Susan and David Hendricks - Part 1

On the night of November 8, 1983, David Hendricks returned home from a business trip to find his wife, Susan, and their three young children brutally murdered in their beds. They had been killed with an axe and a butcher knife—both from the family home. Investigators quickly turned their focus to David. There were no signs of forced entry, the burglary attempt seemed staged, and there were no other viable suspects. It was called the “cleanest bloody crime scene”. David’s unemotional demeanor, strange midnight business trip, and seemingly rehearsed account raised suspicions, and the coroner’s estimate of the time of death—based on the children’s stomach contents—suggested the murders occurred before David left for his trip. Prosecutors theorized he was growing restless in his strict religious life and may have killed his family to escape it. Did David Hendricks kill his family or was it an intruder?

Listen to both parts on Patreon today: https://patreon.com/LoveMarryKill

Today's snacks: Modjeskas and Purity Assorted Kisses (thanks Lisa and Tammy)

Sources:

• https://www.zillow.com/homedetails/313-Carl-Dr-Bloomington-IL-61704/76978912_zpid/ Hendrick’s house
• https://play.howstuffworks.com/quiz/true-crime-quiz true crime quiz
• https://www.hoopladigital.com/ebook/reasonable-doubt-steve-vogel/12113558
• https://www.newspapers.com/image/72563136/?match=1&terms=David%20Hendricks%20Jon%20Lewis
• https://www.tampabay.com/archive/1997/09/14/murdered-family-follows-him-for-life/
• https://www.newspapers.com/search/results/?date-end=2025&date-start=1989&keyword=David+Hendricks+Jon+Lewis&publication-ids=3152&region=us-il&sort=paper-date-asc
• https://www.newspapers.com/image/75603388/?match=1&terms=David%20Hendricks%20Jon%20Lewis
• https://www.newspapers.com/image/72939480/?match=1&terms=David%20Hendricks%20Jon%20Lewis
• https://www.newspapers.com/image/504445477/?terms=%22David%20Hendricks%22
• https://www.newspapers.com/image/461418367/?match=1&terms=%22David%20Hendricks%22
• https://www.newspapers.com/image/73348247/?match=1&terms=Hendricks%20flunked%20polygraph
• https://www.newspapers.com/image/72539351/?match=1&terms=Testimony%20on%20Hendricks%E2%80%99%20ex-brother-in-law%20barred.

Episode Transcript

Speaker 1 (00:00):
Hi. I'm Tina, and I'm Rich. If there's one thing
we've learned in over twenty years of marriage.

Speaker 2 (00:05):
It's that some days you'll feel like killing.

Speaker 1 (00:06):
Your wife, and some days you'll feel like killing your husband.

Speaker 2 (00:09):
Welcome to love, Mary Kill, Hey Rich, Hey Tina, how
are you. I'm tired, but you've had a week. Yeah.

(00:32):
I get back from a red eye flight this morning
at seven am, and I can't sleep on planes, so
you can't. No, I'm a little I'm a little beat,
but I.

Speaker 1 (00:40):
Think you're a lot beat. It was quite a week.
I missed you, you did. I did. Yeah. I was
kind of excited for you to be away for a
few days, but then I was kind of like, oh,
I don't have anyone to talk to.

Speaker 2 (00:49):
No, I missed you, you do.

Speaker 1 (00:51):
But you're my favorite person to talk to you.

Speaker 2 (00:53):
That is nice to hear you're my favorite too, and
you're gonna miss me again next week unfortunately.

Speaker 1 (00:57):
Yeah. Well I was productive though.

Speaker 2 (01:00):
Yeah.

Speaker 1 (01:00):
I wrote a two part episode in a few days,
which is as you know, that's that's a lot of work,
a lot of work. And I cleaned the pantry was
very exciting. I didn't know it was such a nerd
like I really do enjoy cleaning and organizing, and for
some reason when other people around I don't know, it's
just harder.

Speaker 2 (01:20):
So that was I went into the pantry this morning,
and I'm afraid I didn't notice, So I apologize. I
would go back that you would when we're done recording,
I'm going to go back and admire your work because.

Speaker 1 (01:30):
I'm sure, well it was more, to be honest, like
more of a weeding out than, you know, than thorough cleaning.

Speaker 2 (01:37):
Right.

Speaker 1 (01:37):
And I'm a little sad today, actually a lot sad,
but I'm gonna I'm going to soldier on as we do.

Speaker 2 (01:43):
I'm a little sad too.

Speaker 1 (01:44):
Yeah, our little baby girl left today, has moved out.
Yeah I'm not going to cry.

Speaker 2 (01:50):
No, I think you're going to, but I mean I.

Speaker 1 (01:53):
Have a few times. I'm just I'm very happy for her.
It's just, you know, we've been together for a long time.
I think I think we were both feeling a little
you know, emotional. But it'll be fun, yeah, you know,
we'll be able to meet places and have dinner together
and you know, go on adventures.

Speaker 2 (02:08):
And that's what parenting is all about, is preparing your
kids to go out on their own eventually and live. Yeah,
productive lives. Then she's on our way.

Speaker 1 (02:16):
Yeah, she's done. Check that off my list, raise a daughter.
Check Before we dive into today's case, I have some
candy for you. Today's snack was sent to us by
two of our lovely listeners. This is from our og listener, Lisa,
who is one of my favorite people, one of my
oldest podcast friends. They're called Mojeska's Mojeska's. I don't think

(02:39):
I said it right.

Speaker 2 (02:40):
I don't think you said it right.

Speaker 1 (02:41):
The Mojeska is a beloved Kentucky candy made of soft,
homemade marshmallow dipped and rich buttery carmel. Created in eighteen
eighty three by Louisville confectioner Anton Bousaff. The tree was
named in honor of Polish actress Helena Mojeska after her
performance and a local play capture the city's admiration with

(03:02):
her blessing. The candy became a regional favorite and is
still handcrafted today by shops like Bowers And this is
where these came from. They are sweet, nostalgic, and uniquely Kentucky.
And the Mojeska is a bite of southern charm wrapped
in caramel.

Speaker 2 (03:16):
Interesting.

Speaker 1 (03:17):
Just for the record, I know you can't see it,
but it's a beautiful little box and the candies are
beautifully wrapped.

Speaker 2 (03:25):
Oh there is. I never would have guessed they were
from Kentucky with you when you said the name of them.
Interesting background.

Speaker 1 (03:31):
You want to try one?

Speaker 2 (03:32):
I sure do.

Speaker 1 (03:38):
What did you think of the mojescas?

Speaker 2 (03:40):
I liked it a lot. I really it's an interesting combination,
the caramel and the marshmallow. I love marshmallow. I've said
it before. I think marshmallow is an underrated flavor. You
said that before, I've said it many times, many times.
But it's weird because the kramel is like outside of
the marshmallow, the caramel is like a little different than
normal caramel.

Speaker 1 (03:58):
Really nice, beautiful kramel. I guess I did not love
love the combination of the two or yeah, I think
I would have just preferred a karmel, but really good. Yeah,
thank you so much, Lisa.

Speaker 2 (04:10):
Our second snack today comes all the way from Newfoundland,
Canada from our listener Tammy, who is kind enough to
send these candies. They're called They're from Purity Factories. The
Candy Company. Apparently they make an entire line of crackers, cookies,
and candies for over one hundred years. And I don't
believe I've ever had a snack from Newfoundland. So these
are assorted kisses. There are different flavors, I guess.

Speaker 1 (04:32):
So the kisses we have them, they're not like Hershey's kisses.
We have them here in the States. I have not
seen them in a long time. These are similar to
the ones that we used to find at Halloween time
that have orange and black you know what I'm talking about,
peanut butter. Yeah, and they're wrapped in like you know,
the orange and the black. So there's four flavors. There
is molasses, banana, peanut butter, and butter, rum and butter.

(04:55):
Which one do you want to try?

Speaker 2 (04:56):
I try the peanut butter, not that the anything, but
the banana. What did you think?

Speaker 1 (05:08):
They're really tasty?

Speaker 3 (05:09):
Yeah?

Speaker 1 (05:10):
I had a rum and butter butter rum life saver
is my favorite life saver. It's kind of like going
back to my childhood.

Speaker 2 (05:16):
Yeah, the peanut butter one was similar to the Halloween ones,
but a little bit of a different flavor. But yeah,
it was really good.

Speaker 1 (05:21):
Thanks, So, yeah, thank you so much, Tammy. But they're
really fresh, like you can tell that, yes, they came
from you know, the factory. And because a lot of
times you would get this here and it would.

Speaker 2 (05:29):
Be right the Halloween ones you get, I feel like
they're like ten years old probably.

Speaker 1 (05:33):
Yeah, and these were really fresh and yeah, very yummy.
Thank you so much to Tammy and Lisa. Today's case
is a true crime classic. I feel like a lot
of listeners probably know this case already. I had listened
to I think an episode of Crime Junkie years ago
and was really intrigued by this case. At least two
listeners had recommended it, Katie and Evelyn. Thank you so much,

(05:54):
Katie and Evelyn for recommending this case.

Speaker 3 (05:56):
Well.

Speaker 1 (05:56):
The year was nineteen eighty three. Do you remember where
you were in nineteen eighty three?

Speaker 2 (06:00):
I do.

Speaker 1 (06:01):
Ronald Reagan was in the third year of his first presidency.
His administration focused on Cold War attentions, economic recovery dubbed Reaganomics,
and a strong emphasis on conservative values. The biggest hits
on the radio that year were Billy Jean, Every Breath
you Take, Sweet Dreams are made of These flash dance

(06:21):
with a feeling beat. It total eclipse of the Heart.
Movies that year were a mix of blockbusters and cold classics,
Return of the Jedi, Flash Dance, Terms of Endearment, trading places, wargames,
a Christmas Story, Scarface. Popular TV shows that year were
also iconic, including Dallas, Dynasty, Mash in its final season,

(06:41):
The A Team, which premiered that year, Tears Family Ties,
and Magnum Pi. In nineteen eighty three, prices looked a
lot different. The average income was about twenty one thousand
dollars a year. The average home price is about seventy
five thousand dollars. A gallon of gas cost a dollar
twenty four. Interest rates were very high, over ten percent.

(07:03):
In Bloomington, Illinois. On November eighth, nineteen eighty three, election
night officer Mike Hibbins was nearing the end of his
shift and heading back to the station early after a
quiet night when he received a call over his radio
to do a welfare check at three one three Carl drive.
Mildly irritated, thinking only of getting home and into bed,
he answered the call Adam three ten four and headed

(07:25):
to the upscale neighborhood on the outskirts of Bloomington. Detective
Dennis O'Brien overheard the call and offered to head over
to Carl Drive two, his instincts immediately kicking in. Hibbins
arrived first. He grabbed a flashlight and walked around the house,
sipping his jacket against the November chill. The house was
quiet and peaceful, in complete darkness. At the rear of

(07:46):
the house, he found the door to the sun room unlocked.
Just as he was about to enter, he saw the
beam of another flashlight bobbing in the night, approaching him,
along with two shadowy figures. The men quickly explained that
they were related to Susan Hendricks, one of the home owners.
One of the men said, my sister lives here. We're
afraid something is wrong. I haven't been able to reach her,

(08:06):
and my brother in law is out of town. By
this time, Detective O'Brien arrived. O'Brien and Hibbins told the
other two men to wait outside while they searched the house.
They walked through the kitchen and dining room, lit only
by their flashlights, noting several open cabinet doors and drawers,
along with a purse with its contents spilled on the floor.
As they mounted the dark stairs. They flipped on the

(08:28):
hallway light, shocking themselves with the sudden brightness. The first
room they came upon was the primary bedroom. A woman, Susan,
they assumed, appeared to be sleeping in the bed, the
blue comforter pulled up high. When they flicked on the
bedroom light. She didn't move. At first glance, she looked
like she was simply sleeping, tucked neatly beneath the covers,
But when they pulled the comforter down, the illusion shattered.

(08:49):
Her face and neck were drenched in blood, the wounds savage,
her skin cold to the touch. Shaken. The officers backed
out of the room and moved down the hall, dread
building with every step. The next door they opened was
a boy's bedroom empty. Then they reached the girl's room.
Two bunks, two small bodies in the lower bed, one
in the top. All three children lay motionless, soaked in blood,

(09:11):
their young faces and necks brutally mutilated, just like their mothers.
On the floor ominously sat a blooded axe and a
butcher's knife.

Speaker 2 (09:19):
That sounds like a brutal scene. I'm not familiar with
this case at all, so this is all new to me,
But that sounds really shocking.

Speaker 1 (09:25):
This case is going to take you in a lot
of different directions. David Hendricks was the second of seven
children born to Laverne and Charles. Charles was an electrical
engineer and Laverne was a housewife. The Hendricks home was
loving but strict. Laverne deferred to Charles in all matters
and viewed him as the head of the house. Church
and the Bible were the center of their lives. The

(09:45):
family lived in a large home in Oak Park, Illinois.
Oak Park's most famous resident was Frank Lloyd Wright, who
not only lived and worked there, but built more than
twenty other homes there, making it the largest concentration of
Wright homes.

Speaker 2 (09:58):
How Frank Lloyd Wright did it? It designed so many
homes and buildings it's unreal.

Speaker 1 (10:03):
He was a hard worker. The Hendricks family gathered around
the table together each night for dinner. They said a
prayer together before they ate, and again at bedtime. Charles
Hendricks often read from the Bible to his family. The
Hendricks were active in the Plymouth Brethren movement, which is
a conservative fundamentalist movement dating back to early eighteen hundreds Ireland.
The group consider themselves autonomous and instead of a minister

(10:26):
preaching in a church. They consider the spirit to be
within each of them. The members prefer to meet in
small groups at their homes and break bread together and
discuss scripture. They consider all met and their brethren holy
enough to teach the Bible and learn from each other.
The meetings are led by men. Women were allowed to attend,
but not allowed to speak. Divorce is forbidden, except in

(10:47):
the case of adultery. Divorce is quite a scandal and
reviewed by a board of the elders. David had personally
delivered a letter to a woman who sought a divorce
informing her that she could no longer socialize with any
of the break including her entire family. Members of the
movement are encouraged not to stray outside of the group
for friendships.

Speaker 2 (11:06):
So if you divorce here basically ostracized in the group.

Speaker 1 (11:10):
It sounds like well the Hendrix and most members of
the Brethren didn't own a television to prevent them from
being influenced from outside sources. Many don't even own a
radio or read newspapers.

Speaker 2 (11:20):
I can't believe they'd missed the last season of Mash.

Speaker 1 (11:25):
David was intelligent, but didn't excel in school because he
lacked the ability to focus. He was a loner with
few friends, but was allowed to participate in sports. He
enjoyed football, basketball, and tennis. Frequently, on weekends, the family
would travel to nearby cities for meetings with other members.
It was on one of these weekends, during a trip
to central Illinois, that fifteen year old David first met

(11:48):
sixteen year old Susan Palmer. He was quickly smitten, but
she was oblivious.

Speaker 2 (11:53):
Susan Palmer, like David, came from a family of seven
and was a member of the Brethren. She achieved straight
AA through high school. She was a member of the
National Honor Society and first chair clarinet in the school band.
She was a quiet, shy girl who had been raised
to keep her opinions to herself. The summer before her
senior year of high school, she took a summer job
working in the office of Bible Truth Publishers, located in

(12:17):
Oak Park. The Hendricks offered to Houser for the summer.
The publisher was so pleased with Susan's work they offered
her a full time job. Despite having a year left
of high school. Torn Susan accepted the job with plans
to finish her diploma at Oak Park High School.

Speaker 1 (12:31):
I think she only had a couple of classes to
finish up to get her diploma.

Speaker 2 (12:35):
She hated the large high school and the work was
more challenging, prompting her to drop out. She got an
apartment with two other members of the Brethren, worked full time,
and finished her coursework at night. David began working at
the publishing house and finally caught Susan's eye. Since their
first meeting, he had been wrapped up in daydreams of her.
He left love poems on her desk and invited her

(12:56):
on long walks during their lunch break.

Speaker 1 (12:58):
A fun fact, Susan was David's first girlfriend, but Susan
had dated like seven other boys. They were all named
David except for one. Wow and fun fact about Rich
and Tina, the girl that Rich dated before me was
also I only.

Speaker 2 (13:14):
Dated one other teena about seven. They fell in love
quickly and secretly decided to get married as soon as
David graduated from high school. Suddenly motivated, he took as
many credits as he could and finished his high school
diploma in three years. The first person at oak Park High.
With that distinction, a family friend who worked in prosthetics
and orthotics convinced David to pursue a career in the

(13:36):
specialty field. He offered to help pay his tuition if
he would come work for him. After two years, David
completed the requirements of the program. In July nineteen seventy three,
Susan and David were married at the American Legion Hall
in Delavan, Illinois, with about one hundred and twenty five
people in attendance. With a small budget, they were limited
to travel in Indiana and Illinois, but that was fine

(13:57):
with the young couple. When they returned from their honeymoon,
they relocated to Mazanie, Wisconsin, rented a small parsonage, and
David began to work at Heinz Brinkmann Prosthetics. He only
made three dollars and twenty cents an hour, ever industrious.
As a side hustle, David bought and sold used cars.
He saw himself as quite the deal maker.

Speaker 1 (14:17):
David would just look in the newspaper for cars that
were for sale, and he'd be like, Oh, that's a
good deal on that Honda Civic and then he would
you fix it? Up just a little bit, and then
he would resell it.

Speaker 2 (14:27):
Oh, it's like flipping flipping cars.

Speaker 1 (14:29):
Flipping cars. He was very smart and a really good
business person.

Speaker 2 (14:33):
He saw himself as quite the deal maker. Soon Susan
learned that she was pregnant with their first child, and
the couple bought their first home for eleven thousand dollars,
a real fixer upper, but they enjoyed remodeling the home together.
On September twenty fourth, nineteen seventy four, Rebecca Karen was born.
After three years with Brinkman, David wanted to set out
on his own. His employer wasn't happy about him leaving,

(14:56):
but David was ambitious and needed to make more money
for his growing family. Susan was due soon with their
second child. When David put in his notice. Brinkman, infuriated
after investing in his education, fired him on the spot.
After Grace Esther was born in April nineteen seventy six,
the family sold their little house for twenty two thousand dollars,

(15:16):
loaded up a U haul and set off for Galesburg, Illinois,
in the northwestern part of the state, about an hour
from Susan's family in Delavan. After making a nice profit
from their first house, the Hendricks decided flipping houses was
a good way to make money. In two years, they
moved six times. David first worked as a contract employee
for the hospital, but then became a hospital employee after

(15:38):
a dispute over payment. The hospital told him he could
resign or be fired. The hospital claimed he resigned, but
David said he was fired. It made a difference whether
or not he would receive unemployment. It took a year,
but he ultimately won that battle. While the legal battle
was playing out, he focused on flipping houses and selling
used cars, and also took up a new hobby flying.

(16:00):
The family also traveled to South America's missionaries. Susan was
the disciplinarian of the family. She ran a tight ship
with a strict schedule and chore charts. A plaque in
her home summed up her thoughts on her duties as
a wife and mother Proverbs thirty one. A good wife
looks well to the ways of her household and does
not eat the bread of idleness.

Speaker 1 (16:20):
I eat a lot of idle bread.

Speaker 2 (16:23):
She wrote in a diary almost daily. The entries are brief.
January third, nineteen eighty two, Lord's Day, our kids performed poorly.
June first, nineteen eighty two, Tuesday, took gift to Martha Brown.
David called, he's lonely and so am. I did some sewing,
decorated cake for missus Rustin July twenty eighth, nineteen eighty two,

(16:45):
David surprised me for our ninth anniversary, arranged for J
and L to take kids. Went to Joomors for night
and supper. October thirteenth, nineteen eighty two, had doctor appointment
to begin one thousand calorie diet. David and I are
working on it together. November nineteenth, nineteen eighty two, Friday
visited school, watched Grace's class do a skit. David surprised

(17:08):
me and took me to Juomors ate there and spent
the night. David gave me a nightie.

Speaker 1 (17:13):
I've never been good at journaling or diary entries, but
I kind of liked this approach. You know, it's just
really quick and you can just look back on it.

Speaker 2 (17:21):
I feel like you would. Yeah, I forget so many
things that I feel like if you write down, like, oh,
here's what I did today, just very briefly, that it
would just help you kind of remember.

Speaker 1 (17:29):
Things humors, which she mentioned several times is a casino.
A casino and a restaurant and a hotel, which kind
of surprises me.

Speaker 2 (17:36):
That doesn't seem like that would be sounds.

Speaker 1 (17:38):
Like they went there quite often.

Speaker 2 (17:40):
Interesting. The diary entries reveal a woman content with her life.
She expressed love and appreciation for her husband, who seemed
thoughtful and loving towards her. She never complained about her marriage,
although as David's business grew, she lamented that he spent
less time with the family than she would have liked.
She wasn't impressed with material goods like David was.

Speaker 1 (18:00):
In the book that I read, the author actually said
that she was uncomfortable with the level of wealth that
they had at the time.

Speaker 2 (18:07):
Interesting. Susan and David, like their families growing up, were
strict parents and observed the rules of the Brethren. Religion
and the Bible were the center of their lives. There
was no television, radio, or daily newspaper. For fun, the
family played games together or went on day trips to
museums or the zoo. On Halloween. The children weren't allowed
to wear costumes or participate in their classroom parties. Susan

(18:30):
would pick them up early from school. During trick or treating,
the Hendrixes would pass out religious pamphlets to the children
who rang their doorbell. I bet the neighborhood children just
loved coming to their.

Speaker 1 (18:41):
Very popular.

Speaker 2 (18:43):
Christmas also wasn't observed.

Speaker 1 (18:45):
So let's talk just for a second about how this
must have affected their life and their children. I think
it's really hard for kids to go to public school
when they don't celebrate these holidays. I think the kids
seemed like they were great kids, and they were very happy,
and they were well adjusted. But it must have been
really hard for them.

Speaker 2 (19:02):
Yeah, they must have felt very different, right they see
all their friends doing these things and having these celebrations,
and yeah, not being allowed to participate.

Speaker 1 (19:10):
Must have coming back to school the day after Christmas
break and you know, everyone talking about the toys they
got or their new clothes or whatever. Yeah, but again,
the kids did seem like they were happy with their life.

Speaker 2 (19:20):
David saw an opportunity in Bloomington, Normal, a growing area
underrepresented in prosthetics, and the hendrix has moved again. While
Susan was pregnant with their third child. David named his
new business Illinois Orthopedic Appliances. They purchased a modest home.
A few months before their third and final child, Benjamin Caleb,
was born. Business must have been going well. A few

(19:41):
months later he bought a Cessna one seventy two airplane
for thirty one thousand dollars in cash. In nineteen seventy nine,
David won a patent for a new back brace he
named the CASH brace. CASH was an acronym that stood
for cruciform anterior spinal hyper extension nailed it. The brace
was very lucrative for Hendrix. In nineteen eighty one, he

(20:02):
sold Illinois Orthopedic Appliances to focus on manufacturing and selling
the brace. A cash brace is used primarily for the
treatment of certain types of spinal deformities, particularly in cases
of scoliosis. It helps to stabilize the spine and prevent
further curvature. It may also be used after spinal surgery
to provide support during recovery or to assist in the

(20:23):
healing process following spinal injuries. It provides support while allowing
the patient movement. After enduring years of painful, heavy menstrual cycles,
Susan's doctor recommended a hysterectomy. When she arrived at the
hospital for the procedure, she was surprised to learn that
she was pregnant again. After the pregnancy ended in a
miscarriage a few weeks later, Susan ultimately went ahead with

(20:44):
the hysterectomy. Although she had three healthy children, she and
David had hoped for a bigger brood will be back
after a break.

Speaker 1 (20:59):
With the success of his in his new backbrace, David
was able to pay ninety two thousand dollars in cash
for a new four bedroom, two and a half bathhouse
in Bloomington. And that's about three hundred and twenty thousand
dollars today. Can you mention paying cash cairehouse would be
pretty sweet? Bloomington, Illinois, is a mid size city in
central Illinois with a blend of suburban neighborhoods, farmland, and

(21:21):
commercial areas. It's halfway between Chicago and Saint Louis. It
forms the Twin Cities with nearby Normal and is often
called Blown by locals. With around seventy eight thousand residents,
it serves as the seat of McLean County, the largest
county in Illinois by land area. The city has an
act of art scene, several local theaters, and hosts a

(21:42):
variety of festivals and community events throughout the year. Known
for its deep legal history, Abraham Lincoln practiced law there. Oh,
do you remember him?

Speaker 2 (21:51):
I've heard of him.

Speaker 1 (21:52):
Bloomington has been the backdrop for several high profile criminal cases,
including the one we're discussing here today. Home to State
Farm Insurance headquarters in Illinois Wesleyan University, Bloomington blends a
corporate and college town vibe. Its tight knit community and
central location give it a mix of suburban and rural
character that also houses the McLean County Courthouse, jail, and

(22:15):
State's Attorney office, making it the legal heart of the region.
Bloomington experiences classic Midwest weather with hot summers and cold winters.
Bestplaces dot Com list Bloomington's violent crime index at twenty
nine compared to a national average of twenty two point seven,
indicating slightly above average levels. Is that more information than

(22:36):
you ever needed to know about Bloomington?

Speaker 2 (22:38):
Maybe?

Speaker 1 (22:39):
David's younger brother, Jim, was shunned from the Brethren when
he was twenty one for having sex outside of marriage.
The situation was challenging for the family, especially because he
still lived at home with the time with his parents.
If rules were strictly adhered to, he'd be thrown out
of the house and no one in his family could
have a meal with him or even talk to him.
If he apologized and showed genuine remorse, it was possible

(23:01):
that he'd be forgiven, but he refused and left the group.
When his father, Charles decided to move to southern Illinois,
James stayed behind and rented a small apartment in Chicago.
David was sympathetic to James and was the only family
member to remain close to him. And I mentioned this
because out of the entire family, David was mooth sympathetic

(23:21):
and was it because maybe he could relate and had
similar feelings. By July of nineteen eighty three, David had
earned about one hundred and fifty eight thousand dollars that year,
or about five hundred thousand dollars today. It was a
level of wealth that neither him or his family or
Susan's family had ever known. They were humbled about people,

(23:42):
and this kind of money was far outside of their world.
David had twice traded in his planes for newer, more
expensive models and He'd even purchased a motorcycle. Sometimes he
took his plane on short business trips. Maybe you should
do that, I should. David's thriving business allowed him to
become a benefactor with the launch of the Bloomington Fellowship Fund.

(24:04):
Within the first half of the year, he deposited about
twenty six thousand dollars into the account with intent to
assist fellow Brethren members when they were going through challenging times.
But in April nineteen eighty three, he quietly transferred seven
one hundred dollars from the Fellowship Fund into his business account.
David seemed to really enjoy sending money to people he
deemed were a need. Was he really a good guy

(24:27):
or did he just like this image of being this
benefactor could be The summer of nineteen eighty three was
a busy one for the Hendricks family. David bought a
van and the family took a two week road trip
to the Rocky Mountains. When they returned, they were busy
with visits from family members and trips to religious conferences.
At the end of the summer, Susan and David went

(24:48):
to London, just the two of them. I think they
were celebrating their tenth wedding anniversary. As David's success grew,
so did his waistline. He weighed two hundred and seventy
five pounds. He'd gained seventy five pounds since getting married.
When David asked Susan what she wanted for her birthday,
she told him that she'd love for him to lose
weight ouch. David agreed and committed to making healthier choices.

(25:10):
Susan joined him in the effort for support, though at
one hundred and thirty five pounds, she was already with
a healthy weight range. Remember her diary entry of I'm
going on this one thousand calories, yet that's not enough
calories by the way. In October, David, along with his
assistant Bev, went to Phoenix for a trade show while
Susan manned the office in their absence. Within a few months,

(25:33):
David was down about forty pounds. He shaved off his
mustache and got a trendier hairstyle. Uh, oh, so he's
looking good. Why do you see?

Speaker 2 (25:41):
Oh? I don't.

Speaker 1 (25:42):
I just cares about it where it's going. They're still
really young. David is twenty nine and Susan is thirty
to have this much success is yeah, that's pretty pretty impressive.
On Monday, November seventh, Susan Hendricks had a doctor's appointment.
She'd recently found a small pain bomp on her neck
that had been bothering her. The doctor didn't have a

(26:03):
diagnosis yet, but he ordered an ultrasound to check whether
it might be cancerous or benign, and ran a blood
test to look at her thighbroid function. Later that day,
Susan had lunch at home with David. He was preparing
for a business trip to Wisconsin to promote his new
spinal race. He was going to visit physical therapists and
orthodists that evening. Susan had plans to attend a baby

(26:24):
shower in Delavan with friends and family. Before she left
around five fifty p m. David told her not to
worry about dinner. He'd handle it and take the kids
out for the night. Once she was gone, David played
a bit of football in the yard with the kids.
He was seen by several neighbors, including Sarah Cater, who
had asked him for help with a mouse that she
found in her garbage can. After that, David showered, got

(26:46):
the kids ready, and took them to the Eastland shopping
Mall to see a piece of Becky's award winning artwork
that was on display. By six point thirty, they made
their way to Chuck E Cheese. David ordered a medium
veggie pizza and a pitcher of rupier. About an hour later,
he told the kids it was time to go, but
they begged for a little more time. He gave in,
told them to keep playing, and left briefly to get gas.

(27:09):
The receipt shows he filled his tank with fourteen point
four gallons seventeen dollars in total at a dollar eighteen
a gallon. The time was seven thirty six pm, so
he went back and picked the kids up from Chuck
E Cheese and made one last stop at the Bookmobile
before it closed. At eight fifteen. A neighbor saw them
leaving with fresh stacks of books. Back home, the kids

(27:30):
played a quick game of hide and seek, then got
ready for bed. Well David read to them for about
thirty minutes. When we were parents have younger children, one
thing that we were really strict about was bedtime. Like
we always had our kids at that by like I
don't know, seven thirty.

Speaker 2 (27:44):
Or eight o'clock we had it down to a routine.

Speaker 1 (27:47):
Yeah, and these kids were pretty young, and I know
Dad's in charge. But the fact that it's eight fifteen,
they're just leaving the bookmobile, you know. Then they're going
to go home and get ready for bed. It's kind
of a late bedtime because it is a school night.
When Susan returned from the baby shower around ten thirty pm,
the house was quiet and the children were fast asleep.
David kissed her goodbye and left for his trip to Wassaw, Wisconsin,

(28:10):
just before midnight. He grabbed a cup of coffee at
Perkins on his way out of town. Do you think
it's odd that he left at midnight for a business trip.

Speaker 2 (28:20):
I don't know. It's hard to say. I don't know
his business, I don't know his routine. Yes, definitely unusual,
though I would say for people to leave on a
business trip. Was he flying his own plane.

Speaker 1 (28:30):
Or this was he was driving? He was going to Wisconsin?

Speaker 2 (28:33):
Okay.

Speaker 1 (28:34):
So David had recently made a modification to his cash
brace and was excited to promote it. His plan was
to cold call about a dozen clients the next day.
The drive from Bloomington to Wassaw is about three hundred
and thirty miles roughly six hours. In nineteen eighty three,
the speed limit was just fifty five miles per hour.
At about four am, David pulled into a rest stop

(28:55):
to change into his suit. At seven seventeen am, he
stopped at a parties for breakfast, ready to start his
day of sales calls. So he hadn't slept the whole night,
and then he was going to, you know, start his
sales calls.

Speaker 2 (29:08):
Okay, probably wouldn't be at your best to doing sales
calls without a good night.

Speaker 1 (29:12):
Yeah, he had laid down for a few minutes, I think,
after before Susan got home and before he left, but
I don't think he really slept. So it would take
four hours and forty three minutes approximately to get from Bloomington,
Illinois to Stevens Point, Wisconsin where the Heartys was.

Speaker 2 (29:27):
Okay, and he supposedly left at midnight.

Speaker 1 (29:30):
Right, so there was some time there that either he
didn't leave at midnight, or there's some time that isn't
accounted for, because yeah, he would have gotten to the Heartys.

Speaker 2 (29:40):
At like five am, yeah, or even at.

Speaker 1 (29:42):
Six am, So it seems like there wouldn't have been
any traffic, right, and if you're driving after midnight, you
can probably go a little faster. Yeah. Yeah, so the
timeline is off for meat yep.

Speaker 2 (29:54):
Despite the long night of driving, David made his first
call at nine am. He made several calls before checking
into a red roof in in Madison at three PM.

Speaker 1 (30:03):
Okay, I wrote this, but I think he actually checked
into the red roof in around noon, but then went
on more calls and then came back to the hotel
at three and then he I think he was His
plan was to crash. Okay, he's exhausted, he hadn't slept
all day, so he was going to sleep at the
hotel for a little bit. So a couple of things
to mention about his trip. All of the calls were
cold calls. He didn't arrange anything in advance, okay. And

(30:25):
you know, he'd been in the business for a while,
so he had a lot of associates that he was
friendly with and they were all happy to see him.
It was a little loud that he didn't make any
appointments beforehand. Most of these calls lasted between five and
ten minutes. I thought it was a little loud that
he didn't bring this new brace with him, like he
was really proud of the new brace. He did have
pamphlets that described the brace, but to show you he

(30:48):
would have brought. So I don't know if he had
forgotten it or he just never intended to bring the brace.
But because David was able to cut out the middleman,
he made a lot of money that way. Like some
you know, some people did order it from like a
supply company, but if he was selling them, you know,
direct directly. Yeah, it saved the customer money. It saved
the client money, and David, you know, got more on

(31:10):
his end too, right.

Speaker 2 (31:11):
He had tried to call home to check in with
Susan several times, but there was no answer. David knew
Susan had plans to have dinner with her family that evening,
so he wasn't too concerned, but called his office and
asked his assistant Bev, to keep calling Susan let her
know that he was finally crashing after being up for
almost forty eight hours without sleep. But David didn't go
to sleep. He continued to call home, trying to reach Susan.

Speaker 1 (31:35):
It was nineteen eighty three, there are no cell phones,
he can't get a hold of his wife. How nervous
are you at that point, Like, You've tried to call
me probably four times, you know, at different different points
in the day. I think he called her like in
the morning and then you know, early late morning, early afternoon.

Speaker 2 (31:51):
Probably wouldn't be that nervous.

Speaker 1 (31:52):
It'd be too worried either. I don't know if they
had an answering machine. That was never made clear. I
would think you would, you know, leave a message. He
probably had an answering yeah, probably like call me, you know,
I don't know. Yeah, But then maybe they didn't have
an answering machine, because he told BEV specifically, like, tell Susan,
tell hering that the red roof in, tell her that
I'm going to sleep in for the next several hours.

(32:13):
So maybe they didn't have an answering mission.

Speaker 2 (32:15):
Yeah, I know we didn't have one in nineteen eighty three,
but my mom was a little behind the times.

Speaker 1 (32:20):
Yeah.

Speaker 2 (32:20):
At five forty pm, he called Nadine Palmer, who was
hosting Susan and the kids that night. She told him
that they were expecting them at five point thirty and
hadn't heard from Susan that day. By this point, several
people were concerned about Susan, Becky, Grace, and Benji. David
made another call to John and Karen Kramer. They're good
friends and neighbors who lived three houses away. Karen said

(32:42):
she hadn't seen Susan or the kids all day. She
offered to walk over to check on them. When there
was no answer at the house, she checked in with
several other neighbors to see if anyone had seen them.
No one could confirm a sighting.

Speaker 1 (32:53):
David called Susan's family at five forty. She's ten minutes
late and everyone is already worried. Do you think that's odd?
She was She was known to be prompt, but I
don't know how worried people would be.

Speaker 2 (33:05):
I guess what I assumed is they were worried because
they hadn't heard from her all day, or they hadn't
seen her, or you know, the same with David too,
that he might have just been not worried because she
was ten minutes late, but because she just had been
out of communication.

Speaker 1 (33:18):
True.

Speaker 2 (33:19):
David asked Karen for the phone number for the Bloomington
Police Department. She offered to call, but he said that
he would rather do it. He called them at six
thirty four pm.

Speaker 1 (33:28):
He called a non emergency number. Do you think that's odd? Oh?
Not necessarily he is out of town right five hours
six hours away.

Speaker 2 (33:37):
Yeah, well, at this point, I don't think, to me,
I don't think I would be all that worried.

Speaker 1 (33:42):
But if I don't think I would be worried enough.

Speaker 2 (33:43):
To call the police, No, I don't think I would, especially.

Speaker 1 (33:46):
Sorry, especially when there's so many family members that are
only half an hour away. Yeah, the neighbor is right there,
and there is a high a key, so Kieren the neighbor, Like,
I'm not sure why he wouldn't have been like Karen,
you know, maybe the phone's out of order by but
just you know, why didn't you just unlock the door
and take a look. Yeah, and there are other family
members that also he had keys, and I think that

(34:08):
he could have. I think personally, I would not want
to bother include the police in this unless I knew
that there was definitely something nefarious going on. I think
I would send a friend, a neighbor or someone like
that before I would call the police.

Speaker 2 (34:20):
Yeah, I agree. The Bloomington police suggested that he call
the Illinois State Police to see if there had been
any accidents on the highway. There were no accidents reported
that evening. At seven pm, David checked out of the
hotel and drove home. Meanwhile, Susan's mother, Nadine, called the
Bloomington Police department with a suggestion check with the children's
school to see if they had been in attendance that day.

(34:42):
The police told her they were already dispatching an officer
to the Hendricks home to investigate.

Speaker 1 (34:47):
The children were not in school that day, by the way.

Speaker 2 (34:50):
Not willing to wait, Nadine also sent her son Nate
and son in law Jerry out to search the rural
back roads that Susan would have taken during the forty
five minute drive from blooming to Delevan. They arrived at
the house at ten ten pm and began by checking
the garage, but the windows were covered, making it impossible
to see if Susan's car was inside.

Speaker 1 (35:10):
Susan I think had made homemade curtains for her garage.
I think about this all the time, like our garage windows.
Most people's garage windows are open. Yeah, and that really
is kind of dumb that we you know, it's nice
to have a window in your garage, right, but yeah,
you could just.

Speaker 2 (35:23):
Go and see if your car is they're not. Yeah.
As they circle the house, trying to peer through the windows,
officers Hibbin and O'Brien approached them at the back of
the property. The officers instructed Nate and Jerry to remain
outside while they went in to investigate.

Speaker 1 (35:37):
So this is where we began the story.

Speaker 2 (35:39):
Right. I'm a little surprised that the officers went inside
the house. I don't know what the rules are, but.

Speaker 1 (35:45):
Yeah, I was. I was surprised by that too. They
knew that David was on his way.

Speaker 2 (35:50):
Yeah, and it doesn't seem like there was any imminent
danger or anything like that. Like I think they only
usually go in houses if there's a threat to someone's
life and they're you know, they need to go in.

Speaker 1 (36:00):
Well, this was nineteen eighty three, so I don't know
if the rules were different.

Speaker 2 (36:02):
Then five minutes later, the officers emerged from the house, pale,
wide eyed, visibly shaken. Officer O'Brien stepped forward, his voice
wavered as he spoke, quote, I'm sorry to have to
tell you they're all inside, but they're all gone. The
words hung in the air. All four men wished that
they weren't true. Jerry, stunned, grasped for an explanation. Was

(36:24):
it a gas sleek? The officers exchanged a glance. We
can't say anything more right now. As the weight of
the moment settled in, two more squad cars pulled up.
Flashing lights lit up the quiet street, and the house
transformed from a family home into a crime scene. At
eleven fifteen, David pulled up to Carl Drive. Nate and
Jerry met him and delivered the devastating news. David fell

(36:48):
to his knees, crying and wailing, but Detective O'Brien and
coroner Dan Brady remember it differently. O'Brien claims that he
was the one that told David that his family had
been murdered bonded quote. Oh no, did they suffer? The
detective said, quote the scene was violent. David replied, they're
with the lord now. When asked if he could go

(37:10):
into his house, the police told him not yet, but
they would want him to stay close. Karen Kramer took
David into her home, wrapped him in a blanket, and
gave him a cup of coffee. At eleven thirty, detectives
Charles Crow and Michael Scott questioned David in the Kramer's
home in the primary bedroom. David said he had first
called home at eleven thirty that morning, when no one answered.

(37:31):
He claimed it wasn't unusual for him to leave in
the middle of the night on a business trip, though
he usually flew his plane. He said he changed into
a suit and tie at a rest stop, but the
clothes that he was currently wearing were the clothes he
had been wearing when he left his house. When asked
if he owned an axe, he said he had one
in the garage, but didn't own any hunting knives. At
the end of their hour long conversation, the police asked

(37:54):
him to sign a form allowing the search of his home, vehicles, office,
and airplane hangar, which he complied. But they weren't done
with David yet. They asked him to come down to
the station for further questioning.

Speaker 1 (38:05):
I think we say this just about every case, but
I can't imagine having to go to the police station
after your four closest family members have just been brutally murriged.

Speaker 2 (38:15):
The early edition of the newspaper, printed hours before sunrise,
featured the headline multiple deaths probed the media works fast.
When David arrived at the station, he was read his
miranda rights. He seemed calm considering the circumstances. He asked
why he was being read his rights, and the officers
explained that he was the last person to see his

(38:35):
family alive. David said he kissed them all goodbye before
he left. Benji five had slipped into his sister's bed.
He couldn't remember if he had locked all the doors.
When asked to describe the nature of his marriage, he
called it happy and said that in the last hours
with Susan, they had decided to adopt another child. He
said he had no idea who would want to kill

(38:56):
his family, He had no enemies, and there was nothing
of value in the high But he did say that
several hundred dollars in cash was missing.

Speaker 1 (39:04):
Hmmm, he hadn't been in the house. How did he
know cash was missing? That is a very good pace untuse,
he asked the detectives, like, oh, there's cash here, yeah,
is it missing?

Speaker 2 (39:13):
Hm? Why would he even think? I guess maybe you
would think that that maybe there was a burglary, But
it does seem a little odd. The detectives wanted David
to take a polygraph, but he hedged. He said he
didn't trust them and wanted to talk to his attorney
before he committed to take the test. O'Brien said, quote,
you know what, David, the reason you don't want to
take the polygraph is because you're the one who killed

(39:35):
your family.

Speaker 1 (39:36):
No, I didn't kill my family. Why would I kill
my family? I loved my family.

Speaker 2 (39:40):
How could a person as religious as you profess to
be kill your family? That's what I want to know.

Speaker 1 (39:46):
I didn't kill them.

Speaker 2 (39:47):
What do you think the Lord will do? What do
you think will happen to a person who did something
like this?

Speaker 1 (39:52):
I hope there will be forgiveness whoever did this. I
think the Lord will forgive them if they seek forgiveness.

Speaker 2 (39:59):
I can understand how a husband might kill his wife,
but his children too. Were you after insurance? Was your
business going down the tubes and you needed some quick cash?

Speaker 1 (40:08):
We don't have any insurance. The business is doing well.
In fact, we paid cash for the house.

Speaker 2 (40:13):
What do you have some girlfriend and you wanted to
get rid of your wife. She probably had a boyfriend.
That was it, wasn't it.

Speaker 1 (40:20):
No, we just celebrated our tenth anniversary. I took her
to England by the way, bravo. That was some of
your finest acting.

Speaker 2 (40:27):
Thank you. The officers left the room for a few
minutes to call the Madison red roof in to request
it not be cleaned or rented until they had a
chance to investigate. O'Brien returned and said, David, we know
you did it. Just admit it now and save us
all the trouble. At five thirty am, the police asked
David for his clothing and to submit to a body scan.

(40:48):
Nothing of note was found. After six am, at his request,
David was taken to his office. It had already been
searched by law enforcement. Nothing of interest was found.

Speaker 1 (40:59):
So what a girl night for David. Like he hadn't
slept at all, right, he was at the police headquarters
for the whole night. Yeah, he must.

Speaker 2 (41:07):
Be completely completely drained.

Speaker 1 (41:09):
We'll be back after a break. On the morning of
September ninth, the murders were front page news and the
names of the deceased were revealed. People were shocked and
horrified by the loss of Susan and her three children,
although at least one friend of the family said, quote,

(41:31):
my God, Susie went into a religious frenzy and killed
her kids and herself. It was the nineteen eighties, after all,
so there were rumors that a Satanic colt slayd the Hundrecks,
whom were the Satanic pan Yeah, of course, frightened residents
of Bloomington rushed to purchase handguns. The media caught Nadine
Palmer in front of the house on Carl Drive as
the bodies were being extracted and loaded into herses. She said, quote,

(41:56):
just a perfect family, no drinking, no smoking, religious family.
We know that at this time they're with the Lord.
They're with him, they're safe, and there's no more pain
or sorrow for them at all. And Dave is the
one who has the pain right now and the rest
of the family.

Speaker 2 (42:13):
I know this seems like an odd observation, but it's
really weird to start off saying no drinking, no smoking.

Speaker 1 (42:19):
It's so funny. I was going to say the same thing,
like that's your first Some good people do smoke and drink.

Speaker 2 (42:25):
Yeah, it just seems like an odd thing to say about.
You know, your loved ones who are have just been.

Speaker 1 (42:30):
Killed, Well, to them it was important.

Speaker 2 (42:32):
Now I know it's it's yeah.

Speaker 1 (42:34):
At ten thirty am, Bloomington Police Chief Lewis of All's
gave a press conference. He told the media that there
was no suspect, that David Hendricks's alibi had been partially confirmed,
and they believe the murders were an isolated incident and
local residents need not be worried about a murderer on
the loose. Later, David agreed to be interviewed by a
reporter from the local newspaper, The Daily Pantograph and also WJBC.

(43:00):
His interview was played on the news station. He said quote,
I thank you for giving me the chance. I mainly
wanted to say to the people of this community that
I love you and thank you very much for all
the support that has come my way. It has been
absolutely fabulous. All the people that I didn't even realize
I knew that have called in here with offers for
help and support. I just want to say, at a

(43:22):
time like this, the love and generosity of people is tremendous.
I want to let the community know that the people
who are gone, the four that were part of my family,
are the most wonderful people that ever touched my life.
They're great David was also interviewed for a television broadcast
and said, quote, Susie and my three children are much
better off, and I wish them back for me as

(43:44):
a selfish thing, but I know that they are with
the Lord Jesus in heaven, and I am satisfied now
in knowing that. When asked if the person who murdered
his family should receive the death penalty, he said, quote,
I would like to see them get saved. It would
be worth it if one person found their way to heaven.
Don't you think It's.

Speaker 2 (44:02):
Hard to know without hearing the actual audio, but just
hearing you read the quotes, he sounds sort of blase
about this. Yeah, a little more casual or a little
less upset than you might think.

Speaker 1 (44:12):
Well the whole like they're better off with the Lord.
I just don't understand that sentiment.

Speaker 2 (44:17):
Yeah, And to be to I understand, like a lot
of people find it important to forgive if somebody, you know,
kills your family or something like that, like for religious
reasons it's important to forgive. But that quickly after the
fact to be talking like that that, I would hope
they get saved.

Speaker 1 (44:33):
And they're very astute of you. A lot of people
have pointed to that and said, you know, that's really
weird to me. People can understand getting there eventually, but
not immediately. I'm not judging him for this, just personally.
For me, if my family was slain, there's there's just
no way that I would be able to have the
words to speak publicly. Maybe eventually, but not that not

(44:54):
the day after. It would just be so much to process.
And again that's just me, but I would be in bed.
I would be distraught. Police, of course, were aware of
these interviews. A body language expert analyzed David's posture and
determine his behavior was rife with signs of deceit. One
thing that he said during an interview stuck with prosecutors.

(45:16):
He said the police told him quote, some things looked
like some things were taken. They had not, and no
one ever told him that. David, advised by his business attorney,
hired Harold Jennings to represent him. He was the most
esteemed criminal defense attorney in Bloomington. He advised David to
not cooperate with the police. If they had questions, they

(45:38):
would need to go through him. Later that day, David
met with Susan's family at the funeral home to begin arrangements.
It was the first time he'd seen his mother in law.
He cried into her arms and said, quote, I know
they're happy with the Lord now, but I still wish
they were back with me here now. David was decidedly
more emotional in the presence of his family than he

(45:58):
was during his police interview. The visitation was planned for
Friday and the funeral for Saturday. After the meeting at
the funeral home, David called the manager of the car
dealership where he'd just ordered two new cars, one for
him and one for Susan. He canceled the car for Susan,
but not the car for him. From the moment detectives
met David Hendricks, their instinct told them something was off.

(46:19):
He came across as rehearsed, too polished, too controlled. Sure
he was emotional, but it seemed as if it was
on cue. His account of September seventh and eighth never wavered,
as if he'd practiced it over and over. To them,
it felt more like a performance than a grieving husband's story.
Nineteen officers were assigned to the Hendricks case full time.

(46:39):
Their tasks included corroborating David's account, interviewing friends and family
of the Hendricks, and sorting through the landfill. When detectives
met with David's family, Charles Hendrick said, quote, these murders
were the work of Satan to break up a good
Christian family. He mentioned that David and his family were
free from worldly temptation because they eschewed TV, radio, smoking,

(47:02):
and drinking. A detective replied, what would you say if
I told you that a bottle of wine was found
in your son's home. Charles responded, quote, I'd say, if
you find the person who brought that bottle of wine
into the house, you'd have found the killer. This next
part might be a little disturbing for some listeners, as
we're going to talk about the autopsy.

Speaker 2 (47:21):
The bodies of Susan, Becky, Grace, and Benji were sent
to the morgue at Brokaw Hospital. Susan had been savagely
struck nine times. The worst injury was a three and
a half inch gash to the back of her head,
which exposed her skull and vertebrae. She had likely died
from a brain hemorrhage within twenty minutes. The pathologists thought
All of the children had died quickly within seconds of

(47:43):
their injuries. Becky received a massive blow to the head
that resulted in a skull fracture that caused her death.
Grace had three large, gaping cuts on the left side
of the head and neck, one abrasion on the left
side of her forehead, and one superficial cut on the
upper right chest. She died from blood loss from the
cuts to her neck. Benji's skull was fractured and his

(48:04):
jaw was broken. He suffered a major brain injury and
fatal blood loss. The heads and faces of all the
victims were attacked. Susan had eight facial wounds, Becky two,
Grace five, and Benji sixteen.

Speaker 1 (48:18):
It's shocking that Benji had the worst of the injuries.
He was the littlest.

Speaker 2 (48:22):
Yeah, that is really shocking. And these were with an
axe or a hunting knife.

Speaker 1 (48:27):
Or what was it a hunting knife It was a
butcher's knife, butcher so Yeah, most of the wounds were
I think both from the axe.

Speaker 2 (48:33):
Yeah. Later the FBI would determine that the personal nature
of the attacks led them to believe that they had
been executed by someone well known to them. The strikes
were very accurate and intentional. None of the four victims
had defensive wounds and appeared to be struck in their sleep.

Speaker 1 (48:49):
So I was grateful to hear that, especially with the kids.
I think about this all the time and these family
annihilations situations like to be the child that is the
last one it's murdered, Yeah.

Speaker 2 (49:00):
The last moments of your life to be like.

Speaker 1 (49:03):
Yeah, just horrific to think about that. Yeah.

Speaker 2 (49:06):
The butcher knife and the axe, believed to be the
murder weapons, came from the Hendricks home. Although they were
found in the girl's bedroom, the pathologists could not determine
definitively that they were the murder weapons.

Speaker 1 (49:17):
But in all likelihood they were.

Speaker 2 (49:19):
All three children had partially digested food in their stomachs,
identified as pizza Susan two had undigested food in her stomach.
The pathologists wisely reserved their stomach contents, which would become
pivotal later. The bodies were then sent to the Metzler
Memorial Funeral Home. They were received by Bud Metzler and
Claude Miller, who months later would become important witnesses. The

(49:42):
site of four white caskets lined up all closed was
shocking for the mourners. At the visitation, David was constantly
flanked by family or friends lending their support. Law enforcement
hid in the shadows, watching who came and went. They
followed a man that they deemed suspicious and made note
of his license. The next day, at the funeral, two

(50:02):
hundred and fifty people attended, David was in rough shape
and had several emotional outbursts. During the service, Police covertly
photographed the license plates of all of the attendees.

Speaker 1 (50:13):
Those police are always working, Yeah.

Speaker 2 (50:15):
I mean it's very thorough. After midnight on September tenth,
an officer who was guarding the Hendricks home answered the phone.
The caller said, quote, mister Hendricks, I know the two
people who did this. They went to Chicago. I'm sorry,
I can't say any more. The call was untraceable.

Speaker 1 (50:32):
And also probably a red herring. Mm hmm.

Speaker 2 (50:35):
After the funeral was over, investigators regrouped to evaluate the
evidence in the case. They had disappointingly little to go on.
They called it the cleanest bloody crime scene they had
ever seen. The blood was contained to the primary bedroom
and the bedroom the children were found in. There was
no sign of forced entry and no fingerprint or forensic evidence.

(50:55):
Three partial footprints were found on the kitchen floor that
didn't belong to any of David's shoes. All of the
pea traps in the Hendrix's home were checked for signs
of blood, as were the sewer lines, and none was found.
A pea trap is the bend in a pipe that
allows water to collect at the bottom of the pipe,
which prevents sewer gases from entering the home.

Speaker 1 (51:16):
Oh, now you know what it is. I texted you
the other day like.

Speaker 2 (51:20):
Do you know what heard that? Yeah, I'd never heard
that term.

Speaker 1 (51:24):
Well, do you remember one of our houses, the bathroom
that we didn't use very often? A lot of times
the pea trap would have vaborate and then we would
have this.

Speaker 2 (51:34):
Yeah, I mean, I know what it was, but I
always just called it a trap, So gotcha. The washing
machine was also checked for blood residue, but none was
found there either the murder weapons. Neither the axe nor
the knife contained any fingerprints. Although Becky and Benji's hair
was found on the blade, the clothes that David had
turned over had no blood on them. The investigation of

(51:54):
the house was so thorough two weeks after the murder's
law enforcement still had possession of the house. David had
been staying with friends, but then decided to rent a
mobile home. He called the police with updates about his life.
He knew that he was being followed. He had also
gotten his new car, a Pontiac six thousand ste.

Speaker 1 (52:13):
So he would call the police and he would say,
got my new car. So now you know that you
need to follow the Pontiac six thousand or you know. Yeah,
he really knew that they were on his trail. Yeah,
he was trying to be helpful.

Speaker 2 (52:27):
The search of Hendrick's car, office, and hangar all came
up empty too. He was able to produce receipts proving
what time he left Bloomington. Investigators interviewed violent criminals in
the area and all had solid alibis. Told that David
would only answer questions through his attorney, the detectives compiled
a list of twenty questions for him. One thing that

(52:47):
bothered investigators was the time of death and the contents
of the children's stomachs. A reliable time of death had
been hard to pin down, but the three children all
had undigested pizza in their stomachs. It typically takes two
to four hours for the stomach to empty, depending on
what was consumed. The latest possible time they could have
eaten was seven PM, and the earliest time they could

(53:09):
have been killed if David wasn't responsible, would have been
midnight after he left, so their stomach should have been empty. However,
David claimed that they had taken the remaining pizza home
and the kids had eaten the leftovers before bed. A
medium pizza typically has eight slices of pizza. Could they
all have eaten only one slice of pizza at the restaurant.

(53:29):
There was no pizza box found in the trash, but
it was garbage night, and neighbors recalled seeing David haul
their cans to the curb.

Speaker 1 (53:37):
I think I could be wrong about the size of
the pizza. The pizza could have had ten slices. Okay, Well,
put a pin in this and come back to it later.

Speaker 2 (53:46):
Later, doctor Michael Boden analyzed the stomach contents.

Speaker 1 (53:49):
And of course he did.

Speaker 2 (53:50):
Of course, he believed that the children were killed two
to four hours after eating the pizza, between nine and
eleven PM.

Speaker 1 (53:58):
I think you can tell already that the stomach contents
are going to become a major part of this case. Yeah,
and I think we say this every case, but doctor
Michael Boden, how is he involved in every single.

Speaker 2 (54:09):
High profile pretty amazing?

Speaker 1 (54:11):
Yeah, but this was in the peak of his career. Really,
because it's nineteen eighty three.

Speaker 2 (54:15):
The investigators called David and asked him to come answer
the questions in person, arguing that they wanted to clear
him so they could focus on other leads. That's always
what they say. We just want to clear you so
we can get to the It's true, though he refused
and only answered two of the twenty questions investigators had
requested that he answer.

Speaker 1 (54:34):
So is that suspicious to you?

Speaker 2 (54:36):
Kind of? Yeah?

Speaker 1 (54:37):
Yeah.

Speaker 2 (54:37):
McClean County State's attorney Ron Doser was growing increasingly frustrated
when he requested again that David take a lie detector
test Harold Jennings. His attorney implied they would consider it
if passing would eliminate him as a suspect. Afraid that
Hendricks was a sociopath capable of beating the test, Dojer
refused to entertain the idea. He decided to hold a

(54:58):
press conference for the information hungry media two weeks after
the murders. Quote mister Hendricks is not helping with the
investigation of the murders of his wife and three children.
He has refused to be interviewed by police. He's been
on TV professing to be a practicing Christian and professing
to be innocent. He has said publicly that he is
concerned and upset and wants to cooperate, but he's not.

(55:21):
I'd like to see the real David Hendricks stand up.
When asked if David was a suspect, Dojer said, quote,
I can't say he's a suspect, but there are some
things about the case that point in this direction. I'd
like to see him take a polygraph examination. I'm wondering
why a person who really has nothing to hide, who
has done nothing wrong, would object to simply going through

(55:41):
in detail with the police what his activities were the
night that he left.

Speaker 1 (55:45):
Would you take a polygraph in this situation.

Speaker 2 (55:48):
If I was innocent, I probibly you would be innocent.

Speaker 1 (55:50):
You wouldn't kill your family.

Speaker 2 (55:51):
No. Ron Dojer had grown up in a strict fundamentalist
Christian household, so when it came to understanding David Hendricks,
he believed that he had a unique perspective he saw
in David the familiar pressures of religious discipline and the
internal conflict that can come when personal desires clashed with
deeply held beliefs. In Doser's view, David's actions may have

(56:13):
been driven by guilt over some hidden transgression, something that
felt so incompatible with his faith that it pushed him
to the breaking point. He had rather send his family
to heaven, where they remained innocent and clean from his
ungodly actions. Alternatively, Dojer suspected that David's rapid financial success
had pulled him away from the austere, disciplined life that

(56:34):
he had once embraced. Maybe he was simply tired of
the rules. Maybe he craved freedom, the thrill of luxury,
status and indulgence. Dojer believed that David wanted to shed
the burdens of his devout lifestyle and fully embrace the
fast paced, pleasure filled world that his wealth could now
buy him. They had been tailing David NonStop, but so far,

(56:55):
he hadn't done anything out of the ordinary. He met
with fellow brethren, visited family, visited the gravesite of Susan Becky,
Grace and Benji So. A month into the investigation, David
was the only suspect. As much as the state's attorney
wanted to arrest him, there just wasn't enough evidence. Here's
what they had, his overall demeanor, body language, and willingness

(57:16):
to forgive the perpetrator so quickly. Both murder weapons came
from inside the house. There was no motive for anyone else.
And the odd time he left for his business trip,
and I guess there was the food evidence to seem
to kind of point to David.

Speaker 1 (57:29):
Okay, you're going to be mad, but this is where
we're ending Part one.

Speaker 2 (57:32):
I am a little mad because I'm really intrigued by
this case and I can't believe I wasn't familiar with
it at all. It does. None of it sounds familiar
to me.

Speaker 1 (57:39):
Yeah, so there really isn't much evidence here. No, there's
not evidence pointing to David, but there's not evidence pointing
to anyone else either. My question for you is the
lack of evidence evidence in itself.

Speaker 2 (57:52):
Hmm.

Speaker 1 (57:53):
Like, David is known to be a very fastidious man. Now,
if he were the one who committed the murders, of
course he would, you know, have a plan, very smart man,
and he would be able to you know, leave a
very clean crime scene, right, The crime scene is shockingly clean.
We're going to talk more about this in part two.
But there's there's there's nothing.

Speaker 2 (58:12):
Yeah, you would think with the murders being committed the
way that they were, with all that blood and everything,
there would be a trail of blood or there would
be some more forensic evidence at the scene, which does
to your point. Obviously, David lived in the house, so
his fingerprints are going to be all over the house
as well. So the fact that there weren't other fingerprints
found or other evidence of other people in the house

(58:34):
does kind of make me think that points to David.

Speaker 1 (58:37):
Yeah, and I don't want to say this yet, but
this case reminds me of another case that we did
a while ago. But yeah, just the lack of evidence
is kind of crazy, something that I didn't mention. I
don't think we're going to talk about it in part two.
But when you hit some moon with an axe, I
actually thought about having you do a recreation with a watermelon,
just so we could see how much splittered. But who

(59:00):
whoever the murderer was like, would have gotten so much
spray on them, because like some of the wall didn't
have spray because the murderer blocked it and they took
the spray instead of the wall. You know what I'm saying.

Speaker 2 (59:12):
Yeah, that's interesting. One thing I was going to ask
you about is I think you said there were three
footprints or shoe prints that weren't David's shoes.

Speaker 1 (59:21):
Yeah, we don't know that. You know, David couldn't have
you taken those shoes because we know that his route
from blooming Bloomington to Wassau it probably took longer than
it needed to. He could have stopped at any number
of places, and yeah, it's trash. I believe that the
police did search the highway for evidence and didn't find any.

Speaker 2 (59:41):
I mean, that's a long route to search.

Speaker 1 (59:43):
Absolutely. So if we're to believe that someone came into
the house to burgle it, why would they have to
kill the family?

Speaker 2 (59:50):
No, I mean burglary. It makes no sense at all.
If you're gonna rob a house, first of all, you're
not out to kill somebody, And second of all, you're
not going to kill them by hitting them eleven or
multiple times with an axe. That just doesn't make any sense.

Speaker 1 (01:00:03):
And most most people that rob houses, they do not
want to kill anyone. They are just looking for money.

Speaker 2 (01:00:09):
Yeah. The only two things that make sense to me
are David did it or it was like a Charles
Manson type situation where it was like a you know,
not necessarily satanic, but some you know, something like that.

Speaker 1 (01:00:20):
So if that's the case, those people would they wouldn't
care to leave the crime scene clean, right, They would
be dripping blood through the hallway and on the doors
and yeah. And also they would have brought a murder
weapon along with them, right, and these murders where like
the axe was from the garage, the butcher knife was
from the kitchen.

Speaker 2 (01:00:37):
Good point.

Speaker 1 (01:00:38):
So you'll come back for a part two. Absolutely, we'll
talk more about this in part two. But David's appearance
change was actually evidence for a lot of people, Like
he lost weight, he shaved off his mustache, he got
a better hair, cuye.

Speaker 2 (01:00:57):
I mean you heard how I reacted to it. Yeah, Like, okay,
I could see this is going but it just.

Speaker 1 (01:01:01):
Made me laugh because facial hair. David got me thinking
about men and facial hair. I am not a fan
of men's facial hair, but all of a sudden, it's
like the trend, Like I cannot believe that mustaches are back,
you know, like I know in the eighties, you know,
like Magnum p I had a mustache and other men
grew a mustache, but they were kind of I thought

(01:01:22):
maybe you had a mustache, didn't you really?

Speaker 2 (01:01:25):
I look back on pictures that I'm like, oh, that
was not a good look.

Speaker 1 (01:01:28):
Yeah, it's just shocking to me that facial hair is back,
especially in most A lot of men have beards.

Speaker 2 (01:01:34):
Yeah, I think beard. To me, a beard can look
good like just having a mustache, though on its own,
yeah looks kind of cheesy.

Speaker 1 (01:01:42):
Yeah, you did have a beard for well, A lot
of people say, like a beard from man is like
man makeup. You have a lovely square jaw, but.

Speaker 2 (01:01:51):
You know, suffers up some imperfection, right, like a weak.

Speaker 1 (01:01:54):
Chin or you know, not a not a strong jaw line.
So I don't know, I have a few backs for you,
Okay about facial hairs. So, beards were once taxed in
sixteen ninety eight Russia Tzarpeter the Great imposed of Beard
tax Men had to shave or pay to keep their
facial hair, and if they paid, they got a special

(01:02:15):
beard token to prove that they'd ponied up.

Speaker 2 (01:02:18):
That's really quite a way to provide an incentive not
to have facial hair.

Speaker 1 (01:02:23):
I guess in Victorian England they were actually military regulations
requiring mustaches for soldiers in certain regiments. Abraham Lincoln grew
his iconic beard after an eleven year old girl wrote
him and said he'd looked better with one. He took
her advice, and it became one of the most famous
beards in history. Beards can actually protect your face. Studies

(01:02:44):
have shown that beards can block up to ninety five
percent of UV rates. I'm not trying to talk you
and it grows, it sounds like you are potentially lowering
the risk of sun damage and even skin cancer on
the covered areas. I also read that beards can help
allergies because they trap allergy. I guess I think that's
one of my maybe my biggest problem with like facial

(01:03:05):
hair and manages. You can't stuck in it egg yoke
and great like it's just yeah. There is a World
Beard and Mustache Championship, which really isn't that surprising, but
people from around the world compete in categories like freestyle beard,
Imperial mustache, and even full beard.

Speaker 2 (01:03:22):
I saw a video the other day of a guy.
This must have been like maybe he competed in that
competition or whatever. He had this mustache and he showed
a picture of himself grooming it. And this mustache went
around like up to his eyes, like it rolled around
almost like his eyes, like it was almost in front
of his eyes of it.

Speaker 1 (01:03:39):
I think it has to redo it every day.

Speaker 2 (01:03:40):
It looked like and it looked like it took forever.

Speaker 1 (01:03:43):
Ache mustaches had their own club in London. The Handlebar Club,
founded in nineteen forty seven, is only open to men
with a graspable mustache and no beards. They're still going strong.
In the eighteen hundreds and early nineteen hundreds, wanted criminals
often shaved beards or mustaches to avoid being identified. I
think any criminal would do that.

Speaker 2 (01:04:04):
Today, Yeah, I would think so.

Speaker 1 (01:04:06):
Before fingerprinting in digital records, that was sometimes all it
took to throw off the law. I think, Yeah, there's
a lot of easy ways to change your appearance. Yeah, right,
true or false? Beards grow faster and cold weather.

Speaker 2 (01:04:19):
Gosh, I'm gonna say false. Yeah, I wouldn't think so.

Speaker 1 (01:04:23):
Hair grows faster in warmer months due to increased testosterone
and blood flow interesting. All right, that's all I have
on facial hair. Thank you for taking that little journey,
all right, well.

Speaker 2 (01:04:33):
No, thank you for encouraging me to grow a beard again.

Speaker 1 (01:04:36):
Please you heard that, then you're hearing the wrong thing.
But if honestly, though, if you really want to, you
should really.

Speaker 2 (01:04:45):
Last time I grew a beard, you were.

Speaker 1 (01:04:46):
I didn't like.

Speaker 3 (01:04:48):
Well.

Speaker 1 (01:04:48):
I think part of the problem is that like, it
looks okay, but then you're not good at like you
have to keep it really short, I think, and like
once it gets just looks not good. But if you're
out there and you have a I totally support it.
But it's different when it's your sweetypie husband who's the
cutest man in the whole universe. I want to say
thank you to other sweet listeners. We've had a couple

(01:05:10):
of hard cases and several people reached out and were like, hey,
are you guys Okay, those were some hard cases you
had to cover, And is that just so kind? Yeah?

Speaker 2 (01:05:18):
Really? Is We have the nicest listener.

Speaker 1 (01:05:20):
You really do. We're so grateful that you're here. Every listen, follow, review,
and share helps keep us growing and reminds us how
lucky we are to have such a thoughtful community. If
you'd like to reach out, we're on social media, or
you can email us at Lovemrykill at gmail dot com.
And if you would like to listen to the conclusion
of this episode early and ad free, join us on

(01:05:42):
Patreon dot com slash love Marykill.

Speaker 2 (01:05:45):
We have one tier five dollars a month and you
get early at free access plus a monthly bonus.

Speaker 1 (01:05:50):
Episode until next time.

Speaker 3 (01:05:52):
Don't kill your wife and don't kill your husband.

Speaker 1 (01:06:40):
Hi, I'm Tina and I'm rich. And if there's one
thing we've learned over twenty years of marriage, some days
you'll feel, oh my god.

Speaker 2 (01:06:47):
That next line is mine actually told.

Speaker 1 (01:06:50):
Okay,