the landlady s name was peggy, peggy thomas. in those last dying days of 2003, russell douglas family had no idea how large that name would loom them for them in the months and years to come. [music playing] coming up, detectives get a call from a mystery man who says he knows who the killer is. but getting him to talk won t be easy. it sounds as if he s afraid for his own life. he said, if i told you what i know, the shooter s going to know that i told you. josh mankiewicz: when dateline continues. i have antivirus, but my computer s still slow. that s not right. maybe if i reboot. what s with all the popups? why does it keep on crashing? this is taking forever. i think it s time for the fixmestick. fixmestick is a plug-in virus removal device. it s the smart, simple, safe way to clean your computer yourself.
josh mankiewicz: russell s brother, matt, was the last to know. he, too, had been out of cell phone range for several days, while vacationing in british columbia. we drove across the border in our friend s vehicle and my phone had a seizure. it started buzzing for every voicemail message and text message that had been sent. and it s, matt call, call me, matt call me, matt call me. josh mankiewicz: within days of his death, russell douglas far flung family reunited on whidbey island. we rallied around brenna. we re sleeping on the floor in the living room. she stayed in her bedroom a lot. she definitely was, like, sad. nothing seemed to be getting done. and so i kind of ended up taking over the organization of the house, what do we do for meals. josh mankiewicz: russel douglas had left behind a lot of unfinished business. the oldest of three children born to jim and gail before they divorced, russell had been a late bloomer.
hire a lawyer. one of the detectives seemed a little strong armed. and i said, you know, you also need to get an attorney for all of your business affairs. let me see if i can find somebody for you. josh mankiewicz: the financial picture for brenna and the children was murky. russell and brenna had filed for bankruptcy a few years earlier. and though brenna owned her own hair salon in this upscale shopping center, russell had handled the business end of things. if there was a bright spot during those dismal days, it was that russell douglas did have some life insurance. i think, when it comes down to it, he had a total of three life insurance policies each one a couple hundred thousand dollars, i want to say. josh mankiewicz: in fact, the face value of those policies was more than half a million dollars. that money would come in handy, particularly since brenna was undepressu to buy the house she d been renting from a woman who used twork at her hair sal.
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.
was something other than a crackpot with an axe to grind. when we first landed in florida, we met with bill hill. confirmed the story. we wanted to meet him face-to-face, obviously. what was his mood? he was a bit nervous. i think he was still in that mode where he knew he was turning in his best friend. josh mankiewicz: once again, bill hill told the detectives what he knew that his best friend, jim huden, had told him he d killed a man in whidbey island. and that huden s girlfriend, peggy thomas, had helped set up the whole thing with the knowledge of the victim s wife. it was a compelling story, but with no murder weapon or any other physical evidence connecting him to the murder of russell douglas. the detectives were no closer to being able to make an arrest. the next day we decide we have no cards other than to just go talk to jim huden. and see what he ll say to us. after arranging to have a second team of detectives