November 4, 2025 • 36 mins
In Devil’s Den, a quiet family trip turned into horror. Teacher Andrew James Man murdered the Brink family — and investigators now suspect he’s tied to other killings across the U.S. What turned a trusted educator into a cold-blooded killer?
Mark as Played
Transcript
Episode Transcript
Available transcripts are automatically generated. Complete accuracy is not guaranteed.
Speaker 1 (00:00):
You were able to make a monster off the streets
and bring relief to Clanton Christ's precious girls.
Speaker 2 (00:04):
The monster he's talking about is a school teacher turned killer.
On July twenty sixth, twenty twenty five, inside Devil's Den
State Park in Arkansas, a teacher with no criminal record
hunted down a family he had never even met. But why.
Speaker 3 (00:21):
Boston County received a call from the visitor center to
children are their eyes that their parents were assaulted one
most possibly stabs the parents are missing before.
Speaker 2 (00:35):
We dive in. Please consider dropping alike and subscribing. It
helps spread these stories so more people can hear them.
Just hours before their world shattered, the Brinks were living
the kind of life that makes you believe in the
American dream. Clinton, forty three and Kristin forty one, had
(00:55):
recently moved their family to Prairie Grove, Arkansas, chasing a
quieter life life for their two daughters, seven year old
and nine year old girls who loved nothing more than
exploring nature with their parents. They were the kind of
couple who still held hands after years of marriage, who
made weekend hiking a family tradition, who believed that fresh
(01:15):
air and family time could solve most of life's problems,
and that Saturday morning started, Like hundreds of others, Devil's
Den State Park seemed perfect, just the right mix of
scenic beauty and manageable trails for their young daughters, and
just to give you an idea for those who haven't
been there. The park spans more than two thousand, five
(01:36):
hundred acres of Ozark wilderness, filled with sandstone bluffs, mysterious caves,
and creeks that cut through the valley. Families come for
the rustic cabins built in the nineteen thirties, the eight
acre lake for fishing and swimming, and over twenty miles
of trails that range from easy strolls to steep climes
(01:57):
leading to breath taking overlooks. For Clint and Kristin Brink,
it was the kind of place that felt safe, wholesome,
and perfect for making memories with their little girls. Yet
none of them could have imagined that beneath the shade
of those ancient trees a predator was waiting. But here's
what makes this case so terrifying. Andrew James McGann wasn't
(02:19):
some drifter or career criminal. He was a twenty eight
year old teacher who'd just been hired by the Springdale
School District. In short, he had no criminal record, no
history of violence, no connection whatsoever to the Brink family.
So what transforms an educator into a killer? And why
(02:40):
did he choose this family on this day? The attack
itself reveals a level of calculated brutality that still haunts investigators.
Clinton was struck first a father's worst nightmare, as he
realized he couldn't protect his family from what was coming.
But here's where the story takes an even darker turn.
(03:00):
Kristin had managed to get their daughters to safety, moving
them away from the initial violence. She could have kept running,
She could have saved herself. Instead, she made the choice
that would define her final moments. She went back for Clinton.
That decision cost Kristin her life, but it also revealed
something profound about who she was. Even facing unimaginable terror,
(03:25):
her first instinct was to protect the man she loved.
The girls, meanwhile, were found unharmed about half a mile
into the park, traumatized witnesses to their parents' final act
of heroism. At that time, several hikers had already heard
the girls calling for help, which is why officers were
able to respond right away.
Speaker 3 (03:46):
Help with the main. Hurl her right now.
Speaker 4 (03:50):
Hell but I foxed hiking al here, yell calling for
he We're hiking down.
Speaker 2 (04:02):
By the time officers arrived, all they could find were
the bodies. There was no sign of the killer anywhere.
Speaker 3 (04:08):
Try to relate to the office.
Speaker 4 (04:10):
So we found the victims down here. They're on the
lower Devil's entrail.
Speaker 1 (04:15):
Uh.
Speaker 3 (04:17):
Just a couple of minutes, I think, I see you're
right there.
Speaker 4 (04:19):
I'll cut two the two bodies down here.
Speaker 2 (04:21):
But the killer made a critical mistake during his attack.
He injured himself in the struggle, leaving behind blood that
would become his DNA signature at the crime scene. Within hours,
Arkansas State Police had a biological roadmap leading directly to
their killer, Andrew James McGann. The question wasn't who did this,
(04:42):
it was why. The manhunt that followed gripped the entire region.
Arkansas State Police released composite sketches and photos, turning every
citizen into a potential detective. Tips poured in from across
multiple states as the image of McGann's face spread through
social med and news outlets. But even as law enforcement
(05:03):
worked around the clock. One terrifying reality remained, a killer
was loose, and no one understood his motivation. The arrest
came just four days later in the most mundane setting imaginable.
McGann was getting a haircut at a Springdale barber shop
when law enforcement closed in picture the scene, a man
(05:24):
who'd brutally murdered two parents just days earlier, sitting calmly
in a barber's chair, acting like nothing had happened. The
banality of evil in its purest form. But McGann's calm
demeanor shattered the moment police confronted him. Not only did
DNA evidence link him definitively to the crime scene, but
during questioning, he confessed. He admitted to killing Clinton and
(05:48):
Kristen Brink in cold blood. Yet even with a confession,
the most crucial question remained unanswered. Why the case has
now stretched far beyond Arkansas. Law horse in several states
is reviewing unsolved murders to see if Andrew James McGann
could be connected. Investigators are looking closely at whether the
(06:09):
deadly attack at Devil's Den was his first homicide or
part of a disturbing pattern of violence. Authorities are also
considering if Clinton and kristen Brink were targeted by chance,
or if something about that day placed them directly in
his path. And just to give you an idea of
how wide this net has become, police in Vermont are
now comparing notes with investigators in Arkansas. Back in October
(06:33):
of twenty twenty three, seventy seven year old Honoree Fleming,
a respected former college dean, was shot and killed on
the Delaware and Hudson rail trail in Castleton, Vermont. Witnesses
described seeing a white man with short red hair, about
five feet ten inches tall, wearing a dark gray shirt
and carrying a black backpack looking like this. That sketch
(06:56):
bears striking similarities to what witnesses reported at Devil's Den,
where McGann was also said to have been carrying a
black backpack as he fled the scene. McGann's background only
raises more questions. Since twenty twenty two, he lived in Arkansas, Texas,
and Oklahoma, and he grew up in Illinois. Despite his
(07:17):
young age just twenty eight, he had already worked in
five different school districts in only three years, which is
highly unusual for a teacher. Parents in Texas even raised
concerns in twenty twenty two about his behavior around young
girls in class, claiming he played favorites, made inappropriate comments,
(07:37):
and blurred professional boundaries. In fact, this was an interview
with one of his student's mothers. In one district outside Dallas,
parents complained about McGann's behavior toward young girls in his classroom.
According to one mother, he allegedly made comments like I
wish I could date you and I wish you could
be my girlfriend. Others claimed he gave candy and soda
(08:01):
only to selected girls and even held special lunches for
those he favored. The school's internal investigation stopped short of
finding solid proof of misconduct, but administrators suspended him over
what they called poor judgment and favoritism. Despite these concerns,
McGann moved on quickly to other schools, finding new jobs
(08:22):
with clean background checks that revealed nothing alarming. This pattern
of drifting from job to job while avoiding a criminal
record meant McGann could keep getting hired. By the summer
of twenty twenty five, he had landed a new position
in Springdale, Arkansas. Aside from the Vermont case, officers are
also looking into a much older one, with similarities so
(08:45):
striking that you can't help but stop and wonder if
it's truly a coincidence. Nearly five years before the Brink
family was attacked at Devil's Den State Park in Arkansas,
another hiker lost his life under eerily familiar circumstances hundreds
of miles away. On October fourteenth, twenty twenty, twenty, four
year old John Craig Schmutzer set out for a hike
(09:08):
at Devil's Lake State Park in Wisconsin. It was a
crisp fall day, the kind that draws thousands of visitors
to the park to watch the leaves change color across
the bluffs and valleys. Devil's Lake isn't just any park.
It's the busiest state park in Wisconsin, sprawling across more
than nine thousand acres with high quartzite cliffs and deep
(09:29):
wooded trails. That morning, families and tourists filled the area.
Yet somewhere along the Grotto's Trail on the south side
of the park, Schmutzer crossed paths with a predator. At
exactly eleven thirty eight in the morning, Schmutzer was attacked
and stabbed to death broad daylight. On a trail swarming
(09:50):
with hikers. Witnesses later reported seeing a man running frantically
from the area. The description they gave was vague but memorable,
a white male about six feet tall, slender to medium build,
wearing dark pants with ripped knees, a dark top, possibly
a hoodie, and carrying himself in a way that looked erratic,
(10:11):
stumbling as he ran despite multiple people spotting him. No
clear photos were taken, and the case quickly grew cold.
DNA samples were collected, but nothing tied to a suspect.
Now with Andrew James McGann behind bars in Arkansas, Saw County,
investigators are exchanging notes with Arkansas State Police. They are
(10:32):
carefully comparing the Schmutzer homicide to the Brink family murders.
Both involve state parks named devils, Both involve sudden brutal
attacks in broad daylight, Both involve knives, and both suggest
a predator who struck without warning and then vanished. To
make the picture even sharper, police in Wisconsin are reviewing
(10:54):
DNA evidence from the twenty twenty case, alongside evidence collected
in Arkansas blood at the Devil's Den crime scene, as
well as materials recovered from McGann's home and car. Forensic
testing is underway, though no direct match has been announced.
For Schmutzer's family, this renewed attention brings a glimmer of
(11:14):
hope that his killer might finally be identified. For investigators,
it raises the possibility that McGann's trail of violence didn't
begin in Arkansas or even Vermont, but years earlier in Wisconsin. Additionally,
when you look at his background, some people say the
signs were always there, even if no one recognized them
(11:35):
at the time. One neighbor who grew up with him
remembers it this way.
Speaker 5 (11:40):
One minute, he's fine, and then if you know you're
kind of messing with him, he's just it freaks out,
completely freaks out, and you know, so much, to the
point where it's like uncomfortable.
Speaker 2 (11:54):
Those who knew him as a kid called him Andy.
He grew up in Illinois, in a suburb southwest of Chicago.
Back then, he played baseball, spent time with friends, and
was coached by his father. On the surface, he seemed
like a normal boy in a normal neighborhood, but as
childhood friends now admit looking back, there were moments of
(12:16):
temper and intensity they didn't fully understand. As mentioned earlier,
he had been hired by at least five different school
districts in three different states Texas, Oklahoma, and Arkansas ever
since twenty twenty two. That kind of turnover is highly
unusual for someone in education, where most teachers stay in
(12:37):
a role for years at a time. Piecing together his
past hasn't been simple even for police. When authorities first
announced his arrest, they even got his name wrong, calling
him James Andrew McGann, before later correcting it. Records show
he once listed Oklahoma State University as his college, but
(12:57):
his actual history traced back further north to Illinois. That
confusion only added to the sense that McGan had been
slipping through the cracks for years, reinventing himself each time
he crossed a state line. So imagine the shock of
his former classmates and neighbors when they saw his mug
shot plastered across national news. For people who once sat
(13:19):
beside him in class or played baseball with him as kids,
the realization was surreal. The boy they had known as
Andy was now accused of murdering Clinton and Kristen Brink,
and possibly linked to two other brutal attacks in different states.
As of now, nothing has been confirmed, but investigators are
piecing together a bigger puzzle, hoping that McGan could be
(13:42):
the answer to attacks left unsolved for years. For grieving
families in Vermont and Wisconsin, the possibility of finally learning
the truth means justice may still come even after years
of silence. Meanwhile, McGann sits inside Washington County's Detecs Tension Center,
charged with two counts of capital murder. Prosecutor Brandon Carter
(14:06):
has announced his office will pursue the death penalty. That
decision alone guarantees years of legal warfare, motions, hearings, appeals
that could drag on for more than a decade, and
while lawyers debate strategy in court rooms, two little girls
are learning how to live without their parents. At only
(14:27):
seven and nine years old, They now stay with relatives,
surrounded by love, but still far too young to understand
why their mother and father aren't coming back. In court,
McGann entered a plea of not guilty, directly contradicting what
police sources say he admitted after his arrest. Behind closed doors,
(14:48):
he reportedly confessed to killing Clinton and Kristen Brink. Yet
in front of cameras, reporters, and grieving family members, he
denied everything. That contradiction sets up a t trial that
promises to be long, complex and emotionally devastating, both for
the Brink family and for a community still in shock.
(15:09):
The Brink story has struck such a deep nerve because
they did everything right. They chose a family friendly state park,
They stayed together as a group. They lived quietly in
Prairie Grove, building a life around their daughter's safety and future.
Clinton had just secured a steady job as a delivery driver,
while Christin devoted her days to raising the children. They
(15:32):
had no enemies, no debts, no secrets, and yet none
of it mattered when a predator crossed their path. The
crime scene told investigators this was no random explosion of anger.
McGann had picked his location carefully, an isolated trail where
cell service disappeared, where screams would be muffled by thick forest,
(15:53):
but where escape routes were close at hand. The placement
of the bodies, the precision of the wounds, even the
way his license plate was covered in black tape suggested
methodical planning. The brutal fate of the Brink couple in
the Arkansas Woods feels almost like history repeating itself, a
reminder that some of the darkest horrors strike when people
(16:14):
are at their most vulnerable, Because long before that tragedy,
another family set out on what should have been a
carefree outdoor trip, only to vanish into a nightmare so
disturbing it left investigators grasping for answers for decades. That
case would go down as one of the most chilling
mysteries in American crime history, the Cowden Family massacre.
Speaker 1 (16:38):
I'm sorry the Cowden family did not get justice, and
I was a part of their not getting justice.
Speaker 2 (16:49):
These were the words of an officer who once investigated
a family massacre so brutal, so disturbing, and so heartbreaking
that even now justice remains just out of reach. We're
talking about the Cowden family disappearance, which quickly turned into
one of the most horrific massacres Oregon has ever seen.
What happened to this family was so random and shocking
(17:12):
that by the end of this video you'll wish they
had never been found, because the terrifying truth about their
deaths is even more tragic than any one could imagine
for starters, Let's get to know who the Cowden family were.
Richard Cowden, twenty eight years old, was a hard working
man who dedicated his days driving logging trucks through the
(17:33):
dense forests of Oregon. His wife, Belinda just twenty two,
was a loving mother to their two young children, five
year old David and their baby girl, Melissa, who was
only five months old at the time. The Cowdens lived
in White City, a small town in southern Oregon, and
like many families, they often sought out the beauty and
(17:55):
peace of the near by wilderness to get away from
every day life. So in nineteen seventy four, they decided
to make a spontaneous trip to Carberry Creek near Copper,
Oregon for the Labor Day weekend. As you can imagine,
this wasn't a case of a family venturing into the
woods for the first time, blindly setting up camp in
(18:15):
the middle of nowhere. No, the Cowden family were locals.
They knew these woods like the back of their hands. Richard, Belinda,
and their kids had spent plenty of time in the
forests and towns around Copper, Oregon. They knew the land
well and had always felt safe there. Now the trip
itself was actually a bit last minute. Richard had originally
(18:38):
planned to work on the driveway that weekend, but when
those plans fell through, the family decided to take a
break from the routine and head into the great outdoors.
They packed up their car with their trusty Basset Hound
Droopy in tow, and made their way to the camp
site near Carberry Creek. Carberry Creek was located in a quiet,
remote area not far from Oregon, but it's important to
(19:02):
note that Copper wasn't much of a town at all.
It was small, consisting of only a handful of houses
and a general store. In fact, the town would cease
to exist just a few years later in nineteen eighty,
when a dam was constructed on the Applegate River, flooding
the area. Their plan for the weekend was straightforward. They
(19:22):
would drive out to Carberry Creek on Friday, camp for
two nights, and then on Sunday stopped by Belinda's mother's
house in Copper for a visit. Afterward, they planned to
head back home to White City. The weather was perfect,
sunny and clear, with not a cloud in the sky.
Everything seemed set for a relaxing and enjoyable time away,
(19:44):
but as with many stories like this, things didn't go
according to plan. The details of what transpired during the
camping trip are unclear. No one knows exactly what the
family was up to while at the campsite, though it's
generally believed they were enjoying their time there. On Sunday morning,
the day they were supposed to head home, Richard and
(20:05):
young David were last seen at around nine a m.
At the General store in Copper, which was only about
a mile down the road from their camp site. They
had stopped by to pick up some milk and a
few other supplies, as most families do while camping, but
after that they vanished without a trace, and no one
would see them again. According to sources, it was Belinda's
(20:27):
mother who first realized that something was wrong. As mentioned earlier,
Richard and Belinda had planned that they would stop by
her mother's house for dinner before heading back home, so
when dinner time came and they didn't show up, Belinda's
mother grew concerned. She had prepared the meal expecting them,
but as time passed and there was still no sign
(20:49):
of the family, she decided to drive to the Carberry
Creek camp site to check on them. Remember, Richard and
David had gone to the general store that morning to
buy some milk, which meant that Belinda and the baby
were back at the camp site. Could something have happened
while the two men were away. By the way, I
post true crime and new cases here every day, so
(21:12):
if that sounds like your kind of thing, please consider subscribing.
It helps a lot. When Belinda's mother arrived at the
camp site, she found the family's pick up truck still
parked by the side of the road, just where they
had left it earlier. But as she walked into the
campsite itself, her sense of unease grew. Everything seemed to
be in place, as if the family had only just left.
(21:35):
The camp stove was set up, and their belongings, including
the family's truck, keys, and Belinda's purse, were all right
there in plain sight. Even a half full carton of
milk bought earlier that morning was sitting on the picnic table.
Even more chilling was the discovery of Richard's wallet, which
contained twenty one dollars, roughly the equivalent of one hundred
(21:57):
thirty five dollars in twenty twenty four. Alongside it was
his prized Roelec's wristwatch, an item that seemed like the
first thing to be taken if this was a robbery
gone wrong, yet it remained untouched. Alongside these items was
an open pack of cigarettes identified as belonging to Belinda. Strangely,
(22:19):
the family's bathing suits were missing from inside their truck,
hinting that they had planned a return trip, possibly to
the water, before their sudden disappearance. Belinda's mother spent some
time calling out for the family and checked the nearby river,
hoping to find some clue to their whereabouts, but there
was no sign of them anywhere. All their personal belongings
(22:40):
were left behind in such a way that it didn't
make sense for them to have just gone off for
a short walk or a quick errand if they had,
they would have taken their essentials like the purse and keys.
The more she thought about it, the stranger it all seemed.
If they had gone for a quick hike or drive,
they certainly wouldn't have left their stuff behind open and
(23:03):
exposed where anyone could come across it. By now, the
unsettling feeling had settled in no signs of an accident,
no tracks, no evidence of a struggle, just an eerie emptiness.
Belinda's mother returned home and immediately contacted the Jackson County
Sheriff's office. Soon after, the troopers arrived at the camp site,
(23:25):
only to find it just as Belinda's mother had left it,
everything in place, but no sign of the family. There
was no blood, no violence, and nothing out of the ordinary.
The situation was described as creepy and unnerving. No one
knew what to think. Naturally, the rumors began. Some speculated
that maybe Bigfoot had made its presence known, claiming yet
(23:48):
another victim. After all, the mystery surrounding the disappearance, combined
with the eerie setting, left room for all sorts of
strange theories. The next morning, a full scale search began
for the Cowden family, triggering one of the largest search
operations in Oregon's history. But prior to this, the Cowden
(24:09):
family's pet basset hound, Droopy, showed up alone scratching at
the door of the Copper General Store. The dog's return
without its family made it clear that something had gone
terribly wrong, and this case would be discussed by media
outlets nationwide, including The New York Post and become one
(24:30):
of the most perplexing and haunting chapters in the state's history.
The search involved helicopters with infrared technology, search dogs, and
teams scouring caves, woods, and waterways, all while locals, hunters,
and volunteers combed the surrounding areas. Despite the intensity of
the search, nothing was found. It seemed as if the
(24:53):
Cowden family had simply vanished without a trace. The police
didn't stop at physical searches. The interviewed over one hundred
and fifty people in hopes of uncovering any clue about
the family's whereabouts, but still nothing came up. The community
also refused to give up, though a reward of two
thousand dollars about twelve thousand, six hundred two dollars to
(25:17):
day was offered for any information that could solve the mystery.
Richard Cowden's sister even took to the Medford Mail Tribune,
writing a heartfelt plea for hunters to stay vigilant. She
hoped that even the smallest clue could help solve the
mystery of the family's disappearance. The push for answers didn't
stop there. Over two hundred people wrote to Oregon Senator
(25:40):
Mark Hatfield, urging him to get the FBI involved. Unfortunately,
their request was denied, the reasoning there was no evidence
to suggest that the family had been kidnapped or taken
across state lines. As time passed, investigators wondered if there
could be a connection between the Cowden family's disos appearance
and other unsolved cases in the area. Eight women had
(26:04):
gone missing around the same time under similarly mysterious circumstances.
The investigation took a chilling turn when it was revealed
that these eight disappearances were attributed to the notorious serial
killer Ted Bundy. What did this discovery mean for the
Cowden case. Did it shift the investigation in a new direction,
(26:25):
or was it just another layer of complexity added to
an already puzzling mystery. As autumn turned to winter, then spring,
the mystery deepened. The families and community members who had
been searching were left with more questions than answers. It
wasn't until April twelfth, nineteen seventy five, more than seven
(26:45):
months after the Cowden family vanished, those two young gold
prospectors working near Sturgi's Fork, about seven miles east of
Carburry Creek, made a discovery that would provide a chilling
conclusion to the Cowden family's disappearance. While searching the forest floor,
they first spotted scattered bones, but as they looked up,
(27:06):
they saw something far more chilling, a skeleton tied to
a tree. Surrounding it, more bones were scattered across the
forest floor, suggesting this had been a grisly crime scene
for some time. Terrified by what they had found, the
men quickly fled and contacted the police. Authorities arrived, swiftly
securing the area and beginning their investigation. They soon confirmed
(27:30):
that the skeleton was indeed Richard Cowden, identified through dental records.
The location was now a crime scene, one that seemed
more like something out of a horror movie. The police
continued their search, determined to find the rest of the
Cowden family. Not far from the tree where Richard's body
had been found, they discovered a cave hidden behind a
(27:51):
pile of smaller rocks. After carefully moving the rocks aside,
they entered the cave and made an even more disturbing find.
The bodies of Belinda, David and baby Melissa. The Cowdens
had been found, but the reality of what had happened
to them was even worse than any one had imagined.
(28:11):
Examinations of the remains revealed the horrifying truth. Belinda and
her young son, David, had been shot in the head
with a twenty two caliber rifle. Little Melissa, only a baby,
had suffered fatal head injuries, likely from blunt force trauma.
Richard's body, tied to the tree, showed no signs of
(28:33):
bullet wounds or firearm related injuries. Instead, his cause of
death was believed to be either stabbing or strangulation. However,
it remained unclear whether he had died before or after
his wife and children. One theory briefly emerged that Richard
had killed his family and then taken his own life,
(28:54):
but this idea was quickly dismissed. How could he have
done that if he was found tied to a tree. Additionally,
the murder weapon, a rifle, was never recovered, further suggesting
that someone else was responsible for the brutal killings. Whoever
committed this gruesome act was likely familiar with the area,
(29:14):
possibly even someone with intimate knowledge of the wilderness. What
made this discovery even more disturbing was the fact that
the very area where the bodies were found had already
been searched back in September, just a week after the
Cowdens disappeared. There was no one in the area at
the time when the search happened. The man who had
(29:35):
previously searched that same spot confirmed it. He could even
point out the exact cave he had checked, stating that
the Cowden family wasn't there when he looked. So what
did this mean? It suggested that the Cowden family, all
four of them, had been held hostage somewhere else for
about a week before being brought to that spot, possibly
(29:55):
after the initial search had died down. It seemed they
were still alive when the they were brought there, only
to be killed. The discovery of shell casings at the
scene pointed to the fact that they were likely killed
right at that spot. The police were desperate to talk
to anyone who had been in the area around the
time the Cowdens were believed to have been abducted. Some
(30:16):
campers had seen Droopy, the family's dog, wandering a couple
of miles from the campsite, but they thought nothing of
it at the time. The dog eventually made its way
to the Copper General Store Meanwhile, an elderly family from
Los Angeles had arrived to camp at Carberry Creek on Sunday,
September first, after the Cowdens were abducted. They reported seeing
(30:39):
three people a man, a woman, and another man in
a pickup truck near the campsite. The family found them unsettling,
feeling like they were waiting for someone to leave before
they packed up. Could this have been Richard Belinda and
the killer? Was the killer holding them at gunpoint in
the truck? At this point, the mystery of the Cowden
(31:02):
family's disappearance had everyone baffled. The family had no known
enemies and were actually well liked by their community. Yet
there was one person who stood out as a potential suspect,
Dwayne Lee Little. Investigators still believe he may have been involved,
and his chilling background has kept this suspicion alive over
(31:23):
the years. In nineteen seventy four, Dwayne was just twenty
five years old and lived in the small town of Rush,
near the dense forests of Oregon. What made his story
even more disturbing was the fact that he had been
released from the Oregon State Penitentiary only four months before
the Cowdens vanished. Dwayne had spent years in prison for
(31:44):
the brutal assault and murder of a teenage girl, or
La faith Phipps. At first glance, Dwayne appeared to be
a model citizen, charming, good looking, and even serving as
class president. But his dark side was revealed when Orla,
a neighbor, went for a horseback ride one day and
never returned. After a search, her body was found, and
(32:06):
the world learned of the terrible crime he had committed.
But what was truly chilling was that no one really
knew why he did it. Orla had been an innocent teenager,
and Little's motives for such a horrific act remain a
mystery to this day. He served a ten year sentence
before being granted parole. According to his mother, he suffered
(32:26):
serious head trauma as a child, a common factor among
many notorious criminals. On top of that, it's believed his
mother's behavior towards him was psychologically damaging, not through physical abuse,
but by manipulating his emotions and actions. This troubling home
life may have shaped his violent tendencies in the years
(32:47):
to come. After serving time for the brutal crime he
committed against Orla, Dwayne was released in May of nineteen
seventy four. He moved to Medford, Oregon, where he worked
in a warehouse and lived with his parents. Strangely, his
parents house was just a short distance from the Cowden
family's camp site near Carberry Creek. During Labor Day weekend
(33:09):
that year, Dwane was reportedly in Copper but when questioned
by the police, he denied ever meeting the Cowdens or
having any knowledge of their disappearance. But there was more
to his story. His girlfriend at the time, who came
forward after Dwane cheated on her, told police that he
owned a twenty two caliber rifle. This raised some serious
(33:30):
questions because convicted felons like Dwayne were not allowed to
possess firearms. What made this even worse was that two
of the Cowden family members had been shot with a
twenty two caliber rifle. The most puzzling part, though, was
Dwayne's refusal to take a polygraph test when questioned about
the Cowden murders. The officers told him that if he
(33:52):
passed the test, he wouldn't be sent back to prison
for illegally possessing a firearm, Yet Dwyane still refused this
only fueled suspicion and led to him being sent back
to prison for violating his parole. He would be released
again in nineteen seventy seven. In nineteen eighty, Dwayne's violent
(34:12):
nature resurfaced in a chilling way. A pregnant woman named
Margie Hunter was his next victim. Her car had broken
down near Portland, Oregon, and Dwayne, pretending to be a
good samaritan, offered her a ride, but instead of helping,
he attacked her, strangling, stabbing, and assaulting her. Miraculously, Margie
(34:32):
survived the brutal assault and was able to identify Dwayne
as her attacker. It was later revealed that they had
worked together, which made her identification of him even more certain.
Dwayne was convicted for this crime and sentenced to sixty
years in prison. Now, if you're still not convinced that
Dwayne Little might be the killer of the Cowden family,
(34:55):
here's something that could make you rethink. Remember the testimony
from the elder couple who reported seeing a truck with
a man and a woman in the front and another
man in the back. They said the woman appeared to
be crying, which gave them a creepy feeling. Well, it
was later confirmed that the truck matched the description provided
(35:15):
by the couple and it was actually Little's family's truck.
To make things even more unsettling. While Dwayne and his
parents denied any involvement or knowledge of the Cowden's disappearance,
a miner who owned a nearby cabin revealed that Little
and his parents had stopped by on Monday, September second,
nineteen seventy four, and even signed a guest book he
(35:36):
kept for visitors. This was just a few days after
the Cowdens went missing. Even more damning, while serving time
for a different crime, an inmate named Rusty Kelly, who
once shared a cell with Dwayne Little, claimed that Little
confessed to him that he was responsible for the Cowden
family murders. Despite this and the overwhelming circumstantial evidence, Little
(35:58):
has never been formally charmed arged in connection with the murders.
It's a haunting mystery with so many pieces that seem
to point in his direction, but no clear resolution, and
to this day, the remaining family of the Cowden family
still holds out hope that some day justice will be served.
Dwayne is now seventy five years old and serving his
(36:21):
sentence at the Oregon State Penitentiary. Given his age and
the length of his confinement, it makes you wonder will
justice ever be truly delivered? So I've got to ask you,
what do you think? Do you believe Dwayne could have
been responsible for the Cowden murders? And if he did,
do you think he could have pulled it off all
(36:41):
by himself? I mean, come on, He managed to tie
Richard to a tree while Belinda and the kids were
still held captive in the cave.
You were able to make a monster off the streets
and bring relief to Clanton Christ's precious girls.
Speaker 2 (00:04):
The monster he's talking about is a school teacher turned killer.
On July twenty sixth, twenty twenty five, inside Devil's Den
State Park in Arkansas, a teacher with no criminal record
hunted down a family he had never even met. But why.
Speaker 3 (00:21):
Boston County received a call from the visitor center to
children are their eyes that their parents were assaulted one
most possibly stabs the parents are missing before.
Speaker 2 (00:35):
We dive in. Please consider dropping alike and subscribing. It
helps spread these stories so more people can hear them.
Just hours before their world shattered, the Brinks were living
the kind of life that makes you believe in the
American dream. Clinton, forty three and Kristin forty one, had
(00:55):
recently moved their family to Prairie Grove, Arkansas, chasing a
quieter life life for their two daughters, seven year old
and nine year old girls who loved nothing more than
exploring nature with their parents. They were the kind of
couple who still held hands after years of marriage, who
made weekend hiking a family tradition, who believed that fresh
(01:15):
air and family time could solve most of life's problems,
and that Saturday morning started, Like hundreds of others, Devil's
Den State Park seemed perfect, just the right mix of
scenic beauty and manageable trails for their young daughters, and
just to give you an idea for those who haven't
been there. The park spans more than two thousand, five
(01:36):
hundred acres of Ozark wilderness, filled with sandstone bluffs, mysterious caves,
and creeks that cut through the valley. Families come for
the rustic cabins built in the nineteen thirties, the eight
acre lake for fishing and swimming, and over twenty miles
of trails that range from easy strolls to steep climes
(01:57):
leading to breath taking overlooks. For Clint and Kristin Brink,
it was the kind of place that felt safe, wholesome,
and perfect for making memories with their little girls. Yet
none of them could have imagined that beneath the shade
of those ancient trees a predator was waiting. But here's
what makes this case so terrifying. Andrew James McGann wasn't
(02:19):
some drifter or career criminal. He was a twenty eight
year old teacher who'd just been hired by the Springdale
School District. In short, he had no criminal record, no
history of violence, no connection whatsoever to the Brink family.
So what transforms an educator into a killer? And why
(02:40):
did he choose this family on this day? The attack
itself reveals a level of calculated brutality that still haunts investigators.
Clinton was struck first a father's worst nightmare, as he
realized he couldn't protect his family from what was coming.
But here's where the story takes an even darker turn.
(03:00):
Kristin had managed to get their daughters to safety, moving
them away from the initial violence. She could have kept running,
She could have saved herself. Instead, she made the choice
that would define her final moments. She went back for Clinton.
That decision cost Kristin her life, but it also revealed
something profound about who she was. Even facing unimaginable terror,
(03:25):
her first instinct was to protect the man she loved.
The girls, meanwhile, were found unharmed about half a mile
into the park, traumatized witnesses to their parents' final act
of heroism. At that time, several hikers had already heard
the girls calling for help, which is why officers were
able to respond right away.
Speaker 3 (03:46):
Help with the main. Hurl her right now.
Speaker 4 (03:50):
Hell but I foxed hiking al here, yell calling for
he We're hiking down.
Speaker 2 (04:02):
By the time officers arrived, all they could find were
the bodies. There was no sign of the killer anywhere.
Speaker 3 (04:08):
Try to relate to the office.
Speaker 4 (04:10):
So we found the victims down here. They're on the
lower Devil's entrail.
Speaker 1 (04:15):
Uh.
Speaker 3 (04:17):
Just a couple of minutes, I think, I see you're
right there.
Speaker 4 (04:19):
I'll cut two the two bodies down here.
Speaker 2 (04:21):
But the killer made a critical mistake during his attack.
He injured himself in the struggle, leaving behind blood that
would become his DNA signature at the crime scene. Within hours,
Arkansas State Police had a biological roadmap leading directly to
their killer, Andrew James McGann. The question wasn't who did this,
(04:42):
it was why. The manhunt that followed gripped the entire region.
Arkansas State Police released composite sketches and photos, turning every
citizen into a potential detective. Tips poured in from across
multiple states as the image of McGann's face spread through
social med and news outlets. But even as law enforcement
(05:03):
worked around the clock. One terrifying reality remained, a killer
was loose, and no one understood his motivation. The arrest
came just four days later in the most mundane setting imaginable.
McGann was getting a haircut at a Springdale barber shop
when law enforcement closed in picture the scene, a man
(05:24):
who'd brutally murdered two parents just days earlier, sitting calmly
in a barber's chair, acting like nothing had happened. The
banality of evil in its purest form. But McGann's calm
demeanor shattered the moment police confronted him. Not only did
DNA evidence link him definitively to the crime scene, but
during questioning, he confessed. He admitted to killing Clinton and
(05:48):
Kristen Brink in cold blood. Yet even with a confession,
the most crucial question remained unanswered. Why the case has
now stretched far beyond Arkansas. Law horse in several states
is reviewing unsolved murders to see if Andrew James McGann
could be connected. Investigators are looking closely at whether the
(06:09):
deadly attack at Devil's Den was his first homicide or
part of a disturbing pattern of violence. Authorities are also
considering if Clinton and kristen Brink were targeted by chance,
or if something about that day placed them directly in
his path. And just to give you an idea of
how wide this net has become, police in Vermont are
now comparing notes with investigators in Arkansas. Back in October
(06:33):
of twenty twenty three, seventy seven year old Honoree Fleming,
a respected former college dean, was shot and killed on
the Delaware and Hudson rail trail in Castleton, Vermont. Witnesses
described seeing a white man with short red hair, about
five feet ten inches tall, wearing a dark gray shirt
and carrying a black backpack looking like this. That sketch
(06:56):
bears striking similarities to what witnesses reported at Devil's Den,
where McGann was also said to have been carrying a
black backpack as he fled the scene. McGann's background only
raises more questions. Since twenty twenty two, he lived in Arkansas, Texas,
and Oklahoma, and he grew up in Illinois. Despite his
(07:17):
young age just twenty eight, he had already worked in
five different school districts in only three years, which is
highly unusual for a teacher. Parents in Texas even raised
concerns in twenty twenty two about his behavior around young
girls in class, claiming he played favorites, made inappropriate comments,
(07:37):
and blurred professional boundaries. In fact, this was an interview
with one of his student's mothers. In one district outside Dallas,
parents complained about McGann's behavior toward young girls in his classroom.
According to one mother, he allegedly made comments like I
wish I could date you and I wish you could
be my girlfriend. Others claimed he gave candy and soda
(08:01):
only to selected girls and even held special lunches for
those he favored. The school's internal investigation stopped short of
finding solid proof of misconduct, but administrators suspended him over
what they called poor judgment and favoritism. Despite these concerns,
McGann moved on quickly to other schools, finding new jobs
(08:22):
with clean background checks that revealed nothing alarming. This pattern
of drifting from job to job while avoiding a criminal
record meant McGann could keep getting hired. By the summer
of twenty twenty five, he had landed a new position
in Springdale, Arkansas. Aside from the Vermont case, officers are
also looking into a much older one, with similarities so
(08:45):
striking that you can't help but stop and wonder if
it's truly a coincidence. Nearly five years before the Brink
family was attacked at Devil's Den State Park in Arkansas,
another hiker lost his life under eerily familiar circumstances hundreds
of miles away. On October fourteenth, twenty twenty, twenty, four
year old John Craig Schmutzer set out for a hike
(09:08):
at Devil's Lake State Park in Wisconsin. It was a
crisp fall day, the kind that draws thousands of visitors
to the park to watch the leaves change color across
the bluffs and valleys. Devil's Lake isn't just any park.
It's the busiest state park in Wisconsin, sprawling across more
than nine thousand acres with high quartzite cliffs and deep
(09:29):
wooded trails. That morning, families and tourists filled the area.
Yet somewhere along the Grotto's Trail on the south side
of the park, Schmutzer crossed paths with a predator. At
exactly eleven thirty eight in the morning, Schmutzer was attacked
and stabbed to death broad daylight. On a trail swarming
(09:50):
with hikers. Witnesses later reported seeing a man running frantically
from the area. The description they gave was vague but memorable,
a white male about six feet tall, slender to medium build,
wearing dark pants with ripped knees, a dark top, possibly
a hoodie, and carrying himself in a way that looked erratic,
(10:11):
stumbling as he ran despite multiple people spotting him. No
clear photos were taken, and the case quickly grew cold.
DNA samples were collected, but nothing tied to a suspect.
Now with Andrew James McGann behind bars in Arkansas, Saw County,
investigators are exchanging notes with Arkansas State Police. They are
(10:32):
carefully comparing the Schmutzer homicide to the Brink family murders.
Both involve state parks named devils, Both involve sudden brutal
attacks in broad daylight, Both involve knives, and both suggest
a predator who struck without warning and then vanished. To
make the picture even sharper, police in Wisconsin are reviewing
(10:54):
DNA evidence from the twenty twenty case, alongside evidence collected
in Arkansas blood at the Devil's Den crime scene, as
well as materials recovered from McGann's home and car. Forensic
testing is underway, though no direct match has been announced.
For Schmutzer's family, this renewed attention brings a glimmer of
(11:14):
hope that his killer might finally be identified. For investigators,
it raises the possibility that McGann's trail of violence didn't
begin in Arkansas or even Vermont, but years earlier in Wisconsin. Additionally,
when you look at his background, some people say the
signs were always there, even if no one recognized them
(11:35):
at the time. One neighbor who grew up with him
remembers it this way.
Speaker 5 (11:40):
One minute, he's fine, and then if you know you're
kind of messing with him, he's just it freaks out,
completely freaks out, and you know, so much, to the
point where it's like uncomfortable.
Speaker 2 (11:54):
Those who knew him as a kid called him Andy.
He grew up in Illinois, in a suburb southwest of Chicago.
Back then, he played baseball, spent time with friends, and
was coached by his father. On the surface, he seemed
like a normal boy in a normal neighborhood, but as
childhood friends now admit looking back, there were moments of
(12:16):
temper and intensity they didn't fully understand. As mentioned earlier,
he had been hired by at least five different school
districts in three different states Texas, Oklahoma, and Arkansas ever
since twenty twenty two. That kind of turnover is highly
unusual for someone in education, where most teachers stay in
(12:37):
a role for years at a time. Piecing together his
past hasn't been simple even for police. When authorities first
announced his arrest, they even got his name wrong, calling
him James Andrew McGann, before later correcting it. Records show
he once listed Oklahoma State University as his college, but
(12:57):
his actual history traced back further north to Illinois. That
confusion only added to the sense that McGan had been
slipping through the cracks for years, reinventing himself each time
he crossed a state line. So imagine the shock of
his former classmates and neighbors when they saw his mug
shot plastered across national news. For people who once sat
(13:19):
beside him in class or played baseball with him as kids,
the realization was surreal. The boy they had known as
Andy was now accused of murdering Clinton and Kristen Brink,
and possibly linked to two other brutal attacks in different states.
As of now, nothing has been confirmed, but investigators are
piecing together a bigger puzzle, hoping that McGan could be
(13:42):
the answer to attacks left unsolved for years. For grieving
families in Vermont and Wisconsin, the possibility of finally learning
the truth means justice may still come even after years
of silence. Meanwhile, McGann sits inside Washington County's Detecs Tension Center,
charged with two counts of capital murder. Prosecutor Brandon Carter
(14:06):
has announced his office will pursue the death penalty. That
decision alone guarantees years of legal warfare, motions, hearings, appeals
that could drag on for more than a decade, and
while lawyers debate strategy in court rooms, two little girls
are learning how to live without their parents. At only
(14:27):
seven and nine years old, They now stay with relatives,
surrounded by love, but still far too young to understand
why their mother and father aren't coming back. In court,
McGann entered a plea of not guilty, directly contradicting what
police sources say he admitted after his arrest. Behind closed doors,
(14:48):
he reportedly confessed to killing Clinton and Kristen Brink. Yet
in front of cameras, reporters, and grieving family members, he
denied everything. That contradiction sets up a t trial that
promises to be long, complex and emotionally devastating, both for
the Brink family and for a community still in shock.
(15:09):
The Brink story has struck such a deep nerve because
they did everything right. They chose a family friendly state park,
They stayed together as a group. They lived quietly in
Prairie Grove, building a life around their daughter's safety and future.
Clinton had just secured a steady job as a delivery driver,
while Christin devoted her days to raising the children. They
(15:32):
had no enemies, no debts, no secrets, and yet none
of it mattered when a predator crossed their path. The
crime scene told investigators this was no random explosion of anger.
McGann had picked his location carefully, an isolated trail where
cell service disappeared, where screams would be muffled by thick forest,
(15:53):
but where escape routes were close at hand. The placement
of the bodies, the precision of the wounds, even the
way his license plate was covered in black tape suggested
methodical planning. The brutal fate of the Brink couple in
the Arkansas Woods feels almost like history repeating itself, a
reminder that some of the darkest horrors strike when people
(16:14):
are at their most vulnerable, Because long before that tragedy,
another family set out on what should have been a
carefree outdoor trip, only to vanish into a nightmare so
disturbing it left investigators grasping for answers for decades. That
case would go down as one of the most chilling
mysteries in American crime history, the Cowden Family massacre.
Speaker 1 (16:38):
I'm sorry the Cowden family did not get justice, and
I was a part of their not getting justice.
Speaker 2 (16:49):
These were the words of an officer who once investigated
a family massacre so brutal, so disturbing, and so heartbreaking
that even now justice remains just out of reach. We're
talking about the Cowden family disappearance, which quickly turned into
one of the most horrific massacres Oregon has ever seen.
What happened to this family was so random and shocking
(17:12):
that by the end of this video you'll wish they
had never been found, because the terrifying truth about their
deaths is even more tragic than any one could imagine
for starters, Let's get to know who the Cowden family were.
Richard Cowden, twenty eight years old, was a hard working
man who dedicated his days driving logging trucks through the
(17:33):
dense forests of Oregon. His wife, Belinda just twenty two,
was a loving mother to their two young children, five
year old David and their baby girl, Melissa, who was
only five months old at the time. The Cowdens lived
in White City, a small town in southern Oregon, and
like many families, they often sought out the beauty and
(17:55):
peace of the near by wilderness to get away from
every day life. So in nineteen seventy four, they decided
to make a spontaneous trip to Carberry Creek near Copper,
Oregon for the Labor Day weekend. As you can imagine,
this wasn't a case of a family venturing into the
woods for the first time, blindly setting up camp in
(18:15):
the middle of nowhere. No, the Cowden family were locals.
They knew these woods like the back of their hands. Richard, Belinda,
and their kids had spent plenty of time in the
forests and towns around Copper, Oregon. They knew the land
well and had always felt safe there. Now the trip
itself was actually a bit last minute. Richard had originally
(18:38):
planned to work on the driveway that weekend, but when
those plans fell through, the family decided to take a
break from the routine and head into the great outdoors.
They packed up their car with their trusty Basset Hound
Droopy in tow, and made their way to the camp
site near Carberry Creek. Carberry Creek was located in a quiet,
remote area not far from Oregon, but it's important to
(19:02):
note that Copper wasn't much of a town at all.
It was small, consisting of only a handful of houses
and a general store. In fact, the town would cease
to exist just a few years later in nineteen eighty,
when a dam was constructed on the Applegate River, flooding
the area. Their plan for the weekend was straightforward. They
(19:22):
would drive out to Carberry Creek on Friday, camp for
two nights, and then on Sunday stopped by Belinda's mother's
house in Copper for a visit. Afterward, they planned to
head back home to White City. The weather was perfect,
sunny and clear, with not a cloud in the sky.
Everything seemed set for a relaxing and enjoyable time away,
(19:44):
but as with many stories like this, things didn't go
according to plan. The details of what transpired during the
camping trip are unclear. No one knows exactly what the
family was up to while at the campsite, though it's
generally believed they were enjoying their time there. On Sunday morning,
the day they were supposed to head home, Richard and
(20:05):
young David were last seen at around nine a m.
At the General store in Copper, which was only about
a mile down the road from their camp site. They
had stopped by to pick up some milk and a
few other supplies, as most families do while camping, but
after that they vanished without a trace, and no one
would see them again. According to sources, it was Belinda's
(20:27):
mother who first realized that something was wrong. As mentioned earlier,
Richard and Belinda had planned that they would stop by
her mother's house for dinner before heading back home, so
when dinner time came and they didn't show up, Belinda's
mother grew concerned. She had prepared the meal expecting them,
but as time passed and there was still no sign
(20:49):
of the family, she decided to drive to the Carberry
Creek camp site to check on them. Remember, Richard and
David had gone to the general store that morning to
buy some milk, which meant that Belinda and the baby
were back at the camp site. Could something have happened
while the two men were away. By the way, I
post true crime and new cases here every day, so
(21:12):
if that sounds like your kind of thing, please consider subscribing.
It helps a lot. When Belinda's mother arrived at the
camp site, she found the family's pick up truck still
parked by the side of the road, just where they
had left it earlier. But as she walked into the
campsite itself, her sense of unease grew. Everything seemed to
be in place, as if the family had only just left.
(21:35):
The camp stove was set up, and their belongings, including
the family's truck, keys, and Belinda's purse, were all right
there in plain sight. Even a half full carton of
milk bought earlier that morning was sitting on the picnic table.
Even more chilling was the discovery of Richard's wallet, which
contained twenty one dollars, roughly the equivalent of one hundred
(21:57):
thirty five dollars in twenty twenty four. Alongside it was
his prized Roelec's wristwatch, an item that seemed like the
first thing to be taken if this was a robbery
gone wrong, yet it remained untouched. Alongside these items was
an open pack of cigarettes identified as belonging to Belinda. Strangely,
(22:19):
the family's bathing suits were missing from inside their truck,
hinting that they had planned a return trip, possibly to
the water, before their sudden disappearance. Belinda's mother spent some
time calling out for the family and checked the nearby river,
hoping to find some clue to their whereabouts, but there
was no sign of them anywhere. All their personal belongings
(22:40):
were left behind in such a way that it didn't
make sense for them to have just gone off for
a short walk or a quick errand if they had,
they would have taken their essentials like the purse and keys.
The more she thought about it, the stranger it all seemed.
If they had gone for a quick hike or drive,
they certainly wouldn't have left their stuff behind open and
(23:03):
exposed where anyone could come across it. By now, the
unsettling feeling had settled in no signs of an accident,
no tracks, no evidence of a struggle, just an eerie emptiness.
Belinda's mother returned home and immediately contacted the Jackson County
Sheriff's office. Soon after, the troopers arrived at the camp site,
(23:25):
only to find it just as Belinda's mother had left it,
everything in place, but no sign of the family. There
was no blood, no violence, and nothing out of the ordinary.
The situation was described as creepy and unnerving. No one
knew what to think. Naturally, the rumors began. Some speculated
that maybe Bigfoot had made its presence known, claiming yet
(23:48):
another victim. After all, the mystery surrounding the disappearance, combined
with the eerie setting, left room for all sorts of
strange theories. The next morning, a full scale search began
for the Cowden family, triggering one of the largest search
operations in Oregon's history. But prior to this, the Cowden
(24:09):
family's pet basset hound, Droopy, showed up alone scratching at
the door of the Copper General Store. The dog's return
without its family made it clear that something had gone
terribly wrong, and this case would be discussed by media
outlets nationwide, including The New York Post and become one
(24:30):
of the most perplexing and haunting chapters in the state's history.
The search involved helicopters with infrared technology, search dogs, and
teams scouring caves, woods, and waterways, all while locals, hunters,
and volunteers combed the surrounding areas. Despite the intensity of
the search, nothing was found. It seemed as if the
(24:53):
Cowden family had simply vanished without a trace. The police
didn't stop at physical searches. The interviewed over one hundred
and fifty people in hopes of uncovering any clue about
the family's whereabouts, but still nothing came up. The community
also refused to give up, though a reward of two
thousand dollars about twelve thousand, six hundred two dollars to
(25:17):
day was offered for any information that could solve the mystery.
Richard Cowden's sister even took to the Medford Mail Tribune,
writing a heartfelt plea for hunters to stay vigilant. She
hoped that even the smallest clue could help solve the
mystery of the family's disappearance. The push for answers didn't
stop there. Over two hundred people wrote to Oregon Senator
(25:40):
Mark Hatfield, urging him to get the FBI involved. Unfortunately,
their request was denied, the reasoning there was no evidence
to suggest that the family had been kidnapped or taken
across state lines. As time passed, investigators wondered if there
could be a connection between the Cowden family's disos appearance
and other unsolved cases in the area. Eight women had
(26:04):
gone missing around the same time under similarly mysterious circumstances.
The investigation took a chilling turn when it was revealed
that these eight disappearances were attributed to the notorious serial
killer Ted Bundy. What did this discovery mean for the
Cowden case. Did it shift the investigation in a new direction,
(26:25):
or was it just another layer of complexity added to
an already puzzling mystery. As autumn turned to winter, then spring,
the mystery deepened. The families and community members who had
been searching were left with more questions than answers. It
wasn't until April twelfth, nineteen seventy five, more than seven
(26:45):
months after the Cowden family vanished, those two young gold
prospectors working near Sturgi's Fork, about seven miles east of
Carburry Creek, made a discovery that would provide a chilling
conclusion to the Cowden family's disappearance. While searching the forest floor,
they first spotted scattered bones, but as they looked up,
(27:06):
they saw something far more chilling, a skeleton tied to
a tree. Surrounding it, more bones were scattered across the
forest floor, suggesting this had been a grisly crime scene
for some time. Terrified by what they had found, the
men quickly fled and contacted the police. Authorities arrived, swiftly
securing the area and beginning their investigation. They soon confirmed
(27:30):
that the skeleton was indeed Richard Cowden, identified through dental records.
The location was now a crime scene, one that seemed
more like something out of a horror movie. The police
continued their search, determined to find the rest of the
Cowden family. Not far from the tree where Richard's body
had been found, they discovered a cave hidden behind a
(27:51):
pile of smaller rocks. After carefully moving the rocks aside,
they entered the cave and made an even more disturbing find.
The bodies of Belinda, David and baby Melissa. The Cowdens
had been found, but the reality of what had happened
to them was even worse than any one had imagined.
(28:11):
Examinations of the remains revealed the horrifying truth. Belinda and
her young son, David, had been shot in the head
with a twenty two caliber rifle. Little Melissa, only a baby,
had suffered fatal head injuries, likely from blunt force trauma.
Richard's body, tied to the tree, showed no signs of
(28:33):
bullet wounds or firearm related injuries. Instead, his cause of
death was believed to be either stabbing or strangulation. However,
it remained unclear whether he had died before or after
his wife and children. One theory briefly emerged that Richard
had killed his family and then taken his own life,
(28:54):
but this idea was quickly dismissed. How could he have
done that if he was found tied to a tree. Additionally,
the murder weapon, a rifle, was never recovered, further suggesting
that someone else was responsible for the brutal killings. Whoever
committed this gruesome act was likely familiar with the area,
(29:14):
possibly even someone with intimate knowledge of the wilderness. What
made this discovery even more disturbing was the fact that
the very area where the bodies were found had already
been searched back in September, just a week after the
Cowdens disappeared. There was no one in the area at
the time when the search happened. The man who had
(29:35):
previously searched that same spot confirmed it. He could even
point out the exact cave he had checked, stating that
the Cowden family wasn't there when he looked. So what
did this mean? It suggested that the Cowden family, all
four of them, had been held hostage somewhere else for
about a week before being brought to that spot, possibly
(29:55):
after the initial search had died down. It seemed they
were still alive when the they were brought there, only
to be killed. The discovery of shell casings at the
scene pointed to the fact that they were likely killed
right at that spot. The police were desperate to talk
to anyone who had been in the area around the
time the Cowdens were believed to have been abducted. Some
(30:16):
campers had seen Droopy, the family's dog, wandering a couple
of miles from the campsite, but they thought nothing of
it at the time. The dog eventually made its way
to the Copper General Store Meanwhile, an elderly family from
Los Angeles had arrived to camp at Carberry Creek on Sunday,
September first, after the Cowdens were abducted. They reported seeing
(30:39):
three people a man, a woman, and another man in
a pickup truck near the campsite. The family found them unsettling,
feeling like they were waiting for someone to leave before
they packed up. Could this have been Richard Belinda and
the killer? Was the killer holding them at gunpoint in
the truck? At this point, the mystery of the Cowden
(31:02):
family's disappearance had everyone baffled. The family had no known
enemies and were actually well liked by their community. Yet
there was one person who stood out as a potential suspect,
Dwayne Lee Little. Investigators still believe he may have been involved,
and his chilling background has kept this suspicion alive over
(31:23):
the years. In nineteen seventy four, Dwayne was just twenty
five years old and lived in the small town of Rush,
near the dense forests of Oregon. What made his story
even more disturbing was the fact that he had been
released from the Oregon State Penitentiary only four months before
the Cowdens vanished. Dwayne had spent years in prison for
(31:44):
the brutal assault and murder of a teenage girl, or
La faith Phipps. At first glance, Dwayne appeared to be
a model citizen, charming, good looking, and even serving as
class president. But his dark side was revealed when Orla,
a neighbor, went for a horseback ride one day and
never returned. After a search, her body was found, and
(32:06):
the world learned of the terrible crime he had committed.
But what was truly chilling was that no one really
knew why he did it. Orla had been an innocent teenager,
and Little's motives for such a horrific act remain a
mystery to this day. He served a ten year sentence
before being granted parole. According to his mother, he suffered
(32:26):
serious head trauma as a child, a common factor among
many notorious criminals. On top of that, it's believed his
mother's behavior towards him was psychologically damaging, not through physical abuse,
but by manipulating his emotions and actions. This troubling home
life may have shaped his violent tendencies in the years
(32:47):
to come. After serving time for the brutal crime he
committed against Orla, Dwayne was released in May of nineteen
seventy four. He moved to Medford, Oregon, where he worked
in a warehouse and lived with his parents. Strangely, his
parents house was just a short distance from the Cowden
family's camp site near Carberry Creek. During Labor Day weekend
(33:09):
that year, Dwane was reportedly in Copper but when questioned
by the police, he denied ever meeting the Cowdens or
having any knowledge of their disappearance. But there was more
to his story. His girlfriend at the time, who came
forward after Dwane cheated on her, told police that he
owned a twenty two caliber rifle. This raised some serious
(33:30):
questions because convicted felons like Dwayne were not allowed to
possess firearms. What made this even worse was that two
of the Cowden family members had been shot with a
twenty two caliber rifle. The most puzzling part, though, was
Dwayne's refusal to take a polygraph test when questioned about
the Cowden murders. The officers told him that if he
(33:52):
passed the test, he wouldn't be sent back to prison
for illegally possessing a firearm, Yet Dwyane still refused this
only fueled suspicion and led to him being sent back
to prison for violating his parole. He would be released
again in nineteen seventy seven. In nineteen eighty, Dwayne's violent
(34:12):
nature resurfaced in a chilling way. A pregnant woman named
Margie Hunter was his next victim. Her car had broken
down near Portland, Oregon, and Dwayne, pretending to be a
good samaritan, offered her a ride, but instead of helping,
he attacked her, strangling, stabbing, and assaulting her. Miraculously, Margie
(34:32):
survived the brutal assault and was able to identify Dwayne
as her attacker. It was later revealed that they had
worked together, which made her identification of him even more certain.
Dwayne was convicted for this crime and sentenced to sixty
years in prison. Now, if you're still not convinced that
Dwayne Little might be the killer of the Cowden family,
(34:55):
here's something that could make you rethink. Remember the testimony
from the elder couple who reported seeing a truck with
a man and a woman in the front and another
man in the back. They said the woman appeared to
be crying, which gave them a creepy feeling. Well, it
was later confirmed that the truck matched the description provided
(35:15):
by the couple and it was actually Little's family's truck.
To make things even more unsettling. While Dwayne and his
parents denied any involvement or knowledge of the Cowden's disappearance,
a miner who owned a nearby cabin revealed that Little
and his parents had stopped by on Monday, September second,
nineteen seventy four, and even signed a guest book he
(35:36):
kept for visitors. This was just a few days after
the Cowdens went missing. Even more damning, while serving time
for a different crime, an inmate named Rusty Kelly, who
once shared a cell with Dwayne Little, claimed that Little
confessed to him that he was responsible for the Cowden
family murders. Despite this and the overwhelming circumstantial evidence, Little
(35:58):
has never been formally charmed arged in connection with the murders.
It's a haunting mystery with so many pieces that seem
to point in his direction, but no clear resolution, and
to this day, the remaining family of the Cowden family
still holds out hope that some day justice will be served.
Dwayne is now seventy five years old and serving his
(36:21):
sentence at the Oregon State Penitentiary. Given his age and
the length of his confinement, it makes you wonder will
justice ever be truly delivered? So I've got to ask you,
what do you think? Do you believe Dwayne could have
been responsible for the Cowden murders? And if he did,
do you think he could have pulled it off all
(36:41):
by himself? I mean, come on, He managed to tie
Richard to a tree while Belinda and the kids were
still held captive in the cave.
Popular Podcasts
Stuff You Should Know
If you've ever wanted to know about champagne, satanism, the Stonewall Uprising, chaos theory, LSD, El Nino, true crime and Rosa Parks, then look no further. Josh and Chuck have you covered.
Crime Junkie
Does hearing about a true crime case always leave you scouring the internet for the truth behind the story? Dive into your next mystery with Crime Junkie. Every Monday, join your host Ashley Flowers as she unravels all the details of infamous and underreported true crime cases with her best friend Brit Prawat. From cold cases to missing persons and heroes in our community who seek justice, Crime Junkie is your destination for theories and stories you won’t hear anywhere else. Whether you're a seasoned true crime enthusiast or new to the genre, you'll find yourself on the edge of your seat awaiting a new episode every Monday. If you can never get enough true crime... Congratulations, you’ve found your people. Follow to join a community of Crime Junkies!
The Breakfast Club
The World's Most Dangerous Morning Show, The Breakfast Club, With DJ Envy, Jess Hilarious, And Charlamagne Tha God!