He's the most terrifying serial killer you've never heard of. Haddon Clark has confessed to several murders, but investigators say he could have over 100 victims. At the center of the mayhem, a cellmate of Haddon's that was able to get key evidence into Haddon's murder spree across America,
because Haddon thought he was Jesus Christ. Born Evil, the Serial Killer and the Savior, an ID true crime event. Premieres Monday, September 2nd at 9. Watch on ID or stream on Max. Set your DVR.
It's December 20th, 1973.
in a major film called Magnum Force has just been released in theaters around America. The film stars Clint Eastwood, who plays Inspector Harry Callahan, a man on the hunt for a group of vigilante police officers that are murdering people in San Francisco. In Ogden, Utah, hundreds of people pile into the movie theaters and anxiously eat their popcorn as the movie intensifies.
In one scene, a pimp forces Drano down a prostitute's throat and she instantly dies from the toxic chemicals. While most people in the theater are disturbed by the scene, there is one man watching who is inspired.
In fact, he would return to that theater at least three more times just to watch that specific scene. There's a famous saying that life imitates art. And in this case, the man watching the film decided to carry out his own version of Magnum Force against a group of people inside of a store in Ogden, Utah. But his imitation of this film was far worse than what was shown on the big screen.
In fact, the murders inside of the Hi-Fi store would go on to be one of the most disturbing hostage situations in United States history. This is the story of the Hi-Fi murders. I'm Courtney Browen. And I'm Colin Browen. And you're listening to Murder in America. ♪♪
Our story starts on April 22nd, 1974 in Ogden, Utah. There, at about 6 p.m., 16-year-old Courtney Naysbitt was walking back to his car after finishing up some errands. But before leaving, he decided to go inside the local audio store called The Hi-Fi Shop to thank his friend Stanley for letting him park in their lot.
You see, 20-year-old Stanley Walker was an employee at the Hi-Fi store and Courtney knew that it was closing soon, so he walked right in thinking nothing was out of the ordinary. But as soon as he stepped through those doors, Courtney Naysbitt's life would change forever.
There, inside of the store, was indeed his friend Stanley, along with his coworker, 19-year-old Michelle Ansley. But they weren't returning records to their sleeves or turning off equipment for the night. They were right in the middle of a robbery. One of the first things Courtney notices, besides the two unknown males inside of the store,
is the terrified look on Stanley and Michelle's faces. They are frozen in fear with eyes wide and suddenly they all turn in Courtney's direction. No one expected him to walk in the store that evening, especially the two robbers. And as soon as they saw Courtney, they started yelling at him while brandishing their weapons.
I'm sure there were a million things running through Courtney's head at the time. And suddenly, he remembers the man standing outside, waiting by his car.
It soon became clear that these three men were here to rob the Hi-Fi store. As for Michelle Ansley, it's unclear exactly what she was thinking at this time, but I can imagine she was regretting picking up that shift that afternoon. Yes, she worked at the Hi-Fi shop, but she wasn't originally on the schedule that day. Michelle had only been working at the store as a bookkeeper and cashier for about a week at that point.
And when her coworker asked her to take their shift, she happily agreed. Michelle also had her entire life ahead of her.
The previous night, she had just announced to her mother Laura that she was engaged and was planning on getting married that upcoming August. The owner of the Hi-Fi shop, Brent Richardson, had hired Michelle because she had a bubbly personality that naturally attracted people to her. She was exactly the kind of employee the shop was looking for.
Michelle was also beautiful and the owner liked to have pretty girls working because he knew it brought in more business.
Stanley Walker was also supposed to be off work that day, but he had to fill in for the store owner who was out of town in San Francisco. Stanley was a college student who attended Weber State College and was active in the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints, where he was an elder. He also coached basketball at the church. Brent, the owner of Hi-Fi, really liked Stan because he was good with the customers and always had a smile on his face. He was also very skilled with electronics.
Courtney Naisbitt, who walked in on the robbery, was a sophomore at Ogden High School, and at 16 years old, he was nearly 6 feet tall and very muscular. Courtney also loved to fly airplanes, and earlier in the day he had been at his flying lessons at the Ogden Municipal Airport. Courtney had been obsessed with flying ever since he was a little boy. He started by collecting model airplanes in kindergarten.
Like many 16 year olds, he had big dreams for his future. And if you asked what he wanted to be when he grew up, he always replied, "I want to be an aeronautical engineer." The three young victims woke up that morning having no idea that their lives were about to be changed forever. But reality quickly set in when 21 year old Dale Selby Pierre and 19 year old William Andrews ordered the three victims down into the basement.
while 19-year-old Keith Leon Roberts patiently waited in the getaway car outside. Surprisingly, all three men were in the U.S. Air Force, and they were stationed at the Hill Air Force Base outside of Ogden, Utah. They had come to the Hi-Fi shop with the intention of robbing the store, but what happened that night became far worse than what anyone could have imagined.
Shortly after holding the three victims at gunpoint, Dale and William ordered them downstairs into the basement where they were ordered to get down on the floor. While one of the men continued to hold them at gunpoint, the other tied their hands and feet. And once they were secured, the men made their way back upstairs to the store.
The basement was dimly lit with only a single light bulb and Stanley, Courtney, and Michelle anxiously waited for what would happen next. The three continued to lay on their stomachs, unable to move, and all they could hear were the sounds of the men's feet shuffling across the floor above them as they loaded thousands of dollars worth of merchandise into the getaway car outside.
Hopefully, best case scenario, the men would take what they wanted and leave the store. But as you'll find out, that is not what happens on this fateful night. Shortly before 8 p.m., Courtney's mother, Carol Naysbitt, was sitting at home and began to grow worried about her son. It was getting late and Courtney was supposed to be home by now. After all, he was only running a few errands and then coming right back. So she decided to grab her car keys and go out looking for him.
First, she drives through the Weber State College parking lot hoping to see his brown Buick, but no luck. She eventually returns home and calls a few of Courtney's friends to see if they had seen him, but no one had. By now, she was growing even more worried, so she decided to head out again and drive by where Courtney was running errands, near 2309 Washington Boulevard. Another worried parent was Stanley's dad, Oren Walker, who knew it was past closing time for the store.
Knowing that Stanley should have been home by now, he too drove towards the hi-fi shop to make sure his son was okay. This loving act by parents would end up changing both of their lives forever. Now, Stanley's father, Oren, was actually the first to arrive at the store that night to look for his son. Once he arrived, he opened up the back door of the shop and slowly walked inside. It was eerily quiet, and Stanley was nowhere in sight.
Then suddenly, before he could even realize what was happening, two men were standing in front of him, pointing a gun in his direction, and they quickly ordered him down into the basement. I can't even imagine what it was like when Stanley and his dad, Oren, locked eyes for the first time down in that basement.
Now both of them were in the hands of these robbers, who seemed to be getting more and more anxious as the night went on. Once Oren was tied up, the robbers, Dale and William, started to argue about what they were going to do with the hostages. There were only supposed to be two victims involved, and now, two more people, Courtney and Oren, had stumbled into their master plan.
During the argument about what they should do, Dale lost his cool and shot a bullet into the basement wall. William quickly confronts him saying, "What the hell are you doing?" The tension was running high with both the robbers and the hostages.
And during the argument, Michelle interrupts them by screaming out, I'm just 19. I don't want to die. Hoping to de-escalate the situation, Oren tells the men, quote, go ahead and take whatever you want. We won't tell the police who you are, end quote. But it was already far too late. The victim's fate had been sealed.
Shortly after this, Carol pulls her family's station wagon into the parking lot and approaches the building. But as soon as she steps inside, she is greeted with a gun in her face. "What are you doing here?" William asks her. Stunned, Carol assures him that she's just there to try to find her son.
Courtney, who is still tied up downstairs, hears his mother's voice and screams out, God damn it! And soon enough, Carol would join the rest of the four hostages downstairs in the basement, where she too would be tied up on the floor.
The five hostages now lay in silence, not speaking a word. Now, like we mentioned earlier, these men were in the Air Force, and the Hill Air Force Base, where they lived, had advertised a movie that would be playing at the base's theater. The movie was called Magnum Force, a sequel to Dirty Harry, which starred Hollywood actor Clint Eastwood. In one graphic scene, a pimp is shown murdering a prostitute by forcing her to drink Drano.
And almost immediately after ingesting the fluid, the prostitute drops dead. And it was a known fact that Dale absolutely loved this movie, and that scene in particular. Something about the way Drano was able to kill the woman so quickly fascinated him. Little did he know, however, that that's not how it works. Ingesting Drano can be deadly, but it usually doesn't work instantly.
and he would soon learn that the hard way. - With all of their victims tied up and secured, the two sadistic men could now execute their evil plan. Dale pulls out a jug of Drano and a green cup that he had brought with him. The victims watched as he poured the blue liquid into a cup and started walking in their direction. First, he stands in front of Carol and he tells her. - It's time for a cocktail.
I don't drink alcohol, she tells him. But right when those words escaped her lips, Dale grabs her by her hair, pulls her head back and says, It's a mixture of vodka and medication that'll make you go to sleep. He then puts the cup up to her lips and pours the Drano down her throat.
But as soon as he does this, Carol knows that this is not vodka. As soon as the liquid touches her skin, she felt an indescribable burning sensation, and she immediately began to cough and gag as the liquid regurgitated from her mouth and nose.
Her son Courtney watched in horror as his mother choked and struggled to breathe. And soon enough, he would be next. Dale grabs Courtney by the hair and forces him into a seated position.
He then leans his head back and as the cup gets closer to his face, Courtney can feel his nose and eyes start to burn. It's at that time when he realizes that Dale is feeding them chemicals, but there's nothing he can do. The liquid is forced down his throat and as soon as it enters his body, he begins to cough and vomit just like his mother.
But with every cough, Courtney could feel bubbles forming in his throat, making it incredibly difficult to breathe. He could also feel the chemicals start to drip down into his stomach, which caused such immense pain, Courtney started convulsing on the ground. And to make matters worse, the skin around his mouth was burning so badly that he could feel open sores start to form.
As Courtney and his mother Carol were convulsing on the floor of the basement, Dale turned to Stanley. He was also lifted into a seated position and forced to drink the liquid. Stanley coughed violently, trying to spit it out.
Dale then repeated this process with Michelle and then Oren. And Oren had actually worked with chemicals before, and he knew that this liquid was toxic. And at first, he thought that it was maybe hydrochloric acid. Knowing this, Oren pretended to drink the liquid when Dale forced it into his mouth. But when he walked away to pour more, he slowly let it ooze out.
hearing the other victims cough and spit. He too started to do this, so the men would think he swallowed what was given to him. The sixth pour was given to Stanley, again. This gulp made him violently vomit, and soon the entire basement was filled with sounds of coughing and spitting. And now we're going to take an ad break.
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Now let's get back to today's story. Now, seeing that their victims were vomiting up the Drano, Dale and William knew that in order for them to die, it had to stay in their system. So they grabbed some duct tape lying around and attempted to tape their mouth shut. But the Drano had caused such big sores around their mouth that the tape wouldn't even stick. And I just want to explain the severity of what these victims went through.
According to MetroHeating.net, "Draino is a common, lye-based drain cleaning product. It is meant to clear blockages when poured down a drain by dissolving and decomposing masses that may be blocking your pipes. When you pour Draino down your sink, a series of reactions take place that is meant to clear a clog.
First, the lye in Drano decomposes physical matter in your pipes. Then, aluminum in the product reacts with the lye, causing the temperature in your pipes to reach near boiling to help speed up decomposition. Finally, the lye forms a soapy substance that dissolves the clogged material and creates room for water to wash the clog away. End quote.
And the website goes on to say that Drano is so toxic that some plumbers don't even recommend you using them in your pipes because it can cause severe damage. And if it's doing that to pipes, I can't even imagine the amount of damage it can cause your flesh and organs. And as time goes by, down in that dark basement,
These five victims are all feeling the effects of these toxic chemicals eating away at their inside. And again, Dale and William assumed that they would be dead in a matter of minutes, just like what happened in Magnum Force. And to pass the time, they began rummaging through the boxes in the basement, looking for valuables. For the next few minutes, the robbers ran up and down the stairs, and the victims could hear the sound of a car and doors opening and closing.
They used this opportunity to try and loosen their restraints, but the skin around their wrists and ankles was nearly rubbed raw. The men eventually returned to the basement and started carrying boxes of records up to the car waiting outside. Courtney tried to listen to their conversations, but he couldn't hear what they were saying. He could hear, however, the sounds of toilet paper.
and he realized that the men were wiping down the shelves to remove any fingerprints that had been left behind. After taking all of the items they wanted and wiping down the area thoroughly, they came back down to the basement. There was a sound of snapping, and Courtney saw that the two men had put on rubber gloves. What were they about to do next? They had already been tortured and these men had already loaded thousands of dollars of merchandise into their van. The sound of rubber gloves meant only one thing.
They came back down here to finish the job." Dale and William first walked over to Oren and stole his wallet out of his back pocket. They also took the gold watch around his wrist. They then took Courtney and Stanley's wallets and Michelle and Carol's purses, Michelle's engagement ring, and Carol's Rolex and necklace.
And all while this was happening, the sound of deep, painful coughing continued to echo throughout the basement. And it was at this point when the men realized that their Drano plan hadn't worked. Now, all they're left with is five people struggling to breathe. So Dale and William began discussing what they're going to do next. Dale suggests that they murder them, but William was hesitant.
According to the book "Victim: On the Other Side of Murder" by Gary Kinder, William said, "I can't do it, man. I'm scared." But to Dale, there was no turning back, so he told William to go wait in the car and give him 30 minutes to handle it. Now, there are some sources that say that William stuck around for this next part, but others say he went to the van.
But regardless, what happened next was horrific. Dale walks over to Carol as she lays on the floor and he raises his gun to her head and pulls the trigger. Her son Courtney was next to her, watching in horror as his mother bled out. Next, Dale walks over to Stanley and shoots him in the head as well. Then Courtney dies.
and Oren. With the four victims bleeding out, Michelle was the only victim left. But Dale had other plans for her before he killed her. Frozen in fear, Michelle is forced into the corner of the basement.
where Dale removes her clothes and brutally rapes her. After the rape, Dale escorted Michelle to the bathroom where he allowed her to urinate. The only item of clothing she wore were her white socks. Her clothes were still folded in the corner where she was violated. She was scared and pleaded with Dale to let her go. She even asked him if he would take her with them when they left the store. He didn't answer her and escorted her back to where the others were on the basement floor.
Dale then told Michelle to get back down on her stomach, and she did what she was told. I can't imagine the fear she was feeling in this moment, knowing she was about to face the same fate as the others. But then, Dale goes back upstairs. I'm sure Michelle felt a huge wave of relief, knowing her attackers were leaving. And as she laid on the floor, she could hear Oren's labored breathing next to her.
Michelle quickly elbows him in his side, making sure he was still conscious. Oren slowly opened one eye, letting Michelle know he was alive, but he didn't utter a word, and he quickly went back to playing dead on the floor. In that moment, there was a brief sense of hope, but all of that would suddenly disappear when she heard Dale's footsteps coming back down the stairs. Suddenly, he appears out of the darkness, and he's now standing over Michelle's naked body. And without warning, he fires a bullet into her head, killing her instantly.
Orin heard her moan after the bullet penetrated her skull, but now all was quiet in the dark basement once again. After shooting all five victims, Dale takes a step back to look at what he just did. And when he does so, he notices that Orin was still alive. Presumably out of bullets, Dale grabs a piece of wire and wraps it around his neck, pulling it up with great force.
Orin could feel his airway closing and the wire tightening around his throat. When suddenly, his head dropped to the floor and he rolled over on his side. Dale must have realized that this wasn't working. So he moves on to his next idea. As Orin is lying on the floor, Dale walks over to the side of the room and grabs a ballpoint pen.
He then walks back over to Orin and places it in his ear canal. Then, Dale lifts his leg up in the air and stomps down on the pen as hard as he could. All while Orin is still alive, he feels the pen pierce through his ear canal
and exit the side of his throat. Afterwards, Dale is now sure that all five victims were dead, so he runs up the stairs, gets into the getaway car, and all three men take off down the road away from the Hi-Fi shop. The trio made it out with $24,000 worth of equipment. What they didn't know at the time was that Courtney, Oren, and Carol were still alive.
Unfortunately, Michelle and Stanley were dead. With the men gone from the store, Carol turned over onto her back. Her breathing was shallow. Courtney lifted his head and looked in the direction of the basement stairs. His hands and feet were still tied, but he twisted his body in a way so that he could attempt to slither towards the bottom of the staircase. And now we're going to take an ad break.
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For the next few hours, the town of Ogden, Utah was completely unaware that the city's most infamous crime had just taken place. Courtney had been too weak to make it up the stairs to call for help. But luckily, after a few hours, Joyce Walker, who was Stanley's mother and Oren's wife, began to worry about her son and husband. She had woken up and realized that they never came home. So she and her other son, Lynn, got into the car and made their way to the hi-fi shop to look for them.
Upon arrival, the two get out of their car and walked around. Lynn Walker buzzed the back door of the shop when suddenly he heard the sound of his father yelling for them to call the police. Lynn quickly kicked the door in and what they saw next would forever be ingrained into their minds. Stanley was dead on the floor of the basement and Oren was barely clinging to life.
Joyce and Lynn quickly called the police, and soon enough, the hi-fi shop was swarmed with first responders. When the police made their way inside, they almost immediately noticed a man with matted and bloody hair, and what appeared to be a pen sitting behind his ear.
It was Orin Walker who quickly informed them that the other four victims had been shot as well. They found Courtney near the bottom of the staircase and it appeared as if he was trying to speak but the police could tell he was gasping for air. Believing he had been shot in the lung, an officer reached down and ripped Courtney's shirt open to cover the hole in his chest.
but they only discovered that his chest had collapsed. There was a single hole in the back of his head and they rolled him over on his side thinking he was drowning in his own blood. Scanning the rest of the room, they knew that the other three victims were likely dead.
which was true for Stanley and Michelle. Carol, however, still had a faint pulse. As this was all happening, Oren was anxiously running around the basement looking for tools. When the officer asked what he was doing, Oren pointed to Stanley and told the police that that was his son, and he was searching for something to remove Stanley's restraints.
Heartbreakingly, the officer had to inform him that his son was dead and there was nothing they could do for him. They then instructed Oren to go upstairs and that's when the officers noticed that the pen was not behind Oren's ear, but rather inside of it.
And the only reason they noticed this was because the pen was literally moving up and down as he breathed. And I think that's just wild that Oren was clearly in excruciating pain, but all he was worried about was his son, Stanley. According to the first responders, the odor in the basement was overwhelming. A lingering chemical smell filled the air and made the men dizzy.
When the medical staff arrived at the scene, Courtney, Carol, and Oren were whisked away to St. Benedict's Hospital, where Carol would eventually succumb to her injuries. Courtney Nasebit was fighting for his life and the ability to breathe. An emergency tracheectomy was performed, and as he struggled to take deep breaths, it was noted that bloody foam was coming through the tube. After being shot in the head and forced to drink Drano, it was a miracle he was alive.
Courtney's father and Carol's husband, Dr. Byron Naisbitt, arrived at the hospital that night and said, "I was devastated. I've got a family of six, and two of them, a third of my family, are wiped out. My wife is dead and my son is not expected to live. I don't know. What do you do with something like that? Grief is bad. Grief is a terrible thing that you have to confront." With Stanley, Michelle, and Carol all dead, the police were now dealing with a triple homicide.
And while Oren and Courtney fought for their lives in the hospital, the Ogden Police Department was hard at work trying to find whoever did this. And the brutality of the crime quickly got out and stunned the people of Ogden, Utah. People were now afraid to leave their homes, wondering if the killers would strike again. The panic throughout the community made the police react quickly, and they were using every available resource.
24 hours after the crime, the police in Ogden were busy interviewing witnesses, following up on phone tips, and tracking down every possible lead that could get them closer to the men who committed this heinous crime. The lead detective was a man named Deloy White, and after looking at the crime scene, it was clear to him that he was dealing with organized criminals who had planned out the robbery in advance.
In an article for Deseret News, Deloitte says, "They knew exactly what they were looking for before they went into the store. They also knew there would be at least two people in the store and they would have to be killed. They did no more and no less than what they had planned." The surviving victim, Orrin Walker, was also able to help the police with solving the crime.
Oren told police that the two men responsible were African American. Oren described one of the men as shorter and quiet, but when he spoke it sounded like a Caribbean accent. Oren also described a cream or yellow colored van that was parked behind the hi-fi shop when he arrived to look for his son, Stanley. County prosecutor Robert Newey spent a lot of time at Oren's bedside gathering as much information as he could and relaying it back to Detective White.
Despite gathering a description from Oren, police were still at a roadblock with the case. When the information was made public regarding the description of the men in the van, a lot of tips rolled through the police station. But they wouldn't get a big break until Tuesday, April 23, 1974, at 5:00 p.m., when two boys were rummaging around in a dumpster at the Hill Air Force Base looking for soda bottles.
As the two go into the dumpster, they find the purse of Michelle Ansley and Carol Naisbitt, as well as a few driver's licenses of the victims. The boys immediately called the police, who were then dispatched out to the Air Force Base. When investigators arrived and began to comb through the dumpster,
They noticed a crowd of people had gathered around to watch the investigation unfold. And police kept a close eye on the crowd as they searched for evidence. They figured that their killers would most likely keep a close eye on the investigation and that they might even be in the crowd that gathered around. And as they closely watched, they noticed two men that matched the description of the killers.
And not only did they look like their guys, but they were also acting very strangely among the crowd of people. George Throckmorton, a forensic crime scene specialist, was sifting through the dumpster with a fellow detective when a light bulb went off. He recognized one of the men as Dale Pierre. And it turns out, Dale had a history with the Ogden Police Department.
George even points to the barracks next to the dumpster and tells his coworker, "That's where Dale Pierre lives."
It turns out, the police in Ogden, Utah were well aware of who he was. In fact, Dale Selby Pierre was a suspect in another homicide involving an auto crime ring and police had been dispatched to the barracks before. Dale was originally from Trinidad and Tobago and had moved to the United States just a few years prior to the Hi-Fi murders. He had been in trouble throughout his life, and he was known to be a pathological liar with a hot temper.
And shortly after moving here, Dale joined the Air Force. But on the side, he got into the business of stealing cars. And what he would do was go to a car lot, ask to take the car on a test drive, and while he was out, he would duplicate the keys. And then a few days later, the car would be gone from the lot. And he was in this business with several guys from the Air Force, and everyone knew that this is what he did.
And it wasn't really a big deal to anyone until one day when Dale allegedly stole a car from someone on the base named Sergeant Edward Jefferson. In that story, it all started on October 1st, 1973 when Dale went over to Edward Jefferson's apartment. I wasn't able to figure out what Dale was doing there but when he left, Jefferson noticed that his car keys were missing.
Now, everyone on the base knew that Dale stole keys, so it was very obvious what had happened. Dale pretended to search for the keys with Jefferson, but it wasn't until the following day when he miraculously found them.
It's believed that Jefferson confronted Dale about duplicating his keys while they were missing. And afterwards, the two got into a pretty heated argument. Jefferson even ended up changing the locks to his apartment and he switched out his car's ignition so that Dale couldn't steal anything from him.
But just days after this incident, on October 4th, 1973, Edward Jefferson would be found brutally murdered inside of his apartment. When police arrived on scene, they found him on the couch with a stab wound deep in his face. Based on the evidence, they believed it was from a military-style bayonet. Now, everyone knew that Dale Pierre was responsible for his murder.
Even the police. But when they questioned him, he denied everything. He even offered an alibi, but it wasn't able to be verified. A search warrant was eventually issued at Dale's apartment in the barracks, but they weren't able to find the weapon or any evidence that could connect him to the murder. And with that, Edward Jefferson's case went cold.
Dale Pierre had a dark past, and detectives knew deep in their hearts he was responsible for the Hi-Fi murders. As for Dale's accomplice, William Andrew, he grew up in Virginia and seemed to have a normal childhood. He joined the Air Force in 1973 for helicopter mechanics and was placed in the barracks with Dale Pierre.
The two became good friends, which was odd because many of the men in the barracks didn't care for Dale. They said he had a temper and could be extremely moody. When William and Dale started hanging out, many of William's friends drifted away from him. Their commanding officer also noted that William was a follower and Dale was the one who liked control.
Hearing this, the police ended up questioning the 1550th Organizational Maintenance Squadron's first sergeant, James Stevens, about Dale and William. The police wanted to know a number of things. For one, if Dale was short and spoke with a Caribbean accent. They wanted to know if William owned a light blue van, and if the two men had been spending a lot of time together recently.
Sergeant Stevens relayed as much information as he could about Dale. He also informed them that he personally had come to the 1550th Squadron to restore discipline there. He had been briefed about the Jefferson murder investigation when he arrived around November 1973 and how the Air Force investigators believed Dale was a murderer. The commanding officer, Colonel John Neubauer, even told him, I lie awake at night worrying about that guy. I just...
wonder who he's going to kill next. Little did they know, his next murder would completely devastate the town of Ogden. While police are gathering all of this information, they're slowly building their case against Dale and William. And eventually, they would obtain a search warrant for the men's barracks. When the warrant came through, police and Throckmorton headed to the 351 barracks.
where 475 men were housed. The men who lived in the barracks were trained to maintain helicopters used for airborne paramedics. Throckmorton, who had been assigned to search Dale's room, would ultimately find a key piece of evidence in tying these two men to the Hi-Fi murders.
It was around 1am when Throckmorton began moving and dragging furniture around Dale's room to peel back the carpeting from the floor. One of the officers in the room joked that they wouldn't find stereo equipment under a rug, but that didn't stop Throckmorton from continuously moving furniture to each corner so that he could peel back every section of the carpet that he could. And so far, they had found some interesting evidence.
like a brochure of a list with all of Ogden's stereo stores. The Hi-Fi Shop was the first store written on the list. They also found a pair of surgical gloves hidden in Andrew's closet and plastic wrapping from records with the Hi-Fi Shop's label right on top.
However, they didn't find any weapons and there was no sign of missing stereo equipment. But Throckmorton wasn't going to give up just yet. He knew there was evidence in Dale's room. He just had to find it. And what do you know, on the last corner of the carpeting that he pulled back,
He found a white envelope sitting in between the carpet and the carpet pad. Throckmorton examined the envelope and opened it up. Inside was a folded piece of paper that was a lease agreement between Dale Pierre and a storage facility that was only a few blocks away from the Hi-Fi shop.
And he knew right then and there that that was where they would find the stereo equipment. In addition, Dale had rented Unit 2 the day before the murders.
Upon finding this, Throckmorton turned to the other officer in the room and said, "Bingo, we got him." After this discovery, officers moved to maintain a search warrant for Unit 2. Although it was after 2:00 AM, the warrant was granted quickly, and everyone involved in the search of the barracks headed to the Wasatch storage to see if the door of the storage unit lifted. They knew that the unveiling of this unit would be the key to solving the crime.
County Prosecutor Deloy White led the police officers to the storage unit. 30 officers stood behind Deloy, their flashlights bouncing off the steel door, as he unlocked the padlock and slid the door open. And as soon as it opened up, the officers knew they had found the jackpot.
Piled high in the storage unit was stereo equipment. Many of the officers cheered knowing that they could finally get justice for the victims. They all stepped inside and walked through a maze of equipment. In the middle of the storage unit was a stereo dust cover with a rolled up car mat. When police unrolled the car mat, they found a green cup and a bottle of Drano, half full, next to the cup. The bottle read, "Tough on clogs, won't hurt pipes."
Doctors and nurses at St. Benedict Hospital would now know the mysterious liquid that had burned Courtney and Oren's face, and what had caused the bloody foam in Courtney's lungs. At that point, they still had no idea what caused those injuries. And now we're going to take one final ad break.
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The next morning, media caught wind of Dale and William's arrest and the items found in the storage unit. The news and radio stations were broadcasting the information and the front of every newspaper in Ogden said the Hi-Fi Shop murderers were finally caught. But before we get into the trials, we want to talk about the victims and their funerals.
Michelle Ansley was buried on Saturday morning, April 22nd, 1974. Brent Richardson, the owner of the Hi-Fi shop, eulogized her funeral. He spoke about her upcoming wedding in August and how her life was cut far too short. He spoke about her outgoing and bubbly personality.
And about how a week before the Hi-Fi murders, when the Hi-Fi shop hosted a dance at the local high school, Michelle had grabbed Brent's hand and guided him onto the dance floor. She was put to rest at Washington Heights and Memorial Park, where later that afternoon, Carol Nassbit would be buried as well.
Carol Elaine Peterson Naisbitt was buried on the afternoon of Saturday, April 27, 1974. Her family was allowed to view the body before the funeral, and when the casket lid was lifted, they noticed the woman lying before them didn't look anything like the wife or mother they knew. She didn't look peaceful.
She looked like she had died a horrible death. Her husband, Byron, took the diamond ring from her finger and placed it inside a coin envelope. Her diamond earrings were also replaced with gold studs. The main speaker at Carol's funeral was a close family friend named Dr. Paul Southwick.
He spoke about the good memories they shared and how she had been a wonderful, doting mother to her children. Her love and concern for her kids would ultimately be what ended her life when she drove to the hi-fi shop to look for her son. She was buried at Washington Heights Memorial Park. Stanley Walker would be buried on Friday, April 26, 1974, and his father Orin was in the hospital at the time, but
he was able to leave to attend the funeral. Oren's gunshot wound to the head appeared to be superficial, but he was on a high dose of antibiotics to prevent infection, so when he left to be with his family, a nurse stood by his side until it was time to return. Two days after Stanley's funeral, Oren would walk out of the hospital for good,
and start preparations to be the prosecutor's key witness in the case. And once the victims were laid to rest, the people of Ogden, Utah were ready for justice. And the victims' families were angry. After Dale and William are arrested, Dr. Byron Nassbit, Carol's husband and Courtney's father, arrived at the police station the next morning
and demanded to see the two men. He wanted to look them in the eye and ask why.
He couldn't fathom that two men could do something so brutal to another human being. The police didn't want Byron to do something foolish that he might regret later. And Byron eventually agreed with the officers and went back home to wait for the fate of the two men at their trial. During his son's recovery, Courtney had to undergo several surgeries and spent 266 days in the hospital.
Courtney was lucky to be alive, but he would be physically and mentally changed for the rest of his life. The bullet left Courtney with permanent brain damage that interfered with concentration and the ability to cope with everyday life. The right side of his body would be permanently damaged. His right foot dragged when he walked, and his right eye stared off to the side.
He would never be able to hold down a job and the Drano did such extensive damage to his esophagus, it had to be permanently removed and replaced. Doctors were able to use a part of his bowel to create an esophagus for Courtney but the effects left him with stomach pain and difficulty digesting food.
One of his doctors would later say, quote, Courtney is here, but in some ways, it's almost worse than had he died because he's not normal and will never be normal, end quote.
And Courtney not only struggled physically but emotionally as well. It wasn't rare for him to lash out at nurses trying to help him. He would get so violent when they came into his room that he would swing his arms trying to hit them. Many nurses had bruises on their bodies from Courtney. At one point, Courtney grabbed the arm of a nurse, twisting it and holding it behind her back until she started to cry and someone helped her get free from his grip.
He would often curse and scream, "Goddamn! Goddamn! Goddamn!" He complained of stomach pain and had a hard time controlling his bladder and bowel movements. When he had an accident in bed, he would try to hide it from the nurses due to his embarrassment, and that would cause him to lash out when they came to clean him up. A nurse described Courtney as psychotic because he would rip IVs out of his arm so often he had to be restrained. If anyone tried to approach him, he would be extremely aggressive.
Doctors and nurses chalked it up to a PTSD-type situation, where Courtney might be thinking the staff were going to torture or kill him Courtney also battled many infections and high fevers He had chest infections that left him gasping for air His weight had dropped to 106 pounds, and every day was a struggle to survive One nurse compared Courtney's situation to a dying, suffering animal
He was like a pitiful animal suffering. When he was alone in the room, he would cry out these terrible, hurt animal sounds. And yet you could go in and say, "What's the matter, Courtney?" And chances are you'd get no response at all from him. No response at all. Walker also faced many difficulties after the murders. Although he was lucky to be alive as well, the crime was mentally and emotionally debilitating. His son was dead.
and he would forever remember the brutal night that he watched his son be murdered. He would later say, quote, This has been hard for me. It's been hard for me to believe that I was ever involved with this. My son Stanley's life was taken with two shots and Drano. He tried five different times to kill me. Each one could have been lethal. It certainly changed our lives. End quote.
Lynn Walker, Oren's youngest son, the one who called police and stumbled upon the crime scene, slept on the floor in his parents' room for a year after the murders.
He also refused to go into any basements. Oren's wife Joyce spent a lot of time in bed trying to forget what happened to her son on April 22nd, 1974. Dale Peer and William Andrews' trials for the Hi-Fi Shop murders began on October 15th, 1974 and only lasted one month.
And given that the defendants were black, there was a lot of racial tension in Utah at the time. The black community felt a lot of backlash. It wasn't rare for police officers to pull over a black person driving on Washington Boulevard just because of the color of their skin.
Sarah McLennan, an African-American woman who had moved to the area in 1966 and taught biology at the Intermountain Indian School, had a young son who attended Bonneville High School. Her son had been pulled over on Washington Boulevard for no reason other than the fact that he had dark skin. She said,
There was a lot of profiling going on back then. There seemed to be a lot of hostility back then. Before the suspects were caught, it was even said that police were instructed to pull over every car that had a black person in it, hoping to catch the men responsible. But things started to go back to normal once the two men were eventually caught.
It took two weeks for jury selection and the courthouse venue was moved to Farmington, Utah, 20 miles away from Ogden. The jury consisted of 11 men and 1 woman.
There were no black jurors picked. Defense attorneys for Dale and William fought for Courtney to take the stand as a witness, but Courtney's doctor refused, stating that he wouldn't be able to remember facts about the murders. Retrograde amnesia tends to involve memory loss of facts rather than skills. The doctor also went on to explain that he had never seen a patient who had gone through such terrible trauma
and it was unlikely Courtney would ever make a full recovery. Dale Pierre, William Andrews, and Keith Roberts, the getaway driver, were charged with three counts of first-degree murder and two counts of aggravated robbery. The prosecutor, Robert Newey, presented the full array of items taken from the storage unit to the jury. There were 120 items on full display,
including amplifiers, turntables, and speakers. The defense argued for a mistrial when at lunch one afternoon, a juror opened a folded napkin and found a picture of gallows with a handwritten note saying, quote, hang those N-words, end quote.
The jurors informed the judge that the note had not and would not persuade their findings, and the mistrial was denied by the judge. The star witness for the prosecution was Orrin Walker. When he took the stand, he pointed to Dale and told the jury that that was the man who pointed the gun at him when he arrived at the hi-fi shop looking for his son. He then told the jury that William was the man who pointed the gun at him when Dale tied him up downstairs in the basement.
He told the jury that Dale raped Michelle, how he forced them to drink Drano, how they were all shot one by one, and how Dale tried to strangle him with an electrical cord. Oren had made a full recovery, and the bullet hole in his head proved to be superficial. The pen that was kicked into his ear canal had been safely removed, and the only wounds visible were the burn marks on his chin and throat.
where the Drano had burned his skin. When he told the jury what happened to his son, Stanley, downstairs in the basement, he began to cry, but he wouldn't leave the witness stand until he was finished with his testimony. Carol's husband and Courtney's father, Dr. Byron Nasbitt, also took the stand, and he informed the jury of his son's permanent injuries.
Dale would later say that during Byron's testimony, two members of the jury kept looking at him while Byron told the horrific aftermath of Courtney's life in the hospital. The jury was also presented with colored pictures of the crime scene.
There were close-up pictures of the victims' burned skin on their faces and shoulders from the Drano. They showed Michelle's naked body and the close-up picture of the bullet hole in her skull. Dale recalled feeling sick while looking at the images.
He would later say, quote, it was generally gross. They had pictures of the whole room down there. The court broke out then for lunch. I told my defense attorney I was sick and he asked for a doctor, end quote. Which is so weird that he was getting sick looking at the crime scene photos, but it didn't seem to bother him when he was shooting them in the head that night or
or kicking pens into their ears. On October 15, 1974, the prosecution and the defense rested their cases. The jury was released at 6.45 p.m. to deliberate their findings. Less than 12 hours later, at 5 a.m. the next morning, the jury returned with their verdict. They found Dale Peer guilty on all counts, two counts of aggravated robbery and three counts of first-degree murder. They
They also found William Andrews guilty on all five counts. When it came to Keith Roberts, the getaway driver for the crime, the jury was hung on the murder charges, but he was found guilty of aggravated robbery. Oren's testimony throughout the trial let the jury know that Roberts wasn't inside the hi-fi shop when the crime was being committed. The penalty phase of the trial was set for November 20, 1974.
Pierre and Andrews were facing the death penalty under the Utah Death Penalty Statute that stated if a person was found guilty of first-degree murder, a separate hearing would be held to determine if the person would serve a life sentence or be sentenced to death. Laura Ansley, Michelle's mother, in asking about the death penalty for William, who many thought should have received a life sentence because he didn't commit the murders, responded:
let him join his companion in hell. She felt that her daughter wasn't given the option to live, so the life of William Andrews shouldn't be spared either. - During the penalty phase of the trial, there are two main components being examined regarding the defendants. There's the character of the defendant and their background.
Would it be better for society if the defendants spent the remainder of their lives in prison? Or should they be killed for what they did? The defense went into full detail on what would happen to Dale and William when the day came for execution. He would later say, "The sun rising, the chains rattling, the defendants drugged and crying,
being dragged to the chair where he would be tied down, a heart sewn to the front of his shirt, the six rifles that would be aimed at the heart." Newey, the prosecuting attorney, was the last person to present his statement to the jury. He recalled that Dale and William had no remorse for the suffering of the victims as they pleaded for their lives on the night of April 22nd, 1974.
How in cold blood each victim was forced to drink Drano, the vomiting that followed, their burned skin, the rape of Michelle, and the bullet that had been put into each victim's head. Newey told the jury that at least Dale and William's death would be quick and painless, and they would never know the suffering the five victims endured.
Then he left the jury with a chilling question. How humane was their executioner? It didn't take long for the jury to reach a verdict regarding the fate of Dale and William. Dale speculated that he would receive the death penalty and Williams would receive a life sentence. But when they were taken back into the courtroom, the judge read the decision.
Dale Peer and William Andrews were both sentenced to death three times for the three victims they had murdered. In Utah's history, out of 140 people found guilty of first-degree murder, 79 were issued a life sentence and 61 had been sentenced to death. Of the 61 people who received the death penalty, only 31 had been actually executed by the state. The last execution by the state of Utah was on March 30, 1960.
The two men were escorted back to their jail cells after the decision was made. In the morning, they would be transported to the Utah State Prison where they would wait for their execution date. Many people in the African American community were outraged at the ruling. They believed William was only an accomplice in the murders and should have never been sentenced to death.
Reverend France Davis was one member of the community who believed it was unfair for William to be put to death. His belief was that the justice system is unfair to African Americans.
In a news article for ABC4, he said, "The death penalty was being used as a racist device that there were more African Americans being put to death than there were any other group." He was one of the many members of the Ogden community who supported commutation for William Andrews. On November 20th, 1974, the same day Dale and William were sentenced to death, Courtney Naspit finally left St. Benedict's Hospital
He mostly spent his days watching television and sitting on the couch in the corner of the family's den.
The corner would eventually be called Courtney's Corner by his family. Courtney had to learn how to feed himself with the right amount of formula to be injected into his feeding tube. His father was adamant that no one should help him because he had to learn how to do things on his own. Although it was hard for his father to watch his son struggle with day-to-day tasks, he stated, "I babied him quite a little bit.
probably more than I should have, just mothered him and put up with his immaturity and stuff like that. I figured he'd had enough stress and I wasn't going to push him that hard." But Byron knew that it was in Courtney's best interest to eventually be able to take care of himself. When Courtney was able to return to school, he could only commit to two hours a day.
Before the murders, he hadn't been very popular at Ogden High School, but when he returned, everyone knew who he was. Many students went out of their way to say hello or encourage him to keep fighting. He was deemed a hero. The students wanted him to feel welcome and missed when he returned, but most of all,
They pitied him for what he went through. It was hard for Courtney to remember his friends. He seemed distant when people spoke to him. His eyes were glassy and there was a gray coloring to his skin. When students and staff spoke to him, he often wouldn't respond. One student even said of Courtney, "The best way to describe Courtney is haunted."
Now, in better news, on May 27th, 1976, at the Weber State College, a stage had been set up for the high school graduation of Courtney's class. When his name was called, and it was time for him to make his way across the stage, there was an eruption of applause, and people stood to honor him.
Courtney limped across the stage, focusing on uncurling his right hand to receive his diploma from the principal. He said, quote, End quote.
Courtney's father would later remarry in 1978 and go on to live a fulfilling life until his death in November of 2020. In an article for the Associated Press in 1987, Byron voiced his concerns for victims' rights after a brutal crime.
He believed money spent for legal battles to execute Andrews and Pierre, feed and house them in prison, would have been better spent on helping Courtney. He said, quote, No one has once given any thought to my son as to what he needs. His rights were the ones that were violated, end quote. When asked about his thoughts on the death penalty verdict, he responded, quote,
Whether they execute him or not, it's not going to help Courtney's situation one bit.
End quote. Dr. Naspit's hope was for one day, there would be financial aid funds in place for survivors of violent crime. Dale Peer tried to appeal his conviction three times, but he was denied every time. In one last-ditch effort, he tried for clemency. In August 1987, Peer's attorneys filed his appeal to the board, and they agreed to hear his case. He was granted 10 hours of testimony, five from Peer and five from the state.
In the morning of the first day of the hearing, he did what a lot of criminals never do, he confessed to the murders. He informed the panel that he never intended to kill the victims, he only wanted to rob the store. The Drano was brought as a possible way to keep the victims quiet.
He blamed his behavior on his strict upbringing in Trinidad, where he experienced multiple beatings. Upon his arrival to New York City as a teenager, he had never known prejudice. He claimed the discrimination he felt in the U.S. began to boil inside of him, creating a rage he had never known. The rage continued when he joined the Air Force, and on the night of the murders, he was angry and under the influence of Valium, beer, and marijuana.
Ultimately, though, Peer's attempt at clemency didn't persuade the panel, and the death sentence would remain in place. Peer was set to die by lethal injection. On August 28, 1987, Peer was executed and pronounced dead at 1:12 a.m. by a lethal dose of three different drugs. When asked if he had any final words, he responded,
Thank you. I just want to say my prayers." He bequeathed the rest of his money to William Andrews, and Andrews became richer by $29.
Earl Dorius, from the Attorney General's office in Utah, witnessed the execution of Dale Peer. He described the scene, saying, "Not a bit of pain. It's just as if they were sedating a patient to prepare them for surgery. That's the best way I can describe it. It's the most painless appearing form of execution imaginable." As for Andrew Williams, he spent nearly 18 years on death row.
In 1992, the NAACP stood outside of the courthouse in Ogden, Utah demanding that Williams' life be spared because he didn't participate in the murders. Defense attorney Steve Hawkins believed that Williams was sentenced to death because he was a black man. Janetta Williams, a member of the Salt Lake City's NAACP was outraged at the decision to uphold the death sentence.
She believed, as did many others, that William was solely given the death penalty because of the color of his skin. She would later tell the media, quote, William Andrews did not kill anyone. I'm here to let you know we are outraged. We have a right to be upset.
"Attorneys for Andrews believed he would never receive a fair trial in a state that is composed of mostly white people. They emphasized that white men convicted of murder in the state of Utah were given less harsh sentences and highly publicized murder trials. But the fate of Andrews rested in the hands of the parole board, and his last appeal to commute his sentence to life in prison was rejected."
A pro-life march for Andrews was held in 1992 outside of the Governor's Mansion near downtown Salt Lake City. But on July 30, 1992, 37-year-old William Andrews was executed by the state of Utah after many appeals to reduce his sentence to life in prison. His last words were, quote,
As he lay strapped to the gurney, IV tubes running into his arms, he lifted his head for a brief moment and saw family members watching. He mouthed them, I love you, and smiled.
Witnesses say he was calm and relaxed, almost ready for the nightmare to be over.
and at 1:46 a.m., Williams was pronounced dead. And for the getaway driver, Keith Leon Roberts, he served nearly 13 years in prison for two counts of aggravated robbery. But on May 12, 1987, he was paroled. He moved to rural Chandler, Oklahoma and got a job at an electronics company. His testimony during the trial was that he had his wisdom teeth removed at 9 a.m. on April 22, 1974.
Around 4 p.m., Pierre and Selby woke him up in his room and said they were going to take Andrew's van and look for an apartment for Roberts' wife and baby. Roberts drove the van but started to feel sick from the surgery, so Pierre got into the driver's seat. That's when Pierre drove to the hi-fi shop, parked, and he and Andrews got out of the van.
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Robert stayed behind because he wasn't feeling well. After a few minutes, he told the court that he left the keys in the van and walked to a friend's house for a ride home. He arrived back at the barracks at 7pm and fell asleep.
But witnesses for the prosecution told a different story about Roberts. They stated that they saw him actively pacing back and forth on the sidewalk during the Hi-Fi robbery and murders. In a later testimony, he confessed that he wanted to rob the store for easy money, so he agreed to drive the getaway vehicle. He thought the store was empty when they arrived to rob it.
Oren's testimony saved him from being convicted of murder, because Oren did not place Roberts inside of the hi-fi shop during the crime. After being paroled from the Utah State Prison, he flew under the radar and never got into trouble again. His parole officer said he adjusted well to life after prison and established himself in Oklahoma. On August 8, 1992, Roberts died, a week after William Andrews was executed.
And there are some sources that say it was from suicide, but we were not able to confirm this. - As for the survivors of this horrific tragedy, they clearly don't have a happy ending. Oren Walker, his wife Joyce Walker, and their youngest son, Lynn,
lived a quiet life in Utah after the murder of Stanley. They tried their best to live through their grief, but it definitely wasn't easy. Oren would later pass away on February 13th, 2000. Courtney Nasbitt continued to struggle throughout the remainder of his life. And on June 4th, 2002, after an undisclosed illness in Seattle, Washington,
He passed away at the age of 44. His father, Byron, refused to comment on how his son died but said, quote, quote, this is the end of the Hi-Fi story. I want this to be the end of it.
The Hi-Fi shop was demolished after the murders and replaced by a new shopping center. A restaurant called Cooper's now stands where the Hi-Fi shop was once located. However, it appears that Cooper has permanently closed its doors.
In 1991, a made-for-television movie called " A Test of Love" aired on CBS. The local news in Ogden slammed the movie for being pointless and poorly made. Deseret News writes, "CBS would have us believe that this is a movie about the victims of violent crime that does not dwell on the actual killings.
But more than enough time is spent showing the victims being forced to drink drain cleaner and shot in the head. There's also a contrived happy ending that negates any supposed message about the suffering of victims.
The truth is, the city of Ogden would never be the same after April 22nd, 1974. The Hi-Fi murders are now considered one of the worst hostage situations in United States history because of the brutality of the crime. The prolonged torture, the rape of Michelle, and the shooting of five victims will forever be remembered in the town of Ogden, Utah.
Hey everybody, it's Colin again. Thank you so much for listening to this week's episode of Murder in America. We have some cool news and updates for you this week. We're going to get into that in a second, but first I want to shout out all of our new beautiful patrons out there. Person King, Christina Castro, Stacey Hudek, Kelsey Shelburne, Yesenia Jimenez, Katrina Bowman, Dave Fulton, Chad Carter, Brittany, Kaylin Goodrich, Tyler Myers, Shannon Coffey, Heidi Lasker, Tony Robinson, Ibrahim Mikhail, and Callie Koff. Okay.
Sorry, Callie, if I slaughtered that. But wow, that is a lot of patrons. If you're wondering what we do on Patreon, we post the ad-free version of every episode on there as soon as the episode goes live on all streaming platforms. So if you don't like ads, sign up to become a patron. And you can talk to Courtney and I. It's an awesome little service.
If you guys want to watch a cool murder documentary, I just released an entire documentary about Lake Mead outside of Las Vegas, Nevada. I was just there this week. They have found five bodies in that lake on the shores since May. It is a crazy video. It's on my YouTube channel, The Paranormal Files, so go check that out if you have some time. It's a super interesting and spooky watch. But
If you want to follow us on Instagram, we post all of the photos from the cases that we cover on there. Once again, right as the episodes drop on all streaming platforms, our Instagram is at murder in America. And yeah, we have so much coming up for this next month. We have some classic true crime stories coming in October as well as some just some crazy ones. So yeah, until next time, everybody. Thanks for listening. We'll see you next Friday and have a good weekend.