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- This is episode 14, Friends or Foes? Since I started investigating Bruce's murder almost a year and a half ago, I've learned a lot of things about him. His likes, his dislikes, his demons and his dreams, everything. And something that's resounded again and again is how important friendships were to him.
In this last and final episode, I want to lay out some of those friendships for you, because I think having a clear understanding of who was in his life and for what reason is going to be critically important to hopefully one day cracking this case. As a reminder, be sure to email questions you may have about season five to counterclock at audiochuck.com. I'll go through them and be back in a few weeks with a bonus Q&A episode like we've done every season so far.
Many men and women came from Bruce's professional and personal life during his 57 years. Some of these friends were companions from a young age, others were only in his life for a season. But regardless of how much time Bruce spent with these people, his murder left a lasting impact on their lives. Take former St. Tammany Parish President Kevin Davis, for example.
During our interview, Kevin spent a lot of time talking about the logistics of how the parish acquired Sela. But he remarked several times about how jarring it was to see a man he'd worked so closely with killed in cold blood. I saw it on the news. I was saddened by it. It was just shocking, you know, to see somebody that you knew, I mean, an acquaintance that was killed. I mean, that was pretty shocking.
Then there's P.J. DeMerry, the New York life insurance agent who knew Bruce growing up. He was dumbfounded when Bruce was killed, but to this day, he still firmly believes his friend was just in the wrong place at the wrong time. I know there's a lot of speculation that there could be nefarious play here, but I don't feel that way. I've never felt that way.
I believe that it's unfortunate that it happened. That's what I just, I just pray whoever did this, someday they figure it out. We all wish we knew that answer. And just pray that whoever did do it will get whatever justice is coming. The former SELA employee who spoke with me with protected identity told me they had a relative who was extremely close with Bruce. And after the murder, that family member was never the same.
It was bad. It was bad. You just couldn't get over it. Couldn't get over it. Talked about it almost every day. Never constantly talked about it. It was a big old shock. It really was. Why? Why? Who did it? It was unbelievable, actually. Are you surprised, sitting here 10 years later, to know that it's still unsolved? Yes and no. Yes, for the fact that I can't believe they...
They find other people that do things like that, know for the fact that New Orleans Police Department handled them. Then there's people like Jack Branch, a voice you've heard throughout this season. He and Bruce shared a lot of the same struggles when it came to repairing marriages and family relationships. And because of that, they had a special bond rooted in their Christian faith.
It's sad to think that he was at the height of his life and really living life as he always had intended to live it. And then, boom, all of a sudden, just gone. I mean, there's not a day that goes by I don't think about Bruce. The only rest I have in it all is Bruce is in heaven, and his faith was solid. So the only resting thing I have is he has no more pain.
But we all do. The ones that love him and cared for him and want to get to the bottom, you know, want the truth to prevail. Yeah, will it? I sure hope so. And we can't forget about Pastor Michael Sprague. For him, losing Bruce was... It was just excruciating. But he holds fast to the same spiritual optimism Jack Branch does. I believe Bruce is more alive today than he's ever been.
I have no doubt he would have been a finisher. He would have run the race. He was fighting the good fight. He would have finished his course. I have no doubt of that and would have absolutely treasured if we had more years to do just that. Even though both men take comfort in their belief that Bruce is in a better place, there's still a sense of longing they can't shake.
They want justice, but more than anything, they want peace for Bruce's family. You know, whenever I think of it, I think of them. I try to put myself in their place. Hard to do that. Can't do that. But, you know, try to care and want that for them. We are people that yearn for justice. And there's always that gap. There's always that loss.
No matter how much, you know, how much you lean into the promises of God, there is still a gap and a hole there because this man was loved. And in love, there's loss. I can't even imagine how Caitlin and Chris, day in, day out, you know, move on with their life without any closure. It breaks my heart. I have mentioned to the kids, you know, what if it doesn't ever come to fruition? When are you going to
Will you ever come to a place where you just move forward? It's hard. It's a hard question to ask. Can you trust that God will rectify it, even if courts won't? But what about the men in Bruce's life who went way back with him? You know, the guys before Jack Branch and before Michael Sprague, his ride-or-die buddies. Well, two of those men are Mike Cooper and Les Heidelberg.
Mike is a known figure in the North Shore. He's the former mayor of Covington and the current president of St. Tammany Parish. Mike and Bruce were good friends. In fact, Bruce helped run some of Mike's political campaigns, and Chris and Caitlin have always referred to him as Uncle Mike. Les is Chris and Caitlin's godfather. His family lived in step with the Kacheras for decades. They took vacations together, shared birthday parties, picnics, you name it.
Both Mike and Les were quoted in local news publications right after Bruce was murdered. They expressed their shock and sadness, but in the 11 years since, neither man has used their influence or platform to advocate for justice for Bruce, which puzzles and frustrates Chris and Caitlin. The thing that surprised me the most about all this is that all these friends have like kind of like disappeared.
We've got people that we grew up with and went on vacations with and all these other things and they just...
One of them is a parish president. He has a platform. He can call for like, we need to find... Bruce Kuchera was an important member of our community. He was instrumental in coaching and raising youth in our community here. Why aren't you speaking up about it? You're not contacting us anymore. You don't talk with us. You're leaving my sister and I alone to try to fight this instead of having a bunch of voices
raise up and try to call for, "Hey, let's find out what happened here."
Who's left fighting to try to find out what happened to our dad? It's like, it's me and my sister and like my mom. The fact that Uncle Mike, Mike Cooper, who is parish president, has access to these people and hasn't stepped up and done something like that to be like, hey, you know what, DA, we need to look at this case or assistant DA, or can we push harder? Or can we put it more in the spotlight after it happened to keep the pressure on the
And like, it was just nothing. It was crickets. And now it's like Chris said, it's left up to him and I. I emailed and called Mike and Les several times throughout my investigation, but they never responded to my calls, texts, or emails affirming they wanted to participate. When I was about to give up on them, something serendipitous happened. I bumped into them, together, in the most unexpected way.
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When I was on a production trip in Covington, I stayed at the only hotel in town, The Southern. It's a renovated historic inn with a large outdoor courtyard in the middle. After a long day of interviewing people, visiting relevant locations, and backing up my audio, I took my infant son to the courtyard to enjoy the balmy evening while my husband went for a run.
While I sat holding my son, I glanced up towards the hotel's foyer and bar and saw two men walk through a pair of glass doors with drinks in hand. They took a seat on the other side of the courtyard, about 25 yards away from me. I thought my eyes were playing tricks on me, but no. I knew within a matter of seconds who the men were. It was Mike Cooper and Les Heidelberg. I didn't have my recorder with me, but I walked over to them anyway, baby and all.
I introduced myself and asked them why they'd ignored my emails and calls. Both men were cordial and responded saying they didn't think they had anything to offer. When I asked them to clarify what that meant, Les told me he personally felt Bruce's death was a random robbery and not worth speculating about.
Mike agreed, but after talking for a few minutes, Mike said he'd consider doing an interview with me while I was in town, but Les interjected, stating that would be a mistake. "In the end, I couldn't convince them to talk with me on the record about Bruce or his murder. Their unwillingness to speak to a journalist I can understand, but what I don't get is why they've distanced themselves from Bruce's family."
They're not helping, they're leaving us alone. They're actually, I mean they're actually doing worse because they're actually trying to make us feel like that we're like some conspiracy theorists and all these other things and that you know we're just like wild and I mean I feel like
we will go as far as we needed to go to find out what happened, whereas friends are kind of like, until it's not convenient for them anymore, it gets in the way of their goals, then they're going to kind of draw the line right there. And that's just something that I've learned from this, was that, you know, I think it's sad that he put a lot... I don't think it would be... I think if it was reversed, if any of his friends were murdered, he wouldn't be quiet like them. He would be doing whatever he could. Good, good, good.
I may never know why certain people chose not to talk with me for this season, but what I do know for certain is that some people who did say there's been an intentional blanket of silence across the North Shore regarding Bruce's case. Jack Branch told me he's been discouraged more than once from talking.
I was told that I should hush my mouth, you know, from other people and just be quiet. But, you know, Bruce is a dear friend. I'm not letting a bunch of bullies keep me quiet over a good friend being killed. My former spouse told me, be careful running in those groups because they have some clout and they could make things painful for me. But I'm not worried about them.
And Bruce's widow has felt pressure to stay silent, too. No one has outright threatened her, but she says she's lived in fear on and off for years. I didn't know exactly what happened, so I was fearful for a couple of years. I just really had enough energy to get my son off to school and come home and research it and worry about it. I was scared for myself, too, and my son, like,
Do you still have concern about whoever did this or could be behind it is still out there? I mean... For sure. That's why I'm afraid to talk or say anything that, you know, because I'm jeopardizing myself and my son. If I could talk with Bruce about it, I feel like he would just say, move on. That he's happy. He's where he wants to be. And that he doesn't want us to continue to suffer.
that that person will have their judgment day. NOPD Detective Ryan O'Quinn has spent countless hours working on Bruce's case since he picked it up a few years ago. He's at the point now where examining Bruce's close relationships is where he feels his energy is best spent.
Mr. Kuchera lived in a high-stakes world where a lot of money was made and a lot of money was lost and you make a lot of powerful friends, you make a lot of powerful enemies. I think it's a really good chance that somebody in his inner circle knows what happened and maybe thinks that what they know can't prove, but we don't know until we hear that information. It's my hope that anybody who has information
whether it's a business partner, whether it's an accountant, or whether it's a secretary or whoever, from that realm of things, if they have information, they'll contact us and give us that information. What is your petition to any of those individuals if perhaps they may have any information that could be helpful beyond just the crime itself, but to shed more light into potential suspects?
I would hope that anybody who truly considered themselves a friend of Mr. Kuchera and had an idea of what happened or speculation as to what happened, it's our hopes that those individuals would reach back out and give us the information that they have. We know that somebody knows something, right? I mean, the person who committed the murder knows something.
Mr. Kuchera's family has a theory of who they think is responsible and the motive behind that, behind his murder. And while it fits, it's just we haven't been able to prove it. We've reached a point where trying to prove whether it's the family's theory of what happened or
whether it was a random act of violence. It's, you know, it's got to the point where it would be easier to prove that it was a random act of violence, right? But, you know, the investigation by no means is over. Where is the case now in terms of
interviewing or re-interviewing people that were close associates to Mr. Katerra, whether that be business partners, people that knew him as a coach, his family. Where's that at and is that something that's currently happening? I'm hoping that doing re-interviews of individuals would shed some light on something that just wasn't acted on back then and that is something that's still probative and something that's still actionable.
Is there anything with this case that you feel could be pursued by additional forensic testing? Forensic testing, no. I think everything that's been, that was able to be tested was tested. Nothing in the way of DNA. TV and media kind of...
gives an influence to the public that a lot of crimes are solved by using DNA and fingerprints, and that's just not really the case, especially in shooting investigations. We rely heavily on witnesses. We rely heavily on the public to participate in these investigations. You know, the information's out there. It's just, you know, it's whether or not somebody's gonna be a decent human being and give that information. Chris and Caitlin hope two things happen soon.
1. The right people with credible information come forward to NOPD. And 2. NOPD will do a better job proving or disproving whether their dad was a victim of a murder-for-hire plot.
It's like you don't know who to trust and who not to anymore. It's like, can you actually trust the police to do their job? Can you not? Can you trust your dad's friends? Can you not? You know, I almost feel like a failure that I haven't been able to do more for this case for him because I don't think that he would have stopped for us or, you know, not that we stopped, but wouldn't have. I just don't know what to do.
If Bruce had done just one thing differently on the morning of April 24th, 2012, Chris and Caitlin believe he would still be here. Chris could tell him about his four kids and finally get the chance to let Bruce know all their past hurt is in the past. The worst thing that happened to my dad, in my mind, was not getting killed. It was losing his family and kind of being...
I was sad about that or regretting that at the end. He said the biggest regret that he had was, you know, losing his family. I would just tell him I miss him and that, you know, I don't know, I'll just give him a hug. Kaitlyn could introduce Bruce to her three kids. Goodness, I just wish he could be at Easter and these things that just happen, like to see the kids running around playing in bubbles, like see his grandkids, hug them. But I would just tell him I love him.
Even Bruce's ex-wife, Mary Ann, would wish him well. He would be very proud of his kids. He would want them to go on and continue to raise their families and focus on that. But he would also be very proud that they're not giving up on this quest to find out what happened. I would just tell him how sorry I am that this horrible thing happened to him. It should not have happened.
If there's one bit of tape that struck a chord with me from this entire season, it's a story Pastor Michael Sprague told me during our interview. He went on for a while about King David from the Bible and how badly David felt after sending one of his soldiers off to battle with prearranged plans to ensure he would die. For a year, David hid that and tried to go about his normal business.
and tried to play the part. And it got to the point where his very bones ached. And internally, he was falling apart just because he was trying to hide and push down that which he'd done. Eventually, confrontational words from a prophet broke King David's spirit. He humbled himself and owned up to it. He chose not to hide that anymore. By confessing what he'd done, David was freed.
Basically, what the story drove home for me was that even the most powerful among us can't live with murder on their hands. One day, one way or the other, the truth will come out. Justice might not happen today or it might not happen tomorrow, but the Bible says justice will roll like a river. One day it will roll like a river. No one eventually will get away with anything. I would pray they would come to their senses.
Own up to it. Take responsibility. Come clean. Thank you all for listening to Season 5. I hope you feel as passionate about this case as I do, and will keep attention on it as you talk about it in text, tweet, or post about it with your friends and family. If you or someone you know has any information that could help identify who murdered Bruce Kuchera, please contact the New Orleans Police Department or Greater New Orleans Crime Stoppers.
Contact information for those entities is on our website and in the blog post for this episode, as well as in the show notes. Like I mentioned at the beginning, CounterClock will be back in a few weeks with a bonus Q&A episode. So make sure you email me and executive producer Ashley Flowers your burning questions. Send them to counterclock at audiochuck.com and we'll try to answer them as best as we can. Only questions sent to that email address will be reviewed.
Counter Clock is an Audiocheck production. So what do you think, Chuck? Do you approve?
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