July 28, 2021 • 26 mins
As Dick Weston remains the prime suspect in the Stevenson murders, one question keeps coming up: Where is family friend Ron Thomas? Meanwhile, an unlikely source surfaces with new information that adds weight to a possible motive.
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Episode Transcript
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Speaker 1 (00:03):
Previously on Paper Ghosts. One person in Brookly said, I've
never seen some guns out the one time, you know.
And they come in and started firing Addie and he
started pouring back at him and he killed her and
them too, and said that a bullet had went through
the wall and hit the little boy. So you sit
(00:25):
down with them, and how are you feeling when you
sit down? It was a white out from my shoulders
to know that I could get top to them and
let them know what happened. My name is m William Phelps.
I'm an investigative journalist and author of true crime books.
This is season two of Paper Ghosts. Burned saying good
(01:00):
to a loved one taken away too soon and stills
how permanent and indefinite murder is, how indelibly ubiquitous losing
someone in this manner becomes, even after so much time
has passed thinking about this case. The one promise I
can fulfill is to keep digging, to keep trying to
(01:21):
find that resolution I know is there. And it's important
not to confuse resolution with justice. There is no justice
when your family has been slaughtered, only legal recourse and
judicial consequences, of which you really have zero control over. Instead,
(01:41):
I strive to find anything I can that will bring comfort,
no matter how small, so these people can sleep a
little better at night. As Carol Thompson tells me, the
aftermath of what happened as she began to accept that
her family had been taken from her was chaotic and confusing.
(02:04):
This is a huge case around here, right, Oh my god,
it's horribly, horribly huge. It was so terrible that I went,
I'll never forget it. I want to pick my sister
up from the airport. And we went immediately to Frisious
for breakfast. And you know, I'm devastated. You know, I
can't think. She can't think. We're mess. We're both crying
(02:24):
and stuff, but we're trying to keep it together. And
we sat down and we order our food and I
hear everybody around me. God, everybody's talking. Yelp him, yelp him.
They all died, everyone on them, ex seven that daughter,
now there's the EXCEPN daughter. Everyone of them died. How
does that make you feel? I agreed with him. I
(02:45):
didn't want to be there. I didn't want to be alive.
I regrettedly with Hols. You did, Oh yeah, absolutely, How
do you walk away and let your family die? You don't, dude,
at so, yeah, I regretted it. Did you think you
(03:06):
could do something? Who knows one of the person might
have changed things? I don't know. You know, chances are, no,
chances are you know, me and Shannon both would have
been killed that night too, because I'm sure that wouldn't
stopped me and her, A little three and a half
year old me. I was, you know, a little tiny
thing at the time, you know, nineteen years old, you know, yeah, yeah,
(03:29):
you see, part of uncovering answers in any case is
sifting through all the bullshit town heresaying, self serving, gossip
rooted and nothing more, and speculation and judgment. So you're
hearing people whisper and town about. They weren't even whispered,
and they were loud. It was happening everywhere, I mean everywhere.
I couldn't go anywhere without hearing it. I couldn't go anywhere.
(03:51):
And everybody's talking about and they're and they're all talking wrong,
you know, or most of all they're talking wrong. And
I want to hear stupid stuff driving me crazy, and
I just want to hurt him and be like, good God,
please what are people saying that happened? Oh you know,
it's probably uh drug deal gone wrong, or it's probably um,
(04:12):
it's probably we're a nice crime. It's probably a momb
Oh I bet it's this. So I bet it's that.
Oh yeah, I'll hear all the stupid crap that broke
my heart. You know, But how did you know it
wasn't any of that? Well, because I know my parents
didn't really do any I mean, okay, I know they
bought that one bunch of jewelry that was probably stole
one from Ron Thomas. I knew that, But in general,
(04:34):
they didn't deal drugs. It blie me. I worked in
that business. I was there seven days a week, twelve
hours a day. How much do you think they did
in that business that I didn't know about. I knew
what was going on in that house or in that business,
and I knew what was one on that house. I
knew that none of that stuff was real. I knew it.
And even one of the rumors was horrifying. It was
something about little Bill and how they even let him
(04:55):
do stuff drugs, like drugs and stuff. He was five
years old, for God's ache, And remember, I got really angry.
I actually said something to that person, but you know, yeah,
I mean, I would hear all kinds of crazy things.
I wondered what Carol was thinking about family friend Ron
Thomas at this point. Was she as suspicious as law enforcement?
(05:16):
Did she actually think Ron had played a role in
the murders and fire? I remember one of the policemen
asked me about Ron and I said, no, no, no,
it wouldn't be wrong. And he said, Carol, it's wrong.
And I said what, I can't be wrong Thomas and
(05:39):
the officers said, Carol, we know more than you know,
and we we are looking at Ron. And I was dumbfounded.
I was totally dumbound, totally called off guard. No way,
I stood and looked at that man that night. I
stood and looked at this mass murder talk to him.
Did you believe it when they told to do that?
(06:02):
Not yet, not right that second. But but it was
because I didn't know why they were looking at him.
You know, I'm still thinking, no, it can't be, it
can't be. With help from Detective Tom Cooper persuading her, once,
Carol began to stitch her thoughts together about Ron Thomas
and that night a clearer picture emerged. Well, now I'm
(06:23):
now I'm definitely now I'm definitely suspect Herron. Now, I mean,
come on, something's up. The Sheriff's department, with the help
of the FBI, went to Carol and asked her to
do something. They said, um, we want you to call Ron.
I said okay, And they said we want you to
(06:44):
call him and just be normal, just be as normal
as possible. So I called him and he said, Carol,
how are you? You should come here? You should come
and day with me and Marty. We'll take good care
of you. Just don't tell nobody you're coming, you know,
(07:06):
because he knew the you know, newspapers were camped down
on my you know, pretty much outside, and and he
was pretending like he was trying to meet well, I
guess he was trying to be nice. Right, We're gonna
take care of you, just don't tell anybody. Now. My
head's one ding ding ding ding ding, really crazy because
you know, I'm thinking, okay, now they tell me the
purse is found there, and they're telling me they suspect him,
(07:31):
And now all of a sudden, he wants me to
come and not tell anybody. I'm going there. What did
you say to him when he said that, Yeah, it
sounds like a great idea, Ron, Let me think about it.
That's what I said, That sounds like a good idea.
I could use them. I could use a vacation, I
could use the break. But when you hung up the phone,
I said, oh my god, he wants to kill me.
(07:55):
He wants me gone. He knows I saw him. He
wants me gone. Carol was the only surviving person who
could place Ron Thomas and the other man, Dick Weston,
at her family's house on the night of the murders. Killing.
Carol fell in line with that old school criminal code,
(08:15):
no witness, no crime, so immediately called the police back
and said, hey, I called him like you told me to,
and I talked to him and he wants me to
go visit him. And they were like, oh my god,
I'm like yeah. As it turns out, in the days
(08:36):
following the murders, the FBI gave Carol a photo lineup
of potential suspects to look at. She pointed to one
guy and said, quote, I think this is probably him,
but I'm not sure. So at that point is when
they told me that the man I had picked out
in the picture was Ron's bodyguard. You're kidding me, You
(08:58):
are kidding me. Yeah, nope, man, you picked out as
Richard Weston and he just got out of prison and
he's been staying in the burn Vale area. So yeah,
now it was all starting to come together. As a
(09:22):
pressure was cranked up on Dick Weston. Ron Thomas had
somehow gotten word that the Feds were coming after him.
Nobody would admit it to me, but after a few
sources gave me the old eye wink, I developed a
suspicion that Ron had a contact in local law enforcement
who had tipped him off. At the next time he
(09:43):
was called in, he wasn't going to be given the
benefit of the doubt. So, as Detective Cooper explains to me,
Ron did something he hadn't done whenever he left town
that summer. Shortly thereafter, Ron Thomas moved, Yeah, packed up
as houseman. On two days he was gone. And what
(10:06):
did you guys think of that? Hey, that was a
little suspicious. Then again, you had really zero evidence. We had.
We had nothing on Ron Thomas. The only thing we had,
and sore it worked out is the FBI started investigating
me and they got him a war for in charge,
and I don't even think he served any time on that.
(10:34):
By late July, a cellmate who had been doing time
in the same prison block as Dick Weston reached out
to the FBI. I here strain some statements Dick questern
made to you. Why do you was serving time with him? Character?
Here's the thing. You lie to local cops, that's something
you can likely talk your way out of plead ignorance
(10:57):
and walk away pretty much unscathed. But you lie to
the FBI, and your ass is going directly to federal
prison for obstruction. While talking to the FEDS, Dick's former
cell mate revealed details that had not been released publicly,
which gave the information a hell of a lot more credibility.
(11:19):
Well't basically tell me what you told down. He said
that people had a lot of money. This karate guy
that you know, this got a black belt karate showed
him greet pays for money. There's no question to Selly
was referring to Lynda Stevenson's brother Eddie Dowell, who was
(11:41):
frequently called the karate guy. He said he was involved
in a hell of a shootout there. He said that, uh,
we had a bullet pleased his arm. He got loose,
it's right arms. You say how he got into the
house for him, He said that the house was like
(12:04):
and after hours place an you could go there and
drink and stuff shoot pool. And you mentioned something about
Bill and the dope. And I heard him say something
about there was ten pounds of cocaine, but that might Detroit.
(12:31):
Through what he learned from Dick Weston, the cellmate told
FBI agents Billy Stevenson's house was party central and Eddie
Dowell was distributing enormous amounts of cocaine from a connection
he had in Detroit. Ten pounds is worth a lot
of money. At that time, a kilo of coke roughly
two pounds worth, went for between thirty and sixty thousand dollars,
(12:55):
depending on purity. And look, people who deal in such
large amounts, those types do not play the way. He
talked about this one guy showing him a grief case
full of money in he said, and he took it
that the guy thought that nobody could take the money
(13:16):
because he was a private expert. I figure you mentioned it,
or stay there would over a tuner a thou Art disagreement. Yeah,
he did say something like that. This cellmate was making
a bold claim. And yet, in many of the mass
murder cases I have looked at throughout my career, drugs
(13:36):
are a common motivating factor, if not the main reason
behind murder. If you invite that amount of cocaine into
your life, you better expect violence. If death's accumulated, dealers
belief you were trying to screw them. Did he go
there special before that? These people had brewery and stuff
(13:58):
in the half and money in the firewoods, and I
guess they ran across the cocaine and when they got inside.
I've asked Detective Cooper along with other law enforcement sources
about the alleged cocaine, and they all believed Dick Weston
lied about this and it was likely trying to minimize
(14:21):
his role, once again hoping to ascribe a drug deal
gone bad scenario as the motive behind the murders. I
found no evidence that Eddie Dowell or anybody in that
house was dealing cocaine. He said a little kid getting
me kill was an accident, but I think he was
(14:43):
just more or less covering up for him give me
kill and h He also said that there was some
cool tables stuff on the second floor and that they
just fell through to the bottom and stuff. All that
being said, listen to the next exchange between the FBI
and the selling a point during the interview at which
(15:06):
things become quite interesting and the investigation shifts. This right,
He said, this friend and his run that the FBI
was looking for him. He said that Ron had a
pawn shop and he gets uh gold and stuff and
mounts it down, and you know, he sells it and
(15:29):
he deals in it. And for the way I gathered
he had something to do with it. He said, well
he's out. I mean the interesting family gun interviews. Yeah,
I would. He said he had a thirty eight that
he didn't worried about FBI getting hold of that. He said,
(15:53):
we mentioned something about forty or four and twet. I
guess that's what was used in the shootout for Boar.
I guess he had a thirty eight. Somebody's firing forty
fours and him corroborating facts Billy Stevenson's missing forty four
caliber gun and the thirty eight pistol that law enforcement
knew had been used in the murders. I mentioned that
(16:16):
lawn was involvement in the shoot have to what western? Oldim? Yeah,
did you see what's to have a gun? Long him? No, No,
he didn't. Did you ever said where the bodies were
in the house? Right? Okay? W Parlort house was good
plays in rom He said that he was on the outside,
(16:36):
and I guess they were on the first floor. And
when they started having a shootout. Wait, I figured if
he was involved in a shootout, I guess he was,
and you know I had something to do with him
and that run Thomas. Not long after that interview, the
FBI put together an indictment, a formal charge ready to
(16:59):
be present and by U S attorneys to a federal
grand jury. If the grand jury indicted Dick and he
was found guilty later at trial, the potential was there
for him to be sentenced to the death penalty. They
summoned Dick from his self. If there was ever a
time to pin everything on Ron Thomas, for Dick Weston,
(17:22):
it was now or never, Richard, before doing anything the
cage right for the simple times, you are suspect the constitution.
The qualities bad Dick can barely be heard in these tapes,
but official transcripts indicate, He mutters, a low I do.
(17:45):
After his Miranda rights were read to him. He also
had a right, attorney, you had a right, so it
wasn't much of a conversation. After that, Dick Weston invoked
his right to remain silent and demanded to speak to
(18:06):
his attorney. As Dick Weston remained locked up, his girlfriend
Drusilla Merita, and Drusilla's friend Knath the Barger. We're out
driving around mile in Indiana one afternoon towards the end
(18:28):
of summer. As Tanatha explains to me, Drusilla was anxious
and concerned. Something was definitely up. To Tanitha, she felt
Drusilla could sense an end of some sort coming. We
went to the filling station to get guys, and I
didn't know what was going to happen. Just all at
(18:50):
once were surrounded by ever f behind cop that was
slung our doors open, snatched her m Drusilla was facing
a serious charge. She was being accused of aiding and
abetting in the interstate transportation of stolen property from a
(19:11):
home where four people had been murdered. If convicted, it
could get Drusilla up to five years in prison. But
to the dismay of law enforcement. The federal judge set
her bond at sixty dollars. Federal prosecutors were incensed by this,
arguing for a five hundred thousand dollar bond based on
(19:34):
the fact that Drusilla had quote threatened witnesses in the case,
namely Tonathan Barging. Tanatha is the closest source I have
connected to Dick and Drusilla, and there was during those
days after the murders, nobody closer to them than Tanatha.
(19:54):
Why do you think Dick protected Rod? Many do you
think Ron Ronde as sure as gonna sit in here?
He paid Dick. You think, well, yeah, you get paid too.
If you had two grocery bags slept full of money,
that was your pa to do? What cover up his
(20:15):
set of the deal? Two grocery bags full of money,
That's what Dick did. Tanitha held up her hands to
show me the size about two ft cash and he
had him in his car in the house. In the car,
now what what didn't want that in the house? I
didn't want to look at that was he bragging about
the money? He said he had enough to hold him
(20:37):
over for a while. I asked Tanatha about Drusilla's involvement.
She knew what her boyfriend had done. Yeah, she had to.
I ain't no doubt, my man. She knew what he
had done, but she weren't how to talk to her.
Several different times it told her, but she said, I'm
not telling him nothing. They ain't getting nothing out of me.
(20:58):
Why do you think she was so loyal to him?
I don't know. Did she love him. I don't know
where she loved where. It's just he had promised her
so much, and then when she's seen that money and
all that Jules and stuff at her age, he had
brain marsh turn enough to know that she was going
to have anything everything she wanted. Around the time of
(21:22):
Drusilla's arrest, Detective Tom Cooper received word that during her
recent prison visit with Dick, Drusilla had dug an even
deeper hole for herself. That same Sully of Dicks overheard
them talking about getting married. It was that whole A
spouse cannot be forced to testify against her significant other
plan that was in the works. Now, she didn't say
(21:45):
we're didn't say exactly when or hell they was going
to do it, but she had it in her head
that he was getting out of there. He weren't staying
because a couple of times I told her if when
they did lock him up, out said June need to
come clean before you end up in jail wapam, And
(22:06):
she said, well, I won't have to when I'm married
to him. She just noted her man that if she
married him, she would never have to say anything. But
because he was going to take her of her the
rest of her life, Dick and Drusilla's dreams of wedded
bliss would not come to fruition. Ten days after their
request for permission to marry, a judge denied the petition,
(22:27):
stating marriages are made in heaven and not in jail.
Cooper knew this walking into his interview with Drusilla after
her arrest, but also that a deal had been offered
to her. Talk to us and we'll take care of you.
Don't talk, and you are royally screwed. In the cash
(22:50):
of law enforcement tapes I've obtained, tape number four reveals
Detective Cooper reading Drusilla her Miranda rights. The detective implores
the young woman to stop playing games and come clean
because the bottom line for Drusilla maridden now was she
had no other choice. I mean, let's be realistic. M
(23:13):
M yeah. I know at the beginning of this thing,
you saw we didn't have case. Canst you for rating
an event right a wrong? Well you got, I would say,
on the outside of dirty days, to make up your
mind after that, like told before, Yeah, they're on this
(23:33):
side of the fens or last time you chose to
stay on that side of the fens. So for the
most part, Drusilla sat in stunned silence, barely speaking, listening
to Cooper spell out her future. I suggest to give
us her thoughts. I don't know where you loved there
or not that between him. I am talking to Dick
(23:56):
to day, and I don't tend to talk to Dick's
himself and half for trouble. She wanted go now with him.
That's your pride. I think you're gonna frange, make up
your mind which what you want to get. Cooper knew
Drusilla had been coached by Dick Weston regarding what to
say to law enforcement. She was not going to crack easily,
(24:18):
so he persisted under the guise of making her believe
they had Dick's best interests in mine. I'm you know,
I'm trying to keep your body Alix Lammer for the
rest of your life. If you want to keep the
mashoup and go down to to what you knew what
we're going on a year it was me. I wouldn't
do it, and I'm not to hear. The interview was
cut short after Cooper realized Drusilla was not going to cave.
(24:44):
Before ending the interview, the detective gave her a dire
warning and a window of opportunity. So, yeah, you give
it some thought. You got about two weeks left. For
three weeks four things start popping over there. When they do,
it's gonna be too late then, So you can here, Okay,
you know, I just want to see Eastman, risk of
your life and joint bouncing back between federal prisoners high
(25:07):
state prisons, so you can think about her. You know
where to get a hold of me. You need to
Drusilla Merritta had become one of the most elusive people
in this case for me. I need to find out
if she's in prison, dead, are still living in the area,
because if Drusilla is still alive, I need to find
(25:27):
her and hear her side of the story. Hello in
the next episode of Paper Ghosts, and I remember this
man came to the door one day and I opened
(25:47):
the door and he said that he had gotten something
in his eye and could what I let him in
to go rinse his eye out. Me being this naive
eight year old, you know, I let this man into
my home. She's telling Ron that she doesn't have any money,
and he suggests to her that if money is an issue,
(26:08):
that he could arrange to have her house burned down
for ten tho dollars and she can just collect the
insurance money on it. Ron Thomas loved a scum bay
I do or something dirty? He has hands in it.
Paper Ghosts is written and executive produced by Me and
William Phelps and I Heart executive producer Christina Everett, with
(26:31):
script consultant Matthew Riddle. Audio editing and mixing by a
Booze Afar thanks to Will Pearson at I Heart Radio.
Series theme number four four two is written and performed
by Thomas Phelps and Tom Mooney. For more podcasts from
my Heart Radio, visit the I Heart Radio app, Apple Podcasts,
(26:51):
or wherever you listen to your favorite shows.
Previously on Paper Ghosts. One person in Brookly said, I've
never seen some guns out the one time, you know.
And they come in and started firing Addie and he
started pouring back at him and he killed her and
them too, and said that a bullet had went through
the wall and hit the little boy. So you sit
(00:25):
down with them, and how are you feeling when you
sit down? It was a white out from my shoulders
to know that I could get top to them and
let them know what happened. My name is m William Phelps.
I'm an investigative journalist and author of true crime books.
This is season two of Paper Ghosts. Burned saying good
(01:00):
to a loved one taken away too soon and stills
how permanent and indefinite murder is, how indelibly ubiquitous losing
someone in this manner becomes, even after so much time
has passed thinking about this case. The one promise I
can fulfill is to keep digging, to keep trying to
(01:21):
find that resolution I know is there. And it's important
not to confuse resolution with justice. There is no justice
when your family has been slaughtered, only legal recourse and
judicial consequences, of which you really have zero control over. Instead,
(01:41):
I strive to find anything I can that will bring comfort,
no matter how small, so these people can sleep a
little better at night. As Carol Thompson tells me, the
aftermath of what happened as she began to accept that
her family had been taken from her was chaotic and confusing.
(02:04):
This is a huge case around here, right, Oh my god,
it's horribly, horribly huge. It was so terrible that I went,
I'll never forget it. I want to pick my sister
up from the airport. And we went immediately to Frisious
for breakfast. And you know, I'm devastated. You know, I
can't think. She can't think. We're mess. We're both crying
(02:24):
and stuff, but we're trying to keep it together. And
we sat down and we order our food and I
hear everybody around me. God, everybody's talking. Yelp him, yelp him.
They all died, everyone on them, ex seven that daughter,
now there's the EXCEPN daughter. Everyone of them died. How
does that make you feel? I agreed with him. I
(02:45):
didn't want to be there. I didn't want to be alive.
I regrettedly with Hols. You did, Oh yeah, absolutely, How
do you walk away and let your family die? You don't, dude,
at so, yeah, I regretted it. Did you think you
(03:06):
could do something? Who knows one of the person might
have changed things? I don't know. You know, chances are, no,
chances are you know, me and Shannon both would have
been killed that night too, because I'm sure that wouldn't
stopped me and her, A little three and a half
year old me. I was, you know, a little tiny
thing at the time, you know, nineteen years old, you know, yeah, yeah,
(03:29):
you see, part of uncovering answers in any case is
sifting through all the bullshit town heresaying, self serving, gossip
rooted and nothing more, and speculation and judgment. So you're
hearing people whisper and town about. They weren't even whispered,
and they were loud. It was happening everywhere, I mean everywhere.
I couldn't go anywhere without hearing it. I couldn't go anywhere.
(03:51):
And everybody's talking about and they're and they're all talking wrong,
you know, or most of all they're talking wrong. And
I want to hear stupid stuff driving me crazy, and
I just want to hurt him and be like, good God,
please what are people saying that happened? Oh you know,
it's probably uh drug deal gone wrong, or it's probably um,
(04:12):
it's probably we're a nice crime. It's probably a momb
Oh I bet it's this. So I bet it's that.
Oh yeah, I'll hear all the stupid crap that broke
my heart. You know, But how did you know it
wasn't any of that? Well, because I know my parents
didn't really do any I mean, okay, I know they
bought that one bunch of jewelry that was probably stole
one from Ron Thomas. I knew that, But in general,
(04:34):
they didn't deal drugs. It blie me. I worked in
that business. I was there seven days a week, twelve
hours a day. How much do you think they did
in that business that I didn't know about. I knew
what was going on in that house or in that business,
and I knew what was one on that house. I
knew that none of that stuff was real. I knew it.
And even one of the rumors was horrifying. It was
something about little Bill and how they even let him
(04:55):
do stuff drugs, like drugs and stuff. He was five
years old, for God's ache, And remember, I got really angry.
I actually said something to that person, but you know, yeah,
I mean, I would hear all kinds of crazy things.
I wondered what Carol was thinking about family friend Ron
Thomas at this point. Was she as suspicious as law enforcement?
(05:16):
Did she actually think Ron had played a role in
the murders and fire? I remember one of the policemen
asked me about Ron and I said, no, no, no,
it wouldn't be wrong. And he said, Carol, it's wrong.
And I said what, I can't be wrong Thomas and
(05:39):
the officers said, Carol, we know more than you know,
and we we are looking at Ron. And I was dumbfounded.
I was totally dumbound, totally called off guard. No way,
I stood and looked at that man that night. I
stood and looked at this mass murder talk to him.
Did you believe it when they told to do that?
(06:02):
Not yet, not right that second. But but it was
because I didn't know why they were looking at him.
You know, I'm still thinking, no, it can't be, it
can't be. With help from Detective Tom Cooper persuading her, once,
Carol began to stitch her thoughts together about Ron Thomas
and that night a clearer picture emerged. Well, now I'm
(06:23):
now I'm definitely now I'm definitely suspect Herron. Now, I mean,
come on, something's up. The Sheriff's department, with the help
of the FBI, went to Carol and asked her to
do something. They said, um, we want you to call Ron.
I said okay, And they said we want you to
(06:44):
call him and just be normal, just be as normal
as possible. So I called him and he said, Carol,
how are you? You should come here? You should come
and day with me and Marty. We'll take good care
of you. Just don't tell nobody you're coming, you know,
(07:06):
because he knew the you know, newspapers were camped down
on my you know, pretty much outside, and and he
was pretending like he was trying to meet well, I
guess he was trying to be nice. Right, We're gonna
take care of you, just don't tell anybody. Now. My
head's one ding ding ding ding ding, really crazy because
you know, I'm thinking, okay, now they tell me the
purse is found there, and they're telling me they suspect him,
(07:31):
And now all of a sudden, he wants me to
come and not tell anybody. I'm going there. What did
you say to him when he said that, Yeah, it
sounds like a great idea, Ron, Let me think about it.
That's what I said, That sounds like a good idea.
I could use them. I could use a vacation, I
could use the break. But when you hung up the phone,
I said, oh my god, he wants to kill me.
(07:55):
He wants me gone. He knows I saw him. He
wants me gone. Carol was the only surviving person who
could place Ron Thomas and the other man, Dick Weston,
at her family's house on the night of the murders. Killing.
Carol fell in line with that old school criminal code,
(08:15):
no witness, no crime, so immediately called the police back
and said, hey, I called him like you told me to,
and I talked to him and he wants me to
go visit him. And they were like, oh my god,
I'm like yeah. As it turns out, in the days
(08:36):
following the murders, the FBI gave Carol a photo lineup
of potential suspects to look at. She pointed to one
guy and said, quote, I think this is probably him,
but I'm not sure. So at that point is when
they told me that the man I had picked out
in the picture was Ron's bodyguard. You're kidding me, You
(08:58):
are kidding me. Yeah, nope, man, you picked out as
Richard Weston and he just got out of prison and
he's been staying in the burn Vale area. So yeah,
now it was all starting to come together. As a
(09:22):
pressure was cranked up on Dick Weston. Ron Thomas had
somehow gotten word that the Feds were coming after him.
Nobody would admit it to me, but after a few
sources gave me the old eye wink, I developed a
suspicion that Ron had a contact in local law enforcement
who had tipped him off. At the next time he
(09:43):
was called in, he wasn't going to be given the
benefit of the doubt. So, as Detective Cooper explains to me,
Ron did something he hadn't done whenever he left town
that summer. Shortly thereafter, Ron Thomas moved, Yeah, packed up
as houseman. On two days he was gone. And what
(10:06):
did you guys think of that? Hey, that was a
little suspicious. Then again, you had really zero evidence. We had.
We had nothing on Ron Thomas. The only thing we had,
and sore it worked out is the FBI started investigating
me and they got him a war for in charge,
and I don't even think he served any time on that.
(10:34):
By late July, a cellmate who had been doing time
in the same prison block as Dick Weston reached out
to the FBI. I here strain some statements Dick questern
made to you. Why do you was serving time with him? Character?
Here's the thing. You lie to local cops, that's something
you can likely talk your way out of plead ignorance
(10:57):
and walk away pretty much unscathed. But you lie to
the FBI, and your ass is going directly to federal
prison for obstruction. While talking to the FEDS, Dick's former
cell mate revealed details that had not been released publicly,
which gave the information a hell of a lot more credibility.
(11:19):
Well't basically tell me what you told down. He said
that people had a lot of money. This karate guy
that you know, this got a black belt karate showed
him greet pays for money. There's no question to Selly
was referring to Lynda Stevenson's brother Eddie Dowell, who was
(11:41):
frequently called the karate guy. He said he was involved
in a hell of a shootout there. He said that, uh,
we had a bullet pleased his arm. He got loose,
it's right arms. You say how he got into the
house for him, He said that the house was like
(12:04):
and after hours place an you could go there and
drink and stuff shoot pool. And you mentioned something about
Bill and the dope. And I heard him say something
about there was ten pounds of cocaine, but that might Detroit.
(12:31):
Through what he learned from Dick Weston, the cellmate told
FBI agents Billy Stevenson's house was party central and Eddie
Dowell was distributing enormous amounts of cocaine from a connection
he had in Detroit. Ten pounds is worth a lot
of money. At that time, a kilo of coke roughly
two pounds worth, went for between thirty and sixty thousand dollars,
(12:55):
depending on purity. And look, people who deal in such
large amounts, those types do not play the way. He
talked about this one guy showing him a grief case
full of money in he said, and he took it
that the guy thought that nobody could take the money
(13:16):
because he was a private expert. I figure you mentioned it,
or stay there would over a tuner a thou Art disagreement. Yeah,
he did say something like that. This cellmate was making
a bold claim. And yet, in many of the mass
murder cases I have looked at throughout my career, drugs
(13:36):
are a common motivating factor, if not the main reason
behind murder. If you invite that amount of cocaine into
your life, you better expect violence. If death's accumulated, dealers
belief you were trying to screw them. Did he go
there special before that? These people had brewery and stuff
(13:58):
in the half and money in the firewoods, and I
guess they ran across the cocaine and when they got inside.
I've asked Detective Cooper along with other law enforcement sources
about the alleged cocaine, and they all believed Dick Weston
lied about this and it was likely trying to minimize
(14:21):
his role, once again hoping to ascribe a drug deal
gone bad scenario as the motive behind the murders. I
found no evidence that Eddie Dowell or anybody in that
house was dealing cocaine. He said a little kid getting
me kill was an accident, but I think he was
(14:43):
just more or less covering up for him give me
kill and h He also said that there was some
cool tables stuff on the second floor and that they
just fell through to the bottom and stuff. All that
being said, listen to the next exchange between the FBI
and the selling a point during the interview at which
(15:06):
things become quite interesting and the investigation shifts. This right,
He said, this friend and his run that the FBI
was looking for him. He said that Ron had a
pawn shop and he gets uh gold and stuff and
mounts it down, and you know, he sells it and
(15:29):
he deals in it. And for the way I gathered
he had something to do with it. He said, well
he's out. I mean the interesting family gun interviews. Yeah,
I would. He said he had a thirty eight that
he didn't worried about FBI getting hold of that. He said,
(15:53):
we mentioned something about forty or four and twet. I
guess that's what was used in the shootout for Boar.
I guess he had a thirty eight. Somebody's firing forty
fours and him corroborating facts Billy Stevenson's missing forty four
caliber gun and the thirty eight pistol that law enforcement
knew had been used in the murders. I mentioned that
(16:16):
lawn was involvement in the shoot have to what western? Oldim? Yeah,
did you see what's to have a gun? Long him? No, No,
he didn't. Did you ever said where the bodies were
in the house? Right? Okay? W Parlort house was good
plays in rom He said that he was on the outside,
(16:36):
and I guess they were on the first floor. And
when they started having a shootout. Wait, I figured if
he was involved in a shootout, I guess he was,
and you know I had something to do with him
and that run Thomas. Not long after that interview, the
FBI put together an indictment, a formal charge ready to
(16:59):
be present and by U S attorneys to a federal
grand jury. If the grand jury indicted Dick and he
was found guilty later at trial, the potential was there
for him to be sentenced to the death penalty. They
summoned Dick from his self. If there was ever a
time to pin everything on Ron Thomas, for Dick Weston,
(17:22):
it was now or never, Richard, before doing anything the
cage right for the simple times, you are suspect the constitution.
The qualities bad Dick can barely be heard in these tapes,
but official transcripts indicate, He mutters, a low I do.
(17:45):
After his Miranda rights were read to him. He also
had a right, attorney, you had a right, so it
wasn't much of a conversation. After that, Dick Weston invoked
his right to remain silent and demanded to speak to
(18:06):
his attorney. As Dick Weston remained locked up, his girlfriend
Drusilla Merita, and Drusilla's friend Knath the Barger. We're out
driving around mile in Indiana one afternoon towards the end
(18:28):
of summer. As Tanatha explains to me, Drusilla was anxious
and concerned. Something was definitely up. To Tanitha, she felt
Drusilla could sense an end of some sort coming. We
went to the filling station to get guys, and I
didn't know what was going to happen. Just all at
(18:50):
once were surrounded by ever f behind cop that was
slung our doors open, snatched her m Drusilla was facing
a serious charge. She was being accused of aiding and
abetting in the interstate transportation of stolen property from a
(19:11):
home where four people had been murdered. If convicted, it
could get Drusilla up to five years in prison. But
to the dismay of law enforcement. The federal judge set
her bond at sixty dollars. Federal prosecutors were incensed by this,
arguing for a five hundred thousand dollar bond based on
(19:34):
the fact that Drusilla had quote threatened witnesses in the case,
namely Tonathan Barging. Tanatha is the closest source I have
connected to Dick and Drusilla, and there was during those
days after the murders, nobody closer to them than Tanatha.
(19:54):
Why do you think Dick protected Rod? Many do you
think Ron Ronde as sure as gonna sit in here?
He paid Dick. You think, well, yeah, you get paid too.
If you had two grocery bags slept full of money,
that was your pa to do? What cover up his
(20:15):
set of the deal? Two grocery bags full of money,
That's what Dick did. Tanitha held up her hands to
show me the size about two ft cash and he
had him in his car in the house. In the car,
now what what didn't want that in the house? I
didn't want to look at that was he bragging about
the money? He said he had enough to hold him
(20:37):
over for a while. I asked Tanatha about Drusilla's involvement.
She knew what her boyfriend had done. Yeah, she had to.
I ain't no doubt, my man. She knew what he
had done, but she weren't how to talk to her.
Several different times it told her, but she said, I'm
not telling him nothing. They ain't getting nothing out of me.
(20:58):
Why do you think she was so loyal to him?
I don't know. Did she love him. I don't know
where she loved where. It's just he had promised her
so much, and then when she's seen that money and
all that Jules and stuff at her age, he had
brain marsh turn enough to know that she was going
to have anything everything she wanted. Around the time of
(21:22):
Drusilla's arrest, Detective Tom Cooper received word that during her
recent prison visit with Dick, Drusilla had dug an even
deeper hole for herself. That same Sully of Dicks overheard
them talking about getting married. It was that whole A
spouse cannot be forced to testify against her significant other
plan that was in the works. Now, she didn't say
(21:45):
we're didn't say exactly when or hell they was going
to do it, but she had it in her head
that he was getting out of there. He weren't staying
because a couple of times I told her if when
they did lock him up, out said June need to
come clean before you end up in jail wapam, And
(22:06):
she said, well, I won't have to when I'm married
to him. She just noted her man that if she
married him, she would never have to say anything. But
because he was going to take her of her the
rest of her life, Dick and Drusilla's dreams of wedded
bliss would not come to fruition. Ten days after their
request for permission to marry, a judge denied the petition,
(22:27):
stating marriages are made in heaven and not in jail.
Cooper knew this walking into his interview with Drusilla after
her arrest, but also that a deal had been offered
to her. Talk to us and we'll take care of you.
Don't talk, and you are royally screwed. In the cash
(22:50):
of law enforcement tapes I've obtained, tape number four reveals
Detective Cooper reading Drusilla her Miranda rights. The detective implores
the young woman to stop playing games and come clean
because the bottom line for Drusilla maridden now was she
had no other choice. I mean, let's be realistic. M
(23:13):
M yeah. I know at the beginning of this thing,
you saw we didn't have case. Canst you for rating
an event right a wrong? Well you got, I would say,
on the outside of dirty days, to make up your
mind after that, like told before, Yeah, they're on this
(23:33):
side of the fens or last time you chose to
stay on that side of the fens. So for the
most part, Drusilla sat in stunned silence, barely speaking, listening
to Cooper spell out her future. I suggest to give
us her thoughts. I don't know where you loved there
or not that between him. I am talking to Dick
(23:56):
to day, and I don't tend to talk to Dick's
himself and half for trouble. She wanted go now with him.
That's your pride. I think you're gonna frange, make up
your mind which what you want to get. Cooper knew
Drusilla had been coached by Dick Weston regarding what to
say to law enforcement. She was not going to crack easily,
(24:18):
so he persisted under the guise of making her believe
they had Dick's best interests in mine. I'm you know,
I'm trying to keep your body Alix Lammer for the
rest of your life. If you want to keep the
mashoup and go down to to what you knew what
we're going on a year it was me. I wouldn't
do it, and I'm not to hear. The interview was
cut short after Cooper realized Drusilla was not going to cave.
(24:44):
Before ending the interview, the detective gave her a dire
warning and a window of opportunity. So, yeah, you give
it some thought. You got about two weeks left. For
three weeks four things start popping over there. When they do,
it's gonna be too late then, So you can here, Okay,
you know, I just want to see Eastman, risk of
your life and joint bouncing back between federal prisoners high
(25:07):
state prisons, so you can think about her. You know
where to get a hold of me. You need to
Drusilla Merritta had become one of the most elusive people
in this case for me. I need to find out
if she's in prison, dead, are still living in the area,
because if Drusilla is still alive, I need to find
(25:27):
her and hear her side of the story. Hello in
the next episode of Paper Ghosts, and I remember this
man came to the door one day and I opened
(25:47):
the door and he said that he had gotten something
in his eye and could what I let him in
to go rinse his eye out. Me being this naive
eight year old, you know, I let this man into
my home. She's telling Ron that she doesn't have any money,
and he suggests to her that if money is an issue,
(26:08):
that he could arrange to have her house burned down
for ten tho dollars and she can just collect the
insurance money on it. Ron Thomas loved a scum bay
I do or something dirty? He has hands in it.
Paper Ghosts is written and executive produced by Me and
William Phelps and I Heart executive producer Christina Everett, with
(26:31):
script consultant Matthew Riddle. Audio editing and mixing by a
Booze Afar thanks to Will Pearson at I Heart Radio.
Series theme number four four two is written and performed
by Thomas Phelps and Tom Mooney. For more podcasts from
my Heart Radio, visit the I Heart Radio app, Apple Podcasts,
(26:51):
or wherever you listen to your favorite shows.
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