Everyone Has a Motive

Prime Video offers the best in entertainment. The end of the world continues with Fallout 2. A global phenomenon, inbegred by Prime. I heard you about what to do in this situation. Look at the epic end of the unwritten story of The Witches of Oz. Buy or buy? Wicked for good now. I'm taking you to see The Wizard. There's no going back. So what you also look, Prime Video. Here you look at everything. Prime is advised, especially to buy or buy. Inhoud can be advertised 18+. All the rules are used to be used. When a father is shot to death in front of his son, the community of Vienna, Virginia, is panic-stricken that a mysterious killer may be roaming their quiet suburban streets. John's death was a tragedy. Even if you live in the most wonderful community, darkness can find you. As police struggle to catch the killer, a real-life whodunit unfolds. From the beginning, this was an absolute mystery. But when police discover a strange clue... Nobody really knows what it is. ...a diabolical scheme unlike any they have ever seen starts to unravel, revealing the most unlikely of suspects. These kinds of tragedies occur even in places that people think are safe havens. How well do you know your neighbors? What lies behind the white picket fences? A few miles west of the nation's capital lies Vienna, Virginia, a picturesque hideaway known for its attractive neighborhoods, family sensibilities, and small-town personality. Many of the citizens of Vienna work in Washington, D.C., but essentially it's a middle-class community, has a wonderful little commercial area, a lot of nice restaurants. It's a tight-knit kind of community. People tend to know each other, and it's a place that a lot of people want to live and raise their families. Despite its proximity to the big city problems found in Washington, D.C., Vienna somehow remains relatively safe and crime-free. It's a place with occasional speed traps, but otherwise there's really no crime to speak of. It's there that 38-year-old John Kowalczyk, born to Polish immigrants and with an appetite for success, is following the American dream. I think you can do it. John Kowalczyk is somebody who used to work for the government, and then he strikes out on his own, and he becomes a successful developer. His work may be his passion, but his heart is with his kids. Recently divorced after a 13-year marriage to Greta Lowell, John has two sons, 12-year-old Ryan and 9-year-old Troy. He came from a closely knit family. He was persistent about his responsibilities to his two sons. John was a good father. He loved his kids, loved watching his older son play soccer, and by all accounts, he was a doting dad. Even John's love life is rejuvenated. He's found his soulmate in Michelle Lichter and plans to marry her in a few months. They had both come from unhappy marriages, and they had found each other and gave each other a fair amount of comfort and consolation. With a new successful career and a marriage just around the corner, things seem to be back on track for John. He was in the prime of his life. He was happy. On June 10, 1993, John is spending part of the day with his older son, Ryan. Let's go meet your mom. After enjoying the afternoon together at Ryan's soccer practice, The two grab some food to go and wait for Greta in a prearranged parking lot in Vienna. As they're sitting and eating, they finish. Ryan gets up, gets out of the truck. He's going to throw his trash away, and he's gone for just a moment. But while he is gone, there's a pop. Thinking the loud sound is a firecracker, Ryan calmly walks back to his father's truck. when he suddenly realizes there's something horribly wrong. Ryan could see his father slumped over and then eventually saw the blood and realized that something terrible had happened to his father. The 12-year-old boy frantically runs to the street trying to flag down help. In the course of trying to find somebody who can call the police, Ryan's mom, Greta, gets there. It's Dad! When Greta sees John in the truck, it's obvious he's dead. They went into the street to try to find people in cars who would have a mobile phone that could be used to call police or to call for help. As it happens, driving by is a Vienna police officer, who, upon pulling into the lot, assesses the situation. Yeah, I got a male, 40s, gunshot wound. He takes command of this crime scene. He calls in the headquarters to get an investigator out there. Detectives arrive as daylight fades and determine this is a very different kind of murder. They see John in the truck, slumped over. He's been shot. The bullet went in through the back of his head, behind his ear. This was a massive wound, and there was a lot of bleeding. It's clear to police that this is not an accidental or random killing. It looks like a planned killing, really, from almost the beginning. As police look for evidence, it appears the killer vanished without a trace. But then they discover a small object near the back of the truck that stands out. There's this plastic casing. Nobody really knows what it is, but investigators think that it may have something to do with the crime, so they tag it and take it with them. There's something else they gather from the crime scene. Based on the positioning of the truck and the nearby building, detectives have a good idea where the killer stood. There was, off to the side of where the truck was parked, a doorway in which a shooter could have very easily hidden, been out of sight, and made a clear shot right through that open back window. I always get him from this spot. Detectives talk to Greta and then question Ryan, who is visibly upset. Hey, little man, can you be strong for me and answer a couple of questions? He tells them he heard a loud noise but didn't see anything. This was incredibly distressing. This was supposed to be just a regular child custody handoff. And instead, John's killed. As police continue searching for clues, John's fiancée, Michelle, arrives. What happened? Confused and worried. Ma'am, do you know this person? It's John's truck! She and John were supposed to meet that evening after John had handed off his son so that they could go to a dance place in Maryland. John! Ma'am, I want you to go over there if I were you. Michelle seems completely caught off guard when detectives break the news that John has been killed. How did this happen? She's hysterical, she's frantic and screaming, and it's just a really tragic situation to behold. This is her boyfriend who she intends to marry. She is totally shattered by the whole thing. As John's body is taken away, a crowd gathers. Investigators ask around to see if anyone saw or heard anything. They come up empty-handed. There were literally no witnesses. The only thing was that people did hear the pop. That gunshot was heard far and wide. This was an absolute mystery. Fairfax County Commonwealth Attorney Robert Horan will be responsible for prosecuting the case. Even with 30 years of experience, Horan is shocked by the chilling details of the crime. Who is bad enough to want to kill a man in a public place when he's there with his young son? Detectives bring the family members down to the police station and start by getting a formal statement from Ryan. I know you've had a very difficult night. And then move on to his mom, Greta. It's obvious from the start that she has no qualms about expressing no love lost for her ex. She indicated from the beginning that she was not happy with him. We got divorced. She was bitter over the divorce battle, and she was bitter over the custody battle. But he's moved on quite fast. Greta felt doubly violated, not only by the failure of the marriage, but by the fact that he was happy and moving on. But it's more than just the divorce and custody that Greta is unhappy with. I know I'm not getting the money. I know my kids are not getting the money. She had complaints that he was shortchanging her money. Despite their differences, Greta insists that she had nothing to do with the murder and was at her parents' house just before driving to meet John. However, Greta is a suspect, given her and John's combative relationship. Wish we could see each other more often. They were constantly at loggerheads. They fought all the time. They were not happy together. That's why they got the divorce. So the police wonder, would Greta have conspired with someone to have her husband killed at a place where she knew he would be? So your mom should be here pretty soon At a time where she knew he would be The question for police is just how badly does Greta hate John 38-year-old developer John Kowalczyk is shot to death on June 10, 1993, in his truck in the heart of Vienna, Virginia, while his 12-year-old son Ryan is only feet away. The murder, carried out in public view, is unlike anything residents of this sleepy suburban community have ever seen before. It was a shocking event because of the venue and the circumstances. There didn't appear to be a ready motive, or if there was a motive, the suspects hadn't been identified. At the Vienna police station, investigators are concerned that John's ex-wife, Greta Lowell, has a possible motive after a messy divorce. Because of the difficult, tempestuous divorce and custody proceedings, Greta was indeed a suspect. Despite their suspicions, Greta fully cooperates and agrees to take a lie detector test the following day. Anything you need. I just need to get my son home now. Before she leaves, the police ask Greta one last question. Could anyone else have wanted John dead? Yes, there is someone. Greta alerted to the police the troubles between John and Michelle's ex-husband Jacob. Jacob Lichter. According to Greta, John's fiancée, Michelle Lichter... I can't do this anymore. Why? ...was married to a hothead who had it out for John. Michelle's ex-husband Jacob and John didn't like each other at all, in part because Jacob blamed John for the breakup of his marriage to Michelle. When police question Michelle, she admits that her ex-husband Jacob was furious over her divorce. Jacob's a Paul rage. He can't stand John. Jacob took all of his anger and turned it toward John. He just hated the man. He loathed the man. Police ask Michelle if Jacob ever acted violently toward John. I mean, there were times that Jacob did become aggressive. Most notably, at an incident at an event that both men attended a year before John's death. John was at a graduation ceremony for one of Michelle's children. You need to leave. You're here disrespecting everything. At the graduation, there was an altercation between Jacob and John. You're supporting my wife? You're supporting my children? A shoving match got out of hand. Show her what a punk you are. It's not the place to do it. Get out of here and you sit down. Jacob was the aggressor in the fight and Jacob got convicted of assault and the judge put him on a restraining order. Alarmed by this revelation, police want to know if Jacob's anger could push him to murder. I just, I don't think he would do that. I don't think he would go that far. In fact, Michelle has her own theory about who would want to hurt John. It's not her ex-husband they should be looking at, but someone on Greta's side of the family. Greta's brother, Brad. Michelle urged the police to look at Brad, Greta's brother, as a suspect. She said that Brad wound up in a lawsuit fighting over a real estate commission. Then Brad lost the lawsuit, and John got the real estate commission, and Brad was very unhappy with that. Police have no reason to suspect Michelle. As she leaves, detectives realize they've got a lot of legwork ahead of them, and it would be a shot in the arm if the crime lab finds something definitive. As police are figuring out potential suspects' possible motives, they've got to look at the bullet and the body, the blood, and this plastic casing. Two days later, on June 12th, the full autopsy and ballistic reports are completed. And they're a double-edged sword, revealing clues about the killer that are both illuminating and vexing at the same time. The bullet in the brain of John Kowalczyk was a .30 caliber bullet. They knew the type of gun that would fire that kind of bullet. And the big type was the Thompson Center contender, a type favored by hunters. But what is more disturbing to police is the plastic casing found at the scene. That plastic thing that they weren't really sure what it was, it turned out to be a sabbat. The sabit, also pronounced sabo, is essentially a cover for the bullet, so that nobody can match it to the gun. If you put that over the bullet before it's fired from a weapon, as that bullet goes down the barrel of the weapon, the lands and grooves in the barrel aren't impressed on the bullet. It's a dramatic discovery that tells police this is a carefully planned and premeditated killing. The prosecutor of the case had been on the job for over 25 years and had only had one murder-for-hire case. This lack of experience, coupled with multiple suspects and very little evidence, has investigators bracing for an extremely challenging case. At the same time, friends and family hardened themselves for the difficult task of saying their final farewells to John. On June 15, 1993, five days after his death, they gather in his hometown of Yonkers, New York, for his funeral. Though his ex-wife, Greta, does not attend, his fiancée, Michelle, is there, her world shattered by his death. She loved the man and was overcome with grief that he was gone. He was a loving person, was very kind to her children. She was looking forward to getting married to him. The sudden loss is devastating for John's sons, especially Ryan, who witnessed his father's death. The shooting occurred while John's son was nearby. This is a terrible tragedy for a 12-year-old. Back in Vienna, police narrow their sights on the two people who seem to hate John. Investigators boil it down and they say, Brad or Jacob is who we're looking for. But before they get a chance to speak to either of the men, one of them will go public with a shocking statement. It's June 1993, less than a week after John Kowalczyk was shot to death while sitting in his truck in downtown Vienna, Virginia. Across the community, anxiety is escalating while the killer continues to roam free. And the apparent randomness of the crime has everyone fearing he may strike again. It was a big deal as far as Vienna itself was concerned, because Vienna doesn't have murders. While investigators try to crack the case, authorities are doing their best to calm the public. Right after the events, some officials from the city of Vienna said they believed that the shooting of John was a murder for hire, and that the public at large should not be afraid. Their words fall on deaf ears. And as the local rumor mill churns over who did it, one of the suspects makes a move that grabs headlines. Jacob Lichter, the ex-husband of John's fiancée, Michelle, goes public. He releases a statement saying he has nothing to do with this murder, he knows nothing about this murder. Jacob's deliberate efforts to calm suspicions surrounding his connection to the case You're going to want to see this. only seems to raise more questions. To go public, to call attention to themselves, that's pretty rare. Jacob just sent up a signal flare and made all the police go, whoa, let's look into this guy who's talking about he didn't do it, and he's talking about it more publicly than we are. A week after the murder, police questioned Jacob at his attorney's office. He admits his history of conflicts with John over his relationship with Michelle, but insists he had nothing to do with his murder. Jacob was open with the police, and he was concerned about John's relationship with Michelle. How would you describe your relationship with John? He was very clear that he thought John was a bad guy overall, a bad guy for Michelle, and a bad guy for his children. Besides John coming in and stealing my family? He took possession. He had nothing to do with this. Had no reason to be trying to kill somebody. No. That he was in his office in Alexandria at the time all of this was happening. When asked if anyone can back up his alibi, Jacob doesn't give a very convincing answer. There may have been a queen lady there who saw me, but I'm not sure. His response to questions about owning a gun are equally alarming. Jacob admits that he does own a gun and officers recommend that Jacob freely surrender his guns A uniformed officer will come and pick them up and have them submitted for testing Jacob agrees. And before police let him go, they ask him to take a polygraph test. Again, he cooperates, but with a caveat. He's willing to take a private test, but his lawyer and he do not want him to take the police-administered test. Despite his efforts to comply with the police, Jacob's done little to ease their suspicions. Investigators will need to check his alibi before they can strike him from their list. In the meantime, they turn their focus to the other prime suspect, John's ex-brother-in-law, Brad Lowell. Brad had had a business relationship with John, and in that business relationship had lost $300,000. Investigators wonder, is that enough for Brad to want John dead? So they ask him to come to the police station for questioning. You mind telling us where you were the night of June 10th? Brad told them that he was at his parents' house in McLean until about 5 p.m. Then he left there and did errands. Then he did a jog about 6 p.m. Then he went home, had dinner, and stayed home. Brad's alibi, like Jacob's before him, is less than convincing. He had no witnesses. He had no people who could verify that he had done these things. The last thing police want to know is if he has any weapons. I don't own a gun personally, no. He told them that while he did not have a gun, he did have access to guns because his parents had an extensive gun collection. Now, investigators are eager to speak with Brad's parents, Stanley and Camille Hyman, and arrange a time to meet with the couple. At their attorney's office, police start by asking the Hymans about their relationship with their ex-son-in-law. Um, I don't like John. There was no love lost between this family and John. Stanley told investigators that he knew John had a secret stash of money. Cash that he has hidden. He was just refusing to dip into it to provide for his wife and children. When asked about Brad's alibi, the Hymans confirmed that their son was with them earlier in the evening the night of John's murder. He was there till about five. But Brad would never do anything to hurt John. Okay, and then where were you after that? When the police asked Stanley and Camille that where they were the night that John was shot, they had a very foolproof alibi. They were at a conference in Crystal City. Camille and Stanley were conducting a career-building workshop for 80 people. We had a conference in Crystal City that night. And as for the guns that Brad told detectives he had access to, Stanley schedules a time for police to come to his house and examine them. Yeah, that'd be fun. With Stanley and his wife cooperating, police circle back to their daughter, John's ex-wife, Greta, who consents to take a lie detector test as promised. She passes it when they ask her, did you conspire with anyone to murder your husband? Do you know who murdered your husband? Greta is now fully in the clear, leaving the detectives no closer to solving the murder. But two days later, the mystery thickens. As police are about to examine Stanley's gun collection, one of the suspects attempts suicide. Is he really trying to kill himself because of what he's done? If he was innocent, wouldn't he want to live? On June 20th, 1993, ten days after John Kowalczyk's mysterious murder, investigators receive the shocking news that one of their main suspects has just tried to kill himself. From the police perspective, a suicide attempt by a suspect is very suspicious. Especially the one man who physically threatened John, Jacob Lichter, the jealous ex-husband of John's fiancée. He downs 30 sleeping pills and he survives. Struggling with depression, Jacob releases another statement to the press to justify his drastic behavior. Jacob explained that he felt that his involvement in this case had disgraced his family and that he felt pressure from the media and embarrassment. But his suicide attempt does the exact opposite, setting off alarms for investigators. But it certainly triggers another look at him. and you always think of the question of why. Desperate to clear his name once and for all, Jacob agrees to take a polygraph test as soon as he's released from the hospital. In the meantime, police visit the Hyman home in nearby McLean, Virginia, to look at John's father-in-law Stanley's gun collection. What they find is a sight to behold. They go into the basement where there's an indoor firing range. Stanley opens up his gun safe, and he has 30 guns. There are a lot of antique weapons, but also there were some modern weapons, both handguns and rifles. It's an exciting array of weapons for a gun enthusiast. To the officers looking through the collection, only one rifle gets their hearts racing, a Thompson Center contender, the same type of gun police believe was used to kill John. What do you use this one for, Stanley? That's just part of my collection. It's never even left the range. When the police recognized that Stanley had the gun that they were looking for that could fire the bullet that they found in the body of the murder victim, they went to get a warrant to seize that gun. There's something even more startling that police find in Stanley's basement. I also saw on the floorboards of the indoor shooting range They saw sabbats. And those plastic sheathings were similar to the sheathing that was on the bullet that killed John. What about these, Stanley? Investigators questioned Stanley about the gun and the sabbats found in their home. They're not uncommon. They are used for hunting. It improves accuracy. The coincidences are too great. Police aren't convinced that Stanley's just a gun enthusiast. That the Hymans had a gun collection. that the gun collection included a Thompson Center contender and that it included these plastic sheathings made the police extremely suspicious of the Hymans. The officers collect the rifle and inform the Hymans that they will be in touch. But like many of John's friends and Vienna residents, they leave still guessing who could have committed the murder. The press and the community were still very interested in the case. In fact, the police had to deal with a very long 5,000-word piece that reviewed many facts and added to some of the speculation about the case. For Robert Surivell, John's friend and lawyer, the case hits close to home, and he can't help but take it personally. John's murder affected me and my family in a dramatic way. It was an uncomfortable time for me. We all had our beliefs about who had caused John to be murdered. Amid the speculation, two days after leaving the hospital, Jacob moves to clear his name by taking a polygraph exam. Jacob passed the polygraph test in his statements that he was not involved in John's death, did not kill John, and did not hire anyone to kill John. Jacob may think he's off the hook, but it's not enough to sway the police, given his hostility toward John and his sketchy alibi. Holograph tends to be somewhat of a game. Because of the reality, it can never be used in a courtroom one way or the other. Four weeks after John is killed, investigators in Vienna are still hard at work to unlock the mystery of this murder. When a phone call comes in from a West Virginia sheriff's department a hundred miles away. Vienna, Virginia police get a really interesting call. Comes in from West Virginia. Are you sure? On the other end of the line is Morgan County Chief Deputy John Ketterman, who's been searching for a missing person, Les Manning, in Berkeley Springs, West Virginia. He explains that while searching Les' bedroom, he discovered two bits of evidence he believes are possibly connected to John's murder. I found a matchbook. It said Vienna Wolf Trap Motel. The name Vienna rings a bell. As chance would have it, Ketterman has been following the high-profile murder case of John Kowalczyk. And the motel is just blocks away from where John was shot. With this matchbook to the Wolf Trap Motel was a sheet of paper that had phone numbers on it. One of which they trace back to a man by the name of Stanley Hyman. I was wondering, is that the same? I said, is this the same phone number as your Stanley Hyman? He says, it is. What does John's ex-father-in-law have to do with Ketterman's missing persons case? The police have two physical pieces of evidence that link Les Manning to a location in Northern Virginia near the crime scene and have some kind of link between Les Manning and a phone number of Stanley Hyman These pieces are indeed very suspicious. The Vienna police are interested but need more to go on. So Ketterman, who's still searching for Les Manning, follows his instincts. My next step was to go to Coulfont Resort, where Les Manning worked as a maintenance man. Ketterman learns from the father that not only does Les work there, but there's another employee he should look into. He stated that his son was hanging out a lot with Ralph Shambaugh Jr., that they worked together. It's a name Ketterman knows well. Ralph Shambaugh is sitting in the Morgan County Jail for assault with a knife. Ketterman learns that Les disappeared and never even picked up his paycheck. Didn't call, didn't show up. I have no idea where he is. Then Ketterman asks about Ralph, Les' friend and co-worker. Ralph went and quit on me a few weeks back, and I haven't heard from him either. The police now have the question, what could be the relationship? Was there even a relationship between Stanley and these men from the resort in West Virginia? And as Ketterman walks out of the lobby, something catches his eye that stops him in his tracks. I was leaving, and there was a terrarium there with an iguana in it, and it was donated by Stanley and Camille Hyman. Convinced he's found the missing piece of the puzzle, Ketterman asks about Stanley's connection to the resort. What can you tell me about Stanley Hyman? They knew Stanley Hyman quite well, and he frequents there quite a bit. and he always came in. The first person he asked for was Ralph Shamball Jr. Big gun enthusiasts. They hunted up here a lot together. Stanley Hyman did. Yes, sir. Police had to be excited. They're trying to find out how can we connect these men together. Connection found. It's the silver bullet Ketterman is looking for and he immediately informs Vienna police. Not only is Stanley associating with a known criminal, The two men share an interest in guns. Police pull the phone records, and they see that calls started between this pair a month before the murders. On the night of June 10th, Ralph calls Stanley twice before the murder from Vienna, Virginia, and once a couple hours after. It's done. The third call that night was made from West Virginia. Four hours later, more than enough time for that drive to have been made. Just as police are closing in on Stanley, the unthinkable happens and suddenly turns the investigation on its head. Two months after John Kowalczyk's murder, an investigation that has already been filled with the unexpected is handed one more twist. The case took another and very tragic turn. Police learn that John's former in-laws, Stanley and Camille Hyman, who have been vacationing in Florida, are dead. Even more shocking are the circumstances. This was a murder-suicide, apparently. It looked as though Stanley had shot Camille first and then turned the gun on himself. They had both left extensive notes explaining what they had done. In their notes, Stanley and Camille maintained that they would rather end their lives than continue on. Stanley explains that he's 70 years old. he can't take the stress and the strain of this investigation. And without him, his wife would not want to live her life at all. Stanley also denies having anything to do with John's murder. If he had been younger, he would fight to save his innocence and his reputation. He said he had lost the ability to go on. But Stanley's tragic endgame, in fact, draws even more suspicion his way. as the evidence continues to mount against both him and Ralph Shambaugh Jr. I gotta talk to you. The final nail in the coffin comes from another Coulfont employee. How'd you like to make some easy money? Chief Deputy Ketterman digs up Lucas Matthews, who says Ralph approached him about helping with the murder. I got this guy down in Virginia I gotta take out. What do you mean take him? It's not funny. $5,000. I'm serious. Ralph shows Lucas a picture of the potential victim. This is the guy. It's John Kowalczyk. Though Luke has declined, it's clear by now that Ralph is the trigger man. But police are stymied when they try to get anything out of him. I wanted to interview Ralph Shambaugh, but he was all lawyered up for another case. So his lawyer wouldn't let me talk to him. No matter. By September 20, 1993, Commonwealth Attorney Robert Horan presents the evidence against Ralph Shambaugh to a grand jury. In the grand jury return, a three-count indictment, one for capital murder, murder for hire, use of a firearm in that murder, and third count is conspiracy to commit the homicide. They also indict Stanley Hyman posthumously on charges of conspiracy to commit murder. Over nine months after John's murder, Ralph Shambaugh is extradited to Fairfax County for trial. To have an arrest made and to have the police confidently lay out what they could to the press about the evidence was a great relief to the community. At his trial, Ralph maintains his innocence as prosecutors lay out how they believe the murder took place. On June 10, 1993, Ralph and his driver, believed to be Les Manning, arrive near the parking lot shortly before John is scheduled to drop off his son, Ryan. He went up this alleyway. He knew that the visitation ran from 5 o'clock to 8 o'clock. He knew John would be returning to this location. Ralph hid in the unlocked building inside a glass door near where they assumed John would park. Ralph waits there. His gun, which police believe came from Stanley, is loaded with a bullet sheathed in a sabit to render it untraceable. At about 7.45 p.m., John pulls into the lot, parking his truck directly in front of Ralph. The son, Ryan, gets up, gets out of the truck. He's going to throw his trash away, and he's gone for just a moment. That time period allows Ralph to come out of the building, approach the truck, shoot John, go back into the building, and then out a back door to the waiting escape car. Ralph jumps into the car without anyone seeing him. He drives back to West Virginia because two and a half hours later, He makes the last phone call from Berkeley Springs, West Virginia, to the residents of Stanley in Northern Virginia. They were business partners, and the business was over. What Stanley and Ralph don't realize is that Les, the driver, has two critical pieces of evidence tucked in his pocket, a book of matches from a nearby Vienna motel and Stanley's phone number written on a piece of paper. Ralph ends up making a deal with prosecutors after the jury is hung on two of the counts. He came in and pled guilty to first degree murder as an accessory before the fact. On March 31st, 1995, Ralph is sentenced to 35 years for the murder of John Kowalczyk. The community had to breathe a very deep sigh of relief at this point. There was happiness that this crime got solved and Vienna had done the job to find out who the killer was. Brad Lowell and Jacob Lichter, who police had initially investigated, are cleared of any involvement in the crime. As for Les Manning, the man police believe Ralph hired as a driver, the outcome is much more dire. In a campground, West Virginia investigators found a decomposing body. Dental records prove that that was Les Manning. Police believe that Ralph and possibly Stanley were involved, but no charges or arrests are ever made. The tragic killing leaves a dark cloud over the community of Vienna. This was a case that marked them as one of those sad reminders that these kinds of tragedies occur, even in places that people think are safe escapes from these kinds of things. When I travel through Vienna, I always think of John. When I go by the houses he built down the road, I think of John. And all his friend can feel about it is one emotion. Sadness about John's family. Sadness about Michelle. Sadness about John.