the case was still stalled. but soon, the task force would get one of those lucky breaks they d always hoped for. it came out of the blue and gave the investigation some much needed juice. coming up, a special prosecutor goes on high alert. i get on the phone and tell my wife to make sure she knew where the kids were, get inside, and keep the doors locked. and a stranger calls with a stunning revelation. i could tell when i listened to his voice, this is it. this is the real thing, . when dateline continues. t when dateline continues it s air care, redefined. air wick essential mist. connect to nature.
i think it did offend mike on a basic level. these people elected you. you re supposed to be doing good things for the community, not stealing from it. a jury found williams guilty of theft. he got probation, but lost his job and license to practice law. and now, a year later, both men who prosecuted him were dead, and williams was under suspicion. did you bear either of those men any kind of grudge? no. absolutely not. the media got wind of the interest in williams. and just days after the mcclelland murders, he was interviewed by nbc affiliate kprc. he strangely swept in on his segway. has anyone connected with this investigation suggested to you that you re a person of interest in the investigation? no. after the denial, his sympathies. my heartfelt condolences go out to both the mcclelland family and the hasse family because they were in public office doing the right thing, and for some reason that we re not aware of, they ve paid the ultimate price for that. wi
the unsuspecting deputy was he died in an explosive shoot out in wise county. investigations wise county is just 100 miles away from kaufman. could evan ebel kill another public servant in texas seven weeks earlier? the invest fbi is now investigating this case. they want to see if ebel it s connected to hasse s murder. someone seemed to be targeting law enforcement at point blank range. coming up, as the investigation grows more urgent, some concerns about the a mark mclelland and his wife. so i tried my dad, and then i try my mom and i didn t answer. so i said i would go over. there and then concern
how did you go from it could be this person? or this? person you see if they re locked out up, you see where they are, their whereabouts. there s usually something specific about someone s case that could give them cost to have a grudge. four weeks into the investigation, a tip came into the crime stoppers tip line which looked like a big break. the tipster said that they had been in a bar in a small town and kaufman and overheard to white men talking about the hasse killing and talking about how they did it. so they use the crime stopper system, the tipster remained anonymous, this was gonna be a game-changer. investigators would need more invent mission or luck. you re still looking for the big break or lucky traffic stop. someone who knows about the murder will know about it and
the user i.d. for the county crimestoppers anonymous tip line. the first number corresponded to a tip from early in the hasse case. the tipster claimed to have overheard two men in a bar saying they d killed mark hasse. that meant the tip came from williams computer. a follow-up computer search also revealed williams had searched several how-to websites. one of the websites was how to throw the police off an investigation by sending in fake tips. the second number on that scrap of paper was even more important because it turned out to be the real thing. it matched back to that computer message that gave details about the hasse murder weapon and also threatened more killings. so we knew right then that that tip that had come into the command post was sent by eric williams. and we knew right then we were going to be able to put eric williams in jail. he was arrested, not for murder, but for making a terrorist threat about killing a judge.