Unseen - The 4 YO Who Solved Her Mom's Murder | The Case of Heidi Jones-Asay | UNSEEN

Episode Date: January 24, 2025

“She knew who did it all along”On July 31st 1970, in the small town of Price Utah, 4 year old Heidi wakes up to eerie silence, and after peeking through the keyhole of her bedroom door, she sees a terrifying scene that will stick with her forever: the tragic murder of her mother. However, no one is convicted, and before the case file is officially marked as unsolved, Heidi’s grandmother takes one last photo of her, standing in front of the outline: nobody could imagine that this photo would actually hide the key to solve the murder, which will only be done 46 years later. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

This picture hides the most disturbing secret. The girl in the back, smiling, is 4-year-old Heidi Jones. She is standing in front of a crime scene, near the outline of a body. This is where she found her mother, Loretta, murdered, just days before this picture was taken. On July 30, 1970, the same night Heidi's mother was killed. 10-year-old Lori Kula was attacked by a man, just three blocks away. When Lori screamed out for help, the man ran away in the direction of Loretta. August 31st, one month after the murder, a man named Tom Eagley was arrested after his

affair with Loretta became known to the police. He was the only suspect in the investigation. Three months later, Tom Eagley walked free. For more than 40 years, the circumstances in which Loretta Jones was murdered would remain a mystery, unless her daughter Heidi could solve her case, not yet knowing that the key to finding the killer was inside this picture all along. They noticed that Loretta's hand was in a pool of blood. I couldn't even imagine what she's thinking about as she's laying there dying.

My mom taking her last dying breath, leaving the clues. I said, that doesn't happen except the movies. She says it was right there in plain view. Loretta writing the name of the killer in blood. The year is 1970. Loretta is a single unwed mother who thrives to provide for her daughter. Four-year-old Heidi. They live a happy life together in their House of Price, Utah. It was just my mom and I. She made a ton of my own clothes. She made me dolls. She made some good memories with me.

For me, she was the best mom. July 30th, 1970. It's a warm summer night. Heidi kisses her mom goodnight before going to bed, not knowing that this will be the last time she'll see her. July 31st, at 1140, 8,000, police are called to 468 East 4th Street. They find Loretta Jones, 23, murdered by stabbing. They learned that her only daughter, four-year-old Heidi, is at the neighbor's house, terrified and alone.

The sheriff kept calling my mother, and finally my dad comes home, and he's very upset and in shock. First thing that my mother said is, where is Heidi? While police pursue their investigation, Heidi is put in the care of her grandparents. With the killer still on the loose, Heidi is worried that he might come for her next, and so are the cops. As it turns out, there had been another attack the night before.

This time, the victim was only 10 years old. At around 9.30 p.m., little Lori Kula was attacked, only three blocks away from Loretta's house. Police are convinced the two crimes are connected, and the whole community of Price begins to worry about the safety of their own children. A lot of the town was just scared that here's this guy that killed my sister and he had grabbed a little girl that night as well. Everybody's wondering, where's this guy? What happened to him? A few days later, Heidi finds herself at her mother's funeral, looking at her mom lying in the coffin. She had on a blue dress, it had a super high collar so that you can see where her neck had been slit. but I remember looking at her in the coffin,

and she looked just like sleeping beauty to me. It was really hard to see Loretta, and there's her daughter, Heidi, just crying, realizing that her mother is gone now. In the months that follow Loretta's murder, few arrests are made, and no suspect is ever convicted. 1971, one year after the murder of Heidi's mother, the case grows cold,

with the killer still on the loose. As Heidi is growing up, one thought haunts her every night. She doesn't remember her mother screaming out for help or making any loud noises. While she was being stabbed to death, Heidi understands there's only one explanation. How somebody could not make a sound through any of that, not screaming out for help.

She went through it because she didn't want anything to happen to me. How could I just let that go? My mom was my hero that night. As she is living with her grandparents, Heidi feels she can't talk about her own mother anymore. She doesn't want to forget, but everyone tries to tell her to let it go. I remember getting upset a lot, crying a lot. Anytime I tried to talk to my grandma about my mom, it would just make her cry. She said, why don't you just let it go?

And I says, because I can't let it go. As the years passed, Heidi stays haunted by guilt, but her mother's killer is still out there and that no one is willing to bring justice to Loretta. She's compelled to take it into her own hands, but how? I know she would have gone to great lengths to do whatever she needed to do for me, and she proved that the night she was murdered. I owed it to her to do something about this. 1989, Heidi turns 23, the same age her mother was when she was killed. Inspired by a TV show called Unsolved Mysteries, she begins a massive letter campaign, sending them to the Price City Police Department, to the Carbon County Sheriff, to the FBI, but none of them respond.

Still, she persists to write letter after letter. If I could keep the conversation alive about my mom, then maybe I could help get her case solved. The years passed with still no response from anyone. Almost 36 years, and still, the killer walks free. Approaching her 40th birthday, Heidi makes a bold decision, leave behind all she has and go back to her hometown of Price, Utah. with the sole intention of solving her mother's murder. There, she's confronted with her grandmother, pushing her to let it go. My mom just wanted Loretta to rest in peace. I really honestly had mixed feelings, but the other part of me was like, where's this guy that killed Roretta?

2009, it's by chance that Heidi is reconnected with a childhood friend, David Brewer, who comments on one of her social media posts. This is how she learns David is a detective. Heidi tells David everything she can remember about that night. Oh, I spilled my guts, Tim. I just needed help. Her story begins on July 31st, 1970. What I remember vividly is I heard a thud.

I went to the bedroom door and I looked through the keyhole and I saw something laying on the floor. And at first I just thought it was a pile of laundry. Four-year-old Heidi pulls the door open only to find her mother, Loretta, lying in a pool of blood. Heidi is in shock, unable to grasp the scene in front of her. She staggers out of the house in a hurry. My next vivid memory is I am out on the front porch,

and my next door neighbor is out there digging for worms. Because Heidi, come here, I have to show you something, and I says, I can't. I think my mommy's dead. As David Brewer listens to Heidi's story, he can't believe he never knew about Loretta's murder that Heidi never spoke of it at school. Just for the child to see something like that with their own mother laying there, just as unimaginable.

I told him everything that I could possibly tell about my mom's case. I told him every rumor, every story. Although Heidi expects David to turn her down because of the unlikelyhood of the murder being solved, David is moved by Heidi's story. He can tell she's still very upset, even after all these years. Carbon County Police Officer David Brewer reopens a case. of Loretta Jones' 1970 murder. His first step is to review the original case files,

but immediately, David is confronted with a serious roadblock that threatens to stop the investigation altogether. The case files no longer exist. I quickly found out that I had no evidence and no case file at all, which is uncommon because homicides you keep for life. Apart from old newspaper clippings, David gets his hands on written testimonies of the first responders on the scene of Loretta's murder.

They found Loretta laying on her side with her hand in a pool of blood, them and the doctor witnessed 17 stab wounds in her back and two in her chest. The first responders found no sign of forced entry. This may indicate that Loretta knew her killer. Detective Brewer then makes another shocking discovery. It seems that, according to the medical examiner, Loretta didn't fight back. Someone being stabbed multiple times would definitely show defensive wounds in the typical case. The question is stunning.

why wouldn't Loretta have fought for her life? I believe that Loretta stayed quiet to protect her own child because she was afraid that her daughter would run out and get hurt as well. Although Brewer now has details about the crime, he still has no evidence from the crime scene and no lead on a suspect. The likelihood of solving this case is close to none. David goes to face Heidi empty-handed. Without any forensic evidence, there's little more he can do.

David said to me, too bad we don't have any photos of the crime scene. Right away, Heidi is reminded of a box of belongings her grandma had kept all those years. Inside, she had put anything that concerned the murder of her daughter. The most striking item is a photo of Heidi, standing near the outline of her mother's body. Why are they taking a picture of her right there? Where her mom died like that, the blood stain was still there. But this picture is the only crime scene photo we have. Along with the photo is a newspaper cut out of a man named Tom Eagley, accompanied by a police officer.

As David understands it, Tom was the only suspect in the murder case. He spent three months in jail awaiting trial, but was set free by the judge because of a lack of incriminating evidence. The judge kicked it out of the preliminary hearing stage. Tom Eagley just happened to be a guy at the wrong place at the wrong time walking around. While looking into the other newspaper clippings, David makes a shocking discovery. On the night Loretta was murdered, there was an attempted kidnapping only three blocks away. David Brewer knows this can't be a story. coincidence. It is likely the crime was committed by the same man that killed Loretta Jones. July 30th,

1970. At around 9.30 p.m., Lori Kulo and her brother are riding their bikes in front of their house. As it's starting to get dark, Lori realizes that her brother already went inside. As she quickly decides to go in herself, Lori drops her bike and walks toward the door. But she isn't alone. Just before reaching the safety of her home, a man attacks. He puts a hand against her mouth, preventing her from screaming. While she desperately tries to get away, the man's hand slips from her mouth long enough for Laurie to scream out for help. According to Lori's testimony, the man ran away in the direction of Loretta's house. Detective Brewer knows Lori saw the killer that night. He has to get in touch with her. She's the best chance he has to find a proper suspect.

At the same time, Heidi makes a most shocking discovery while checking into her grandmother's box. She finds a journal book in which her grandma documented every single thing four-year-old Heidi said after that fateful night. The first entry was written on the same night Loretta was found dead. Heidi said it was Tom that killed my mom. It sounds like Tom. I had a bad dream. I heard footsteps and he said, I'm coming to kill you. When I'm through with you, maybe your daughter too.

I heard a thud, a noise, Mommy fell. She was dead. I seen him through the hole in my door, not being my keyhole. where I did that Tom kill mommy. He always slapped her, hitting her. He was mean to mommy. It was such a horrendous time in my life and to know that I was there

and I witnessed a whole lot more than I actually remember. The long absent memories resurface as Heidi reads and she finally recalls the last thing her mother said to her. That night my mom came to my bedroom and she told me, don't come out.

The words, are striking. To think that Loretta knew something bad might happen, and still, she wanted to protect her child. As Heidi can't remember anything more about the man she called Tom, David Brewer goes forward and meets with Lori Kullo, the girl that was attacked on the same night Loretta was murdered. His best lead would be her description of the man she saw that night. Brown hair, lighter eyes, like 510, 511, something like that. He wasn't real tall, but he wasn't short. As Laurie describes her version of the events to David, one detail catches his attention. Lori was later called in by police to identify the suspect.

When we got to the police station, they'd had me kind of peek around the corner and look at him, and they asked, is that the guy? I felt like I was going to throw up, and I said yes. Lori identifies her attacker out of a lineup. The man's name, Tom Eagley, the same man that was arrested back in 1970. I knew that Loretta had dated Tom Egli one time on a blind date. She didn't like him and she didn't want anything to do with this guy. Heidi was always right to the same story every time.

You know, Tom killed my mom. While he is sure to have the right suspect, Detective Brewer knows he doesn't have enough evidence to convince a judge for a trial. And if he can't get a confession, his only option would be a DNA sample. While consulting with forensic experts and other qualified detectives, qualified detectives, David Brewer is given a crazy idea. If he's going to find DNA evidence, it can only be found in one place, Loretta's body. The thought of exhuming the remains of Loretta is troubling. Still, David calls a piety to ask for her permission as they are both running out of

options. Give me the shovel. I'll help dig because if that's what it's going to take, I will do it. I will do whatever I had to do. Investigators in Carbin County say they are closer than ever to figuring out who raped and killed a young mother nearly five decades ago. I would hope that nobody ever has to exhumed their own mother. It's June 2016, on the day Loretta Jones body is exhumed, Heidi melts down. In her head, it's as if she's losing her mother all over again, but everything depends on the result of this exhumation. The process is highly publicized, and the parties involved make sure the news will reach Tom Eakley's home. David Brewer gets a call

from a friend of the Jones family. Someone saw the exhumation on TV. She says, hey, I got some info for you that you might just find interesting. Did you ever know that Loretta wrote the killer's name in blood? And I says, how would you know this anyway? I mean, she says, I was living with Heidi's grandmother at the time going to school. She says, I saw it right there with my own eyes. We got one crime scene picture back. We looked, and with a little bit of color manipulation on this, this photo, it is there plain as day. She writes this T and this O. I never heard that. I was beyond excited. I mean, my mom taking her last dying breath,

writing out T and O, leaving the clues. 46 years ago, Loretta made sure her murder would be solved, and yet she has never gotten the justice she deserved. To Heidi, it's now more important than ever that Tom Eagley gets put Behind bars, everything hangs on the results of the exhumation. However, when the lab results come back, they are struck by the worst news ever. No trace of DNA has been found. Although their plan has failed, on television, they play it cool. Their last chance is Plan B, the bluff.

There are new things just come to light and things that didn't make sense maybe a year ago makes sense now. The idea is to make Eagley think they did find something and see how he'll react. Hendrik said it's still too soon to publicly name the individual that investigators are looking at for this crime. He did tell me that person is still alive and that detectives are actively working to arrest and prosecute him. Finally, a breakthrough. A woman calls, claiming she knows Tom Eagley as her neighbor and that he came to her for help, following the exhumation. Tom came to her house and says, hey, can you watch my dogs? The cops are going to come for me really soon. They arranged for the woman to record her conversations with Eagley, but never expected her to get a full confession.

Were you drunk? I was drunk, yeah. And the door closed and then what? I was thrown down for sex. Okay. And that made you feel how? Like s-h-h-h-h-lossed it, I cut her throat, and I left. He did it. He really did it. After all these years, he finally confessed.

Words can't describe what it was like. I says, we got your guy. Your mom can rest now. A 76-year-old man is on his way to prison for a murder he committed in Carvin County back in 1970. I can't believe this. I can't believe this day is finally here. In my impact statement, I told Egli how he took my mom away from me. She missed me dating.

She missed me getting my driver's license. She missed me getting married. She missed out on everything in my life. It's the end of a long road for Heidi Jones AC. This afternoon, Eggley was sentenced to 10 years to life behind bars for that crime. He will be 96 years old when he goes up before the parole board, and I will make sure he doesn't get out. People say it's closure, but for me, it wasn't closure.

It was justice. I don't even know how to put it. into words what David Burr means to me. Her persistence, I honestly think there were times that she lifted me up without her pushing me along and giving me that support, I don't think it would have been sold. Some heroes wear kids, mine words Kepler. He's my mom mattered.

My mom's life mattered. She mattered to me the most. For me, it's all been about never give her, Never give up. As long as there's hope, there's a chance. I learned to believe in the impossible. This has been such a big part of Jones AC's life. She says she's not sure what she's going to do now.

She says simply she's going to keep her mother's memory a lot.