Crime Junkie - CONSPIRACY: Boys on the Track

Episode Date: October 10, 2022

When two boys are found deceased on the train tracks in Bryant, Arkansas, their deaths are considered a tragic and unexpected accident. But as their parents begin looking for answers, they uncover deep-rooted corruption and a scheme to cover up their deaths that everyone from the police to the prosecutor seems to be in on. For current Fan Club membership options and policies, please visit https://crimejunkieapp.com/library/.Source materials for this episode cannot be listed here due to character limitations. For a full list of sources, please visit: https://crimejunkiepodcast.com/conspiracy-boys-on-the-track/

Hi, crime junkies. I'm your host, Ashley Flowers, and the story I have for you today is one of the most perplexing, convoluted stories I've come across in a long while. It's about two teenage boys who are hit by a train in Arkansas, and even though their deaths aren't initially ruled as homicides, their parents fight for years to find answers about what happened to their sons, and what they uncover is bigger than any of them ever expected. This is the story of Kevin Ives and Don Henry. It's about 4.30 a.m. on Sunday, August 23, 1987, and a train engineer named Stephen is working on a 75-car freight train that's on its way to Little Rock, Arkansas. The ride

is gone smoothly, that is, until the train approaches the small town of Bryant, Arkansas. As they're coming up on the town, Stephen sees something lying on the tracks a little ways ahead. At first, he can't tell what it is, but when they get closer, his confusion turns to panic as he realizes that laying on the tracks, side by side, are two teenage boys. He can see that they're partially covered in what looks like maybe a light green tarp, and as the train gets closer, they don't move. So, within a matter of seconds, Stephen hits the emergency brakes and lays on the horn, hoping that they'll get up and scramble out of the way. But according to an article by the Associated Press for the Baxter Bulletin,

the two don't so much as lift their heads. From how fast everything happened, I don't think he can tell if they're passed out or even still breathing, but the train is going about 50 miles per hour and you can't just stop a 6,000-ton machine on a dime. So, the momentum of the train carries it forward and the boys are hit. The train doesn't come to a full stop for another half-mile, but as soon as they do, the engineers get in contact with the police, and soon after that, Celine County police arrive on the scene along with paramedics. But once they arrive, it is obvious that there isn't anything the paramedics can do to help these boys. Due to the state of the bodies, police can't initially determine

an obvious cause or even manner of death. I mean, they could have died because they were literally just hit by a train, but once they talk to Stephen and some of the other engineers who saw the boys before they were hit, the fact that they didn't move at all indicates that there might be something else going on. So, police begin processing the scene and when they go back to where the boys' bodies were laying before they were hit, they find a.22-caliber rifle and a flashlight that the train had passed over, so they're both still intact. But other than the rifle and the flashlight, there's not much else there at the scene to collect. By now, a few people who live close to the train tracks

have noticed all of the police activity and the commotion and they've come to check it out. Now, it's not a big crowd by any means. Bryant has a population of about 5,000 people in 87 per the U.S. census. But in typical small-town fashion, word travels fast that something's happening at the tracks. Which, this actually helps police. This means that they can maybe identify their victims quickly if someone realizes their kids are unaccounted for. And sure enough, later on that same morning, a set of parents do realize that their kids are MIA. A woman named Linda Ives gets a call from a man named Curtis Henry asking if she's seen his teenage son, Dawn. You see, Dawn is best friends with Linda's son, Kevin,

and the two of them were supposed to be hanging out the night before. But now, Curtis is saying that he hasn't seen either boy, even though they were supposed to be staying the night at Curtis's house. Which, obviously, is concerning to Linda because, again, they were supposed to be at his house, so him not knowing where they are is worrisome. Curtis tells her that they went out on one of their normal midnight hunting trips, gun and flashlight in hand, but they haven't returned. Linda asks him if he's called the police to report them missing yet, and he says no, he wants to check in with a few other people before going that far. And so they hang up, and Linda says in a podcast series she recorded for her website

that she really doesn't know what to do at that point. She's sure the boys probably just crash at a friend's house without telling anyone, and everything's gonna be fine. But that feeling of concern, that doesn't go away. A little while later, Curtis calls her back, and when she picks up, she hopes that she'll hear him say that this is a big misunderstanding, a miscommunication, and Kevin's gonna be home soon. But instead, he tells her that the boys had been found, but they'd been shot, tied to the railroad tracks, and run over by a train. And I don't know how you get that call, because hearing those words, I mean, parent anxiety can be the worst kind, but in every bad scenario

you could imagine, I'm sure this never crossed Linda's mind. Linda makes her way to the Curtis's house, and when she gets there, she's met by Curtis and his wife, Mar-Vell, as well as several police officers. They all give police descriptions of their sons, and based on those descriptions, they are told that the two boys out on the tracks could be Don and Kevin, and sure enough, the next day, their identities are confirmed. Now of course, the first thing Don and Kevin's parents want to know is how did they end up on the tracks? But it doesn't seem like there's a clear answer. An initial report by the state medical examiner, Dr. Fami Malik states that both boys were definitely a lie prior to being

run over by the train, and the sheriff says that based on the scene, there isn't any evidence of foul play. So it seems like them being shot was just a rumor, which is what Curtis told Linda on the phone. And instead, Dr. Malik concludes that the boys were just so high that they laid down on the tracks, passed out, and didn't wake up when the train came. According to an article by Ashley Blackstone for THV11CBS, Dr. Malik says that based on toxicology results, the boys smoked the equivalent of 20 joints on the night they died. Now some sources say 20 in total, like 10 and 10, while others say 20 each, but either way, that is a lot of weed. I don't even know if it's possible to function with that

much THV in your system. The whole situation is just bizarre to me. But because of these levels, Dr. Malik decides to rule their deaths as suicides. But here's the thing with that. Ruling their deaths as suicide makes no sense based on what the investigators have found so far. To me, it makes more sense to rule their deaths as accidental, because there's nothing to suggest that they lay down on the tracks with the intent to get hit by a train, or that they smoke those joints so that they could lay on the tracks to get hit by a train. But from the way it's presented in my source material, it seems like the combination of drugs and the fact that they were found laying down on the tracks is exactly what makes him

rule their deaths as suicides. And since no one found evidence of any foul play, basically their case is closed. But Dr. Malik's ruling doesn't sit right with Don and Kevin's words. They're thinking, okay, if they were so stoned that they were completely out of it by the time the train came, then how could they have laid down like that? I mean, side by side in identical positions. And listen, I don't know if you've ever stood next to a train while it's passing, but trains are loud. And so again, even if they were really out of it, it seems unlikely that they could have just slept through it. Even if they couldn't have gotten up or were confused about what was going on, you would have expected them

to move, raise their heads something. And Steven, that train engineer, said none of that happened. Curtis, whose Don's dad also says that the way Don's gun was found is a red flag to him, too. The gun was found lying on the gravel, and he says that there's no way Don would ever lay his gun down on the gravel like that because it might scratch the wood. But I mean, for anyone who believes these boys were stoned out of their minds, that doesn't mean much. Don and Kevin's parents decide to meet with Dr. Malik in order to try and get some answers. And there's big emphasis on the word try, because Linda says in her podcast that at that meeting, Dr. Malik repeatedly dodged their questions

when it came to just how much THC was in their systems. She also says that even though they all repeatedly said that they did not want to see photos from the autopsy, Dr. Malik kept pulling out photos to try and show them. I mean, that's weird and super insensitive and it leaves the parents feeling worse than ever. So they decide that they're going to go get a second opinion from a pathologist out of state. They get in contact with a pathologist from Tennessee named Dr. Francisco, and he agrees to help them out as long as they can send some testable samples to him. And so the parents contact the Little Rock Crime Lab where the autopsies took place. But Dr. Malik refuses to hand the samples over. If

he gave them a reason for this refusal, it's never been reported on. But considering the experience they had with Dr. Malik before, the parents decide to hire a private investigator and a lawyer to help them get a court order to obtain the samples. But, get this, Dr. Malik defies the court order and still doesn't allow the samples to be sent. His refusal infuriates the parents enough to make them contact the district attorney's office in hopes that the DA will force him to send the samples. But the response that they get from the DA's office is unexpected to say the least. They're told that not only can the DA not do anything to help them, but that if the parents decide to sue Dr. Malik for

defying the court order, the DA's office is the one that is going to be representing him. So they're basically just stuck. It doesn't seem like there's a system of checks and balances here, and as I'm sure you can imagine, they come away from that conversation really frustrated. But their frustration doesn't last long, because for some reason, after they talk to the DA's office, Dr. Malik seems to have a change of heart, and he agrees to release the samples. And I know that seems really out of the blue, and most of what we know about this situation comes from Linda's perspective. And so if there really was a conversation between the DA and Dr. Malik, I don't know, that's not reported on. But

once they get the news that they can take the samples, Curtis and Larry, Larry is Kevin's father, and their private investigator all head over to the crime lab to pick them up. They meet Dr. Malik there, and at some point they go into a room with him that's got all these jars with samples in them. And for some reason, completely unprovoked, Dr. Malik opens up one of the jars and starts poking at it with a pencil, and he goes, this is part of your son's brain. And I mean, if there was ever a moment that just solidified how absolutely terrible this guy is, I think that is this moment. Because I cannot imagine the trauma of losing your child, having to fight every step of the way to get answers

about what happened, and now there is this man poking at what might be your son's brain right in front of you. But even with this really disturbing experience, they leave it with the samples that they came for, and they send them off to Tennessee. But when the results come back, Dr. Francisco says that he confirmed Dr. Malik's findings, and he found a significant amount of THC in the boy's urine. And while that might seem like enough to at least help them find some closure, Linda is still wary of what Dr. Francisco is telling her. So when she gets a copy of the reports from Dr. Francisco, she goes through them with a fine tooth comb, line by line, to make sure she fully understands

what samples were tested and how everyone keeps coming to the same conclusion. And it's a good thing she did this, because according to Linda, one of the samples sent to the lab in Tennessee was in fact urine from Kevin, but they never sent a urine sample from Dawn. And so she's thinking, how can he say that the levels of THC in Dawn's urine was that high when he didn't even have a sample to test? So Linda calls Dr. Francisco to ask him about this, and he admits to her that he actually didn't do any testing at all. He just decided to agree with Dr. Malik's findings. So what was the point of even agreeing to test the samples in the first place? I mean, what kind of pathologist, what kind

of person does something like that? After this, Linda, Larry, Curtis, and Marvell decide that enough is enough, and they're taking their story public. So according to an episode of Unsolved Mysteries that aired in 1988, five months after the deaths of their sons, they hold a press conference to put more pressure on public officials and to ask for a more thorough investigation. And it seems like this press conference did the trick because afterwards they're contacted by Deputy Prosecutor Richard Garrett. Richard says that he was really moved by their story, and he wanted to hold a prosecutor's hearing to take a deeper look at the case. The four parents go to Richard's office to meet him,

and it finally seems like someone is taking them seriously. He seems really passionate about helping them get answers that they're looking for, and he agrees that it's highly unlikely that these boys being hit by the train was just an accident, much less suicide. While they're at Richard's office, they meet with another attorney named Dan Harmon. While Dan isn't directly involved with their case, he gets to talking with the four of them, and they all really hit it off. He's super charismatic, he also agrees that what happened was likely criminal in nature, and so when the parents leave that meeting, they're feeling really optimistic, like they finally have people in their corner who are going

to fight for them. So the prosecutor's hearing begins on February 18, 1988, and throughout the course of the hearing, over 40 witnesses are subpoenaed, including police officers, first responders, and several bystanders from the scene. And I'm not going to get into every little detail about what happened at this hearing, but there are a few key details that I want to highlight. For one, several paramedics testify that there were a few things that seemed off about the scene, most notably the color of Kevin and Don's blood. Now they say that the blood at the scene was pretty dark, which indicated a lack of oxygen, and to them, the color didn't match the time of death proposed by Dr. Malik, because if

the boys had been alive when the train hit them, their blood would have still been a brighter red color by the time they arrived at the scene. Another person to testify is this guy named Matt Blevins. He's one of Kevin and Don's friends, and he was actually with them just a few hours before they were hit. The Associated Press reported for the Blival Courier that he admits he saw them smoking between one and two blunts that evening, but they didn't seem that intoxicated. Definitely not to the level of passing out on train tracks. The crew from the train also testifies about their experience. They reiterate that the boys were laying in identical positions shoulder to shoulder next to each other. Oh, and remember

that light green tarp that Steven, the engineer, saw partially covering the boys before they were hit? Well, several members of the crew testify that they saw it too, but that tarp never made it into evidence, and in fact, investigators from the county dispute that the tarp even ever existed in the first place. They say that it was just an optical illusion, and so there was nothing there to collect in the first place. Now I don't know how multiple people can see the same optical illusion, and one of the crew members say that they even saw the tarp nearby in a creek bed after the impact, and he says he told one of the officers at the scene about it, but it was just never collected.

Dr. Malik also testifies at the hearing, and he basically just doubles down on his original ruling that Kevin and Don were alive but unconscious when the train hit them. But by the end of the hearing, pretty much everyone but Dr. Malik agrees that there's something fishy going on here, and it's worth digging into a bit more. So the next thing the families do is exhume Don and Kevin's bodies for another autopsy. They work with Dr. Joseph Burton, who is the chief medical examiner for North Metropolitan Atlanta, and the autopsies are conducted at the University of Arkansas. Dr. Burton makes some really concerning findings that weren't included in Dr. Malik's original reports. One of the first things he finds

is a wound on Don's back that doesn't match the tearing or pulling that came from the train. And based on the size and depth, he determines that it is a knife wound. And that's not all. He takes a look at the clothes Don was wearing, and he finds a cut in the back of his shirt that matches up with the stab wound. And again, that cut in the fabric is completely different than the rips that resulted from the train. Dr. Burton also finds an injury on Kevin's cheek. It's pretty large, and based on the amount of swelling it had to have occurred before he died. And when he looks at the overall shape and measures the dimensions of the injury, he finds that it closely resembles the butt of the rifle

that the boys took hunting with them. And finally, potentially most importantly, Dr. Burton looks at the amount of THC in their systems. According to another Baxter Bulletin article by the Associated Press, his findings show that they likely did smoke a bit that evening, but definitely nowhere near the amount that it would take to make them pass out and not wake up. And listen, just to be sure his findings are correct, Dr. Burton decides that he wants to do more testing back in Atlanta and have some of his colleagues take a look as well. And when he does, those colleagues agree that Dr. Malik's ruling was just flat out wrong. And the boys didn't just end up on the tracks on their own. They were murdered.

And therefore, the ruling should be changed to homicide. But here's the thing. No one knows why someone would want to kill Don and Kevin. These were well-liked kids, and they didn't really get into any trouble, or at least any more trouble than your average teenager. And so once homicide is on the table, rumors start going around. And people start to think that maybe Kevin and Don saw something that night that they weren't supposed to see. And as conspiratorial as that might sound, it's not as out there as you'd think. Arkansas had a big drug problem back in the 80s, and Mina, Arkansas, which is just a few hours away, was a hub for lots of drug activity. In fact, one of the largest drug operations

in the United States at the time was run out of the airport there in Mina. So it's possible that maybe as they were out hunting, they came across something drug-related that they weren't supposed to see. Richard Garrett agrees with this theory in that same episode of Unsolved Mysteries, and he says that he thinks that they could have unwittingly stumbled across something, they were killed, and then placed on the tracks to hide the evidence. So on April 27th, 1988, a grand jury is convened to review the new evidence and to hear witnesses, and the one leading the proceedings is Dan Harmon. And by May 25th, it seems like he's already getting results, because another article by the Associated Press for the Baxter Bulletin

reports that the grand jury agrees that Kevin and Don's death should be investigated by the state police as homicides. It's also decided that the grand jury will remain in session until the end of the year, and they'll meet on the 3rd Monday of every month to receive new reports and hear from various witnesses. But once the state police get involved, they come up with a shocking new lead. They learn about a crime that's eerily similar to the deaths of Kevin and Don that happened in 1984, just 150 miles away, in Hodgin, Oklahoma. So back in June of 1984, the bodies of 21-year-old Billy Hainline and 26-year-old Dennis Decker were struck by a train. Just like Kevin and Don, they were lying side by side, next to

each other, and didn't show any signs of moving before the train hit them. And in another, all too familiar move, there was no investigation into their deaths, because they were ruled as quote-unquote accidental. According to an article from the Daily Oklahoma, their blood alcohol level was quote, near the legal limit, which to me, near does not mean over, but the investigators concluded that the two had just fallen asleep on the tracks and no foul play. I mean, this is weirdly similar, right? And I spiraled on this a bit, because I don't know about anyone else, but to me, these deaths seem almost more like a serial killer's MO than a drug-related murder. So I mean, I went down this rabbit hole, trying to find any

other train-related deaths where people were found just laying across the tracks. But I couldn't find anything that honestly did not surprise me. And it doesn't assuage my suspicions anymore, because of course, there isn't a ton of reporting on accidental deaths or suicides. So this is where I need you, crime junkies. I am asking you if you know about any suspicious train-related deaths from the 80s or 90s. If so, you got to email us. You can go on our website, crimejunkiepodcast.com, you can email crimejunkiedaudiochuk, whatever. You got to tell me, am I completely spiraling or could there be something here? I don't know, but I am going to get back on track for you.

So those other deaths are never officially connected to Kevin and Don's, because again, those have stayed accidental. So serial killer or not, the state police are now investigating Kevin and Don's deaths as homicides. Linda says in her podcast that she was able to see the state police's file and they had pages and pages of leads that investigators were supposed to follow up on. But even though things are looking up, there are a few red flags that Linda starts to notice, particularly with Dan Harmon. You see, as the grand jury is chugging along, Dan has gotten really close with both families, but particularly with Linda. I mean, he appears to be very transparent with everything going on and

he seems really dedicated. But even though he's all these great things, Linda starts to notice that it always seems like he's out of money. His electricity is always out, he can't afford groceries. And so in order to help him out, both families start giving him money. Every few weeks, they write him a check for 500 bucks, which today is like 1200. And Dan tells them that the money is being used to pay his utilities, take care of his wife and his young child. But after a while, they start to get suspicious because it's not like this guy doesn't have a job. He is a pretty successful lawyer. So where is the money going? Well, it's around this time that Linda also starts to hear some rumors

that Dan is involved in the Arkansas drug scene. But at the time, she kind of brushes it off, you know, small town rumors fly. And this case is already pretty twisty. So she doesn't really think anything of it. And you know, even if Linda was getting suspicious of Dan, all that goes out the window in August because Dan tells Linda that now he knows who killed the boys and they are going to be testifying at the grand jury the next day. But the people who end up testifying are two police officers, two guys named Kirk Lane and Jay Campbell. And Jay, by the way, happens to be an undercover narcotics investigator. Now Linda isn't sitting in on the proceedings, so she doesn't know what they say when they're

questioned. But since Dan implied that these are the guys who killed her son, it opens up a whole new can of worms in her mind because Dan's implying that the boys were murdered by law enforcement. But despite what Dan said, despite what he might have been confident in, Kirk and Jay are not charged with any murders. In fact, as the end date for the grand jury gets closer and closer, there isn't any word about whether or not they actually planned to hand down any indictments at all to anyone. The grand jury is set to disband on December 31st as planned. But a few days before, a newspaper called the Arkansas Democrat, which is now called the Arkansas Democrat Gazette, gets a leaked copy of Dr. Malick's

testimony. Now, none of the testimonies from the grand jury are supposed to be publicized, but an anonymous source sends it to the newspaper anyway. So the newspaper publishes what he said. And when Don and Kevin's parents read it, they realized that Dr. Malick's story has now changed. Dr. Malick testified twice in total throughout the months the grand jury was convened once in May and once in November. And according to these two testimonies, the biggest difference was the weight of Don and Kevin's lungs. The Associated Press reported for the Baxter Bulletin that in May, he testified that the lungs were heavier than average because the boys had inhaled blood. But then in November, he said that the lungs were recorded as being

heavier because they were weighed with other organs. And listen, this might not seem like that big of a deal, but Dr. Burton testified that there was too much fluid in the lungs for the boys to have died instantly via the train, which is what Malick keeps stating. Being hit by a train in the position they were in would be instant death. So this doesn't make sense because if they died instantly, they wouldn't have inhaled any blood. So it seems like Malick changed his testimony when he realized that his initial statement didn't match up to what he was saying or his theory or whatever. But despite this change, the Arkansas Sheriff's Association backs Malick and says that they'll continue

to support him even if his findings in the case are proven to be wrong. Because when I heard that, I was like, wait, wait, wait, wait. So this guy can just quite literally suck at his job, make stuff up, and everyone's just cool with it. But listen, it gets even better because eventually it comes out that Dan Harmon was the one who leaked Malick's testimony in the first place. Now, once he's exposed, he straight up publicly calls Malick a disgrace. Honestly, I can't say I disagree with him. But despite all of this, Dr. Malick keeps his job. Even more than that, this dude is given a raise and a bigger office as a way of apologizing to him. I want all of you to think about what your job is

and if you were straight up wrong and then lied about it to cover yourself up, would you get a raise and a bigger office and an apology? This is unreal. And if this wasn't enough, when the grand jury disbands, the judge, this guy, John Cole, refuses to allow the members of the jury to release a report with their findings. And that is super frustrating to the members of the jury because in another Baxter Bulletin article from the Associated Press, one of their major findings was that the town of Bryant clearly has a drug problem and it's their belief that if police just follow the breadcrumbs where this leads, they will probably find the killers. But for some unknown reason, it's never released.

However, not all hope is lost because one of the good things that comes out of the grand jury is that the cause of the boy's death is officially changed to a homicide. That being said, after the grand jury disbands, the investigation pretty much just falls flat, at least in Linda's eyes. All those new leads that she had seen in the state police's file were in her opinion barely followed up on or not followed up on at all. And everything just stalls. No new leads, no arrests. And for over a year, everyone is left wondering what happened. That is until March of 1990. A deputy prosecutor named Jean Duffy is asked to help head up a new drug task force team that's meant to investigate drug trafficking in several counties, including

Saline County. But right from the start, she's met with some unexpected roadblocks. Like on the day she's appointed, her boss, prosecutor Gary Arnold, tells her that she is not allowed to use the task force to investigate any public officials. And I don't know about anyone else, but to me, that just indicates that there's public officials who have ties to this drug operation, right? Now at the time, Jean says that she didn't have any indication that there was public officials with ties to drug trafficking. So while that statement was definitely odd, she just kind of brushed it off. But almost immediately when she starts digging in, she finds several public officials who are involved in either the use or sale of

drugs. And one of these is none other than Dan Harmon. As Jean is investigating Dan, she talks to his ex-girlfriend, this woman named Charlene Wilson. She tells Jean that Dan is heavily involved in selling cocaine. At the time she was with him, he always had some on him, and she witnessed him take multiple transactions with people. But this puts Jean at a standstill with her investigation, because remember, she's not allowed to put any of that information in her reports, because then her boss would know that she is disobeying orders. And then she has this thought. What if the reason she was told to ignore public officials in her investigation is because her boss already knows about the corruption

and maybe has ties to it himself? So instead of reporting all of this directly to him, she goes to the assistant US attorney, Bob Govar. Now, Bob is currently in charge of an official investigation looking into public corruption in Saline County. And so she feels like she can go to him with information that she's discovered. And when she takes this info to him, he tells her that both Dan Harmon and Richard Garrett have come up in his investigation as well. But even though Jean is super careful with who she tells this information to, somehow Dan Harmon gets word of Jean's investigation. And seemingly out of the blue news articles start coming out that accused Jean of all of these wild things like embezzling funds

and making illegal arrests. Jean is flabbergasted by these accusations because they're not true, but she can't really do anything to retaliate. So she just keeps doing her job. But eventually those articles make their way to her supervisors. And later that same year, she is fired due to all the bad press. At the time, she had seven investigators working under her and in protest to her firing, five of them resign and continue to help her investigate on her own. But it doesn't stop there because after she's fired, Dan Harmon calls for a grand jury to investigate Jean and she is subpoenaed to testify. But something in her tells her not to go so she doesn't answer the subpoena. Well, when she fails to show up to the grand

jury, a federal warrant is issued for her arrest. After that warrant is issued, Jean gets a call from her mom that makes her stomach drop. Her mom has a friend who works at the police station and that friend called and said that they overheard someone saying that once Jean was arrested, they were going to kill her in jail. So Jean is like, I'm out of here and she flees the jurisdiction and eventually she, her husband and her kids all leave the state. After Jean flees, a grand jury is convened to review Bob Govars findings. Remember, he's the assistant US attorney who is looking into corruption. But weirdly, the grand jury is adjourned before it's even complete and any public officials involved are cleared of any

wrongdoing just like that. Bob Govars actually ends up resigning from the task force that he was a part of in protest to it all. So I know all of that was a complete whirlwind, but after these investigations go nowhere, nothing really notable happens in Kevin and Dawn's investigation either. But there is a really interesting article that comes out in 1992 that I want to touch on because I think it just really puts the scope of the investigation and really everything happening in Selene County into perspective. So in 1992, the Los Angeles Times publishes an article about our favorite doctor, Dr. Malik. And in that article, it states that over his career, he has ruled incorrectly

on over 20 cases. And it gives a few examples of the most egregious ones that I just want to highlight because they are so bizarre and frustrating. One is the death of a man named Raymond Albright, who was found shot in the chest five times. But despite literally having five holes in his chest, Dr. Malik ruled his death a suicide, which seems entirely impossible, right? Well, according to Dr. Malik, it's not. And that really reminds me of the medical examiner in Joanne Matuk's case, who was known for always ruling deaths as suicides even when there was clearly something else going on. Now, another case that actually isn't featured in the article, but that I want to mention is the death of James Milam,

who was found decapitated at his home with his head missing. And Dr. Malik ruled that his cause of death was an ulcer. You heard me. An ulcer. What kind of ulcer takes someone's head off and hides it somewhere? James's family had the exact same question, and Dr. Malik's response was that the family dog ate it. The whole thing. But here's the kicker. His head was later found. And Dr. Malik had just made up the whole thing. So after this article comes out, people are outraged and they want him removed as the state medical examiner. You know, same. But despite knowing about the issue, both former President Clinton, who was in his last year as governor at the time, and the chairman

of Arkansas State Medical Examiner Commission, Jocelyn Elders, refused to remove him from office. In fact, Clinton says that Malik was just stressed out and overworked. And that's why he made those rulings. So he's given a 41% raise after all is said and done. So not only has this guy gotten multiple raises for being terrible at his job, but no one feels like they can trust the rulings on any case that he has touched, especially everyone back in Arkansas where Kevin and Don's murders are still unsolved. Now, not long after the article comes out, a new detective is assigned to Kevin and Don's case. His name is John Brown. And right away, he gets the feeling that there is something off about everything.

On the day that he's first assigned to it, his supervisor takes him for a ride. And during that ride, they have a conversation where Detective Brown is basically told to just leave the case alone. But he's not the type of investigator to do that. And so he starts digging into the case file. And he is baffled by what he finds, or rather, what he doesn't find. The file is missing important elements to any homicide investigation, like a list of evidence, for instance. So Detective Brown starts reviewing statements and contacting witnesses. And when he does, he comes across Charlene Wilson's statements about Dan Harmon being involved in drug sales. When he tries to track her down to discuss her statement,

he finds out that she's being held in jail in a neighboring county on drug charges herself. So he makes the drive over to go talk to her. And when he does, she drops a bombshell that he didn't see coming. She says that not only does Dan Harmon know who killed Don and Kevin, he was there on the tracks the night it happened. According to Charlene, several law enforcement officials, including Dan, were a part of a drug smuggling operation. And on that night, Don and Kevin happened upon a drug drop, where packages of drugs are basically dropped from like a low flying airplane. And she says that they were killed for what they saw. She says Dan threatened to put her in prison if she ever told anyone, which is a threat that he

made good on because he was the one who served her the warrant when she was arrested. And Charlene ends up being sentenced to 30 years on possession charges, 30 years, you guys, for possession charges. I mean, do you guys remember a case that we recently covered on Hang Lee? That's where a main suspect in the case, this guy, Mark Wallace, got four years for raping someone twice. He was sentenced to four years, got out, assaulted another woman, got four more years again. And meanwhile, this woman gets 30 years for possession. Stop. I mean, this is also her first offense. And other people who were being charged with the same crime in the area were being given probation and not even serving any time at all. Now,

this all seems especially suspicious to Linda, who hasn't stopped her own search for answers. According to an article by Mora Levrett for the Arkansas Times, she makes multiple requests for documents over the years, and eventually she's able to get her hands on various documents detailing interviews conducted over the years. And in these documents, she comes upon two reports from two different people who both say that they know what happened to Kevin and Don. The first is from all the way back in 1988. And it's from a man named Ronnie Godwin, who says that on the night of the murders, he'd seen two men who he believed to be police officers near a phone booth at a grocery store close to the tracks. And he

says there were two boys with them who looked to be in their teens. And Ronnie just assumed that maybe they'd been caught shoplifting or something. But as he watched, he started to realize that something wasn't right. One of the boys was kneeling on the ground with his head down, and the other was being shoved up against the phone booth. Now Ronnie didn't intervene because he didn't know what was going on. But once he heard about Kevin and Don, he put two and two together and decided to tell the police his story. The second report that she finds is from an interview conducted in 1990 with a nightclub owner named Mike Crook. Mike told police that on the morning the boys' bodies were found,

a man that he knew by the name of Jerry had come into his club. And according to Jerry, he had seen the boys the night before. He said they were smoking a joint at a nearby grocery store when two men in plain clothes pulled up in an unmarked police car. Jerry told Mike that he didn't recognize the first guy, but he did recognize the second one as Kirk Lane, one of the officers who testified at the grand jury back in 1988. Now, I don't know what was done with these reports at the time they were given. I mean, I'd like to think they were followed up on. But if these accounts are accurate, then there really was police involvement in their deaths. And Linda is thinking that this could all

just be a massive cover-up. As she continues to fight for answers, she's contacted by a man named Patrick Matriciana in 1996. Now, this guy's a filmmaker, and he is so drawn to the boys' story that he wants to make a documentary on it. In that film, titled Obstruction of Justice, The Mina Connection, he features Linda, Jean, and others who are involved in this. He covers a lot of information that we just went over, but he dives even deeper into the conspiracy and alleged cover-up. One of the things that I found most compelling when I watched it was that he goes into several mysterious deaths or disappearances of people who were either definitely or allegedly involved

in the case, like maybe they testified of the grand jury, or they knew Kevin and Don personally, or were rumored to have been involved in their deaths. And we're not talking just one or two people. No, eight people related to this case in some way were murdered or vanished from 1988 through 1995. In the doc, he also names multiple law enforcement and government officials who were allegedly involved in the murders as well, including Dan Harmon, Richard Garrett, Jay Campbell, and Kirk Lane, among others. Now, Patrick actually ends up getting sued for libel over this film, but he appeals the lawsuit and the court sides with him and says he legally did nothing wrong. But even with

the film connecting all of these dots, there are still some who think that it's all just a bit too out there. Up until now, none of these allegations have been proven in court, and even though there's rumors of a cover up and of a massive conspiracy, no one has been charged with anything related to the boys' murders. But then in 1997, Dan Harmon is arrested and convicted in federal court on charges of extortion and drug racketeering. It turns out Charlene's accusations and Jean's investigation were both correct because he's found to have been selling drugs out of his office for years. Dan is sentenced to eight years on those charges, and then he has another three tacked on for

an entirely different drug-related charge. And so after he's convicted, he subsequently is disbarred. Honestly, though, I'm surprised he wasn't given a raise after everything we've seen. But the arrests don't stop with Dan, because in February of 2006, Jay Campbell, the other police officer who testified at the grand jury, he is arrested and charged with multiple felonies, including manufacturing methamphetamine, hindering the prosecution, burglary, and theft. And then in 2010, after Dan is released, he's arrested again for selling drugs to an undercover police officer.

Even though all of this is really interesting, none of it is conclusively related to Kevin and Don's murders. But for those who subscribe to the theory that their deaths were drug-related, it proves that the people in power at the time knew what happened and deliberately covered it up. And that's definitely what Linda thinks. Over the years, she files multiple Freedom of Information Act requests asking for access to multiple documents related to the murders. According to an article by Linda Satter for Arkansas Online, she even has to go as far as to sue several agencies for violating those requests, such as the Drug Enforcement Administration

and the Executive Office of the US Attorneys. She spends years gathering all the information she can because even though it seems like the investigation is at a standstill, she is still fighting for answers. As for Don's parents, Curtis and Marvell, I can't find much of anything about their fight for answers. I know that there was a bit of tension at some point between the Ives family and the Henry family, but I'm not sure of any of the details or even really when that happened. But Linda states on the website dedicated to this case that even though their relationship soured over the years, Don deserves just as much justice as Kevin

does and she's fighting for both of them. Now I know all of this was a lot, but I need everyone to hold on tight because there is one more twist in this already super convoluted case. So in 2018, a professional wrestler named Billy Haynes comes forward and says that he witnessed the murders of Don and Kevin. His story goes that back in the 80s, as he was wrestling, he transported and trafficked cocaine throughout the US. He says that he was basically an enforcer who provided some muscle to ensure transactions went smoothly. In August of 87, he says that he was contacted

by an Arkansas politician to help in a transaction. Now this politician is never named publicly, but Billy says that he was brought in because the politician suspected that some of the money made from these drug transactions was being stolen and he wanted someone like Billy there to make sure that that didn't happen. Billy says that while he was in Arkansas, he was there when Kevin and Don were killed. Now I can't find out if he's ever spoken publicly about the details of the murders because my first question is whether or not the story matches up with those of Ronnie and Mike, but regardless, he says that he reached out to Linda first and told her everything,

including the name of the politician who contacted him. Unfortunately, I have no idea if he ever went to the police with this story or if anyone's ever verified it. But it seems random and not at the same time. Like maybe he was there and could crack this whole thing wide open. Maybe he's just looking for five seconds of fame by connecting himself to this infamous case. But why? And it is kind of strange that all of these people's stories really seem to line up. Linda continued fighting for answers until her recent death in June of 2021. She was really the last one standing to carry her son's case forward. And once she died, it seemed like the case died with her. But even though she passed on without finding out

what happened to Kevin and Don, what they all need now is for someone to pick up the baton and continue searching for the answers that have evaded the town of Bryan, Arkansas for over three decades. And who knows, maybe the right person for that job is listening right now. You can find all of the source material for this episode on our website, crimejunkiepodcast.com. Be sure to follow us on Instagram at crimejunkiepodcast, and I'll be back next week with a brand new episode. So, what do you think, Chuck? Do you approve?