peggy being involved in her husband s murder. sister: you ve worked with her and you re not saying a peep. you know, if it was your friend something, either disbelief, or i can t believe my friend did this. i want to make sure that they, you know, get punished, or you know, like let s go after her. let s get her, yeah. and i said, you know when you were really mad at russ, did you ever say to peggy, while you guys were working together, that russ had some insurance money and that he d be better to you dead than alive? and she said, well, i might have. and at that point, i just kind of looked at her and i thought, man, did this not give somebody a motive somewhere along the line? josh mankiewicz: was this a case of angry words having unintended consequences, or as some suspected, had brenna actively recruited russel s killers? the family couldn t know for sure,
josh mankiewicz: the prosecutor began by calling the one person that police still believed knew more about this case than she was saying the state calls brenna douglas. josh mankiewicz: brenna douglas, the dead man s widow. on the stand, brenna identified a picture of peggy thomas and said they used to cut hair together. in 2003, she said, she rented a house from peggy. greg banks: did you two become close? brenna douglas: yeah, we d talk. it was just girl talk stuff. greg banks: did you talk about personal things with her? yeah. josh mankiewicz: according to brenna, her rocky marriage to russel douglas was among the things she talked to peggy thomas about. brenna douglas: he had a lot of issues throwing furniture around and different things. and how he treated the kids and i, it just wasn t ok. greg banks: when you and russ went through a separation, was that the sort of thing you might have talked to peggy about? yeah, that i talked to most people about, probably too much. greg ba
i know jim doesn t love me. he didn t care about me when he did what he did. and he still doesn t care about me, and probably even less so now that i m out of money. josh mankiewicz: more than that, jean had, herself, gotten into some legal trouble after jim fled to mexico. in exchange for immunity from prosecution on some drug and check forgery charges, jean told authorities all she knew about the murder of russel douglas, and just where jim huden could be found. jean huden: they re not interested in me. they wanted jim. no, they said they would not prosecute me, and i certainly hope they stick to their word. josh mankiewicz: in june 2011, mexican authorities picked up the man variously known as buck naked, or maestro jim, in veracruz and quickly turned him over to waiting us marshals. when the plane carrying jim back to washington state landed in seattle, he was greeted by a familiar face. and you said what, jim, nice to see you again?
by the spring of 2011, russel douglas had been dead for more than seven years. his suspected killer was still on the loose because the only person on earth who knew his true whereabouts wasn t talking to detectives. jean huden: i mean, they ve been watching me for years. they ve tapped my phones. and police we re pretty sure that you were still in contact with jim? well, sure, they had a good idea. and they were right. of course they were. [music playing] josh mankiewicz: the man no longer known as buck naked had been able to build a new life for himself in mexico, and even played the occasional gig. jean huden: well, he was in vera cruz, mexico. i actually went down there a few times to see him, and of course, to bring him more money. he was teaching music to kids in a music school down there. i d fly up to dulles airport and then out to kansas and then
bill hill: and he proceeded to tell me that my stepfather that used to beat me and beat my mother and i have always hated that man wanted to find somebody else that fit mo. and then he said that they did find a person that fit and said that they murdered him. josh mankiewicz: in halting language, hill told the same story he told police eight years earlier, that peggy thomas aided in the execution of russel douglas, and that russel s widow, brenna, had known about it. i said, who all knows about this? greg banks: did he tell you? bill hill: yes, he did. he said the only people that knew was him, peggy, his wife jean, and the woman at the hair shop. that she didn t play much of a part, but she knew it was going to happen. josh mankiewicz: no evidence was offered to buttress that charge no incriminating e-mails, no cell phone records, no suspicious money transfers.