Transcripts For MSNBCW Dateline 20210116

That russ was dead. How far would things go . I looked in her eyes and, i mean, she is evil. She is evil. A manhunt would stretch from the northwest down to mexico and run smack into mother nature. Your suspect is quite literally in the wind. Hes gone. Love, according to the songwriters, is a many splendored thing. Financial empires have been built on our annual homage to hearts and flowers. But this story is about people caught in the powerful grip of loves darker side, obsession. It involves talented and beautiful people. Ms. Washington. Smart people whose obsessions made them do stupid things. Passionate people caught in an emotional whirlwind. We, the jury, find the defendant and, finally, innocent people who paid the price when those passions ran amok. It all began, of course, on a dark and stormy night. They now expect what theyre calling a worst case scenario. It was august 2004, friday the 13th. Hurricane charlie was hammering floridas gulf coast, particularly the coastal city of punta gorda. My message to you now is urgency and safety. Get into your safe room right now and hunker down. That night jean huden says her life was quite literally in shambles. I stayed and rode the hurricane out by myself at the house and watched my house come apart around my ears. 60 miles to the south, jeans husband jim was holed up in a hotel, hiding. Not from the storm but from his past. He was scared, so he figured he would get while the getting was good. As soon as the worst of the storm had blown over, jean says she joined her panicked husband. They ordered pizza and turned on the tv. The losses are substantial. But jean couldnt concentrate on the hurricane news. The personal storm that was wrecking her marriage and ruining her life took precedence. It was a big tension fest. We talked, you know. I asked a lot of questions, you know, why and what were you thinking and what are you going to do now. It was a messy situation, betrayal, deception, de sertion. There was more to it than another woman, much more. A Homicide Investigation was at stake, one that just days earlier had led detective Mark Plumberg from washington to punta gorda. He was right on the trail of a potential suspect and then came the hurricane. I didnt think he was going to stick around for us to come back. The hurricane comes and goes and your suspect is, quite literally, in the wind . Hes gone. For the detective, the twisted trail that had led him from whitby island, washington, to south florida began six months earlier just after christmas 2003. A geo tracker, a small suv, was spotted in a secluded driveway in a remote section of whitby island, passenger door open, dome light on. The first thought was possibly a suicide, but on initial investigation they couldnt find a weapon. Standing in the damp december cold, the detective took stock. The body inside appeared to have been dead for 24 hours. Id found in the glove box indicated the dead man was named Russell Douglas, a ragged hole between his eyes had frozen his age at 32. There was a robbery, a whole lot of stuff left behind in the car that didnt make sense. Just inside the drivers side door, an empty. 380 caliber shell casing lay on the floor. The detective thought it was a curious place for a homicide. Near the end of a dead end road, parked into bushes as though he meant to be there with his car in gear, his emergency brake on and casually dressed in flipflops. Sounds like he was there to meet someone. That was the only thing that really made sense to us. But who . The detective hoped Russell Douglass widow, Brenna Douglas, might shed some light on that. But that night when he told her the father of her two children had been murdered, the detective says he got a strange feeling. I never try to judge how people are going the react when i tell them things, but her response wasnt what i expected. As in not emotional enough . She wasnt shocked, at least not visually shocked. It was a bit matter of fact, and that did leave us at least wondering when we walked out of the house. And so Brenna Douglas, as the wives of murdered men often do, became a person of interest. The domestic situation seemed unsettled. They were separated. Russell was living in an apartment in renton. According to brenna they were trying to work it out, talking about trying to get back together. In fact, the new widow told the detective her husband had spent the holidays with her and the kids. She said the last time she saw him was the morning of december 26th. He left the house somewhere mid morning, and she thought he was going to run some errands. Brenna douglas have an alibi . She didnt need an alibi. At the time we went to talk to her it was basically a death notification. She was able to answer our questions for us. Who didnt like Russell Douglas . Nobody could think of someone who really, truly didnt like him. As winter turned to spring, the detectives investigation seemed to be going nowhere. But a routine check of the numbers in Russell Douglass cellphone had yielded a tiny clue. There were a few phone calls to a number with a Las Vegas Area code, and we made a phone call to that number. There was no answer. It went to an answering machine. It was the cellphone voicemail or a persons voice . It was a cellphone voicemail for a woman named peggy. Peggy. Thats a name youll hear again. The detective made a mental note to have that number traced, but within minutes of hanging up his phone rang. And there was a female who said she had just gotten a phone call from that number and she identified herself as peggy thomas, explained she was a friend of brenna and Russell Douglas. Peggy thomas told the detectives she had been visiting friends over the holidays and explained she had simply contacted russell in order to pass along a present for brenna. She answered all of my questions to my satisfaction. There was nothing about that phone call that made me include her in the suspect list. But then again, the detectives suspect list was essentially a blank page. There were no names on it from florida or nevada or new mexico or any of the other places this investigation would eventually lead him. At least not yet. Coming up the investigation begins close to home with the dead mans onagain offagain wife. I said, well, is he hurting you, is he hitting you . She said, no, really he isnt physical. It is just emotional and verbal but i have hit him a couple of times. You dont want to believe the mother of your grand kids would ever be a suspect. But a wife as a potential person of interest is just the beginning in this Cross Country tale of love gone wrong when dateline continues. That work around your schedule. Jackson hewitt is here to fight for the biggest refund you deserve. Whether youre a 95er or 59er. Do we really need a sign to live, laugh, and love . Yes. The answer is no. I can help new homeowners not become their parents. Keeonoh. Nope. Coeenoah. No. Joaquin. No. It just takes practice. Give it a shot. [ grunts, exhales deeply ] did you hear that . Yeah. Its a constant battle. Were gonna open a pdf. Whos next . Progressive cant save you from becoming your parents, but we can save you money when you bundle home and auto with us. No fussin, no cussin, and no did you know diarrhea is often caused by bad bacteria in food . When you bundle home and auto with us. Try pepto® diarrhea. Its concentrated formula coats and kills bacteria to relieve diarrhea. See, pepto® diarrhea gets to the source, killing the bad bacteria. So, make sure to have pepto® diarrhea on hand. New years resolutions come and go. So give your business more than resolutions. Give it solutions, from comcast business. Work more efficiently with fast internet and advanced wifi. Make your business safer with powerful cybersecurity solutions. And stay productive with 24 7 support. Make this years resolution better solutions. Bounce forward with comcast business. Get started with a powerful internet and voice solution for just 64. 90 a month. Plus, for a limited time, ask how to get a 500 prepaid card when you upgrade. Switch today. Death never takes a holiday. As a nurse, gail oneal knows that better than most, still, she was unprepared for the news that greeted her when she returned home from a late shift two days after christmas 2003. The minute i opened the door i saw my husband on the phone, and it was like something hit me in the pit of my stomach and then he said russels gone. Gone . Gone where . As far as gail knew, her sons rocky marriage was on the mend. Im thinking, is this another dramafilled call with brenna that they had another argument or something, and what bob had done was just repeated the words that brenna had given him, that russell had been killed. And then all i could do was go sit down and just sit there for a while. Russels sister holly, she instantly assumed russels personal troubles were to blame. My first thought was that he had probably committed suicide, so i was in shock and then realized i needed to get over to the island for brenna and the kids. An alas can bush pilot delivered the news in person to russells father, jim, who was in the wilderness hunting and unreachable by phone. He said, your sons dead. And i had to say, of course, which one . And russell. I mean he didnt know a whole lot about anything other than he knew it was important to get me out of there. Russells brother matt was the last to know. He, too, had been out of cellphone range for several days while vacationing in british columbia. We drove across the border in our friends vehicle and my phone had a seizure. It started buzzing for every Voicemail Message and text message that had been sent, and it is, matt, call me, matt call me, matt call me. Within days of his death, Russell Douglass farflung family reunited on whitby island. We rallied around brenna. We were sleeping in the living room. Nothing seemed to be getting done so i ended up taking over the organization of the house, what do we do for meals. Russell douglas had left behind a lot of unfinished business. The oldest of three children born to jim and gail before they divorced, russell had been a latebloomer, but adulthood intruded early shortly after he started dating brenna, she became pregnant. Marriage and parenthood did little to help him mature. I think he was mourning and missing being an 18 year old who had a lot of dates and drank and went out with the guys, and, yeah, he did a little of that in college but not a lot. Russell and brenna fought often over children, money, and russells affairs with other women. She had called me after a really rough supposedly argument and i said, well, is he hurting you, is he hitting you . And she said, no, really he isnt physical, it is just emotional and verbal, but ive hit him a couple of times. Earlier that year russell had separated from brenna. He had taken an apartment near seattle and had a new girlfriend. For his family, the ongoing drama of russells life was exhausting. He stopped talking to basically all of us. I think he was so angry with the whole situation, he just was saying, im cutting off everything. But then, just after thanksgiving, all that seemed to change. Russell had recently changed jobs and was close to completing an online masters degree program. And as christmas approached, russell reached out to family members and told his brother matt that he wanted to reconcile with his wife. He said, you know, i think i need to start doing the right things. Brenna wants me back, i want her back, i want to be involved in the kids life. Then, for reasons they could not fathom, their son, their big brother, was dead, and the family became defensive when detectives suggested that russells wife brenna may have had something to do with his murder. You dont want to belief that anybody that you have known for that long or is the mother of your grand kids would ever be a suspect. So gail offered to help her daughterinlaw hire a lawyer. One of the detectives seemed a little strongarmed and i said, you know, you also need to get an attorney for all of your business affairs, so let me see if i can find somebody for you. The financial picture for brenna and the children was murky. Russell and brenna had filed for bankruptcy a few years earlier, and though brenna owned her own hair salon in this up scale shopping center, russell had handled the business end of things. If there was a bright spot during those dismal days, it was that Russell Douglas did have some Life Insurance. I think when it comes down to it, he had a total of three Life Insurance policies, each one a couple hundred thousand dollars i want to say. In fact, the face value of those policies was more than half a million dollars. That money would come in handy, particularly since brenna was under pressure to buy the house shed been renting from a woman who used to work at her hair salon. The land ladys name was peggy, peggy thomas. In those last dying days of 2003, Russell Douglass family had no idea how large that name would loom for them in the months and years to come. Coming up detectives get a call from a mystery man who says he knows who the killer is, but getting him to talk wont be easy. It sounds as if hes afraid for his own life. He said, if i told you what i know, the shooters going to know that i told you. When dateline continues. Tasha, did you know geico could save you hundreds on Car Insurance and a whole lot more . Hmm. So what are you waiting for . Hip hop Group Tag Team to help you plan dessert . French vanilla rocky road chocolate, peanut butter, cookie dough scoop there it is scoop there it is scoop there it is scoop there it is scoop shakalaka shakalaka shakalaka shaka scoop . Chocolaka chocolaka . Geico. Switch today and see all the ways you could save. Sprinkles . By the spring of 2004, detective Mark Plumberg had been working the phones and knocking on doors for months, but getting nowhere. I actually decided to just start over and do the entire investigation from step one all over again. He had a murder at a good address on his hands and many more questions than answers. What had brought Russell Douglas to this remote area of Whidbey Island on the day after christmas . Who put a bullet between his eyes and why . We ran out every lead i could run out and none of them connected to Russell Douglas. Money, love, pride. Talk to homicide detectives, they say those themes come up all the time. All the time. Any of that seem to fit . We did find that russell had several hundred thousand dollars in Life Insurance on him. Obviously, like you said, money is a motive, love is a motive, pride is a motive. For the detective, those factors seemed to point in the direction of russells wife, Brenna Douglas. Not only had she been cheated on and publicly humiliated by russell, but she was the named beneficiary of three Life Insurance policies hed taken out on himself. The problem was brennas alibi was solid. There were plenty of people who could confirm that theyd been with her at the time Russell Douglas was killed. The detective knew he needed a break, and in july 2004, exactly seven months to the day after the murder of Russell Douglas, he got one. I was actually out canvassing and interviewing again, and i got a phone call that said we had a tip on the Russell Douglas homicide. Plumbergs partner on the investigation, mike beach, took the call. He just said, hey, im just calling to see if you have any unsolved homicides from december 2003. And i said, well, yes, sir, we actually have two in december of 2003, which one are you referring to . And he says, the guy who got shot in the head. Beach said he didnt know if the caller was the killer or someone related to the killer, but he knew he didnt want to lose him. Im doing everything i can to keep this gentleman on the phone because at that point he still hadnt given me his name. The caller was using an untraceable calling card, and on the phone he seemed nervous. He said, if i told you what i know, the shooter is going to know that i told you. That first call lasted more than an hour, but the cops learned neither the name of the caller for the killer. He was still afraid to give us any more information, so im doing everything i can to gain his trust, just to keep talking to him. The informant agreed to call again the next day, and this time he was more forthcoming. He started telling me that i needed to look for a girlfriend of the shooter that was from las vegas. He kept saying the shooters where i am. The caller told beach that he was a retired air force serviceman and played in a band with the shooter. The shooter, he said, was his best friend. I asked him again to call the next day, and he said, i have to work but i can call on thursday. I said, okay, well, ill be here waiting. He almost whispered, the shooter is jim huden. Jim huden, in the age of google that was all the break Mark Plumberg needed. By the end of the day the detectives knew that jim huden lived in south florida and played in a band, and according to the bands website one of its members was retired air force, and so the next time the caller phoned dective beach was ready. He was asking me, were you able to do anything with what i gave you . I said, yeah, i think im looking at a picture of you, and the phone went quiet. And he goes, you guys are good. I go, were not good, just simple google searching. At last the detectives had a solid lead that raised plenty of questions. Who was this jim huden and why was their tipster so willing to give him up . The cops knew the answers to those questions could not be found in a google search. They would have to fly to southwest florida at a time of year when Violent Storm clouds always seemed to lurk just over the horizon. Coming up was this a case of love turned lethal . Detectives learn about an affair between this beauty queen she was a whole lot of gorgeous woman. And a guitar man with a dark side. Jim at one point had told me that he wanted to know what it felt like to kill somebody. When dateline continues. When dateline continues advanced nonsmall cell lung cancer can take away so much. But today theres a combination of two immunotherapies you can take first. One that could mean. A chance to live longer. Opdivo plus yervoy is for adults newly diagnosed with nonsmall cell lung cancer that has spread and that tests positive for pdl1 and does not have an abnormal egfr or alk gene. Its the first and only approved chemofree combination of two immunotherapies that works together in different ways to harness the power of the immune system. Opdivo plus yervoy equals a chance for more days. More nights. More beautiful weekends. More ugly sweaters. More big hugs. More small outings. Opdivo and yervoy can cause your immune system to attack normal organs and tissues in your body and affect how they work. 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President elect joe biden said he will enlist fema and the National Guard to set up Community Vaccination sites and build up mobile clinics to get the vaccine to underserved areas. Biden unveiled a 1. 9 trillion spending package to combat the multiple crises caused by the pandemic. Meanwhile, the u. S. Capitol is under an unprecedented lockdown as michigan and other states activated their National Guard and placed fences around their capitols ahead of threats of violence this weekend. Now back to dateline. Nearly 500 years ago, a middleaged spaniard came to this part of florida searching for the fountain of youth. Ponce de leon never found it, but in 1992 it seems jim huden did. Like de leon, huden was a middleaged wanderer, but unlike the conquistador, the locals loved jim huden. Jim was always a happygolucky, fun guy. He was just a wonderful human being. A very witty guy. Just charming. You know, everybody loved him. A native of Washington State, hudens first fans in punta gorda were customers at his Computer Store. Former Melih Gokcek Lynn mooney was one of those. He was brilliant with computers. In fact, you could go in there and they would build a computer for you. But it was hudens band, buck naked and the exhibitionists bnx for short that made him one of the most popular people in punta gorda. Tim goodman played key boards in the band. We had two names to decide on it. It was buck naked and the exhibitionists or less moore and the contradictions, so we picked buck naked. He was a brilliant guy. Bill hill, the bands bass player, said huden was a guy that never liked to let wives or girlfriends get in the way of a good time. I had a lot of fun. Safe to say you were kind of his wing man, he covered for you, you covered for him . Yes, indeed. Golden oldies like wilson pickets six, three, four, five, seven, eight, nine, were the bands bread and butter. Lead singer al holland used to perform with the platters. He said that whenever buck naked played, people would dance. We would pack the place every single friday and saturday night, and it would just be one very big party. It must have been fun to be part of the big band in town . Oh, it was. Oh, yeah, it was. The band was so hot, in fact, that jim huden eventually turned over the Computer Store to his top assistant, jean spender, so he could concentrate on music. I kind of pushed him towards doing that because i knew that was his love and thats where he was most happy. Were you in love with him . Very much so. I loved that man very much. So much so that in december 2001, after six years of living together, jean and jim got married in las vegas. And i was asked by jean if i would walk her down the aisle. Was she happy . Oh, yeah. All smiles, both of them were all smiles. But the smiles did not last long. In june 2002 jim huden returned here to Washington State for the funeral of an old friend, and it was here that fate intervened. A tall, redhaired beauty caught jims eye. It was the beginning of a love triangle, one that would wreck the lives of all of the people who were involved, and some who were not. The woman in question was peggy thomas, a Whidbey Island hairstylist who also dabbled in beauty pageants. In fact, in 2001 thomas represented the state of washington in a las vegas pageant, winning the evening gown competition. Lesley burkland got to know peggy thomas a few years earlier when she was just breaking into the beauty pageant circuit. Berkland who was once on the reality tv show, big, rich, texas. I still considered myself new to dallas. Says peggy was working as an auto mechanic at the time. You couldnt not notice peggy because she was a whole lot of gorgeous woman. Would you say shes a typical pageant contestant . No, not in 1998. Hire is this beautiful, voluptuos woman and she was a mechanic and she had a guykind of job. It just added to her sex appeal. Though jean says she knew nothing of her husbands budding affair at the time, she did notice that he had returned from his friends funeral a changed man, secretive, sullen and withdrawn. I think jims sisterinlaw had mentioned peg thome and i didnt put two and two together. She had made a mention about the two of them being at the funeral together but it didnt click jean says she later found emails and letters from this peggy and that the woman even called her home looking for jim, but jean says that jim told her peggy was simply a music contact who could get him gigs in las vegas, worrisome, to be sure, but jean says it was her husbands heavy drinking that really had her concerned. He started drinking constantly at home and, you know, drinking to obliterate himself basically, to numb himself, and then he started making trips out west. Did you at the time think that there was another woman . No, i had no idea. There is, of course, no cure for willful blindness, but bill hill, hudens faithful wingman, knew the truth about those outoftown trips because sometimes hed been along for the ride. We came out to las vegas, the reason that he asked me to go was to cover for him. He was seeing peggy . Yes. Tell me about jims relationship with peggy . Well, it was all love and kisses. Really . Uhhuh. More so than with jean who was waiting for him back home . Yes. Before long, other band members say that they too began seeing the same changes in jim that troubled jean, heavy drinking and erratic behavior. Hed go through a fifth of crown royal in a night, and one night im calling chord changes to the bass player and he hollers at me in the middle of a song, quit criticizing the bass player or Something Like that, and i hollered back at him. I said, why dont you keep your mouth quiet, im doing my job over here, and he shut his guitar off and walked off stage, which is about the most unprofessional thing you can do. After that, the bands days were numbered and seemingly so were the days of jean hudens marriage, but jean says the drinking and philandering were not the worst of it. Jim at one point had told me that he wanted to know what it felt like to kill somebody. He told you that he had wanted to know that . Yes, one of his deep, dark secrets. And you say, what, sure, great idea, honey . I didnt know what to say. Who would . Jean could only guess at what was behind this sudden change. He lost his dad when he was, i believe, 10, 11 years old, and his mom dated a series of men throughout that were abusive, you know, drunks, and he saw his mom get beat up many, many times. He wasnt able to do anything and he always swore he would get this guy, but the mast who mostly beat her has since passed away. Jean didnt know if Something Back in washington had triggered her husbands black moods, but she says she remained determined to pull him through. I loved that man more than life itself at the time. I was so in love with him. I thought he was the one. Even though he was in the process of treating you like dirt . Right, i was hoping everything could be salvaged. Then came the day in june 2003 when the cold, hard facts of her husbands affair could no longer be denied. Jim moved out, telling jean that he needed a change of scenery for his music. Jean knew better. I was like, youre going back to see peggy. I was like, oh, get out u dont ever come back again. And he didnt want to hear that, he still wanted me to be hanging on while he had peggy as well. That moment of clarity, it turns out, was short lived. All that summer while jim huden set up housekeeping with peggy and her two daughters out in las vegas, jean says her husband kept her dangling with promises that his daliance with peggy thomas was over and he soon would be home. And that, for jean, was a reason to believe. I thought there was some hope. I didnt want to let go. And for a brief moment in september of 2003, jean said it looked as if her per he is vevance would pay off. Jim invited her out to las vegas for her 40th birthday. For several days he wined and dined her, but her dreams for a happy ending, she says, vanished when her husband turned to her in bed one night and told her that he intended to make his darkest dreams come true. There was a man out in washington, he told her, who needed to die. Coming up not the kind of thing a wife wants to hear, but jean has an even bigger shock coming. It was like getting kicked in the stomach. Life as i knew it was over at that point. When dateline continues. When dateline continues i feel like were forgetting something. Let me check. Xfinity home gives you peace of mind from anywhere with professionally monitored Home Security built around you. No, i think were good. Good. So when youre away, you dont have to worry. The tent. We forgot. The tent. Except about that. Xfinity home. Simple. Easy. Awesome. Hey look, i found the tent get xfinity home with no Term Contract required. Click or call today. They say that what happens in vegas stays in vegas. No one wanted that slogan to be true more than jean huden did, especially since vegas was where her husband had told her he intended to kill a complete stranger. He wanted to know what it would feel like to kill someone . Kill somebody, yes. Nobodys ever said that to me before. Yeah, me either. But this was not to be a thrill killing. According to jean, her husband believed murdering the victim he had in mind would be a kind of public service. He just said he beat his children and beat his wife and didnt take care of his family and just an abusive made him sound exactly like the guy jim had grown up with . Exactly. What did jim say that he was going to do . He said that peggys friend brenna approached him and she would share the insurance money with him. Murder for hire . Yes. Did you try to talk him out of this . I did. I thought he was just talking. I was just hoping he would get over it. It had been a tough year for mr. And mrs. Huden. The death of a childhood friend had sent jim huden spinning off into a fall of fameworthy mid life crisis that ran the gamut of alcoholism and adultery to vague notions of murder. I just didnt think he would follow through with it. I mean he didnt even know how to shoot a gun. By christmas 2003, things seemed to have hit rock bottom. Instead of returning home with jean after their romantic reunion in las vegas, jim had stayed out west. Did you think he was with peggy . At that point i thought so, yeah. I mean i knew what was going on and i knew it was over, and i just there was no point in confronting him because he would lie about it anyway. Abandoned and alone, jean spent the holidays waiting for word from jim. Then in early january, jean says her phone rang. Her husband was on the line, but jim huden wasnt calling to wish his wife a happy new year. According to jean, he was calling to tell her that dreams do come true. He had killed a man in cold blood. He just said it was done and hes coming back. The murder . Yes. What did you say . I think i was speechless at the time. I just i just i think i asked if he was okay and does anyone know or are they after you or i just basically asked if he was okay. Your husband had just confessed that he had committed a murder for hire . Right, uhhuh. It was like getting kicked in the stomach. I mean i knew life as i knew it was over at that point. Jean says her husband drove through the night, pulling into their garage in punta gorda after dark the next day. He basically told me how they had lured russell to a certain spot on the island and how he had came out of some bushes and walked up to him and just shot him in the head. Then he made it sound like, you know, it was kind of gentle and peaceful and, you know, his head just tilted over and he walked away. Jim had told you that he had this dark secret, that he wanted to know what it would be like to kill someone . Uhhuh, right. Did it live up to his expectations . No, at first he said for a few days he felt like a big man and, you know, it was excel rating and he thought he had accomplished something and rid the world of someone who didnt need to be there anymore, but then it started to close in on him and then he wasnt such a big man and that, you know, he knew he had made a terrible mistake. Based on what jim told you, did Brenna Douglas offer any shred of proof that her husband was abusive or did jim just kind of commit that murder pretty much on faith . Pretty much on faith as far as i knew, because i come to find out later there were no records of him you know, there were no reports of Domestic Abuse as far as i understand. After laying low for a while, jean says, jim gradually started picking up the pieces of his old life in punta gorda. As the weeks passed, jean says she even allowed herself to think that perhaps the ugliness of the past two years was in the past. That is, until the april day when a tall redheaded stranger appeared on her doorstep. Jim was doing a local radio show here in the morning, and i was at home and theres a knock on the door. And i opened the door and it is peggy thomas standing on my doorstep. In that icy instant, jim hudens complicated double life collapsed. As the women talked, jean says, it became clear that both had been lied to. Both believed jim was done with the other and committed to them. He was playing us both for quite sometime, trying to keep us both apart from each other. So there you are with peggy and jims not there . Uhhuh. For how long . Not long because i called the Radio Station and suggested he get home real fast. He stopped the show and came home, and peggy and i are sitting there on the couch. How did he look . Not good. So what happens at that meeting . There was a lot of yelling. The two of you yelling at jim or at each other . A little of both. I mean i was yelling at her because she knew he was married. And shes saying, what, i was led to believe that theres nothing left of your marriage anymore . Right, it was like a knife in the heart, it was. And at that point he needed to make a choice, and he said he was going to stay with me. Although jean says peggy agreed to leave them in peace and return to las vegas, a few weeks later she was back. This time showing up unannounced at a reunion gig for jims old band, buck naked and the exhibitionists. Bill hill says the moment he saw her face in the audience, he knew it was trouble. Trouble because shortly after returning to Punta Gorda Jim huden had told him that peggy had helped jim murder a man who reminded jim of someone he had known as a child, a man who had allegedly beaten and abused jims mother. He says, i would have done him in if he was still alive. And he says, i found a person that met him description as far as abusiveness. And i says, yeah. And he says, well, i shot him in the head and killed him. No chance that he was kidding or not telling the truth . I knew he was telling me the truth. He says peggy found a person that supposedly was abusive and it happened to be the husband of a woman that owned the hair salon in Whidbey Island, i believe. Where peggy worked . Where peggy worked, yes. So peggy knew all about this . She helped him. For five months bill hill said he struggled under the weight of that confession, then in late july of 2004 his conscience finally got the better of him. I decided to make my first call. Your first call . To Whidbey Island. To the police . Yes, to the Island County sheriffs. I felt guilty that i was giving up my friends, but i knew something had to be done. Within days of that call detectives mike plumberg and mike beach were sitting facetoface with both their tipster, bill hill, and their suspect, the artist formerly known as buck naked. Coming up the interrogation gets tough. You know what youve told bill. The guys falling apart over the guilt hes carrying around because you told him what you did. Will jim crack or will detectives realize they have the wrong man . When dateline continues. E tod, youre in the right place. My seminars are a great tool to help young homeowners who are turning into their parents. Now, remember, theyre not programs. Theyre tv shows. You woke up early. No one cares. Yes. So, i was using something called homequote explorer from progressive to easily compare Home Insurance rates. Was i hashtagging . Progressive cant help you from becoming your parents, but we can help you compare rates on Home Insurance with homequote explorer. Guess what. The waiter doesnt need to know your name. In a year of changes. Dont take chances on your taxes. Be 100 certain with jackson hewitt. Well get your taxes done right, guaranteed. Heres to the duers. To all the people who realize they can du more with less asthma thanks to dupixent, the addon treatment for specific types of moderatetosevere asthma. Dupixent isnt for sudden breathing problems. It can improve lung function for better breathing in as little as 2 weeks and help prevent severe asthma attacks. Its not a steroid but can help reduce or eliminate oral steroids. Dupixent can cause serious allergic reactions including anaphylaxis. Get help right away if you have rash, shortness of breath, chest pain, tingling or numbness in your limbs. Tell your doctor if you have a parasitic infection and dont change or stop your asthma treatments, including steroids, without talking to your doctor. Are you ready to du more with less asthma . Talk to your asthma specialist about dupixent. If your financial situation has changed, we may be able to help. If your financial situation has changed, freshness and softness you never forget, with downy. For seven months after Russell Douglas was shot between the eyes, police had little more to go on than a corps and an empty shell casing. With their case at a dead end, Whidbey Island detectives desperately wanted to believe that bill hill, the tipster who had led them to florida, was something other than a crackpot with an ax to grind. When we first landed in florida, we met with bill hill, confirmed the story. We wanted to meet him facetoface obviously. What was his mood . He was a bit nervous. I think he was still in that mode where he knew he was turning in his best friend. Once again, bill hill told the detectives what he knew, that his best friend jim huden had told him he had killed a man in Whidbey Island and that hudens girlfriend, peggy thomas, had helped set up the whole thing with the knowledge of the victims wife. It was a compelling story, but with no murder weapon or any other physical evidence connecting jim huden to the murder of Russell Douglas, the detectives were no closer to being able to make an arrest. The next day we decide we have no cards other than to just go talk to jim huden and see what hell say to us. After arranging to have a second team of detectives visit peggy thomas simultaneously in las vegas, the detectives drove over to jim hudens house. Jean answered the door. I showed her my badge and my id and said i was from Island County, washington. Jim was there . Yes, he was sitting on the couch. And he says what . Whats Island County, washington, doing all the way here in florida . Oddly enough, he didnt say anything like that. The detective didnt beat around the bush. And i looked him right in the face and i said, mr. Huden, i know youre the man who pulled the trigger and killed Russell Douglas, and his only response was to say, i dont know why someone would say that. I was sure at that moment i was in the room with the right man. Because an innocent man would say, well, youre crazy, i didnt kill him or anybody else, i dont know what youre talking about . He never once made a denial of my accusation. Huden admitted to being on Whidbey Island with peggy thomas over the Christmas Holidays but denied ever owning a gun. He admitted to having briefly met Russell Douglas but said it was only to drop off a present at his apartment near seattle for brenna from peggy. I asked if he would be willing to come down to the Police Station with us. I said, we would like to get your story on tape. He agreed. Hes under no obligation to do that . He doesnt have to go anywhere with us. You need a soda or anything . No, im fine. All right. If the coffee is ever done, i would sure like that. You want coffee . Once again with tape rolling, jim huden freely admitted to being in washington at the time of the crime, to meeting Russell Douglas there, and to being a lousy twotiming husband. But thats where jim huden drew the line. Im a son of a but im no killer. Im a son of a for nearly an hour the interview covered old ground with occasional interruptions from detectives in las vegas who were at that very moment grilling hudens girlfriend, peggy thomas. What do you think peggys reaction is going to be to my guys out there . I would be surprised if it is any who is bill hill . Hes a friend of mine who lives here. Bass player. Does that surprise you that i will she give up her lover. I said, you know what . Just know that i love you. Youre never going to see or hear from me again. And peggy herself is onto the next man. I mean shes evil. And the whole case goes south with a manhunt in mexico. When dateline continues. Ues. Ridiculous. [ chuckles ] no one looks ridiculous, bob. Progressive is always here for you with roundtheclock service. Just so you know, next time, you can submit a claim with our mobile app. Good. Thanks again for for rushing over. Are you kidding . This is what 24 7 protection looks like. Okay. You smell like fish. Sorry. I was talking to jamie. Flexible hours. That work around your schedule. Jackson hewitt is here to fight for the biggest refund you deserve. Whether youre a 95er or 59er. Tired of clean clothes that just dont smell clean . What if your clothes could stay fresh for weeks . 9er. Now they can this towel has already been used and it still smells fresh. Pour a cap of downy unstopables into your washing machine before each load and enjoy fresher smelling laundry for up to 12weeks. Josh mankiewicz florida musician james huden was in the middle of an intense interrogation with detectives from Whidbey Island, washington, regarding the murder of Russel Douglas. Then came a question investigators thought would florida musician was in the middle of an interrogation regarding Russel Douglas and then came the question investigators certainly thought would get his attention. Who is bill hill . Hes a friend of mine who lives here. Bass player. Does that surprise you that i brought up that name . Yes. Why . Uh, because youre from Whidbey Island . Would it surprise you that ive been talking to him almost daily for the last week and a half . Yeah, it would surprise me. I just wanted to see a reaction. Up until that point he was playing it pretty cool, and i think i got the reaction i was hoping for. It kind of deflated him a little bit. Its truth or dare time, jim. You know what you told bill. Hes your best friend in the whole world. The guy is falling apart over this, literally falling apart over the guilt hes carrying around because you told him what you did. I dont buy that for a minute. If revealing bill hill as their source was intended to shock jim huden into confessing, it failed. With no murder weapon, no warrant, and no authority to make an arrest in the state of florida, the detectives had to let their primary suspect go free. Were you worried at all about bill hill . Now youve disclosed hes the source of all this. We made sure before we went back to washington that bill understood that we had to give his name, but my hope was that jim huden would be far too worried about his own skin and not have to worry about taking retribution on bill hill. Easy for him to say. Bill hill remembers being terrified when he heard his former friend now knew that he had been the one who had called the police. Oh, yeah. Scared to death. Watching your back. Oh, yeah. Yeah. That terror was amplified a few days later when hurricane charley, which had been churning up the gulf, suddenly made an unexpected turn and slammed into punta gorda, packing 150mileanhour winds. Charley leveled parts of town, taking out electricity and giving plenty of cover to someone like jim huden who might want revenge. I slept on the couch in the living room with my 357 under the pillow literally. Because you thought jim was coming . Yes. How did you sleep . Not very good. As it turned out. The detective was right. Jim huden had plenty on his plate and no intention of sticking around. Once charley died down no one was surprised to learn that jim huden was literally gone with the wind. He says felt very exposed. Jean huden was certain of two things. The cops would be back, and he had no intention of ever wearing prison orange. He told me he would never be seen in a jump suit, meaning jail or prison clothes. He had every intention of killing himself before it would come to that. Jean said after the storm passed, he asked her to drive him to miami. He wanted to spend one last night alone, gambling and drinking before he committed suicide. I left him with about 4,000, 5,000, and he was going to go take himself out somewhere. You were crying. I was hysterical. Was he crying . Yes, he was. I drove away thinking that was the last time i would ever see him and i would be getting a knock on the door asking me to identify his body. For weeks jean says she waited amid the ruins of her stormravaged home for word of jims fate. She assumed he was dead, and thats what she told the Whidbey Island cops. There were several menls on the machine. I called back and told them what happened. I said, youve got your man, hes dead, there you go, case is solved. Shortly after telling the police jim probably killed himself, the phone rang began. It was greyhound buses. They found a bag with jims name on it, a bot ofl crown royal, his clothes, and a gun in it. When did you hear from him . I got a phone call from my attorney saying they had heard from jim and that jim was at a motel down in houston. The lawyer put jean in touch with jim and filled her in on his latest plan, a plan that could only succeed if jean agreed to send jim money. His plan was to get across the border and go from there. And so i sent him yet more money and allowed him to, you know, get out of the country. Which wasnt at that point a crime since there were no charges against him. At this point, no. And heres where our story takes another bizarre turn. While jean huden, the wife jim had cheated on for years, was willing to stand by her man and help him escape to mexico, police learned that peggy thomas, jim hudens lover and alleged accomplice, was now willing to give him up. Im not involved in this. In this interview with detectives, peggy thomas said that in a phone call shortly before he fled to mexico, jim had confessed to killing Russel Douglas. He said im sorry. I love you. I never meant for you to be involved in it and i did it when i went for cigarettes. I said it cant be. And he said, you know what . Just know that i love you. Youre never going to see or hear from me again. With no evidence tying peggy to the murder, the detectives asked for the publics help in documenting motives in 2003 where Russel Douglas was murdered. We put out descriptions of the vehicle he was driving. Just a few days after it hit the media we got a phone call from Dona Ana County Sheriffs Office in new mexico saying someone had turned in as a firearm that they believe might have been used in a homicide on Whidbey Island. Talk about luck. It doesnt get any better than that. The gun came from a former las vegas sheriffs deputy who recently retired to new mexico. The deputy had known jim huden and peggy thomas in las vegas, and in october 2003, the deputy said huden had come to his house and asked to be shown how to shoot the gun. According to the deputy, the next time he saw either huden or the gun was in january 2004 when jim huden handed it to him in a paper bag and asked him to hold it for safekeeping. We took the weapon for testing, and it was matched to the shell casing from the tracker and also matched to the slug that was pulled from russels brain. The murder weapon. Thats the murder weapon. And you have a guy telling you that jim huden gave it to him. Right. Not just that jim huden gave it to him, but he taught jim huden to fire the weapon and that jim huden gave it back to him just a few days after the murder of Russel Douglas. If youd had that information before you went to florida, you could have brought jim huden back in cuffs. You bet. Instead, now youve got the proof, and jim huden is nowhere to be found. Right. We have all we need. Now we just need jim. Coming up, with jim out of the picture, his lover peggy thomas meets a new man, a millionaire cowboy who was about to be taken for a wild ride. And she said, i didnt have nothing to do with it. I said, well, did you take a lie detector. She said, no, my lawyer told me not to. I said, if youre innocent, why wouldnt you take a lie detector, and she never gave me a good answer. I looked in her eyes i mean she is evil. When dateline continues. Ats crafting our authentic fragrances begins with ingredients from the earth. To create fragrances infused with natural essential oils. Air wick scented oils. Connect to nature. To be taken for a wild ride. I looked in her eyes i mean to be taken for a wild ride. I looked in her eyes i mean 234 23 for nine months, the mystery of who killed Russel Douglas and why weighed on his family. For nine months the mystery of who killed Russel Douglas and why weighed on his family. Then, as it often does in this story, a ringing phone brought the momentous news. I got the call from the prosecutor who said im telling you first, that they thought they knew who it was. Jim hudens name meant nothing to russels family, but the name of hue dens girlfriend, peggy thomas, did. Peggy thomas is the owner of the home that russel and brenna rented that they had had a verbal agreement that they were going to buy if they could come up with the capital. Given that brenna was the named beneficiary on russels Life Insurance policies, russels family wondered if his death was in some way part of a real estate deal. I guess some of our family members kept thinking did peggy maybe do this or set this all up because she thought that if brenna got insurance money, she would buy the house and peggy would then have that instant cash . Peggy thomas appeared to be the only link between jim huden and Russel Douglas, and it wasnt just a circumstantial connection either. On page 14 of the murder weapons owners manual, investigators had found a fingerprint belonging to peggy thomas. Troubling, but what concerned Russel Douglas brother and sister most was the fact that brenna didnt appear to be the least bit upset about the prospect of her friend peggy being involved in her husbands murder. He worked with her, and youre not saying a peep, you know . If it was your friend, something, either disbelief or i cant believe my friend did this, i want to make sure they get punished. Lets go get them. I said, you know, when you were really mad at russ, did you ever say to peggy while you guys were working together that russ had some insurance money and hed be better to you dead than alive . She said, well, i might have, and at that point, i kind of looked at her and i thought, man, did this not give somebody a motive somewhere along the line . Was this a case of angry words having unintended consequences or as some suspected, had brenna actively recruited russels killers . The family couldnt know for sure, but that question now complicated their relationships with brenna and the grandchildren. And we tried to be as supportive as we could, especially for the kids, but i know she listens to all of their conversations. So its a very controlled conversation. When it comes to awkward telephone conversations, none could have been more strained than the ones that took place between jim hudens lover and jim hudens wife after he fled to mexico. You call her first or she called you . No. She called me. What did she want to talk about . Well, she wanted to know how much the cops had been bugging me and what they knew and if i had heard from jim or anything like that. And you, what . Told her . I told her what the cops had said. I didnt tell her anything about jim. Why did you not hang up the phone . I dont know. I dont know. This isnt even jim. This is jims mistress. I know. Im an idiot. But thats not all. Jean says she was able to stay in contact with jim while he was in mexico and jim asked her to fly out to vegas to meet with peggy facetoface and keep her in the loop. We did have jim in common. I never told her where he was. I did tell her i knew he was okay. It was just very weird. I mean, we went out and had drinks and saw a band, and i really found it hard to hate her as much as i wanted to. As months passed and jim hudens trail grew colder, the lives of the women who would love him took drastically divergent paths while jean grew steadily poorer supporting jim. The everresourceful peggy, now a limo driver in vegas, hit the jackpot. In 2007 one of her affairs turned out to be this man, mark allen, a new mexico horse breeder and heir to an oil fortune. The limo people asked me do you want some guy or the exmrs. Washington, and i said ill take the exmrs. Washington. Five months after meeting peggy thomas, allen said he asked her to marry him. The biggest mistake i ever made in my life. Within months of moving to his new mexico ranch, allen said peggy was nosing her way into his horse business, pressuring him to hire longtime employees and hire friends of hers. She wanted her people to do the accounting and stuff. When he refused, allen says, the man magnet turned into a maneater. Shed get on me and it was it was like a man getting on you. Shes a pretty goodsized woman. I looked in her eyes and i i mean, shes evil. She is evil. But if peggy thomas married well, she divorced even better. Allen says he gave her money and an 80foot houseboat just to go away. The divorce took way longer than the marriage did. Looking back, mark allen says he should have known better. He says a few days before their wedding, peggy let him in on a little secret. She said she was accused of being involved in a murder and that her exboyfriend had killed a guy, she said, but i didnt have nothing to do with it. I said, did you take a lie detector . She said, no, my lawyer told me not to. I went, if youre innocent, why didnt you take a lie detector, and she never gave me a good answer. It should be noted that although mark allen says his brief marriage to peggy thomas cost him dearly, she did give him at least one chuckle. In 2009 after one of his horses, mine that bird, won the kentucky derby, allen says he saw peggy quoted in the press. She said she was down here training horses and breeding horses. Peggy cant even step up on a horse. Coming up, whatever happened to jim, the fugitive from justice and his wife jean . I was getting ready to leave and not be able to come back to this country for the rest of my life. What if you died in a shootout . Yeah. Exactly. Thats probably would have happened. Who knows. Probably would have taken me out next. Joining jim on the lam or turning him in, which would she choose . The man cost me everything i had. I lost my house. I lost my livelihood. Sorry. When dateline continues. 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We forgot. The tent. Except about that. Xfinity home. Simple. Easy. Awesome. Hey look, i found the tent get xfinity home with no Term Contract required. Click or call today. Hello. Im dara brown. Heres whats happening. The worldwide death toll from choens has topped 2 million, and the u. S. Recorded its worst week since the pandemic started with more than 23,000 deaths. Meanwhile the trump administrations health and Human Services secretary aloeks azar has announced his resignation effective january 20th. State capitols are bracing for possible protest this weekend from far armed right extremists. Now back to dateline. By the spring 2011 Russel Douglas had been dead for more than seven years. His suspected killer was still on the loose because the only person on earth who knew his true whereabouts wasnt talking to detectives. I mean, theyd been watching me for years. Theyve tapped my phones and police were pretty sure you were still in contact with jim. Well, sure. They had a pretty good idea. And they were right. Of course, they were. The man no longer known as buck naked had been able to build a new life for himself in mexico. And even played the occasional gig. It was in vera cruz, mexico. I went down a few times to see him and, of course, to bring him more money, and he was teaching music to kids at a music school down there. Id fly up to Dulles Airport and then up to kansas and change planes so they couldnt track how i was going and how i was getting to him, or wed meet in other cities. You know, i never flew directly to him, so, you know, they couldnt trace me, you know, to get to him. But that kind of devotion doesnt come cheap. Jims life on the lam had taken a toll on jeans health, and its devoured the inheritance she received when her mother died. The man cost me every dime i had. I lost my house, and i lost my livelihood sorry. And yet, after her father died in 2007, jean said she seriously considered joining her husband in mexico where he was known as maestro jim and sharing his life as a fugitive. I knew what Border Crossing i was taking. I had a new i. D. I was getting ready to leave and not be able to come back to this country for the rest of my life. Maybe you would have died in a shootout. Yeah, exactly. Thats probably would have happened. Who knows . He probably would have taken me out next. That did not happen, for one reason. Just days before she planned to join jim, jean met this man, bill bruner, and fell in love. And he finally made me see what foolish thing that would be to do and for some reason i listened to bill, and now hes he saved my life, basically. So love kind of wrecked your life, and then love also saved your life. Yeah. I guess it did. It sure did. Yeah. Because of bill jean gave up her dream of rejoining jim huden, but it wasnt until the spring of 2011 that bill bruner convinced her to give up the addiction that was jim. I had to finally i had enough, you know . I know jim doesnt love me. He didnt care about me when he did what he did and he still doesnt care about me and probably less so now that im out of money. More than that, jean had herself gotten into some legal trouble after jim fled to mexico. In exchange for immunity from prosecution on some drug and check forgery charges, jean told authorities all she knew about the murder of Russel Douglas and just where jim huden could be found. Theyre not interested in me. They wanted jim. They said they would not prosecute me, and i certainly hope they stick to their word. In june 2011 mexican authorities picked up the man variously known as buck naked or maestro jim in veracruz and quickly turned him over to waiting u. S. Marshals. When the plane carrying jim back to Washington State landed in seattle, he was greeted by a familiar face. And you said what . Jim, nice to see you again. Jim, im not sure if you remember me, but im here to escort you back to Island County. I said youre under no obligation to talk to me, and he immediately said, i dont want to. Something he should have said years earlier. Probably would have been a good idea. For the foreseeable future, jim huden would be wearing exactly the ensemble he had for so long sought to avoid. Immediately after hudens arrest, detectives began trying to track down his former lover peggy thomas, a routine Computer Data search led police to this lake in new mexico where they discovered peggy thomas kept an 80foot houseboat that shed gotten in her divorce from mark allen. They said she was a really nice person, that she was single and that shed put the name off the hook on the boat due to the fact she was single. Captain burton of the San Juan Office said peggy thomas was lured back to the marina with the bogus promise there was a package waiting for her. He said she didnt seem all that surprised when he placed her under arrest. She had an attorney and shed been waiting for this day and was kind of ready to get it over with. Peggy thomas was all business, current says and wasted none of her legendary charm on him. Just enough time for her to make fun of me and make fun of my braces and how young i looked. She thought i would be someone older, she said. Russel Douglas Family was e lated that his suspected killers were in jail, but russels wife . Not so much. And i called brenna, and it was kind of a stunned silence for a little bit, and then it was, like, oh, well good, but it was not the ecstatic thank god, something that i was really wanting to hear. In july 2011 when Russel Douglas family gathered in solidarity for jim hudens first court appearance, russels widow was conspicuously absent. I asked her, are you going to go . She said, why would i go . It doesnt concern me. It just didnt quite seem right. It would take another year before jim huden and the wife of the man he was accused of killing sat in the same courtroom, and when they did, all eyes would be on her. Coming up, Brenna Douglas, could she have anything to do with the plot to kill her husband . He had a lot of issues, throwing furniture around and Different Things, and how he treated the kids and i, it just wasnt okay. When you and russ went through a separation, is that the sort of thing you and peggy would talk about . Yeah. He said, who else knows about this . Did he tell you . Yes, he did. When dateline continues. , when dateline continues hey, i just got a text from my sister. You remember rick, her neighbor . Sure, hes the 76yearold guy who still runs marathons, right . Sadly, not anymore. Wow. So sudden. Um. Were not about to have the we need Life Insurance conversation again, are we . woman no. 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[chatter] jim huden and peggy thomas were charged with the murder of Russel Douglas in the summer of 2011. From that moment, Whidbey Island prosecutor greg banks jim huden and peggy thomas were charged with the murder of Russel Douglas in the summer of 2011. From that moment, Whidbey Island prosecutor greg banks had been hoping they would turn on each other and spill the details of what had happened on the day russel was killed. That was the plan. But that didnt happen. Did not happen. Because why . Theyre still in love . They wouldnt rat on each other . You know, if you got a chance to interview them, you could ask them. Because jean huden was still married to jim, the prosecutor decided to split the case and try jim and peggy separately. We needed jean to testify against peggy, but washington has a rule that says you cant call a spouse against a defendant. So if you try jean and peggy separately, jean couldnt testify against peggy. Right. More than a year after his wife had given him up, jim huden went on trial for the murder of Russel Douglas. The Opening Statement of the Island County prosecutor set the tone. Ladies and gentlemen of the jury, this case is about the assassination of Russel Douglas the day after christmas 2003. Banks promised the jury that the evidence would show that jim huden and an accomplice had lured Russel Douglas to his death with the promise of a Christmas Gift for his wife brenna. James huden did not even know russ douglas, but his accomplice did. Jim huden, he declared, was the triggerman. Mr. Huden walked up to that car. He opened the door. He looked him right in the face, and at a distance of less than four inches, he used a. 380 semiautomatic handgun to put a bullet between his eyes. The prosecutor began by calling the one person that police still believed knew more about this case than she was saying. State calls Brenna Douglas. Brenna douglas, the dead mans widow. On the stand, brenna identified a picture of peggy thomas and said they used to cut hair together. In 2003, she said, she rented a house from peggy. Did you two become close . Yeah. Wed talk. It was just girl talk stuff. Did you talk about personal things with her . Yeah. According to brenna, her rocky marriage to Russel Douglas was among the things she talked to peggy thomas about. He had a lot of issues, throwing furniture around and Different Things and how he treated the kids and i, it just wasnt okay. When you and russ went through a separation, is that the sort of thing you might have talked to peggy about . Yeah. That i talked to most people about probably too much. Why did you say that that you talk to people too much . Are you a person who likes to chat . I just chat. Do you know james huden . I met him. How is it that you met james huden . Through peg. It was the woman to woman conversations between brenna and peggy that the prosecutor based his theory of the murder. Brenna told peggy her husband was violent. Peggy told jim, and jim pulled the trigger. The prosecutor explained why. Mr. Huden pulled the trigger on Russel Douglas as a way of skpor size and or sizing his own personal demons. That point was underscored when hudens old bass player bill hill took the stand and told the court about the day jim huden shared his darkest secret. He said i need to tell you about something thats on my mind. As jim huden clenched his teeth and stared daggers at his former close friend, bill hill continued. He proceeded to tell me my stepfather that used to beat me and beat my mother and always have hated that man wanted to find somebody else that fit that m. O. , and then he said they did find a person that fit and said that they murdered him. In halting language hill told the same story hed told police eight years earlier, that peggy thomas aided in the execution of Russel Douglas and that russels widow brenna had known about it. I said who all knows about this . Did he tell you . Yes, he did. He said the only people that knew was him, peggy, his wife jean, and the woman at the hair shop, that she didnt play much of a part, but that she knew it was going to happen. But no evidence was offered to buttress that charge, no incriminating emails, no cell phone records, no suspicious money transfers. The question of Brenna Douglas possible involvement in her husbands murder was simply left hanging in the air for everyone to ponder. States next witness is keith ogden. Next, the prosecutor presented the story of a gun. Keith ogden, a retired las vegas lawman, told the court that jim huden came to his home in late october 2003, just two months before Russel Douglas was killed to talk about a gun jim had just purchased. He told me that he purchased it from somebody in the newspaper in las vegas. Did you ever see it. Yes, sir. When jim huden brought it over to my house to show him how to use it please raise your right hand a ballistics expert testified that the bullet taken from Russel Douglas head came from jim hudens gun. This bullet was fired from this ber say. 380 auto. Given those facts, it seemed odd that the murder weapon wasnt simply dropped into puget sound, but keith ogden told the court that in early january, just days after the murder, jim huden had asked him to keep the gun in a safe place. Please take the stand. The last witness for the prosecution was detective Mark Plumberg. He told the court that while he was questioning huden at his home back in 2004, huden asked a rather odd question of him. He said is peggy angry enough at me that she would implicate me in this . Had you told mr. Huden that peggy thomas had implicated him . I did not. I had not implicated peggy thomas, and i had not suggested that she had any knowledge or part in the crime. In closing, the prosecution played the videotaped statements huden later made to Island County detectives down at the punta gorda Police Station. Im a sonofabitch, but im no killer. Sonofabitch. That would be the only time this jury heard the sound of jim hudens voice during this trial. Please give your attention to the Opening Statement of mr. Montoya. Attorney matt montoya began his defense of jim huden with a quote from the musical, man of la mancha. Ladies and gentlemen, facts are the enemy of truth. You heard right. He told the jury in a firstdegree murder case that facts are the enemy of truth. Perhaps its fitting that montoya who had just recently appeared in a production of man of la mancha who famously imagined windmills to be giants. His defense of jim huden would also require a fair amount of imagination. Not telling you that his side is wrong or that my is are side is right. I want you to address the facts critically because the facts will show you more than one outcome. Among the possible conclusions that montoya suggested might be drawn from the known facts in the case was that Russel Douglas had shot himself. Did anyone request that you test or preserve his hands for possible gunshot residue . No. We do preserve things for trace evidence, but thats why this sheet was used inside of the body bag. So no one tested his hands for gunshot residue . Not to my knowledge. A gotcha, perhaps. But no gun was found in the car and the fatal bullet had been traced to a gun known to have belonged to jim huden. Was mr. Douglas body still in the vehicle at that time . It was. Next, montoya suggested, Russel Douglas was killed somewhere else, perhaps by someone other than jim huden and then placed in the car at the crime scene. Im not finding any blood of any sort. A blood spatter expert named dr. John nordby. The cars interior should have been covered in blood if that was where Russel Douglas had been shot. The shooting seemed to me like it did not occur in this vehicle because there are empty spots where you would expect blood to be. Permission to approach the witness, your honor . Yes. On crossexamination prosecutor banks challenged the defenses only expert witness, pointing out that in his written report on the case dr. Nordby had cited the movie pulp fiction as the kind of example of the kind of blood spatter he would expect to see in Russel Douglas car. The two characters in the film were facing in front and they actually got back spatter, the bullet went toward the backseat, but the spatter went through the front so thats the illustration i was meaning to convey. So you chose to rely on an illustration from a fictional movie produced in hollywood to help describe this scenario, correct . I guess. Sure. The final defense theory was that jim huden had an alibi, ron young, a childhood friend of hudens, took the stand and told the court that huden was near his home in seattle at the time he believed Russel Douglas was murdered. I did see him december 26th when he was stopping by on his way out of town. Do you recall what time that was . Some time probably between noon and 1 00 . Was he by himself . No. Who was with him . Peggy thomas. With that, the defense rested, and the prosecutor offered no crossexamination. A month shy of his 59th birthday, jim huden was facing a minimum 25year sentence if found guilty, but just before the jury began deliberations, jim hudens attorney reminded them one more time of those immortal words from the man of la mancha. Ladies and gentlemen, when i started this trial i told you facts were the enemy of truth and i hope you wondered what that meant. You heard facts upon facts facts. Im telling you there are other conclusions that could be made from that evidence. Soon enough, jim hugheden and his attorney would find out if anyone on that jury had reached one of those alternate conclusions and thus save it from having to spend the rest of his life in prison orange. Coming up we, the jury the verdict and then the other moment everyones been waiting for. Peggy was clearly on the fence. She thought, if i kept my mouth, its worked all this way, im going to escape. That would be my assessment. Will jim testify against peggy when dateline continues. Peggy when dateline continues. [phone rings] hello, how can i sore throat pain . Try new Vicks Vapocool drops in honey lemon chill for a fastacting rush of relief like youve never tasted in. Honey lemon ahh woo Vicks Vapocool drops now in honey lemon chill flexible hours. That work around your schedule. Jackson hewitt is here to fight for the biggest refund you deserve. Whether youre a 95er or 59er. You must go and i must bide but come ye back when su mom, dad. Whys jamie here . Its sunday. Sunday sing along. And he helped us get a home and auto bundle. Hes been our insurance guy for five years now. He makes us feel like were worth protecting. [ gasps ] why didnt you tell us about these savings, flo . Ive literally told you a thousand times. Oh, danny boy, the pipes, the pipes are calling im just gonna. From glen to glen crafting lasting fragrances begins in nature. Air wick scented oils are infused with natural essential oils for fragrance day after day, up to 60 days air wick scented oils. Connect to nature. After deliberating for approximately 3 and 1 2 hours, after deliberating for approximately three and a half hours, the jury in jim hudens murder trial reached a verdict. Please rise. From the moment the jurors began filing in, jim huden seemed to know the news would not be good. In a whisper, he murmured im done. Im done. The rest of the proceeding for jim huden, at least, seemed to be a formality. We, the jury, find the defendant james edward huden guilty of the crime of murder in the first degree as charged. Huden would later be sentenced to 80 years in prison, but hed scarcely been led from the courtroom before prosecutor greg banks turned his attention to a far more difficult case, the one against jim hudens alleged accomplice, peggy thomas. Charged with murder, was there only one piece of physical evidence tying peggy to the killing of Russel Douglas. It was that single fingerprint of hers on a page in the gun owners manual. The case against jim was pretty strong. Oh, yeah. But the case against peggy was pretty weak. It was much more circumstantial. It was jean huden, the wronged wife, who stood to be the strongest witness against peggy thomas. According to jean, peggy had told her everything that time jean visited her out in vegas. The plan was peggy had talked to russel about did she have presents for brenna and the kids, and she had talked russel into going out to the island to meet with them to pass these presents on. Not only that, but jean says peggy told her that after dropping off jim at the ambush location, peggy drove off to create an alibi. They made a point of driving jim to sebring to buy a pack of cigarettes and to make sure to get a receipt with the date and time so it would prove she wasnt there at the date and time. She came back and picked him up. He got rid of his clothes in a dumpster and tried to cover their tracks as best they could. A powerful story, but the prosecutor knew putting jean huden on the stand was risky. In the years after jim fled to mexico, jean huden got into trouble with the law over drugs and check forgery. Ive talked to jean a lot, and i do believe her, but i also know what happens in a courtroom, and unfortunately shes not as pure as the driven snow when it comes to what the detense attorney will do with her. Peggy was clearly on the fence as to whether or not to accept a deal or go to trial. She thought if i just keep my mouth shut, its worked all this way, im going to skate. That would be my assessment. Please rise. On january 11th, 2013, peggy thomas, who had been under house arrest, entered an Island County courtroom for another round of pretrial motions and encountered a familiar face. This time her former lover jim huden took the stand to answer the one burning question that was no doubt keeping both the prosecutor and the defense counsel from sleeping at night. Mr. Huden would jim huden agree to testify at peggys trial . I assert my fifth amendment rights. Though the two former lovers never seemed to make direct eye contact that day, jim huden made it clear that he, at least, was willing to carry their shared secrets to the grave. Okay. Ill do the fifth amendment thing here. Perhaps jim hudens gaunt appearance frightened peggy, maybe the prospect of having her wardrobe as well, reduced to basic orange had a sobering effect, but two weeks later, just days before her trial was to begin, peggy thomas was back in court. Cause number 111109 this time it was to plead guilty to a reduced charge. We are here for a change of plea to an amended charge rendering criminal assistance in the first degree with a special allegation that the defendant was armed with a firearm. In pleading guilty to criminal assistance, peggy thomas was basically admitting to being an accessory after the fact. Miss thomas, do you make this plea freely and voluntarily . I do. If youd gone to trial against peggy thomas, do you think you would have won . Uh if you say yes, my next question is why didnt you . We had a 50 50 chance of guilty versus not guilty and so it was a roll of the dice. Nothing less than the maximum penalty should be imposed in this case. A few weeks later, with the family of Russel Douglas present, peggy thomas was sentenced to four years in prison. Conspicuously absent, however, was russels widow, brenna. I would love to see her come forward and say, look, i made a mistake. I did set it in motion and i didnt mean to. I dont know if thats going to happen. Neither Brenna Douglas nor her attorney had responded to datelines request for a statement. In a lawsuit filed on an Insurance Company to collect on one of the Life Insurance policies, brenna said, i categorically state that i was not involved in the death of my husband in any way. Peggy thomas serve heard time and was released in 2016. Jim huden has chose on the keep his secrets to himself while he remains incarcerated. As for jean, the woman who protected the killer out of love even as she was being treated so badly and who finally stood up for himself and exposed him, the prosecutions of jim huden and peggy thomas represent the end of something sad. I dont get it. I really dont get it. He must have really loved her more than i even imagined or hes still trying to prove what a man he was or things he is. Thats all for now. Im lester holt. Thanks for joining us. Right now on msnbc, a nation on edge. Washington and state capitals across the country bracing for potential violence and unrest in the days leading up to joe bidens inauguration. In d. C. , a massive show of force growing by the day. The National Guard deploying 25,000 troops. At least 12 states have activated the National Guard to bolster security as the fbi warns of potential armed protests. Also this morning hey hey