Murder On The Tracks Pt. 1 - The Story of Kevin Ives and Don Henry

Video Transcript:

Greetings folks, we're gonna have a look at a sad tragic and shocking story involving the murder of two young teenage boys who were killed in sailing county Arkansas, and their bodies placed on the railroad tracks in an effort to conceal their murders. We're also gonna look a little bit into the cover-up of those murders and a few others. For 29 years, justice has been denied to the eyes and Henry families for the murders of their sons, Kevin and Don. On August 23, 1987, Kevin, then 17, and Don, then 16, wrote at night hunting, and sadly would have been murdered and their bodies placed on the train tracks where a union-specific train would eventually run them over hours later, at approximately 4.25 am. Their case would eventually gain national attention and news articles across the country, including the LA Times and the Wall Street Journal among others, as well as at the time the nationally syndicated television show Unsolved Mysteries, which aired two episodes to their case. Another outlet to focus on the murders to be the world's books, with the best probably being Marla Varitz boys on the tracks, documenting the case of Kevin and Don's murders in the cover-up in extreme detail. The investigation was bungled right from the get-go. It eventually officials from all three levels of federal, state, and local governments have all played a part over the decades in the cover-up with murders of Kevin and Don. It's no one who was involved in the murders. There were witnesses to the events that night on record that have passed polygraphs. There was even a confession letter from one of the participants to the murders. So what's the problem? Why can't the Ives and Henry families knock at justice for the murders of their son's Kevin and Don? The problem with reason there has been no justice for Kevin and Don's murders is because of why they were murdered. Answering that question leads to even more crimes, crimes committed by government agencies. Kevin and Don were killed because they had stumbled onto a drug-drop that hot summer night, on the very same train tracks where their bodies would be later placed. We have multiple witness testimony to that. That drug-drop was part of a secret operation first being run by the late infamous Colcane Smuggler Barry Seal, and was one of the facets of the Iran contra operations that was never revealed to the American public. Slightly the why, the cover-up of Kevin and Don's murders happened. It began immediately into the investigation and would continue throughout the years resulting in ten different local, state and federal investigations, grand juries, etc., all bearing down on different locations in Arkansas, including saline and surrounding counties, and the mean airport as well, all being shut down before any final word would be allowed into the public record. For Kevin and Don, we're going to look at what we do have in the way of evidence and show who we do know was involved in their murders. Instead of cover-up, started immediately in the investigation after their bodies were found. Despite the evidence to the contrary, local officials were immediately treating the cases in accident, while at the same time concealing their denying evidence such as a green tarp that the boys' bodies recovered with, or the rifle that they had with them at the time. The investigation was so shoddy that they even left behind Kevin's foot on the train tracks, which wasn't discovered until two days later. Despite all the bungling right off the bat, saline county sheriff Jim Steed would proclaim he was pleased with the thorough investigation after those same two days. Let's meet Fanny Malak. He was the state medical examiner and Arkansas at the time of the boys' murders and did the autopsy. After the autopsy, Malak ruled that Kevin and Don had smoked 20 pie joints and fell asleep on the tracks, and thus didn't hear the train blowing in its whistle as it was bearing down on them. You know, anybody who knows anything about smoking pot knows that's just a ridiculous ruling. Of course, the eyes and Henry family's thought that ruling and a grand jury was formed in a second autopsy was ordered. Enter pathologist Joseph Burton of Atlanta, who was brought in and would find that Kevin had been beaten in the head with the butt end of a rifle, and Don had been stabbed in the back, both prior to being placed on the tracks, which would explain the fitness of their blood at the time of their deaths, as witnessed by the train's engineers and emergency first responders to the scene. This clip from the movie obstruction of justice better explains the family Malak story, and more of its controversial rulings. 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. Because of their persistence, Kevin and Don's bodies were exhumed. New autopsies were performed, and a grand jury was convened. Dr. Joseph Burton, a nationally recognized forensic pathologist from out of state, performed the new autopsies. His findings revealed that Don Henry had been stabbed in the back, and Kevin Ives' face had been smashed by a blow from a rifle butt, before their bodies were placed on the railroad tracks. This information alone would strongly suggest that the boys were injured, rendered unconscious or even killed prior to their bodies being robbed with a train. Burton's autopsies also revealed that Malak had mutilated Kevin's skull by sawing it in so many different directions that it was impossible to tell where the original skull fractures were. Malak also had completely dismantled Kevin's jaw bones. Burton stated he had performed thousands of autopsies and had never seen anything like it. Was Malak trying to hide something? Was there a stab? Don says no, they were not stabbed. What did they did before? Absolutely no, they were alive. A former employee at the crime lab said he discovered what appeared to be evidence of a stab wound during the original autopsie, but was told, quote, not to worry about it. Malak has refused all comments. The deaths of these two boys, most probably were not accidental deaths, but they met their death as a result of injuries inflicted on them by other people or another person. In addition to Burton, two other forensic pathologists and seven forensic investigators with more than 100 years accumulated experience investigating homicides reviewed the case. It was their collective opinion that the ruling be changed to murder. During the midst of all of the turmoil with trying to get the ruling changed in our case, it became very apparent that this was not an isolated instance of an error in the ruling on the matter of death. There were many other cases statewide that we became aware of. In 1992, the Los Angeles Times telling more than 20 additional cases where Dr. Malak had falsified evidence and ruled incorrectly. One case involved the murder of Raymond Albright, who had been shot five times in the chest with a cult 45. Incredibly, Malak had ruled suicide. Another involved James Dewey Milam, whose body was found without the head. In this case, Malak ruled the cause of death to be an ulcer. Although Milam's head had been clearly severed with a knife, Malak claimed the family pooch had bitten off the head, eaten the entire thing and then regurgitated. Malak says he tested the dog's vomit and found traces of Milam's brain and skull. Unfortunately, for Dr. Malak, Milam's head was later found. Malak's head turned out to be the entire story. Media coverage of Malak's dishonest ruling resulted in a massive public outcry, calling for his removal from office. The man who comes up and has fabrication to where he has created his own evidence. This is another magnitude that could create a national scandal and if necessary, it will. I have work to do. You know he's holding me. I have work to do. Yes, I will do it. Thank you. Thank you. You can say that you are a homeless man. Back to the house. Lying on his autopsy cases, lying in court. And he's not an honest person. He should be pressing you. Nevertheless, both Governor Clinton and the Arkansas State Medical Examiner Commission chairman, Jocelyn Elders, who had the power to remove Malak from office. Not only insisted he remain, they gave him a raise. Based on the facts I have, I really feel that Arkansas owes Dr. Malak a great debt and a real apology. Today, the Governor was asked if Malak should resign. I don't think that's a decision that I should make based on what I now know. You kidding me? Malak should have been indicted and sent to prison. Anyways, let's meet Linda Hives, Kevin's mother and here she has disabled family Malak's ruling. We were absolutely puzzled and outraged over the ruling of accidentalism and our 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. We met resistance from all fronts, from law enforcement, from the crime lab. We retained an attorney, a private investigator, and obtained court orders to get testable samples of everything that they had in order to get a second opinion. And family Malak refused to obey the court orders. It didn't matter what Malak did, whether it was perjure himself in court, fabricate evidence in murder trials, call coroners, murderers, Clinton defended him by excusing it as being stressed out, overworked and underpaid. His testimony compromised evidence in a lot of felony cases in Arkansas. And it was very transparent that the end result was that he was given a $14,000 raise. It was an absolute insult to my family. I'm not going to call man. Dr Malak refused repeated requests to talk with us, but when we caught up with him, he said people didn't like him because he's from Egypt. And he claimed he had never made a single mistake in any of the 7,000 autopsies he conducted. People say that as the state medical examiner, you were in counter and you bungled cases, and the governor Clinton for some reason defended you and protected you. Is that the case? You have to understand that it's 7,000 autopsies. One single case, overturned because of me. Not a single case? Not one single case. But that's just not true. Yet somehow Malak got a 41% raise for his efforts. On a side note, I'd like to take the time to point out the differences in motherhood. On one hand, we have Linda Hives, who lost her son. And she has the proper mother's love of her child, which has also been what's kept her drive in full gear to continue the fight for justice for her son, Kevin. On the other hand, we have Arkansas State Medical Examiner's Commission Chairman, Jocelyn Elders, family Malak's boss, pictured here. We know that love is her son, but one must question her overall ethics in supporting Malak. And in an ironic twist, and if you know the overall case, well enough, he'll agree it's ironic. Shortly after Bill Clinton, who strongly supported Malak as well, took Elders to the White House with him. And appointed Elders United States Surgeon General, her son, Kevin, will get arrested for selling cocaine to undercover agents and get a 10-year jail sentence. Had Elders been paying more attention to truth and integrity, perhaps she would not only have told the truth about Malak, but might have raised her son in a better manner that would have had him knowing better than to involve cocaine into his life in selling it. Anyways, let's meet Dan Harmon. Dan Harmon is the key player in this whole story. Keep that in mind as we go. He was a former state prosecutor from 1978 to 1980. And had his share of troubles in unreported domestic abuses on multiple ex-wives over the years. He was always protected and voucher for by many officials, both law enforcement and civil. And by the time family Malak had made his particular ruling, Harmon actually convinced Judge John Cole to appoint himself, Harmon, a special prosecutor in the original grand jury investigation into the boys' murders. Harmon and his best friend and assistant prosecutor, Richard Garrett, approached the eyes family and embraced him as friends. The promise on it would find the killers of Kevin and Don. Little of the eyes family know at the time though that Dan Harmon himself was actually involved in the murders of Kevin and Don, which in hindsight now makes sense, understanding why Harmon made sure he was appointed to the case. Ultimately the grand jury would investigate into Kevin and Don's murders that was closed down on December 31, 1988 by Judge Cole, working a concert with Harmon and Garrett, and the jurors are not allowed to render any of its findings on record. The Saline County special grand jury has now disbanded. Three hours ago it delivered its final report on the deaths of two teenage boys, but the grand jury was not allowed to do what it wanted. I know that because you could not repeat and the report much of the testimony that you heard and evidence that you received, that you are somewhat frustrated by it. And that's understandable. And the final analysis I know that the grand jury hated to at this point to give it up, because I think the public needs to know about the seriousness of the drug problem here in Saline County and maybe other surrounding counties. So even though there was no one charged in the original grand jury investigation, there was plenty of evidence of many problems and suspicious activity by officials overall. Judge John Cole and prosecutors Dan Harmon and Richard Carrot brought the grand jury to a close on December 31, 1988, with the grand jury evidence and reports suppressed and not allowed on record against the grand jury's own wishes. Unreal. And the Unreal is only just beginning. A number of witnesses and people with information to Kevin and Don's murders put themselves be killed in the years following the murders of Kevin and Don. Out of their murders, we go on resolved as well except for the murder of Keith McCaskill, who they pinned on one of his neighbors who couldn't possibly have done it. The caskot also reportedly announced to his friends and family in the final days before his own murder, that he knew too much about the murders of Kevin and Don, and his days were numbered as well. Coney was a friend of Kevin and Don's and was actually with Kevin and Don in the night they were murdered. It would likely be the last friendly face of the poor boys that ever get to see again. It's also interesting to note that both Keith McCaskill and Keith Coney were themselves both killed with their murders unresolved before Judge Cole, Harmon and Carrot shut down the original grand jury investigation, with no public results permitted from the jury. Another interesting thing to note was that during those investigations, despite what witnesses such as the parents had told officials, they still refused to link the murders of their deaths to Kevin and Don, despite the obvious connections. I think that Mr. McCaskill was probably suffering from a lot of paranoia. And right now the indications are that nobody else is involved. Right there have been a reason no for his paranoia? I'm sure the reason for his paranoia. Because he talked to the police, if it was a prosecutor. I have both learned that that would be the reason. What about the murder? Is he connected at all with the grand jury investigation? Not to, we know of. McCaskill was acquittness in the Bryant Train Deaths investigation. Although police haven't ascertained a motive for the murder, they say there's no connection. We went this investigation to the death of Don and your cabinets. I don't foresee anything in the presence of the rest of this investigation. It would be anything that would make me talk to my mind. Now let's meet Dean Duffy. She's one of the few honest people in this whole sort of affair. In the beginning in 1990, Dean Duffy was appointed to head the newly created seventh judicial district drug task force. That was formed to look into the drug and corruption problems going on in the sailing county area and other surrounding counties as well. There was also a federal investigation looking into sailing and surrounding counties for drugs and corruptions amongst officials being run at the same time by U.S. Attorney's Chuck Banks and his assistant Bob Ghovar. The deeper Duffy and her team of investigators got, the more Dan Harmon through the media was trying to discredit her. Though she had no way to know it at the time, but immediately on Duffy's first day in the job as head of the task force, she was told not to look into anything involving government officials by her immediate supervisor Gary Arnold. Gary Arnold came into my office, stood in front of my desk, looked me straight in the face and said, Gene, you are not to use the drug task force to investigate any public official. He turned on his heel and marched out. Now, as startling as that statement might sound, I really didn't think that it was going to pose any kind of problem because at that time, I didn't have any indication that there was any public official in our judicial district who was involved in drugs. Let's have a look at some of what Gene Duffy discovered. I established a drug task force and set it up, hired undercover officers learned what I could to help the district get on its feet with investigation of drug activities in the district. Instantly, one of our investigators reveals that the now infamous train deaths may be tied to a major drug smuggling ring operating out of Mina. There were people who had been turning up dead, who were possible witnesses in the train deaths case. Our respected minor cover officer's instincts about the case and I certainly gave him permission to go forward with an investigation. He said that there were drug drops coming from airplanes in that area in the exact vicinity where Kevin and Don had been murdered. These drug drops from airplanes had virtually not been investigated by any of the law enforcement agencies in our district after and the connections that we made almost immediately led to several public officials and the person whose name came up immediately and most frequently was a damn harming. Three years had passed since the boys had been killed and Gene had no way of knowing that her drug task force was about to be shut down for nearly solving Kevin and Don's murders. It didn't occur to me that it was appropriate for our drug task force to reopen the case of the boys on the track until one of my undercover officers came to me and told me that not only was the case drug related but it was also solvable. He asked permission to investigate and I agreed to that and told him that we would take our information then to Bob Govar. Ironically, Dan Harmon and Richard Garrett, the very same men who had conducted the grand jury investigation of Kevin and Don's murders, were two of the main targets of Govar's drug and corruption investigation. Linda Ives, who for years had believed Harmon and Garrett were sincerely trying to solve her son's murder, now realized they were the ones orchestrating the cover-up. We certainly don't have any suspects at this point in time. It's been quite a while and I really didn't anticipate that it would take this long when we first started. I'm frustrated in the amount of time that it's taken, frustrated that we weren't able to accomplish some things that we probably should have been able to do. Whatever it comes out of it if someone's charged or not charged, the grand jury has done a tremendous job. But it still will leave the open question and whether or not if the boys were murdered who did it. Well, until it's solved, that's great. To make matters worse, Harmon suddenly became the prosecutor-elect for a three-county district, which included Selene County. Harmon, who had friends in the Arkansas press, wasted no time in launching a massive media smear campaign against Gene Duffy. He immediately began a media crecide against me. Eventually, Gene Duffy's name would be so completely smeared in a public campaign led by Dan Harmon. Through the media, who printed everything he told them, with no evidence. And combined with a statewide subpoena issued for Duffy and her task forces evidence to appear before Judge John Cole, the same judge who appointed Harmon as a special prosecutor of the original grand jury investigation, and who also closed that grand jury without letting the jurors enter their findings into the public record. While Duffy was wise and she left the state and became a school teacher in Texas until her name could be later cleared by the FBI. Initially, when leaving, she figured the evidence she had to bob over our in-chuck banks in their federal investigation would bring indictments to Harmon and others and her name would be cleared then. Little did you know at the time, though, that U.S. Attorney Chuck Banks would shut down the investigation in June of 1991 and clear Harmon and all officials of any wrongdoing. Meet Selene Detective John Brown, who enters the story in 1993, and, like Gene Duffy before him, would also be warned off looking into the murders of Kevin and Don. It was now five and a half years since Kevin and Don's murders. Detective John Brown, a 16-year law enforcement veteran, had moved his family into the Selene County area. The Ives family had asked the new sheriff to reopen the case, and John was given the assignment. However, just like Gene Duffy, John's first day on the job included a peculiar request from his boss. My immediate supervisor, who was lieutenant of the Selene 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. John was disturbed by his superior's attitude, and his concern escalated once he began examining the Ives Henry case file. It became obvious that once it started going through the case file, it had been robbed of most of the pertinent evidence of no crime scene photographs. A list of evidence was not present. The things you would expect to find. There's an FBI document from a later investigation in the mid 1990s showing that there was indeed evidence missing from the case files, which states, quote, evidence from this case to include a sketch of the accident scene cigarette butts left at the accident site. Pictures of the crime scene plus the original case files are missing and quote. Also from this FBI document we can see, quote, saline county officials are baffled that some of the original evidence collected during 1987 is no longer available and it files are missing and quote. I run across a young lady named Charlene Wilson. We told her a 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. Harmon went ballistic, called, threatened me, threatened Sheriff Pridget, threatened Captain Jean Donnell, the chief deputy. All because I talked to this one woman. To date, a total of nine separate state and federal investigations in Dominga have been shut down. The first indication I had that Mina may tie to the death of these two kids was there an audio tape provided to me by Russell Welch and Arkansas State Police Investigator assigned to Mina. The tape was of a confidential informant inside the federal corrections facility. That tape would allege that Don Henry and Kevin Ires were killed because of a connection to Mina, Arkansas. An actual report was generated by Selene County Sheriff's Office in 1987 and in 88 of people complaining of the planes flying over the tracks of approximately 100 feet above ground level with their lights out at night. I have interviewed five pilots, four of which can verify the 812 location being the tracks just west of Little Rock Arkansas with these two kids bodies were found. So just like Jean Duffy before him, John Brown was up against a mountain of resistance when it came to the investigation of both Mina and the deaths of Kevin and Don. It was also on the receiving end of threats from Dan Harmon just like Jean Duffy was, especially when it came to the topic of the deaths of the boys and Charlene Wilson. John Brown would eventually retire from the force after a couple of years from fear of what his investigation uncovered. So let's go back to Dan Harmon who by June 1990 became the seventh judicial district prosecutor-relate and after running Jean Duffy out of town and dealing with the detective John Brown for some his or her retirement. Harmon eventually put his buddy Roger Walsh in charge of a new task force which is the same position once held by Duffy. So you got to figure this will turn out good right? Well no. Dan Harmon's nefarious ways would finally catch up to him in the mid 1990s and by 1996 he was arrested and by July 1997 he was convicted on several felonies including drug charges and racketeerian. Unfortunately the investigation was limited to the crimes he committed only after his election to prosecutor in 1990 or somewhere around there and they were not allowed to look into anything on Harmon from the 1980s or any of Jean Duffy's or John Brown's investigations into the drain test cases. His buddy Roger Walsh would be convicted in January of 1998 and conspiracy charges related to Harmon's case. He was led off of a bunch of charges including drug related charges went though Clinton appointed US Attorney Paula Casey intervened but Walsh would ultimately receive 28 months for conspiracy to distort nonetheless. Harmon of Walsh appealed their convictions in 1999 and lost. After getting out of jail Dan Harmon would again get arrested and connection with drugs in 2010. It is tonight's top story please say the six month investigation that landed Harmon behind bars also led to the arrest of a dozen other people in Grant County. Please say it's a drug operation ranging from cocaine to pain killers. T.H.V. Sveta Boubae joins us now with more faith. Hi Liss police say Harmon was illegally selling prescription drugs near Sheridan school. While there's no evidence linking him in the 12 other suspects please say they are all part of an ongoing drug scene. Anybody self drugs are correct. Formatillated County prosecutor Dan Harmon is back behind bars. Billy four years after serving time for extortion, racketeering and drug conspiracy from a 1997 conviction. He thinks that he's going to be able to do that because of his status as being a former prosecutor. He's wrong this might not happen. Harmon is among the last few alleged drug dealers taken off Sheridan streets after a six month investigation. Harmon lives in Selene County but the investigation led police here to a traffic stop. Police say they found several drug items in his car. Harmon's passenger, a well-known drug dealer, is also now helping authorities. Anytime you're dealing with narcotics and dealing with this tough criminal element it can be dangerous. Need a dangerous thing. A system chief, Brent Cole says the former prosecutor is facing several felony charges that could lend him in prison this time for life. I think it's sad. You know, uh, I'm able to prosecute. He used to prosecute people for the same crime that he's committing. Police are now releasing any information or photographs of the 12 other suspects but they also face serious charges. Cole says for a small community the size of Sheridan, he helps the stink sense of message to offenders still out there. It doesn't matter you are we're gonna come out to you. Even though police say Harmon was selling the drugs in their school they don't believe he sold them to any young kids. He's still behind bars tonight on a hundred thousand dollar bond. Do you? All right, Faith, thank you. Harmon served one term as Selene County prosecutor in 1979. Voters elected him again in the 90s for two terms. He resigned after his 1996 arrest. He got out of prison early in 2006 for helping prosecutors in a murder case. So after understanding that Dan Harmon actually is a piece of, I mean work and involved heavily in cocaine and marijuana distribution. We come back up both the investigations of Jean Duffy and John Brown with a fresh eye towards what the actual truth is. That truth is startling. One of the witnesses in common in both Duffy's and Brown's investigations was Charlene Wilson who Dan Harmon aggressively tried blocking any contact from her to both Duffy and Brown though both investigators dealt plenty with Wilson anyways. Duffy even vouchers for Wilson in his far as saying that her testimony no matter is true and accurate. What was it about Wilson that got Harmon so up in anger when investigators ended the death of the boys would start questioning her. First let's go to Jean Duffy again and get her opinion on Charlene Wilson as a witness to her investigation. Charlene was recommended to our task force as an informant from DEA who had used her as an informant and also from at least two other law enforcement agencies that had used her as an informant and said that she was reliable. I used Charlene and she proved to be very very reliable. There was not one bit of information that she ever gave me that didn't pan out. So now let's hear what Charlene Wilson has to say. The people have to track that night to my knowledge where Dan Harmon keeps my caskled, Larry Rochelle. I do know that the boys were watching the drop site. And they got curious as to what was being dropped there. Well that's some pretty explosive stuff right there. Wilson admits to being there that night on the tracks and names Dan Harmon as one of the people being there as well and also mentions the drug trap as the reason as to why there are being there to begin with. Jean Duffy completely backs around this. You know what? Wilson's not the only one named Dan Harmon has been on tracks that night. Linda Ives turned this witness over to a local investigator who took him to the FBI. The FBI immediately put this witness into a protective custody, gave him a polygraph test which he passed and opened their investigation. We didn't realize there was anybody else out there. First we were just like I said, Gief and I. And we came up on or didn't look up upon. We noticed there were people on the tracks. So a flashlight came on and then go back up. They weren't looking in our direction but we could see the light. And so we kind of quieted down and snuck up a little bit closer to see what was going on and there was five individuals standing on the tracks. One thing that struck my curiosity is it's time my mother was dating an attorney named Dan Harmon. I knew well enough to recognize him. There were two more individuals that few months after we got there we were walking down the road tracks. It had a rifle and looked a bit flash-lap. There were more or less kind of mining their own business. And when they realized someone else was on the tracks they stopped and it was six in the turn around when someone or Danny motioned for them to come closer over to where they were. They hesitated and eventually ended up walking on towards the rest of the group. While my head was turned I heard that sounded like a gunshot. It saw a flash as you would expect with the gunshot at night. We were pretty much terrified and bolted and ran. Other witnesses corroborated that evidence. I know that Dan Harmon went down there because I was down the road for me. I was sitting on an automobile. I didn't know that a drop was made. I was absolutely 100% equipped with my head. There you have it. Both witnesses independently of each other. We don't know each other. We both passed polygraphs. Name Dan Harmon has been on the train tracks that night and involved in the murders of the boys. The people that have the track that night to my knowledge were Dan Harmon, Keith McCaskill, Larry Rochelle. I'd like to point out that Gene Duffy by 1994 cleared by the FBI of any and all of the charges made up by Dan Harmon and Judge Cole came back to help the FBI with her investigation into the murders of Kevin and Don. Being run by the FBI's Phyllis Cornham. Here's Gene Duffy again with some hindsight looking back on things in the mid-90s. So in June of 1990, Dan Harmon became the District's prosecutor-elect. The first news conference or news interview that he gave, he used the entire interview to begin to discredit me. After working with the FBI for 18 months beginning in March of 1995, of course now I realize what was the basis for Dan Harmon's viciousness against me and determination that I'd be not allowed to do my job. I now know that Dan Harmon was on the tracks with the boys the night that they were murdered. I look back on the train of events and realize that I likely caused the shutdown of my own investigation. It's clear to me that the turning point was when I gave Chuck Banks the information developed by my task force that the boys were killed because they had stumbled upon a large shipment of drugs dropped from an airplane. In my heart I feel that that was a red flag that caused Chuck Banks to close the investigation down before it led to Mena. And that's not all. For nearly 23 years this confession letter that the ives and Henry families were told nothing about written and signed by Charlene Wilson on May 28th 1993 and fronted three public officials to bear witness was left hidden in the original case files. Only just last year in 2015 that a retired police officer friend of Linda ives managed to find it and get it to her and her lawyer, R. David Lewis. Linda and her friend went to current sailing county prosecutor Ken Cassidy with the confession letter and he not only refused to even look at it. He told them to go see the sailing county sheriff with the matter. Get through the current sailing county sheriff is Rodney Wright who just so happens to be Dan Harmon's nephew. Can you believe that? So current sailing county prosecutor Ken Cassidy told Linda ives and her retired police officer friend to take the Charlene Wilson confession letter that places Dan Harmon on the tracks the night of the murders to Dan Harmon's nephew. It's no under the boys murders have never been officially solved. There's a whole list of former law enforcement members and public officials who are involved in the boys case over the decades who have gone on to be arrested. In the letter of Wilson confesses to a great many of things including stabbing one of the boys. So now there's two witnesses in Charlene Wilson and Tom Nyhouse who independently of each other and pass polygraphs both that identify and place Dan Harmon on the tracks that August night were Kevin and Dom were killed and there's the confession letter from Charlene Wilson that also places Dan Harmon on the tracks that night and includes her admission that she stabbed one of the boys. Likely the stab wound found on Don Henry's back that was found in the second autopsy performed by Dr. Burton and to further the point we see Dan Harmon finally getting caught after years of nefarious activities going to jail for nine years and within two years of being released he gets arrested again and yet more drug charges. Could there be more? What else is there? How about this an FBI file dated February 6, 1995 and in it it states in part quote further it appears that the special prosecutor appointed in this case redacted says Dan Harmon to that redaction. May have misused his authority and disregarded other leads that may have assisted efforts to bring this investigation to a logical conclusion. Lastly it also appears that certain sailing county officials may have conspired to cover up the investigation in the deaths of Don Henry and Kevin Ives. End quote. Here's an FBI document showing that Dan Harmon himself indeed pushed to be appointed special prosecutor right from the beginning. It states quote little rock FBI investigation reveals that Benton chief of police Rick Elmond or Judge John Cole and Dan Harmon were a judge Cole's residence when Dan Harmon suggested that he be made special prosecutor for the Ives Henry case. End quote. The document also states quote since the beginning of the investigation by the special prosecutor the case has become riddled with rumors and innuendos special prosecutor Harmon and assistant Richard Garrett requested assistance from the Arkansas State police yet continuously withheld information from them end quote. So Harmon and Garrett would ask assistance from the Arkansas State police but they would withhold information from them which is what someone who's guilty might do if they were trying to find out what other authorities knew about the case and to keep out of any potential damage as well as not let any information out that might reveal one's true participation in a crime. So there you go in the mid 1990s the FBI knew there was a cover up in the murders of Kevin Ives and Don Henry and now some new Dan Harmon was likely involved as a matter of fact there's a whole pile of FBI and other government documents that are partially redacted in some form or another relating to the murder of the two boys we'll get to them in a moment. First I'm going to try and piece together what happened that night from what we do know about this case which also includes information from witness testimony given by others that we have not documented in this film yet. We know that Kevin and Don went out around midnight to go hunting. Thanks to Sharney Wilson's confession letter recently on earth in 2015 we know that heard Dan Harmon and another individual named Larry Rochelle were going to be at through tracks that night to pick up a drug drop from a plane. Kevin and Don were walking along the tracks and happened to come across Dan Harmon and company on the tracks as witnessed by a then 12-year-old Tom Nyhouse and his group of friends who were hiding in the nearby bushes watching. The shot was fired either by Harmon's group or the boys and Kevin and Don took off as did Nyhouse and the group of other kids that witnessed those events. Next we have two separate witnesses who gave testimony one being Ronnie Godwin now deceased and the other being Claubone or Mike Crook who was relaying testimony of what another witness described to him but the following events and neither knew each other and both were telling the same story. Never saying that the boys showed up at the ranch at Grocery store with another friend of theirs Keith Coney and this would be some time after the first incident on the tracks and Coney then left on his motorcycle when an officer's Kirk Lane and Jay Campbell showed up and beat the boys unconscious outside the store. Probably killing Kevin right there with a reported rifle butt blow to the skull but showed up in Dr. Burton's second autopsy. Then Campbell laying through the boys and the car and drove off towards the tracks where Dan Harmon and the others were waiting and would eventually place the boys on the tracks. Keith Coney who may have been with the group of kids in the woods at first saw the incident happened at the tracks went to the club where Keith McCaskel work and told him about the incident on the tracks. The McCaskel then went to the tracks himself which makes sense as well as Charlene Wilson's name McCaskel is one of the people at the tracks by the time she leaves the car that's parked some distance away and reaches the tracks where Dan Harmon, Danny Allen, Keith McCaskel and others are alleged to be. Wilson doesn't mention Campbell Lane as being on the tracks in the confession letter and it's possible that they were first tasked to find the boys after they took off from the tracks and when Campbell Lane found them at the ranch I grocery store and after beating them unconscious they perhaps brought them back to the tracks where Harmon and the others were waiting and they themselves left the scene leaving Harmon and the others to place the boys on the tracks for the upcoming drain. Also of note as mentioned earlier is that Keith Coney would soon be killed as well. One of the number of witnesses killed in the months and years following the murders of Kevin and Don. Here's Keith Coney's mother describing that her son knew there were two attackers that killed Kevin and Don. A largely J Campbell and Kirk Lane as testified to by Ronnie God when a Mike Crook and saying that her son Keith like Keith McCaskel later would be was afraid for his life. He was buried for his life you know a couple of months before he said a couple of times that he knew that he was being watched and he was afraid. Mrs. Alexander says her son knew the two teenagers run over by the train and she says he indicated to her he had been there when the boys had died but he spotted two attackers but he knew there was two there. How did he try to get him to tell me who and he was either a fighter didn't know. In the movie obstruction of justice which many of these clips are taken from they present a list of names of people who are suspects and implicated in the murders and cover up with Kevin and Don. As a result officer J Campbell and Kirk Lane sued filmmaker Pat Mitrishiana for libel and lost their case on appeal. The interesting part about that case is the Campbell Lane were required to prove that Mitrishiana was wrong in name and that my suspects. I show and there was no public references to them as being involved in the murders. Campbell Lane instead set out to prove that they had nothing to do with and were innocent in the murders. The court cited with Mitrishiana and that there were in fact numerous public sources that had stated Campbell Lane were somehow involved in the train deaths. The Mitrishiana had not just made it up unfounded. That was the point of the suit. In the fact that Campbell Lane instead tried to prove their innocence and the court still didn't rule in their favor certainly says a few more things in my opinion. That makes the two witnesses naming and describing Campbell Lane as beating the boys unconscious and throwing them in the cars and another witness in Keith Hony that says he was there when the two boys were killed and it was two men that did it. Charlene Wilson doesn't mention Campbell Lane in her confession letter but she does say she spent the first portion of time that night back at the car of the road. A dirt road, a distance away before coming up to the tracks herself. It's entirely possible and very plausible that Campbell Lane dropped off Kevin and Don to Dan Harmon in company and then left. Wilson's confession letter is hard to read and very incoherent but she does say she was high on cocaine and meth that night which kind of explains the way she describes the night's events. When Charlene Wilson eventually does make her way to the tracks, according to her confession letter, the boys are already there and in her written words deceased and she states that Dan Harmon and company go to her and destabilize one of the boys which is probably Don Henry. According to the FBI, law enforcement officials were indeed involved in the murders and cover-up of Kevin and Don. From this document we can see that the quote, investigation has revealed that law enforcement officials in the Little Rock area may have been involved in the captioned homicide end quote. Here's a list of suspect that officials were not allowed to know about. It says quote, law enforcement officials alleged to be involved in drug trafficking in sailing county include end quote. That's a big list I'll redact it. I'm going to be that so many officials have been corrupted over such a long period of time. Remember the current sailing sheriff Rodney Wright just swapped to be Dan Harmon's nephew? What about the sheriff before him? While in 2012 then sailing county sheriff Bruce Pennington said the case remained open and the investigation is continuing. From the same article in the sailing career it says that the type of mic frost is the only one assigned to the case. Here's the detective mic frost who was the loan officer assigned to Kevin and Don's case back in 2012. August 3, 1987 in a horrific discovery right on the border of Alexander in Celine County. Anytime you're dealing with a homicide that has any type of drug ties to it, you always run into those problems where you got a lot of different stories. A train traveling 50 miles an hour to conduct or see something in the track just ahead, unable to stop the train runs over two people covered by a tarp. 17-year-old Kevin Ives and 16-year-old Don Henry dragged nearly a mile. The first autopsy deans it a suicide. Their bodies exume one year later the case turns to a homicide. I have several people that said they were in the woods. We have no one that has said that they were at the scene. Lieutenant Mike Frost had a Celine County's criminal investigation division now leads the investigation. It's not a whole lot of leads, new leads that come in. I do not have a detective assigned to the case. I'm the one who goes to the case. I've been through the case files and try to follow upon things that I can find in the case file from that time frame. Lieutenant Frost says the case has been met with numerous challenges. He says the biggest perhaps speculation. It really makes it difficult to get a handle on exactly what happened on the case. On top of speculation are claims of a government cover up. No, there has not been as long as I have been in the sheriff's office. There have been an criminal investigation vision. Some suggest the boys saw an aircraft drop of money and drugs, touch with alleged drugling based out of Mina involving government officials. There is nothing that I can see that has tied Mina to this case. That's not saying that it wasn't. Lieutenant Frost says witnesses with whole information out of fear for their lives. He evidence crucial like crime scene pictures and the entire grand jury testimony all missing from the file. Also, he says several potential witnesses are now deceased. There's so many of the people who were as witnesses have since passed and I say, I'll be going to say a lot of people murdered, which they may have been. There are a lot of people who died in natural causes. But Lieutenant Frost maintains the case is solvable. It just takes finding the right person with the right information. When I know of one individual that I would love to be able to talk to that has been missing for many years, that very well might be tied into it, but he has never been found. Daniel Wilkson for today's THV. So Mike Frost says they have no one who says they were at the scene. I can only imagine he's using a play on words as witness Tom Nighhouse who saw Kevin and Tom at the tracks at the same time as Dan Harmon has stated such. But sadly, he is now deceased, like so many others in this case. But Charlie and Wilson is still alive. She also says she was at the scene. She even wrote and signed a confession letter to that effect. Both Nighhouse and Wilson's testimony contradict what Detective Mike Frost is saying. Frost also says he's gone through the case files, so how do you miss Charlie and Wilson's confession letter? While I cannot definitively answer that question, we can see a pattern in what follows in his own arrest and conviction along with his boss and former sailing sheriff at the time, Bruce Pennington. So the guys investigating in 2012 end up going to jail themselves, which only shows how much effort they probably put in towards trying to solve the case. So it should be asked again, how can it be that so many officials have been corrupted over such a long period of time? I've found that the deeper you look into the politics of Arkansas in general, you might end up coming back having more questions than answers. Former and now deceased, I believe as well, Officer Danny Allen at the Sailing County Sheriff's Office, from what I can gather, is literally one of the people that was at the tracks that night at some point. Here's an FBI document talking about Allen's polyheroff results. Quote, Allen, which is redacted, indicated strong deception regarding knowledge of who killed the boys, as well as who put the boys on the tracks. End quote. That statement rate there makes perfect sense, and why I say it's key to understanding part of what happened that night, and understanding that it was two different parties involved in the murders of Kevin and Don. Allen, not only know who killed the boys, but also who put them on the tracks. It's right there in the wording that Allen knew who killed them, and quote, as well as, and quote, who put them on the tracks. How did it have only been a single person, or one party doing the deed, the statement would have read something like, quote, Allen indicated strong deception regarding knowledge of who killed and put the boys on the tracks. End quote. That would have indicated only one party or person involved. The fact that the FBI stated that Allen's polygraph indicated strong deception, and he knew who killed the boys, as well as who put them on the tracks. It's very direct and indicative of at least two different and separate parties involved. And that makes perfect sense when you consider the two different witnesses stating that Jay Campbell and Kirk Lane beat the boys unconscious at the grocery store, and threw them into the back of the unmarried cruiser and drove off towards the tracks. Also in the statement it says, quote, redacted, did advise special agent redacted that he believes, and I'm going to speculate here that the redacted name that is under that long blacked out line says, special prosecutor Dan Harmon, to be involved in the death of the boys, end quote. Of course, that part is speculative, but I feel safe in that presumption. Here's an Arkansas State Police document detailing my crook statement about Jay Campbell and Kirk Lane who quote, beat the boys unconscious and threw them into the back of the car and then drove off. End quote. Which is the same story corroborated by another witness, Ronnie Codwin. Also of note in that report is quote, crook states that before Keith McCoskell was killed, McCoskell told him that Kirk Lane and Jay Campbell over the Polosky County Sheriff's Office were following him around and he was afraid they were going to kill him, end quote. Stuffy told his friends and family as well. The McCoskell was indeed murdered, stabbed over a hundred times in his garage with blood all over the scene reminiscent of the St. Valentine's Day massacre. Most of his flesh had been shredded from his arm and his apparent fight to stave off his attackers. While accounts McCoskell was a big man, not a reputation as a guy who can handle himself in rough situations with no problems, his murder was pinned on McCoskell's neighbor, a hundred and forty pound nineteen year old kid named Ronald Shane Smith with an IQ of 81. McCoskell was killed on his garage on November 10th 1988, which was the month before the grand jury into Kevin and Don's murders would be closed down. McCoskell was found by his friends the same day of his murder and while the police were investigating, Shane Smith's father Ronald Smith walked over and told the police that his son Shane had witnessed the murder. Apparently Shane Smith saw several men enter McCoskell's garage and he went over and was jumped by them who allegedly stabbed his hand and told them to keep quiet. They allegedly handed Smith the silver tray with a paper bag containing videotapes and told him to leave and Smith allegedly slipped and fell on blood as he left. Smith states that he had blood on his clothes from that and that he put them in a bag and threw them in the river. The police searched the river and found the bag of clothes and also found the bag of tapes and silver tray on the Smith family residence next door to McCoskell's. Smith's story changed from one of three men entering McCoskell's garage wearing clown masks to five men entering the garage wearing black masks. That is trial Smith's explanation for the variances in his account he said was because he was scared and confused. I'm not sure how or why they convicted Smith but he did appeal his case on several accounts a couple of times and I won't go into it all here but you can pause and read it for yourself if you like but I would like to point out that we also have some familiar figures in this case as well. I enjoyed John Cole, Richard Gerrard and Femmy Malik again so right off the bat that should sound some alarm bells about this case. But again I'm looking back to Jay Campbell and Kirk Lane. From the ID files website an excellent website done by Linda Hives and Jean Duffy. We can see that there was an Arkansas State police report interview with Joseph Clark Farmer who was a friend of Eugene Coney Keith Coney's father and remember Keith Coney is the boy that was with Kevin and Don the night they were murdered and would himself be killed not too long after. And he claimed he saw of his two men that killed Kevin and Don but that's all he would tell his mother. So according to the state police interview with Joseph Farmer Eugene Coney told him quote, Keith said that the cops killed the boys and quote, so apparently Keith Coney who wouldn't or couldn't identify the too many saw him kill Kevin and Don to his mother told his father Eugene Coney that it was the police that killed them which fits in with the story that witnessed Ronnie Godwin was saying which was the same story being told by Mike Rooks account of another witness who doesn't know Godwin. Just a quick note about the ID files website. The URL is www.idfiles.com The eyes for eyes and the deas for Duffy. It's chocolate full of information about the case but seems to have stopped being updated in the late 1990s. Now I don't know if this has anything to do with it but in 1998 the webmaster who is running the site for Linda Hives and Jean Duffy started getting death threats from Thailand in all places. Of course people on Thailand didn't likely care about the truth of what happened to two young boys 11 years earlier in sailing county Arkansas. It's more likely that the death threats were sent via proxy server or whatever version of one was back in 1998 that was routed through Thailand. At any rate with the amount of people involved in this case that have been killed perhaps this is why the site stopped updating? I don't know. Remember when I said earlier about the unreal is only just beginning? Do you believe me now? As I said before there are a whole host of documents for many of the government's alphabet agencies such as the FBI, CIA, DEA and so on pertaining to the murder of Kevin and Dunn. All the conclusions point to the conspiracy by law enforcement officials to cover it all up which is exactly what has happened ever since. It's a pretty incredible read when you put it all in the end result of the FBI investigation in the mid 1990s was for the FBI to inform Linda Hives that quote the crime is not being committed. What? After all that they tell her no crime is being committed. What happened was that when the FBI's Phyllis Corman's mid 1990s investigation into Kevin and Dunn's murders started the point towards the clandestine operations that mean to airport us to the reason why they were killed. Her investigation like the many investigations before was brought to a halt and that's where it was left. As we can see as no one right on up to Sheriff Bruce Pennington and Detective Mike Frost and current prosecutor Ken Cassidy and Sheriff Rodney Wright have not done anything to bring this case to justice. No justice for Kevin and Dunn. Let's hear from Linda Hives. There aren't any words in the English language that can describe how it makes you feel as a parent or as a citizen of Arkansas to see what our officials are capable of doing. You know I think we were just kind of naive, common ordinary people got up and went to work every day and came home and went to bed and assumed that everybody else did the same thing and tried to do what was right and I think Kevin's death has been the rudest awakening that anybody could ever have to see what really goes on and to see what's important to elected and public officials. This is not a political issue with me. We were never a political family. Our lives revolved around the ball field and going to the lake and all the things that a family does until the Arkansas political machine reached into our lives and destroyed the tranquility that we had and I want the American people to know that we have to stand up against this kind of corruption and we have to hold our officials accountable and make them work for us instead of against us. In my experience I believe what is happening here in Arkansas is only a small sample as to what is happening nationwide and I believe that all of America has to stand up and rescue the American system of justice. Rescue the American system of justice indeed. Kevin's mother Linda Hives is the whole reason we know so much about this case. The senior ray from day one that something was not right and authorities are not doing what they should have been doing. It's because of her relentless pursuit of the truth that we have so many documents, news articles, television shows, movies, books and so on that document the injustice brought upon not only hers and the Henry families but the many other families who have lost loved ones in the cover up of the murders of Kevin and Don. I'm the same age as Kevin would have been. His mother Linda's tenacity and dedication reminds me of my own mother's love and dedication and if it had been me and Kevin's place all those years ago I know my own mom would put up the same fight with the same determination that Linda Hives has had the strength to do in the decades since Kevin's murder. This is a big part of which drove me to do this. Linda Hives made a promise to Kevin that she would fight until the killers were brought to justice. Not that it would have mattered but keep in mind that when she began the fight for justice she had no idea that it would be a fight against official agencies that are meant to protect us. But Linda Hives has made good on her word and kept the fight for justice alive for Kevin and Don. Now we're going to have a look over Linda Hives' fight stands today. On August 24th 2016 Linda Hives has sued the US government's various agencies for violating the Freedom of Information Act with regards to with health and redacted documents that might help bring resolution to her cause. The US agencies named in the lawsuit are a who's who of the alphabet agencies that exist including the CIA, the DEA, DOJ and so on. Right down to the local saline county area agencies. I have to ask if, in the words of the FBI telling Dives, there was no crime committed, then why are there so many agencies storing documents on the case that are classified redacted or otherwise deemed a threat to national security have released? Also, why is this still a fight to get these documents for Linda? It's been 29 long and painful years for the Hives and Henry families as well as the other families who have lost loved ones over all of this. Why is the withholding of documents dragging on an Estile reminiscent of the Kennedy assassination? At any rate, Linda Hives' current fight is to get proper custody of all the files involving the investigation of her son. He got them in full on redacted form, which she has every right to have, especially by now. In another twist to the story and the amount of twists and coincidences what everyone will call it, goes far beyond the realm of what some conventional wisdom would suggest. Anyways, in this case, just this past September 06 2016, the judge assigned Linda Hives' lawsuit has recused himself from the case. Recuse meaning he has stepped down from the case citing a reason. That reason it turns out in quite the coincidence for sure is that Judge Leon Holmes is related to Linda Hives. He's her sixth cousin. Apparently, they even see each other at family reunions. The sad part, though this is just speculation, the judge Holmes might have been one of the good guys in a story and perhaps me have been someone who might have been able to help Linda know. His actions of her years will show his honest anyways. Let's hope Linda Hives' case gets turned to another judge who is equally honest, but doesn't happen to be Linda's seventh niece removed from her neighbor's side or something like that. One thing to remember, Linda Hives isn't taking the US government to court over the murder case itself. She is suing for the release of information related to the case, which she is legally entitled to, which will eventually help her finally bring the case to court, and maybe just maybe get some justice for once and for all. If anyone deserves that Linda Hives does, remember that I was only just last year when Linda Hives got Charlene Wilson's confession letter and went to current sailing county prosecutor, Ken Cassidy, and he referred to Dan Harman's nephew, Rodney Wright, who is the current sailing sheriff. While Rodney Wright told Linda that he had tried to contact Charlene Wilson, but would need a warrant from Ken Cassidy for her arrest. Cassidy, meanwhile, says it's not his job to issue a warrant. It's probably not, but do you think he would offer to point Linda in the right direction as to whom might just issue a warrant? Well, you can use your imagination to answer that question, and you'd probably be correct. Cassidy did however tell Linda Hives that he would pass off the case to the Arkansas State police, but it would be up to them if they wanted to take the case or not. Let's also not forget that the Arkansas State police also happens to be one of the agencies that has been involved in withholding information that may have solved this case decades ago. It's so sad and shocking when you think about it all. I mean, what does one turn to for help? Do you turn to more officials? Look what happened when Linda Hives did just that last year in 2015. So many officials had cropped it's beyond ridiculous. How do you know which one's to trust? Here's what happened to a few more officials involved in the case over the years. Remember Bob Govar, the assistant to Chuck Banks who closed down the investigation and cleared Dan Harmon if anyone was doing the 1991? He eventually helped up with Jay Campbell over the years. And they were involved together in crimes using Act 309 prison laborers to clear a lot for Govar's new home, which Govar got away with by saying he didn't know Campbell was using Act 309 prisoners, which are prisoners held in local jails waiting transfer to state prisons and are not allowed to be used for labor. Also, Jay Kabbat on his wife Kelly would end up getting severe jails sentences for a variety of charges, none of which had anything to do with Kevin and Don's case. But Jay Campbell originally got 40 years in 2007 before the court threw out his convictions in 2009. But then he pleaded guilty to four felonies and was sentenced to 15 years in prison in 2010. They brought Judge John Cullod over retirement for the original trial as well. Go figure. He's not enough judges. You need to pre-home out of retirement. It seems pretty sketchy to me. They wonder they threw Campbell's original conviction out. There's a shady history between Judge John Cullod and Ironman and Jay Campbell that has never already been brought to light. Have all Richard Garrett remember? He was Dan Ironman's assistant for many years, including through the original grand jury investigation into Kevin and Don's murders. But a few years back his house was foreclosed down by the bank and eventually sold. The new owner just moved from out of state and he didn't know the history of Don and Kevin, nor the previous owner of the house for Richard Garrett. After some time while doing renovations in the basement, the house's new owner discovered a false wall and in behind it was a drug lab. So Richard Garrett had a drug lab in his house all these years. How about that? You can get this. The new house owner called the police and an officer came over and advised him to take everything to the dump. When the new house owner suggested that he didn't want to take the chance in case he got pulled over on the way there, he would have all the drug lab equipment in his car. The officer told him not to worry and that he would escort the new house owner to the dump, which is what they did. It wasn't until later that the new house owner started to learn the backstory of who Richard Garrett was and who Kevin and Don were. That he realized the officer who had escorted him to the dump was more interested in destroying the evidence than to go out to Garrett, which was should have been done to begin with. Hard to blame the new house owner though at the time, as he was following the directions of the police and didn't know the history. And once he found out he went on the radio and told a story, which for those who do know the history, do not find the surprising in the leas