April 24, 2025 • 37 mins
On Sept. 1, 1995, a police officer in Fort Smith, Arkansas pulled over a vehicle. A man named Jerry Cogan was driving and his girlfriend, 24-year-old Lori Murchison, was the passenger.
Lori worked at a local nursing home. She had a four year old daughter, Britney, and adored her little girl. But Lori had been battling an addiction to drugs, according to what her friends told police, mainly to methamphetamines and also alcohol.
Because of that, Lori had been living with her mother, Nancy, in between staying at different local motels, and Nancy had been taking care of Lori’s daughter on and off.
Lori and Jerry had been at a bar that night. When the officer pulled them over, he believed that both of them had been drinking. So, he placed Jerry under arrest for DUI, and Lori for suspicion of public intoxication.
Lori was taken to the Sebastian County jail. And she was released sometime after 5 AM on September 2nd. She told detectives that she planned to get money and come back to bail Jerry out.
But she never returned to jail. The last time she was seen alive was at the Continental Motel, when she was picking up a key to a room.
Her family had no way of knowing where she was - or that the hunt for this missing mother would eventually involve charges of corruption at the highest levels of government.
If you have a case you’d like the Hell and Gone team to look into, you can reach out to us at our Hell and Gone Murder Line at 678-744-6145.
See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.
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Transcript
Episode Transcript
Available transcripts are automatically generated. Complete accuracy is not guaranteed.
Speaker 1 (00:46):
School of Humans.
Speaker 2 (00:49):
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an effort to raise public awareness invite witnesses to come
forward and present evidence that could potentially be further investigated
by law enforcement. While we value insights from family and
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point to the challenges of verifying facts inherent in cold cases.
(01:12):
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is intended to state or imply that anyone who has
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Thanks for listening.
Speaker 1 (01:31):
On September one, nineteen ninety five, a police officer in
Fort Smith, Arkansas, pulled over a vehicle. A man named
Jerry Cogan was driving and his girlfriend, twenty four year
old Laurie Murchis, was the passenger. Laurie worked at a
local nursing home. She had a four year old daughter
named Brittany, and she adored her little girl. But Laurie
(01:53):
had been battling an addiction to drugs, according to what
her friends told police, mainly to crank or methamphetamines and
Laurie also drank alcohol. Because of that, Laurie had been
moving around a little. She had been living on and
off with her mother, Nancy Murchison, and also sometimes staying
at different local motels. Her mother, Nancy, had been taking
(02:17):
care of Laurie's daughter. Laurie and Jerry were out at
a bar that night when the officer pulled them over.
He believed that both of them had been drinking, so
he placed Jerry under arrest for DUI and Laurie for
suspicion of public intoxication. Laurie was taken to the Sebastian
County Jail. She was released some time after five am
(02:38):
on September second. She told detectives that she planned to
get money and come back to bail Jerry out. Jerry
had given her fifty dollars, but Laurie needed more. Another
inmate later told detectives that she heard Laurie talking to
other women in the holding cells about finding a bail
bond place. Laurie also specifically told jailers she was going
(03:02):
to pick up her paycheck from the Oaks Lodge nursing
home where she had been working, cash it, and come
back to bail Jerry out. Most recently, Laurie had been
staying with Jerry at the Continental Motel in Fort Smith.
Between two and four pm on September second, Laurie went
to the office of the Continental Motel to get a
key to her room. This is according to an April
(03:24):
two thousand and five Times Record report. Laurie's mother said
that she last talked to Laurie on September second. She
said that when she talked to her on the phone,
Laurie told her that she and Jerry were planning on
moving out of Nancy's house, that they had found a
room at a local motel. Laurie said that she would
come to NaN's house the next day to pick Brittany up,
(03:47):
but she never returned to the jail, and she did
not pick up her paycheck at the nursing home. The
last time she was seen alive was at the Continental
Motel when she picked up a key to her room.
After that, she left that motel. None of her close
friends or family ever heard from Laurie Murchison again. Her
(04:07):
family had no way of knowing where she was, or
that the hunt for this missing mother would eventually involve
charges of corruption at the highest levels of State government.
I'm Catherine Townsend. Over the past five years of making
my true crime podcast, Helling Gone, I've learned that there
is no such thing as a small town where murdered
(04:28):
never happens. I've received hundreds of messages from people all
around the country asking for help with an unsolved murder
that's affected them, their families, and their communities. If you
have a case you'd like me and my team to
look into, you can reach out to us at our
Helen Gone Murder Line at six seven eight seven four
four six one four five that's six seven eight seven
(04:50):
four four six one four or five, or you can
send us a message at Helen gonpod. This is Helen
Gone Murder Line. Days went by, Laurie Murchison never showed
(05:46):
up to pick up her daughter, Brittany. According to media
reports at the time, Laurie had been making regular trips
back and forth to Wilburton, Oklahoma. This was happening for
some time prior to her disappearance. A friend of hers
told police that Laurie had disappeared before and that she
had stayed gone for as long as a month at
(06:08):
a time. But Laurie's mother, Nancy, was worried because she
told detectives even if Lourie didn't come by, she always
checked in, and Nancy believed she would never stay out
of communication with her daughter for that long. Nancy officially
reported Lourie missing on September fifth, nineteen ninety five. Police
(06:29):
talked to people who claimed they had seen Laurie walking
around in different locations. They confirmed she was released from
jail at approximately five forty am on September second. In
the day's following Laurie's disappearance, missing posters went up describing
Laurie and the last clothes. She was seen in a
white sleeveless cotton shirt cut off blue denim shorts, white socks,
(06:52):
black sandals, a gold oval shaped knuckle ring on her
left index finger, and a cross necklace on a black ribbon.
Laurie was white, with brown hair that was bleached blonde,
and brown eyes. She did have several distinctive tattoos, including
a tattoo of a unicorn on her left shoulder, a
tattoo of a heart with an arrow piercing it on
(07:14):
her left breast, and a rose tattoo on her left ankle.
Laurie also wore dentures and had several teeth missing. Police,
of course had to consider the possibility that Lurie had
gone missing voluntarily, but this seemed unlikely given the fact
she never picked up her last paycheck from work. Detective Barrows,
(07:35):
one of the investigators on the case, met with Laurie's mother, Nancy.
Nancy gave detectives information about some of Laurie's close friends.
Nancy later told The Times Record that Laurie was scared
worried about something that she had seen or heard in
the weeks before her disappearance. A few weeks before her
daughter went missing, Nancy told police that Laurie came home
(07:59):
afraid that someone was going to come after her, saying
things like they're gonna off me. Nancy said she didn't
know who or what Laurie was talking about or what
could have scared her, and police weren't getting much from
Laurie's friends. None of them had heard from her, and
no one seemed to know where she had gone. Laurie
had been talking to some female prisoners in jail before
(08:21):
she was released. They told police they heard Lurie talking
about a local bonding agency, so it seemed like Laurie
had been planning on getting out of jail, picking up
her paycheck, and bailing out her boyfriend, but there were
a lot of dead ends. We did a Foyer request
for Laurie's case file, but we only got part of
it covering the first few weeks of the investigation. An
(08:45):
officer from the Fort Smith Police Department went to the
Midland Motel, the motel where Laurie was living before she
moved to the Continental, but no one had seen her there.
Police were able to figure out that on the night
Laurie was arrested, she and her boyfriend Jerry, went to
a bar called Shooters. They were hanging out there from
around seven to around eleven PM or midnight, right before
(09:08):
they were pulled over by police. Police checked local hospitals, motels,
and rehabs, but no one had seen Laurie Murchison. Police
also talked to Laurie's boyfriend, Jerry. He said he had
no idea where his girlfriend had gone. Police did say
he was cooperative and they cleared him pretty quickly. Nancy
(09:29):
did tell police that Jerry had told her that since
he and Laurie had been together, they hadn't been to
any bars. Now obviously this wasn't true because Laurie and
Jerry were at shooters and they were intoxicated when they
were picked up. But there are a lot of reasons
why Jerry might have told this small white lie to
Laurie's mother. Jerry Cogan was working at a glass plant
(09:52):
in Midland. He came in and talked to detectives, and
apparently he was very cooperative. He said he was as
shocked as anyone else when Laurie never showed up to
come bail him out. During this time, detectives did get
a report that a body was found a white female
in Salasaw Creek in Oklahoma, but it was not Laurie.
(10:13):
Laurie had been at work at the nursing home on Friday.
A friend of hers named Ronda had seen her there,
but Ronda said that was the last time that she
saw Laurie. Laurie never came back. Police wondered could someone
at the nursing home have wanted to hurt Laurie. During
this time, Captain J. C Ryder, one of the investigators
(10:36):
on the case, interviewed a confidential informant. This was someone
who was in jail in Ozark. Now. This person told
him Laurie had been having a sexual relationship with a
married man who worked with her at the nursing home,
and that the married man's wife was violent and it
threatened to kill Laurie. J. C. Rider interviewed the married man.
This person denied having a relationship with Laurie. They said
(10:59):
they had never had more than a casual conversation with her.
When Captain Rider asked who would have a reason to
make up a story like that, this person gave the
name of someone who was married to one of his
family members, someone with a grudge against him. He said
he didn't know if this guy would know about the
disappearance of Laurie since this person was in jail in Ozark.
(11:21):
Captain Rider said after reviewing the information, he believed that
the married man was being truthful about not having a
relationship with Laurie. Captain Rider also spoke to the man's wife.
She said she had no knowledge of an affair between
him and Laurie, so that possibility of Laurie having an
affair with a married man that led to her death
(11:41):
was apparently ruled out. Police investigated another man, someone with
a long criminal record, including aggravated robbery, burglary, assault and battery.
This person was one of Lurie's acquaintances, but apparently this
was another dead end. Nancy told police about some friends
of Lourie's, a man named Floyd who was nicknamed Corky,
(12:04):
and his wife Sue. Nancy Murchison said Sue told someone
that one night Laurie showed up at her house with
two men in a red car. Sue denied telling Nancy
this when police asked her about it, but Corky said
Sue had told him that same story. So who were
these two men, what did they want? And could they
(12:27):
have had anything to do with Lurie's disappearance. Another detective,
Detective Reese, called the Razorback cab company, trying to retrace
Lori's steps after she was released from jail. He figured
out that a driver had picked her up at a
local bonding company. The driver told police he took Lurie
to a local Taco bell to pick up her car,
(12:48):
but the driver said that Lourie's car was not there.
The cab driver said at this point, Laurie was upset
and surprised because she said the police had told her
they were not going to tow the car, so the
driver told police that after that, Laurie had him drive
her to a local apartment complex. The Weregond Courts, so
detectives went to that apartment complex they found a man
(13:12):
named Billy Aaron. Billy told them that he knew someone
who may have information about Loriie. This person's name was Jimmy.
He was living in an apartment in that complex, and
Jimmy was living on and off with a woman named
Mary Chipman who went by the nickname Cricket. Jimmy's exact
address was kind of a mystery. He said. He stayed
(13:33):
sometimes in Van Buren with a woman, some of the
time with his mom, and part of the time in
another house. Billy said Jimmy and Cricket fought a lot,
that Cricket had kicked you out of his house from
time to time, and that at that point Jimmy ended
up crashing with Billy. In fact, a lot of what
unfolded next would center on that apartment complex, the Ragon Court,
(13:56):
and on apartment number eighty seven, where Billy said Jimmy
and Cricket were living, and according to Billy, they also
all hung out regularly at Shooters, the bar where Laurie
and Jerry were last seen before they got arrested. Billy's
story was that Jimmy had come over to his place
and that they were drinking one night. Billy said they
(14:16):
happened to be watching TV and a news story about
Lourie's disappearance came on. Billy said Jimmy told him that
he recognized Laurie. Billy said Jimmy had seen Laurie at
a party at Cricket's place, which he said was apartment
number eighty seven, where they were doing drugs. He said
Kirky was there too that night, and at that party,
(14:37):
Laurie was sitting in a chair. Laurie overdosed and died.
Billy said, quote, Cricket went ape, shit, started throwing shit,
throwing everybody out, flipping out and all this. That's when
they picked her up and carried her outside. He said
that they carried her out like she was drunk, put
her in the vehicle like she was drunk, and he
(14:57):
drove off end quote. He is in reference to Corky,
by the way, because according to Jimmy's story, Corky drove
off somewhere and buried the body. Billy said that Jimmy
told him he didn't know where they went and that
he didn't have a lot of other details. Billy said, quote,
he said, at least you ought to have the decency
(15:17):
to tell somebody or just let somebody know. That's what
he said there in my house end quote. Later, the
Fort Smith Police Department interviewed Cricket, but they said she
was actually living in apartment number ninety nine. At first,
police said Cricket seemed uncooperative, but she eventually told police
that on the night Laurie was arrested, she was out
(15:38):
with her boyfriend. She said Laurie had stopped by her
residence while she was out and talked to her babysitter,
then Laurie left. Cricket said she never saw Laurie that night.
Then Cricket changed her story. This time she said she
was out with another guy. Police said she never mentioned
this other guy before, and they were asking her a
(15:59):
lot of questions about her story and why it changed.
They searched Cricket's room and seized items described as drug paraphernalia,
but Cricket was never arrested or charged in connection with
Laurie's death, and after the initial few weeks it seemed
like Laurie's case went cold. No trace of Laurie was
found and no body. But then Lourie Murchison made headlines
(16:23):
again because there was a big development in the case
from a very unexpected source. News broke that the FBI
was investigating the prosecutor for Sebastian County, Ron Fields, of
dealing drugs and of ordering the murder of Lorie Murchison,
and that the person who ron Fields allegedly ordered to
(16:45):
murder Laurie Murchison was one of the investigators on the case,
the police captain j c Ryder. In the weeks following
Laurie Murchison's disappearance, police were questioning people at a nearby
(17:09):
apartment complex. They found a man named Billy, who claimed
that Laurie overdosed at the residence of a woman named
Cricket in a room at the Ragencourt apartment complex, and
that they carried her lifeless body out in a vehicle.
Billy claimed that Jimmy was afraid to tell the authorities
because Jimmy was afraid that he would be charged with
(17:29):
her death and disposal of her body. Then the case
went quiet for years, but then all of a sudden.
Around two thousand and five, Laurie Murchison made headlines again
because there was a huge development in the case from
a very unexpected source. News broke that the FBI was
(17:50):
investigating the prosecutor for Sebastian County, Ron Fields, of dealing
drugs and of ordering the murder of Lorie Murchison, and
that the person Ron Fields allegedly ordered to murder Laurie
was one of the investigators on the case, the police
Captain J. C. Rider. I want to back up a
minute and talk about ron Fields, because there is a
(18:12):
massive controversy about ron Fields that is still unresolved. We've
talked about him briefly before when we were talking about
the unsolved murder of Melissa Witt. Ron Fields was close
to Captain J. C. Rider of the Fort Smith Police Department,
and Captain J. C. Rider later made news for becoming
involved in the Melissa Witt cold case.
Speaker 2 (18:33):
J C.
Speaker 1 (18:33):
Rider and Ron Fields have a lot of history. Ron
Fields served as the Sebastian County prosecutor for eighteen years.
In nineteen ninety, he was a point by then Arkansas
Governor Bill Clinton to become Arkansas Attorney General. During the
time ron Fields was the prosecutor. He was very publicly
anti drug He helped write laws that required longer prison
(18:56):
sentences for drug abusers. He led the twelfth Judicial Drug
Task Force in Western Arkansas. Ron Fields actually started in
Arkansas the practice of requiring prosecutors rather than police to
get search warrants in drug cases. This meant that ron
Fields or one of his deputies actually went on drug
(19:17):
raids with the police. Now, his supporters said that this
made sure the evidence was all gathered by the book,
and to be fair, the conviction rate in Arkansas for
drug offenses did go up under ron Fields. His critics
said the fact that he personally went on those drug
raids was a massive red flag for other reasons which
we'll get to a little later. Ron Fields was also
(19:41):
a close friend of Republican Congressman A. SA SA Hutchinson.
ASA Hutchinson, of course, served as US Attorney and later
went on to become the forty six governor of Arkansas.
He served from twenty fifteen to twenty twenty three. In
two thousand and one, ASA Hutchinson took ron Fields with
him to Washington, d C. Ron Fields became A. SA
(20:02):
Hutchinson's special assistant at the Drug Enforcement Agency and later
worked with Hutchinson in the Department of Homeland Security. According
to The Arkansas Times, this position that ron Fields had
with DA was very powerful. He worked on a coalition
that battled terrorism and drug trafficking, and then in around
two thousand and four two thousand and five, these accusations
(20:24):
surfaced about J. C. Ryder and ron Fields that according
to media reports, these two men were allegedly involved in
Lourie Murchison's murder. On May second, two thousand and five,
officials at the Department of Homeland Security pulled ron Fields
security clearance and then he was suspended from his position
at the Department of Homeland Security. He appealed that decision
(20:47):
but lost. Suddenly, ron fields days in Washington were numbered
the FBI continued their investigation. Ron Fields went back to
Fort Smith ASA. Hutchinson also left Washington at around that time.
This connection between ron Fields and Lori Murchison was allegedly
(21:07):
JC Rider. J. C. Rider was also a powerful figure
in Arkansas. He had been in the Department since nineteen
seventy five and was head of the Department's Major Crimes
Unit until his retirement in two thousand and two. So
suddenly the FBI have announced they were investigating claims that
ron Fields had allegedly been involved in drug dealing and
that he ordered J. C. Rider to kill Laurie Murchison
(21:29):
and to dump her body. J C. Rider was subpoena
to Washington, d c. To appear in front of a
grand jury convened by the Public Corruption Section of the
Department of Justice. Now, in the end, no charges were
filed against J. C. Rider or Ron Fields, but it
is hard to find any information out about exactly what
(21:51):
went down during this investigation. We have made a Foyer
request to the FBI for any and all case files
involving investigations into ron Fields, but our request has been denied. Meanwhile,
ron Field's lawyer Eddie Christian said the FBI investigation into
ron Fields was the biggest witch hunt he'd ever seen.
(22:11):
Eddie Christian was also J. C. Rider's attorney. He later
told The Arkansas Times that the investigators were absolutely nuts.
Eddie Christian told the Southwest Times Record in April two
thousand and five, quote, I've known this guy, meaning ron Fields,
for a long damn time. Let me tell you he's
one of the most impoverished lawyers. I know he wears J. C.
(22:35):
Penny suits. He does not live high on the hog.
This boy's never made any money. I mean, he's been
a public servant and that's been about it, except for
a short stant in private practice. It's crazy to accuse
ron Fields of selling drugs or doing drugs end quote.
Eddie Christian also claimed that FBI agents had harassed ron
(22:55):
Fields and J. C Ryder's families. Ron Fields had other supporters.
Jack Moseley, the former editor of the Times Record, wrote,
I would sooner believe mother Teresa was an axe murderer
than think Ron Fields could be guilty of using and
trafficking in illegal drugs. I've never known a more straight
error fellow than Fields, and the idea of him ordering
(23:17):
a police officer to kill a missing woman in Fort
Smith to keep her quiet about his alleged drug activities
is even more ridiculous. End quote. But it's interesting because
in that same column, Jack Moseley wrote, quote, Fields or
one of his deputies personally went on almost every local
drug rate in order to guarantee that evidence was properly gathered,
(23:38):
protected and kept for use in criminal trials. En quote.
But the Arkansas Times reported that they had spoken to
a lawyer. They didn't name this person, but they said
the source had been interviewed by the FBI and that
the FBI were asking about money that was forfeited as
a result of drug arrests. Now, this source said the
DOJ threatened to pull the lawyer's license if he didn't
(24:01):
give them the information they wanted about ron Fields. The
source said they didn't have any information on ron Fields.
They didn't know why this investigation was happening at all.
But The Arkansas Times talked to other sources who said
that ron Fields quote ran the police department and that
the fact that he carried a gun and accompanied police
on drug raids was in fact a massive red flag
(24:23):
and a conflict of interest. The source told the Times
that he had seen statements from witnesses people who claimed
that they had seen ron Fields use drugs. So what
does any of this have to do with Lourie Murchison. Well.
One of the allegations that federal investigators were looking into
was whether ry Murchison may have had knowledge about ron
(24:46):
Field's alleged drug activities and whether j. C Ryder went
to question Laurie Murchison. The allegation was that he and
ron Fields may have gone together to question Laurie. This
federal investigation went on for two years. During that time,
a lot of rock Field's supporters stated it was ridiculous
(25:06):
to believe that Ronfield's impeccable character could ever be questioned
and that his activities could be covered up. But later
in two thousand and seven, very ugly allegations surfaced again
about ron Fields, allegations that he sexually assaulted his mentally
disabled daughter, twenty six year old Bridget Dollar, and that
the prosecutor's office declined to prosecute. On June twenty second,
(25:30):
two thousand and seven, Bridget told the police in Fort
Smith that her stepfather, ron Fields, had raped her. She
came to police after first confessing the alleged sexual assault
to a relative. The officer who interviewed Bridget, Christine Deeson,
was quoted in The Arkansas Times. Bridget said she was
sitting on the couch watching The Prices Ride on TV
(25:51):
when ron Fields came in and quote pulled her off
of the couch by her arm and took her to
her mom's bedroom. He took off her clothes and put
her on the bed. She said she knew what he
was doing was wrong. She also told me it was painful.
I asked her what made him stop. She said she
thought his cell phone rang and he stopped to answer it.
(26:12):
When asked what happened next, Bridget said that he put
on his clothes and left. Bridget said that after that
he would come on Tuesdays and do the same thing.
She couldn't tell me how many times this happened, but
said it was more than two. She said he told
her not to tell or he would get in big trouble.
End quote. Now this became a big story because not
(26:35):
only did it involve a powerful politician and his former stepdaughter,
but her mother, ron Field's ex wife, Claire, was at
the time the prosecuting attorney for the city of Fort Smith.
Bridget lived at home with her mother. She had never
held a job and had an intellectual development disorder. She
is described in court documents as a disabled and incapacitated adult.
(26:58):
She has always had a family member appointed as a
permanent guardian. Despite that, and despite the fact that police
reviewed phone records and voice mails and said they believe
Bridget ron Fields was never interviewed. The Arkansas Times kind
of summed up the case progress in two thousand and
eight by quoting an investigator who said of Ron Fields, quote,
(27:20):
if he had been a janitor, he would have been
arrested the next day end quote. According to the police
record of the rape investigation that was quoted in the
Arkansas Times, Claire boy and Gasser, ron Fields X's wife
told police that ron was drinking heavily when he came
back from Washington, d c. In two thousand and five,
but she told investigators they were on good terms even
(27:41):
after the divorce. She said the accusations had shocked her,
but that she believed her daughter Bridget. She was willing
to put herself and her daughter through whatever police and
prosecution and cross examination they would need to go through
to get justice. The investigators also believed that Bridget was
telling the truth. So why wasn't Ronfields prosecuted or even questioned?
(28:06):
According to Arkansas law, it's a crime to have sexual
intercourse with a person who is incapable of consent because
she is mentally defective. That would mean a person who
is incapable of understanding the nature and consequences of sexual acts.
But in the memo quoted in the Times, the prosecutors wrote,
Bridget understood what sex was. She knew that she did
(28:28):
not want to go upstairs with Ron. But the memo
stated this meant that mentally defective does not apply because
she kind of understood what was happening. So apparently, because
Bridget understood the concept of sex, the prosecutors believe she
was not mentally defective, at least according to the law
at the time. So the next question was if she
(28:49):
understood what was happening, did she consent? The memo reads
quote this question is very difficult to answer at this time.
Victim is stated that the defendant would come to her home,
grab her arm, pull her off the couch, and take
her upstairs to perform sexual intercourse. How much force was
exerted end quote. So in this memo they talk about
(29:10):
a nineteen ninety five case and that it involved a
fourteen year old in her stepfather. And apparently the Arkansas
Supreme Court found that when an assailant has an in
loco parenthous relationship to a victim, that the law regarding
force is a little bit different. When someone is acting
as a parent, the victim does not have to display
(29:31):
what they call utmost physical resistance. Now, this would definitely
seem to apply to Ronfield's and bridget dollar And yet
six months after this alleged assault was reported, the prosecutor's
office notified the police charges would not be filed. And
this blows my mind. In the explanation letter, the prosecutor wrote,
(29:52):
Bridget's mental deficiencies do not rise to the level of
charging rape under the law. While in the prosecutor's opinion,
Bridget was not lying, the office believed she would have
perhaps insurmountable problems if she was cross examined if the
case went to trial, and one of the main issues
they kept debating was the question of force. Prosecutor's office
(30:14):
stated the only force that Bridget talked about was when
ron Fields grabbed her arm when she was on the
couch and took her upstairs. Bridget did say she said
no and slapped at him. However, the prosecutor's office believed
she did have an opportunity to leave while ron Fields
was undressing. Bridget's family were outraged. They believed the prosecutors
(30:36):
were saying basically that Bridget wasn't mentally capable of testifying,
but she was mentally capable of consenting sex. Claire's sister,
Sarah Estraat, wrote to the prosecutor about Ron Fields. She wrote, quote,
Ron Fields is a cunning lawyer who is accustomed to
kicking indoors during drug raids. A terrified, mentally impaired young
(30:57):
woman is no match for him. End quote. So no
action was taken against ron Fields in the sexual assault case,
and the FBI never conclusively linked him to Laurie Murchison's disappearance.
The FBI investigation was ended with no progress on Laurie's case.
(31:19):
Over the years, Nancy Murchison told The Times Record she
would get anonymous calls from people claiming they knew what
happened to Laurie. They would tell her that Laurie had
been burned into stove or put through a wood chipper,
or that she had been fed to pigs. In two thousand,
a new detective named Ron Lockhart was put on Laurie's case,
(31:39):
and he started digging for answers. According to news reports,
the new detective assigned to Laurie's case, Ron Lockhart, and
his team, conducted interviews and they went under cover wearing wires.
Ron Lockhart did not believe that the investigation into Ron
(32:02):
Fields and J. C. Rider were justified. He said he
found no evidence that either of them were involved in
Laurie Murchison's disappearance. He called this investigation a waste of
taxpayers money and a waste of time. He said he
believed that the allegations against ron Fields had come from
someone with a grudge. Others have suggested it could be
(32:24):
someone Ron prosecuted in the past. Obviously, in a job
like ron Fields, it goes without saying that you can
make a lot of enemies. But that person or person's
were never named. The FBI never filed any charges against
Ron Fields or J. C. Ryder. The jury in Washington,
d C. Heard testimony that it led to nothing. Over
(32:46):
the years, Ron Lockhart developed a theory, one that seemed
very similar to what Billy had initially told detectives, that
Laurie had accidentally overdosed and then the person or people
she was with got rid of her body. Every once
in a while, Lourie's name pops up in headlines again.
Back in two thousand and five, n WA News reported
(33:07):
that someone had tipped off the Fort Smith Police that
Laurie's body was buried in salvageyard, so they went out
and dug there. That salvageyard was reportedly less than a
mile from the motel where Laurie was last seen. Searchers
were sent in to dig. In the end, they found
no trace of Lourie. The Times Record did a follow
(33:28):
up story on Laurie Murchison in twenty fourteen, coming up
on the twenty year anniversary of her disappearance. They interviewed
Ron Lockhart and he gave more details about his theory.
Ron Lockhart said he had a suspect in mind, and
it was J. C Ryder or Ron Fields or anyone
connected to them. He told The Times Record it was
(33:49):
someone who was in prison in Oklahoma. He said that
he felt that he did have enough to charge this
person with abuse of a corpse. He said he took
the information he had to the Sebastian County prosecuting Attorney,
but unfortunately he found out that it was too late.
Ron Lockhart told the Times Record quote, back then there
was enough evidence to file disposing of a corpse, but
(34:11):
the statute of limitations had run over. But we did
have a strong suspect that we felt like knew what
happened with her. End quote. He said the detectives did
interview their suspect in prison, that they asked the person
where Laurie's body was, but in the end they weren't
able to find her. At the time, Ron Lockhart said
(34:32):
he believed someone might have dumped Loriie into the Arkansas River.
He said, quote, it was a sad deal. We did
everything we could do, and I feel confident I know
what happened to her. Ron Lockhart said five different sources
told him that a man whom you would not name,
said Laurie died of a drug overdose and that this
(34:53):
man worried about being charged with her death and disposal
of her body. So my question is, are these the
same people who were questioned in the early weeks of
the investigation or someone else? And if this is where
police have landed, if this is all they're going to do,
then why won't they release the rest of the case file.
Nancy Murchison said back then she still believes that Laurie
(35:18):
was murdered. She can't forget what Laurie said in the
weeks before she disappeared, especially that one time when Laurie
came home and said that someone was planning to offer her.
But could that have been Laurie's paranoia due to drug
use or could it have been something more? After all,
there was a lot that Nancy Murchison admitted she didn't
(35:38):
know about what was going on with Lourie. She told
the newspaper she didn't even know that Laurie was on drugs.
In twenty twelve, she met with a volunteer group called
the Cold Case Revivors, people whose relatives had been murdered
or missing. They had regular meetings in Muldrow, Oklahoma. But
I don't think that group still exists because a link
(35:59):
to the organization's web page appears to be inactive. The
latest update about Laurie's case from the Fort Smith Police
Department came from a news report in twenty fourteen. It
said a new detective had been assigned to Laurie's case,
Detective David Williams. This person had been working in the
(36:20):
Criminal Investigation division for a year and at that time
in twenty fourteen, he told the newspaper there had been
nothing new added to Laurie's case file in years. He said,
quote that things hundreds of pages. I haven't even been
able to make it through all that end quote. Laurie's mother,
Nancy took custody of her daughter Brittany, who would now
(36:43):
be in her thirdies. Nancy Murchison talked to the media
several times over the years. She made public police for
whoever killed Laurie or who was involved in any way
to come forward. She said, even if it was an accident,
she would want to know so that the family could
have some kind of closure and they could put Laurie
in the family plot. But in twenty seventeen, Nancy passed away,
(37:06):
never knowing what happened to her daughter Laurie and never
being able to bring her body home. Anyone with information
on the disappearance of Laurie Murchison can call the Fort
Smith Police Departments Criminal Investigation Division at four seven nine
seven oh nine five one one six, or email Missing
Persons at Fort SMITHPD dot org. I'm Katherine Townsend. This
(37:33):
is Helen Gone Murder Line. Helen Gone Murder Line is
a production of School of Humans and iHeart Podcasts. It's
written and narrated by me Catherine Townsend and produced by
Gabby Watts. Special thanks to Amy Tubbs for her research
assistance and to James Wheaton for Legal Review. Noah camer
mixed and scored this episode. Our theme song is by
(37:53):
Ben Sale, Executive producers of Virginia Prescott, Brandon Barr, and L. C. Crowley.
Listen to Helen Gone ad free by subscribing to the
iHeart True Crime Plus channel on Apple Podcasts. If you
were interested in seeing documents and materials from the case,
you can follow the show on Instagram at Helen gonpot.
If you have a case you'd like me and my
(38:14):
team to look into, you can reach out to us
at our Helen Gone Murder line at six seven eight
seven four four six one four five. That's six seven
eight seven four four six' one four or.
Speaker 2 (38:25):
Five school Of humans
School of Humans.
Speaker 2 (00:49):
Helen Got Murder Line actively investigates cold case murders in
an effort to raise public awareness invite witnesses to come
forward and present evidence that could potentially be further investigated
by law enforcement. While we value insights from family and
community members, their statements should not be considered evidence and
point to the challenges of verifying facts inherent in cold cases.
(01:12):
We remind listeners that everyone has presumed innocent until proven
guilty in a court of law. Nothing in the podcast
is intended to state or imply that anyone who has
not been convicted of a crime is guilty of any wrongdoing.
Thanks for listening.
Speaker 1 (01:31):
On September one, nineteen ninety five, a police officer in
Fort Smith, Arkansas, pulled over a vehicle. A man named
Jerry Cogan was driving and his girlfriend, twenty four year
old Laurie Murchis, was the passenger. Laurie worked at a
local nursing home. She had a four year old daughter
named Brittany, and she adored her little girl. But Laurie
(01:53):
had been battling an addiction to drugs, according to what
her friends told police, mainly to crank or methamphetamines and
Laurie also drank alcohol. Because of that, Laurie had been
moving around a little. She had been living on and
off with her mother, Nancy Murchison, and also sometimes staying
at different local motels. Her mother, Nancy, had been taking
(02:17):
care of Laurie's daughter. Laurie and Jerry were out at
a bar that night when the officer pulled them over.
He believed that both of them had been drinking, so
he placed Jerry under arrest for DUI and Laurie for
suspicion of public intoxication. Laurie was taken to the Sebastian
County Jail. She was released some time after five am
(02:38):
on September second. She told detectives that she planned to
get money and come back to bail Jerry out. Jerry
had given her fifty dollars, but Laurie needed more. Another
inmate later told detectives that she heard Laurie talking to
other women in the holding cells about finding a bail
bond place. Laurie also specifically told jailers she was going
(03:02):
to pick up her paycheck from the Oaks Lodge nursing
home where she had been working, cash it, and come
back to bail Jerry out. Most recently, Laurie had been
staying with Jerry at the Continental Motel in Fort Smith.
Between two and four pm on September second, Laurie went
to the office of the Continental Motel to get a
key to her room. This is according to an April
(03:24):
two thousand and five Times Record report. Laurie's mother said
that she last talked to Laurie on September second. She
said that when she talked to her on the phone,
Laurie told her that she and Jerry were planning on
moving out of Nancy's house, that they had found a
room at a local motel. Laurie said that she would
come to NaN's house the next day to pick Brittany up,
(03:47):
but she never returned to the jail, and she did
not pick up her paycheck at the nursing home. The
last time she was seen alive was at the Continental
Motel when she picked up a key to her room.
After that, she left that motel. None of her close
friends or family ever heard from Laurie Murchison again. Her
(04:07):
family had no way of knowing where she was, or
that the hunt for this missing mother would eventually involve
charges of corruption at the highest levels of State government.
I'm Catherine Townsend. Over the past five years of making
my true crime podcast, Helling Gone, I've learned that there
is no such thing as a small town where murdered
(04:28):
never happens. I've received hundreds of messages from people all
around the country asking for help with an unsolved murder
that's affected them, their families, and their communities. If you
have a case you'd like me and my team to
look into, you can reach out to us at our
Helen Gone Murder Line at six seven eight seven four
four six one four five that's six seven eight seven
(04:50):
four four six one four or five, or you can
send us a message at Helen gonpod. This is Helen
Gone Murder Line. Days went by, Laurie Murchison never showed
(05:46):
up to pick up her daughter, Brittany. According to media
reports at the time, Laurie had been making regular trips
back and forth to Wilburton, Oklahoma. This was happening for
some time prior to her disappearance. A friend of hers
told police that Laurie had disappeared before and that she
had stayed gone for as long as a month at
(06:08):
a time. But Laurie's mother, Nancy, was worried because she
told detectives even if Lourie didn't come by, she always
checked in, and Nancy believed she would never stay out
of communication with her daughter for that long. Nancy officially
reported Lourie missing on September fifth, nineteen ninety five. Police
(06:29):
talked to people who claimed they had seen Laurie walking
around in different locations. They confirmed she was released from
jail at approximately five forty am on September second. In
the day's following Laurie's disappearance, missing posters went up describing
Laurie and the last clothes. She was seen in a
white sleeveless cotton shirt cut off blue denim shorts, white socks,
(06:52):
black sandals, a gold oval shaped knuckle ring on her
left index finger, and a cross necklace on a black ribbon.
Laurie was white, with brown hair that was bleached blonde,
and brown eyes. She did have several distinctive tattoos, including
a tattoo of a unicorn on her left shoulder, a
tattoo of a heart with an arrow piercing it on
(07:14):
her left breast, and a rose tattoo on her left ankle.
Laurie also wore dentures and had several teeth missing. Police,
of course had to consider the possibility that Lurie had
gone missing voluntarily, but this seemed unlikely given the fact
she never picked up her last paycheck from work. Detective Barrows,
(07:35):
one of the investigators on the case, met with Laurie's mother, Nancy.
Nancy gave detectives information about some of Laurie's close friends.
Nancy later told The Times Record that Laurie was scared
worried about something that she had seen or heard in
the weeks before her disappearance. A few weeks before her
daughter went missing, Nancy told police that Laurie came home
(07:59):
afraid that someone was going to come after her, saying
things like they're gonna off me. Nancy said she didn't
know who or what Laurie was talking about or what
could have scared her, and police weren't getting much from
Laurie's friends. None of them had heard from her, and
no one seemed to know where she had gone. Laurie
had been talking to some female prisoners in jail before
(08:21):
she was released. They told police they heard Lurie talking
about a local bonding agency, so it seemed like Laurie
had been planning on getting out of jail, picking up
her paycheck, and bailing out her boyfriend, but there were
a lot of dead ends. We did a Foyer request
for Laurie's case file, but we only got part of
it covering the first few weeks of the investigation. An
(08:45):
officer from the Fort Smith Police Department went to the
Midland Motel, the motel where Laurie was living before she
moved to the Continental, but no one had seen her there.
Police were able to figure out that on the night
Laurie was arrested, she and her boyfriend Jerry, went to
a bar called Shooters. They were hanging out there from
around seven to around eleven PM or midnight, right before
(09:08):
they were pulled over by police. Police checked local hospitals, motels,
and rehabs, but no one had seen Laurie Murchison. Police
also talked to Laurie's boyfriend, Jerry. He said he had
no idea where his girlfriend had gone. Police did say
he was cooperative and they cleared him pretty quickly. Nancy
(09:29):
did tell police that Jerry had told her that since
he and Laurie had been together, they hadn't been to
any bars. Now obviously this wasn't true because Laurie and
Jerry were at shooters and they were intoxicated when they
were picked up. But there are a lot of reasons
why Jerry might have told this small white lie to
Laurie's mother. Jerry Cogan was working at a glass plant
(09:52):
in Midland. He came in and talked to detectives, and
apparently he was very cooperative. He said he was as
shocked as anyone else when Laurie never showed up to
come bail him out. During this time, detectives did get
a report that a body was found a white female
in Salasaw Creek in Oklahoma, but it was not Laurie.
(10:13):
Laurie had been at work at the nursing home on Friday.
A friend of hers named Ronda had seen her there,
but Ronda said that was the last time that she
saw Laurie. Laurie never came back. Police wondered could someone
at the nursing home have wanted to hurt Laurie. During
this time, Captain J. C Ryder, one of the investigators
(10:36):
on the case, interviewed a confidential informant. This was someone
who was in jail in Ozark. Now. This person told
him Laurie had been having a sexual relationship with a
married man who worked with her at the nursing home,
and that the married man's wife was violent and it
threatened to kill Laurie. J. C. Rider interviewed the married man.
This person denied having a relationship with Laurie. They said
(10:59):
they had never had more than a casual conversation with her.
When Captain Rider asked who would have a reason to
make up a story like that, this person gave the
name of someone who was married to one of his
family members, someone with a grudge against him. He said
he didn't know if this guy would know about the
disappearance of Laurie since this person was in jail in Ozark.
(11:21):
Captain Rider said after reviewing the information, he believed that
the married man was being truthful about not having a
relationship with Laurie. Captain Rider also spoke to the man's wife.
She said she had no knowledge of an affair between
him and Laurie, so that possibility of Laurie having an
affair with a married man that led to her death
(11:41):
was apparently ruled out. Police investigated another man, someone with
a long criminal record, including aggravated robbery, burglary, assault and battery.
This person was one of Lurie's acquaintances, but apparently this
was another dead end. Nancy told police about some friends
of Lourie's, a man named Floyd who was nicknamed Corky,
(12:04):
and his wife Sue. Nancy Murchison said Sue told someone
that one night Laurie showed up at her house with
two men in a red car. Sue denied telling Nancy
this when police asked her about it, but Corky said
Sue had told him that same story. So who were
these two men, what did they want? And could they
(12:27):
have had anything to do with Lurie's disappearance. Another detective,
Detective Reese, called the Razorback cab company, trying to retrace
Lori's steps after she was released from jail. He figured
out that a driver had picked her up at a
local bonding company. The driver told police he took Lurie
to a local Taco bell to pick up her car,
(12:48):
but the driver said that Lourie's car was not there.
The cab driver said at this point, Laurie was upset
and surprised because she said the police had told her
they were not going to tow the car, so the
driver told police that after that, Laurie had him drive
her to a local apartment complex. The Weregond Courts, so
detectives went to that apartment complex they found a man
(13:12):
named Billy Aaron. Billy told them that he knew someone
who may have information about Loriie. This person's name was Jimmy.
He was living in an apartment in that complex, and
Jimmy was living on and off with a woman named
Mary Chipman who went by the nickname Cricket. Jimmy's exact
address was kind of a mystery. He said. He stayed
(13:33):
sometimes in Van Buren with a woman, some of the
time with his mom, and part of the time in
another house. Billy said Jimmy and Cricket fought a lot,
that Cricket had kicked you out of his house from
time to time, and that at that point Jimmy ended
up crashing with Billy. In fact, a lot of what
unfolded next would center on that apartment complex, the Ragon Court,
(13:56):
and on apartment number eighty seven, where Billy said Jimmy
and Cricket were living, and according to Billy, they also
all hung out regularly at Shooters, the bar where Laurie
and Jerry were last seen before they got arrested. Billy's
story was that Jimmy had come over to his place
and that they were drinking one night. Billy said they
(14:16):
happened to be watching TV and a news story about
Lourie's disappearance came on. Billy said Jimmy told him that
he recognized Laurie. Billy said Jimmy had seen Laurie at
a party at Cricket's place, which he said was apartment
number eighty seven, where they were doing drugs. He said
Kirky was there too that night, and at that party,
(14:37):
Laurie was sitting in a chair. Laurie overdosed and died.
Billy said, quote, Cricket went ape, shit, started throwing shit,
throwing everybody out, flipping out and all this. That's when
they picked her up and carried her outside. He said
that they carried her out like she was drunk, put
her in the vehicle like she was drunk, and he
(14:57):
drove off end quote. He is in reference to Corky,
by the way, because according to Jimmy's story, Corky drove
off somewhere and buried the body. Billy said that Jimmy
told him he didn't know where they went and that
he didn't have a lot of other details. Billy said, quote,
he said, at least you ought to have the decency
(15:17):
to tell somebody or just let somebody know. That's what
he said there in my house end quote. Later, the
Fort Smith Police Department interviewed Cricket, but they said she
was actually living in apartment number ninety nine. At first,
police said Cricket seemed uncooperative, but she eventually told police
that on the night Laurie was arrested, she was out
(15:38):
with her boyfriend. She said Laurie had stopped by her
residence while she was out and talked to her babysitter,
then Laurie left. Cricket said she never saw Laurie that night.
Then Cricket changed her story. This time she said she
was out with another guy. Police said she never mentioned
this other guy before, and they were asking her a
(15:59):
lot of questions about her story and why it changed.
They searched Cricket's room and seized items described as drug paraphernalia,
but Cricket was never arrested or charged in connection with
Laurie's death, and after the initial few weeks it seemed
like Laurie's case went cold. No trace of Laurie was
found and no body. But then Lourie Murchison made headlines
(16:23):
again because there was a big development in the case
from a very unexpected source. News broke that the FBI
was investigating the prosecutor for Sebastian County, Ron Fields, of
dealing drugs and of ordering the murder of Lorie Murchison,
and that the person who ron Fields allegedly ordered to
(16:45):
murder Laurie Murchison was one of the investigators on the case,
the police captain j c Ryder. In the weeks following
Laurie Murchison's disappearance, police were questioning people at a nearby
(17:09):
apartment complex. They found a man named Billy, who claimed
that Laurie overdosed at the residence of a woman named
Cricket in a room at the Ragencourt apartment complex, and
that they carried her lifeless body out in a vehicle.
Billy claimed that Jimmy was afraid to tell the authorities
because Jimmy was afraid that he would be charged with
(17:29):
her death and disposal of her body. Then the case
went quiet for years, but then all of a sudden.
Around two thousand and five, Laurie Murchison made headlines again
because there was a huge development in the case from
a very unexpected source. News broke that the FBI was
(17:50):
investigating the prosecutor for Sebastian County, Ron Fields, of dealing
drugs and of ordering the murder of Lorie Murchison, and
that the person Ron Fields allegedly ordered to murder Laurie
was one of the investigators on the case, the police
Captain J. C. Rider. I want to back up a
minute and talk about ron Fields, because there is a
(18:12):
massive controversy about ron Fields that is still unresolved. We've
talked about him briefly before when we were talking about
the unsolved murder of Melissa Witt. Ron Fields was close
to Captain J. C. Rider of the Fort Smith Police Department,
and Captain J. C. Rider later made news for becoming
involved in the Melissa Witt cold case.
Speaker 2 (18:33):
J C.
Speaker 1 (18:33):
Rider and Ron Fields have a lot of history. Ron
Fields served as the Sebastian County prosecutor for eighteen years.
In nineteen ninety, he was a point by then Arkansas
Governor Bill Clinton to become Arkansas Attorney General. During the
time ron Fields was the prosecutor. He was very publicly
anti drug He helped write laws that required longer prison
(18:56):
sentences for drug abusers. He led the twelfth Judicial Drug
Task Force in Western Arkansas. Ron Fields actually started in
Arkansas the practice of requiring prosecutors rather than police to
get search warrants in drug cases. This meant that ron
Fields or one of his deputies actually went on drug
(19:17):
raids with the police. Now, his supporters said that this
made sure the evidence was all gathered by the book,
and to be fair, the conviction rate in Arkansas for
drug offenses did go up under ron Fields. His critics
said the fact that he personally went on those drug
raids was a massive red flag for other reasons which
we'll get to a little later. Ron Fields was also
(19:41):
a close friend of Republican Congressman A. SA SA Hutchinson.
ASA Hutchinson, of course, served as US Attorney and later
went on to become the forty six governor of Arkansas.
He served from twenty fifteen to twenty twenty three. In
two thousand and one, ASA Hutchinson took ron Fields with
him to Washington, d C. Ron Fields became A. SA
(20:02):
Hutchinson's special assistant at the Drug Enforcement Agency and later
worked with Hutchinson in the Department of Homeland Security. According
to The Arkansas Times, this position that ron Fields had
with DA was very powerful. He worked on a coalition
that battled terrorism and drug trafficking, and then in around
two thousand and four two thousand and five, these accusations
(20:24):
surfaced about J. C. Ryder and ron Fields that according
to media reports, these two men were allegedly involved in
Lourie Murchison's murder. On May second, two thousand and five,
officials at the Department of Homeland Security pulled ron Fields
security clearance and then he was suspended from his position
at the Department of Homeland Security. He appealed that decision
(20:47):
but lost. Suddenly, ron fields days in Washington were numbered
the FBI continued their investigation. Ron Fields went back to
Fort Smith ASA. Hutchinson also left Washington at around that time.
This connection between ron Fields and Lori Murchison was allegedly
(21:07):
JC Rider. J. C. Rider was also a powerful figure
in Arkansas. He had been in the Department since nineteen
seventy five and was head of the Department's Major Crimes
Unit until his retirement in two thousand and two. So
suddenly the FBI have announced they were investigating claims that
ron Fields had allegedly been involved in drug dealing and
that he ordered J. C. Rider to kill Laurie Murchison
(21:29):
and to dump her body. J C. Rider was subpoena
to Washington, d c. To appear in front of a
grand jury convened by the Public Corruption Section of the
Department of Justice. Now, in the end, no charges were
filed against J. C. Rider or Ron Fields, but it
is hard to find any information out about exactly what
(21:51):
went down during this investigation. We have made a Foyer
request to the FBI for any and all case files
involving investigations into ron Fields, but our request has been denied. Meanwhile,
ron Field's lawyer Eddie Christian said the FBI investigation into
ron Fields was the biggest witch hunt he'd ever seen.
(22:11):
Eddie Christian was also J. C. Rider's attorney. He later
told The Arkansas Times that the investigators were absolutely nuts.
Eddie Christian told the Southwest Times Record in April two
thousand and five, quote, I've known this guy, meaning ron Fields,
for a long damn time. Let me tell you he's
one of the most impoverished lawyers. I know he wears J. C.
(22:35):
Penny suits. He does not live high on the hog.
This boy's never made any money. I mean, he's been
a public servant and that's been about it, except for
a short stant in private practice. It's crazy to accuse
ron Fields of selling drugs or doing drugs end quote.
Eddie Christian also claimed that FBI agents had harassed ron
(22:55):
Fields and J. C Ryder's families. Ron Fields had other supporters.
Jack Moseley, the former editor of the Times Record, wrote,
I would sooner believe mother Teresa was an axe murderer
than think Ron Fields could be guilty of using and
trafficking in illegal drugs. I've never known a more straight
error fellow than Fields, and the idea of him ordering
(23:17):
a police officer to kill a missing woman in Fort
Smith to keep her quiet about his alleged drug activities
is even more ridiculous. End quote. But it's interesting because
in that same column, Jack Moseley wrote, quote, Fields or
one of his deputies personally went on almost every local
drug rate in order to guarantee that evidence was properly gathered,
(23:38):
protected and kept for use in criminal trials. En quote.
But the Arkansas Times reported that they had spoken to
a lawyer. They didn't name this person, but they said
the source had been interviewed by the FBI and that
the FBI were asking about money that was forfeited as
a result of drug arrests. Now, this source said the
DOJ threatened to pull the lawyer's license if he didn't
(24:01):
give them the information they wanted about ron Fields. The
source said they didn't have any information on ron Fields.
They didn't know why this investigation was happening at all.
But The Arkansas Times talked to other sources who said
that ron Fields quote ran the police department and that
the fact that he carried a gun and accompanied police
on drug raids was in fact a massive red flag
(24:23):
and a conflict of interest. The source told the Times
that he had seen statements from witnesses people who claimed
that they had seen ron Fields use drugs. So what
does any of this have to do with Lourie Murchison. Well.
One of the allegations that federal investigators were looking into
was whether ry Murchison may have had knowledge about ron
(24:46):
Field's alleged drug activities and whether j. C Ryder went
to question Laurie Murchison. The allegation was that he and
ron Fields may have gone together to question Laurie. This
federal investigation went on for two years. During that time,
a lot of rock Field's supporters stated it was ridiculous
(25:06):
to believe that Ronfield's impeccable character could ever be questioned
and that his activities could be covered up. But later
in two thousand and seven, very ugly allegations surfaced again
about ron Fields, allegations that he sexually assaulted his mentally
disabled daughter, twenty six year old Bridget Dollar, and that
the prosecutor's office declined to prosecute. On June twenty second,
(25:30):
two thousand and seven, Bridget told the police in Fort
Smith that her stepfather, ron Fields, had raped her. She
came to police after first confessing the alleged sexual assault
to a relative. The officer who interviewed Bridget, Christine Deeson,
was quoted in The Arkansas Times. Bridget said she was
sitting on the couch watching The Prices Ride on TV
(25:51):
when ron Fields came in and quote pulled her off
of the couch by her arm and took her to
her mom's bedroom. He took off her clothes and put
her on the bed. She said she knew what he
was doing was wrong. She also told me it was painful.
I asked her what made him stop. She said she
thought his cell phone rang and he stopped to answer it.
(26:12):
When asked what happened next, Bridget said that he put
on his clothes and left. Bridget said that after that
he would come on Tuesdays and do the same thing.
She couldn't tell me how many times this happened, but
said it was more than two. She said he told
her not to tell or he would get in big trouble.
End quote. Now this became a big story because not
(26:35):
only did it involve a powerful politician and his former stepdaughter,
but her mother, ron Field's ex wife, Claire, was at
the time the prosecuting attorney for the city of Fort Smith.
Bridget lived at home with her mother. She had never
held a job and had an intellectual development disorder. She
is described in court documents as a disabled and incapacitated adult.
(26:58):
She has always had a family member appointed as a
permanent guardian. Despite that, and despite the fact that police
reviewed phone records and voice mails and said they believe
Bridget ron Fields was never interviewed. The Arkansas Times kind
of summed up the case progress in two thousand and
eight by quoting an investigator who said of Ron Fields, quote,
(27:20):
if he had been a janitor, he would have been
arrested the next day end quote. According to the police
record of the rape investigation that was quoted in the
Arkansas Times, Claire boy and Gasser, ron Fields X's wife
told police that ron was drinking heavily when he came
back from Washington, d c. In two thousand and five,
but she told investigators they were on good terms even
(27:41):
after the divorce. She said the accusations had shocked her,
but that she believed her daughter Bridget. She was willing
to put herself and her daughter through whatever police and
prosecution and cross examination they would need to go through
to get justice. The investigators also believed that Bridget was
telling the truth. So why wasn't Ronfields prosecuted or even questioned?
(28:06):
According to Arkansas law, it's a crime to have sexual
intercourse with a person who is incapable of consent because
she is mentally defective. That would mean a person who
is incapable of understanding the nature and consequences of sexual acts.
But in the memo quoted in the Times, the prosecutors wrote,
Bridget understood what sex was. She knew that she did
(28:28):
not want to go upstairs with Ron. But the memo
stated this meant that mentally defective does not apply because
she kind of understood what was happening. So apparently, because
Bridget understood the concept of sex, the prosecutors believe she
was not mentally defective, at least according to the law
at the time. So the next question was if she
(28:49):
understood what was happening, did she consent? The memo reads
quote this question is very difficult to answer at this time.
Victim is stated that the defendant would come to her home,
grab her arm, pull her off the couch, and take
her upstairs to perform sexual intercourse. How much force was
exerted end quote. So in this memo they talk about
(29:10):
a nineteen ninety five case and that it involved a
fourteen year old in her stepfather. And apparently the Arkansas
Supreme Court found that when an assailant has an in
loco parenthous relationship to a victim, that the law regarding
force is a little bit different. When someone is acting
as a parent, the victim does not have to display
(29:31):
what they call utmost physical resistance. Now, this would definitely
seem to apply to Ronfield's and bridget dollar And yet
six months after this alleged assault was reported, the prosecutor's
office notified the police charges would not be filed. And
this blows my mind. In the explanation letter, the prosecutor wrote,
(29:52):
Bridget's mental deficiencies do not rise to the level of
charging rape under the law. While in the prosecutor's opinion,
Bridget was not lying, the office believed she would have
perhaps insurmountable problems if she was cross examined if the
case went to trial, and one of the main issues
they kept debating was the question of force. Prosecutor's office
(30:14):
stated the only force that Bridget talked about was when
ron Fields grabbed her arm when she was on the
couch and took her upstairs. Bridget did say she said
no and slapped at him. However, the prosecutor's office believed
she did have an opportunity to leave while ron Fields
was undressing. Bridget's family were outraged. They believed the prosecutors
(30:36):
were saying basically that Bridget wasn't mentally capable of testifying,
but she was mentally capable of consenting sex. Claire's sister,
Sarah Estraat, wrote to the prosecutor about Ron Fields. She wrote, quote,
Ron Fields is a cunning lawyer who is accustomed to
kicking indoors during drug raids. A terrified, mentally impaired young
(30:57):
woman is no match for him. End quote. So no
action was taken against ron Fields in the sexual assault case,
and the FBI never conclusively linked him to Laurie Murchison's disappearance.
The FBI investigation was ended with no progress on Laurie's case.
(31:19):
Over the years, Nancy Murchison told The Times Record she
would get anonymous calls from people claiming they knew what
happened to Laurie. They would tell her that Laurie had
been burned into stove or put through a wood chipper,
or that she had been fed to pigs. In two thousand,
a new detective named Ron Lockhart was put on Laurie's case,
(31:39):
and he started digging for answers. According to news reports,
the new detective assigned to Laurie's case, Ron Lockhart, and
his team, conducted interviews and they went under cover wearing wires.
Ron Lockhart did not believe that the investigation into Ron
(32:02):
Fields and J. C. Rider were justified. He said he
found no evidence that either of them were involved in
Laurie Murchison's disappearance. He called this investigation a waste of
taxpayers money and a waste of time. He said he
believed that the allegations against ron Fields had come from
someone with a grudge. Others have suggested it could be
(32:24):
someone Ron prosecuted in the past. Obviously, in a job
like ron Fields, it goes without saying that you can
make a lot of enemies. But that person or person's
were never named. The FBI never filed any charges against
Ron Fields or J. C. Ryder. The jury in Washington,
d C. Heard testimony that it led to nothing. Over
(32:46):
the years, Ron Lockhart developed a theory, one that seemed
very similar to what Billy had initially told detectives, that
Laurie had accidentally overdosed and then the person or people
she was with got rid of her body. Every once
in a while, Lourie's name pops up in headlines again.
Back in two thousand and five, n WA News reported
(33:07):
that someone had tipped off the Fort Smith Police that
Laurie's body was buried in salvageyard, so they went out
and dug there. That salvageyard was reportedly less than a
mile from the motel where Laurie was last seen. Searchers
were sent in to dig. In the end, they found
no trace of Lourie. The Times Record did a follow
(33:28):
up story on Laurie Murchison in twenty fourteen, coming up
on the twenty year anniversary of her disappearance. They interviewed
Ron Lockhart and he gave more details about his theory.
Ron Lockhart said he had a suspect in mind, and
it was J. C Ryder or Ron Fields or anyone
connected to them. He told The Times Record it was
(33:49):
someone who was in prison in Oklahoma. He said that
he felt that he did have enough to charge this
person with abuse of a corpse. He said he took
the information he had to the Sebastian County prosecuting Attorney,
but unfortunately he found out that it was too late.
Ron Lockhart told the Times Record quote, back then there
was enough evidence to file disposing of a corpse, but
(34:11):
the statute of limitations had run over. But we did
have a strong suspect that we felt like knew what
happened with her. End quote. He said the detectives did
interview their suspect in prison, that they asked the person
where Laurie's body was, but in the end they weren't
able to find her. At the time, Ron Lockhart said
(34:32):
he believed someone might have dumped Loriie into the Arkansas River.
He said, quote, it was a sad deal. We did
everything we could do, and I feel confident I know
what happened to her. Ron Lockhart said five different sources
told him that a man whom you would not name,
said Laurie died of a drug overdose and that this
(34:53):
man worried about being charged with her death and disposal
of her body. So my question is, are these the
same people who were questioned in the early weeks of
the investigation or someone else? And if this is where
police have landed, if this is all they're going to do,
then why won't they release the rest of the case file.
Nancy Murchison said back then she still believes that Laurie
(35:18):
was murdered. She can't forget what Laurie said in the
weeks before she disappeared, especially that one time when Laurie
came home and said that someone was planning to offer her.
But could that have been Laurie's paranoia due to drug
use or could it have been something more? After all,
there was a lot that Nancy Murchison admitted she didn't
(35:38):
know about what was going on with Lourie. She told
the newspaper she didn't even know that Laurie was on drugs.
In twenty twelve, she met with a volunteer group called
the Cold Case Revivors, people whose relatives had been murdered
or missing. They had regular meetings in Muldrow, Oklahoma. But
I don't think that group still exists because a link
(35:59):
to the organization's web page appears to be inactive. The
latest update about Laurie's case from the Fort Smith Police
Department came from a news report in twenty fourteen. It
said a new detective had been assigned to Laurie's case,
Detective David Williams. This person had been working in the
(36:20):
Criminal Investigation division for a year and at that time
in twenty fourteen, he told the newspaper there had been
nothing new added to Laurie's case file in years. He said,
quote that things hundreds of pages. I haven't even been
able to make it through all that end quote. Laurie's mother,
Nancy took custody of her daughter Brittany, who would now
(36:43):
be in her thirdies. Nancy Murchison talked to the media
several times over the years. She made public police for
whoever killed Laurie or who was involved in any way
to come forward. She said, even if it was an accident,
she would want to know so that the family could
have some kind of closure and they could put Laurie
in the family plot. But in twenty seventeen, Nancy passed away,
(37:06):
never knowing what happened to her daughter Laurie and never
being able to bring her body home. Anyone with information
on the disappearance of Laurie Murchison can call the Fort
Smith Police Departments Criminal Investigation Division at four seven nine
seven oh nine five one one six, or email Missing
Persons at Fort SMITHPD dot org. I'm Katherine Townsend. This
(37:33):
is Helen Gone Murder Line. Helen Gone Murder Line is
a production of School of Humans and iHeart Podcasts. It's
written and narrated by me Catherine Townsend and produced by
Gabby Watts. Special thanks to Amy Tubbs for her research
assistance and to James Wheaton for Legal Review. Noah camer
mixed and scored this episode. Our theme song is by
(37:53):
Ben Sale, Executive producers of Virginia Prescott, Brandon Barr, and L. C. Crowley.
Listen to Helen Gone ad free by subscribing to the
iHeart True Crime Plus channel on Apple Podcasts. If you
were interested in seeing documents and materials from the case,
you can follow the show on Instagram at Helen gonpot.
If you have a case you'd like me and my
(38:14):
team to look into, you can reach out to us
at our Helen Gone Murder line at six seven eight
seven four four six one four five. That's six seven
eight seven four four six' one four or.
Speaker 2 (38:25):
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