Murder On The Tracks Part 3 - The Sheriffs

Video Transcript:

Greetings folks, and welcome to Murder on the Tracks, Part 3, The Sheriff's. If you've seen Part 1, Murder on the Tracks, the story of Kevin Ives and Don Henry, and Murder on the Tracks update 2018. In Part 2, Murder on the Tracks, the story of Kevin Ives and Don Henry continues. Then you'll have learned how local prosecutor Dan Harmon has been named by three people, as being on the Tracks with Kevin and Don in the night they were killed. Dan Harmon. Uh, Dan Harmon. And Dan Harmon. And let's not forget Dan Harmon's partner, Richard Garrett, who we learned that after he appeared on Unself Mysteries, asking for help. A bunch of witnesses started getting murdered. We also learned that Charney Wilson, one of the people that had implicated Dan Harmon as being on the Tracks, has also implicated herself as being there as well. And in one of those occasions, she wrote a four-page confession letter that matches many of the details of what happened that night. And she wrote that confession letter in the presence of three troopers, one local and two state. And signed it on May 28, 1993. And we also learned that officers Kirk Lane and Jake Campbell have been named away as many as four different people, as possibly being the hands-on killers of Kevin and Don. With Keith Coney tunnel, his mother that he saw was two men that killed Kevin and Don, and told his father it was the cops, and Ronnie Godwin, who was driving by and told the Arkansas State Police, that he saw two cops beating two teenagers and throwing them in the back of their car. As well as Mike Crookes accounting to the Arkansas State Police, where he described the same thing as Ronnie Godwin, and named Kirk Lane. Followed by the most recent revelations by former WWF superstar Billy Jack Haynes, who outweighed named Kirk Lane and Jake Campbell as the killers. In fact, like Charlene Wilson, Billy Jack Haynes has implicated himself as being at the Tracks that night as well. And he's gone public not only named Kirk Lane and Jake Campbell, but he's spelled out everything he knows about that night as well. And you can find the full version on YouTube, or it did an interview with Doc Washburn of KARN, F.M. and Little Rock. And we'll hear a bit more from Doc Washburn as we go as well, where he's interviewed Linda Ives, Kevin's mother. And another of the recent developments we learned about was Linda Ives is free to remove information lawsuit against the government and its various health bet agencies. And as I've said in the past, this lawsuit isn't about holding the government accountable for who killed Kevin and Don. It's about getting the thousands upon thousands of documents that the various government and health bet agencies have on Kevin and Don in their full unredacted form. And notice as well, note of all these people who have been murdered or died, the ones who are alive are the ones who have been implicated or implicated themselves in the killings. Anyways, the latest update on Linda's lawsuit has the government asking the courts to dismiss the case on the grounds that it's an ongoing investigation, ongoing for 30 years. So who's doing the so-called investigating? I decided to have a look at the Sailing County Sheriff's Office and see how involved they've been. And they have a page on their website for the history of the sheriff. And we can see that the current sheriff is Sheriff Rodney Wright, who has elected office in January 2015 and still resides there. And scrolling down is the list of all the past sheriffs, all the way back to James Steed, who was the sheriff when Kevin and Don were killed. So let's have a look at all the past Sailing sheriffs since Kevin and Don's murders, and we'll start with James Steed. So as noted, Steed was the Sailing Sheriff when Kevin and Don were murdered. And he also cited with the state medical examiner who did the autopsy the following day after the murders. And that medical examiner was the cropped family malach who ruled that Kevin and Don smoked too much pot and fell asleep on the tracks and couldn't hear the train coming, which of course is ridiculous. Well let's hear from Kevin's mom, Linda Heives, from her appearance in the documentary about the murders of destruction of justice. I believe Kevin and Don were on the tracks that night and saw either money or drugs dropped from an airplane. I believe that law enforcement officers killed them and the coverup began immediately expanded to the medical examiner, Fommy Malach. At the time, Fommy Malach, Arkansas State Medical Examiner, was the one responsible for ruling on cause of death. His plan was to rule the boy's death of double suicide. However, after conferring with Jim Steed, Selene County Sheriff, they decided no one would accept such a ruling and change the cause of death to accidental. We were absolutely puzzled and outraged over the ruling of accidental as a matter of death. We didn't think that the fact supported that ruling and what we started out to do was just to obtain a second opinion. I'd want a second opinion too. Like I said, it's ridiculous. To hear Fommy Malach put it, the two boys were, quote, unconscious and in a deep sleep and on the railroad tracks under the psychedelic, the facts of marijuana, end quote. The murders and the particulates ruling by Dr. Malach was beginning to gain national attention across the country, even hitting the Los Angeles Times on August 14, 1988, almost a year to the day after the murders. 17-year-old Kevin Ives and 16-year-old Don Henry were struck by a train near Alexander. The medical examiner has said that the boys were asleep and drugged with marijuana. The parents, however, disputed that claim and persuaded authorities to reopen the case. And thanks to the relentless determination of Linda Ives, Kevin's mother, the case was reopened and a grand jury was convened, and the murders were rightfully ruled as homicides. The Malach was called into the grand jury. The ultimately wouldn't suffer any punishment, but we would find out a lot about his corrupt ways. And let's hear again from Linda Ives. Our local investigation was headed by our sheriff Jim Steed. He later went on television bragging about what a thorough investigation he had conducted and that he felt very sorry for us as parents, but that he had every confidence in family Malach's ruling. So Steed was on board with whatever Malach said after they both decided that they wouldn't try to pass off Kevin and Don's murders as suicides. And reportedly, Hortie Linda Ives, sheriff Steed went on TV to brag about how thorough of an investigation they did. And we had to hear this. Their investigation was so thorough that they left my son's foot out there for two days in plain sight. And what's more, we learned from Marilyn Erritz, the boys on the tracks, a relative of the Henry family who was walking along the tracks had discovered the severed foot and notified the sailing county sheriff. I mean, that's unreal. That's the stuff of Hollywood. Anyways, let's have a look at some of the other ways that this investigation was thorough as stated by Jim Steed. Against all standard police procedures, the back of the train was used at the reference point to record the location of the boys' bodies and possessions. Once the train left, the reference point was lost forever, and the information gathered became totally useless. A number of pieces of evidence collected at the scene eventually turned up missing. Police refused to acknowledge the existence of this gun even though its collection by police was captured on video. Likewise, all three members of the train crew observed a tarp covering the boys' bodies on the tracks prior to the impact. The conductor even showed investigators where the tarp had landed after the impact. Nevertheless, the police denied the tarp's existence. The paramedics. The paramedics picked up the tarp from the boys. They had to come down the railroad anyway. They had the head body bags. You wanted to walk them out through you picking them up. But severed from the body bag was a tarp. Right. And what color it was? I can't remember. Everything was kind of energy. I really didn't pay that thing much attention. I knew it was some kind of a tarp. It wasn't a bad body bag. I thought it had it, you know, more or less. Fogged it. And closest I can remember, they laid it now. Right there. And Linda's quest for a second opinion, which they had gotten in March of 1988, where Dr. James Garrett of San Antonio, Texas concluded that it was highly unlikely for any amount of THC exposure to have the effects that Malacca had alleged. And yet, sailing County Sheriff James Steed repeatedly told the Benton Courier that there was nothing at the tracks that night to suggest that it was nothing more than a strange accident. A couple of other articles I found of interest are one job to subscribe to. But nevertheless, we can see where it says Jim Steed said his agency never closed its case files on the boy's deaths. In the next one states, Jim Steed says the section of material found near a railroad crossing where the two teenagers died on August 23rd is not. And I'm going to guess that it continued on to say is not considered to be the tarp in question. Further, Steed says, we haven't found anything that resembles a tarp or found anything that could be a tarp. And of course, because that's how the cover up is gone. Ultimately, though, we'll never get the answers of Jim Steed anymore, as he died in 1996. And something of interest to know from this site, it states that he was the youngest sheriff elected in sailing County, and he was also a 30 second degree Mason. Food for thought anyways. But overall, we've seen that James Steed was the sailing sheriff during the initial investigation that treated the scene as an accident, not a crime scene. Their left-cavans foot behind on the tracks to be found by a family member of the Henry family the next day. He denied the existence of a tarp covering the boys, despite numerous witnesses saying otherwise. He also cited with the corrupt family Malak, who tried to cover up the murders, and he called the murders a strange accident. So obviously, we're not off to a very promising starter. So let's me Jim Steed's successor is sailing sheriff Larry Davis, who took over in 1991. And we can see from that thorough investigation of the boys' murders, that Chuck Tallin was conducting the investigation, assisting at the scene where Lieutenant Ray Richmond, Deputy's Kathy Cardi, Pat Hawkins, and Reserve Officer Larry Davis. So the new sheriff of sailing County, Larry Davis, was part of that original, thorough investigation. That left-cavans foot on the tracks. Let's hear from Larry Davis about that investigation. Despite the policy of investigating any suspicious death as a homicide until proven otherwise, the Saline County deputy who took control of the scene where Kevin and Don were murdered, immediately ordered it worked as an accident. Procedures were never taken to protect the scene and properly collect evidence. If we were told to work as an accident, or the investigators were told to work as an accident, it was a bad off time and ifs was put into it right there at the scene. So it admits right there that the investigation was told to be treated as an accident, not a crime scene. And then we see this from June 22, 1992, that on May 16, prosecuting attorney Dan Harmon and sheriff Larry Davis testified on behalf of Kevin Depreased. Depreased was indicted in what was described by authorities as a multi-million dollar drug operation, stretching from California to Benton. What happened was that Davis and Harmon were subpoenaed to testify by Depreased's attorney, David Smith. Smith represented Harmon previously when he was charged for not filing taxes. In the depreased case, Davis and Harmon both testified on behalf of Depreased and testified that although they didn't personally know Depreased, they didn't believe him to be a drug dealer. Davis and Harmon also testified that Depreased's lifestyle and his work as a self-employed plumber were inconsistent with the person selling drugs. The court saw things differently and Depreased was convicted. And we can see from his appeal in 1993 that lawyer David Smith argued for Kevin Depreased while David Lamont argued for Steve Morrell. And we'll cut to the chase and go right down to the conclusions. And the conclusions state that for the foregoring reasons, we vacate Mr. Morrell's sentence and remain for recentencing. In all other aspects, we affirm the judgment of the district court. What this means is that the court's accepted Steve Morrell's appeal and reversed his sentence. But as for Kevin Depreased, the court accepted the judgment of the lower court and upheld his sentence. And this is the guy that Larry Davis and Dan Harmon both went and testified for trying to help. So we can see that Larry Davis was involved in the original investigation of Kevin and Don and was part of the team that treated that investigation as an accident rather than a crime scene despite all the obvious evidence suggesting otherwise. And we also see that he later teamed up with Dan Harmon in an attempt to get a big time drug data off the charges. So so far, things aren't looking too good, with James Steed citing with famy Malax decisions and Larry Davis hooking up with Dan Harmon, you begin to start wondering how much actual investigation was being done. So let's meet Sheriff Judy Pritchan, who succeeded Larry Davis in 1992 and would hold the post until 2001. And I couldn't find too much honor in relation to Kevin and Don's murders. So what I did find is rather interesting. There are FBI files that show Sheriff Pritchan asking for the help of the FBI and in turn the Little Rock FBI will continue to coordinate the investigation with Sheriff Pritchan. And you'll find other documents like that as well, which show Sheriff Pritchan taking an interest in trying to solve the case apparently. And let's have a listen to what sailing detective John Brown has to say, who started an investigation in 1993. My immediate supervisor, who was Lieutenant of the Sling County Criminal Investigation Division, took me for a ride that lasted approximately one hour. During this ride to literally nowhere, it appeared the whole purpose was to tell me to leave the case alone. He said things like, there's not anything to this. This could have been an accident. It's going to bring you a lot of grief if you continue on and do this. And in the end, he finally said, you know, Johnny really need to leave this alone. It'd become obvious that once it started going through the case file, it had been robbed of most of the pertinent evidence. No crime scene photographs, a list of evidence was not present. The things you would expect to find. I run across a young lady named Charlene Wilson. She told the horror story that I didn't really believe at the time. So I started searching for evidence to substantiate just part of what she had said. Herman went ballistic, called, he threatened me, threatened Sheriff Pridgin, threatened Captain Gene Donham with Chief Deputy. All because I talked to this one woman. So John Brown, a Gene Duffy before him, was threatened by Dan Harmon once he started talking to Charlene Wilson. And we also saw that Dan Harmon threatened Sheriff Judy Pridgin as well. And something to note as well, before we declared John Brown a hero, is that he would later go on to be trailed into ives and testify on behalf of Jay Campbell and Kirk Lane in their lawsuit against Pat Matrachiana who made the documentary movie, Abstruction of Justice. And ultimately in the end, Campbell and Lane lost their suit on appeal, and John Brown would be proven wrong as well. Here's an article I found from Abst first, 2010, which would be nine years after Sheriff Pridgin left the force. And it pretty much goes on to say that she's continued to work with law enforcement over the years following her departure from the sailing sheriff's office. But it's something she stated down below at the bottom, that caught my eye. And she states, we are blessed to have the quality of people that we get in those jobs. Chief Kirk Lane and Christopher Campbell are very professional. So she's given high praise to Kirk Lane, someone who's been outright named by two witnesses as one of the killers of Kevin and Don and as many as possibly four witnesses. So look on back, it appeared that Judy Pridgin did want to solve the murders of Kevin and Don. And she was working with Little Rock FBI in early 1994 on the case. And we see that she was threatened by Dan Harmon. And then we see that Detective John Brown would later turn on linda ives, testify on behalf of Jay Campbell and Kirk Lane and would be proven wrong. And then we see that ultimately Pridgin would later give high praise to Kirk Lane. Are you starting to see a bit of a pattern here? So let's have a look at who would follow Judy Pridgin as Sheriff. And that would be Sheriff Phil Mask from 2001 to 2009. And I couldn't find anything relating Phil Mask to an investigation involving the murders of Kevin and Don. And that might be because of instead of investigating, he was too busy being caught up in his own criminal activity. As we can see from the Arkansas Times on November 2nd, 2006, sailing County Sheriff Phil Mask was accused by sailing County Prosecuting Attorney Robert Hersfield of creating an illegal bank account in selling contraband firearms. And then three weeks later on November 21st, 2006, we see from KATV News reporter, Kristen Fisher, that sailing County Sheriff Phil Mask admits to illegal sales of confiscated weapons. But no criminal charges will be filed because the statute of limitations is expired. Naturally, in this was late 2006, Phil Mask would go on to serve another two full years as sailing County Sheriff, not solving the murders of Kevin and Don. So overall, I see where Sheriff Phil Mask was accused of illegal weapons sales. And he admitted to those accusations and faced no criminal charges because of the statute of limitations ran out. And obviously, he didn't contribute anything positive to Kevin and Don's case. And you have to ask, is this because he was too caught up in his own corruption? It's a valid question. And it's a question we can ask with the next sheriff, Bruce Pennington, who was sailing sheriff from 2009 to 2013. And if we go away back and look at the Sarcansastay Police report from 1988, less than a year after the boy's murders, we can see that at then Sargent, Bruce Pennington of the Arkansas State Police was involved in the case. The report was made by Don Birdsong of the Arkansas State Police, another questionable character. And he states, I had made earlier requests of Sargent Pennington to contact Trooper Lanehart to see if a written report had been made to concerning the train accident where Kevin and Ives and Don had been were killed. I requested from Sargent Pennington that if a written report of any kind was made, the copies be forwarded to this investigator to be made part of the file. On June 8, 1988, when I made contact with Sargent Pennington, I was advised that Trooper Lanehart had not made any incident report or any other written report concerning this case. So go figure, Pennington was involved in the so-called investigation at its earliest stages as well. Now if we fast forward 25 years after the murders, we see that according to then sailing county sheriff Bruce Pennington, the case remains open and investigation into the deaths is continuing. Yeah, I bet. That sentence should read, the case remains open and the cover up into the deaths is continuing. Anyways, it continues. Lieutenant Michael Frost is supervisor of the Criminal Investigation Division of the Sheriff's Office and is the only investigator assigned to the case. So let's hear from Mike Frost and what he has to say about the murders of Kevin and Don. Lieutenant Mike Frost had us the Lee and County's Criminal Investigation Division now leads the investigation. Lieutenant Not a whole lot of leads, new leads that come in. I do not have a detective assigned in the case. I don't know one of who this is the case. I've been through the case files and try to follow up on things that I can find in the case file from that time frame. So he says he's gone through the case files. There's not many leads. He's trying to follow up on leads, etc. And he's the only one doing so. But I do wonder how much actual investigation was being done. He also says this. Have several people that said they were in the woods. We have no one that has said that they were at the scene. And we know that's alive. This was in 2012. Tommy Newhouse had given testimony that he was at the scene and named Dan Harmon is being there as well. And Newhouse wouldn't pass away until 2013. So he was still very much alive at the time of this interview with Mike Frost. And let's not forget one of the accounts of Charlene Wilson, who was still very much alive and wrote a four-page confession letter back in 1993, which was in the case files that Frost has he allegedly went through. So did he somehow miss that? Did he not know about Tommy Newhouse and his sworn testimony to the FBI, even passing a polygraph? Or was it a detective Mike Frost busy doing other things? Such has played an innocent against drug charges in 2014. Showing here leaving the courthouse, the former lieutenant over the Criminal Investigation Division of the Sailing County Sheriff's Office pleaded innocent Monday to charges of delivery of a controlled substance and illegal use of a communication facility. The drugs and questions were oxies. Here's a look at some of his charges. So like I ask, how much real investigation was this guy actually doing? Meanwhile, going back to his boss, Sheriff Bruce Pennington, we see that a year before Frost would be arrested, Pennington was set to retire. Not because he wanted to retire mind you, but because the sheriff pleaded guilty to two misdemeanors after being arrested on alcohol related charges. Pennington was busted after a report of an intoxicated person getting into the driver's seat of a car, and Pennington reportedly took a swing at the arresting officer. And this was just the beginning of his problems. We would see a couple years later in 2015 that Pennington would plead guilty in more serious charges of wire fraud. Former Sailing County Sheriff Bruce Pennington pleaded guilty today to a federal wire fraud charge paying personal bills with campaign money. At the time, Pennington issued a statement that included, as many of you already know, I've had some problems with alcohol. My attempt to continue to serve the people of Sailing County or Sheriff while dealing with these problems caused the large amount of scrutiny to be placed upon myself in my office. This led to the discovery that I had paid personal bills with campaign funds, which is a violation of federal law. It sounds to me like he's blaming alcohol for his problems, and his attempt to deal with those problems is the only reason that he got caught. I mean, I read his statement to say, and just to add, when I was younger, I had a stepfather who was an abuse of alcoholic. So I have a bit of insight and understanding into how they think, but I read that statement as saying, I have a problem with alcoholism, and that's the reason I got caught. If I dealt better with my alcoholism, it wouldn't have discovered anything, and it wouldn't have these problems right now. Anyways, moving along, we see the US Attorney's statement on the case, which reads, on or about December 14th, 2007, penning to open the quote, Bruce penning to share of campaign account, and quote, bank account, and penning to have the sole signatory authority over it. Further, penning to converted contributions for his 2012 and 2014 campaigns to his personal use and profit, and concealed his conversion of campaign funds from the public, the county clerk, and law enforcement authorities. The maximum potential penalty is up to 20 years in imprisonment, up to three years supervised release, and a fine of up to $250,000. So what did Bruce penning to get? Well, we can see in December 2015, Bruce penning to missentanced, and it says, the former salient county sheriff was sentenced to one year, plus one day of incarceration, following his conviction for wire fraud. So out of a possible 20-year sentence, and $250,000 fine, he only gets one year in jail instead. And if we look three months later, in March of 2016, he pleads guilty again in a plea bargain deal. Bruce pennington already sentenced to a year, entered a plea bargain to state charges of abuse of public trust and theft while salient sheriff. He received concurring eight months sentences from circuit judge Gary Arnold, another member of the quote unquote good old boys club, and we looked where he fits into the story and murder on the tracks part one for anybody wondering. And something else to note, from THV11, a CBS affiliate in Little Rock, they released the story about Bruce pennington as well on the same day as the article we just looked at from the Arkansas Times. And they go on to tell us both the ultimate fate of Mike Frost, saying, Mike Frost, another man connected to the case, meaning connected to pennington's case, pleaded no contest. And I find it odd that CBS affiliate THV referred to Frost as another man connected to the case, as opposed to properly identifying him as a former lieutenant in the Criminal Investigation Division under sheriff Bruce pennington. At any rate, we ultimately learn that he was sentenced to a year in jail. So overall, we've learned that Bruce pennington was involved in Kevin and Don's case way back in June of 1988, and that he would later be found guilty of wire fraud and instead of getting up to 20 years in jail, it was only given one year, and it was also found guilty of abuse of the public trust and only given an eight month concurring sentence to the year that he was serving. And we also learned that Mike Frost was the only investigator assigned to Kevin and Don's murders during his time, and he would eventually be found guilty of illegal use of communications and distribution of a controlled substance, and he would be sentenced to a year in jail. And he also denied that there was witnesses on the tracks, don't forget, in which we know better. So honestly, the question has to be asked again, how much investigation were these guys actually doing into Kevin and Don's murders, like they say they were? Because it looks to me like they were pretty busy running their office, like a criminal enterprise, kind of like Dan Harmon or Jake Amble did before them. Anyways, let's meet the next sheriff, or rather in-term sheriff, Cleve Barfield. We can see that Barfield was selected by the Sailing County Quorum Corps as in-term Sailing County Sheriff by a unanimous vote of 13 to nothing. Barfield said coming out of retirement after 39 years in law enforcement was an easy choice for him because he saw the need. Now I didn't find too much on him, which is understandable, being in-term sheriff in only for roughly a year at that. But I did come across this where two of his deputies had to fight to clear their names and said they were wrongfully fired. In-term sheriff, Cleve Barfield fired narcotics detectives Kevin Cooper and Robert Burnett. And we'll come back to Cleve Barfield in a couple of minutes. But down below we see Sailing Prosecutor Ken Cassidy involved in this as well, directing the letter to the two officers that states, your activity and case files submitted for prosecution are all fully inadequate for this time period. And to get a better understanding of who Ken Cassidy is and how he relates to the overall case with Kevin and Don. We can have a listen to this interview with Linda Hives, Kevin's mother, interviewed by KARN's Doc Washburn on July 15th, 2016, talking about Linda's experience in meeting Ken Cassidy. Ms. Hives, you have a retired homicide detective who helped you for a number of years go through boxes of case files and evidence. And I met with you guys a few months back and you all showed me a piece of paper which just blew my mind. And I've showed it some attorneys. I've showed it to attorneys very familiar with the case. I showed it to attorneys who were not familiar with the case. Either way, they looked at it and they're like, this is murder confession. This woman, Charlie Wilson, they said she's putting herself at the scene of the murder and confessing that she participated. And she puts Dan Harmon then prosecuting attorney of Celine County and four other people at the scene of the murder. And she and Harmon, the only one still alive. The others were murdered within a year of the murder of your son and his friend Don Henry. And there's so many details. And the details, of course, the people who are familiar with the case line up exactly with everything else that everybody else knows about the murder scene. Make this look like an airtight murder confession. Now, I want you to tell my listeners what happened when you took what certainly looks like a murder confession as much as anything I've ever seen in my life to Celine County prosecuting attorney. Ken Cassidy, you and your husband and the retired homicide detective go to meet the Celine County prosecuting attorney. What was his response? Well, we were disrespected. He took one look at the paper that we handed him and said, I'm not doing anything with this. And I said, well, could you at least read it? And he said, no, I'm not going to do anything with it. And he literally sneered and laughed at us. And when the detective started explaining probable calls in a case and what he suspected was supportive of probable calls, Ken Cassidy just looked at him and laughed. And he said, I don't think you know anything about probable calls. Probable calls is a call that this detective made every day in his job in Little Rock. For many years. He made the homicide detective. Prosecutor never even looked at the case before he decided whether or not there was probable calls to arrest. And you know, he was very frustrated and I was very insulted because I mean, I'm used to being insulted by Ken Cassidy and every other elected official of this county. But for many years. Yes, for many years, 29 years to be exact. And I was so insulted that he was so rude and disrespectful of this detective. It was very well respected. Well, Ken Cassidy, prosecuting attorney Slingt County doesn't think the detective knows anything about probable calls. I don't think Mr. Cassidy knows anything about integrity. We'll be hearing from Ken Cassidy shortly. But going back to his buddy in Sheriff, Cleve Barfield, in the two deputies he fired, Kevin Cooper and Robert Bernat. We see that Cooper had been with the department for 14 years and Bernat around eight. And Cooper, who was on desk duty after having reconstructive surgery, was setting up an undercover co-pust. He said that would have freed him about $3 million in drugs. But Sheriff Barfield denied Cooper permission to serve an narcotic search warrant. Cooper said, adding that he never got a reason. Bernat, Cooper's partner, said he couldn't work drug cases on his own while his partner was on medical leave. He tried to go back into a drug task force and Barfield backed that, but the prosecutor, who would be Ken Cassidy, stopped it. And below we see Cooper asking, is there political motivation for this termination? My answer is yes. And after everything we've seen so far, it's hard to argue with him on that point. After the meeting, Cooper said he believed he was fired after Cassidy, the salient prosecutor, who he said back to another candidate, learned Cooper was running for Sheriff. And that would be the same Sheriff position occupied by then in-term Sheriff, Cleve Barfield. We know that Kevin Cooper didn't win that election, but we'd see who did. Selected, I said there's not that much to be found on Barfield, but overall we see that he was the in-term Sheriff replacing Bruce Pennington. And he fired two deputies that were working on a multi-million dollar drug case and gave no reason why. And he seemed to work well with Ken Cassidy, which that in itself speaks volumes of my opinion. And I think I'm pretty safe in saying that he didn't lift a finger to further the open investigation into Kevin and Don's murders while he was in office. So this makes up the list of the past sheriff's in Sillian County since Kevin and Don's murders. And I gotta say, it's not very impressive. So let's meet the current Sillian County Sheriff Rodney Wright who took over in 2015. And I'll let Doc Washburn and prosecutor Ken Cassidy better explain just exactly who Rodney Wright is. Because we have a caller on News Radio 1029K RN's Newsmaker line Ken Cassidy prosecuting attorney of Sillian County. Mr. Cassidy, welcome to the Doc Washburn show. I guess you've heard what Linda Ives has been saying about what certainly appears to us to be a murder confession from Charlene Wilson. We like to get your side of the story. Well, Mr. Washburn, thanks for having me on. I have gotten numerous calls that, yeah, that y'all have been talking about the case on Friday and today. You know, I can't comment a lot on what is Sillian ongoing criminal investigation. But when you're talking about the meeting that me and Miss Ives had along with my chief deputy and and a couple other folks, you know, I thought the meeting was was pretty constructive. She had a lead that I think was part, it was my impression from her was part of the case file from a long time ago. One of this person reinvestigated and retalked to, I said, you know, yes, that is a good, you know, we will do that. I will get you in touch with law enforcement. I got her in touch with the head of the detectives of the Sillian County Sheriff's Office at the time. So that meeting with Linda Ives according to Ken Cassidy was constructive. But more importantly, he told Sillian County Sheriff's Office to take the confession letter to the Sillian County Sheriff's Office. That's these people. Currently run by this guy who according to Ken Cassidy is quote running the competent sheriff's office. And I think I think Sheriff Ryan is running a competent sheriff's office. Now what progress they have made in this, you know, I don't get updates on everything they do on a cold case. Okay, well, what what miss Ives and the retired homicide detective both told me is that you refuse to even read the statement told them you weren't going to do anything with it told the retired homicide detective. He didn't know the first thing about probable cause and told them to go to talk to the sheriff who by the will is the nephew of one of the people, you know, being accused. Sure, sure. I understand Rodney has that Barton Rodney's uncle is a criminal and one of the most infamous criminals in Sillian County history. And exactly who is Rodney Wright's uncle described as one of the most notorious criminals in Sillian County history? Well, that would be Dan Harmon. That's right. As unbelievable as it sounds, Sheriff Rodney Wright's uncle is Dan Harmon. The same Dan Harmon that's been named by three witnesses has been with the boys on the tracks on the night they were murdered and is featured all throughout Charlene Wilson's confession letter as well. So how much investigation do you think has actually been done by Rodney Wright? Perhaps as much as all his predecessors? That's quite the history we've had to look at. In Sheriff Rodney Wright has had three years to investigate and has known about Charlene Wilson's confession letter for almost two years at least. And yeah, they've done nothing. All those sheriffs haven't been able to solve the case or have they even tried. It's a legit question and we've only really looked at the sheriffs. There's a whole host of officials at various levels that have been involved in this case in some form or another including prosecutors like Rodney Wright's uncle is Dan Harmon and his partner prosecutor Richard Gera. And we've heard from prosecutor Kankasity so he can make a pre-mind where he fits in. And also involved in the case in some form or another are judges, state medical personnel, US attorneys and a whole host of other law enforcement officials as well as a whole lot more after that. But all these people have been able to figure out that Dan Harmon is somehow involved in the murders of Kevin Ives and Don Henry. The same Dan Harmon that prosecutor Kankasity once called. One of the most infamous criminals in Selen County history. And don't forget that four of these people have been implicated as being directly involved in the murders of Kevin and Don. I'm going to close out with the clip from the interview with Mike Frost where he talks about the possibility of a cover-up and we'll have a look at that. On top of speculation are claims of a government cover-up. No, there has not been as long as I have been to share ourselves that our had been in criminal investigation visit. Well, you'll excuse me if I don't take Mike Frost's word for it. And let's have a look at what the documents say. And according to this FBI document from March 11th, 1994, early on in their investigation, they state that the captioned victims who are Kevin and Don are believed to have witnessed a drug deal involving prominent individuals of Selen County. And then three months later, on June 3rd, 1994, with the FBI getting deeper into their investigation, we see that they say, however, further investigation has revealed that the two teenage boys were killed prior to being placed on the tracks and that the placing of the bodies on the tracks was a cover-up. So the FBI at this point has acknowledged that there's a cover-up involved. And they go on to say, this alleged cover-up supposedly involves law enforcement and political officials. And then we see by October 6th, 1994, the FBI says it is very apparent that a well-orchestrated conspiracy surrounds captioned case and the captioned case, of course, pertains to Kevinives and Don Henry. Then we see by February 2nd, 1995, that the FBI says, investigation at this point in time reveals that a cover-up in the investigation exists with law enforcement involvement as well as with and the rest is redacted. And then by May 12th, 1995, the FBI states, investigation into this matter has indicated that there's a likelihood of police involvement in the cover-up. So like I say, with all things considered, I'm not buying what Mike Frost is selling when it comes to the topic of cover-up. And there's a likelihood of police involvement in the cover-up? You think? And before we go, here's the latest update in what's going on. There's a new lieutenant Sheriff in town and his name is Jeffrey Silk, who is now running the patrol division. And they have his full bio on the Slinge County Sheriff's website, as well as the PDF he can download on his background. And reading from his profile online when he was at Baker Bonds, we see something interesting in that a few years of his time at the DEA, crossed over when Aissa Hodginson was the head of the DEA. And again, if you've seen parts 1 and 2 of this series, you'll know why that connection might raise some eyebrows. Anyway, as looking at the lieutenant Jeff Soak's overall background, he seems like he's sort of a super cop. And one wonders, with all his experience all over the world for the DEA, how did he end up in little old Slinge County? I'm reminded of the movie Hot Fuzz, where Super cop, Nicholas Angel, ends up working in a small countryside town that is run by corrupt politicians of law enforcement. And ultimately, Nicholas Angel kicks ass. Now, if you've been following the case, you'll know that recently former WWF superstar Billy Jack Haynes came forward, saying he was at the tracks the night of the murders. And after all these years, the Slinge County Sheriff's Office seemed to be interested in the investigation again, through the efforts of Lieutenant Jeff Soak, who contacted an investigator and former detective Keith Ronsavall about Billy Jack Haynes. And you can hear the full version here on YouTube, but I'll just play a short clip from it. This is Keith. Hello? Hey partner, it's just a rip. How are you? I'm doing well, thank you. Well, I'm playing with my guest, Steve, who's his mom, that's his news. Um, um, and he looked at me and I was like, I'm going to go 10 years, wait a minute, I don't think what I know of that, but I'm not from here. I've been trying to hear it for the first time in 20 years, I was a cop before that fall in more than 20 years, but any other focus on that around. But I've been here for a month or two years now, and Jeff Wright, he's been here since he's come here, and I've been trying to see that he's been here in my 30s and my first forever, and he was here since he's been here, so yeah, I'm happy to. So that's all I'm just going to mention, that's just one year. And I've been super to this eye recently, and today we're having a meeting with we're both this eye as well as, uh, Mr. Lewis. He kind of talked about the way forward, and seems like you're like kind of like the rich and that you've made everything happen. Um, so with this new witness, obviously that's, um, that we would be, um, we would want to, uh, to kind of drill down a little bit, you know, what was all about, uh, which is integral, but I want to call it besides roughly, this is the effect of the possible. Well, uh, let me share some, um, my thoughts with you. You know, I'm not trying to disparage you or, or the chief deputy. I don't know either one of you. I'm, you know, I've, no very little about your past, but, um, I think, you know, there's a long history with the slaying down in sheriff's office. And there's a history between your sheriff and two of the people named as suspects in this, um, double murder. Are you aware of that? Um, please, I'm probably aware of more than more than you think. Well, I mean, you're not going to answer the question. I'm going to answer what you're talking about. All right. Well, he, the sheriff is the nephew of one of those names. And also a good friend with another one this night. At any rate, that conversation didn't go over too well. And when you consider the history of it all, it's understandable. And it remains to be seen whether the tenant's sheriffry silk is going to be like Nicolás Angel and clean house. Or if he'll just end up being another one of the gang. Jim90