the fifth, and he said yes. And he said, why? Because you think what you're going to say would incriminate you? And Oba said no. And that's when his defense attorney tried to prevent Crow from pushing forward. But the judge said, it was permitted. All Crowe was doing was setting Oba up for what was next. He knew something that the defense didn't know. He knew he had something to prove that Oba was a liar.

Crow proceeded to ask Oba about June 1st. He wanted to know when he met the women. When? Oba said, oh, I don't recall. Really? Not even an estimate. And Crow pressed him and pressed him. Was it the morning?

Was it afternoon? And he just kept saying, I don't know. I don't know. I don't remember. So Crow was like, well, what were you doing that you can't remember? Then he asked him, if you recognized Michelle and Christie's pictures, why didn't you come forward about seeing them? As a witness, and he explained that he didn't recognize them until November when the police put up this sketch. And that was kind of weird timing, don't you think?

Maybe because he was staring right back at himself. Recall this is also when he skipped town and recalled that this sketch was done with information provided by Jane. Now the prosecutor moved into asking Oba about his boat again because he really wanted to make sure that the jury knew exactly what happened to Oba and how he was suggesting it happened to him that night. So he asked him to tell it again and he stated, my 40 gallon tank was full of fuel when I left and it leaked out at the bottom of the boat into the bay. He said about what time did this happen? And Oba said, I think it was one or two a.m. So Crowe inquired about all those other hours. You wanted to know if Oba just sat there for six or seven hours. Oba said, yeah, he used his light.

He saw where the leak was coming from. He called home. But what about that six or seven hour gap? And Oba's response was, oh, I fell asleep. But Crow just kept pressing him. He's like, you didn't call a friend. Why not? And why couldn't the Coast Guard help you?

Oba literally says, I feel like he slipped up here. He said, oh, because they were looking for a body on the rocks. Seriously? But it's what happened next that was a turning point. Recall Oba saying how we finally got a toe and then he got gas at the marina and then he called his wife to say he was on his way home. Well, those calls were at 8.11 and 9.52 a.m. But both Rollins and the woman whose house they were working on saw him at 7.30 a.m. So it doesn't add up. And the prosecutor told Oba that.

He said, did you make those calls before or after you got the toe and went home? Ova was like before? Okay, so you were still on the boat? Well, yeah. Okay, then how did you get to the job site? If your boat was broken down, how'd you get there? Between 715 and 7.30, Mr. Chandler? And he was stunned.

You could tell he was just caught in a lie. But of course, he tried to recover by saying, well, I wasn't the one that said I was there at 7.30. I don't know when I got there. He really doesn't know that much, does he? At this point, Oba actually tried to get the judge to his admonish Crow, the prosecutor for what? I don't know, doing his job and it backfired. The judge told Oba, you need to calm down. Poor Oba, his magic wasn't working in the courtroom. Boo-hoo.

He disgust me. The judge said that Oba should just go ahead and answer the questions, to which he responded by saying, well, he just gets under my skin, Judge. And I'm sitting there saying, then he's doing his job, isn't he? My favorite part is coming up. So Crow goes back to questioning him regarding Jane. The timeline of Oba's departure from Tampa when the sketch came out was kind of an odd timing. So what about all that? And Oba said, well, he was worried that he was going to get caught. But Crow said, weren't you worried about the connection? Isn't that what you were worried about? The connection between Jane's case and the Rogers case? And he said, no, no, no, I figured they would find out who killed the Rogers women.

And that's when Crow literally looked at him and said, well, perhaps we have, Mr. Chandler. That is such a burn. This could be a movie. It should be a movie. Then everything came together. Crow handed Oba a picture of his bayliner boat. And he said, show me where the leak was.

So Oba pointed to the front of the engine. But there was an issue. The gas lines in this engine come from underneath the, floor. So Crow pressed him even further. He said, oh, did come up here from the top? And then it was like, no, no, no, no, no. I can't really see the gas tank. I don't know where it's coming from. Really? So you fixed this, but you can't remember from where it was leaking from. This guy that's been so much time on the water now seems to be clueless about how his own boat engine operates. Well, that's when Crow asks him, if he knows what an anti-cyphon

valve is, it prevents the fuel line from leaking. It closes off a leak. And that's when Oba tried to argue that it only worked when a leak happened in a certain part of the engine near the pump. So now it seemed like Oba did know where all the parts were. The truth was there was no evidence of a leak ever occurring in that fuel line at all. Oba stepped down and the defense rested, but the prosecution still had a few witnesses. One was an inmate that shared a cell with Oba. He heard him talking about the brochure. He said, my biggest mistake was leaving that note in the car. Then it was the expert mechanic James Hensley's turn to take the stand.

To counter Oba's argument about the fuel line, he worked on boats for over 20 years. Firstly, duct tape would never have worked. It would have dissolved. The gasoline would have just destroyed it. And next, Oba claimed that the gasoline from the bottom of the boat, well guess what? The anti-cyphan valve prevents that from happening. So that's a lie. And then a Coast Guard testified he was never out on the boat in an inflatable dingy on June 2nd,

especially not looking for a body on the rocks. The prosecution and defense had now both rested their cases. It was in the jury's hands. It took them five minutes to reach a verdict. Five. Guilty, guilty, guilty. So what was the nail in the coffin, according to the jury? was Oba himself. And ain't that the truth? There was no reaction from him during the verdict.

As for a sentence, it was death. And that death warrant was signed in October of 2011 by the governor. Chandler's last meal, in case you were wondering, was two salami sandwiches on white bread with mustard. And he also asked for a peanut butter and jelly sandwich. He wanted grape jelly. I like that, too, on white bread. But he only ate half of that, and he ordered an iced tea, but I had coffee instead. This man never had one visitor in 17 years in prison. Not one person from his family even tried to visit him. I wouldn't either. He did leave a final statement behind.

On the day of Oba Chandler's execution, he had a handwritten note and he wrote, You are killing an innocent man today. Four years later, that would prove to be another lie that he told. A liar until the day he died. But before I reveal that final revelation, let me tell you about his death. The first lethal injection was administered at 4.07 p.m. This one paralyzes the suspect.

Oba just closed his eyes and fidgeted around a little bit. By 410, he was just laying there with his mouth hanging open. And by 414, the next injection was given. This is the one that stops your heart. He was pronounced dead at 4.25 p.m. So remember when the FBI profiled the Rogers family killer? The first thing they said was that he was a serial killer, and I kept thinking, well, they got that part wrong. But in 2014, detectives were working on an unsolved case in Broward County, Florida, which is where I was born.

It was 20-year-old Ivelis Berrios Bigeries had disappeared after leaving her job at the mall on November 20th, 1990. Later that night, she was found strangled to death. Crime scene technicians suspected this was a sexual motive, so they collected semen from the her body at the scene. When they reopened this case and ran that DNA in the system, they finally got a hit. It was Oba Chandler. He had killed someone after he killed the Rogers family. I was stunned. I wasn't surprised, but just stunned. Obachandler lived less than a mile from the mall where she worked. The Cole case detective said that they're investigating other murders that Obo Chandler may be involved in, including Terry Ann Gilchrist. She was 35 years old and she was found

strangled just north of Wiles Road on Coral Ridge Drive in 1990 as well. But there have been no conclusive connections in that case made. Hal Rogers remarried. He was alone for a long time, but then he finally decided it was time to put an ad in the newspaper and that's how he met his wife, Jolene. She understood death. She understood lost because she was a widow that lost her husband and she had four children. They had a connection right away. And I also liked how her name was close to Joe's name. It's like Joe and Jolene. He had another chance to have a family. Of course, nothing is going to compare to who he lost. Michelle, Joe, and his favorite little Christy. Nothing is going to bring them back. And when Howe was asked how he felt in

2011, he said, I miss them all. Hal and his brother remained estranged from each other, and in his mind, if John had never hurt Michelle, they would have never gone to Florida. He blames his brother for his family's death. But he finds peace by believing that his family is watching over him. This was a really hard case for me to do. It really took a lot out of me. I had to record and re-record this case a number of times. I just wanted to get every detail, and I wanted to get every detail as close to being 100% perfect as possible. But I'm a flawed human being. I always try my very best.

So that's it. That's all I have for you today. I will see you in my next video. Bye.