i ended up taking up the organization of the house, what do we do for meals? russel douglas had left behind a lot of unfinished business. the oldest of three children born to jim and gail before they divorced, russel had been a late bloomer, but adulthood intruded early. shortly after he started dating brenna, she became pregnant. marriage and parenthood did little to help him mature. i think he was mourning and missing being an 18-year-old who had a lot of dates and drank and went out with the guys and he did a little of that in college, but not a lot. russel and brenna fought often over children, money and russel s affairs with other women. she d called me after a really rough supposedly argument and i said, well, is he hurting you? is he hitting you? and she said no, really, he isn t physical. it s just emotional and verbal, but i ve hit him a couple of times. earlier that year russel had
after dark the next day. he basically told me how they had lured russel to a certain spot on the island and how he had came out of some bushes and walked up to him and just shot him in the head. and he made it sound like, you know, it was kind of gentle and peaceful and his head just tilted over and he walked away. jim had told you that he had this dark secret. that he wanted to know what it would be like to kill someone? right. did it live up to his expectations? no. he said for a few days he felt like a big man and it was exhilarating and he had accomplished something and had rid the world of someone that didn t need to be there anymore. and he started to close in on him and that he wasn t such a big man and he knew he had made a terrible mistake. based on what jim told you, did brenna douglas offer any shred of proof that her husband was abusive? or did jim just kind of commit
always seem to luck just over the horizon. coming up, was this a case of love turned lethal? detectives learn about an affair between this beauty queen. she was a whole lot of gorgeous woman. and a guitar man with a dark side. jim at one point had told me that he wanted to know what it felt like to kill somebody. when dateline continues. sc so you can move more. dr. scholl s. born to move. my mom washes the dishes. .before she puts them in the dishwasher. so what does the dishwasher do?
to do? he said peggy s friend brenna approached him and she would share the insurance money with him. murder for hire. yes. did you try to talk him out of this? i did. i thought he was just talking. i was hoping he d get over it. it had been a tough year for mr. and mrs. huden. the death of a childhood friend had sent jim huden spinning off into a hall of fame-worthy midlife crisis that ran the gamut from alcoholism and adultery to vague notions of murder. i just didn t think he would follow through with it. he didn t even know how to shoot a gun. by christmas 2003 things hit rock bottom. instead of returning with jean after their romantic reunion in las vegas jim had stayed out west. 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
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