arrested and put in jail, one of kofoed s officers kept puzzling over that little ring. on the inside were three tiny letters, a, a, j. the manufacturer, perhaps? well yes, turned out to be a place called a and a a jewelers, buffalo, new york. i remember one of the girls in shipping had indicated that there was a call from somebody in the nebraska police department. mary martino was running what was left of buffalo s a and a office just then. why what was left? the place was going out of business, massive layoffs, 200 jobs lost. by the time nebraska cops started calling, mary was one of only three people left to clean up the buffalo office and close it down. and now, here was this investigator asking mary to track down a ring the company had likely shipped years ago. and you said what? you ve got to be kidding.
strange cars just don t get parked on country roads outside murdock, nebraska, at 3:00 in the morning. keith morrison: it was a tan or light brown four door sedan, said the young man. and what really stuck out was this car later passed them in the same area that same night, this time driving 60 or 70 miles an hour. it was in a rush, it appeared, to get away. investigators now had a number of clues. that car, seen by the newspaper carrier, the flashlight, with what appeared to be blood on it. the marijuana pipe, and detectives were probably looking for more than one killer. but a motive? who knew? not a thing was missing. wallets, purses, gun collections, even a safe hidden in the bedroom floor, all untouched. but all that evidence, and asking questions of those closest to the stocks, would soon pay off.
the ring for a boy named ryan. but it wasn t love always, and the ring was soon gathering dust in the cab of ryan s red pickup truck. but then the strangest thing happened. the truck was reported stolen from here on ryan s farm, just a few days before the murders of wayne and sharmon stock in far off nebraska. really nothing more than a standard missing vehicle. jim rohr was, back then, a detective in dodge county, wisconsin. when the call came in experience suggested probably some local joyride. they d find it nearby. instead, what a surprise. our dispatch had received confirmation from a parish down in louisiana that they had the stolen truck. stolen in wisconsin, and abandoned way down in louisiana. that s a long way to go. what did you think? a couple kids on a joy ride, somebody taking it that needed to get back down south for whatever reason.
it was cloud nine. it was an incredible feeling. let s go home. keith morrison: after five months in jail, he was free. it was incredible. it was finally out. keith morrison: but nick sampson, even free, was not carefree, not by any means. some things could never be the same again. i was constantly looking over my shoulder, seeing who was behind me, you know. so there was a real, genuine itch in your back fear that somebody was going to come after you. mhm. come after me, come after my family, you know? revenge. keith morrison: because around this county in rural nebraska, where a great many people, perhaps the majority, who were still quite certain of nick s guilt. after all, his own cousin, matt, admitted full-out that they both killed those lovely people. well, i was upset, at a loss why my own cousin could do this to me.
taped off by that yellow tape. keith morrison: it was a stunning crime, big news throughout the midwest. the stocks the most unlikely victims. wayne, found on the upstairs landing, dead of a shotgun blast. wife sharmon murdered in her own bedroom, a telephone in hand as if trying to call for help. the county sheriff advised caution. right now this is an unsolved homicide. whether it s somebody local, or somebody from another town, we don t know at this time. keith morrison: who could have murdered wayne and sharmon stock? and why? just a couple of hours after wayne and sharmon stock s son discovered their bodies in their rural nebraska farmhouse on easter monday, 2006, the word got around. law enforcement swarmed the scene. neighbors expressed shock in that understated midwestern way. they re just typical nebraska farm background people.