Casefile True Crime - Case 298: Bonnie Hood

Episode Date: September 28, 2024

On August 19 1990, the tiny mountain town of Camp Nelson, California was stunned when the owner of the Camp Nelson Lodge, Bonnie Hood, was found shot to death in her private cabin. Her handyman, Rudy Manuel, was also shot in the head during the attack. While various suspects and theories emerged, it wasn’t until a separate shooting took place a little over a year later that the truth unravelled behind what some have called the strangest murder case in California's history. --- Narration – Anonymous Host Research & writing – Hugo Henry Creative direction – Milly Raso Production and music – Mike Migas Music – Andrew D.B. Joslyn A special thanks to Dave Kehlet for certain information provided in this episode Sign up for Casefile Premium: Apple Premium Spotify Premium Patreon For all credits and sources, please visit https://casefilepodcast.com/case-298-bonnie-hood

If it's a flat or a squeal, a wobble or peel, your tread's worn down or you need a new wheel, wherever you go, you can get a pro at TreadExperts. For exceptional traction on snow and ice, trust Continental Tires Viking Contact 7 Tire. And right now, get a $100 rebate with select Continental Tires. Find a Continental TreadExperts dealer near you at treadexperts.ca slash locations. From tires to auto repair, we're always there at treadexperts.ca slash locations. From tires to auto repair we're always there at treadexperts.ca It's been four years since I first learned about the disappearance of Neum May, an 18 year old who went missing from the small New South Wales town of Batlow back in 2002. I don't know if it's because Neyam and I finished high school in the same year, or we shared a similar taste in music, but I felt instinctively drawn to her story. As I learned more about Neyam's story, the revelations that unfolded left me in shock. The result is Missing

Neyam, the latest 12-part series from Casefile Presents. Researched and hosted by me, the series features exclusive interviews with key players who help us dive into the details of Neyem's case as we go back to Batlo to try and make sense of what really happened. The entire 12-part series is available now. Stay tuned to the end of today's episode to hear the trailer. Our episodes deal with serious and often distressing incidents. If you feel at any time you need support, please contact your local crisis centre. For suggested phone numbers for confidential support and for a more detailed list of content warnings, please see the show notes for this episode on your app or on our website. At around 3am on Sunday August 19 1990, 35-year-old Rudy Manuel was awoken by a strange sound.

Rudy Manuel was awoken by a strange sound. As the long-time caretaker of the Camp Nelson Lodge, a 42-acre bucolic retreat in central California's sprawling and isolated Sequoia and Redwood forests, Rudy was intuitively familiar with his surroundings. When horses in a nearby pasture began stirring restlessly in the middle of the night, Rudy sensed something or someone was out there. Rudy opened the door of the rustic cabin where he had been sleeping and looked outside. If something was lurking, Rudy couldn't see it through the pitch black darkness. He closed the door and locked it, turned off the lights, and crawled back into bed. Rudy wasn't alone. Lying next to him was 46-year-old Bonnie Hood, the owner and manager of the Camp Nelson Lodge. Five minutes later, the bedroom light suddenly turned on. It took a moment for Rudy's eyes to

adjust and for him to realise that an unfamiliar person was standing over him. The intruder was aiming a snub-nosed.38 calibre revolver directly at Rudy's head. The man ordered Rudy to get off the bed and kneel on the floor. Rudy defiantly responded, if you want me on the floor, you're going to have to put me down. Without hesitation, the gunman pulled the trigger, shooting Rudy in the forehead. As Rudy's body slumped to the ground, the gunman turned his attention to Bonnie Hood, demanding, where's the money? Bonnie replied in a panic, it's in the lodge. Bonnie was then shot as she cowered in bed. Even though the bullet had pierced Rudy Manuel's skull and left fragments in his brain, he was still alive.

Blood ran down his face, his ears rang painfully, and the taste of gunpowder lingered in his mouth. Rudy pretended to be dead until the gunman left. He then slowly crawled across the floor into the living area where he reached for a telephone. Using what little strength Rudy had left, he dialled 911. The history of the Camp Nelson township dates back to 1886 when its founder, John Nelson, built a homestead on the land. Before long, his ranch became a popular destination for hunters, fishermen, and anyone else willing to make the journey into the mountains by horseback. By the early 20th century, Camp Nelson had grown into a thriving, albeit small community, with a hotel and a general store that drew an influx of new visitors to the area.

Bonnie Hood first visited Camp Nelson in 1952 when she was eight years old. By then, the centrepiece of the town was a massive stone and timber lodge built by John Nelson's grandson. Featuring a grand dining hall and an impressive great room with two enormous fireplaces, the magnificent Camp Nelson Lodge served as the town's de facto community centre for almost every important event. Bonnie and her family visited Camp Nelson every summer, and she carried on the tradition when she started a family of her own. However, as time went on, the lodge was plagued by financial woes, leading to its closure in January 1981. In the summer of 1987, Bonnie and her husband Jim noticed a for-sale sign out in front of the

lodge. While the couple initially joked with each other about buying the property, they ultimately decided to make a serious offer. Their offer of $780,000 was accepted and by June 1988, Bonnie and Jim Hood were the new owners of the Camp Nelson Lodge. Even though Bonnie had been visiting the area since she was a child, many of the town's 180 residents viewed the lodge's new owners with scepticism. To them, the Hoods were outsiders, wealthy metropolitan interlopers who threatened to change the fabric of their community. Others were excited by the prospect of the lodge being restored to its former glory.

In order to revive and operate the lodge full time, Bonnie relocated to Camp Nelson and moved into one of the cabins. Her husband Jim and their two teenage children remained at their home in Newport Beach, nearly four and a half hours' drive away. The unconventional arrangement drew judgement among townsfolk, as did some of Bonnie's other decisions. While the locals were initially thrilled when the lodger's restaurant and bar reopened. They were dismayed when Bonnie raised the prices. Others boycotted the establishment altogether when Bonnie kicked them out for being too rowdy. When Bonnie built fences for her horses, some of her neighbours complained they blocked access to their properties. She also caused a stir for being an outspoken environmentalist working to expose what she believed were illegal

logging practices in the area. As one employee who worked for Bonnie told the Fresno Bee, Bonnie answered to no one and apologized to no one. But what upset locals most was Bonnie's plan to turn the lodge into a trendy venue for lavish destination weddings and a high-end luxury retreat catering to wealthy clientele from Los Angeles. In their view, the whole point of going to Camp Nelson was to get away from the fast-paced city lifestyle in the first place. While some felt Bonnie harboured a combative LA attitude that conflicted with Camp Nelson's breezy, carefree way of life, others were less critical of her. One local told the Fresno Bee that the majority view of Bonnie was that she was a cheerful, outgoing person who spent an enormous amount of time, money and energy bringing Camp Nelson Lodge back to life.

On Saturday August 18 1990, a high society wedding and reception was held at the lodge. The bride was thrilled with the venue and wept tears of joy while complimenting Bonnie on how wonderful everything had been. It was welcomed reinforcement that Bonnie's vision for the lodge was coming to fruition. While the wedding was taking place at the lodge, its restaurant and bar remained open to the public, making it far busier than a regular Saturday night. When live music started during the wedding reception, some locals at the bar joined in the festivities. The reception concluded just before midnight, but the bar stayed open serving locals until 2am.

At the end of the evening, Bonnie pulled all the tips her wait staff had collected during their shifts. Usually, she split the tips evenly before sending her staff home. But because there was much more money than usual, approximately $500, she decided to take the money back to her cabin. She promised to count it and pay out her employees the next morning. Just over an hour later, first responders arrived at Bonnie's cabin after receiving the 911 call from Rudy Manuel. They trepidatiously entered and turned on the lights. They immediately saw Rudy's body on the floor of the living room, covered in carpet burns

and blood. He had been shot in the head. A trail of blood led from where Rudy lay and into the bedroom, ending by the bed. Laying on top, half covered by a blanket and sheet, was Bonnie Hood. She had been fatally shot in the head. It appeared her body had been posed afterwards, with her arms crossed over her chest as if she were laid in a casket. One of the screens on an exterior sliding door had been cut open. The same door featured pry marks indicating the killer had

used a tool to force his way inside. In the dirt outside was a single shoe print left by the killer. a single shoe print left by the killer. Aside from this, the only other major clue was found inside the cabin. As Rudy Manuel had clung to life, he used his finger to scroll two letters on a wall in his own blood. J and B. Police were well aware of a near two decade long feud between Rudy Manuel and a local cattle rancher named Jack Burgess. Rudy was a Native American who had grown up on a reservation a few miles south of Camp Nelson. From the time he was a teenager, Rudy had been a thorn in Jack Burgess' side. His cattle ranch bordered the reservation and Jack had accused Rudy of vandalising his property many times over the years. He also once accused Rudy of shooting at him.

Rudy had a chequered history with convictions for horse stealing, vandalism and assault. Struggling to find employment or a place to live, Rudy was given an opportunity to work for Bonnie Hood after she purchased the Camp Nelson Lodge in 1988. The following year, Rudy was arrested after trying to sell five of Jack Burgess' calves to another rancher. Facing a potential six-month jail sentence, Rudy found a supporter in Bonny Hood. She paid for his defence attorney and the case against Rudy was ultimately dismissed. This angered Jack Burgess, who expressed his opinion that the police and judge were corrupt. Things only escalated when Rudy smashed the windshield of Jack's truck with a baseball bat.

On Tuesday June 19 1990, exactly two months before the shooting, Rudy suffered an appendicitis attack. Bonnie drove him to the hospital and as she pulled into the parking lot, she noticed that Jack Burgess happened to be there too. Not paying him any mind, she took Rudy into the emergency department. Upon returning to her car, Bonnie noticed a handwritten note attached to her windshield. It read, It is your head, not your windshield that I will get. Payback's a bitch, like your sugar mama. Bonnie believed that Jack Burgess had left the note for Rudy. She suspected she was the sugar mama referenced in the note, as she had previously paid for Rudy. She suspected she was the sugar mama referenced in the note, as she had previously paid for Rudy's attorney during his successful legal stoush against Jack.

Bonnie filed a police report accusing Jack of authoring the note. Although Jack's fingerprints weren't found on it, detectives wondered if the shooting at Bonnie's cabin was the payback the note had forewarned. Miraculously, when first responders arrived at Bonnie's cabin after the shooting, Rudy Manuel was still alive. He was rushed to undergo emergency surgery to remove the bullet fragments from his brain. Right before Rudy was taken into the operating theatre, a detective questioned him about the attack. Drifting in and out of consciousness as he spoke, Rudy admitted that he and Bonnie were having an affair. After closing down the bar the previous night, Rudy said that he and Bonnie had gone back to her cabin and fallen asleep before they were confronted by the gunman.

Rudy described the shooter as looking like a biker. He was a stocky white man in his mid-30s with long, curly blonde hair and a thin mustache. Rudy recalled he was wearing a neckerchief with the branding of US motorcycle company Harley Davidson. Several witnesses who had been at the lodger's bar that night recalled seeing a man matching this description, but no one knew who he was. They recalled that at one stage he requested a song from the musician at the wedding reception, and that he was the last customer at the bar come closing time. Most interestingly, the stranger was within earshot of a heated conversation Bonnie Hood had with one of her

employees about not splitting the tips until the following morning. This meant he was aware that Bonnie was in possession of a large amount of cash that she intended to take back to her cabin. Yet, although Bonnie's cabin was found in a slight state of disarray, it didn't appear to have been ransacked. Several expensive items of jewellery were left in plain sight, and $211 remained in her purse, which was visibly resting on a bar stool. Rudy Manuel claimed that the killer had demanded money, but nothing in Bonnie's cabin appeared to be missing. Prior to his surgery, Rudy expressed his own theory. He suspected that the killer was a professional hitman who had most likely been hired by his longtime rival, Jack Burgess. When Jack heard about this shooting, he immediately went to speak with police,

as he knew he would be considered a suspect due to his volatile history with Rudy. Wanting to set the record straight as soon as possible, Jack denied any involvement in the crime and expressed his willingness to cooperate fully with the investigation. Although Jack provided a solid alibi for the night of the shooting, it was possible that he'd hired someone else to carry out the attack, as Rudy Manuel had theorised. Rudy's sister, Christina, worked part-time at the lodge. She recalled seeing the mysterious stranger at the bar the night of the shooting. Curiously, she had seen him the weekend before as well. She believed he had arrived at Camp Nelson to carry out construction work, specifically to put a new roof on one of the homes in town. As there were few residences in Camp Nelson and only one had a brand new roof,

investigators immediately knew where to start this new line of inquiry. The home belonged to a local attorney who told police that he had hired two brothers to do the job. Their names were Mark and Matthew Stewart and they were from the Californian city of Fresno. Mark and Matthew Stewart and they were from the Californian city of Fresno. Police tracked the Stewart brothers down and were discouraged to find that neither of the men matched descriptions of Bonny Hood's killer. As this lead seemingly reached a dead end, investigators were surprised when a man arrived at the Stewart brothers' home. He was a near perfect match for the description of Bonnie Hood and Rudy Manuel's shooter. He introduced himself as Rick Lomir and asserted that he had never been to Camp Nelson.

Meanwhile, Rudy Manuel had undergone life-saving surgery and and after three days recovering, he was able to hold a conversation again. However, his brain was swollen and he was delirious and heavily sedated. While Rudy couldn't offer investigators much at this time, he was shown a photo lineup that included an image of Rick Lomir. Rudy pointed to Rick's photo and identified him as the man who'd shot him and Bonnie. The problem was Rick provided an ironclad alibi for the night of the shooting, proving he was nowhere near Camp Nelson. Rudy Manuel had identified the wrong man. As Rudy recovered, he provided another account of the night of the shooting, this time to a psychiatrist.

His version of events differed from what he'd originally told the police prior to his surgery. When the psychiatrist asked Rudy if he thought he was capable of identifying the shooter, Rudy shocked him by replying, You are the man that shot me. When the psychiatrist explained why this wasn't possible, Rudy said, Well, you look a lot like him. It was clear to detectives that Rudy wasn't well enough to be fully relied upon, but they began considering the possibility that he wasn't the intended target at all. Given Bonnie Hood's

reputation with various Camp Nelson locals, it was possible that someone with a chip on their shoulder had targeted her. After all, the shooting had taken place in her cabin, and very few people could have known that Rudy would be there. This also raised another possible scenario. Although several townsfolk had suspected the pair were having an affair, there was only one obvious person who might feel compelled to do something about it. Casefile will be back shortly. Thank you for supporting us by listening to this episode's sponsors. I've always been a fan of meal kits, but Home Chef really stands out for its effortless

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They even have a delicious, kid-friendly family menu, which is picky eater approved and takes the stress out of dinnertime. Not only is Home Chef convenient, it's economical too. Their customers save an average of $86 per month on groceries. Olivia LaVoice, host of Casefile Presents series The Bakersfield 3, is loving Home Chef for its convenience and the high quality of ingredients supplied. She says it's also introduced her to new recipes she wouldn't have otherwise made. For a limited time, Home Chef is offering my listeners 18 free meals plus free dessert for life and of course

free shipping on your first box. Go to homechef.com slash case file. That's homechef.com slash case file for 18 free meals and free dessert for life. You heard that right. Homecheef.com slash Casefile. Must be an active subscriber to receive free dessert. Thank you for listening to this episode's ads. By supporting our sponsors, you support Casefile to continue to deliver quality content. Bonnie met her husband Jim Hood when they attended university in the early 1960s.

They married in 1970 and both took up work in real estate. Jim sold commercial property while Bonnie specialized in helping out-of-state companies relocate to California. The couple were incredibly successful, becoming multimillionaires with a beachside property, a boat and luxury cars. By 1987, Bonnie had reached a point in her life where she was ready to go in a new direction. For as long as she could remember, she'd imagined living full time in a small mountain town. When the Camp Nelson Lodge went up for sale, the hoods saw it as a viable business opportunity. For Bonnie, it was also the fulfillment of her lifelong dream. The only downside was that Bonnie and Jim would have to live apart.

Their children were enrolled in a good school and Jim had business ties in Southern California. Still, Bonnie remained in near constant contact with her husband and children while living in Camp Nelson. She spoke with them on the phone upwards of three times a day and helped her children with their homework almost every night. Twice a month, Bonnie visited Newport Beach to spend a couple of days with her family, and once a month, Jim and the kids spent a weekend at Camp Nelson. When investigators informed Jim Hood about his wife's murder, he appeared genuinely shocked. More so when he was told that Bonnie was having an affair with Rudy Manuel.

Jim insisted that his marriage was solid and that Bonnie would have never been unfaithful. He knew that Bonnie had a close friendship with Rudy, but refused to accept that the pair were in bed together the night of the shooting. Jim was certain the person responsible was a Camp Nelson local who held a grudge against his wife. He claimed that Bonnie had recently confided in him that she feared for her safety. In addition to investigating illegal logging in the area, she had allegedly stumbled upon a cannabis field while horse riding. Bonnie hadn't notified the police, as she suspected several members of local law

enforcement were involved in the drug operation. According to Jim, just two weeks before she was murdered, Bonnie said she'd uncovered information that could potentially impact the outcome of a major political election in California. Jim said that Bonnie had been keeping files on several members of the community who she suspected were involved in illegal activity. She had shown it to him during a recent visit and he knew she kept it in a locked filing cabinet. Police permitted Jim to enter Bonnie's cabin to collect the dossier. He went to her

filing cabinet only to find it was unlocked and the file was missing. As the weeks passed, Rudy Manuel continued to make a steady recovery. After being released from hospital, he straight up confronted Jim Hood, asking if he'd hired a hitman to kill him and Bonnie in jealous retaliation of their affair. Rudy claimed that Jim broke down in tears, asking how he could even think such a thing. Investigators remained open-minded. They had collected all of the empty beer bottles from the lodge that had accumulated on the night of the killing and had them tested for fingerprints. If the elusive stranger seen drinking at the bar was indeed the killer,

there was a strong possibility that he had a criminal record. The results revealed that several fingerprints belonged to a known felon named Bruce Beecham. His mugshot looked just like Rudy's description of the gunman. Rudy was shown another photo line-up, this time with an image of Bruce Beecham in the mix. Rudy confidently identified Bruce as the shooter. Employees at the lodge also unanimously agreed that Bruce was the stranger they'd seen drinking at the bar that night. 31-year-old Bruce Beecham was a drifter with biker tyres who moved across the American West. He had convictions pertaining to selling cannabis, brandishing a gun towards children, assaulting his ex-wife, and driving under the influence.

He'd recently settled in a city an hour east of Los Angeles where he worked as a maintenance foreman for a shopping complex called Mission Plaza. When approached by police, Bruce admitted he'd recently been to Camp Nelson. He said he'd gone there on the weekend before the shooting where he'd met a woman and the two had agreed to meet there again the following week. He returned on the weekend of Saturday August 18, only to find that the woman had stood him up. Bruce said he spent the night hopping between the only two bars in town on the lookout for her, while under the influence of alcohol and methamphetamines. After Bruce was kicked out of one bar for making an insulting remark to a woman, he remained at the lodge until closing time. He claimed that upon leaving the bar, he drove 232 miles south to a friend's house

in the city of Fontana, arriving there at around 6am. Bruce's friend corroborated his story, stating that they spent the day visiting yard sales together. The timing was significant. The drive from Camp Nelson to Fontana took at least four hours. Bonnie Hood and Rudy Manuel were shot a little after 3am. Investigators replicated Bruce's journey to see if they could reach Fontana in under three hours. They drove as fast as they could and yet only managed to get there in three hours and 45 minutes. Either Bruce's alibi was wrong or he was not the killer. There was something else. When speaking with investigators, Bruce Beecham divulged a significant piece of information. He was surprised it had taken them so long to come and speak with him in relation to

the crime. After all, it was his employer who had given him the idea to go to Camp Nelson in the first place. Jim Hood. Jim Hood co-owned the Mission Plaza shopping complex where Bruce Beecham worked. Bruce claimed that Jim always talked to his employees about Camp Nelson, encouraging them to go up there and have a good time at the lodge. With this revelation forming an unexpected connection between their prime suspect and Bonnie Hood's husband, police searched Bruce's home. They uncovered a pair of tennis shoes that were the same brand and size as the shoe prints found outside Bonnie's cabin on the night of the shooting. Bruce Beecham was arrested and charged with murder, attempted murder, attempted robbery, burglary and assault with a deadly weapon. Investigators sensed they had only uncovered

part of a larger narrative with the prosecutor announcing at a pre-trial hearing. There is a very, very good possibility there is a criminal conspiracy. There may be other suspects. The other suspects point pertained to an individual already known to investigators. When Jim Hood was informed of Bruce Beecham's arrest, he appeared shocked. He claimed that he didn't think Bruce had ever met Bonnie or was the type of person to do such a thing. Despite this, it remained possible that Jim Hood had hired Bruce Beecham to murder his

wife. Despite Jim denying any knowledge of his wife's affair with Rudy Manuel, the situation was a timeless motive for murder. Evidence failed to clarify the matter. While Bonnie had a $750,000 life insurance policy, ballistics on guns Jim Hood owned confirmed none of them had been used in the crime. There were no paper trails indicating that Bruce Beecham had recently received any large sums of money either. If the truth was held by either man, they weren't talking. Despite facing a potential death sentence, Bruce Beecham refused to implicate Jim Hood and continued to deny having anything to do with the crime. Investigators harboured their own doubts. After all, if Bruce had been hired to kill Bonnie,

why would he visit Camp Nelson over two consecutive weekends, attend the local bars, and interact with various witnesses? Without any evidence emerging to the contrary, Jim Hood was officially ruled out as a suspect. Bruce Beecham went to trial in February 1991, six months after Bonnie Hood was killed. By this point, investigators had settled on the theory that the crime was financially motivated after Bruce had overheard Bonnie talk about the large amount of tips collected from the bar. Given that Bruce knew Bonnie was married to Jim, he most likely assumed she would be alone in her cabin that night, thus an easy target to rob. Heavily intoxicated, Bruce headed to Bonnie's cabin only to discover another man was present.

to discover another man was present. Bruce's plan quickly unraveled from there. He shot Bonnie and Rudy Manuel before fleeing the scene in a panic. The prosecution expressed doubts about the 6am alibi Bruce had given police saying that it was unreliable. His friend that had vouched for him was either lying or mistaken. In the prosecution's words, it was, "...a simple case of robbery that led to murder and attempted murder." The prosecution's star witness was Rudy Manuel. When asked on the stand about who shot him, Rudy pointed to Bruce Beecham and announced, there's no doubt he's the one. But as soon as Rudy started giving his testimony, his story contained a number of markedly different details from the story he'd originally given police. Under oath, Rudy denied ever having an affair

with Bonnie Hood. He claimed he had visited her cabin that night just to talk and had been sitting on the edge of her bed chatting with the lights on when Bruce Beecham suddenly burst through the door. Rudy recalled, He told me I was a dead motherfucker and he was very rude about it. He said, get on your knees and face the floor. I didn't want to do it because I knew he would shoot me." Rudy claimed he tried to kick the gun out of Bruce's hand and that's when he was shot in the head.

He explained, then there was a struggle and two more shots. I think Bonnie stood up on the bed and at this time, the defendant fought with her. This man right here jumped on the bed. I believe she was fighting for her life and there were two more shots. This was the first time Rudy had ever mentioned a struggle taking place. Prosecutors attributed Rudy's differing recollections to his severe head trauma. The defence, however, contended that he was making up new details to fit the physical evidence. During the trial, it had been revealed that Bonnie's fingernails indicated she had struggled with her attacker.

The defense believed that Rudy was falsifying his story to suit this finding as well as other key evidence, including the fact that semen had been found inside Bonnie that couldn't be linked to anyone in particular. From the defences perspective, the semen indicated that Rudy wasn't being entirely truthful about what he and Bonnie did that night. Testimony provided by the county coroner rebuffed Rudy's story further. The coroner held the opinion that Bonnie was killed elsewhere and then moved to the bed. He highlighted the blood spatter from the crime scene, specifically the neat trickle of blood that ran from Bonnie's ear, down her chin and across her neck. The coroner claimed this didn't coincide with someone being shot while lying in bed, explaining, "...when a person gets shot, blood splatters all about. This is the tidiest homicide

scene I've seen in 12 years as a coroner. This is too tidy, not what we see in violent death. This is too tidy, not what we see in violent death. It's not consistent with the struggle Rudy Manuel said occurred. The defence told the jury, the only conclusion you can draw is that Rudy Manuel is a liar. Something happened in that cabin that night he's not telling us about. Something happened in that cabin that night he's not telling us about. After deliberations, the jury produced the first ever acquittal in a murder trial in the county's history. One of the jurors later told a reporter, we never ever, any of us, thought Bruce Beecham was guilty. There was not enough evidence to convict him. As for Rudy Manuel's testimony, Jura's opinions were overwhelmingly negative.

While some considered his memory unreliable, others believed he was deliberately lying. Upon hearing the verdict, Bruce Beecham turned to his lawyer and said, thank God, thank God they believed us. Jim Hood remained staunch, telling reporters he would never give up looking for his wife's murderer. wife's murderer. I will be pursuing it, he remarked, before adding somewhat ominously. But I don't want to say how. Upon his release from custody, Bruce Beecham started putting his life back together. He quickly married a woman named Sharon Spray, a convicted criminal whom Bruce became pampers with while in jail. In an interview with the Porterville Recorder, in the months after his acquittal,

Bruce claimed he had cleaned up his life and was completely sober. In reality, he and his wife had become frequent heroin users. and his wife had become frequent heroin users. The now-unemployed Bruce admitted that he'd considered asking Jim Hood for his old job back, but didn't think that would go down well. Even though Bruce wasn't working, his friends and family noticed that he was rarely short on cash and was often seen counting out stacks of $100 bills. Even his wife had noticed this inexplicable flow of money. One day when they were low on funds, Bruce told Sharon that he was going to pay someone a visit.

45 minutes later, he returned with an envelope containing $5,000 cash. In January 1992, a year and a half after Bonnie Hood's murder, Bruce Beecham recruited his brother-in-law, Gary Spray, to carry out a break-in. He told Gary his intended target was Jim Hood. Gary was apprehensive, but Bruce assured him they had nothing to fear. He said that even if they did get caught, Jim Hood would never prosecute them. According to Bruce, he had something over Jim that ensured his cooperation. The two men broke into Jim's office at the Mission Plaza shopping centre and stole $18,000

worth of construction equipment, which they then hid inside a storage facility. When the items were discovered to be missing, an advertisement was placed in the local newspaper offering $3,000 for the safe return of the stolen goods. Gary Spray called the number on the advertisement and spoke with the Jim Hood's business partner Pat, offering to return the stolen equipment for $6,000. Pat agreed and it was decided that the exchange would take place at the storage locker where the items were being kept. When Gary arrived at the locker, police were already waiting.

As he was placed under arrest, he yelled at Pat, "'You messed up. Some things from the past will come out. After this, Jim Hood began receiving phone calls from Bruce Beecham demanding that the charges against his brother-in-law be dropped. On one occasion, Bruce left a message on Jim's answering machine that said, "'If you don't start dealing with me properly, I'm going to sink you.'" Despite these efforts, the charges against the Gary Spray remained. He pleaded guilty and was sent to jail for two months.

But the saga wasn't over. Bruce Beecham continued his threatening calls against the Jim Hood, leading to Jim becoming so paranoid that he began carrying a loaded handgun with him at all times. He slept with it next to his bed, while also keeping a loaded 9mm Glock pistol in the drawer of his office desk. Monday, March 2, 1992 marked almost a year since Bruce Beecham's acquittal for the murder of Bonnie Hood. Bruce asked a friend to drive him to Jim Hood's office at Mission Plaza. The two men had spoken on the phone earlier that morning and Jim had invited Bruce to his office so they could sort things out once and for all. When Bruce entered the building, he moved past

Jim's secretary and into the private office space where Jim was waiting. The door was closed behind them. Seconds later, two gunshots rang out from the office in quick succession, followed by a brief pause, then five more shots. Case file will be back shortly. Thank you for supporting us by listening to this episode's sponsors. Thank you for listening to this episode's ads. By supporting our sponsors, you support Casefile to continue to deliver quality content. Police arrived at Mission Plaza to find Bruce Beecham dead on the floor of Jim Hood's office. He had been shot seven times. His right hand was clutching an unregistered blue steel.357 Magnum revolver. Jim Hood was immediately taken in for questioning, and over the next 12

hours he explained the deadly confrontation in detail. He said that over the past several weeks, Bruce had been making increasingly threatening phone calls to him. Jim began actively avoiding Bruce's calls, but that morning, Bruce called the office threatening to bury Jim. Fed up, Jim finally agreed to meet in person to sort their conflict diplomatically. He believed the conversation would be about the theft of the construction equipment and the recent incarceration of Bruce's brother-in-law, Gary Spray. Jim suspected trouble the moment Bruce entered his office. As Jim sat behind his desk, he noticed Bruce's hands were shaking, particularly the left one.

His eyes were also bulging as if he were about to lash out. Bruce suddenly reached behind his back and pulled out a revolver. But before Bruce could fire a shot, Jim reached into his desk drawer, drew his own pistol, and started shooting. The first two shots struck Bruce in the chest and he immediately fell to the floor. Jim stood up and walked over to him. He noticed that Bruce's head and the arm he was holding the gun in were moving suspiciously. He proceeded to shoot Bruce several more times to ensure he was dead. If Jim's word was true, the situation was clearly self-defence. But investigators could tell from the get-go that not everything was as it seemed.

Firstly, the friend who dropped Bruce Beecham at Mission Plaza said it didn't appear that Bruce had been armed with a gun. Bruce had told his friend that he suspected Jim had set a trap for him and he expected to be arrested when he arrived at Jim's office. He was carrying a knife which he left in the car because he didn't want to be armed when the confrontation occurred. As far as Bruce's friend was concerned, Bruce exited the car with nothing more than the clothes on his back. While Jim Hood asserted that Bruce had been noticeably on edge and irritated when he arrived at the office, Jim's secretary described Bruce's demeanour as perfectly happy, even jovial.

The crime scene itself also didn't align with Jim Hood's story. Firstly, the lead investigator's attention was immediately drawn to the way Bruce Beecham was still grasping his firearm. In all his years as a homicide detective, the investigator had never seen a murder victim still holding onto their gun after being shot and falling to the ground, especially on a concrete floor. Secondly, the revolver was in Bruce's right hand, yet Bruce was left handed. A smear between two pools of blood indicated that Bruce's body had been moved after his death. There was also blood on Bruce's right hand as well as on the floor underneath it, yet

the gun itself was clean. If Bruce was holding the gun at the time of the shooting. This was an impossible feat. It was clear to investigators that the gun had been placed in Bruce's hand after he'd been shot. Gunpowder residue recovered on the palms of Bruce's hands showed he had his hands up in a defensive posture when Jim Hood pulled the trigger. With the Jims story falling apart, he was placed under arrest for the murder of Bruce Beecham. Despite Jim's insistence that Bruce's death was in no way connected to Bonnie's murder,

the complex case caused a media frenzy. Speculation ran wild that Jim had murdered Bruce as payback for killing his wife. Shooting survivor Rudy Manuel maintained that Bruce Beecham was the man responsible for attacking him and Bonnie. Speaking with the Porterville Recorder, Rudy said, "...Bruce Beecham died the same way as Bonnie, cold-heartedly and point blank. Our family can finally relax and not be fearful of strange cars in the driveway. But investigators weren't so sure that Bruce's murder was motivated by revenge. They had previously considered the possibility that Jim Hood had hired Bruce to kill Bonnie, and he'd only been cleared due to a lack of evidence. At the time, police had opted to pursue Bruce first, thinking his would be an

easier conviction to secure. They'd been convinced that Bruce would be found guilty and he would then confess to Jim's involvement in exchange for a more lenient sentence. One officer admitted, "...we were biting at the bit to find Bruce Beecham guilty so we could get on with the case. And we were prepared to do that. However, when Bruce was unexpectedly acquitted, it destroyed the possibility of Jim Hood facing any charges. If he was indeed involved, then all those responsible for Bonnie Hood's death had seemingly gotten away with murder. Two days after Bruce Beecham's death, his widow Sharon Spray told investigators that

in the months after Bruce was acquitted for Bonnie's murder, she found an envelope hidden underneath the headboard of her bed. It contained $10,000 in cash. Sharon confronted Bruce, who said the money was linked to Bonnie's murder. Sharon had always believed in Bruce's innocence and was therefore stunned when she asked Bruce if he had killed Bonnie and he said yes. According to Sharon, Bruce claimed that Jim Hood had paid him $50,000 to murder Bonnie. Following his acquittal, Bruce faced mortgage stress and was in the throes of a heroin addiction. By 1992, he had blown through the bulk of Jim's money, but realised he was in a unique position.

Because of double jeopardy laws, he could never be tried for Bonnie's murder again, even if he confessed. He even sought the advice of a paralegal who confirmed this to be the case. Emboldened by this knowledge and motivated to profit on his story, Bruce consulted a freelance author about writing a tell-all book about what really happened in Camp Nelson. He knew that such a revelation would not only ruin Jim Hood's business and reputation, but likely result in Jim being arrested for Bonnie's murder. Bruce used this as leverage to squeeze more money out of Jim. He bombarded him with threatening calls, trying to extort and blackmail him. He demanded that Jim

make a wire transfer to his bank account, but Jim was reluctant to leave a paper trail. Instead, Jim told Bruce to meet him at his office to settle the matter there. In the lead up to the meeting, Bruce didn't know what to expect. He told his wife Sharon, Jim either wants to kill me, set me up to get arrested, or pay me off. wants to kill me, set me up to get arrested, or pay me off." Sharon's story was corroborated by her brother, Gary Spray, who was involved in Bruce's campaign against Jim Hood. Gary added that Jim had initially agreed to pay Bruce $250,000. The $50,000 Bruce had already received was the first of what was supposed to be a series

of installments paid out by Jim every six months. It was when Jim failed to pay Bruce as promised that Bruce and Gary hatched their plan to steal the construction equipment from him. Investigators knew Sharon and Gary Spray's testimonies amounted to little more than hearsay and might not even be admissible in court. Given their criminal history and drug use, a jury would also be less inclined to consider them credible witnesses. witnesses. Instead, they worked to uncover more evidence of their claims, starting with a solid motive.

The obvious one was Bonnie's alleged affair with Rudy Manuel. Residents of Camp Nelson referred to the relationship as the worst kept secret in town, but investigators could only find one witness who claimed to have actually seen the pair acting intimately. A bartender from the lodge said he'd seen Bonnie and Rudy kiss on one occasion, hardly enough evidence to prove a long-standing sexual affair. While Rudy had initially admitted to the affair, he'd changed his story at Bruce's trial and denied it ever happened. If he changed his story again, it would mean admitting that he'd committed perjury in a murder trial. Although the truth about the affair remained up for debate, there was evidence that Jim

and Bonnie's marriage was on the rocks. Several people close to Bonnie claimed that she'd talked openly about divorcing Jim in the days prior to her murder. According to Bonnie's bookkeeper, Bonnie had scheduled an appointment with a divorce attorney on Monday August 20, 1990, the night before she was killed. Financial gain was another potential motive. Jim had always maintained that the lodge was breaking even financially, but a review of his tax records showed that the business had lost $550,000 between 1989 and 1990. Jim was also found to have been deliberately overstating the value of his various real

estate holdings. Although he claimed to be a multimillionaire, in reality he was in a precarious financial position. Not long after purchasing the lodge, Bonnie Hood had received a $250,000 inheritance. The money would have gone a long way in covering the lodge's expenses, but Bonnie refused to put her own money into the business. Rumours had it that this became a major source of contention between the hoods. In the aftermath of Bonnie's murder, Jim was the beneficiary of her $750,000 life insurance policy. It turned out that he'd also collected an additional $2 million from a separate mortgage

insurance policy that he'd taken out on the lodge, bringing his entire windfall from Bonnie's death to nearly $3 million. With all of this information coming to light, investigators were certain of their long-standing theory that Jim Hood had hired a hitman to kill his wife. Further digging revealed that Bruce Beecham had previously proven himself willing and able to do Jim's dirty work. In 1989, Jim had apparently paid Bruce $9,000 to illegally cut down 35 trees to give passing motorists a better view of a Mission Plaza billboard. The Hitman theory formed the basis of the prosecution's case against Jim Hood when he went to trial in October 1992. Although Jim maintained that he'd killed Bruce Beecham in self-defense, the prosecution

argued that he'd murdered Bruce to bring an end to his extortion efforts. The problem was, investigators hadn't been able to find tangible proof that Bruce had received any money from Jim Hood, aside from his old paychecks from work. The defence accused Sharon and Gary Spray of making their story up so they could file a lawsuit against Jim for Bruce's wrongful death. Although Sharon denied this accusation on the stand, it was revealed that she had already consulted with three separate lawyers about filing such a lawsuit. Jim Hood took the stand in his own defence. He claimed not to know whether Bruce was involved in Bonnie's murder and asserted that any bad blood between the two men stemmed from the theft of his construction equipment and the subsequent prosecution of Gary Spray.

Jim maintained that he'd invited Bruce to his office to settle their differences peacefully and only gunned Bruce down when Bruce went to shoot him first. It took the jury 20 days to announce that they'd reached a verdict, only to change their mind the following morning and continue deliberations. In the end, they were at an impasse. Ten jurors had settled on guilty verdicts, one believed Jim wasn't guilty, and the remaining juror was undecided. A mistrial was declared, with a retrial scheduled for later in the year. Jim Hood's retrial commenced in September 1993 with the surprising revelation from the judge. He barred the prosecution from presenting any evidence suggesting that Jim had hired Bruce

Beecham to murder his wife, making it clear that this trial would focus solely on Bruce's murder and not on the murder of Bonnie Hood. The prosecution therefore had no choice but to centre their case around the physical evidence from the crime scene in Jim's office. case around the physical evidence from the crime scene in Jim's office. As for the motive, they could only go so far as to assert that Bruce was attempting to blackmail Jim about something. Jim had already admitted during the first trial that he'd paid Bruce to do illegal work for him in the past. This alone proved that Bruce was in possession of some knowledge that he could use against Jim. Jim Hood took the stand again, but he changed several critical details from his original

testimony. In the first trial, Jim claimed that Bruce's hand and head had moved in very specific ways after he'd been shot. During the retrial, however, Jim denied that Bruce had moved at all. In order to show the jury that Jim had changed his story, the prosecution did something they believed had never been done in a California courtroom. They called jurors from the first trial to testify as eyewitnesses to what Jim's original testimony had been. One by one, the former jurors provided irrefutable proof that Jim had purged himself on the stand, completely shattering his credibility. hand, completely shattering his credibility. After six days of deliberation, the second jury returned a unanimous verdict. Jim Hood was found guilty of murdering Bruce Beecham and sentenced to 29 years in prison. Jim continued to maintain his innocence in the murders of both Bruce and Bonnie.

His two children stood by him, believing he was wrongfully convicted and falsely accused for both crimes. In 2012, Jim's ongoing claims of innocence cost him the opportunity to be released from prison early due to good behaviour. He was considered a model inmate, having taken courses in stress management and conflict resolution. According to prison officials, Jim never once violated a single prison rule. However, in the words of the state governor, until Jim Hood shows that he has genuinely explored and can give a credible account of the circumstance that led to his killing of Bruce Beecham, I cannot be persuaded that he would not commit future acts of violence if released from prison. The governor's statements demonstrated the catch-22 of prisoners who claimed to be truly

innocent. Jim's refusal to confess meant he remained in prison for a further five years. He was ultimately released in 2017 after serving 23 years and has since kept a low profile. years, and has since kept a low profile. Authorities remain convinced that Bruce Beecham killed Bonnie Hood under Jim's order. In 1996, Bonnie's case was reopened after police received a package claiming to contain new information about her murder. What the package contained, or who sent sent it has never been made public. Upon further investigation, the sheriff determined the new information wasn't enough to officially close the case. As of 2024, the murder of Bonnie Hood officially remains unsolved. When 18-year-old Neyam May went missing in 2002, her family did everything they could

to help the police find her. But like so many missing persons cases, there comes a time when the leads dry up and there's nowhere left to look. At no point have we just got on with our lives. I heard something recently that really resonated. It was a woman from America who said that you never get over grief, you learn to move forward with it and I was like that's the best anyone's ever described it. Niamh's sister, Fionnuala, realised that a podcast might help find the answers the family was looking for. So for

the past four years I've been working with Nehems family to take a closer look at the case and what we found took us to places we never anticipated. Here's everything we've done. We've obviously got serious concerns about her welfare. I've just spoken to the last person to see her alive that we knew about and he's given me a bullshit story. When I first started looking into this case in 2020, it was originally intended to be a single case file episode.

But the more I looked, the more I found. So Steve, he's adamant that she never made it to Go Cup Road. Stan is adamant that there's a credible sighting there. Niamh set out for a gap year after finishing high school to test her independence, but she never made it home. What happened in those final days? And when the Blackhurst arrived, these two men got out and as soon as I saw them and I saw that Blackhurst, I thought, they're baddiesdies stay away from them. Mum called me and she said, look, the police are investigating now

and somebody claims that they dropped her off and that she was hitchhiking. What started out as a potential case file episode turned into a 12-part series that took over four years to research. He didn't smile or anything, he just kind of looked empty and just like get in the car. It was just kind of like aggressively like get in the car.

Join me as we uncover what happened in Missing Neham, the new 12 part podcast series from Casefile Presents. Something that obviously woken me suddenly because I was disorientated. That's when I realised that there was just a cold, rough hand holding my hand because I had my hand over the edge of the bed. And I could see the outline of somebody leaning over the bed. Eva, I guess, has to be somewhat attractive, doesn't it?

Otherwise, I wouldn't be able to sneak into every corner. So I whispered to my sister, asked her if she was awake, and said yes. I said there's someone in the room and she said I know. Missing Nehem is available now. Be sure to download and follow Missing Nehem wherever you get your podcasts.