it doesn t get any better than that. josh mankiewicz: the gun came from a former las vegas sheriff s deputy who d 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 russel s brain. the murder weapon. that s 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 that he taught jim huden to fire the weapon, and that jim huden gave it back to him
josh mankiewicz: the gun came from a former las vegas sheriff s deputy who d 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 russel s brain. the murder weapon. that s 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 that 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.
or did jim just kind of commit that murder, pretty much, on faith. pretty much on faith, as far as i knew because i had come to find out later there were no records of him there were no reports of domestic abuse, as far as i understand. josh mankiewicz: 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, red-headed stranger appeared on her doorstep. jim was doing a local radio show here in the morning. and i was at home. and there s a knock on the door and opened the door and it s peggy thomas standing on my doorstep. josh mankiewicz: in that icy instant, jim huden s complicated double life collapsed. as the women talked, jean says, it became clear that both had been lied to.
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 jim s relationship with peggy. oh, it was all love and kisses. really? mm-hm. more so than with jean, who was waiting for him back home? yes. josh mankiewicz: before long, other band members say that they too began seeing the same changes in jim that troubled jean heavy drinking and erratic behavior. he d 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 to him, why don t you just keep your mouth quiet. i m 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. josh mankiewicz: after that, the band s days were numbered. and seemingly, so were the days of jean huden s marriage. but jean says the drinking and philand
josh mankiewicz: then, came the day in june 2003, when the cold, hard facts of her husband s 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, they re going back to see peggy. i was like, go, get out. and don t ever come back again. and he didn t want to hear that. he still wanted me to be hanging on while he had peggy as well. josh mankiewicz: 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 dalliance with peggy thomas was over. he d soon be home, he told her. and for jean, that was a reason to believe. i thought there was some hope. i didn t want to let go. josh mankiewicz: and for a brief moment in september of 2003, jean says it looked as if her perseverance would pay off.