they interviewed lucy once again, this time using local law enforcement. i think she was more comfortable talking to filipino investigators than to american investigators, and she started changing her story. in a remarkable turnaround, lucy now admitted taking part in julie s murder. she described how joe came to her, explained to her that he wanted his wife dead, that he couldn t live with his wife anymore and wanted her out of the way. lucy said she hired her two uncles to carry out the murder. and they, in turn, hired a third man to help them. and so, the story she told subsequently was devastating. but see, that s not the end of everything. because, hold it, when was she lying? was she lying the first time or the second time? when confronted with lucy s
motive. unemployment in the filipino community was 60%. if any filipino had a job, either on base or someplace else, they were often supporting 10 or 15 people who didn t have a job. but investigators were more intrigued by the rumors of problems in the couple s marriage. his wife and he had been separated. they had gotten back together. they got divorced, they remarried. there was a lot of turmoil there. as word of julie s murder spread, local informants told investigators that they might want to question the family s filipino housekeeper. her first name was lucy. very attractive. very young. much younger than joe. i would say early 20s, possibly? my impression is that it was common knowledge that there was a very close, maybe relationship beyond the housekeeping relationship.
the murder of 33-year-old julie snodgrass, the wife of a u.s. serviceman, shocked everyone who knew her. she was extremely well liked and had no known enemies. i remember then feeling this is a crime of passion. somebody wanted julie dead and wanted her dead in the worst way. her body was flown to mississippi for burial. the funeral was intense. the wakes were intense. you know, of course, there was no open casket. i was wishing there would, because i wanted to see my mom again. i wanted that, but she was gone. i never got to see her again. in a search for suspects, investigators didn t have to look far. many filipinos objected to the presence of the u.s. military. and julie s purse and valuables were missing from her car, so robbery was also a possible
gave full statements. and how much money did joe pay to have his wife killed? what s the cost of a life? well, i ll tell you, it was 150 bucks, u.s., plus 1,000 pesos for transportation, which is next to nothing. the information taken off the disk was absolutely critical. it was crucial. it put the nail right in the middle of the coffin. when confronted with the information from the disks, sergeant snodgrass pled guilty to soliciting his wife s murder. he said it was born of marital turmoil, but he did not admit to and it s a little mercenary to say, oh, i took out $450,000 on my wife and wanted to have her killed and get to live on easy street. he would not sign up for that. according to the forensic evidence at joe s request, lucy hired her two uncles and another man to kill julie snodgrass. since joe worked for the office of special investigations, he asked his wife, julie, to help
on one, for all to see, was a portion of a letter joe snodgrass had written to his housekeeper, lucy, asking her to hire some hitmen to kill his wife. at least ten times a day i say a prayer that you will have luck down there finding someone. i talked to josh and jamie and they are starting to get real tired of her also. we went to the haunted trail last night and it was just not the same without you there. please help me with her and come back soon. if you need anything else let me know and i will try to send it to you. i have to go back to work now. i love and miss you, joe. this tied joe snodgrass to his wife s murder. i think the computer fragments were the catalyst, and the catalyst in the sense that it made sense of the housekeeper s story. it corroborated her story and added credibility to her story and the story of her uncle who