3. 2. 1. by summer of 2017, prosecutor jessica wagner was ready to execute a search warrant at the 7:11 ranch. she had listened to jake s friends. gathered her evidence. and then waited for the colorado sun to melt the frozen ground. and there was one more thing that wagner had waited for. an annual convention of dogs. but not just any dogs. these dogs have a very particular set of skills. skills that make them a nightmare. for some people. so every year, a bunch of
i will do it. because? you are not just any friend. [laughs] no. i m a sergeant with a town of mount crescent view. and i thought, i had a little bit of credibility. and so if i had red flags. it would translate also to the deputy there. that deputy was gunnison, county, under sheriff. mike. his first order of business? call the mother. they deb rudibaugh. deb told us that he left with a friend and was going to the reno, nevada area. investigators also found his father. his dad stated that he has been gone in the past, and known to take off abruptly. and do things. like that fishing job in alaska, and a few camping trips. at 29, jake had no obligation to tell anyone where he was going. and it did not mean something that had happened. when somebody doesn t show
dave called jeremy and offered him work. he said hey, we will be taking over the ranch again. jake s mom deb, had been diagnosed with cancer. and recently undergone major surgery. dave, stephanie, and their then eight-year-old son had moved to the ranch to help out. dave asked jeremy to live with them. and fix up the place in return for room and board. i decided, you know what. that s not a bad idea. we re going to turn the ranch around have the guest cabin and all of that. get the ranch back to making money? pretty much. yes. what is it like when you get there? it is a mess and there is clutter and junk everywhere. a lot bigger projects than you even expected. he decided to stick it out. after all, dave was one of his best friends. what about deb? did you know her when you went
yeah, he evaporated. no one heard from him for two years. it was weird. the ranch had been his life for most of his life. the spread was the 7:11, hundreds of acres outside of the town. under a canopy of colorado sky. he lived there with his older sister, stephanie, ever since they were kids. his parents had divorced and his mom, beth, had found another husband a guy who owned the 7:11. they home schooled jake so that he could help out more on the ranch. he was out there all day, every day, almost every day. another. jake pettigrew and rebecca used to help out at the 7:11. what was it like at the ranch? it was really quiet. maybe a couple of times a year they would have a family reunion or hunters would come up and stay in the cabin.
when i said no. but nothing was matching up yet. it was hard to believe. as tough as that was, she was five feet tall, 97 pounds. and remember, suffering from stage four cancer. about a week before jake was murdered, she had had surgery. deb admitted that she couldn t lift a gallon of milk all the way into july or august from the surgery. without help. investigators didn t think there was any way that she had dragged jake s 180 pound body down the stairs, outside, and then buried him all by herself. they were certain that she had help. the suspect needle is pointing away from deb and towards stephanie? this entire case. the suspect needle was pointing at stephanie. the motive? the prosecutor said this was all about the 7:11. millions of dollars of valuable ranch land. stephanie wanted it but jake stood to inherit it. jake was murdered so that he would