detectives they say those themes come up all the time. all the time. any of that seem to fit? we did find that russell had several hundred thousand dollars in life insurance on him. obviously, like you said, money is a motive. love is a motive. pride is a motive. josh mankiewicz: for the detective, those factors seemed to point in the direction of russell s wife, brenna douglas. not only had she been cheated on and publicly humiliated by russell, but she was the main beneficiary of three life insurance policies he d taken out on himself. the problem was, brenna s alibi was solid. there were plenty of people who could confirm that they had been with her at the time russell douglas was killed. the detective knew he needed a break. and in july 2004, exactly seven months to the day after the murder of russell douglas, he got one.
where peggy worked, yes. so peggy knew all about this? she helped him. josh mankiewicz: for five months, bill hill says he struggled under the weight of that confession. then, in late july 2004, his conscience finally got the better of him. i decided to make my first call. your first call? to whidbey island. to the police. yes, to the island county sheriffs. i felt guilty i was giving up my friend. but i knew something had to be done. josh mankiewicz: within days of that call, detectives mark plumberg and mike beech were sitting face-to-face with both their tipster, bill hill, and their suspect, the artist formerly known as buck naked. [music playing] coming up, the interrogation gets tough. you know what you ve told bill. the guy is falling apart over the guilt he s carrying around because you told him what you did. josh mankiewicz: will jim crack? or will detectives realize they have the wrong man?
so peggy knew all about this? she helped him. josh mankiewicz: for five months, bill hill says he struggled under the weight of that confession. then, in late july 2004, his conscience finally got the better of him. i decided to make my first call. your first call? to whidbey island. to the police. yes, to the island county sheriffs. i felt guilty i was giving up my friend. but i knew something had to be done. josh mankiewicz: within days of that call, detectives mark plumberg and mike beech were sitting face-to-face with both their tipster, bill hill, and their suspect, the artist formerly known as buck naked. [music playing] coming up, the interrogation gets tough. you know what you ve told bill. the guy is falling apart over the guilt he s carrying around because you told him what you did. josh mankiewicz: will jim crack? or will detectives realize they have the wrong man?
detectives they say those themes come up all the time. all the time. any of that seem to fit? we did find that russell had several hundred thousand dollars in life insurance on him. obviously, like you said, money is a motive. love is a motive. pride is a motive. josh mankiewicz: for the detective, those factors seemed to point in the direction of russell s wife, brenna douglas. not only had she been cheated on and publicly humiliated by russell, but she was the main beneficiary of three life insurance policies he d taken out on himself. the problem was, brenna s alibi was solid. there were plenty of people who could confirm that they had been with her at the time russell douglas was killed. the detective knew he needed a break. and in july 2004, exactly seven months to the day after the murder of russell douglas, he got one. i was actually out canvassing and interviewing again.
might have been entangled in a prostitution circuit that shuttles women from city to city. what we see very often is the women involved in prostitution work in what s called the circuit. so they ll move from albuquerque to phoenix to las vegas to los angeles and maybe not return on that circuit for several years. reporter: it was in denver, another city on the circuit, that detective todd babcock hit paydirt. at one point syllania had been arrested up in the denver area for prostitution, going by a different name at the time. had been booked. they were able to get me a booking photograph of what syllania looked like around the time that she died, we believe. reporter: syllania edwards was released from that denver-area jail in july 2004, the same year almost all the other west mesa women had gone missing. the next time anyone heard anything about syllania, she was