Small Town Murder - #530 - Dark Swamp Death - Tomah, Wisconsin

Episode Date: September 27, 2024

This week, in Tomah, Wisconsin, a crazy story unfolds when someone is missing, on the day he was supposed to testify in court. The case cracks when one of the participants gives up the truth... that a terrible murder has taken place, and the reasons for it are not what anyone could have expected. Instead, it's a twisted tale, involving tampered cranberry bogs, dark desires, and a family, that turns against itself, as soon as it has the chance!!Along the way, we find out that Wisconsin doesn't just produce cheese, that a dog can track a scent, all the way to a frozen swamp, and that killing a witness doesn't mean you're free from a crime!!Hosted by James Pietragallo and Jimmie WhismanNew episodes every Thursday!Donate at: patreon.com/crimeinsports or go to paypal.com and use our email: [e-mail] to shutupandgivememurder.com for all things Small Town Murder & Crime In Sports!Follow us on...twitter.com/@murdersmallfacebook.com/smalltownpodinstagram.com/smalltownmurderAlso, check out James & Jimmie's other show, Crime In Sports! On Apple Podcasts, Spotify, Amazon Music, Wondery, Wondery+, Stitcher, or wherever you listen to podcasts!See Privacy Policy at https://art19.com/privacy and California Privacy Notice at https://art19.com/privacy#do-not-sell-my-info.

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Follow Criminal Attorney on the Wondery app or wherever you get your podcasts. Hello everybody and welcome back to Small Town Murder Express. Yay and choo choo. Oh yay indeed Jimmy. Yay indeed. My name is James Petragallo. I'm here with my co-host. I'm Jimmy Wissman. Thank you folks so much for joining us today on another crazy edition of Small Town Murder

Express. 10 pounds of murder, 2 pound bag. You know how it works. So I hope you've been enjoying all the other small town murders over time. We've done some wild ones, especially the New Jersey one that came out this week too. It's really crazy stuff. But this time we're going to Wisconsin. It'll be a lot of fun.

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Can't wait for that patreon.com Slash crime in sports is where you get all of that and you get a shout out at the end of the regular show as well That said let's do this. I think it's time everybody. What do you say? Yeah, let's dive in and let's all let's all clear the lungs Let's do this arms to the sky and let's all shout. Shut up and give me murder. Let's do this everybody. Hey. Let's go on a trip, shall we?

Here we go. Let's do it. We are going all the way to Wisconsin this week and it's Thomas Wisconsin did we say or Thomas? Toma? I think it was Thomas Wisconsin did we say or Thomas? I think it was Thomas Wisconsin. We just did the pronunciation of it we looked it up believe it's Thomas. So Thomas Wisconsin T-O-M-A-S if it's not no need to tell us because we'll have moved on long on by then so don't worry about it. Get yourself a spotted cow and have a nice day. Enjoy enjoy your curds. So this is in West Central Wisconsin.

It's about an hour and a half to Madison, Wisconsin. About two hours-ish to Milwaukee, and two hours and 45 minutes to Phillips, Wisconsin, which was our last episode. These serial killer tapes, which was, man, that was bonkers, I remember that. Just horrible, awful descriptions as this guy had. So gross stuff. stuff population of this town

9515 teeny tiny yeah, not an itty-bitty, but not a big town by any stretch median household income here $51,661 which is well below the national average of almost 70,000 median home cost here matches it though It's also low two hundred thousand seven hundred dollars. Median home cost here matches it though, it's also low, $200,700 is the median home cost here. So a very affordable kind of a joint. And it's kind of rural out here, let's be realistic. If you're an hour and a half from Madison, you're out there. So a little bit of history in this town.

It was founded by Robert E. Gillette or Gillette whichever one in 1855 This is they incorporated as a city in 1883 But there was no charter issued until 1894 So they are they put like some paperwork together then sat on it for a decade or so and then do it turned it in Like did anybody mail that no, no, I didn't mail it shit the charter guys Jesus Jesus Christ We got to do that. We're not even a fucking town yet. What do we day one? It's Eleven years it's taken us to do this Lazy bastards. They're just full of cheese. They can't get there. That's how it works

It was named after Thomas Karen K a or ca RR o n Who was a trader trader at Green Bay, this is in the 1700s and early 1800s, who had integrated into the Menominee tribe, okay? Wow. Which happened a lot, people would do that. Really? Yeah, the Native Americans, they're pretty accepting.

They're a welcoming group. They're pretty fucking accepting, man, yeah. They would just, if you were cool and could contribute, they would accept people. You're not trying to shoot anybody around here. Come hang out. Let's do it. Yeah, that's what I mean.

You haven't taken a shot at us. I don't see a musket, so let's do it. They pronounced the name Toma or Tomao, and he became known as Chief Toma. Wow. Yeah. They promoted him to most important. They said fuck it He's I guess he's I don't know if he had the biggest gun or what but he must have held a hell of a fire well a lot of times what they would do is a lot of these guys would say that I

Should be in like the management because I can go talk to the other white people for us And I can go talk to the quote great father and tell them how wonderful you people are and then they won't come and kick you off your land basically. Right. It will bother us. Most of the time that was pure bullshit and they're just trying to be in charge of shit but it happened. You know, so that they don't have to go hunt and gather and shit.

This became the site of significant lumber and railroad industry railroad industries as well became a center of agriculture, especially cranberry growing. Is that right? We're going to hear cranberry bugs in Wisconsin. We're going to hear more about cranberries today than we ever thought we'd know from small town murder. Yes. Get the fuck out. Also milk watering. Do you know what that is? Because you will by the end of the show

You will by the end of the show. This is the most Wisconsin show ever. It's awesome reviews of this town very quickly Here's five stars very interesting little town very fun has a spirit for sure Just love it very strong sense of community for such a small little town Yeah, okay. Okay, that sounds nice, I guess they're having parades and shit. Yeah. Back those claims up, but I'll do it. Three stars born and raised in Tomah, Wisconsin. It's a fairly average small town, not much to do, but near enough to enough to areas like Wisconsin, Dells and lacrosse

that it's not too boring. Oh, well, if can get to La Crosse, obviously, then you're going to be partying it up there, clearly. I mean, that's like a … They are. It's a hot spot. They are known. La Crosse is known as the Bourbon Street of the Midwest. Yeah, it's known.

Everybody knows about it, man. La Crosse. Here's three stars. I don't understand why this is under a town review on a niche, which is a website about cities. I work in fast food. I feel that I should get more respect for the job I do. That's the whole review of the town of Tomah, Wisconsin.

Everybody that works in fast food wishes that same thing. People are addicted to the guy at Wendy's. That's his review. Yeah. Two stars, people seem to be stuck in the olden days around Tomah. It's olden days. It's both nice yet tiring.

Places do not stay open long enough for students and those who work to enjoy. Most businesses in the area other than fast food close down around four in the evening. That's not evening by the way. Nope. That is afternoon still. We don't hit evening till five I believe in my book. The sky ain't even changed colors. No it's unless it's winter it is then it's pitch black by four in Wisconsin. Other than that holy shit. Four? Four? You get out of school, we gotta rush to the store before they close.

Like, Jesus Christ, it's four o'clock. Guys. I didn't pay your rent. Stay till five at least, banker's hours for Christ's sake. What are we doing? Unbelievable. He said, there's also very little to do in the small town as there is only a movie theater that shows a small selection of films and a Walmart.

So like a two screen movie theater and a Walmart. Playing four months ago's movies. I'm sure I did, like a two dollar theater. There are a few parks in the area but no one is ever at them. Tomah is more like a truck stop rather than a town. That makes sense, it's probably more of a stop on the highway here. And finally, we'll do one more because it's just funny. Why's probably more of a stop on the highway here. And finally, we'll do one more, because it's just funny. Why is the title of this one.

One star. I cannot understand why someone would want to live in Tomah. Perhaps if you like to drink too much and owned a tavern and did some favors for people, it would make sense in a convoluted way. Okay. Sure. And then quickly, things to do.

We have Toma's annual Freeze Fest, which is happening whether you fucking want it to or not. I'll tell you that right now. Right around January? It's in December, I believe. And you go, basically you just go and freeze your ass off. Right. And the only cost to the event is one dollar for a Freeze Fest button.

One dollar and your toes. That's it. Oh, well it's up there, they don't care. They're up there in t-shirts and shorts, those people. It's so fucking cold. I've been in Minnesota where it was three degrees outside. I was looking on my phone and there was chicks walking by with half shirts just like and skirts on coming from the bar.

I was like, what the fuck? I had three parkas on. That's fun for you people. And there's also the Squirrel Fest. Oh. The North American Squirrel Association. What? That's a thing.

It's a. Just squirrels. It's just a bunch of squirrels with hats on that hand you thing. Squirrel Fest is a free family festival held the first Saturday after the 4th of July in Winnebago Park in Tomah. Great food, live music that we're not gonna talk about. A free raffle for kids. Festival held the first Saturday after the 4th of July in Winnebago Park in Tomah. Great

food, live music that we're not going to talk about, a free raffle for kids. I don't know if you win a squirrel or what here. And there is a city-wide scavenger hunt for the golden acorn. Oh. So $250 will be awarded to the winner. If you can find that golden acorn. That golden acorn baby. I hope a squirrel steals it one year and buries it deep in the tree. They actually took it. With clues posted on our Facebook page beginning July 1st, so for like a few days after that. And under by the way the North American Squirrel Association of Tomah, the fucking logo here, it says, helping the elderly and physically challenged enjoy the outdoors.

Do they mean elderly squirrels or people? And handicapped ones? Handicaps, little squirrel wheelchairs? Yeah, give them wheels. That'd be fun. Be good. That said, let's talk about some murder that happened here. Let's do it.

Okay, this is so weird. Let's start out, the whole thing is gonna take place in 1986 we're gonna talk about some murder that happened here. Let's do it. Okay, this is so weird. Let's start out, the whole thing is gonna take place in 1986 we're gonna talk about. So we're going back quite a bit. The regular show this week was 2016, so we're going to 86. 1986, Tomah, Wisconsin, there's like 3,000 people here. Yeah, I think there was, I looked it up, I think there was like 6,000 people at the time or so.

It's grown steadily. So let's first talk about Tracy something. It's grown steadily. So let's first talk about Tracy George. That's a man by the way, Tracy George. His name's 21 years old and Tracy here works, he works on these farms, okay. It's like dairy farms, there's cranberry bogs, there's all these different shits. Everyone involved here is gonna be like these farm workers.

Some of them own, like our families own the farm. Tracy's like works at a farm. Okay. Now Tracy, by the way, was kind of a hot shit high school kid. Is that right? Yeah. Really popular. A student and the star of the basketball team.

Hell yeah. So he was Tracy. Well, not really because he was big man in small pond, and then as soon as you graduate, that pond gets a lot bigger, and you're working on a farm at that point, even though you wanted to be a basketball player and all this shit. Instead he's a farmer who's not going to college. So not exactly what he had in mind, so you can take whatever you will from that. A guy he hangs out with name here is Richard Shericks. So Dick Shericks here. S-C-H-E-R-R-E-I-K-S. Shericks. Yeah. Our old Dicky Sher here, old

Dick Sher. So we got Dick and Tracy. No shit. We have Dick Tracy here. That's amazing. I just realized that. Dick and Tracy. He's 26 years old, Dick here. So he's a little bit older now. George and Richard worked on a farm owned by Helmut Scherichs. Helba? Helmut.

H-E-L-L-M-U-T. Helmut Scherichs. Helmut. Yeah. Helmut. Yeah. These are very German people here. No kidding. He's 66, the guy who owns it. That I believe, yeah, Helmut is Richard's father.

Okay. Okay. Now, and he's also the grandfather of a guy, a kid named Andy who's 18 years old, Andy Scherrichs, who we'll talk about. Who the hell is he? He's the nephew of Richard, Dick's nephew, Andy. We'll talk about him in a minute. He's only just a few years younger than him, okay.

And all three of them, Richard, Tracy, and to a lesser extent, Andy, are all involved in a bunch of crimes in the mid-'80s here. Is that right? Crimes that, none of these crimes take place on the wire. Put it that way. These are the most rural crimes I've ever heard of you couldn't commit these crimes if you wanted to because there's just not available No that you could do Richard and Andy are accused of of Vandalizing a cranberry marsh and causing a half a million dollars in damage. Half a million? For a bog.

They fucked the bog up to the point of that. Would you do pour diesel in it? It's a giant, we'll talk about what they did, but it's a huge bog. It's giant. These aren't like a little, you know, like a koi pond in the yard. This is a big... Owned by ocean spray or some shit. Yeah, well owned by these people in the area today probably owned by Ocean Spray. But I guess this was in 1985,

it was the Gordon Valley Marsh cranberry bog in Monroe County is what they were, what they all vandalized. Now this is Richard, Andy and Tracy, all three of them. And we'll talk about Andy in a second. But Richard was the one who had caused the extensive damage to the bog. It was a neighbor's cranberry bog.

This was a neighbor beef that they had that this is where I'm going to trash your bog motherfucker. What's up with that? What did he do? That's some rural shit there. I guess the neighbor was named was Lester Gordon had tried 20 years earlier to buy the sheriff. The sheriffs owed money in back taxes. So he tried to sneak in under them and buy their farm in back taxes. And since then, there's been mad fucking tension between these people. Just crazy people. He's trying to get it mad cheap, I'm sure. He's trying to steal it from them, basically.

Their neighbors steal it out from under them. I mean, you know, in a savvy business move. But if you know these people, Jesus Christ, let them try to get their farm back. Yeah, that's the rural version of a corporate takeover. Yeah, but they always say, these rural people always say how we take care of each other out here, your neighbors are like this and that. You can steal your neighbor's land just like anybody else. Are you kidding me?

Just to pay their tax bill and tell them to get lost. Don't act better. Plenty of nice people everywhere, shitty people everywhere. So Richard, what ended up happening is he, I guess George here, George, the other guy here, Tracy George, had stolen several snowmobiles and a trailer from that, from a different farm. Not from that one, from a different farm not from that one from a different one Gordon's got from the Warren's firm I guess it was a company he stole it from also

dollars worth of shit snowmobiles a trailer a bunch of herbicides so you know weed killers and motor oil from a shed okay they took all this stuff this is at the cranberry bog yeah now'm guns also and a video cassette recorder from Andy Sherrick's home Now Andy's Richards nephew, right? Yeah, which is interesting there Richards brother Heinz German German much Heinz is Andy's father. So that's how that works. So they stole shit from Andy and Heinz's house while they were out of the house. They were on vacation and they burglarized it.

So Richard helped Tracy George conceal some of the items. He said some of them he took to Crawford County where his father lives and stashed it there. He then said that they stole motor oil and herbicides were found in the home of Rodney George, who's Tracy George's father. So they knew that he did this, okay. Both were involved in the threats and the thefts.

And in addition to that, Andy Sharroks, we'll talk about, he's 18 years old. Helmut is his grandfather and he's whatever. So there you go, helmet is his grandfather. And he and he's whatever. So there you go. Richard's his uncle. So Andy knew about all this and was involved in it enough to when a criminal charge came up from this in June 1985. Andy agrees to testify against his uncle and Tracy

to get out of it. Okay. So, cause he was like 16 at the time, 17 or something. So the criminal damage charge of the bog, that was those are burglary charges. That's a separate thing. But he's also going to tell them about the bog damaging as well. He's going to spill everything. So this happened in June 85, the Gordon Valley Marsh cranberry bog owned by Leo Gordon of Tomah in the town of Byron.

In the criminal complaint, Gordon is quoted as saying that the quote, bulkhead at the upper and lower reservoirs plus six inlets were opened, resulting in a loss of water for frost prevention and irrigation with a potential loss of the whole crop at approximately $125,000. They dropped the water straight the fuck out of it. Out of there so it's not a bog anymore it's just no they're drying out. Dry field of cranberries. Yep and then they're they'll frost over too. Yeah. Kill them all. So when asked why it was done Andy said quote because we planned or because we had planned to flood the marsh.

And they said, well, what's the motive? And Andy replied that Richard, old Dickie there, wanted to damage the marsh because Mr. Gordon would not sign the papers so he could irrigate the farmland. Apparently there's some water property disputes and water disputes and all that kind of thing. And he wasn't clear in his testimony which what farmland that Richard wanted to irrigate, but that's why they were mad at him. So they're like, we're going to fuck up his cranberries, which is I've never thought to do that to somebody.

So in a response to a question about damage, he thought that the bog owner would suffer from flooding of a cranberry bog during blossoming season. Andy replied, I'm not sure, but I'm not sure, but it wouldn't grow right. And he said, and just wouldn't have as many berries as far as I understood. So it would fuck him over. Andy also admitted his involvement in the thefts as well of the snowmobiles, the trailer, the herbicides, all that shit. He said that, quote, I helped Tracy George steal them

and I told Mr. Ron Pearson about it. Okay, so a condition, they arrest Tracy and Richard and a condition of their bail, they're let out, is that they have to stay away from Andy. Not allowed to fuck with Andy because he's testifying against them at the trial upcoming. Now, September 8th, 1986 comes along. In October, there's gonna be the hearing

and the trial where Andy's gonna testify. So on September 8th, 1986, they decide, this is Richard and Tracy, decide they need to intimidate Andy a little bit here. Yeah, tell him to knock it off. Shut your mouth. Tracy George broke into his home, kicked his fucking bedroom door in,

like literally broke into the house, like the Kool-Aid man coming into the house, forced Andy into Andy's own car, took the wheel and drove him to the Helmut Scherichs farm where they worked and lived. The incident occurred right after Andy agreed to testify against both of them at trials. He said at the time, George went in his home, ran after him, kicked the door in and cornered him in a bedroom. The kid was probably terrified

for Christ's sake. According to the transcripts here later, Andy said George forced him into the car, drove him to the farm there he said both George and Richard Chericks suggested that he quote might die if he testifies against them. It could be bad for your health. They literally said hunting season's coming up accidents happen all the time. Like literally they were doing that like mob shit you never know. You know what I mean this guy could fucking fall in a hole. Who knows he could fall down a manhole.

So yeah, Andy said he agreed to testify at the hearing for all this shit. Now, they claim that obviously he was terrified and they both threatened him with death if he did not lie and change his story in the proceedings against them. So Andy did change his testimony four days later in a hearing involving Richard Sherricks.

He said that Andy, he said Andy Sherricks later told police about the threats to his life. And he was supposed to testify again later on. So that's how that went. So they said that George conceived several ways, I guess Richard Sherricks and Tracy George then sat around going, how do we get Andy not to testify? Yeah.

How do we do this? How do we get rid of him from around here or whatever? Yeah. Because you know, they told him, and now he told the cops we've been threatening him too. So they said they could shoot him and make it look like a hunting accident. That's a thing to do.

He said, then we can put him in the manure pit where no hunting accident. That's a thing to do. He said, then we can put them in the manure pit where no one will ever find him. That'll be perfect. Um, and Andy backs that up by saying, quote, they said they had buried an animal bigger than me. And within a week and a half, there was nothing left in the manure pit. Oh, he thinks that there's so many microbes and shit. It'll, it'll eat the fuck out of a body. Yeah, there'll be bones in there You'll see a skeleton. There's gonna be a lot left meat Probably will get eaten up pretty quick by things but not the rest of them

So once at the farm and he said Richard and George made threats about killing him saying the hunting season comes up accidents do happen Yeah, yeah, you know how that goes. Andy said he agreed to lie. And he said that on the September 12th hearing, four days after this, he did lie. He said, we figured out that I was supposed to act like my facts were mixed up. Get a couple of facts screwed up

so it was looking like I was making up the whole thing. Make a jackass out of yourself on the stand so they won't believe your testimony. Yeah. So he was still alive and everybody's alive. So who cares? So he said that before the hearing September 12th in the courthouse, George came up to him in the restroom and said, keep lying. We'll pay for your perjury. We'll pay your fines and everything. Just keep lying. You're doing great. Keep up the good work on the lies. You're just lying and lying and lying. So October 30th, 1986 is the day that Andy is supposed to go testify against Tracy George at his trial. Okay, this is a big deal. Now, Heinz Scherichs, who is Andy's father, Richard's brother, he says that his

son Andy had developed a habit of not being home alone in the mornings after his parents and his younger sister went to school. Heinz said Andy would drive off in his car at the same time his sister left for school. So that was his habit. Everybody left at the same time because he goes to work. But on that morning, Andy didn't do that. Hines said that his daughter reported that Andy was not dressed at the time she left the house. So Hines was interested in that. And then from there, he leaves the house.

They leave, he's there, and then they never see him again. He disappears. He never shows up at the hearing to testify. Just poof into the ether, basically. So Hines is trying to find him at that point, and Hines is like, I don't understand it. He says, I don't understand why he would leave the area. His checking and savings accounts are untouched over a couple days. And he also said Andy had two paychecks coming that were not picked up and none of it.

And he didn't take any of his clothing from the house. He didn't like pack a suitcase, no money, no clothes. Yeah. You need both of those things. In addition, he said Andy's car is still in the driveway of our house with the keys locked inside of it. So he didn't take locked inside. He didn't take money, clothes or his car, which are the three things you need to take

off and you can figure everything else out. Yeah. So very weird is cars. Keys are locked in the car in the driveway. So he said that they asked Heinz, how did the keys get in there? And Heinz said, I have no fucking idea how the keys are locked in his car. I don't know. We have no idea. So Richard, they talked to, um, later on they're going to talk to Richard. Richard has a little bit more of a window on it. Now, Heinz said that because Andy was 18,

he didn't want to appear to be a domineering parent and give him too many suggestions about Hannah how to handle the legal situation He was in sure sure if you're 18 and in this situation you really need advice though, you know My name is in guidance. I get what he's saying trying to keep out of it Maybe Andy's one of those kids is like don't tell me what to do all the time or you know Let me live my own life who the fuck knows oh boy, but the father said yeah the father said he was concerned about how Andy planned to make arrangements to get to where he's supposed to testify against George. So Hines said he approved of Andy's plan to meet the deputy, chief deputy Ronald Pearson

in Monroe County at 1.30 p.m. and drive with him to the court appearance. He said, I don't want you driving there alone. So he said he said again drive there with the deputy chief or the county chief or whatever the fuck so I've been spending more time in California lately and I just love it there literally every time I'm there it just feels like that song I think I like this little life and I can't wait to get back there to my friends and the community that I've built I'm hoping to get back in the fall but every time I visit LA, I've realized I could easily be making some extra money if I just Airbnb my home while I'm away.

I always love staying in Airbnbs when I'm away so I can just settle into a good routine and I'm excited to host people in my home too. Whether you have extra space in your home or you're looking to make some extra money while you travel somewhere fun, your home might be worth more than you think. Find out how much at airbnb.ca. Being a part of a royal family might seem enticing, but more often than not, it comes at the expense of everything. Like your freedom, your privacy, and sometimes even your head. Even the Royals is a podcast from Wondery that pulls back the curtain on royal families, past and present, from all over the world to show you the darker side of what it means to be royalty.

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They said that Andy did not show up there though either so he's just gone. He was supposed to testify and didn't. He didn't keep his appointment so they didn't understand what was going on. So that's October 30th. Halloween comes. They're just looking for Andy. Where the fuck did he go? We can't find Andy. October, November 1st, November 2nd. No Andy. No Andy. November 3rd. No Andy. Where's Andy? So finally on November 6th, 1986, Patricia Shariks, who is Richard's wife,

said that Richard, Hines and Kathy Shariks's, Andy's parents came over to the house, Zara related, they're brothers, Heinz and Richard, came over to her Tomah apartment here, they came over to Richard and Patricia's house to ask if Richard might know where the hell Andy might be. Right. Even though he was gonna testify against him. So after Andy's parents left, Richard said, I have no idea, I don't know where he could be, I's gonna testify against him. So after Andy's parents left Richard said I have no idea

I don't know where he could be. I haven't talked to him. I'm not allowed to talk to him legally. So, I don't know After Andy's parents left Patricia said that Richard broke down crying and threatened to kill himself. Oh That seems strange. I know it's your nephew, but Jesus Christ calm down, you know, I mean worried about him Yeah, I guess so. She said that he then told her that Tracy George George killed Andy and put the body in the swamp What swamp? Yeah, Patricia was like what the fuck so Patricia told her husband Contact your lawyer and turn yourself in for this knowing this shit. This is crazy. You can't someone's dead You'll get out faster. Tell them.

So November, son, you would think so. So November 7th, 1986, Richard decides to, he goes to the police station and he's overwhelmed with guilt or something and goes to the police station and says, I got a story to tell Biggie style. Yeah. Fucking yeah. He said that, that's it man. couldn't dick off a player on the New York Knicks.

He told his story to the sheriff's department and said you know he said that he helped George plan this too. He said I helped plan the murder but he claimed that George did the killing. I didn't do it. He said because that was the day that Andy was supposed to testify against George, so in the burglary case. Oh. So he goes, he did it on the right day. He said he wasn't testifying against me that day, he was testifying against him that day.

They're separate trials. So Richard said that he and Tracy George planned to have Tracy George force Andy to write a note saying he was leaving the area and then Richard said that he was to pick Tracy George up at the Tomah bus depot after Tracy George drove Andy's car there and parked it so it looked like he got on a bus and took off even though you have a car so you don't need a bus yeah which form of transportation would you rather drive away in? Your own car or a fucking bus?

It's not a train. It depends. A train would be one thing. A bus? Who drives to the bus? That's insane. No one does that. You just keep driving your car if you're in the car already.

You walk to the bus. You walk to the bus. Yeah, you hitchhike to the bus. That's how you get to the bus. You walk to the bus. Yeah, you get a ride to the bus. You hitchhike to the bus. That's how you get to the bus. So Richard said the plan failed when Andy locked his keys in his car on purpose. Oh. He's seen this movie before when they kidnapped him.

This is the second time they tried to kidnap him with his own car. Yeah, right. So he threw the fucking keys in, locked the door, and shut it. He's like we're stuck now bitch gotcha gotcha so that's what it was so then Andy thought he was getting away with something here instead George Tracy George just dragged his ass deep into the

woods into a swamp a huge swamp area, okay? Richard Sherrick said he drove to the bus station in Tomah as planned but didn't see Tracy George. He's like, what the fuck? So he just went back to his family farm, which is the farm that this happened on. He said then he saw George and asked him if he had decided not to go through with it.

And he quoted George as saying, I've got him laying out there in a swamp. I already did it. I already did it. So Dick's here. That's Midwest Ringo right there. That is what yeah I got him laying out there in a swamp. Yeah.

I already did. Okay. Shit yeah I already did. So Richard said you know out of all, he said that George arrived early that morning at the home with the intention of killing Andy. That's why he went over there. George told him what happened. And Richard said that he and George discussed killing Andy to prevent his testimony before,

so this makes a lot of sense that he would kill him now. He said that on October 30th, Tracy George was determined to kill Andy and went to his home between 6.30 and 7 a.m. to accomplish this, which, you set an alarm. You are very much wanting to do some murder. My God, I don't think. I don't hate anybody that much. I don't have time for that.

If you see me at 6.30 a.m., you've done something very wrong to me Very wrong Steve jobs did not put that app in my phone. No, no, no fuck it up So Richard Sherrick said that Tracy George told him that he went to Andy's home Forced him to go to the swampy area after the kid locked the keys in the car Then Tracy George told him he knocked Andy down, beat him up a little bit, scuffled with him, and Andy then pulled a knife.

And cut Tracy here, Tracy said. So he said that he then got the knife away from him and then choked him and drowned him in the water at the same time. Choked him out under the water of a swamp. So under swamp waters. Yeah. Which is horrible. Now Richard is quoted as saying that he, um, at that point he said that he got some plastic bags for, for Tracy and said, do you need these to dispose of the body? And Tracy George said that no, he got on a tractor

and said I'm gonna bury him in the swamp further out. And he told authorities there later that he said that, Richard said that he took Tracy George's muddy clothes and washed them for him, because they were full of mud and swamp water. And he said he didn't want the plastic bags because the body would deteriorate better without them. He wants it to break down and go,

he thinks that if you just put it in things, it just disappears. Yeah, it disappears. Bones take a long time to break down. Even in acid, they take a long time to break down. They're not easy. When you burn them at 4,000 degrees degrees there's still big chunks of them left like yeah they're made of calcium even when you even when they they cremate somebody they put the what's left through a machine yeah make it dust

otherwise sand you're getting half a jawbone of your grandpa nobody wants that you know you don't have a mandible of your no. Nobody wants that. You don't want the mandible of your grandfather. No, Jesus. Nobody wants grandpa's mandible. So, Richard then says that George decided against using the bag so the body would rot faster. Richard says that he told Tracy George, we made a mistake. We should have done nothing to him. And George replied, quote, it's too late now. We'd done something to him. We done did it. He's already laying up in the swamp.

So then Richard went in on November 7th and surrendered. And he said he'll plead guilty to whatever they want. He's very, very malleable here. In the agreement between the state and Richard here, Richard will plead guilty to being a party to second degree murder. A party to it in the death of Andy and plead guilty to being a party to intimidation

of a witness, which is about the burglary and the bog shit. He faces a possible sentence of 27 and a half years in prison for this. Now, why? Yeah. Why did he turn him? Well why did he? Number one, why'd you do it? But then you've done all this. Why'd you just turn yourself in too? What's the deal? You fold fast man. Yeah he's faster than fucking wow. So when asked why his client had decided to cooperate his lawyer said quote I think he did some

soul searching. Yeah. Big Danny Rogers fan. Got to know when to fold them, man. Got to know when to fold them, and he does. But that might be true because they... Or he might have said, they're going to track this back to us eventually, and I'll look better if I'm the guy telling them about it than the guy making excuses about it later.

So they end up arresting Tracy as well, obviously, and so both Tracy George and Richard are both being held in county jail on kidnapping and tons of other charges. Tracy George ain't saying a fucking word, and Richard only knows the body is, quote, up in the swamp. So they can't find him, in the swamp. So right. They can't find him by the way. Well, they're it's it's you know, winter in Wisconsin and they're trudging through swamps trying to find a corpse and give near enough information. No, it's very difficult. So to find now, um, I guess Richard has a $300,000 cash bond, uh,

in cash bonds required for his release while George is only two hundred ten thousand dollars Even though he's the guy who is the actual murder according to the state So Tracy says he didn't do anything No, he claims that he didn't even leave the farm till about 1 30 p.m When he had to go for that hearing that Andy was supposed to be a witness at and he was surprised Andy didn't show up He said know where her body is that guy's telling you he knows where her body is. He said Richard on the other hand left a couple of times during the work shift. You know, so they're looking for Andy. December 18th coming up on Christmas. This was Halloween. This happened and we're coming up on Christmas. Search is still on for the body. They say the

Monroe County Sheriff Timothy Donovan says the search is being limited to a swampy area about the size of two city blocks, which is a huge area for a swamp to search through in the town just north of Tomah. The search for Andy, who's been missing seven weeks, is concentrated, this is right near his home. This is within tractor range of his home. He was reported missing on the 30th. They've searched a total

of about 14 days for him. They said the time spent in the search varies, noting that sometimes searchers are on the scene for four hours, other days up to seven hours. They said that four, uh, Donovan, this guy, sheriff said that four or five of his officers have participated in the search. The recent, most recent effort effort was a couple days ago when they used metal detectors to search the area. They said that the search will continue depending on weather and now Andy's a little guy and this is why it sounds like, because when we talked about Tracy George dealing with him, it sounded like a father dealing with like a abusive father kicking his son's door and he's cowering in a corner. And he's five foot four, 115

pounds. Oh Jesus. I mean, he is very physically intimidateable person. Very small. 18 year old kid. Very small person. So that's a lot, man. Now, so there's charges, like we said, of including kidnapping and murder and all this type of shit, although they have not found the body and they're looking for it. So the Monroe County Sheriff said the search for the body was met with no success on the

last one. They said that they had to stop in the last weekend because of wind chills of 35 to 40 degrees below zero. Oh dear. So they had to pack it in for that day before they, before half the sheriff's department drops dead in a swamp. Freeze is solid. Everybody loses a nose.

Look like Jack Nicholson at the end of The Shining, all these guys. So Donovan said, this is the sheriff, that the waist deep water is starting to freeze over too. It's a waist deep swamp which is disgusting To the it's starting to freeze over to the point where the searchers can walk on much of the icy surface Which is not good if you're trying to find a body So they said he hopes that a predicted warming smell this coming up weekend will prevent a heavy freeze and allow them to keep Searching they said the type of area that we're in pretty much prohibits the use of boats

Although we tried boats that won one occasion. It's just you have to trudge through the swamp feeling for shit and using a metal detector. Oh, God. Which is horrible. December 31st, 1986, New Year's Eve, they end up, this is fucking amazing. They take a couple of tracking dogs, okay, this is awesome, a couple of tracking dogs from Minnesota. Lily is one of the dogs names and the other one is, I'll find it in a minute, doesn't matter. Okay, they take these dogs, they use, they sent the dogs with Tracy George's Monroe County jail

uniform and then the dogs, the dogs lead the police directly to Andy's body. What? Right to his body from the jail. Directly. Straight line. His Tracy's smell. Where's he been? Over here with his body. Right there. Yep. That's first of all, amazing smell to do that. These are bloodhounds they bring in from Minnesota. And yeah, it's a bloodhound named Lily and a gas detector, another dog that detects gas. Like gas leaks and shit like that. They said that searchers found his body

under a log in a frozen swamp. That's the other thing. Tracy weighed it down with a fucking log. He put a log over it so it wouldn't float back up. At 12.40 p.m., it was found right off of, in that swamp, four miles northeast of Tomah out there. Now, they said that the spot was more than a half mile into the swamp from the highway.

A half mile of swamp this guy went through to do this. They said the land on which his body was found is near the boundary of land owned by Helmut Scherring. So it's all land that he would have known very well. He said the lack of fences in the area and all the swamps make it very difficult to determine where on whose property. They said they don't know which property the body's on. They don't know who owns the swamp. No one's really claiming that's my swamp. No one cares about that area. I'm Shrek, but that's it. The only person ever, and I don't think he lives here.

So they said a backhoe, which was used in the search for the body, had cut a path nearly 100 yards long. They said chunks of ice 6 to 8 inches thick were scattered everywhere. There was a backhoe smashing ice, basically. And they said they smashed it near there, they said the body was well preserved because it's been in cold freezing fucking water. So easily identifiable, it just looked like Andy was underwater, like hey, hey, there's Andy.

Guy thought the water was gonna destroy it, meanwhile it made it stick around. It was frozen, he preserved great, he was like man, look at that, not bad. He was like a real cold can of beer floating in some recently melted ice. So the beer's super cold still. That's what he's like.

So they said there's gonna be an autopsy, obviously, to find out what the fuck happened. They said the two bloodhounds were from Bloodhound Investigations, Inc. of Minneapolis. They helped find the body along with a gas detector. They said that the The Minneapolis firm had called and volunteered their services. They're just trying to get publicity for themselves or a new company So basically you pay their travel expenses They'll bring the dogs in and try to find somebody and they the cops said we were really running out of things to do

We had used manpower aircraft anything we could think of so there's a fuck it can't hurt So they brought in Lily and Harriet can't hurt. Sure. So they brought in Lily and Harriet are the two bloodhounds and they immediately picked up the scent, went right to the body. They said Lily in particular following scents from items used both by Andy and George indicated several areas where they said it appeared promising. So they said that they all these detectives then used ice augers, the kind used by ice fishermen, you know, big auger, big fucking whatever drill bit. Ice drill.

And bored about 50 holes in the swamp ice within a 30-yard radius of what appeared to be the most promising spots that the dogs were indicating. Then they used a gas detector which has a metal hose. The dog's not a gas detector. They have a piece of a, I don't know if it was a gas detecting dog. It's got to get the gas that's coming off a body, right? That's what they were hoping. They said it's a two or three feet long attached to an upside down funnel. They put it over each hole and turned it on. They thought that maybe they could use that to detect gases emitted from a decomposing body in the same way they use

it as a ruptured gas line. The difference is he from a decomposing body in the same way they use it as a ruptured gas line. The difference is he's not decomposing. No, because he's frozen. It's too cold. So they said they put bright orange ribbons on the trees near the spots that appeared promising by either the dogs or the gas detection. And they said that they formed a nearby circle and they figured out

where the fuck he was, under a log. So yeah, the backhoe, they said, is wide-tracked and equipped with a snow plow blade and a scoop. It dug a swath through the swampy area, building its own road as it went, pushing all the dirt and ice aside. Pretty good piece of equipment there.

They said that Andy's legs were spotted first as the backhoe neared the area where the dog's activity was most pronounced. He was underwater approximately three feet from where Lily was. The fucking dog nailed it. Went from the jail to three feet from his body and stood there.

Through ice. Through ice. That is amazing. They said the dogs had tracked a body in Texas that had been missing for 11 months. So these are good dogs, basically. The medical examiner says what happens to happen to Andy here. He says the autopsy showed Andy died of strangulation and a blow to the skull.

He got jacked up by fucking Tracy and then he choked his ass. They said he also might have drowned, but that couldn't be proven because of the situation. They said that it was not possible to determine how many blows he received either, so they definitely ruled the death a homicide, obviously. So Richard definitely helped, though. He helped cover this up. He helped a lot. The sheriff, though, said his conscience led him. That's why he came forward. He said maybe it was the fact that he was Andy's uncle and his brother came to him heartbroken. Maybe he snapped at that.

And he had also, because Richard even volunteered and they took him up on it, because he knows the land better than the cops do, they took him out of the county jail several different days to help in the search for the body. Really? Yeah, because he said, I know the area at least. So they took him out there and they didn't find it though. They said it would have been virtually impossible to find the body without the aid of Richard

because he told them it was out in a swamp. They wouldn't have known that at all. They said, we spent 61 days looking. Golly. That's a lot. So Tracy George is going to go to trial, obviously. Sure, sure. They killed an 18-year-old tiny child kid because he was going to testify about cranberry

fucking destruction. Like what is happening? This is insanity. They drained a bog. Well, if he says that, he's going to die. Wow. Yeah, he's gonna die So they informed George that the possible They in court Tracy George is told that he possible maximum sentence

He faces on all ten counts would be life imprisonment plus 62 years in prison and $80,000 in fines Okay, so yeah first degree murder and eight other charges as we talked about Now the funny thing is they thought this was gonna be like a big deal in town Okay. So yeah, first degree murder and eight other charges as we talked about. Now, the funny thing is they thought this was going to be like a big deal in town. So they put up metal detectors for the court to make sure nobody would like try to kill this guy while he was on the stand. Turns out like three people showed up. No one even showed up at all. So they were like, didn't need the security whatsoever. It was like a little overkill.

Two old ladies that normally come watch court because it's warm in there and like, didn't need the security whatsoever. It was like a little overkill. Two old ladies that normally come watch court because it's warm in there and like, you know, somebody who knew the guy in high school or something. Town's mad at this guy and don't give a fuck about him. It's fucking ridiculous. So imagine you're walking through the park one day and you see a suspicious backpack sitting underneath a bench.

You report it to the police and upon investigating, they discover two live pipe bombs inside. You rush it to the police and upon investigating, they discover two live pipe bombs inside. You rush to clear the area before they explode, saving countless lives and preventing injury. Everyone declares you a hero for a fleeting moment until everything changes and you are declared the prime suspect. This was the story of security guard Richard Jewell. After the Centennial Park bombing killed one person and wounded more than 100, public pressure and a media witch hunt pushed a desperate FBI to find a suspect.

Despite obvious holes in the case and unethical tactics used by the FBI, security guard Richard Jewell was under pressure to confess. I'm Aaron Habel. And I'm Justin Evans. Join us as we explore the aftermath of the 1996 Centennial Olympic Park bombing in the newest season of our podcast, Generation Y,ennial Olympic Park bombing and the newest season of our podcast, Generation Y, the Olympic Park bombing. Follow Generation Y on the Wondry app

or wherever you get your podcasts. You can listen to Generation Y ad free right now by joining Wondry Plus. At a time when we're debating where policing is going, we're gonna tell you where the police came from. They wanted me to write about the New York City Police Department, but without using the words violence or corruption,

which is effectively impossible. A story of how the largest and most influential police department in the country became one of the most violent and corrupt organizations in the world. It doesn't matter if you're a self-emancipated law person or if you're a free, they're just sending people back to the cell, kidnapping them.

When officers with the power to fight the danger, become the danger. I was terrified. I'm not gonna talk to the police because they're the ones who are perpetrating this. Who am I gonna talk to? From Wondry and Crooked Media, I'm Chinjirah Kumanika, and this is Empire City,

the untold origin story of the NYPD. Follow Empire City on the Wondry app or wherever you get your podcasts. You can listen early and ad free on Wondry Plus right now. Join Wondry Plus in the Wondry app or on Apple podcasts. Imagine you're walking through the park one day and you see a suspicious backpack sitting underneath a bench. You report it to the police and upon investigating, they discover two live pipe bombs inside. You rush to clear the area before they explode, saving countless lives and preventing injury. Everyone declares you a hero for a fleeting moment

until everything changes and you are declared the prime suspect. This was the story of security guard Richard Jewell. After the Centennial Park bombing killed one person and wounded more than 100, public pressure and a media witch hunt pushed a desperate FBI to find a suspect. Despite obvious holes in the case and unethical tactics used by the FBI, security guard Richard Jewell was under pressure to confess. I'm Aaron Habel. And I'm Justin Evans.

Join us as we explore the aftermath of the 1996 Centennial Olympic Park bombing in the newest season of our podcast, Generation Y,ennial Olympic Park bombing in the newest season of our podcast Generation Y, the Olympic Park bombing. Follow Generation Y on the Wondery app or wherever you get your podcasts. You can listen to Generation Y ad free right now by joining Wondery Plus. The defense opening in the trial, the defense attorney says that Richard, not Tracy, had far more motive to kill Andy. Okay. Richard pleaded guilty to second degree murder, by the way. Smart. Or accessory to whatever the fuck it was.

So he said that Richard had far more motive to kill Andy than George. He said that he claimed that Richard had not been able to negotiate a plea bargain and turn state's evidence. Had Richard not done this, he would have faced conviction in the Cranberry Bog damage charge and a possible lawsuit of over half a million dollars for damaging the bog. He said Richard's wife left him because of his involvement in criminal acts. Meanwhile, the wife was there up until he turned himself in. The criminal act she was upset with was murder. That's the guy she left.

And that he faced losing any chance of inheriting his father's farm or keeping it if he did inherit it So Tracy's day the defense says he will testify That he went nowhere near Andy Sharrocks the day that supposedly he was killed But he can't account for the whereabouts of Richard though. So Richard might have been there George's lawyer made those remarks in his opening statements here. The statement obviously counters what the prosecutor said here,

but he'll say George will testify he was working with Richard Sherricks at Helmut Sherricks Farm. He said George will testify that he kept working that day until it was time for him to leave for his court hearing, but that Richard had left earlier in the day without saying where he was going. Suspicious.

He's mysterious. George said he will testify. They said that George will testify that he was a little bit surprised that Andy didn't appear to testify against him. Wow. And they actually have Andy testify from beyond the grave. Is that right?

How? Yes, this is wild how they do this. It would be one thing just to put his words up like in a transcript. That I think is enough, but they do this a completely different way. They, this is the part of a transcript with Andy, which Andy described how he had falsified testimony

in the hearing on September 12th because he had been threatened with death by fucking Richard and Tracy. So they bring in a kid named Dirk Helgemoe who's 17 years old and he's a very good actor. He's like in the drama department. He's going to read Andy's testimony and be Andy, which I don't think that's legal anymore. You cannot have a, like that's, that is wild. Here's Juliard trained actress.

And the whole time on it, they had a big color picture of a picture of Andy and his high school graduation, smiling back at them in a big picture while he's reading from this kid's crying. Oh Man about how they're gonna kill me and all this stuff like it's Andy So in that transcript Andy said Richard and George intended hinted at various ways to kill him including a hunting accident and all that kind of shit Yeah, Andy's dad Heinz He testified that his son was afraid of his uncle and George because they continually harassed him This is great. Andy's father Heinz not afraid of these guys at all

I think he's he's the older brother obviously if he's got an 18 year old son He must be and there isn't an older brother alive Who's afraid of his little brother even if his little brother is like Brock Lesnar or something Brock Lesnar still like I'm not gonna piss my older brother off. He might smack me around or something. Brock Lesnar is still like, I'm not going to piss my older brother off. He might smack me around. And if you kill your, if you're a party to your older brother's kid's murder, he's going to be pretty upset. He's going to be pissed at you. This is way different than when you crashed his fucking

dirt bike when you were 13 or some shit. He's a little madder than that. Yeah. So he glared over at Tracy George here, Hines, and they wouldn't look up at him and said that the two did not bother Andy when he was home. He said, when I was there, they never came and bothered him. He said, quote, then he pointed at them and said, those two Yahu's know when I'm gone. Which the Yahu's is a great, that's what you call the murderer of your son, a Yahoo. Well, other times very midway, those two Yahoo's over there. Like they Yahoo's like, like just like into some, you know, trivializing a murderer.

Yeah. He's too. Yeah. You see that crazy giant inflatable Santa Claus he puts in his yard for Christmas. What a Yahoo. This guy. So he fucking wing nuts. Yeah. He also described how he spent nearly two hours on October 30th with the family

Beagle Snoopy in search of Andy. He was not successful. And nobody was useless piece of shit. Is that dog? He wasn't looking at the swabs. Yeah. Did he, did you give him a jail uniform? Maybe he would have been better. Better sell that motherfucker. Richard testifies to everything I told you before that he said, everything that happens. I don't need to go over that again. Then they get a guy who's in jail with Tracy, a guy named Timothy King. He's in jail facing a charge of damage to property,

which seems like they'll get dismissed if he does a good job here. That's something that has to share a cell with him? Yeah, because he fucking took a baseball bat to his girlfriend's hood of his Uber car. Because he kicked the screen door in of her house. He's sitting with a murderer. Jesus, he was his cellmate. Oh my. He said that several days before Thanksgiving, he and George overheard a conversation in an adjacent cell.

King said the conversation, which came through the jail vent, hell yeah. They listened through toilets in jail. They flushed the toilet a bunch of times to get no water so they could talk to each other and indicated that police found Andy Sharick's body. That's how they found out about it. King testifies that George, laid on his bed rolled around and swore like god damn it they found him. In response to a question King repeated a statement that George had made. He said George told him there's no way they would find him. That was

uh hid too good. That was hid too good. That's it too good. He's laying up in the swamp. That's it too good. He's laying up in the swamp. Heard a lily obviously. Yeah, no shit. So Tracy testifies too and he's got it because they keep saying he's gonna. So he does. And he denied Sherrick's claim and court testimony that he and George left the farm before 7am to murder Andy then returned and all of that shit.

He claimed that Richard Sherrick's not, who was preoccupied with figuring out ways to kill Andy. He's like, we both left and Richard took off and I don't know where the hell he is, so he did it. He said that Richard left his father's farm shortly before nine a.m. on the day Andy disappeared and did not return until about 11 a.m. So he spent about two hours in the travel and killing.

He said much of Andy's testimony in the preliminary hearing on October 6th on George assisted Richard Chericks in, hearing on how George assisted Richard Chericks in threatening Andy if he testified against them were not true. Said none of that was true. All this shit Andy said was a lie too.

And the dead guy's a liar. We're gonna throw that in there. He claimed that, this is fucking crazy. He claimed that Sherricks, Richard Sherricks had a temper which resulted in animal abuse very often. He said Sherricks used metal pipes and his fists to assault cows. Really? Why?

What the f- Why would you want to- Why are you assaulting a cow? They're so tousle. They don't give a fuck. Leave them alone. Yeah, they had killed a cow and put it in the manure pile at one point. He also testified that Richard Sherricks enjoyed that Andy's parents worried about the fate of their son, which I don't believe because he turned himself in when they came over there and talked about it.

So George testified that Richard Sherricks, and that could have been all for self-preservation. It could have been like nets close and I'm going to be the first to get a deal. George testified that Richard Sherricks blamed Andy and Andy's father, Hines, for a decision by Richard's wife, Patricia, to leave the farm along with the family's five children last September, and she had come back. So this is the quote that George attributes to Richard. Quote, I love the pain they're going through. Makes him sound like a monster, obviously. George said he spent his very innocent morning of October 30th doing chores and grinding

corn as one does, as we did before the show. Had to get the corn ground. That's how it works. It's a big Wednesday. Yeah. He said he did not leave the farm until about 2 p.m. when he went for the preliminary hearing. Now, in the closing arguments, the defense here, the defense lawyer Gregory Lundell claimed that Richard is the real killer.

He refuted Richard's testimony, which they said that George did everything and so on, you know, choked him and strangled him and all that. He also challenged Richard Sherrick's testimony that George then confessed to what he had done to Andy. He said Richard Sherrick is a confessed murderer. He's also a confessed liar. Right. Yeah, he said that the DA had nothing but Sherricks word

that George had committed the murder. That's all we have, there's no physical evidence. It is, that's everybody's word. He said, quote, they have no physical evidence. The prosecution said, get the fuck out of here. He said it's ridiculous to place the blame on Richard Sherrick. This is a weird thing, because one's 26 and one's 25, and there's a one's 21.

There's a big difference between 26 and 21. True. And Richard is the older one. But yet the prosecution says, quote, who is going to pull who around by the nose? He said, Richard's a dipshit and a dummy. He said he'd be lucky to pick cranberries for a fucking living. He said, George is an A student in high school and was a big popular basketball star.

I think he'd be the one in control. Sure. And he's a bigger guy too. He's a big guy. So he said he's the one who's conjuring up the story to avoid responsibility for his actions. He would say anything to walk out of this courtroom. Not Richard.

So the verdict comes in, nine women, three men on the jury here. They were brought in from a different county because of publicity. So they did that. So much publicity that three people showed up. They started deliberations at 3 p.m. on a Friday and reached their verdict at 950. Jesus, they kept them there till 10 o'clock. Wow. The verdict was announced at 10 20 p.m. Oh, after they reassembled everybody on a Friday night. They have these people are it's Wisconsin. These people are hammered. How many of this courtroom were shit faced when they came in there?

Your honor, we're ready to proceed you order a Bloody Mary there they give you an eight ounce beer with it yeah just as a backer right you know you'll want that they don't care so thirsty after all that sodium yeah you're gonna need this trust me me. So they are gonna find him, this is Tracy George here, not guilty of murder. Is that right? Not guilty of murder, yeah, even though it all lined up. It was did too good. They did find him guilty of burglary, intimidation and extortion for breaking into Andy's home on September 8th and threatening to injure him if he testified. He could be sentenced to a maximum of 20 years in prison. Oh my God.

But at one time he faced nine charges including murder. So not bad. Did pretty well for himself. Not bad. Not bad for him. I mean he, wow. Tracy George's mother and his girlfriend were all there and they were sobbing and hugging each other.

They should have been high fiving. He got fucking acquitted of murder when he clearly probably did this. Smacking people on the ass, screaming, good game. This is fucking, yeah, the attorney, good job there. Fist bumps. So Tracy's gonna make a deal, a plea bargain, for the four counts of theft being a party to perjury

in his efforts for September 12th, because he's got all those charges hanging over him too. So for some reason they make a deal with him. I would think they'd want to hold his shit to the fire and get every year they can since he got acquitted of murder. It's like, oh, Jay, they're going to put him in longer or something else. They're afraid that they can't get it because they couldn't get him on murder. I may be. Yeah. So in return, maybe he'll get away with everything.

In return for the plea, they dropped four burglary charges against him and Vernon County agreed to drop charges in the burglary and theft case there because he's been stealing shit all over the place. Yeah So they asked if the judge approves this they said if the judge approves the agreement sentencing on all the charges will be all together and Yeah, for which if you faces trial, if not convicted, involve theft and burglary. Okay, there you go. Now, so he's charged with the party to perjury

and all that kind of shit. They urged a, the prosecutor urged a severe sentence saying the public needs protection from people like George. Tracy George felt he was too smart to get caught for what he was doing. Tracy speaks. Anything to say for yourself? He goes, hell, something to say. All right.

He said, I realize I've made some big mistakes and I have to be punished for them. I know I have made a mess out of my life. Not your life that we're talking about. No, you took another. Fuck. I mean, he's not in trouble for that. No, not at all.

He said that he wants a chance to change his ways, so please give me a light sentence. He said, I wanna be an aid to society, not a all. He said that he wants a chance to change his ways. So please give me a light sentence. He said, I want to be an aid to society, not a detriment. He won't be by the way. We'll talk all about it. But his lawyer urged a maximum of two or three years in prison for him. The judge on the other hand here, he says that he didn't think George showed any remorse for his crimes previous to the sentencing. He said the remorse seems to be more directed toward the situation in which he now finds himself. Like he needs to be remorseful. He said he's a manipulative person. He's sometimes a very arrogant person. He also called George very intelligent, but probably an academic

underachiever whose high point in life came when he was a basketball star in high school. A judge is, you're being deemed legally, you fucking peaked in high school. You legally peaked in high school, sir. You've been adjudicated a high school peaker. He suggested that George may have become bitter because his life seemed to go downhill from that point. He said, I sense a lot of hostility in Mr. George and what I've observed in the courtroom.

He also brushed aside a defense attorney comment that George had never smoked, drank or taken drugs. The judge said that he'd have an excuse for his conduct if he had been on drugs and alcohol. Drunk, I can understand. I've been drunk. An arrogant sober lunatic that I've never had before He says you sir may fuck off

32 years in jail he gives him Not to 32 32 for a non-murderer, but he will be eligible for parole in eight years Okay, so for parole in eight years. Okay. So, alright. Now, Richard gets sentenced for his part in all this and he is sentenced to, you sir, may also fuck off, 22 and a half years. Okay.

He might as well have just gone with the flow. They would have got away with it. If neither of them said anything, they would have fucking, they wouldn't have known who to convict. So, that's what he testified and got that. Now, very quickly before we end here, there's an article from the La Crosse Tribune. This is November 13th, 1988, and it says massive milk watering scheme,

probe centers on same farm linked to two-year-old murder case. Sure. A John Doe investigation into milk watering reportedly has ended, but the Monroe County District Attorney David Shudlick would not comment. Such investigations are kept secret.

However, a compliance officer in the Wisconsin Department of Agriculture, Trade and Consumer Protection who said he testified twice in the investigation told the La Crosse Tribune that in September they had an investigation centered on a collusion between a dairy man and a milk hauler. The case- Oh my god. They're watering down their milk from a dairy farm. You've got to be shitting me. They said the case could involve hundreds of thousands of dollars worth of watered milk, making it the largest case of its kind in his 30 years with the department. Unbelievable. And puts the quote, reputation of Wisconsin's dairy products at risk.

They said this in court. How dare you besmirch Wisconsin's dairy rep here? They're not taking that shit. Is that how they make it 1%? That's it. The suggestion is widespread abuse of widespread abuse is contained in a complaint here where they say a milk hauler, it accuses a milk hauler, Paul H. Felber of Tomah with failing to take samples of milk picked up at the Helmut Scherricks Farm in 83, 84, 85 and through November of

1986, you know, when there was shitloads of cops on the property, then they stopped. On that date, a field man for Wisconsin Dairies tested milk picked up at the Sherricks farm. The milk was found to contain 37% added water well beyond the natural water content. Now, his lawyer, Helmets lawyer said Helmets Sherricks is a 68 year old dairy farmer. He purchased his farm in 1961 and operated it as a family farm for 27 years. He received numerous awards for producing excellent quality milk.

He's proud of maintaining grade A milk status and has never watered down his milk. The Department of Agriculture, Trade and Consumer Protection, though, said to have they pulled a milk hauler Felber's license got his rid of his license. Hines says he isn't a hundred percent sure but his recollection is that Andy had told authorities at least something about the milk watering because he did he said 37 percent sure. How sure are we? We two percent one percent? Are we skim sure? He said, Andy knew about it and was questioned about it

before he turned up missing. I know one thing, it sticks in my mind. Andy wanted to quit the place six months or longer before he turned up missing. I talked him out of it. I wish I hadn't. He'd be alive. He said, how the milk was watered was described

by the Tribune by a farmer here, saying that this happened. George was accused in Andy Sherrick's, this is Tracy George too, because Tracy George is involved in this as well. Apparently after the cows had been milked and the milk pumped into a bulk tank, the water used to rinse the milk line

was left running into the tank for 20 to 30 minutes each night. Adding extra water. They said Rick or Helmut would run the wash cycle. That's what Tracy George said. So that's Richard or Helmut. That took anywhere from 20 to 30 minutes depending on who did it and how much of a hurry they were in. He said, I'd come in, hang up the machines used to milk the cows, scrape down the barn and let the cows out, and I'd walk in the milk house and the discharge pipe would still be in the bulk tank. George said he became curious about the operation.

One night he measured the milk before the rinse operation and again right afterward finding a big difference in volume. Yeah, about 40%. After that he said he kept an eye on it. He said watered down milk sometimes weighed 16,000 pounds or more every day but usually came in between 11,000 and 14,000 pounds He said figuring an average of 12,500 pounds 30 percent 7 percent added water would have increased the value of a single pickup by $551

Every time that's an extra eight thousand five hundred forty eight dollars a month more than than $102,000 a year. In 1985, six months. That's some shit, that's a lot of money. So, and that's an amazing living in 1986. You're rich if you make a hundred grand a year. So, George said he once asked Helmut if milk watering was how he solved his farm's financial problems. He goes, this is how you solved it?

He said, quote, he didn't say yes or no, he just had a sly grin on his face. And two other sources agree, this is Helmut's son, Heinz, who's 41, and obviously Andy's father, he said that, yeah, there was a lot of problems, financial problems on the farm, a loan from the FHA helped save the farm.

He said, but he, Hines, who's in a dispute with his father over ownership of a very small piece of land, said that milk watering began on a small scale 27 years ago when he was a high school freshman. Been watering it for years. Years, he said his son Andy also knew about it and said what I knew, he knew knew I know how things went so Andy knew too.

So now you can add another part of this fucking conspiracy to get everybody wanted rid of Andy. He knew too much. Hind said he was asked by he knew too much. He knew too much about cranberry flooding and milk watering. There's a lot of things to kill over. It sounds like shit. Someone want to kill Charlie over and fucking always sunny or something

I know about the milk watering and the crab bogging and the cranberry bog shit, man. This is big Dennis motor oil and the snowmobiles Jesus Christ, so they said would you are you gonna testify they asked Heinz against your father and he said I would yeah not To discredit him my dad But to tell what I knew it's the law He said they said, you know, what's gonna happen to your father and he said I'm sure he's gonna lose everything Right. So George's account of milk watering is and tis or is Substantiated to a lesser degree by another source

He told his George had told the story to his probation agent more than a year ago And George was sentenced for all the thefts and while he was in prison. So Felber, by the way, has been doing that route for 20 years. So he's been doing this a lot. In recent years, they said Helmut's financial difficulties had magically straightened out. He kept his farm. He built a new barn in the early eighties, bought new tractors, and drove a Lincoln Continental. Because water's cheaper.

Water's cheaper than milk. One of his neighbors said, I always wondered how he got a lot of milk out of his cows. Yeah. Yeah. Weird, right? Not a lot of cows out there. A lot of milk coming out of them. Strange.

A lot of milk. Now, Richard, I think everybody's out of prison by now. Yeah, they've got to be. They're all, I mean, eight years and whatever. Yeah. Richard, I found, had a couple of minor infractions here, a failure to stop at a stop sign in 2015, and then a failure to obey a traffic officer in 2017. Oh my God.

Not a big deal there, but then also I see Richard claimed Chapter 13 bankruptcy in October of 2023. Uh-oh. So he's in some trouble. claimed Chapter 13 bankruptcy in October of 2023. Uh oh. So he's in some trouble. He lives in Green Bay at this point, I believe, there. And I, Tracy, don't know where he is because fuck that guy. So there you go, everybody. You don't know where he is?

Fucking nothing right around the corner, man. I'm scared to death. I have no cranberries around here. I'm fine. I'm checking behind every door. Let's do it. Yeah, when we leave here, let's fucking do a quick Tracy George sweep. Quick walk through.

Andy just, the poor little fuck just knew too much. It's amazing. He had way too much knowledge for his tiny body and it didn't work out. It's dangerous. So there you go. There's Tom of Wisconsin. Stop learning, everybody. Jesus, don't know anything.

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Before you go, tell us about yourself by filling out a short survey at Wondery.com slash survey. In the Pacific Ocean, halfway between Peru and New Zealand, lies a tiny volcanic island. It's a little-known British territory called Pitcairn, and it harboured a deep, dark scandal. There wouldn't be a girl on Pitcairn once they reached the age of 10 that would still emerge. It just happens to all of them. I'm journalist Luke Jones, and for almost two years, I've been investigating a shocking story that has left deep scars on generations

of women and girls from Pitcairn. When there's nobody watching, nobody going to report it, people will get away with what they can get away with. In the Pitcairn trials, I'll be uncovering a story of abuse and the fight for justice that has brought a unique, lonely Pacific Island to the brink of extinction.