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Who Murdered the Newlyweds; Professor David Protess and his journalism students take on the 14-year-old murder case of Dyke and Karen Rhoads CBS News Transcripts December 17,

2005 Saturday

Copyright 2005 CBS Worldwide Inc.All Rights Reserved CBS News Transcripts

SHOW: 48 Hours 10:00 AM EST CBS

December 17, 2005 Saturday

LENGTH: 7816 words

HEADLINE: Who Murdered the Newlyweds; Professor David Protess and his journalism students take on the 14-year-old murder case of Dyke and Karen Rhoads

REPORTERS: DERRICK BLAKLEY

BODY:

WHO MURDERED THE NEWLYWEDS?

(Footage of Paris, Illinois; water tower, Rhoads' wedding photos in photo album; footage of wedding)

SUSAN SPENCER: (Voiceover) Pictures from the 1986 wedding of Dyke and Karen Rhoads look like most from the '80s--dated outfits, but a predictably joyous young couple.

Unidentified Man #1: I now pronounce you husband and wife.

(Footage of wedding; wedding photo of Dyke and Karen Rhoads)

SPENCER: (Voiceover) Ready, they both thought, for a wonderful life together in the small town of Paris, Illinois.

TONY: It still is as real as if it was yesterday, and...

(Tony and Andrea being interviewed; photo of Karen and Dyke)

SPENCER: (Voiceover) Dyke's brother Tony and sister Andrea agree, these two truly were kindred spirits.

ANDREA: Once he met her, it was--he was in love.

TONY: Right.

(Footage from wedding video)

ANDREA: That's how Karen looked when we met her.

(Photo of Karen; photo of Dyke; footage of wedding; wedding photo; footage of wedding; dark street; emergency lights; photos of burned house)


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SPENCER: (Voiceover) Karen Spesard was 24 when they married and had a job as an office assistant. Dyke was working in landscaping. Nowhere in those touching pictures is there any hint that the lives of Dyke and Karen Rhoads would come to a violent end in less than four months. In the early morning hours of July 6th, 1986, a fire engulfed their home.

TONY: My dad came over at 6:00 in the morning--I never will forget that--and told me that they had been killed. He told me about their house burning, so we just naturally assumed that they had died from the fire.

(Photo of Karen and Dyke; headstone; police vehicle; footage of town street; photo of Randy Steidl; photo of Herb Whitlock; footage of jail doors closing)

TONY: (Voiceover) And it wasn't until 2:00 in the afternoon that we found out that they had been stabbed and murdered.

SPENCER: (Voiceover) Justice moved quickly in the horrified town of Paris. Within a year, two men were arrested and convicted of the crime.

Offscreen Voice #1: Do you want to make a comment?

(Photos of Whitlock in handcuffs)

SPENCER: (Voiceover) Forty-one-year-old Herb Whitlock, a part-time construction worker and small-time drug dealer...

Mr. RANDY STEIDL: This wasn't a trial. It was a lynching.

(Photos of Randy Steidl; footage of Steidl; empty courtroom)

SPENCER: (Voiceover) ...and his pal, 35-year-old Randy Steidl, who also worked construction and had several convictions for assault. The motive, prosecutors said, a drug deal gone bad.

Both men said they were innocent but, of course, no one was listening, until 1999 when a journalism professor from Northwestern University gave his students the Rhoads murder as a class project. Reinvestigate it, he told them, because to him, at least, it just didn't add up.

Professor DAVID PROTESS: My goal, which I think is the highest goal of our profession, is for them to find the truth.

(Footage of Protess and students; footage of people hugging; news headlines)

SPENCER: (Voiceover) Professor David Protess has led classes on that search before, and so far his investigations have produced evidence which has helped free 10 innocent men.

Mr. ANTHONY PORTER: What's up, guy?

(Footage of Anthony Porter leaving prison)

Offscreen Voice #2: (From footage) Anthony Porter was finally free, free to publicly show...

(Footage of class)

Professor PROTESS: Well, this is not your normal homicide, and that's why...


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(Footage of Protess and students)

SPENCER: (Voiceover) The job of finding the truth about the Rhoads case...

Ms. KIRSTEN SEARER: We've never dealt with a murder before. You know what I mean?

(Footage of Protess and students)

SPENCER: (Voiceover) ...fell to Kirsten Searer, 20 back then, and to Diane Haag, Greg Jonsson...

Ms. KRISTA LARSON: We'll be there in like two or three minutes.

(Footage of Krista Larson; footage of students walking)

SPENCER: (Voiceover) ...and Krista Larson, all a year older.

Ms. SEARER: Whoever committed this murder pretty much committed a perfect murder.

Ms. LARSON: It's become, I don't know, an obsession, if you will.

Mr. GREG JONSSON: Sleeping and dreaming about this, eating and thinking about this.

(Medill School of Journalism sign)

SPENCER: (Voiceover) Their professor admitted to having qualms about this mission.

Professor PROTESS: If that's the case and the two wrong guys are behind bars, that means the actual killer or killers are roaming free. Number one, you're not going to stay anywhere in the immediate vicinity of the town. Number two, you're not going to tell any of the sources you talk to where you're staying.

Ms. LARSON: Right.

Mr. JONSSON: Let's hit the road.

(Footage of students packing vehicle)

Professor PROTESS: (Voiceover) Number three, I don't want you to stay in the same place two nights in a row.

Ms. LARSON: Pedal to the metal, baby.

(Footage of students driving)

SPENCER: (Voiceover) For the next nine months...

Ms. DIANE HAAG: Ahhh.

Ms. LARSON: Oh, sorry. I'm sorry.

(Footage of students driving)

SPENCER: (Voiceover) ...the students would spend most weekends on the road...


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Mr. JONSSON: Drive is so long.

Ms. SEARER: My mom makes me call her a lot. She gets nervous.

(Footage of students driving; Paris street)

SPENCER: (Voiceover) ...making the 180-mile trip from Chicago to the small town of Paris.

Unidentified Woman #1: We even have some that are older than this.

(Footage of students researching)

SPENCER: (Voiceover) They would plow through police reports and court records to track down new leads...

Ms. SEARER: Hey, is it all right if we stop by and talk to you again real quick?

(Footage of students at door of house; students inside bar)

SPENCER: (Voiceover) ...and old witnesses wherever they could find them.

SPENCER: You've interviewed how many people, do you think?

Ms. LARSON: Oh, goodness...

SPENCER: Fifty?

Ms. SEARER: Fifty--yeah.

Ms. LARSON: More than that.

(Footage of students in bar; photo of Dyke and Karen)

SPENCER: (Voiceover) To their surprise, they soon felt almost as if they had known Dyke and Karen Rhoads.

Ms. SEARER: There's something going on that's not coming out.

(Headlights; outside house; footage of fireworks; outside house; crime scene photos; photo of Dyke; crime scene photos; photo of Karen; crime scene photos)

SPENCER: (Voiceover) Over and over again, the students recreated the crime scene in their mind's eye, going back to that Fourth of July holiday weekend.

Mr. JONSSON: (Voiceover) Dyke and Karen were sleeping in bed. The people came in. They attacked Dyke first, stabbing him in the back. Karen had time to wake up, maybe grab her glasses off a nightstand and then was stabbed herself, mostly in the chest.

Ms. HAAG: There was blood all over the room, on their clothes, on the bed.

(Crime scene photo; photos of Whitlock and Steidl)

SPENCER: (Voiceover) Blood everywhere, but on the suspects.


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Professor PROTESS: This young couple was tragically stabbed over 50 times. These men would have been covered in blood. There would have been in their automobiles. There would have been blood on their clothes. There would have been hair, fiber, something that linked them to the crime scene. Nothing did.

(Tony and Andrea being interviewed)

SPENCER: (Voiceover) Remarkable, Professor Protess' skepticism is shared even by Dyke Rhoads' own family.

TONY: We weren't 100 percent convinced that--that they were the ones who did it.

(Photos of burned house; photo of Dyke and Karen)

SPENCER: (Voiceover) Their doubt is based on both a lack of physical evidence and on that supposed motive.

SPENCER: The prosecutor contends to this day this was a drug deal gone bad.

TONY: Yeah.

SPENCER: Is that something that you can maybe accept?

TONY: Absolutely not.

(Photo of Dyke; photo of Whitlock)

SPENCER: (Voiceover) But Dyke had met Whitlock half a dozen times, according to the testimony of a friend who had bought cocaine from Whitlock.

SPENCER: Well, did Dyke use drugs?

TONY: He had been an occasional pot smoker, was...

SPENCER: What about Karen?

TONY: No.

ANDREA: No. Absolutely not.

TONY: Never.

But there's a big difference in somebody who is an occasional pot smoker and somebody who gets involved with a drug deal that's gone bad, is going to cost you your life.

(Footage of students researching; students walking; Darrell Herrington; Debra Reinbolt; news headline; Reinbolt and Spencer walking)

SPENCER: (Voiceover) The students also doubt the drug deal theory, but finding holes in this case isn't as easy as it first seemed because the jury has heard from two people who said they had actually been there, eyewitnesses, and one with an incredible story.

SPENCER: You held her down while they stabbed her.

Ms. DEBRA REINBOLT: Yeah.


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(Announcements)

Mr. JONSSON: No.

(Footage of students in hallway; signs; students entering vehicles; Paris street; moon)

Ms. LARSON: (Voiceover) I think the first bar we're going to go to is Burgey's.

SPENCER: (Voiceover) Back in 1999, the four Northwestern journalism students lived every college kid's dream assignment.

Ms. HAAG: What should we do tonight?

(Footage of students in bar)

SPENCER: (Voiceover) Staying out late.

Ms. LARSON: We don't need to close it down again this time.

(Footage of students in bar; bar sign)

SPENCER: (Voiceover) Hitting the bars.

Mr. JONSSON: A Sea Breeze and a Bud Light.

(Footage of students in bar; Protess and students)

SPENCER: (Voiceover) ...chugging beer, and all with the blessing of their professor, David Protess.

(Footage of students in bar)

Professor PROTESS: (Voiceover) My feeling was that the way an investigation like this begins is by becoming part of the culture of the town.

(Footage of man riding by on a motorcycle; photo of Dyke and Karen; footage of Whitlock; footage of Steidl; photo of Steidl; photo of Whitlock)

SPENCER: (Voiceover) Because understanding Paris, Illinois, may be key to understanding who killed Dyke and Karen Rhoads and whether the men convicted of this crime really are guilty.

Mr. JONSSON: So when you get to McDonald's, turn right and then--but don't go down High Street, angle left onto Crawford.

(Footage of Paris street)

SPENCER: (Voiceover) Weekend after weekend...

Mr. JONSSON: (Singing) Nobody's home, nobody's home.

(Footage of students at various houses)

SPENCER: (Voiceover) ...the students struggled with their investigation.


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Mr. JONSSON: I want to go knock on his door but...

Ms. SEARER: Do you really?

Mr. JONSSON: Oh, I do.

SPENCER: What's your view of this group of Northwestern students?

(Footage of Michael McFatridge at press conference)

SPENCER: (Voiceover) Michael McFatridge had prosecuted the Rhoads case.

Mr. MICHAEL McFATRIDGE: I think when the dust settles, they'll be very disappointed because, in fact, Whitlock and Steidl are guilty. I mean, they're the murderers.

(Footage of McFatridge in 1986; Herb Whitlock and Randy Steidl in custody)

SPENCER: (Voiceover) But in 1986, the young prosecutor had had a tough time building a case against Whitlock and Steidl.

Mr. McFATRIDGE: (From 1986) There is probable cause, a reason to hold the--Mr. Steidl and Mr. Whitlock for several counts of murder.

SPENCER: The students quickly learn that the investigation into the murders of Dyke and Karen Rhoads had gone absolutely nowhere for two months, until amazingly an eyewitness stepped forward with an astounding tale. He claimed that he actually had seen Whitlock and Steidl at the scene of the crime.

Mr. McFATRIDGE: I believe in September of '86, Darrell Herrington came forward.

(Footage of Darrell Herrington)

SPENCER: (Voiceover) And who was Darrell Herrington? He's been described to me as the town drunk.

Mr. McFATRIDGE: At the time, that would be, you know, a fair assessment. He was a big drinker.

Offscreen Voice #3: (From 1986 police interview) Are you aware that your voice is being recorded?

Mr. DARRELL HERRINGTON: (From 1986 police interview) Yeah.

(Footage of Herrington interview)

SPENCER: (Voiceover) Herrington uses an artificial larynx. We've added a voice to repeat his words to make them clearer.

Mr. HERRINGTON: (From police interview) (Through translator) Yelling and screaming.

(Footage of Herrington interview)

SPENCER: (Voiceover) In this taped statement to police...


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Voice #3: (From police interview) What kind of yelling and screaming?

(Footage of police interview of Herrington)

SPENCER: (Voiceover) ...Herrington said he woke up in Randy Steidl's car...

Mr. HERRINGTON: (From police interview) (Through translator) Apparently, somebody was damned scared about something.

(Footage of the Rhoads' home)

SPENCER: (Voiceover) ...outside the home of Dyke and Karen Rhoads.

Mr. HERRINGTON: (From police interview) (Through translator) I could hear a woman screaming and a man saying `Please don't hurt me' or `kill me,' or something like that.

(Photos of crime scene)

SPENCER: (Voiceover) After using his credit card to jimmy open the lock, Herrington told police he went inside and up the stairs where Steidl confronted him.

Voice #3: (From 1986 police interview) Darrell, did you notice anything different about Randy?

Mr. HERRINGTON: (From 1986 police interview) (Through translator) He had blood on him.

Voice #3: (From 1986 police interview) Did he have anything with him?

Mr. HERRINGTON: (From 1986 police interview) (Through translator) He had a knife. Then I looked up and saw a body on the bed.

Mr. McFATRIDGE: He knew certain things that, at least in our minds, were not things the town drunk would know.

(Footage of Herrington walking)

SPENCER: (Voiceover) Town drunk or not, Herrington was key to the investigation, but without a confession, McFatridge was stuck.

Mr. McFATRIDGE: We were not going to indict or charge somebody until we had a reasonable chance of conviction. We had one eyewitness and with no corroborative evidence.

(Footage of Debra Reinbolt during the trial; news article; photo of knife; photo of Dyke and Karen)

SPENCER: (Voiceover) But five months later, all that changed when, incredibly, a second eyewitness came forward with that much-needed corroborating evidence. Debra Reinbolt, a self-described drug addict and alcoholic, had told police she'd not only seen it all, she'd provided a five-inch knife, even helped with the killing.

Ms. REINBOLT: It gets worse and worse as the years go by.

(Footage of Reinbolt being interviewed; Reinbolt in 1986)

SPENCER: (Voiceover) By the time the students began their investigation, Debra Reinbolt


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claims she was clean and sober. But in 1986...

Ms. REINBOLT: I always drank. I was drugged.

SPENCER: What happened that night?

Ms. REINBOLT: A big mess.

(Photographs of crime scene; photo of Dyke)

Ms. REINBOLT: (Voiceover) Everything went wrong. I mean, they were just going to go down there and try to scare Dyke.

And then things just got out of hand.

SPENCER: How well did you know Herb and Randy at the time this happened?

Ms. REINBOLT: I--I knew them just through the drug thing.

SPENCER: You can remember seeing them stab Dyke?

Ms. REINBOLT: Mm-hmm.

SPENCER: Both of them?

Ms. REINBOLT: Mm-hmm.

(Photograph of Karen; photos of crime scene)

SPENCER: (Voiceover) And what's happening with Karen in the meanwhile?

Ms. REINBOLT: (Voiceover) She's trying to get up off the bed, and I had went over there and was telling her that everything'd be OK.

(Photographs of the crime scene)

SPENCER: You held her down while they stabbed her?

Ms. REINBOLT: Yep.

(Photo of knife)

SPENCER: Where did this knife come from?

Ms. REINBOLT: It was my husband's knife, and they wanted it.

(Footage of Reinbolt being escorted by police; photos of the crime scene)

SPENCER: (Voiceover) Reinbolt's story had impressed police, especially when she'd accurately described a broken lamp found in the Rhoads' bedroom.

So it was broken before they were killed or while they were being killed?

Ms. REINBOLT: Yeah.


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(Empty jury box; footage of Herrington, Reinbolt, Whitlock, and Steidl; footage inside prison; newspaper article; cell house sign; footage of Steidl; newspaper article)

SPENCER: (Voiceover) Two separate juries believed both the eyewitness accounts, and in 1987, despite their unwavering protest of innocent, the two men were convicted. Herb Whitlock got life and Randy Steidl the death penalty.

Mr. STEIDL: I defy anybody to say I was proved guilty beyond a reasonable doubt. I had no involvement whatsoever with that crime.

SPENCER: Do you know anything about it in terms of who did?

Mr. STEIDL: I wish I did. I truly wished I did.

Mr. WHITLOCK: I had a little belief that--that there was justice in the system. I was pretty naive. I'm not naive anymore.

SPENCER: Did you kill Dyke and Karen Rhoads?

Mr. WHITLOCK: Absolutely not. As long as I breath I'll never accept what's been done to me, so I'm just stuck, anger and depression.

(Footage of Herrington and Reinbolt; photo of knife; footage of Herrington, students researching; outside building; footage Herrington and Reinbolt)

SPENCER: (Voiceover) Although Prosecutor McFatridge had recommended no jail time for the two eyewitnesses, Debra Reinbolt did serve two years in prison for concealing a homicide. Herrington never was charged. But months into their investigation, the Northwestern students found new evidence. Evidence that cast serious doubts on the testimony of the state's two star witnesses.

(Announcements)

Announcer: Tuesday, a special 48 HOURS.

(Footage of clouds; moon)

Unidentified Man #2: (Voiceover) This is a story too improbable not to be true.

Announcer: It might be the most controversial story ever.

Man #2: What we're dealing with in the Christmas story is the premiere mystery of all human history.

Announcer: The birth of Jesus, what really happened?

(Footage of man and woman riding camels)

Man #2: (Voiceover) You're trying to get back to the historical bedrock.

Announcer: Journey to the Holy Land.

Unidentified Man #3: This is the cave where Jesus is born.

Unidentified Woman #2: This is the actual...


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Man #3: Yes.

Announcer: Born in Bethlehem or was it Nazareth?

Unidentified Man #4: He's called Jesus of Nazareth.

Announcer: What do we know about Mary?

Unidentified Man #5: Well, we're talking about a small-town girl. She's barely a teen-ager.

Announcer: And the greatest miracle of all, the virgin birth.

Unidentified Woman #3: There was something embarrassing or troubling about the birth of Jesus that caused a lot of questions.

Unidentified Man #6: This ain't your regular birth, people.

Announcer: Searching for the gospel truth.

(Bible; statue; footage of clouds)

Man #6: (Voiceover) You do not need to take the story literally in order to believe that Jesus was the messiah or the lord or the savior of the world or the Christ.

Announcer: The Mystery of Christmas, a special 48 HOURS Tuesday.

(Announcements)

(Crime scene photos; photo of Whitlock; photo of Steidl)

SPENCER: (Voiceover) The burned-out bedroom of Dyke and Karen Rhoads was a gruesome crime scene, but it produced no forensic evidence at all implicating the two men convicted of the murders.

Ms. SEARER: It did not happen the way that the state's witnesses says that it did.

(Footage of crime scene; moon)

SPENCER: (Voiceover) First of the students doubted Darrell Herrington's story, which had put the murders after midnight.

Unidentified Man #7: You could hear a pin drop two blocks away.

(Footage of houses; man)

SPENCER: (Voiceover) They tracked down witnesses who challenged that timeline. One had been a neighbor of the Rhoads.

Man #7: You would think that with the house located just a hundred yards away we would have heard something.

Professor PROTESS: This crime occurred much later in the night, at a time when Randy Steidl and Herb Whitlock were nowhere near the scene.


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SPENCER: And there's one other thing that doesn't quite add up. Herrington told police that after the murders, he was standing here, by what was then the Rhoads' garage, with Randy Steidl. Debra Reinbolt also says she stood here with Randy Steidl. Both eyewitnesses saw Randy Steidl, but remarkably they never saw each other.

Ms. LARSON: You know, the fact that they're both there but that they don't see each other, to me, that just didn't make any sense at all.

Mr. McFATRIDGE: It--it could have happened that way. As a matter of fact, it must have happened that way.

(Footage of Spencer and McFatridge)

SPENCER: (Voiceover) Former Prosecutor Michael McFatridge.

Mr. McFATRIDGE: That argument was presented at trial to two different juries by two different defense attorneys. They juries found the defendants guilty.

(Footage of Spencer with Debra Reinbolt)

SPENCER: (Voiceover) McFatridge may not find this odd but his star witness Debra Reinbolt sure did.

Ms. REINBOLT: I thought, `Somebody's made this up. Somebody's lost their frigging mind. This is the town drunk.' There is no way this man was there.

(Footage of Reinbolt during the trial; Whitlock walking; Steidl; photo of Karen and Dyke; photo of knife)

SPENCER: (Voiceover) But what about Debra Reinbolt's own story? Her testimony was key to the guilty verdict. After all, she'd said she'd seen the murders, even said she helped.

Unidentified Woman #4: Do you swear that the testimony you are about to give....

(Footage of Reinbolt testifying; empty witness chair)

SPENCER: (Voiceover) In 1996, nine years after the convictions, Reinbolt matter of factly stated in a sworn statement to Randy Steidl's lawyer that she had lied on the stand.

Unidentified Man #8: (From sworn statement) What parts were untrue?

Ms. REINBOLT: (From sworn statement) Oh, I don't know that Randy was there. I don't know that Herbie was there.

(Footage of sworn statement; crime scene photos)

SPENCER: (Voiceover) As for those impressive details she'd provided about what she had seen inside the house...

Man #8: (From sworn statement) Have you ever been in Dyke and Karen Rhoads' house?

Ms. REINBOLT: (From sworn statement) No.

(Footage of sworn statement)


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SPENCER: (Voiceover) But hold onto your hats...

Man #8: (From sworn statement) Were you there the night of the murders?

Ms. REINBOLT: (From sworn statement) Nope.

SPENCER: At the beginning of this tape, you hold up your hand, you take an oath...

Ms. REINBOLT: This is true.

SPENCER: ...this is absolutely true.

Ms. REINBOLT: And I understand. I understand I did that.

SPENCER: In a head spinning reversal, Debra Reinbolt later insisted that she actually was lying on the tape, that her original eyewitness account of being at the scene of the crime was and is true. Is it? Well, it's pretty hard to know. Over the years, Debra Reinbolt has changed her story more than half a dozen times.

Why have you changed your story so many times?

Ms. REINBOLT: Basically, wanting to get out of this, just wanting it over. The bottom line is I can't change a story that's true.

SPENCER: But you have several times.

Ms. REINBOLT: And keep it changed, is what I'm saying.

Mr. BILL CLUTTER: You know, when you look at the crime scene, and you look at the...

(Footage of Bill Clutter and Spencer; Reinbolt; crime scene photos)

SPENCER: (Voiceover) Bill Clutter, an investigator working on the Randy Steidl case, thinks he has proof, beyond her various accounts, that Debra Reinbolt never saw the murders at all. Remember the broken lamp?

Mr. CLUTTER: The prosecution used the lamp as the centerpiece of their evidence, corroborating Debra Reinbolt's account of what happened this night.

SPENCER: And it made her believable.

Mr. CLUTTER: It made her believable.

(Footage of Reinbolt; crime scene photos)

SPENCER: (Voiceover) Reinbolt testified the lamp was broken when she got to the Rhoads' bedroom.

SPENCER: It was broken before the fire?

Ms. REINBOLT: Yes.

(Footage of flames; crime scene photos)

SPENCER: (Voiceover) After the fire, black soot covered the crime scene.


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Mr. CLUTTER: It's absolutely white. It's bone white.

SPENCER: You're contending that if the lamp had been broken, the inside of it--the broken pieces would have had soot on them.

(Crime scene photo)

Mr. CLUTTER: (Voiceover) It would have soot on it.

SPENCER: So Debra Reinbolt couldn't possibly have seen it broken then?

Mr. CLUTTER: She could not have seen a broken lamp.

SPENCER: How could that have happened?

Ms. REINBOLT: I have no clue.

(Footage of sworn statement; crime scene photo; police vehicle)

SPENCER: (Voiceover) In the same sworn statement in which she denied being at the crime scene, Reinbolt also said the police fed her the information about the lamp.

Ms. REINBOLT: (From sworn statement) They come up with, `Well, there was a broken vase or a broken lamp there.' And then I'd say, `Well, OK, so there was.'

SPENCER: Did you ever ask Herb or Randy why they did this?

Ms. REINBOLT: I don't think it ever crossed my mind to ask them.

(Photographs of Dyke and Karen Rhoads, the crime scene)

SPENCER: (Voiceover) I mean, they slaughtered two people right in front of your eyes and you never asked them why?

Ms. REINBOLT: No, I didn't. I probably wouldn't today.

(Crime scene photo; footage of students in and out of vehicles and speaking on phone)

SPENCER: (Voiceover) For the students, it all added up to more than a reasonable doubt, especially when they started turning up other witnesses the police never had talked to. One of whom pointed them entirely new direction.

Ms. HAAG: (From student videotape) Do you remember the weekend of July Fourth in 198...

Unidentified Woman #5: (From student videotape) Yes, I do.

(Footage of students videotaping witness)

SPENCER: (Voiceover) This woman let the students videotape her, but she was so frightened she asked that we obscure her face and alter her voice.

Woman #5: (From student videotape) I noticed two men standing opposite of the street light by Dyke and Karen's house. Now what caught my eye was they had trench coats on in


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July.

(Footage of the street)

SPENCER: (Voiceover) She said she saw them around 9:00 the night before the murders.

Woman #5: (From student videotape) And one of them was a big guy with blond hair, and the other guy was small-framed and looked like he had dark hair. But they were just standing there looking toward Dyke and Karen's house.

(Footage of house; street)

SPENCER: (Voiceover) And she thinks she saw the same two men the next night, the night of the murders.

Woman #5: (From student videotape) This car started coming around, and it was white with a gold stripe down it. And it had Florida license plates. It would just go by, turn in front of Dyke and Karen's house, stop. And I seen them looking, you know? And then take off. They did this about 10 times, just--I mean, continuously. Why would anyone be doing that?

(Footage of students in bar; gas station; Florida license plate)

SPENCER: (Voiceover) Across town, the students also tracked down a gas station attendant who worked the night shift and who remembered selling a lot of extra gas to a man driving a car with Florida plates.

Unidentified Man #9: (From student videotape) Several containers of gasoline. You know, that's not uncommon at 3:00 in the afternoon, but 3:00 in the morning, I thought, `Well, that's strange.'

Mr. JONSSON: (From student videotape) Do you recall how much gas you sold to this man?

Man #9: (From student videotape) Yep, I do. It was 21 gallons because it was in, like, seven three-gallon cans.

(Footage of gas container; fire; photo of burned house; footage of gas station attendant; Florida license plate; footage of student videotape; car on street)

SPENCER: (Voiceover) An hour later, the Rhoads' house was ablaze. Paris police had interviewed the gas station attendant, but the Florida connection went nowhere. The police never even knew about the other witness who, over the years, hasn't exactly volunteered information.

Mr. JONSSON: (From student videotape) You think you may have seen the actual killers?

Woman #5: (From student videotape) I mean, the thought crosses my mind. `Was that them?'

(Footage of car on road; students)

SPENCER: (Voiceover) But what would their motive be? The students came up with a new theory.

Mr. JONSSON: (Speaking on telephone) Is this Shawn? How are you doing?


16 of 25 6/1/06 4:21 PM

(Photo of Karen)

SPENCER: (Voiceover) One that focused on Karen, not on Dyke.

Ms. SEARER: Karen had told several family members and friends that she had seen something at work that had scared her.

(Footage of vehicle; parking lot; vehicle trunk; photo of woman)

SPENCER: (Voiceover) Something she stumbled on in the parking lot of the pet food plant where she worked, an incident involving other people from the factory.

Ms. SEARER: (Voiceover) She had seen large amounts of money and a gun put in a trunk that was on its way to Chicago.

SPENCER: (Voiceover) According to a friend the students interviewed, Karen was very worried.

Ms. LARSON: Karen came to this woman--she was very distraught, she was very scared and upset--and she said that she had tried to quit her job.

(Footage of Protess and Spencer; parking lot; vehicle)

SPENCER: (Voiceover) Professor Protess wondered if there could be some link between what Karen saw and the shadowy men from Florida.

Professor PROTESS: But who are these guys? Why'd they come to Paris?

(Footage of Michale A. Callahan walking)

SPENCER: (Voiceover) This former police detective thinks he may have the answers to many of the students' questions and he says those answers may have cost him his career.

(Announcements)

Mr. MICHALE A. CALLAHAN: I worked many years undercover, in the trenches. I would take on the undercover assignments that a lot of people wouldn't.

(Footage of people on street; Callahan walking; prison door; Whitlock; Steidl; Whitlock; police arresting people)

SPENCER: (Voiceover) The Northwestern students didn't know it at the time, but this seasoned investigator also would conclude that the men in prison for the Rhoads' murders were innocent.

Mr. CALLAHAN: (Voiceover) I was working a lot of narcotics.

Unidentified Man #10: I saw you dump that out of your shoe.

Mr. CALLAHAN: Twenty years in investigations.

Unidentified Woman #6: I was buying drugs.

(Footage of police arrest; parade; award ceremony)


17 of 25 6/1/06 4:21 PM

Mr. CALLAHAN: (Voiceover) Hundreds of felony arrests.

SPENCER: (Voiceover) Michale Callahan's career with the Illinois State Police spanned nearly two and a half decades.

Unidentified Man #11: Master Sergeant Michale A. Callahan.

(Graphic on screen)

Michale A. Callahan Division of Operations District 2

(Award ceremony)

SPENCER: (Voiceover) He was promoted three times over the years.

Mr. CALLAHAN: I busted my butt for the Illinois State Police. I worked long hours. I dedicated myself.

(Footage of Callahan at desk)

SPENCER: (Voiceover) And in the year 2000, he made lieutenant and was asked to review the Paris murder investigation, shortly before 48 HOURS was to air a program about it. He had no idea what he was getting into.

Mr. CALLAHAN: This is by far the worst investigation I've ever seen.

This is the case--a Xeroxed copy of the original case file that I was asked to review.

SPENCER: Every single one of these markers, these little flags represents some contradiction?

Mr. CALLAHAN: Yeah. There...

SPENCER: Or some problem with the case?

Mr. CALLAHAN: Yes. There's probably hundreds in here. Evidence or information or leads that weren't followed that should have been followed, again, contradictions of what people said in these reports. Some pretty serious stuff.

(Footage outside bar; inside disco; photo of Dyke and Karen)

SPENCER: (Voiceover) Including serious questions, questions the students also had raised about the real motive for the murders.

Mr. CALLAHAN: The case file basically said that this was over a bad drug deal. It wasn't over drugs. I mean, you look at Dyke and Karen, they had $200 in their savings account at the time of their deaths. They're not major narcotics traffickers by any means.

(Footage of students researching; parking lot; photo of Karen; trunk of vehicle)

SPENCER: (Voiceover) Like the students, Callahan was drawn to those stories of what Karen may have stumbled on at work, not just large sums of money that seemed out of place but also a machine gun.

Mr. CALLAHAN: She started questioning things, and I think that's what got her in trouble.


18 of 25 6/1/06 4:21 PM

(Footage of trunk closing; parking lot; photos of Bob Morgan; Callahan at desk; photo of Karen)

SPENCER: (Voiceover) Callahan wondered if someone at Karen's job knew something about the murder, a co-worker or even her boss Bob Morgan, a publicity-shy businessman. It was something the original investigators hadn't fully pursued.

Mr. CALLAHAN: You're talking about an individual that if she did see these things, she probably would not have stayed quiet or would have--would have made some type of statement.

(Footage of vehicle; parking lot; photo of Karen)

SPENCER: (Voiceover) What Karen said she saw in the parking lot made her afraid, according to her family and friends, who say she was thinking about quitting her job.

Mr. CALLAHAN: Basically, she knew too much.

SPENCER: She stumbles across something. She then is murdered.

Mr. CALLAHAN: Yes.

SPENCER: You have reached essentially the same theory that the Northwestern students reached. And this information was available to the original investigators as well?

Mr. CALLAHAN: Yes.

SPENCER: Or could have been.

Mr. CALLAHAN: Yes. Or could have been.

(Photo of Karen; parking lot; photo of Bob Morgan; newspaper article)

SPENCER: (Voiceover) But if Karen did see money and a machine gun, what did it mean? Was there any connection to where she worked? Her old boss Bob Morgan refused to speak directly with 48 HOURS but denies any involvement in the murders. And he recently told a local paper that, to clear his name, he would welcome an investigation.

SPENCER: But Callahan says that in 2000, no one in the state police was welcoming a new investigation, and that, in fact, when he tried to pursue one, his superiors yanked the rug right out from under him.

Mr. CALLAHAN: I was told that I could not re-open the Rhoads case, that it was too politically sensitive.

SPENCER: They actually told you...

Mr. CALLAHAN: Yeah.

SPENCER: ...it--`This is too politically sensitive.'

Mr. CALLAHAN: Too politically sensitive. I will never forget that day as long as I live.

(Footage of government building; photo of Morgan; tickertape)


19 of 25 6/1/06 4:21 PM

SPENCER: (Voiceover) No one ever explained what "too politically sensitive" meant, but Callahan's investigation did reveal that Bob Morgan was a big campaign contributor to some very high-powered Illinois politicians.

SPENCER: How many times did you try to get this case re-opened?

Mr. CALLAHAN: Officially to Springfield, five times.

SPENCER: And every single time...

Mr. CALLAHAN: Something happened.

(Footage of State Police building; Callahan at desk)

SPENCER: (Voiceover) Whether Callahan's theory of why his investigation was blocked is right or wrong, two years ago, he was transferred out of investigations, which ended his pursuit of the Paris murders for good.

(Footage of award ceremony; Callahan and son playing basketball)

Mr. CALLAHAN: (Voiceover) I had a great reputation, and then they took that all away from me, they humiliated me. I know I took it out on my wife and my son. It took my son making that statement to me. He just said, `I wish I had my old dad back.' That broke my heart. It still does.

SPENCER: (Voiceover) But he refused to give up.

Mr. CALLAHAN: (Playing basketball) Ohhh, there's the old touch.

(Photo of Callahan; footage of Callahan driving)

SPENCER: (Voiceover) Instead, he sued the Illinois State Police, claiming they had transferred him to shut him up, not only about the Rhoads murders but also about reports he had made to internal affairs alleging inappropriate conduct by superiors.

Mr. CALLAHAN: I was being punished for being too candid.

SPENCER: That's how you interpret this. You--you were punished...

Mr. CALLAHAN: Oh, yes. For...

SPENCER: ...for having actually done what you were assigned to do.

Mr. CALLAHAN: Yes. I spoke out on a matter of public interest, and I was retaliated against for doing that.

(Callahan; document)

SPENCER: (Voiceover) Callahan's case against the state police went to federal court.

Mr. CALLAHAN: (Press conference) I fought for myself and I fought for--for the victims here.

(Footage of Callahan leaving building; Callahan speaking on phone; photo of Morgan; photo


20 of 25 6/1/06 4:21 PM

of Karen and Dyke)

SPENCER: (Voiceover) Callahan argued that his superiors muzzled him and violated his right to free speech, in part because he was trying to investigate any possible connections between Karen's co-workers or Morgan and the Rhoads murders.

Mr. CALLAHAN: Nobody is above the law. This isn't how things are supposed to be in small-town America or--or in a major city.

(Paris sign; footage of Callahan leaving building; photo of Callahan)

SPENCER: (Voiceover) Callahan, now retired, found his own vindication earlier this year. He was awarded $360,000. A jury agreed he'd been punished for just trying to do his job.

Mr. CALLAHAN: People come to us for the truth, and we should always try to do the right thing.

(Footage of Callahan holding police vest; photo of Morgan; police building; lie detector test)

SPENCER: (Voiceover) The Illinois State Police aren't saying anything about Bob Morgan. In fact, they're not talking about this case at all. But just last month, Morgan took a very unusual step.

Mr. FRED HUNTER: Mr. Morgan had come to a conclusion that he didn't want these random rumors floating around.

(Footage of Fred Hunter and polygraph machine; photo of Morgan)

SPENCER: (Voiceover) Morgan hired Fred Hunter, a well-respected polygraph expert and voluntarily submitted to a lie detector test about the Rhoads murders.

Mr. HUNTER: The results basically showed that he had no involvement in directing anyone or--to kill Dyke and Karen Rhoads or being present in their home when they were stabbed. This polygraph indicated that he was being truthful.

(Photo of Karen and Dyke; polygraph; footage of Steidl; Whitlock in prison)

SPENCER: (Voiceover) Morgan hopes the polygraph will put to rest all suspicion of him. But even if it does, it changes nothing for Randy Steidl and Herb Whitlock.

SPENCER: This wasn't just a situation where the cops didn't do a very good job.

Mr. CALLAHAN: No. It's my opinion that they were framed.

(Footage outside prison; students; Callahan; Steidl)

SPENCER: (Voiceover) But fortunes are about to change with a development that the students, the cop and the prisoners all have worked long and hard for and never thought they'd see.

(Announcements)

(Footage of students walking)

SPENCER: (Voiceover) The Northwestern students graduated five years ago feeling as if


21 of 25 6/1/06 4:21 PM

they'd left one course with an incomplete grade.

Ms. SEARER: We left this unfinished business, but there was nothing that we could do.

Ms. LARSON: There were times after we first graduated I just wanted to get back in my car and go back to Paris, because really, I mean, you feel like you're leaving it behind and your work is undone.

(Footage of students; crime scene photos; footage of students investigating)

SPENCER: (Voiceover) They thought they had done the impossible, finding new witnesses, new evidence, enough, they thought, to lead to a new police investigation.

Ms. SEARER: The whole case was so ridiculous that as soon as everybody heard about the details, then they would say, `This is crazy. Let these people out.'

(Footage of train; Whitlock; Steidl; inside prison; photos of Whitlock and Steidl)

SPENCER: (Voiceover) But Herb Whitlock and Randy Steidl stayed right where they'd been for more than a decade, in prison.

Ms. SEARER: I never felt like we did enough. It was so hard to leave.

(Footage of students walking)

SPENCER: (Voiceover) The students eventually began their new careers in journalism.

Mr. JONSSON: Hi, Al. This is Greg Jonsson from...

(Footage of Jonsson speaking on phone)

SPENCER: (Voiceover) Greg at the St. Louis Post-Dispatch.

Ms. HAAG: (Speaking on phone) You're the president of the parish council at Sacred Heart, right?

(Footage of Haag at desk; students talking; newspapers being printed; photo of Dyke and Karen; newspaper; newspaper article)

SPENCER: (Voiceover) Diane a reporter in Shreveport, Louisiana. Kirsten and Krista also working in print. And then, five years after they first began digging into the Rhoads case came the story they all had so desperately wanted to write.

Mr. JONSSON: You kind of steeled yourself. You were also hoping for but steeled yourself against getting your hopes up too much.

(Document; empty courtroom; footage of Steidl; inside prison)

SPENCER: (Voiceover) In a remarkable reversal, a federal judge ruled that Randy Steidl'soriginal attorney made a big mistake in not challenging the credibility of those two eyewitnesses, a mistake that could have affected the verdict.

Professor PROTESS: I was at home, and I got a call from one of the lawyers.

(Newspaper headline)


22 of 25 6/1/06 4:21 PM

SPENCER: (Voiceover) All charges were dropped.

DERRICK BLAKLEY reporting: (From "CBS 2 News")

Another former death-row inmate has been freed from prison here in Illinois.

(Footage of Steidl leaving prison)

SPENCER: (Voiceover) Randy Steidl, once on death row, was a free man.

Unidentified Man #12: I present to you now my brother Randy Steidl.

Mr. STEIDL: First of all, I want to thank God because without his strength and love and the support of my family, and especially my mother...

Professor PROTESS: I doubt the ceiling in my home is high enough to accommodate how high--how high I jumped.

Mr. STEIDL: Pretty--pretty great feeling after 17 years, three months and three weeks.

Man #12: It's a wonderful day in the neighborhood.

SPENCER: And who was there?

Mr. STEIDL: My brother and my mother, a lot of friends.


SPENCER: (Voiceover) Also in the crowd...

Mr. STEIDL: There's two of them that showed up at the prison the day I walked out.


SPENCER: (Voiceover) ...two of the former students, Greg and Kirsten.

Mr. JONSSON: So great to see you out.

Mr. STEIDL: Finally, a federal judge saw this case for what it was.

SPENCER: Were you surprised?

Mr. STEIDL: Yeah, I was. I was. I'm really happy that they would protest and those kids got involved.

Mr. JONSSON: It's just weird to be here and see this happen finally and to see him not behind bars and see how great it is that he's out.

(Footage of Steidl entering vehicle)

SPENCER: (Voiceover) But someone was missing...

Ms. SEARER: You just couldn't help feeling guilty for being there when Herb was still in prison.


23 of 25 6/1/06 4:21 PM

(Photo of Whitlock)

SPENCER: (Voiceover) ...Herb Whitlock.

Is having Whitlock still there make you feel somehow, I don't know, it's like almost survivor guilt. You know? I mean, it's...

Mr. STEIDL: Well, it does, in a way, because him and I took different paths fighting our case.

(Documents; court building; newspaper article)

SPENCER: (Voiceover) While Steidl's case was heard by a federal judge, Whitlock's has stayed in the state system, where his appeals have been repeatedly heard and repeatedly denied.

Mr. STEIDL: I finally got a real judge by--in federal court who actually read the record for the very first time, that I believe in 15, 16 years that had ever been looked at.

(Footage of Steidl leaving prison; Whitlock leaving building; crime scene photos; court building)

SPENCER: (Voiceover) After Steidl's success, Herb Whitlock tried again, asking a state judge to overturn his conviction based on the same questionable evidence and inadequate legal counsel.

Mr. STEIDL: I just don't have much faith in the circuit courts.

(Footage of gavel; Whitlock escorted by police; photo of Reinbolt; photo of Herrington)

SPENCER: (Voiceover) Indeed, the judge dealt Whitlock a stunning blow, ruling that his lawyer did an adequate job and that the eyewitnesses on the issues that mattered could be believed.

Professor PROTESS: Which means that we have one of the most horrible miscarriages of justice in our state's history.

(Footage of Protess walking; Whitlock)

SPENCER: (Voiceover) Journalism professor David Protess.

Professor PROTESS: (Voiceover) Where based on the same pathetic evidence, one man could be freed while Herb Whitlock languishes in prison for the rest of his life. And that would just be a tragedy beyond words.

SPENCER: The situation could very well just as easily been reversed.

Mr. STEIDL: It could have been. It could have been. And...

(Footage of Whitlock escorted by police)

SPENCER: (Voiceover) He says he thinks about that a lot and only hopes that somehow Herb Whitlock eventually also will be free.


24 of 25 6/1/06 4:21 PM

Mr. STEIDL: I don't know what time I'll be home.

(Footage of Steidl driving)

SPENCER: (Voiceover) Meanwhile, Steidl struggles to re-establish his life. He has a new job at a local factory.

Mr. STEIDL: I've worked from July on of last year steady, you know, eight, 10-hour days.

(Footage of race)

SPENCER: (Voiceover) And a determination to try to fit in.

A lot has changed in society in 17 years. And all this stuff that's come along...

Mr. STEIDL: Cell phones, I'm still trying to manage.

Hello, Brian. This is Randy. I noticed that, and I hit the wrong button.

Pumping gas...

(Footage of Steidl pumping gas)

SPENCER: (Voiceover) I never thought of that.

Mr. STEIDL: I had never seen a gas pump like this. You have to pay inside or debit. What's a debit?

SPENCER: Ever use an ATM?

Mr. STEIDL: I tried a couple of times.

Like that?

SPENCER: No, that's upside down. That's backwards. I can see why you don't use it.

Mr. STEIDL: I'm still adjusting on a daily basis. It's a struggle.

(Footage of Steidl)

SPENCER: (Voiceover) But for now, he keeps his past to himself.

Mr. STEIDL: I still get, you know, offended or get a little anxious when somebody does know and I try to explain it to them, and they're not receptive to me. So I kind of pull back, and I just refuse to talk to anybody about it.

Ms. SEARER: How do you get out of jail after more than 17 years and start out a new life? And--and you can't approach people and tell people where you've been for the last 17 years.

(Photo of Steidl; photo of Whitlock; footage of students walking; photo of Dyke and Karen; footage of Whitlock escorted by police)

SPENCER: (Voiceover) The students acknowledge they've gotten closer to this story than journalists usually do, but they feel as strongly as does Randy Steidl that an injustice was done and in Whitlock's case, continues.


25 of 25 6/1/06 4:21 PM

Mr. STEIDL: The guilty have walked free for over 17, 18 years now and Whitlock and myself have become the patsies for it.

Mr. JONSSON: Karen and Dyke's families are the ones who are going to be kind of left never knowing.

Ms. LARSON: And will there ever be an answer? Will there ever be closure for the families?

(Photos of Karen and Dyke; Andrea and Tony at cemetery; photo of Dyke and Karen; footage outside house; fireworks)

SPENCER: (Voiceover) Dyke Rhoads' family also doesn't understand how the same evidence can free one man and keep another in prison. And they say there can be no closure until they know what really happened that hot, July night so long ago.

ANDREA: It's just not something that you're able to be at peace with at all.

(Photos of Dyke and Karen)

TONY: (Voiceover) It's like an open sore that just doesn't heal. The truth is still out there in my view.

ANDREA: (Voiceover) And I think it'll be found some day.

(Graphic on screen)

The Rhoads Family Wants the FBI to Take Over the Investigation.

Randy Steidl has Asked the Governor of Illinois for a Pardon to Clear His Name.

Prosecutors Could Reinstate Murder Charges Against Steidl.

Herb Whitlock has Filed Another Appeal.

LOAD-DATE: December 19, 2005

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