Murder Unscripted
The Murder of Susan Woods - "I'm a Survivor" (Ep. 4:2)
So I'm going to be the bigger person and admit something. Yikes. When I asked you in John Wayne, John Wayne Gacy's paintings, if you could see both of Mickey's ears, several people have written in to say, yes, you can see both of Mickey's ears. And then I did not specify that it had to be the whole ear. So other people with eyes wrote in to back me up. Yes. So is that a letter from Stevie Wonder? Even he could see that there were two years. He's like, I think there's two. You are being awarded an extra half a point. Man, I'm doing it for choice of words for murder trivia. It's Tuesday at all listening to better arts. But then what is up, everybody? Welcome to another episode of Murder Unscripted. I'm your host, Ed Heydock, along with my bestie, the artist formerly known as Melissa Spivey. I love that. What was I known as? What am I known as now? You don't want to know, especially behind your back. I believe that. So Melissa, last week, you had told us the absolutely gut wrenching, but incredible survivor story of Kristi Flynn and man, brutal is an understatement. Absolutely. Like that story was wild and what Kristi went through is it's just amazing that she survived and that she can talk about it. Like what a bad ass woman. So we have another bad ass woman coming up next week. And her name is Shannon Myers Barrientos and Shannon survived an encounter with, with an absolute monster named Joseph Scott Hatley. And, and Shannon is going to tell us all about her experience, but when what being a survivor means to her. And I had met Shannon when I was producing an episode of cold case files. Um, and Shannon is actually tied to the case of Susan Woods. And Susan Woods is the case that I'm going to be covering today. And unfortunately, Susan did not have a happy ending, um, like, like Shannon and Kristi did. And it feels odd saying happy ending. You know what I mean? Yeah. And, and I think it's really important to focus on these people. Cause ultimately I feel like not all survivors do have a happy ending. Like I don't think anyone ever fully heals from sexual assault or attempted murder, but I think some people heal a little bit better than others. And you know, use that to help other people. So this is a, this might be a longer episode. So we'll see how it plays out, but I think it's one you're going to want to hear in its entirety because not only is Susan's case incredibly harrowing. Um, but Shannon, it'll make sense then when we bring Shannon on next week, you'll really understand kind of what she went through and what her role in Susan's case was. So let's get into it. Does this mean I get to gas up the time machine? If anyone has gas, Melissa, it's you. So gas away. Let's go back to July of 1987. Alright, so we are officially in 1987 and we have our leg warmers, our aquanette and our shoulder pads. 1987 was like a year of fantastic music. George Michael released the album, Faith That Year, which just like makes me smile because I love him. Uh, I want to dance with somebody by Whitney Houston. The love of my life was a classic. Yep. But the top song that year was walk like an Egyptian by the bangles. Do you remember that? I was certainly. Wait, do you feel like it's probably considered offensive now? Oh, a hundred percent. Okay. I was thinking about it. I remember watching the music video and everybody, I think it was on a city street. They had just everybody doing the, the, this Egyptian dance. Like you see in hieroglyphics and I don't think it's not great of a song, but moving on one of the top movies that year was fatal attraction. And like that was like one of the OG true, well, not true, but crime movies. I feel like that was like the OG version of snapped. It kind of was like a movie for him. Yeah. Yes. And that bunny scene still, I'm still scarred by it. Agreed. That was a tough one. Also tough, the popular TV show that year was the Cosby show. Yikes. Yeah. And one more 1987 fun fact, the top snacks that year, of course, I'm going to find the snacks were cool ranch Doritos, Capri Sun and SpaghettiOs. So like literally 90% of my diet. You wonder why yours stomach always hurts. I think it's your diet. You might want to see a nutritionist because I doubt SpaghettiOs and co-ranched Doritos are on the approved list in the green foods. When you wash it down with Capri Sun, it's good Lord. Well, thank you for that, that mountain nourished trip down memory lane. So it is July of 1987. And we are in Stephenville, Texas, which at the time was a relatively small town, about 13,000 people, mostly made up of dairy farms and fields. There wasn't a lot going on in this town. And it was a typical kind of small southern town back in the 80s. So very, very conservative. And wait, wait, wait, wait, I forgot. I have one more fun fact, but this is actually about Stephenville, Texas. Oh, did you know that it is the cowboy capital of America? It has the most professional cowboys and cowgirls. I did know that actually. And I hate to burst your bubble, but it was only because I only because we found that out doing the cold case files. So we had researched it, but unfortunately, there are no cowboys or cowgirls in this story. It does focus on a beautiful young 30 year old woman named Susan Woods. She was so pretty. She had like this really pretty face with like clear porcelain skin. She had high cheekbones and this long smooth, shiny brown hair. She kind of looks like she reminds me of the woman, Mary Louise Parker, though actress from weeds. Oh, from weeds. Yeah, she's a good actress. And you're right, you're absolutely right. Susan does have a kind of a little resemblance. Yes, that's exactly who I thought up when I saw her. So she was gorgeous. Susan was stunning, 100%. And Susan is this basically a small town, Texas girl who was described as timid, but but a kind and sweet woman who loved who loved fast cars, especially her, her 1965 classic Mustang. I mean, this thing was her pride and joy. And she and her pal, her pal Gloria, who we'll learn about later, actually used to take this thing, cruising up and down the drag. They called it in Stephenville. And it was basically this like little strip of road that ran between one Dairy Queen and another Dairy Queen. It was just back and forth, cruising up and down. When I was reading about her, she it popped in my head. She literally reminds me of the opening court in that journey song where it's like just a small town girl living in a lonely room. Oh, yeah, it's funny you bring that up because it is. That's a great description of Susan. She was she was kind of a little lonely, but she had a handful of good friends, including Cindy Hayes and Cindy and Susan back in elementary school. They were they were in the same class together and the teacher was calling out. It was April 6th and they were calling out whose birthday it was. And Cindy and Susan both had birthdays. They both kind of stood up and it was like that was the first time they had met. And that friendship continued over into their adult lives. So Susan was this this small town girl who who embraced Stephenville for what it was. She loved this place. She was born and raised here, loved everything it had to offer. So obviously when when Michael Woods comes strolling into town, Michael is this long haired bad boy musician who kind of swoops in and and Susan is smitten and Michael was smitten as well. So in a newspaper article, he had said this about Susan, quote, she was gorgeous. She was absolutely gorgeous and she was amazed to hear my stories about other places because she'd never been anywhere or gone anywhere. And she was just fascinating to be around. She was just so full of love and quote. I actually read about Michael that he would like lay out in Stephenville. He would like lay outside in his yard without a shirt on. And I guess he was getting a tan or whatever. But like the neighbors were scandalized by this. I feel like that conservative Godfearing town was clutching their pearls over Michael's like bad boy vibe and absolutely. And Michael obviously never he never fit in. We talked about this being the cowboy capital of America. He was anything but a cowboy and he stuck out like a sore thumb. I mean, this that's exactly what Susan was looking for, though. You know, she all she had seen her whole life were the same kind of dudes and then Michael comes in. So he he looked an awful lot. So for the fellow old heads listening to this pod, he looked just like Bob Seager. And Melissa, you probably don't even know who that is, but I was not going to admit this, but I didn't I've heard the name and like, I'm sure I know the music, but like I was like, I don't know who it is. To be familiar with good music to understand who Bob Seager is. And you're you're still in in sync land. And why don't we take a vote? How many people know Justin Timberlake versus Bob Seager? Depends who you ask, but Team JJ go on. So Susan and Michael eventually get married and she was happy for a while. And and so was Michael, but the problem was Susan was was hard working and responsible. And and Michael was not. He and to give him some credit. He did come. He did have a pretty crappy upbringing. His mother was reportedly abusive and frequently moved herself around and and the eight kids in that family around the country. And she had basically a revolving door of husbands and boyfriends. So I don't know. It's it's the instability and trauma of abuse was definitely like alive and well in Michael's life, but so he never really could settle into a traditional life. And he just wanted to play music all day, every day. And honestly, same, if I had that, I don't blame. But but the gigs, the couple gigs that he did get didn't really pay the bills. But but still Michael and Susan married and sometime in 1980 and and Susan pretty much spent their entire marriage supporting Michael while he didn't do a whole lot. Susan eventually kind of became unhappy being being the breadwinner, the sole provider and just Michael not wanting to get off his ass to for lack of a better word. And and by 1987, things had gotten pretty ugly. They were arguing more and eventually Michael blew up and left. The problem was so he went to Indiana to to stay with his brother and look for work there and but but he took Susan's Mustang with him. And it was their only vehicle too. But he also left these these kind of cruel and abusive notes all over the house, basically telling her what a piece of shit she was. And he also left several cassette tapes, like audio cassette tapes of him saying these awful things and they were never released to the public. But but no, make no mistake. These were vulgar. They were foul, but I'm not questioning if he loved her or not. But that's something I'm never going to understand. Like if you love someone, how do you say those things? I know we all say things out of anger, but I feel like there's a certain line you don't cross and if you genuinely love someone, I I kind of feel like you shouldn't be able to muster that much anger, especially when Susan legitimately didn't do anything wrong, except basically say get a job. Right. She did nothing wrong and I'm not I'm not defending what he did, what Michael did, but he was hurting and we've all been there, you know, relationships. They come with big feelings. So and if one person feels slighted somehow, it's easy to let tempers flare and just you sometimes you say and do things you wouldn't normally do. Yeah. Well, and it but I can tell you tell you with certainty that that Michael did love Susan and I think it was his upbringing, his childhood, his early adult years. He never really had the opportunity to see what a what a healthy adult relationship seemed like looked like. So and a couple of that with the fact that he hated Stephenville, you know, so it was all this stuff building inside him and it just I think it came out in the in the worst way possible. So after Michael moved to Indiana, he did try several times. He spoke to Susan on the phone. They actually had a couple conversations and he was trying to get her to come out there with him, but she never bit. She loved Stephenville. He hated it. She loved it and she just never would. She would never agree to come out there. So she was too hurt also by everything that he'd done, despite how many times he apologized. So in late 1987, Susan served him with divorce papers. Life went on. And while Michael tried to make a new home for himself in Indiana, Susan actually appeared to be doing pretty well in the wake of all this. She was working a lot because she had to pay for a new car at this point. So six days a week, multiple double shifts at the sandpaper factory. With that in mind, when Susan's boss notices that she's been, she's been out for two days with, but not so much as a phone call, that manager obviously becomes concerned. So July 28, 1987, her manager at that point calls Susan's father, Joe Atkins and expresses his concern about Susan having basically two no calls and no shows. It's just not like her. And Joe Atkins agrees that this is completely at a character for his daughter. So he, he offers to go basically conduct a welfare jack over at Susan's place. And, and what he discovers is literally pure nightmare fuel, especially as a parent. Joe finds Susan's body in her bathtub. Her, her head was underwater and the water in the tub was basically black as night, I mean, from all the blood and, and Susan's hands had been bound kind of behind her back with a, with a piece of clothing. And there was just blood all over the bathroom and the house was a wreck. And, and Joe runs screaming from the bathroom. He doesn't look nothing and he didn't see anything else. It was like, once you see that, it's, get out of there as quickly as possible. And when he calls, he manages to call police. And when they arrive, they find him basically on his knees in the front lawn, just in total shock and disarray. I mean, he doesn't know what he just saw. So Sergeant Donnie Hensley is one of the first to arrive on site. And this is sad because Donnie actually knows Joe Atkins. They're, they're friends from around town. So to hear about a friend's daughter being found dead in such a horrific way, it hits Donnie pretty hard. So Sergeant Hensley musters up the courage to, to kind of go into the home. And he heads, he heads to the back of the house and starts in Susan's bedroom. And there, it's clear as day that there has been a struggle between Susan and her attacker. There's stuff everywhere and this contains one of the most chilling things that I've ever heard. There was mascara on the pillow and, and makeup. So you could kind of see that it had been used to smother Susan. And Sergeant Hensley said, quote, I could see where her eyes had been for years. I mean, all I could see was that eerie mascara. That's so haunting. And I can absolutely picture it as someone who often goes to sleep with makeup on. And even more haunting is that, that Texas monthly article refers to it as Susan's death mask, which is so messed up. It's so yeah, I don't like that. Well, and later we find out from the medical examiner that that Susan had been raped and sodomized and she, she had these dark, dark red marks around her neck. So the thought was that they kill her, originally tried to strangle her before drowning her in the tub or strangled her first, then drowned or whatever. Luckily, police pretty quickly discover some, some pretty solid evidence. There's two sets of fingerprints and a palm print on the, on the bathtub where Susan was found. This was one of those old tubs, not, not quite a claw tub, but one of the standalone tubs where you can actually like straddle, you could straddle the tub hypothetically and put both your hands on the sides. Yeah. So it wasn't like an inlaid chat tub. It was like a standalone, right. Yeah. So they got these prints on the side, which was like even back then kind of great evidence. Yeah, except that they didn't have like AFS or a computer fingerprint database or anything, right? No, they definitely not. But they, what they had now are, I assume, the killer's prints. I mean, they weren't, they weren't Joe Atkins because he said he didn't touch anything. So it could have been Michael Woods because he lived there, but more than likely with the way these were positioned, the way the hand was turned. I mean, it made sense. So as they're exploring the house, they do find another really key piece of evidence in the living room, there's a can of Coke on the, on the coffee table, along with an ashtray full of cigarette butts. And I want to say there were like six maybe. So picture a half dozen cigarette butts. And the thing is though, Susan didn't smoke and she didn't drink caffeine. So investigators are immediately like, who, who was at this house? Who was she entertaining her killer? Essentially, that's what that's what the scene looked like. And it's the theory that they pretty much solidified. Um, when, when they found no sign of forced entry. So, so the thought process was clearly this was someone who was comfortable being in that house and someone that Susan trusted enough to, to open the door for and invite in and it looked like hang out with. So immediately all fingers are, are pointed directly at Michael Woods. And that Texas monthly article that I referenced earlier is, is literally entitled everyone in Stephenville thought they knew who killed Susan Woods. They didn't really bury the lead with that one. And not in the least, I know Michael did not kill Susan, but I do feel like there was so much more evidence pointing to Michael as the killer than there was for like Risa Trexler's case. Like Michael looks, Michael does look a lot shittier than Jody or even like Richard Joel. So I get why fingers were pointed at him. I feel badly for him because I know that this really fucked him up. But I mean, it did with everyone we covered. Like this is just so the whole false suspect thing is so detrimental that for so many reasons. Hell, yes, it is. And and Jody so Jody did absolutely nothing. Richard Joel, all he did was find a backpack while doing his job where I feel like Michael kind of sealed his own fate. By the way, he, he left Susan high and dry, stole her car and left those scathing notes. So I mean, he did not do himself any favors. So I, I totally understand why in the beginning, police were, were really focused on him, but, but regardless of all that, he went through a lot. Yeah. So please follow him to Indiana. So they show up out there. And at one point, they were able to get a search warrant for his brother's place where he was crashing and they found some, some weed in his sister-in-law's purse and arrested him for that. So there were never any charges, but, but they tormented him just like they did to all to these other victims. There's a tunnel vision. Yeah, there it is. And so, but Michael, all of this built up. And so you have Michael with the loss of his wife. So when he gets his news, he's, he's devastated. Then you have the police harassing him, like, like they've done in the past, as we've seen. So he essentially says, fuck you, I'm not talking to you ever again. So that's the way he treats police. And because police don't really have any hard evidence against Michael, and he's not cooperating. So at this point, Susan's case goes cold, like pretty quickly. Um, so what I want to do is, is now that we've left Susan's case, kind of, it's stalled. Um, I want to jump ahead a few months and I want to talk about 15 year old Shannon Myers. And just like Michael, Shannon was not born and raised in Stephenville, but she moved there in her, in her kind of tween and teen years. And again, sort of like Michael, Shannon was, was considered an outsider by this conservative town. She was like a misfit and, and Shannon was self-admittedly a party girl. I mean, she liked that she was young and, and just getting out into the world. And so she was having, having fun. And similar to Michael, Shannon did have kind of a, she did not have an idyllic childhood by any means. I mean, she was the victim of a molestation. Oh, well, you know, I'm sure she, she probably acted out and probably went looking for love and attention just in all the wrong places. You hit the nail on the head. I mean, Shannon basically befriends her next door neighbor, a woman named Regina. And Regina introduces Shannon to her younger brother, who was 20-year-old Joseph Scott Hatley. And, and they would all hang out at Regina's house. They all bonded and pretty quickly. Shannon and Joseph Scott Hatley struck up a sexual relationship and they were, they were intimate regularly. Oh, I'm sorry. You mean a 20-year-old predator raped a 15-year-old who legally could not give consent? Is that what you meant? That's what I meant? Yes. That's right. And Joseph Scott Hatley was, he was a good old boy. So he's a true Stephenville Texan. And people would, people in town, I mean, he, he fit in. So he was such a good boy. He was such a sweet young man. Gross. Yeah. But when, when Shannon's mom finds out that her daughter is sleeping with a 20-year-old grown-ass man, obviously her mom's not happy. And, but that wasn't going to stop Shannon, especially because she thought she loved Scott. It was that young puppy love, you know? He gave her the, the attention and the love that, that she was so desperately looking for at that age. And, and he was an older guy. Now, even though to an outsider, he was people who saw this relationship, saw him as controlling and definitely verbally and emotionally abusive, George Shannon. But you know what? Like I get where she was coming from because I feel like as a troubled teen who found a air quote, sophisticated older man, she probably thought, like with the, the controllingness, she probably thought, Oh my God, he cares about me so much. He needs to know where I am at all times. Yeah. And Shannon will be the first one to tell you that, that as a naive, kind of 15, 16-year-old at that point, she thought this was love. That all changed though in September of 1987. And this is about two months after Susan was killed. So Shannon was hanging out with Scott and they began to have sex, but, but this time was different. Scott was being especially rough with her. And when she asked him to stop, he got, he got violent and pretty aggressive. She eventually got away, but, but he followed her in his truck and told her to basically get in and he'll take her home. And he said, he was sorry. And she, she went with him and he said, I loved you. And then that was it. So that was the first occasion. And it should be known that you had touched on it earlier that he, Joseph Scott Hatley was a very controlling boyfriend. I mean, he always needed to know where Shannon was. He needed to know who she was hanging out with, when she's going to be home, where she's going to be. And if he didn't like her answer, he would, he would fly into a rage. So following the attack, Shannon got home and, and went right to her mother and told her that Joseph Scott Hatley had raped her. And this is really upsetting, but, but in interviews, Shannon has talked about how, well, her mom did take her to the police station to file a report. She also came down hard on Shannon telling her basically this was her fault. She's like something along the lines of like, I told you not to do this. I told you who he was, this, this is what you get for being with him. And you're in trouble is what it came. Oh my God. Like, who says that? Who, like, I wasn't there. I'm not a parent. This was a different time, but like, so I'm trying to not be too mean about her mother, but like, who the fuck tells their child it's your fault. You were raped. That is poor parenting. So for Shannon, who, this was especially hard because for someone who had already suffered through being molested, she, of course, took her mom's words to heart and thought like I was molested. I was now raped. The common denominator. Here's me. This is my fault. And that's a terrible way to think. And, but, but that young mind, you know, you're, Oh, I get it. Oh, Shannon, I hate this. I know you're going to, you're going to hate this even more. So Shannon told, Shannon told police what happened to her, but, but once the officer learned that she and, she and Joseph Scott Hatley had been engaging in sexual activity prior to this rape, they basically blew her off and considered it a misunderstanding. And then that was that no charges were filed and Joseph Scott Hatley was never brought in. So Shannon did her best to move on and managed to avoid Scott for a while, but, but he, she even started dating a boy in her, in her high school class. But when that, when she broke up with that boyfriend in the summer of '88, Shannon found herself back at Regina's house and just around Joseph Scott Hatley once again. Oh my God. And I'm sure he was all like, lovey-dovey and like, Oh my God, I'm so sorry. Yeah, he's love bombing Shannon, like, and love bombing now since episode one. I think you taught me what love bombing meant. So here I am at 44 using it in context. So I'm trying to keep you in line with the cool kids. Thank you for that. I need it. Well, he, so that's exactly what he does. He starts love bombing Shannon. He keeps calling her and showing up places and trying to get back with her. And, and Shannon managed to keep him at arm's length, but he eventually wore her down and, and you know, that lost love, the, the person that you, you had this great relationship with her. So you thought obviously it's, there's a draw there that's hard to escape. And the one that got away, the one that got away. I told, he told her how much he missed her and, and, and asked if they could talk. And hold on. Wait, when was this what year are we in? In July of 1988. So about a year after Susan's murder. Okay. Yeah. And remember at this point, so not to lose track of Susan's case. She, her case is still cold. It stalled. So Shannon eventually agrees to meet up with Joseph Scott Hatley and, and one night around 10 p.m. She, she sneaks out and, and gets in his truck and Shannon will tell you next week the second she got in that vehicle. She knew she made a grave mistake. Oh my goodness. She's 16 now, right? Yeah, 15 or 16. I don't remember where the, well, I don't know when her birthday is, but she's 15, 16. Um, and I'm not going to go into too much detail about that car. Right. I'll let her do it next week, but I will say that he was saying things like we're supposed to be together and that Shannon hurt him and she shouldn't have done that. So that's when Shannon knew that something really bad was about to happen to her. So Joseph Scott Hatley drives the two of them out and it's completely pitch black. They're out in the middle of nowhere and he pulls into this park and it's obviously abandoned at 10 p.m. But there's no lights. It's very desolate and it's somewhere that Shannon had never been before. So truly picture this place. I mean, you're, you're in a, this abyss where, where no one can hear you scream. I don't like it. I know. So, so Joseph Scott Hatley pulls his truck into an empty spot out of sight. And there he tries to have sex with Shannon. And when Shannon tells him, no, he slaps her. Oh my God, I'm getting anxious. So after the slap, Shannon is completely shocked about what had just happened. And Joseph Scott Hatley undresses her and begins raping her. And all the while he's, he's hitting her and beating her and she's drifting in and out of consciousness. And this was a cruel and brutal attack. No two ways about it. Shannon would, would kind of black out and come back to, and, and Joseph Scott Hatley would be sitting there drinking. He had beer and smoking cigarettes and just like it was, he was like recovering just to do it again. And at one point he, she was able to run away, but Scott caught her and pushed her down and this is haunting. And he said to her, I've got away with murder and I can murder you today. And no one will come looking for you. That is chilling. Well, at one point, Joseph Scott Hatley violently drags her down to him, down in embankment and down to a nearby creek. And, and Shannon told me that this was the moment she knew she was going to die. So down, down by the creek, Hatley would, he continued the sexual assault on Shannon and he held her head under water for he continued to beat and choke and sexually assault her for over six hours. Oh my God. So Shannon was quick thinking though. And so imagine being 16 and enduring this and having the wherewithal to come up with a plan, essentially. And she realizes that if she wants to live, she has to try to manipulate him to and kind of appeal to this ego that he has. And he had always said, he's like, I want to marry you. Now, all this stuff about this, this idyllic life he wanted to live with Shannon. So while she's cringing inside, she told him everything he wanted to hear that she would never go to police that they could have this storybook romance. You know, could you imagine having to do that? Like, oh my God, say those things. Well, you are just, oh, it's making my skin crawl. Well, the, the, the upside is it worked. So he, he actually takes Shannon back to the truck and she talks about how swollen her face was at this point and how bruised and she's trying to make sure that he doesn't see it and, and the truck, he's trying to comfort her and ask if she's okay. And not for a second, did Shannon think that any of this was genuine, but, but just to prove what a manipulative monster this guy is, when he drops her off just a few blocks from her house, he says to her, don't, don't tell, don't turn me in. And it was the scariest car ride of Shannon's life. She, that think about sitting there next to this guy who just done these awful things to you for hours on end and, and even then wondering, am I going to live through this? You know, so she musters up the strength to put on a happy face and promising. She won't turn him in. She was, she won't go to the police. Like everything will be fine and he buys it. So when she gets out of the truck, she runs home and, and bawling and right into the arms of her stepfather and told him what happened. So, so the stepdad and her mom take her to the hospital where she meets with police and the hospital administers a rape test kit. And they also take photos of her injuries. And, and I'm going to show you these pictures and no lie, they're, they're tough to look at because you're looking at a 15, 16 year old who is, who is just beaten and innocent and young, you know, and when you meet Shannon, you're going to just think back to these photos and be like, Jesus Christ. So while, while recounting her harrowing ordeal for police, Shannon is sure to tell them what Scott, what Joseph Scott Hatley had been threatened to kill her and that he'd done it before. She's been put through so much trauma. Like not only the attack and the sexual assault, but the rape kit and then having to recount everything to the police. Like, I can't imagine having to do that at any age, let alone at 16. It's so similar to what Jodi endured when she was being, when she was under the magnifying glass too, giving, giving pubic hair samples at age 13, you know, so it's just an example of what, what people are. These people go through and it's so, it's so sad. And the, and the trauma continues, you know, so Joseph Scott Hatley flees town and actually ends up in jail in Nevada for something else. And, and Shannon tries to move on with her life. She starts her junior year of high school and tries to find some semblance of normalcy, but Joseph Scott Hatley doesn't stay away for long. He's suddenly back in town and coincidentally just everywhere she is. He's turning up. So he must be following her or keeping tabs on her like he did before, you know, and she's like, why hasn't he been arrested? So one day she gets a letter in the mail from the, the district attorney and through all the, all the legal jargon. There was a grand jury hearing and everything. I mean, the letter essentially reads that, that Joseph Scott Hatley will not be indicted for the attack on Shannon. You know, she's completely just confused, horrified, disgusted. Do you need me to keep going? Oh, yeah. Yes. To all three of those things. I mean, it turns out that that Joseph Scott Hatley's family and they had lived in Stephenville for decades and they were, they were respected blue collar hardworking folks who, who everyone knew. And the family hired a PI to basically dig up any, any dirt on Shannon. And we talked about earlier that she was, Shannon, I'll admit this too. She was, she was a wild child. And remember, she wasn't a native either. So, so to the, the people in this conservative Texas town, um, she was viewed as this kind of wild, promiscuous outsider. So she had all the cards stacked against her to begin with. I feel like the best town was maybe a little judgy back in the 80s. They didn't seem to take kindly to people who weren't like official Stephen Villainians, they did it to Michael and Shannon. Well, what we need to take away from this is that Shannon is a survivor. She's alive. She's incredible. And, and she's so inspirational. So you guys are going to find, you guys are going to find her story just amazing. And there's no other way to put it. Back to Michael though. So he's, he's still out in Indiana, still under the close watch of police. And we're going to skip ahead. So almost two decades. Michael still had a really bad taste in his mouth when it came to cop. So he didn't give them the time of day, which I can't say I blame him because the way he treated him, but he didn't do himself. So let's fast forward now to later in 2006 and Don Miller, who at the time was a Stephenville police lieutenant who had been tasked with solving Susan's cold case and being 20 years from when the crime originally happened, technology had come a long way and Miller knew that. So the first thing he does is he pulls out those cigarette butts that were in storage and kudos to the people who investigated that scene because they were perfectly preserved and he's hoping, right? And he's hoping that DNA, because of how far it had come, he's hoping the DNA could be, can be used to help solve this case. So the cigarette butts, when they come back, the results are just linked to an unidentified male. So not exactly super helpful, but Miller knows that the deep down, this case could be solved because there is DNA there. So he goes back through the case file looking for any kind of clues or anything that anybody else had missed. And he finds out about an email that had been sent to the department about a year prior. So in 2005 from a woman named Barbara Gary and Barbara was a friend of Michael Woods who lived in Indiana and she had written to the Stephenville police asking what the status of Susan's case was because she could see the pain that Michael was, he was still feeling this all these years later. I mean, he was still under scrutiny and there was this cloud of suspicion hanging over him. So Lieutenant Miller was never really sold on the idea that Michael committed the crime. So armed with Barbara's email, he calls Michael out of the blue and then there's some back and forth where he asked Michael if he wants to talk, if he wants to meet, he wants to clear him. He's like, I don't want to, I'm not here to pin this murder on you. I'm here to clear you. So I need your help. I need your DNA. And surprisingly, Michael after some back and forth did agree. And that was the first time in 20 some years that he'd spoken to any detective. Yeah, I feel like at this point, Michael was just so exhausted and beaten down by the stress of being a suspect for so long. It's like, at that point, what did he really have to lose? And, and I know he wasn't always the greatest dude. But in the few interviews that I read, like with him or about him, it was, you're right. It was clear that he genuinely loved Susan. And if you think about it, he never really had the opportunity to grease. He'd gotten into drinking and drugs. And it was probably an attempt to like dull the pain, I guess. But, but for whatever reason, whatever clicked inside him, he decided it was time to turn over his DNA. And when the results came back, sure enough, it was not him. So that was, that was great news. So that's, that's, he felt some vindication there. But at the same time, they still didn't have the real murderer. So that was still weighing on him a little bit. And when, when Lieutenant Miller actually called Michael to tell him the news, Michael broke down in tears. I mean, he thanked him and hung up. Michael, Michael's a simple guy. Whatever I leave, whatever I leave, that must have been like, he probably felt like a thousand pounds had been lifted on him, like, or off him. And it was probably like all of a sudden he could breathe again. Like he probably didn't realize he had been holding his breath for 20 years. And all of a sudden it was like, like, and I want to, I want to take the opportunity to publicly say that, that Michael is a great dude. And at least he was to me. And, and he regrets everything he did, everything he said, those notes, they were said in, in anger and he lashed out in a way he admits he should not have. And he called Susan his yellow rose of Texas. That was her favorite flower. And we, we bought him some yellow roses to put on her grave as part of a scene in the show. And it was just, it was the most, it was my favorite, the favorite case the way it was put together. And he, he was tearful during the whole interview that, that I did with him. And, and you could tell after all these years that losing Susan, he went to Indiana and he was not there to protect her from the killer. And that, that ate at him. And I'm sure it still does. Oh, I'm sure. And I read just in a few interviews and stuff, like the police really did a number on him. Like, I mean, he probably has trauma from that, let alone, you know, Susan's actual murder. Right. Well, so back to the case with Michael officially cleared, Lieutenant Miller is kind of back to square one. He has no suspects and worse yet, no leads. He actually wanted to go to Washington DC to do, to the FBI crime lab and utilize their, their fingerprint database. But the, the higher ups wouldn't approve the expense. And that come, we see that a lot. And it's not, you don't want to shit on, on chiefs of police. Like they only have so much money to spend. And that's, that's a problem because with how much money is thrown around this world, the, the people that need it don't have it. Um, so it's another dead end. But Lieutenant Miller does find out that the Texas DPS, the Department of Public Safety had recently gotten authorization to use the FBI database. Ooh, I know how this case ends and I still have goosebumps. It's good, right? So, so Lieutenant Miller personally drives from Stephenville to Austin, which Google Maps tells you is about two and a half, three hours. And, and they run the prints. And after a few days, the phone rings, it's the crime lab and they've got a match. Yeah, they do. The prints, uh, the prints were in the system and it came from the arrest of a man in Las Vegas, Nevada named Joseph Scott Hatley. And while you may recognize the name, Lieutenant Miller had no idea who this guy was. So he makes a phone call and finds out that, that Hatley had been arrested in 1988 for the sexual assault of Shannon Myers. And while he was never taken to trial, that's the, the prints that were taken. That's what got him in trouble. You know, that, that's how the case is kind of linked together. Wow. And that freaking piece of shit got to live his stupidest, like for 20 years. While Susan's was cut short and Shannon, I can't even like, oh, that makes me so mad. I know. Well, so Lieutenant Miller is trying to, he's struggling to figure out what the link is between Joseph Scott Hatley and Susan Woods. So we have these different angles that they're pursuing, but how do they all tie together? So he decides to review Shannon's case file and, and he begins to see similarities. And what he does is he calls Shannon. He says, I'm ready to believe you. And it's like that, that was what she needed to hear because for her entire life, no one believed her despite the bruises, despite the wounds, despite the, the trauma that she was going through, people didn't believe her. And in Shannon's case file, she reported that Hatley, quote, laid on top of me and told me that if I didn't mind him, he would kill me and that he had done it before. It's like straight out of a movie. Oh my God. Right. Like I can picture him like sitting in his office and he's like reading through things. And then all of a sudden, like the music changes and you read that line. And it's like, it is, but we're not, we're not even close to done. So Joseph Scott Hatley turns out to be the cousin of Susan's best friend, Cindy Hayes. Oh, that is wild. It's beyond wild, the connection. But that's how that's how Joseph Scott Hatley got into Susan's life. He was cousins with her best friend. And they were all hanging out and he had this infatuation with her. So June six, 2006. And this was, this was kind of neat because that's the date. If you write it out as six, six, six, the devil's number, right? And Lieutenant Miller literally said he, he picked up on that. And he went, when he was going to interview Hatley on this date, he goes, I'm fixing to meet the devil. Wow. He, he brings him in and he's got a warrant for Hatley's DNA and finger and pom prints and in interrogation room, Lieutenant Miller confronts Hatley about the murder and Hatley denies everything. How do you feel about being here to be about this? I mean, personally, I had nothing to do with this. Miller asks him, he's like, is there any reason that your DNA would be on Susan? And of course, Hatley says no, but then you can see him starting to crack because now the wheels are turning like, oh, shit. For our team, you're hearing about Susan's death. When was the last time you were in the house? They go, remember, right? It was like a day or two. Okay. Were you there by yourself? I can't remember, I think I was going to say. Did you ever have sex with Susan? Did you hate her? Okay. So that wasn't any reason why your DNA would be where around her body. No, it didn't show to me, okay. And all I've asked you again, yes. Next week, like I said, a lot of times, the interview progresses. And eventually Hatley agrees to turn over his prints in DNA, which like confounds me. But at the same time, I guess he's thinking, if I say no, he's instantly guilty. So he's going to, he's going to roll the dice and, and maybe hope there's a mistake or something happens at the lab. What you might have to do with the sample of your DNA today. That should talk to a ton of your work. I mean, you sat here and you told me that your DNA is not anymore around her body. So it shouldn't be any hesitancy in giving your DNA. I think there's always a disadvantage in the DNA. So far, it was in. Even life again is DNA. Yeah, I do, Ben. Okay. And, and it should be, I should tell you a little bit about Hatley. So he was, he was remarried. He had two kids and was currently working just in a warehouse. But he had a, he was a long haul trucker for a while. So long for some speculated for a long time that there, there might be more victims out there. This is just my opinion, just speculation. But I would be willing to bet money that there's other victims out there. Like in other states, maybe that came across him on his trucking routes. I don't doubt it one bit. We see it all the time, long haul truckers, they have endless opportunities. And if they're, if they're sick in the head, they, they have the opportunity to act on whatever they want, whatever urges they have. So as of now, I don't think anything else has been linked to Hatley, but, you know, who knows behind the scenes, maybe there's, I don't know. So Hatley's wife, she was also being spoken to in a completely separate room. And, and in this other room, she's telling police how Hatley treats her, how he's horribly abusive he is at home. And, and he's been that way throughout her their entire marriage. And, and she's got pictures to prove it. So they do let Hatley leave that day, but, but they get, they get his DNA and a new set of prints and just begin to process them. And in the meantime, just a few hours later, they, they arrest Joseph Scott Hatley for the abuse on his wife that she's in the other room telling them about. So that, again, buys them time, you know, so he was brought in on that. But then eventually they can run him with the DNA results and, and he's arrested for Susan's murder. Finally, I know, I know we should be grateful that he was eventually caught, but God damn, that was 19 years too long. And I'm so thankful that Hensley and Lieutenant Miller, like never gave up. And I think I have so much respect for Lieutenant Miller for not having any like preconceived notions before he went into this investigation. Like he did not fall victim to tunnel vision. And I was just thinking about this as we were going through. I think he also had a very good demeanor. Like it, it seems like from stories I read that all the other cops went to Michael and they were like, give us your DNA. Cause we know you did this or blah, blah, blah. Cause we know you're the killer. And it seems like Miller went about it in such a different way. And he did the same thing with Shannon, like he wasn't like, he said, I'm ready to believe you or something. And I just feel like he came at Michael and Shannon so much differently with so much more care and respect that they deserved than all the other cops who had ever confronted them. And, you know, like you say, you catch more bees with honey or something about bugs and honey flies. What is it? Bees make honey, you catch more flies with honey. Oh, okay. Well, there you go. Be nice and you get things you want. More of the story. If that's the moral of the story, we got bigger problems. I would have nothing. Well, it's crazy though, but because you're absolutely right. So that tunnel vision we saw over the whole last block, not only does it hurt people, but it hinders this investigation, which dragged on way entirely too long. And there was no trial, but in 2007, Joseph Scott Hadley played guilty and exchanged for information on what happened. He was given 30 years in prison. And, and I get why they did this because A, they wanted to really know what happened as part of the plea deals. Tell me, tell us what happened that night and B, all the pain and trauma we've talked before about trials and how they can bring all this stuff back up. So I don't think anyone was ready to handle that stress. They just wanted to see this guy locked up. Yeah, I get that. I hate that he only got 30 years, but like I get why. I mean, to put her family, like Susan's family and actually have to hear all of the gory details and, and to bring Shannon in and even Michael, like that would literally be the definition of adding insult to injury. Absolutely. And, and something that, that came up in our interviews, it was either, I think it was Gloria Martin who had a picture of Joseph Scott Hadley. And this was a, a birthday party that they were having for, for either Gloria or Cindy or one of the friends in the friend group. They were having a birthday party not long after Susan's murder. And she has a picture. She's like, here is Joseph Scott Hadley sitting two people away from me smiling and laughing and partying with us after what he just did to our friend. And, and that is so haunting to me because this guy is smiling. Like he did nothing wrong. He is just one of the family, you know, and, and he would ask questions like, hey, have you heard anything about Susan's case? Like he was trying to find out information while simultaneously trying to, to play the role of the good guy. Yeah. And you went to her fume role. Mm hmm. It's sick. It's sick. And, and you're going to hate this part because in 2017, Joseph Scott Hadley was diagnosed with bladder cancer and, and he was released in 2018. Oh my God. I hate to like, he's such a despicable piece of shit and committed all these horrible atrocities and somehow this is what makes me like the angriest 10 years, 10 years for destroying how many lives. And like I feel like I'm beginning to this every episode. But way to go justice system. Yeah, you, you should write him a letter. Dear, dear justice system on your Microsoft Word stationery. You guys suck. Excel, Excel, Melissa, but you know what? They finally got, they finally got answers. So it, Hadley claims that, that he went over that night just to visit Susan. And they hung out and listened to music, but then, then Hadley tried to put on the moves and, and that, that explains the cigarettes. So if they're hanging out, he's having a soda, having some cigarettes. But when he tries to make a move on her, Susan slapped him. Good for her. Right. I knew you'd like that part. So, but, but Hadley says that slap caused him to basically find to arrange, claiming I became a monster. And he proceeded to rape and murder Susan, saying he's like, I could have stopped when she was still alive and I didn't. So he, I don't know what kind of remorse that is. I don't think it's any remorse. I think it's just him kind of coming to the realization that what he did was so extraordinary that, that you, there's no explanation for it, you know. So, and you're right, it doesn't seem fair that he got to spend so much time free, like 10 years in prison. I mean, if there's maybe one thing they can bring a little piece, he was, he was found dead in 2021, that cancer, which I think was part of the reason he was let out from prison, figuring he had terminal cancer. You know, he's essentially as a death sentence anyway. It had been in remission, but it came back with a vengeance and got him in 2021. Good. I hope it was horribly painful and excruciating because I don't feel like the goddess of karma necessarily hit the mark on this one. So before I close this episode, um, I do want to bring up one more thing. And I'm not, I'm not going to go into a ton of detail about it, because there's a, there's a whole 2020 episode about it called, um, there's a monster in me. Basically, after Joseph's got Hatley died, someone was cleaning out his trailer and they found tons of letters written by Hatley and those letters detailed violent fantasies and how he wanted to commit a mass murder and how angry he was and just filled with rage since he was a young child. He went on to claim that his, his mother beat him, which was later denied by his family, but he, he said it so they can deny it all they want. You never know. He talked about how he prayed to the devil to kill his life. And, and he wrote about Shannon's attack and how he, he suffocated Susan with a pillow and he writes, quote, I became a walking demon and quote. And it's all, it's all very dramatic. Like he was, he was trying to write some kind of screenplay or a movie, you know, a terrible movie, two thumbs way down, right? Like zero on rotten tomato. Yes. Wow. Last thing I'll say to piss you off. So in these letters, he wrote, quote, I wish with all my heart that I could tell you I've mourned for what I've done, but that would be a lie. Oh my God. That does piss me off, especially because I don't know if you read it. But I found an interview that he did. It was like with Dateline and it was after he was released from prison. And he tried to tell them that he had changed and he was so remorseful. But like clearly you're not, dude, like you are sorry about what you did. You're sorry. You got caught and there's a big difference there. And I don't care what he said on TV or wherever. Like he clearly wasn't sorry. Yeah. I mean, you, you have to understand that these people are messed up. Some things miswired, you know, so you can't trust anything. They say they made a living hiding in plain sight and doing these awful things. So clearly something is wrong with them. So it's hard to take anything they say as fact, but he's dead now, you know, and he'll never harm another soul. So that is the, the story of the savagely cruel murder of Susan Woods and the, the barbaric attack on Jan and Myers. Oh, well, thank you. I guess for sharing that with us. Oh, thank you is the right word. I know what you mean. Well, it's next week's going to be another tough one. And, and we try not to make these tough, like it, like a crime show. We want to want to have just have conversations with people and not these, these emotional hardcore interviews. But Melissa tells me I need to give a trigger warning now. We will be interviewing Shannon Myers Barrientos, whose terrible attack we covered today. And while it's going to be a really insightful and interesting interview, it will include her firsthand account of everything she went through during that sexual assault, but it's also a survivor story. And that's, that's what we want to promote too. Like this was a woman. She went through hell and back and has become one of the most beautiful, strong, incredible people that I've ever met. And I'm, I'm really looking forward to sharing her story with you. She's such a badass and so cool. It is a badass. It's crazy because I know, and I'm sure my fellow crime junkies would agree. Like we read these cases and hear the podcast about these cases and watch the TV episodes, but very few of us have ever had like the privilege of actually talking to these people on a personal level, like the victims. Can you, can I just say you were, when we started this podcast, I was so excited to share all of my experiences with you and let you take part in them, like you're a TV producer. If that makes sense, like you are such, you are such a huge, true crime fan that I thought, how freaking cool to, to blend these worlds and to let a fan experience what we experience so you can really get immersed. That's what we promote, be immersed in this genre. And that's what I'm so excited for you for these opportunities. Well, and it makes it so much more real. Like seeing something on TV or hearing about it is one thing, but actually speaking to the person and like, I hope our listeners feel like they're talking to her because I'm no different from them. Like I was listening to true crime podcasts all morning and while I was doing my wash and you know, all of that, like it's, so it's very cool to be able to, yeah, be immersed in it and Shannon is such a sweetheart. I'm so looking forward to meeting. And while I've already met her, but speaking to her further, yeah. Well, on that note, if you have any thoughts on this case or on Susan or Shannon, or any thoughts at all, send them our way. Oh, it's just any thoughts you have, any, any way. So why are some dogs brown? Then those thoughts, actually, if it's a dog's thought, they're all totally right. Well, hit us up with those thoughts on our socials, Facebook, Insta, TikTok at murder unscripted, or you can email us at murder unscripted pod at gmail.com. Or you can even send a note through our website at murder unscripted pod.com. And with that, we urge you to be kind, be a good human. And today, more than ever, remember, perverts don't wear signs that say they're perverts. I think we all can all agree. Joseph Scott Halle needed a sign. OK, but his side should have read I'm a giant bag of shit. You, you're away with words, Melissa, you know, and it's your, it's your eloquence. I think that, that I thought would make you a good co-host. I'm a classy bitch, babe. Bye. Yeah. Yeah. a.m. Yeah. (dramatic music)