Swap Meet (PODCAST EXCLUSIVE EPISODE)
34:20 Share

Hey Prime members, you can binge eight new episodes of the Mr. Ballin podcast one month early and all episodes ad-free on Amazon Music. Download the Amazon Music app today. On a spring night in 2009, a woman was walking through a busy Target parking lot carrying a few things she'd just bought to her car. Suddenly, the woman heard a loud bang of a gunshot echo through the parking lot, and she heard other people screaming and running for cover.

But amidst all this chaos, the woman actually turned to where she thought the sound had come from, and she saw this strange-looking man with a big mustache and wild black hair calmly walking away from a parked SUV. And then a moment later, she saw him walk out of the lot and into the surrounding woods, where he disappeared. Soon, police would launch a countywide search to try to track this man down, not realizing he was hiding in plain sight the whole time.

But before we get into that story, if you're a fan of the Strange, Dark, and Mysterious delivered in story format, then you've come to the right podcast because that's all we do and we upload twice a week, once on Monday and once on Thursday. So if that's of interest to you, please invite the follow button shopping with you. And when you're inside of a very fancy store, secretly stick a magnetic alarm sticker onto their back and then leave. Okay, let's get into today's story.

Listening on Audible helps your imagination soar. Whether you listen to stories, motivation, or expert advice, you can be inspired to imagine new worlds and new ways of thinking. Find the genres you love and discover new ones along the way. Explore bestsellers, new releases, plus thousands of included audiobooks and originals that members can listen to all they want, with more added all the time. Audible makes it easy to be inspired and entertained as part of your daily routine, without setting aside extra time.

There's more to imagine when you listen. A title I can't recommend enough is The Only One Left by Riley Sager. You know I love a good plot twist, and this one has like five, and they are all excellent. The ending of the book is sort of chaotic and packed, but if you stick it out, the last two pages really pull the entire story together. It's awesome.

As an Audible member, you can choose one title a month to keep from the entire catalog, including the latest bestsellers and new releases. New members can try Audible free for 30 days. Visit audible.com slash ballin or text ballin to 500-500. That's audible.com slash ballin or text ballin to 500-500 to try Audible free for 30 days. audible.com slash ballin

Halloween is just around the corner, but Huluween is here. Hulu is the streaming home to fresh fall releases that'll creep under your skin, like Immaculate starring Sidney Sweeney, FX's American Horror Stories, the new thriller film Hold Your Breath starring Sarah Paulson, and FX's chilling horror thriller Grotesquerie. So snuggle into your couch with a pumpkin spice latte and watch all your scary favorites. Turn your Halloween into Huluween and stream till you scream on Hulu.

On the morning of Sunday, April 26, 2009, in a suburb of Atlanta, Georgia, a 25-year-old woman named Heather Stroube sat with her boyfriend, Mike, at the kitchen table of Mike's home. Heather and Mike had been dating for a year, but somehow everything still felt fresh and new, and Heather wished she could just spend all day with Mike. But this Sunday, Heather had plans. She was going to church, then to do some chores at her house, and then she would pick up her 19-month-old son from his father.

She knew, in theory, she could skip church in order to spend a little more time with Mike. But for Heather, skipping church was like missing a meal. Whenever she did it, she ended up with an empty feeling in her stomach. So, after taking her last bite, Heather stood up and dropped her dishes in the sink, kissed Mike on the forehead, told him she loved him, and walked out the door. Heather drove across town to church, went inside, sat down in a long wooden pew, and waited for the service to start.

Church had always been an important part of Heather's life. In fact, she was convinced that if it wasn't for church, she never would have been born. Because Heather's parents had first met and fallen in love at a Presbyterian church camp. That was why, when Heather was a teenager, it had felt like fate when she went to youth group and fell in love with a young classmate named Stephen Strube. Heather and Stephen had connected right away. They dated for several years and always talked about their future together. And then in May of 2004, they got married.

At first, life had been good for the young couple. Heather and her parents opened a flower shop, and Heather worked there every day. She had always loved flowers, and being around them just made her happy. And the flower shop was a true family business. Stephen would often come by to help out at the shop, and his mother, Joanna, she would even pitch in when things got really busy.

and in September of 2007, the family grew when Heather and Stephen had a baby boy. They named him Carson, and Heather felt like God had truly blessed her and her family. But now, sitting in church, Heather did not feel so blessed anymore. She was vaguely aware that the preacher had started the service, but she was barely listening. She was only thinking about Carson.

Heather had not seen her son all weekend, and she hated the days when she wasn't with him. And she blamed her now soon-to-be ex-husband, Stephen, for keeping them apart.

Heather and Stephen's happy life had fallen apart just months after Carson was born. One day at the flower shop, Stephen's mom, Joanna, had come across a receipt for some jewelry that Stephen had bought. Joanna figured the jewelry had been a gift for Heather and she thought Heather might want the receipt to keep track of the family finances. But when Heather looked at the receipt, she'd been really confused. She didn't recognize the jewelry that was listed on the receipt. Stephen had never given her anything like that.

And that's when she realized Stephen must be cheating on her, and he had bought this jewelry for some other woman. And when she confronted him about it, Stephen admitted to everything. Heather had at least wanted to try to make the marriage work, but Stephen told her he had a new girlfriend and he wanted a divorce. Now, in church, Heather realized the preacher was finishing up his sermon, and she saw everyone standing up around her.

She felt bad for not having paid much attention, so she stood up and smiled and spent an extra few minutes talking to other members of the congregation. And after the service was over, as Heather walked to her car, she told herself not to dwell on all the negative things in her life. Even though her marriage had fallen apart, God still provided for her. She had a great new boyfriend, she was part of a church filled with people who loved and cared about her, and she had a beautiful little boy.

At around 6 p.m. that night, Heather drove across town to pick up Carson. But the little bit of hope she had started to feel after church had now disappeared, and she felt uneasy. She always felt like this when seeing Stephen, because their custody swap meetings had been tense from the beginning.

Nearly every single time Heather and Stephen met to hand off Carson, they would get into an argument. The baby lived with Heather, and Stephen had him every other weekend, but Stephen had been arguing for joint custody because he wanted Carson to live with him half the time. The fights between the parents had gotten so bad at one point that Heather had insisted on doing the custody swaps in the parking lot of a busy shopping center.

Recently, though, the animosity had sort of leveled off. Stephen just wanted to be done with the divorce proceedings, so he had finally agreed to allow Heather full custody of their son. Still, though, Heather preferred to meet Stephen in public. When Heather pulled into the Target parking lot in the city of Snellville, Georgia that night, she saw Stephen was already there, waiting outside of his car. So, Heather parked and then walked over to him.

Stephen said a quick hello, and he lifted Carson out of his car and handed him over to Heather. And without saying anything else, Stephen got back in his car and drove out of the lot. But Heather was so happy to have her son back, she didn't even care that Stephen had barely acknowledged her. She had a huge smile on her face and talked to Carson as she carried him to her SUV. She opened the rear passenger door and carefully secured him in his car seat. Heather shut the door and walked around to the driver's side, and she heard footsteps coming up behind her.

Heather turned around, and she was startled to see a strange-looking man standing there. He had wild hair and a thick mustache, and he had a messenger bag strapped around his shoulder. This man spoke to Heather, and when she heard what he said, she lunged for the door and tried to open it. Seconds later, shoppers in this busy Target parking lot heard the loud bang of a gunshot.

Some of the shoppers just froze in complete terror, and others took off running and screaming, afraid the shooter would keep on firing. But a couple of the shoppers immediately turned in the direction of the sound, and they saw a man with wild hair calmly walking away from an SUV towards the woods that surrounded the shopping center. These shoppers rushed over to the SUV, and when they saw a woman slumped on the ground and blood covering her face, they called 911.

Officer Neil Carter of the Snellville Police was patrolling in his cruiser not far from the target when he heard the call come through on the police radio. Carter instantly spun a U-turn and stepped on the gas. When he pulled into the target parking lot, he saw a group of people already heading towards his car.

Carter parked, stepped outside, and then walked directly into complete chaos. Everybody in the parking lot, all these people who had just been doing some Sunday shopping before they witnessed a shooting, descended on Officer Carter. And they were shouting and trying to tell him what they saw. But there were so many of them, and they were all so upset that Carter couldn't understand anything they were telling him.

Carter held up his hands and told them to please step back. He needed everyone to calm down. But a few people in the crowd just kept on shouting. Clearly, they had something truly urgent. And they pointed Carter towards a parked SUV. Carter looked over and saw a woman's body lying on the ground by that SUV. He ran to her, but even from a few feet away, he could see the woman had been shot. Carter reached down to feel the woman's pulse, but he already knew she was dead.

When Carter stood back up, he saw a woman from the crowd coming towards him, shouting. But this time, Carter understood exactly what he was hearing. This woman was shouting, "There's a baby in the back seat!" Carter felt his heartbeat spike. He turned around and peered through the window, bracing himself for the sight of an injured child. Instead, to his relief, he saw a little boy, maybe a year and a half old, staring back at him with wide eyes. The little boy looked scared, but he was unharmed.

Carter opened the door of the SUV, lifted up the boy, still in the car seat, and carried him to his police cruiser, setting him down in the back. At this point, Carter saw a wave of police and first responders arriving, and he saw the crowd rushing towards them like they did to him. Carter just looked at the baby in the back of his police car. Carter could barely think straight, and he wasn't sure what to do next. But at least this little boy was safe.

Just then, Carter heard shouting behind him again, and he turned and saw another woman approaching him, waving her arms to get his attention. His first impulse was to tell her to stay back, but she pointed to a spot near the edge of the parking lot, and she said she had seen the shooter standing there before the shooting.

This could be a solid lead, so Carter quickly refocused and started writing down the woman's account in his notebook. She said the shooter had been watching the victim from nearby, on the other side of a few parked cars. He was a short, slender man with an odd mustache and wild black hair, and he was wearing khaki pants and a blue button-up shirt. Carter thanked the woman and then shared her description of the shooter to the other officers at the scene.

Carter stayed behind and arranged for the baby to be taken to the police station, while other officers fanned out and began searching the area around the Target with K-9 units, hoping to find the suspect. The police dogs led their handlers to the edge of the parking lot and then followed a scent through the woods surrounding the Target into the parking lot of an adjacent hotel.

But that's where the dogs lost the trail. The police figured the killer must have gotten into a vehicle parked at that location and driven off. Just beyond the hotel parking lot was a highway, and the officers knew that by now, the killer was probably miles away. Meanwhile, back at the crime scene, Officer Carter found the victim's purse with her license inside of it. Now they had an ID. Her name was Heather Strube.

It's time to enter your wellness era, getting eight hours of sleep, not eating garbage, hitting up the Pilates studio, and being all about skincare. Enter Clarins' new Double Serum. While genetics play a role, you have the power to change your skin's future, starting with Clarins. Double Serum has always been my all-in-one anti-aging skincare go-to, but this new formula now helps neutralize the visible effects of lifestyle and environmental aging, like lack of sleep,

diet, and pollution on your skin. The reformulation is powered by 22 plant extracts and five active molecules, mimicking your skin's composition with a formula that has both an oil-based and water-based serum for maximum efficacy. And it feels incredible on your skin. With visible results in just seven days, it's the ultimate multitasking serum.

Go to Clarence.com slash truecrime and get 20% off any order. A free five-piece discovery gift with any order over $75 plus free shipping. That's C-L-A-R-I-N-S dot com slash truecrime with promo code truecrime.

Clarence.com slash truecrime with promo code truecrime.

That's Amazon.com slash ad-free true crime to catch up on the latest episodes without the ads. Soon after Officer Carter identified Heather, Lieutenant Trey Downs of the Snellville Police Department arrived at the Target parking lot.

The place was still pretty chaotic, with police officers, witnesses, first responders, and police dogs spread out everywhere, but Lieutenant Downs looked completely unfazed by any of it. He quickly met with Officer Carter to get an update and also a description of the shooter. Then he walked right towards the target. As he got closer, he saw several security cameras mounted on the roof of the store pointing down at the parking lot, and he smiled.

Downs had already figured that this store would have decent security, and now he believed these specific cameras would be the key to finding the shooter.

Inside the store, Downs flagged down an employee and told her that he needed to see the security footage for the entire day. The employee led him through the store to a cramped room filled with multiple security screens. A man was already hunched over the screens, watching the scene currently unfolding in the parking lot. That man introduced himself to Downs as the Director of Security. Downs told him that he needed to see everything the cameras had picked up that evening. So the security director pulled up the footage.

At first, as Downs examined each camera angle, he was disappointed. There were no cameras aimed directly at where Heather had parked, and so there was no footage of the actual shooting. But as he looked closely at the footage that they did have, Downs spotted a man who perfectly matched the description of the shooter. The man entered the parking lot on foot, walked in the direction of Heather's SUV, and a short time after, walked away toward the surrounding woods.

The footage was low resolution. Downs asked if he could have the footage, so he could send it off to the crime lab for possible enhancement. But the security director surprised him by saying that Target actually had its own forensics lab that was so good, Target had actually closed cases that even the FBI couldn't solve. The security director promised he'd get the footage out first thing in the morning and get the process started. Downs said that would be a huge help, and he headed out of the store.

The sun was setting and the parking lot looked calm and empty compared to how it had been when Downs first arrived. He saw crime scene investigators packing up their equipment for the night. One of them had called him over to tell him that Heather had been shot with a .38 caliber revolver, but the weapon itself had not been found at the scene and neither had any clear fingerprints.

This was not the news Downs was hoping for. So far, he had a good physical description of the suspect and some blurry video, but not much else. But he figured he did have at least one other thing to go on. This shooting did not appear to be a random attack. Downs believed Heather had been targeted.

Heather's parents were out of town, driving through Alabama, when Heather's mom's cell phone began to ring. She picked it up and heard the voice of her father, Heather's grandfather, on the other end. And his voice was shaking. He told her that he had just been visited by the police, and he had some horrible news that he could barely even believe was true. The police had brought Carson to his house and told him that Heather had been murdered.

Heather's mom screamed and hung up the phone. Heather's dad, who was driving, asked her what was going on. Heather's mom could barely get the words out, but she told him that their daughter had been killed. Heather's dad pulled over to the side of the road, and the two parents just sat there and wept. Then they turned the car around and began making the trip back home to Georgia. Several hours later, late on the night of the murder, Heather's parents walked into the Snellville police station and saw Lieutenant Downs waiting for them.

Heather's parents looked completely dazed, like they barely knew where they were. They'd sped home from Alabama, almost without saying a word to each other. It was almost like if they didn't talk about what had happened, maybe it wasn't real. But earlier, they had gone right to Heather's grandfather's house, and when they saw him sitting with Heather's little boy in his lap, it had hit them. They had lost their daughter, and Carson had lost his mom.

At the station, Lt. Downs said he was deeply sorry for their loss. He understood they were grieving and in shock, but every second counted in a homicide investigation, and so he couldn't wait to ask them questions. Heather's parents said they understood, and they followed Downs to his office and sat across from him at his desk.

First, Downs wanted to know if they knew what their daughter was doing at the Target that evening. Was she just shopping? Heather's mom shook her head. She said Heather and her husband Steven were separated and they met at Target to hand off their son as part of their custody agreement. The custody battle had been ugly, she said. She paused and, in a quiet voice, she asked Lieutenant Downs if he thought Steven could have had something to do with Heather's death.

Downs was not surprised by this question. A husband going through a divorce was almost always suspect number one in a murder like this. It was his first thought too. But as an investigator, he liked to keep his evidence and theories under wraps as much as possible. But he did tell Heather's mom that they had a good description of the shooter and it didn't match Stephen.

And beyond that, Stephen had been seen driving away from the parking lot at the exact time the killer approached. So no, he said, he did not think Stephen was the shooter. What Downs didn't say was that he had not ruled out the possibility that Stephen had hired someone else to kill his estranged wife.

Downs told Heather's parents he just needed one more thing, a list of all the people who knew that Heather would be in that parking lot at that time of day for the custody swap. And after thinking for a few minutes, Heather's parents came up with about a dozen people, and Downs wrote down all the names. Downs told them again how sorry he was, and then he walked them out of the police station.

Downs went back to his office and read over the list Heather's parents had just given him, and he decided there was no way around it. The only person it made sense to start with was Heather's estranged husband, Stephen Stroop. The next morning, Lieutenant Downs and another officer arrived at a house in a quiet suburban neighborhood. This was Stephen's mom's house, and Downs discovered Stephen had started staying here after he and Heather had split up. Downs had barely slept, but nobody would ever know. He looked sharp and full of energy.

He knocked on the door and a young man answered it. Downs asked him if he was Steven Strube. But the young man just said no, turned around, and walked away. Downs looked at the other officer, a little confused by what had just happened. Downs was about to shout at the young man to come back and talk to them when a middle-aged man walked up to the door and asked if he could help. So Downs asked him if Steven was home. And the man laughed. He said, yes, Steven was home. He was the one who just answered the door.

Lieutenant Downs glanced over at the other officer again, and they both looked like they might start laughing. Stephen lying to their face and then just walking off was really strange. The middle-aged man invited Downs and the other officer inside the home and led them to the front room, where Stephen was now sitting on the couch.

Downs immediately asked Stephen why he just pretended to be somebody else. And without missing a beat, Stephen said he was on probation for burglary and he'd violated his probation. So now he was just trying to dodge the cops. Downs told him that was not very smart, but he said they were here about something far more serious than Stephen breaking his probation. They were here because Stephen's wife had been murdered in the Target parking lot right after she had met up with him.

Steven got off the couch and his attitude completely changed. He looked terrified and he asked where his son was. Was Carson okay? Downs assured him Carson was safe and that he had not been hurt. Police had already taken him to stay with Heather's grandfather for the time being. Steven collapsed on the couch and tried to catch his breath. Downs gave him a few minutes to collect himself and then asked him about his relationship with Heather.

Stephen struggled to focus, but he admitted he had not been a great husband. He had cheated on Heather, and he'd given her a really hard time about child custody during most of the divorce process. But he said he'd finally cut all of that out and had agreed to let Heather have full custody of Carson. And he said no matter how badly they might have fought about stuff, he never would have hurt Heather. Down said they could wrap things up, at least for now. He just needed to know where Stephen went after meeting Heather at that Target.

Stephen said he met up with his girlfriend and then they got his car washed. After that, he came home to his mom's house and just hung out by himself because his mom was away visiting her parents.

Downs could check with the girlfriend about the car wash, but Stephen had no real alibi for where he went after that. Still, Downs knew pinning down exactly where Stephen had been wouldn't necessarily help the investigation, because unless Stephen had the ability to be two places at once, he was not the one who pulled the trigger. So, Downs told Stephen they'd follow up if they needed to, and then he and the other officer left the house and went back to the station.

Sitting in his office, Downs felt conflicted. He thought Stephen could have paid someone to kill Heather because of the divorce, and in addition to that, Downs now knew Stephen had violated probation for another crime.

But Downs had also seen how upset Stephen got when he thought something might have happened to his son. And Downs just felt like he couldn't be faking that. So, Downs began going back over the list of people Heather's parents had given him. And something hit him right away. And he admitted to himself it seemed pretty obvious. If Heather's husband didn't kill her, maybe her boyfriend did. Later that day, an officer led Heather's boyfriend, Mike Vickers, into an interview room at the station where Lieutenant Downs was waiting.

And right away, Downs noticed Mike's slight size. He was about 5'7'' tall and he was slender, just like the suspect on the target surveillance video. Mike sat across from Downs in this small bright room and Downs casually asked him what he had done the past weekend. Almost like this was a conversation between two friends just catching up.

Mike said on Saturday night, he and Heather had gone to his parents' house for game night. It was something they did on a lot of weekends. And on Sunday morning, they ate breakfast together before Heather headed out to church, and he went into work. Following up with Mike's employer to check if he'd really been there would be easy enough. So Downs shifted his focus. He asked Mike about the custody swaps between Heather and Steven. Did he know how they worked? Did Heather say anything about the custody swap this past Sunday?

Mike said he had actually gone to one of these custody swaps in the past, so he knew exactly how they worked. The swap he had gone to had been one when Heather was still kind of freaked out about meeting Stephen alone. Mike had driven to the Target with her, and he ran into the store to grab a few things before Stephen got there. But by the time he was leaving the store, Stephen had arrived and was handing the baby to Heather. So Mike had just hung back and watched from a distance. Lt. Downs sat quietly, just looking at Mike for a minute.

This was a guy who fit the description of the killer, at least in part. He also knew exactly where Heather would be at the time of the shooting, and he most likely knew the layout of the Target parking lot and the surrounding area, because he had been there before. So, Downs asked Mike if there had been any problems or tension lately between him and Heather. But Mike said he loved Heather, and that their relationship was awesome. They almost never fought, and they had even been talking about having kids and buying a house together.

Not long after that, Downs finished up the interview and told Mike he was free to go. On the surface, Mike had seemed to be telling the truth about his and Heather's relationship. But that definitely wasn't enough for Downs to eliminate him as a suspect. After all, boyfriends could get jealous and do really stupid things, even if they were in a good relationship. And Downs knew if he could just get a clearer picture of the man from the surveillance video, he would know if Mike was the shooter or not.

After the interview with Mike, Downs called the security director at Target to see when the enhanced images from the video would be ready. The security director said he had sent the footage off to the lab, but it would take at least a week for the lab technicians to finish their work. The idea of waiting around to get these images did not sit well with Downs. He wanted to keep moving forward, and he knew there had been a whole parking lot full of people who had at least caught a glimpse of the suspected killer.

That evening, still only about 24 hours after the murder, Downs had his team bring in as many people who had witnessed the shooting as they could. And Downs had all these witnesses sit with a sketch artist who then drew a composite based on the descriptions of the killer that the witnesses provided.

But when Downs and the other investigators saw the completed drawing, they thought it might be a joke. This killer with the huge hair and big mustache looked like a caricature, or like Sonny Bono, the famous singer from the 1960s and 70s. But all of the witnesses looked at the drawing, and every one of them swore that was what the killer looked like.

Downs was pretty sure he was not looking for a famous singer, so he resigned himself to the fact that he was going to have to wait for the images from the lab to get a clear picture of what this man really looked like. And this frustrated him, because he felt like until he had those images, he and his team would just be sort of treading water.

But the next day, two days after the murder, Downs was in his office going over his notes when an officer rushed in and said he needed to come quick. A phone call had just come into the tip line and the caller said he had seen the killer up close. Downs didn't hesitate. He got up, walked across the station, and grabbed the phone from the officer who was manning the tip line. Downs quickly introduced himself and asked the caller to tell him everything.

The caller said he happened to be at that hotel that was right by the target on the day before the shooting. And he had seen this really strange looking guy lingering in the hotel parking lot. But that wasn't all. This weird guy was clearly staking out the area. He was looking through a pair of binoculars and then he took a bunch of photos. And then when the guy was done taking the photos, he hopped in a Ford F-150 pickup truck and took off.

Downs, who prided himself on almost always remaining calm, felt a huge rush of excitement. He asked the caller if he managed to get the truck's license plate number. But the caller said he didn't. However, he said the truck was white and it had a really distinctive black trim all around it. Downs got even more excited. A license plate number would have been perfect, but this description was still huge. Downs got the caller's info and then hung up the phone.

He quickly gathered his team and they ran a search through motor vehicle records for all the white Ford F-150s registered in the county. And when Downs saw the name of one of the people who owned a Ford F-150 in town, he thought he might have just found Heather's killer.

Later that afternoon, Lieutenant Downs drove through a quiet suburban neighborhood with the hotel witness sitting next to him in the passenger seat. Downs spotted the house he was looking for and stopped the car. He pointed to the white truck parked in the driveway, and the hotel witness looked at it through the passenger side window. And when he saw it, the witness immediately said that that was the truck he'd seen the strange-looking man get into at the hotel. There was no mistaking the distinct black trim all around it.

Downs said that was great news. He thanked the witness for coming along, then he hit the gas and sped away from the house. The following day, which was only three days after the shooting, police got a search warrant for the house where the white truck was parked, and they impounded the truck and brought it in for a forensics search. And the forensics team quickly discovered that the truck had clearly been recently cleaned, because it was absolutely immaculate inside.

This made it difficult for them to find anything useful in the truck, so they sent it to the Georgia Bureau of Investigations lab to undergo trace evidence testing, hoping the state lab might be able to find something that they couldn't. In the meantime, Downs and his team cataloged everything they had taken when they searched the house where the white truck had been found. And the more evidence Downs saw, the more confident he became that he had found the killer.

Still, Downs wanted to make sure his case was airtight before he made an arrest. He didn't want to bring the killer into police custody just to have the district attorney's office tell him that the case wasn't strong enough to argue in court. But Downs didn't have to wait too long to get another big piece of evidence. A little over a week after the murder, the Target lab sent the enhanced surveillance images to Downs. And as the lieutenant looked at these images, he saw something that he believed would help him close this case.

On the afternoon that Lieutenant Downs got the images, he led Heather's estranged husband, Stephen, into one of the station's interview rooms. Downs sat Stephen down at a table that had a laptop sitting on it. Downs flipped open the laptop and pulled up several images. He told him that these were enhanced images that had been pulled from target surveillance footage taken on the evening Heather was killed. Downs leaned in and asked Stephen if he recognized the man with the big hair and the mustache in the images.

Stevens stared at the screen, and then he dropped his head and looked down at the floor. Without looking up at Downs, he just said he did recognize this man. Lieutenant Downs felt like this investigation had just been wrapped up in a nice little bow. He knew it would still take time to compile all the evidence and put together the strongest case possible, but in that moment, Downs was sure that he knew who killed Heather Stroop.

Based on the parking lot surveillance images, suspect and witness interviews, and evidence collected throughout the investigation, the following is a reconstruction of what police believe happened to Heather on the evening of April 26, 2009. At around 6 p.m., the killer crouched down behind a row of parked cars at the edge of the Target parking lot, tightened the messenger bag slung over their shoulder, and watched Heather and Stevens' custody swap. When Heather started putting baby Carson into her car, the killer began walking fast right towards her.

Heather heard the killer's footsteps approaching, and she turned around to see this bizarre-looking man standing there. The killer spoke, and it frightened Heather. So much so that she turned and tried to open up her driver's side door to get away. But the killer immediately pushed themselves between Heather and her SUV. And then before Heather could even call out for help, the killer reached into their bag, pulled out a revolver, pressed the muzzle right against Heather's forehead, and squeezed the trigger.

There was a deafening bang, and then Heather crumpled to the ground as blood began to pour from the wound in her head. The killer heard screaming coming from all of the shoppers who had just witnessed this, but the killer did not panic. Instead, they turned and calmly walked across the Target parking lot, through the surrounding woods, and into the nearby hotel parking lot. There, the killer got into their truck that they had left parked right there, they drove off, and pulled onto the highway.

Once the killer was far enough away, they peeled off their fake mustache and removed their wig. A cheap disguise, but one they knew would conceal their identity. Because neither Heather's husband nor her boyfriend killed her. Her mother-in-law, Joanna, did. It turned out Stephen's mother, Joanna, did not like Heather at all. And she had told different people on several occasions that she did not think Heather was a good mother and that Heather should not have custody of Carson.

Now, Joanna was not anywhere near the top of Lieutenant Downs' suspect list when the investigation started. After all, he thought he was searching for a strange-looking man. But then, Downs discovered that the distinctive white Ford F-150 truck was registered to Joanna. And when that truck was sent to the state lab for further testing, they lifted a single fiber from the truck's interior, and that fiber was determined to be synthetic hair, most likely from a wig.

So Down started to rethink everything. Maybe that strange-looking man on the surveillance video, the suspected killer, was really a woman in disguise. And when he saw the enhanced images from Target's lab and rewatched the entire surveillance video, he was sure he was right, and that Joanna was the person in the wig and fake mustache.

And when Downs showed the surveillance images to Stephen, he recognized his mother through the disguise. But even after that, Downs and his team wanted to lock their case down further. And they eventually discovered that Joanna had owned a .38 caliber Rossi revolver. Now, Joanna's gun was never actually found, but ballistics tests confirmed that a .38 caliber Rossi was one of only two types of revolvers that could have fired the bullet that killed Heather.

And with that final piece of information, Downs and his team made their arrest. Joanna was found guilty of murder and sentenced to life in prison with possibility of parole in 30 years. She was prohibited from having any contact with Heather's family, including her grandson, Carson. Heather's parents were granted full custody of Carson and are raising him themselves, but they do make sure he continues to have a relationship with his father, Stephen Stroop.

Police do not believe that Stephen had anything to do with Heather's murder, or that he knew his mother was involved. That is, until he saw the surveillance footage. Thank you for listening to the Mr. Ballin Podcast. If you liked today's story and you're looking for more strange, dark, and mysterious content, be sure to check out all our studio's podcasts. They are this one, the Mr. Ballin Podcast. We also have Mr. Ballin's Medical Mysteries, Bedtime Stories, Wartime Stories, and also Run Full.

To find those other podcasts, all you have to do is search for Ballin Studios wherever you listen to your podcasts. To watch hundreds more stories just like the one you heard today, head over to our YouTube channel, which is just called Mr. Ballin. So that's going to do it. I really appreciate your support. Until next time, see ya. Hey Prime members, you can binge eight new episodes of the Mr. Ballin podcast one month early and all episodes ad-free on Amazon Music. Download the Amazon Music app today. And before you go...

Please tell us about yourself by completing a short survey at wondery.com slash survey. If you're listening to this podcast, then chances are good you are a fan of The Strange, Dark, and Mysterious. And if that's the case, then I've got some good news. We just launched a brand new Strange, Dark, and Mysterious podcast called Mr. Ballin's Medical Mysteries.

And as the name suggests, it's a show about medical mysteries, a genre that many fans have been asking us to dive into for years. And we finally decided to take the plunge and the show is awesome. In this free weekly show, we explore bizarre, unheard of diseases, strange medical mishaps, unexplainable deaths, and everything in between.

Each story is totally true and totally terrifying. Go follow Mr. Ballin's Medical Mysteries wherever you get your podcasts. And if you're a Prime member, you can listen early and ad-free on Amazon Music.