he says i would have done him in if he was still alive and he says i found a person that met his description as far as abusiveness, and i says, yeah. and he says, well, i shot him in the head and killed him. no chance that he was kidding or not telling the truth? i knew he was telling the truth. peggy found a person that supposedly was abusive and it happened to be the the husband of a woman that owned the hair salon in whidbey island, i believe. where peggy worked? where peggy wores.ked, y speggy knew all about this? she helped him. for five months bill hill says he struggled under the weight of that confession and 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 sheriff s
money, love, pride. talk to homicide detectives and they say any of those themes come up all of the time. all of the time. any of those themes seem to fit? he had several hundred thousand dollars, money is a motive, love is a motive, pride is a motive. for the detectives those factors seemed to point in the direction of russel s wife brenna douglas. not only had she been cheated on and publicly humiliated by russel, but she was the named 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 d been with her at the time russel douglas was killed. the detective knew he needed a break, and in july 2004, exactly seven months to the day after the murder of russel douglas, he got one.
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.
i think it was an older couple said they heard someone say, let s dump the body in the basement. joe and his lawyers believed that at the very least the withheld evidence provided reasonable doubt the crime could have happened differently than the state presented at trial. in july 2004, joe s team went before judge o malley to obtain a new trial. we put up all our witnesses. the newly discovered people, the newly discovered evidence. by far the most powerful witness at the hearing was chris longenecker, stoney lewis alleged rape victim, who had been found living in florida. neil convinced chris that his testimony could save joe s life. i wasn t able to do anything for tony because and so i figured, if i could help someone