00:01
On the Crime House original podcast, Serial Killers and Murderous Minds, we're diving into the psychology of the world's most complex murder cases.
00:09
From serial killers to cult leaders, deadly exes and spree killers, we're examining not just how they killed, but why.
00:17
Is it uncontrollable rage, overwhelming fear, or is it something deeper? Listen to and follow Serial Killers and Murderous Minds, available now wherever you get your podcasts.
00:33
The following is a true story that happened in Greenfield Township, Ohio. Population 6,000. A town a lot like any other. A town a lot like yours.
00:46
There's people that think that we were nothing but a bunch of big fat bowling drinkers that smoke cigars and cigarettes. But we're pretty much blue collar and just fun loving.
00:59
You probably think it's just a normal place you could grow up and live and raise kids.
01:04
You don't think people you talk to every day are capable of killing someone, especially something that was that diabolical.
01:17
You see and hear this stuff, but you don't think it will happen to you or your family.
01:23
I saw my family suffering. You never get over the hurt and pain.
01:29
You almost couldn't be human and do what they did to them. We didn't know who we had to hide from.
01:35
Who can you trust after what just happened? You can't trust nobody because you don't know what's going on.
01:44
This is the story of Karen and Jim Develbliss, a couple who owned and operated the local convenience store. They were known to help their friends and family out with jobs, loans, and friendship. But their generosity and lifestyle inspired more than just gratitude.
02:03
From I.D. and Ample Entertainment, this is Murder in the Heartland.
02:12
On March 13, 2006, at 8.57 a.m., a frantic call comes in to 911. What's going on?
02:19
Let me hear them for a good sake. I think my mom might have been killed.
02:23
What do you got going on there? I just came in. It looks like there's a break-in. I just peeked around the corner. My mom's wondering if she's laying on the floor. It looks like there's blood on the floor. Linda Schmelzer is Karen's sister.
02:55
It was Monday early on the 13th of March in 2006. I went over to my daughter's.
03:03
She said, have you talked to dad? And I said, about what?
03:09
She informed me that my sister Karen and her husband Jim had been robbed. That it was worse than being just robbed.
03:19
And she said, they were killed.
03:27
And to think that I wasn't going to have her anymore.
03:34
She was my best friend.
03:36
We did a lot together. We grew up and kind of learned things together.
03:43
Your mind goes nuts. It's like, was this random?
03:47
Or could family members have done something like that? How could that be? We're a very close family. I hate that I had those thoughts, but I did.
04:05
I was a detective probably for about four years.
04:08
And when we get called out on a homicide, family life, everything is put on hold.
04:13
We might work 50, 52 hours straight, you know, without going home or anything.
04:19
Detective Scott Jones of the Fairfield County Sheriff's Department is one of the officers dispatched to the scene.
04:25
When I arrived on the scene, approximately 9 a.m., we wanted to kind of start processing the house room by room. Our patrol deputy assigned myself and Andy Roberts parts of the house.
04:36
Detective Andy Roberts is one of the detectives on the scene that day.
04:39
When we first got to the crime scene, we wanted to move quickly, but you want to make sure you get the details. You don't want to miss anything. It was a two-story home.
04:51
I believe it was tan on the outside, like a stucco. It had a large deck, but I didn't remember a bunch of change that was laying on the ground that was in the driveway.
05:01
When I walked in the house, you know, I looked at the front door. There was no signs of any forced entry, like somebody had kicked the door in or pried the door in.
05:11
When I walked into the master bedroom, I found Karen Dival was laying on the floor, face down, white female, approximately 50 years old, being Jeremy Moore's mother.
05:23
I noticed that on her hands she had a lot of defensive wounds and she normally wore a lot of jewelry. She had no rings on, no wedding band, no nothing on any of her fingers.
05:34
The room was kind of ransacked. It was a large bedroom. They had a large king-sized bed with a huge headboard. There was quite a bit of blood all around Karen and on the floor there. It definitely looked like somebody had robbed the home and stuff. There were footprints down the hallway. There were some footprints in the bedroom. She had large jewelry boxes in the closet. Those were all dumped out and gone through and everything.
05:57
I mean, this isn't the way you could tell that these people lived in this home. It was in pretty bad disarray. Then there were a set of stairs that went down to a landing.
06:09
When we looked down the stairway to the landing, we could see Jim Divalbliss laying in blood.
06:15
Jim had two knife wounds to the chest and approximately four knife wounds to the neck area.
06:23
Around the corner from Jim, there was a closet, and in that closet was a safe that was open.
06:30
so we had two people dead at complete different points of the home one was on the south side of the house and one was at the furthest north part of the house and it was a very it was a large home it wasn't a small house so you have no idea what you're running into who's involved how many's involved could be one could be two or he could have had them both under control in the same place one guy if it was a big enough guy at that point we needed to find more information about jim and karen davobos
07:06
It's hard to imagine anybody being that cruel and brutal to do what they did to Karen and Jim.
07:13
Irene Moss is Karen and Jim's friend.
07:15
They were just so full of life, you would not expect it to be taken so quickly. It was just shock. Everybody was in shock.
07:27
Every town has its dark side or secrets, but murders like that don't happen around here.
07:32
Patrick Hain is a local contractor who operates a moving and storage facility. He remembers the couple and their store, D&D Sales. I knew who they were.
07:41
They were real friendly. I knew that they were active in the community, but like had a nice store that everybody in town has been to at least once.
07:49
It was kind of a mom-and-pop shop called D&D Sales. They had just a little bit of everything, nothing too fancy, but a lot of folks went in there and shopped. I'd actually gotten a bike from there when I was a young kid.
08:00
I couldn't believe someone murdered them.
08:04
Karen and Jim's bowling coach, Wendy Russell, remembers her friends.
08:12
I knew Karen and Jim for three or four years when we started to bowl in the same league and I started to coach her. We got closer. Karen and Jim were always ones that you knew who they were.
08:25
You smiled when they came in because she lit up a room. She was joyful all the time. Jim was the quiet one. He was always happy, but he was the quiet one.
08:37
Everybody in town shopped at Karen Jim's store because it was a place where they could find something and afford to buy it.
08:47
Linda Schmelzer is Karen's sister.
08:49
I feel like a lot of it was directed towards those that didn't have a lot of money to spend. You know, they wanted everybody to be able to get something if they needed it.
08:58
They were just that kind of people.
09:01
Jeremy, my nephew, worked at the store with Karen and Jim also. Jeremy was pretty good when we opened the store.
09:09
But as his life became more troubled, he would come in late, not show, have anger.
09:15
Definitely as he became more troubled, it was hard to work with him at times.
09:22
Jeremy Moore, who was Karen Dybal Bliss' son, he was the original caller on this case. And he was sitting in his car with the scene.
09:31
So it was important for us to interview him.
09:33
What you are about to hear is a portion of Detective Moore's interview with Jeremy.
09:37
When did you see your mom, Karen, and stepdad last? Thursday, roughly between 7 and 9, after I think they were on their way to go to their bowling tournament.
09:47
Jeremy last sees his parents just before they head to their bowling tournament.
09:51
He answered the questions. Of course, he was upset, so it's kind of hard to get a feel on how people are talking to you when they're that upset.
09:59
Why didn't you tell me what took place this morning? We were in a business team of sales, and I usually opened, and I called her. I always call her first thing in the morning, so I get there.
10:10
I called and nobody answered. I told my grandfather to watch the store and I was going to run out to their home. Walked up to the front door and went to open and it was unlocked and I opened the door.
10:23
The house looked a little ransacked. I stopped and peeked into the bedroom and that's when I noticed my mom's feet and her shoulders down and blood laid on the floor.
10:35
Then I got nervous because I was afraid maybe somebody was downstairs. So I ran out the front door into the driveway, at the end of the driveway, and called 911. Tell me something in your parents' house that you know is pretty valuable, which is what you think might be missing, that we can look for. She would have jewelry, but I don't know where. You know who killed her mother, who's that brother?
11:01
After talking to Jeremy Moore at the scene, he didn't have any solid alibi to eliminate him right then and there. So he was somebody that we needed to look at.
11:11
Without an alibi and with full access to the home, the detectives keep Jeremy on their list of suspects.
11:17
With no forced entry at the residence, it could have been possibly somebody they knew. They opened the door for him, let him in, just didn't lock the door behind him. Could have entered another way through the house.
11:27
In a case like this, you would think, who has access?
11:33
Dave Whitman owns a pawn shop in town. He's also a customer at D&D Sales.
11:46
They used to shop over to the velvet store. I'd go in there. They were really friendly people. And she always had a lot of nice rings on. You know, something unique that you wouldn't see very often. There's not a lot of murder crimes right here. I mean, naturally, it's going to be a shop.
12:01
We just wonder who done it, you know, how they killed them. All kinds of things go through your head.
12:10
I haven't been in here since I died.
12:13
We do all the work here, electric-wise.
12:17
Tony Littrell is Karen and Jim's electrician. He enters the empty store with lights flickering and resets some breakers in the electric panel.
12:24
I knew Karen and Jim real well.
12:29
They was the nicest people you could meet. They went to church.
12:33
They helped people in the community. They helped people out. Guys come homeless, they would give them money to go eat next door.
12:39
To this day, I still can't believe it. Karen and Jim got killed.
12:45
Greg Russell is the bowling alley manager.
12:49
Jim and Karen, I met them back in 1990.
12:54
It was just instant friendship immediately. They would come in and practice a couple, two or three days a week sometimes.
13:01
Greg remembers Karen's flair for sparkly rings even while bowling.
13:05
Karen definitely liked her rings. She did wear them while she was bowling.
13:10
The rings looked really cool, you know, her holding onto the ball and kind of sparkled. They had just got back from Vegas earlier, and then they bowled that night and was joking about being tired, you know, and stuff from being out on vacation.
13:29
Karen and I were supposed to have lunch the week before they went to Las Vegas. But she called me and told me that she was not going to be able to have lunch with me that day. Said it was a lengthy story and she would explain it to me when she saw me.
13:42
Wendy, the bowling coach, notices a change in Karen's disposition.
13:46
Her voice was exhausted in that call. You could tell that it was strained. And so I didn't feel that she wanted to talk about it then because she would have went into it more quickly.
14:01
The last New Year's before they were killed, they went to a New Year's Eve party.
14:06
Irene is Karen and Jim's friend and longtime jeweler.
14:10
And Jim insisted that Karen had black and white diamonds. It was a lot more elaborate than this, but you get the idea.
14:16
Karen holds up a pair of sparkling black and white diamond earrings and a matching black and white diamond woven band.
14:22
I did sell Karen and Jim a lot of their jewelry. I did help maintain it and clean it.
14:28
It made us very close as friends, seeing her so much.
14:33
Jim kept a large amount of cash. Probably people that knew him knew that.
14:38
They were pretty open. I mean, if they liked you, and I'm sure people could see that there was a good bit of money.
14:47
And I thought, they were robbed for their jewels and their money.
14:56
Everybody thought that they knew something about this case because they either knew Jim or they knew Karen or they've been in their store. So they all had their opinion on who did it and how they did it. And a lot of people wanted to blame Jeremy Moore because he was the first one to find them. He was the one that made the 911 call. He did have some misdemeanor petty theft and everything.
15:18
And he was the one that stood to inherit a lot of money.
15:28
On the Crime House original podcast, Serial Killers and Murderous Minds, we're diving into the psychology of the world's most complex murder cases.
15:37
From serial killers to cult leaders, deadly exes and spree killers, we're examining not just how they killed, but why.
15:45
Is it uncontrollable rage, overwhelming fear, or is it something deeper? Listen to and follow Serial Killers and Murderous Minds, available now wherever you get your podcasts.
16:02
Wendy, the bowling coach, gets the news about Karen and Jim on March 13, 2006 at 2.05 p.m., just five hours after the couple were found murdered in their home.
16:12
When I got the call that Karen and Jim had been murdered, it was a quick flashback to remembering what Karen said about Jeremy. I think he took things without permission, but I think he pretty much just relied on his mother for her support.
16:31
It was a constant thought in my mind that those issues had to have come into play.
16:43
This was all flat. This was actually a cow field.
16:47
Jodi Graff is Jeremy's wife.
16:52
And my husband, Jeremy, he built the house for us.
16:58
He wanted to build a cabin so he can just get up in the morning and hunt and still be with the family. I'll never leave.
17:07
I always want to be here.
17:12
Jeremy was Karen's only son from her first husband, and Jim was Jeremy's stepfather.
17:20
Jeremy looked up to Karen like there was nobody. Of course, they're going to have their little arguments. Everybody does when they're around each other. That's just family.
17:28
But they did. They truly got along great.
17:30
Jody senses the suspicion rising around her husband.
17:33
But I just was worried that they were going to try to pin it on him.
17:37
I told him, I know you didn't do it. I believe in you.
17:42
I think Fairfield County is just like any other town. You got your rich people, you got your regular people, and then you got your poor people. And you can tell who the wealthy people are and who is not.
17:57
I couldn't imagine who'd hurt Karen and Jim.
18:01
But money's the only motive that I can think of.
18:05
Edgar Smith is Karen's brother.
18:07
I was born here many moons ago. So I was born in 63.
18:15
We've always had our pictures on our mantel here. Karen and Jim there, they had a great marriage. You could just see they were in love with each other. He cherished the ground that she walked on.
18:29
Karen was my sister, and Jim was my brother-in-law.
18:34
This is where I grew up, very rural area. There's very little to do in Greenfield Township. So in the early 90s, I moved into Pennsylvania and worked for nine years. And then I decided I wanted to be back closer to my family.
18:56
Karen hears news of Edgar wanting to move back and welcomes him with open arms and a brand new house.
19:02
As soon as I mentioned moving back to Ohio, Karen purchased a home for me and my family and said, hey, you just pay me whatever you can afford. But something was wrong with my marriage, and it was time for us to go our own separate ways.
19:20
An arrangement is made where Edgar's wife Deanna does housekeeping for Karen and Larry once a week.
19:26
My wife and my boys stayed in the house, and my wife Deanna had to go out and clean once a week at Karen's house. But eventually, Karen would come to me and say, hey, you know, I haven't seen your wife, and she's not coming out to clean like we originally agreed to.
19:45
I believe Deanna did resent my sister Karen in a lot of ways because it was a lot of jealousy.
19:53
So when I first found out about my sister and brother-in-law being murdered, I'm trying to think of who possibly could have done it, why, and then I started thinking about my wife.
20:09
Detective Scott Hargrove of the Fairfield Sheriff's Department interviews Deanna.
20:14
We're a small agency, so the entire detective bureau works the case.
20:20
Everybody's got a little piece of the pie to be directed off into, trying to cover as many avenues as possible.
20:30
So after we obtained the information on Deanna Smith, we decided that we needed to speak with her.
20:37
What you were about to hear is the actual recording of Deanna's interview. Detective Hargrove asked Deanna about her financial ties to Karen and Jim.
20:45
Now, Karen and Jim, do they actually own the home that you're in? Yes.
20:50
Did you pay them some sort of rent?
20:52
Yes.
20:53
$6.50. She raised it to $6.50.
20:56
I cleaned for her also.
20:58
So when you quit cleaning for her, you guys left, you parted on good terms?
21:03
Yeah, I mean, we didn't have a lot of contact because of the divorce.
21:06
Detective Hargrove then asks about her access to the home. Do you still have keys to their home?
21:11
I don't know if I do or not, to be honest with you. I would have to look. I don't think so. I didn't know the security code.
21:18
The interview with Deanna does not tip the scales one way or the other, but Deanna does have sufficient motive and access to keep her on the detective's radar.
21:27
When we interviewed Deanna, she didn't say anything about having any ill will against either one of Karen or Jim Divalbliss. Raising the rent and losing employment very well could have made Deanna upset with her. She was cleaning, she had connection with the home, had connection with Karen and Jim Divalbliss.
21:49
So Deanna was someone for us to keep looking at. Linda, Karen's sister, agrees that Deanna was someone to keep an eye on.
21:57
There were times in our family that we did have issues with Deanna. I thought she was very eager to strike out at people and cause trouble. And Deanna loved jewelry. Deanna loved anything that was expensive. And in my opinion, was jealous of what Karen had.
22:17
News coverage of the crime echoes the town's concern.
22:20
Fairfield County investigators spent a second day processing this crime scene so they can tell a grieving family who killed Jim and Karen Divalbliss and why.
22:30
Detective Jones talks about following leads in the case.
22:33
When it hit the news that evening, it's a small town and a lot of people in the town discussed it and had their opinions of what went on and different things like that.
22:45
It can drastically affect the investigation on the case, depending on what kind of leads you get, different leads from the public and everything. And we still have to check into them and see what goes on. And some of it can be misleading and stuff like that. Some of it's very time consuming too.
23:01
At this point, we did have a large amount of jewelry that we believe was missing from the home. And that is our strongest lead that we have.
23:20
Even though we didn't have a clear idea of what may have been stolen from the Dival Bliss home, we began checking local pawn shop tickets.
23:30
At that point in time, we located some expensive jewelry at ANA Pawn Shop that might have belonged to Karen Dival Bliss.
23:39
The question was, who ponded?
23:46
Jody, Jeremy's wife, walks through the land around her house.
23:50
This is where we all come to relax.
23:53
Kids like to have friends over.
23:57
We hunt for mushrooms back there. Kids ride their quads, shoot paintball guns, stuff like that.
24:08
After Karen and Jen passed away, Jeremy and I ran D&D sales.
24:14
And I know Jeremy felt the pressure.
24:19
You could just tell.
24:20
You could see it in his face, how skinny he got.
24:27
It changed Jeremy.
24:30
He was a totally different person.
24:33
because he didn't have enough people believe in him.
24:37
I can't imagine how that would feel.
24:40
It broke him.
24:42
He was never the same.
24:45
Jeremy's not here today because he overdosed and passed away.
24:55
He felt like some of the family thought that he was still guilty.
24:59
I hurt him more than anything, because family's supposed to be there for you.
25:07
On March 15, 2006, two days after Karen and Jim Dibblebliss are found murdered, the detectives dive into Karen and Jim's financial records more closely.
25:19
Scott Jones and Andy Roberts were the mouthpieces. They did a lot of the interviews, and I was more of an evidence-type kind of guy. I would work the crime scenes and let them do all the talking.
25:33
Detective Hargrove details his search for a money trail.
25:38
We had learned from Karen's brother, Edgar, that the Diable Blisses had a number of rental properties in the city of Lancaster. We also began digging into their financial records to see if any checks, credit cards, et cetera, had been used after their deaths.
26:01
Detective Hargrove visits A&A Pawn Shop.
26:10
We had a lead that someone may have pawned some of Karen's jewelry at A&A Pawn Shop. David Whitman is the owner. David, it's been a long time, hasn't it? Been a lot of years, young man.
26:24
I've had doctors, I've had lawyers in here, I've had real estate people in here. Every class of person in here selling jewelry and pausing jewelry. Everybody hits a rough patch every now and then. I don't care who you are. Everybody needs short-term money.
26:38
Dave recalls a young woman coming in to sell some high-end jewelry.
26:42
A lady came in, said she wanted to sell some jewelry. That's when I took a look at it.
26:47
I could evaluate the clarity of the diamonds, see how good the diamonds were.
26:52
I could tell it was high-end jewelry, and we made her an offer on it, and she took it.
26:57
Detective Hargrove discovers a potential link. While checking pawn tickets, I came across a pawn ticket in the name of Deanna Smith.
27:08
and discovered that Deanna Smith had, in fact, pawned some jewelry on March 11th. Her sister-in-law was found dead on the 13th. We had heard that Deanna Smith was known to have disagreements with Karen Diebelbliss and was divorcing Karen's brother, Edgar.
27:30
We decided to execute a search warrant and seize that jewelry.
27:37
Karen was a very good businesswoman. She knew her stuff.
27:42
Karen was out front, kind of like the front person, became the front person. And Jim kind of stepped back and kept his role as, I'm going to the auctions.
27:54
She could tell if somebody could afford something or if they needed a little more time.
28:00
She was so good to people.
28:03
And that's why their business grew. That's why everybody loved them.
28:14
Karen has given plenty of gifts to Deanna.
28:20
Karen would have given her jewelry.
28:23
That's just who Karen was. She gave things to people just out of the goodness of her heart.
28:31
I couldn't believe that Deanna had hurt anyone.
28:35
I mean, she might mentally hurt somebody, hurt their heart and things of that nature, but to actually harm somebody or kill somebody, I truly in my heart didn't think Deanna had that capability.
28:49
On March 16th, 2006, three days after Karen and Jim were found murdered, Detective Hargrove hits a dead end.
28:59
Once we had the jewelry in our possession, an employee of Duncan's Diamonds and Gold that dealt with Miss Dival Bliss on a regular basis came into the Detective Bureau and viewed those items.
29:11
Through her, we were able to eliminate that as the jewelry that Deanna Smith had pawned as being anything that had been removed from the Dival Bliss home.
29:23
I don't know what she would have pawned, but I knew that Deanna was trying to do anything to get a little income.
29:33
Maybe our wedding set that she was pawning to get money, or even a diamond tennis bracelet.
29:41
We had to move on from Deanna Smith and look at other possible suspects.
29:49
When a murder investigation comes in, you go until you run out of leads. Then you go home and get some sleep. Hopefully, by the time you get back to the office, you get a lead.
30:02
I don't think you want to trust any lead that comes in, but you follow up on that lead to make sure that it's going to head that direction.
30:09
You want to get in there and find out if that is the information and if it's right.
30:18
On March 18, 2006, five days after Karen and Jim were found murdered, Detective Hargrove sorts through various tips in the case.
30:27
As the investigation progressed, we were on a daily basis trying to sort out tips.
30:33
And somebody came forward to us because he felt he had some important information related to the Diablo Bliss double homicide.
30:42
It was a case breaker.
30:51
on March 19th, 2006. Six days after Karen and Jim are found murdered, Tony Luttrell calls in a tip.
30:59
We received a tip from someone by the name of Tony Littrell.
31:06
And we found out that Tony's father did electrical work at the rental properties and would have Tony go out and do odd jobs on rental properties in the Dival Bliss residence.
31:19
Detective Jones knows that Tony has a checkered past. Tony Littrell had a record.
31:24
He did a lot of burglaries and stuff. He wasn't good at it, but he did a lot of burglaries.
31:29
A lot of times when you get stuff like that and somebody's coming forward, there's usually motive why. They want to cut themselves a deal. They want to strike a deal with the prosecutor's office. They don't want to go to prison for it. They may not have had as big of a role as somebody else in it. So you have to see if you can put some facts to his story.
31:48
We went back to the detective bureau and we brought Tony Littrell in for an interview.
31:53
He told me about a party where they were all using narcotics and drinking.
31:59
There was a group of people at this party that were discussing with the Dybal Blisses.
32:05
What you are about to hear is a recording of the police interrogation of Tony Littrell.
32:09
Tony hears someone at the party talking about large sums of cash in the bedroom.
32:25
What residents are we speaking about?
32:27
Tony clarifies that he's talking about Karen and Jim's house.
32:30
Who participated in the majority of that conversation? Mostly. Eric and Heidi.
32:55
Tony names two suspects, Eric and Heidi.
33:05
In the interview, Tony claims Eric and Heidi asked him to participate in the burglary, but Tony wanted nothing to do with it. The interrogation continues. I know Eric...
33:45
After we spoke to Tony Littrell, Tony Littrell voluntarily took a polygraph at BCINI and ultimately passed the polygraph. So we were 100% sure that Tony Littrell has nothing to do with either Jim or Karen's death.
34:00
I had nothing to do with that crime at all.
34:05
Never in my life have I ever stole anything from diagnosis. Never.
34:10
And never would I. I mean, they would give you anything you wanted. I mean, there was no point to ever steal enough of Karen and Jim.
34:15
Having eliminated Tony as a suspect, Detective Jones focuses the investigation on two new suspects.
34:21
So at this point in this case, we wanted to look into Eric Hockman and Heidi Kidwell.
34:29
Jody, Karen's daughter-in-law, talks about Eric's relationship with Karen and Jim.
34:34
Eric Hockman did side work for Karen Jim. He was somebody that needed money, and Jim always had extra stuff to do and didn't have the time to do it their self. They were busy people.
34:46
Eric Hockman painted the D&D sale sign for Karen that year.
34:52
Later, Eric went up to Karen, told him that he needed money, and Karen says, no, you owe me from work before. You ain't getting no money.
35:02
So she ended up giving him another job for him to finish that, and the job was taking care of a wet spot we had in our mudroom.
35:11
But I couldn't imagine Eric Hockman being a killer. He seemed so normal, and so did his wife, Heidi Kidwell.
35:20
On March 24, 2006, 11 days after Karen and Jim are found murdered, the investigators get a new tip.
35:30
I worked at a local moving and rental storage facility company.
35:35
Patrick Hain, who operates a moving and storage facility, remembers an odd couple coming in.
35:40
It is a regular day like any other.
35:42
I arrive at work, pull into my parking lot and see a couple waiting at the door about a half hour before opening.
35:50
The female looked a lot younger than the male. She was scared. She looked like she was well-kept and everything, looked very tired, saggy-eyed, maybe hungover.
36:00
The mail was rough. Looked like he'd been rode hard and put away wet. He was very, very scraggly.
36:07
They are very polite. They ask if I'll open early.
36:10
They are nervous and ask if they could get a truck to move from our location in Lancaster to a part of Southern Florida, which was strange.
36:20
When I tell them the price, they ask if they could pay cash. And then instead of having a purse, she pulls out a large grocery-looking sack with miscellaneous bills.
36:31
as much cash as I've ever seen working in that type of business.
36:35
It was over $3,000. Gave them the keys, and off the parking lot they went.
36:41
Once the couple heads off in the truck, Patrick makes a grim discovery.
36:45
After collecting money, counting it, and looking it over, I noticed there were stains on it.
36:50
You could definitely tell there were stains of blood.
36:53
I immediately called the police station.
36:57
Detective Roberts follows up on the lead.
37:03
The moving company gave us the names of the two individuals that rented the truck, Eric Hockman and Heidi Kidwell.
37:11
The moving company also gave us location where the truck was heading to.
37:16
So me and Scott Jones, we started setting everything up for us to go to Key Largo, Florida. With them taking off, it definitely appears like they're running from something.
37:30
Detective Jones describes their pursuit of the couple.
37:34
When we were meeting with the manager of the moving company up here, he'd given us the information. Eric Hockman and his girlfriend and Heidi Kidwell rented the truck. I would say it was probably two to three days after the crime scene was discovered.
37:49
And probably three days after they rented the truck was when they turned it in down in Key Largo.
37:57
And we were...
37:58
We were kind of hot on their trail going down there.
38:02
Once they locate the couple, Detective Roberts, Detective Jones, and their team surround the property.
38:08
After we received the search warrant from the judge, Jones and two or three of them went to the back to watch the back door. We approached from the front, announced sheriff's office. He opened the door up, and we went.
38:23
Jones headed back to the bedroom. That's where we started searching.
38:27
There was a safe that was located, coins, money was in that, 40,000 in the floorboard, and there was jewelry.
38:37
The jewelry that we recovered down in Florida at Eric and Heidi's place, we were pretty sure that that was stuff that belonged to Jim and Karen. And we knew that she had an individual jeweler back home that she bought all her jewelry from. And we were hoping that they would be able to identify some of that jewelry.
38:54
Irene Moss, Karen and Jim's longtime friend and jeweler, helps connect the dots.
38:59
I met them at the detective bureau. I brought a diamond tester, a loop to verify that what I was looking at was Karen's jewelry. When I looped Karen's diamond, I knew immediately that it was hers because of the markings. But when I saw Karen's blood on the diamond, my lungs just went empty. I just didn't have any air when I saw that.
39:24
The detectives close in on Eric and Heidi.
39:26
Eric Hoffman and Heidi Kipwell were arrested. Heidi's ready to tell us the truth.
39:32
She stated that they knew that the Diable Busses had quite a bit of money in the residence, and Jim carried a lot of money on his person. They knew the jewelry was there.
39:46
and that's why they went to the residence. They went to do a burglary, and they had to do it when they were there because they had an alarm system.
39:54
Heidi says that her and Eric got out, walked up to them, and Eric explained to them that he wanted to talk to them.
40:02
The following is a recording of the police interrogation of Heidi and Eric.
40:07
Either of you have a weapon on you when you went there?
40:10
He had a light on the picture.
40:15
Heidi tells the detective that Eric had a big kitchen knife. Eric confesses to stabbing the couple. He goes on to describe the sequence of events.
40:35
I don't know what possessed me to do it, but I pulled the knife out, and it's going to just run.
40:53
Eric describes how what starts as an intended burglary spirals out of control.
40:57
Heidi said Jim had to open a safe.
41:15
So Eric took Jim down to the safe in the basement, got the safe open. And that's when they were bagging up money or whatever.
41:25
And Heidi says that she heard a fight or a scuffle.
41:28
And then Eric came back without Jim.
41:36
And took her out to the back room. That's why she said it was safe on there.
41:46
Eric tells Karen to show him the cash he knows they keep in the house. She takes him to the safe in her closet.
41:52
After showing him the safe, Karen has second thoughts and begins fighting with Eric.
42:16
Eric confesses that he killed Karen in the scuffle as well.
42:19
The only motive that I could come up with was greed, jealousy. They wanted what Karen and Jim had, and they decided one night that they were going to go take it.
42:32
On April 6, 2007, Heidi Kidwell pleads guilty and is convicted of one count of complicity to murder. She's sentenced to 15 years to life in prison. Eric Hockman pleads guilty to aggravated murder. He's sentenced to two consecutive life terms. He has no possibility of parole.
42:49
I feel personally for the people, the family and stuff that it happened to, I don't think you walk into evil people every day. There's a chance happening.
42:57
I'm glad that they got caught and they got punished.
43:01
I'm glad I was able to help the way I could.
43:07
When I found out Heidi Kidwell was getting out 14 years, not 15. She didn't do her 15.
43:16
I was so angry.
43:19
It wasn't fair. She got to go home to her kids.
43:23
She got to go home to her mom.
43:25
It wasn't right.
43:27
Eric Hockman is not here no more.
43:32
because he hung himself in jail.
43:37
I thought that Eric got off easy, but in the end, God took care of it.
43:49
Karen got her first granddaughter, and she wanted to do everything with him.
43:56
I wish they would have gotten to know Karen and Jim like I got to know them.
44:02
I think about them often. I'll miss them so much.
44:07
Karen was always there to take care of me and my family.
44:11
She was definitely my big sister. She looked out for us, and she was my protection.
44:22
For sure.
44:27
I'm sorry.
44:28
I miss her.
44:36
Hi, guys.
44:38
My sister always wore tons of rings.
44:41
This ring I asked for.
44:44
She wore this a lot.
44:49
I wear it occasionally to make, you know, sometimes I just need to feel close.
44:53
But this ring is really, really special to me. Really special. It was made for her. It was made for her finger.
45:00
And now it's for mine.
