we came out to las vegas. the reason he asked me to go was to cover for him. he was seeing peggy. yes. tell me about jim s relationship with peggy. it was all love and kisses. really. uh-huh. more so than with jean who was waiting for him back at home? yes. before long, other band members say they, too, began seeing the same changes in jim that troubled jean. heavy drinking and erratic behavior. he would go through a fifth of crown royal in a night, and one night i m 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, why don t you keep your mouth quiet while i m doing my job over here, and he shut his guitar off and walked offstage, which is about the most unprofessional thing you can ever do. after that, the band s days were numbered, and seemingly, so were the days of jean huden s
yeah. because of bill jean gave up her dream of re-joining jim huden, but it wasn t 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 doesn t love me. he didn t care about me when he did what he did and he still doesn t care about me and probably less so now that i m 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. they re not interested in me. they wanted jim. they said they would not prosecute me and i certainly
the next day we decide we had no cards other than to just go talk to jim huden and say what he ll 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 huden s house, jean answered the door. i showed her my badge and my i.d. and said i was from island county, washington. jim was there. yes. he was sitting on the couch. he said what s island county washington doing all of the way here in florida? oddly enough, he didn t say anything like that. the detective didn t beat around the bush. i looked him right in the face and i said mr. huden i know you re the man who pulled the trigger and killed russel douglas and his only response was i don t know why someone would say that. i was sure at that moment i was in the room with the man. an innocent man would say i m crazy. he never once made a denial of my accusation. huden admitted to being on whidbey island with peggy thomas over th
storm had blown over, jean said she joined her panicked husband. they ordered pizza and turned on the tv. the losses are substantial. but jean couldn t concentrate on the hurricane news. the personal storm that was wrecking her marriage and ruining her life took precedence. ken was a big tension fest and we talked. 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, desertion, the usual menu of dysfunction that all too often falls under the category of another woman. but there was more to it than that. much more. a homicide investigation was at stake, one that just days earlier had led mark plumberg from wi drdbe island, washingto
did you think he was with peggy? at that point i thought so, yeah. 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 wasn t 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 he s coming back. the murder? yes. what did you say? i think i was speechless at the time. i just i think i asked if he was okay, and does anyone know or are they after you i basically just asked if he was okay. your husband had just confessed that he had committed a murder for hire. uh-huh. it was like getting kicked in the stomach. i mean i knew life as i knew it was over at that point.