Forever Young: The Story of Rebecca Pelkey, Part One
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This is Murder, She Told. True crime stories from Maine, New England, and small town USA. I'm Kristen Sevey. You can connect with the show at MurderSheTold.com or on Instagram at MurderSheToldPodcast.

This episode contains uncensored explicit language. It also includes a recreation of a suspect interview from the original transcripts. The dialogue has not been edited or censored in any way. That being said, both the police and the suspect say some particularly awful things, especially about the victim. I felt that this was important to include, as originally said, despite this. Please listen with care.

The smell of heated circuitry hung in the air. The clamor of 80s synth sounds droned on, becoming background noise. Groans of disappointment from the players and cheers of excitement from the spectators marked time in this windowless place. Thin, dark-colored, wild-patterned carpet covered every square inch,

Gum was discarded, trampled, and assimilated into it. Spilled soda would vanish into the dark abyss of the rug. Black lights made the neon patterns on it glow. The ting-ting-ting of the change dispenser ejecting quarters was a siren call to break just one more paper bill into its metal components.

Greasy-fingered, pizza-eating teenagers smashed buttons, manipulated joysticks, and fired guns. Even young kids would schlep footstools to their favorite games so that they could join their older siblings. Erica, who had just turned 13, and her friend Melanie, around the same age, were there, hanging out at the Bangor Arcade, wasting time, waiting for their friend to arrive.

They had already done a few laps, seeing who they recognized and hoping to find Becky. She was supposed to be there by 5:30 p.m., but she was already 10 minutes late. They loved being around her. She was headstrong and always seemed so much older, though she was only 14. They were looking forward to hanging out with her. She always had a place to go, a thing to do. They would walk around Bangor for hours together.

While they waited, they played a couple of games: Pac-Man, Tetris, Galaga. It was a school night, and kids were out in full force, playing a new arcade game that had just arrived: Street Fighter.

As time passed, they grew irritated, but also worried. Not only was Becky no-showing, so was her friend, Ron, who had also promised to meet them. They had gotten a ride with Ron the previous evening. He dropped them off at their homes, and Becky was the last one in the car with him. They had no way to reach her. They lamented the fact that none of them had a pager, Becky included.

She hadn't shown up to school that day, but that wasn't too surprising. She had a spotty attendance record. Maybe she was still with Ron. Erica and Melanie took off. It was a Thursday, and Becky didn't show up to school on Friday, Monday, Tuesday, or Wednesday. Nearly a week had passed without hearing from their friend. She was a free spirit, but this was weird.

They were panicky. And then, on Thursday, November 10th, 1988, the Vanguard Daily News ran a story that caught their attention. Police are investigating the death of a woman whose body was found in Herman, a white female between 15 and 25, about 5 foot 5 inches tall, 115 pounds, with short brown hair and light brown tips, last known to be wearing a black t-shirt, denim jacket, and jeans.

The height, the hair with the light tips, the clothes, they all matched. They called the police and asked if it was their friend. They prayed that it wasn't. That night, the remains were identified as belonging to Rebecca Sue Pelkey, and the Bangor Daily News ran a story the next morning, announcing it to the world. Their friend was murdered.

Becky was the oldest of her family, born December 10th, 1973. She had a younger brother, who was 11, and she had two younger half-siblings, a brother and a sister, who were 8 and 3, respectively. She lived with her mom, Heather, who was a single mother. Her biological father had moved away to Arizona, so her mom alone was responsible for raising the four children. Becky was the oldest of her family, born December 10th, 1973.

Heather and the kids moved frequently, often struggling to make rent, and sometimes moving in with family for stints while they were without housing. Her mom had a fraternal twin brother, Kirk, who always looked out for her and was an important father figure for her kids.

Becky was a seventh grade student at Bangor's Fifth Street Middle School, and she was frequently truant. According to the principal of the school, her attendance record was, quote, "spastic." Academically, she struggled. The Bangor Police Department later told the press that she had been reported as a runaway in the past. Though she was just 14 years old, Becky was known to drink alcohol and to shoplift. She followed her mother's example, who would often shoplift in front of the kids.

Despite her struggles, Becky was well-loved. Her younger cousin Christina, one of Kirk's children, remembered her as everybody's favorite and a leader. She was the oldest of the kids and, as Christina said, the boss of us all.

She spent a lot of time with me. She would do makeup and things of that nature. But I just remember her being like a big sister type. She was a year older than my brother, so she just always kind of managed whatever we were doing outside. I just remember her being really beautiful and old and smart as a young kid.

Becky was beautiful. She looked distinctively Native American, with a strong chin and a winning smile. Her family is part of the Aroostook Band of Micmacs, known today as Micmac Nation, a tribe that is native to Maine. Christina remembered Becky's mom as the "fun aunt." They would go to local hotels in Bangor for the day, pretending to be guests and play in the pool.

But Heather was a big drinker, and there was often a fear that she was going to take things a little bit too far, drinking in excess. Similarly, Becky was the fun cousin. She loved Michael Jackson and had a red leather jacket with a bunch of zippers that she never wanted to take off.

Christina's dad remembered her as energetic, happy, and easygoing. One of her close friends said that she had a zest for life and that even though she was a lost soul, she had a way of making everyone else feel like everything was going to be okay. Even at a young age, she was smart, intuitive, and instinctually maternal. She looked out for her younger siblings, taking on her role as the big sister. In fact, Kirk

Kirk remembered her babysitting them frequently, so much so that she got sick of it. Heather leaned on her a lot. More than anything, everyone said that Becky wanted to be older. She was, quote, 21 before she was 14. She had older friends. She was interested in older guys. She was mature for her age. She looked older than 14.

She was on her own a lot when she wasn't in school, and she spent a lot of time in Bangor with her friends, making her own way. Which might explain why she gave her little cousin, Christina, who was just seven years old, a funny, albeit older, t-shirt. Becky gave me a...

turquoise half shirt that said man eater on it in a very 80s font my mother quickly put this shirt away and at hope chest and I was not allowed to wear it of course I was probably seven or eight so it would be inappropriate but I thought that was the coolest the coolest thing and she took it right off to give it to me

On the morning of Wednesday, November 9th, a week after Becky had disappeared, two men were out in the woods in rural Maine, eight miles northwest of downtown Bangor, in a town called Herman. It was drizzly and overcast, in the low 40s. It had been raining on and off for much of the last week.

The men were fur tipping, which has a long tradition in Maine. From early November to mid-December every year, thousands of workers scoured the Maine forests looking for balsam fir trees. They then snap off the outermost small branches of new growth and deliver the fur tips to wreath makers across the state, who then transform them into fragrant wreaths for the Christmas season.

The men were on a rudimentary logging road, 200 feet from Route 222, the main drag. The nearest house was a half a mile away. They were going about their work when they came across what they believed initially was a mannequin. After passing it three or four times, they noticed the jean jacket that it was wearing. Upon closer inspection, they realized that it was the body of a young woman. They thought it looked like she'd been there for at least a few days.

It was Becky. She was nude from the waist down. There was a pair of jeans crumpled on her body, and she had a rope around her neck. In a weird small-town coincidence, one of the men that found her was a friend of Becky's biological father and knew Becky's mom, though at this point, they had no idea whose body they'd discovered.

When they got back to a phone, they called the Maine State Police. At 11:20 a.m., dispatch logged the call and sent troopers out to investigate. They started processing the crime scene and canvassed the area. They checked missing persons cases in the system and called nearby jurisdictions to see if they were looking for a young woman. The state's mobile crime lab was brought to the scene. No missing person report was found. Becky may not have been reported missing.

We checked with the state police and the Bangor PD, and neither had a missing person report in their archives. It's also possible they refused to take the report from the family, given Becky's previous instances of running away. Today, we know a runaway is a missing child, but in 1988, they may not have taken it seriously.

They looked to the public for help with the identification of the remains, giving a reporter from the Bangor Daily News the scoop, which was published the next morning. In response to the story, police got about a dozen phone calls, which led to Becky's identification.

Armed with her identity, they learned that Wednesday, November 2nd, was the last day that Becky was seen alive. She was with her friends, Erica and Melanie, and her new friend, Ronald Boober, and his buddy, Scott Dombowski. She never showed at the arcade on Thursday, and she hadn't been seen by anyone since Wednesday night.

The day that she was identified, police spoke individually with Erica, Melanie, and Scott. They waited to talk to Ron last.

On Thursday night, the day after Becky's body was discovered, Maine State Police detectives Joe Zamboni and Matthew Stewart sat on Union Street outside of Ron's home. From what they'd learned, Ron lived there with his wife, who was eight months pregnant, and two roommates in their two-bedroom apartment. It was 11.45 p.m., there were no lights on, and there was no sign of activity. They watched for a while, staking it out.

Detective Stewart called the landline and it rang. A sleepy man answered the phone, and so the detective improvised. "'Is Sarah there?' he asked. The man said no, and the detective said, "'Sorry, wrong number.' They decided it was time to act, so they knocked on his door."

A 24-year-old blue-eyed, sandy-haired man, tall and lanky, about six feet, answered the door. It was Ronald Wayne Buber. The detectives asked if he would come with them to answer some questions about a missing girl. Ron agreed and went with them to the Bangor Police Department.

It was quiet at the station, just after midnight, and they got settled into a snug interview room. Ron was seated on the long side of a small rectangular table. The detective sat on either side of him at the two ends. They set up a cassette recording device on the table and hit record. Detective Stewart began.

Okay, listen carefully to what I'm going to tell you, okay? Uh-huh. I'm a law enforcement officer. I want to ask you some questions. Before I do, I want to explain your rights. You have the absolute right to remain silent. Do you understand that? Yes. Okay, but what's that mean to you, Ron? It means you got the right to remain silent. Okay. And not say anything if you don't want to, right? Right. Okay. Okay.

Anything you say can and will be used against you in a court of law. Do you understand that? Yeah, that sounds great. What's that mean to you? It means I know what it means. It means anything I say can be used against me in a court of law. Okay. You have the absolute right to the advice of a lawyer before any questioning and to the presence of a lawyer here with you during questioning. Do you understand that? Yes. Okay.

What's that mean, Ron? It means I can have a lawyer here while you guys are questioning me. Okay. If you cannot afford a lawyer, one will be furnished to you free before any questioning if you desire. Do you understand that? Yes.

What's that mean? It means if I can't afford it, I can have one here anyway. Okay. The state will appoint me one. All right. If you decide to answer questions now with or without a lawyer present, you have the right to stop answering at any time or to stop answering at any time until you can talk to a lawyer. Do you understand that? Ah.

And what's that mean? It means I can stop at any point. Okay, and get a lawyer or just stop. Right. Right? Having these rights, which I just explained to you in mind, you wish to answer questions at this time. Sure. It was late. Maine shuts down by 8 p.m., and most people are in bed before 10. But here Ron was at the police station just past midnight. He was dead tired.

You want a cup of coffee, Ron? Could I, please? Soda? Coffee would be great.

Okay, sure. How do you take it? Black. I mean cream and two sugars. Cream and two sugars. Jesus Christ. Black one for me. Thanks. You want a cigarette? I got one. You can smoke it. It's all right. I'm so fucking tired today. I just, 200 sheets of sheetrock. Mm-hmm. But. I don't have any matches in my pocket. I got it. I stole my lighter. My wife's lighter. Can't get arrested for that, can you?

The detectives told him immediately that they were interested in what he knew about Becky Pelkey. Ron told them that he'd met her three or four times. Though they didn't say it outright, it struck the detectives as odd. Ron was 24 years old. Becky was 14. What was he doing with this young girl?

He said that they met through a mutual friend who is not much older than Becky. I used to spend a lot of time in their arcade playing games and stuff, and that's how I met Laura Lee. Just horsing around, sitting out front there one night, winding down after work, listening to my radio, and they came over. Zamboni and Stewart got right into it. They wanted to know everything Ron could remember about the last time he saw Becky.

Ron explained that he and a buddy of his who he worked with, Scott Dembowski, were at a bar in Bangor having a few beers, shooting pool. They left together, and when they got outside, they saw Becky and two friends turn the corner.

We were talking about the last time you saw Becky. So I hollered to Becky and she come over. Yeah. And we just, we took, she wanted me to go cruising. So she says, well, come on. And I figured we could just take, you know, I had taken Scott back to Cape Heart anyways. So. Yeah. She got in the car and. So who was in the car? Me and Scott, Becky and them two other girls. Okay.

Ron had never met the two girls that Becky was with. But Ron, Scott, and the three girls all left downtown Bangor in his gray 1984 station wagon. The back of the car was filled with Ron's work tools and clothes. Becky was sitting in the front while Scott was in the back with the other two girls.

Ron dropped Scott off first, and then it was just Ron and three teenage girls. And then we left there and went to out on Hammond Street to the liquor store, and I picked up a pint or something of vodka. Some orange juice, then went riding around for a while. You don't remember where you got the orange juice at? Whatchamacallits Market. There on Hammond Street. Way out on the left. Fairmount? I think it is. Okay.

Okay, so then you got some vodka and orange juice. Okay, so? Didn't even. We went out. She wanted to go back downtown, and they all wanted to go back downtown riding around, so we went down through town again.

Ron later contradicts himself in the interview, saying that Scott was with him when he went to the liquor store. Regardless, the cops, though they've already figured it out, are eager to get Ron to establish what day it was that this all happened. At this point, it had been one week and one day since he went out cruising with the girls.

Now, thinking about the last time you saw Becky, any idea what day it was? Like I said, we went to McDonald's and I didn't have any money, so I couldn't have been a Friday. And I usually don't run out of money until sometime either Wednesday or so. It was either Wednesday or Thursday. Okay, uh, of last week? Two weeks ago, weren't it? Yeah, two weeks ago. It was sometime...

Now I can't remember. It could have been last week. Uh-huh. I don't know. Okay. I don't know. Like, I say all I know is I get up in the morning and I go to work, you know, and I work all day and just that's a routine, you know. What happens at night doesn't, you know, usually if I meet the girls, I'll take them out and we'll go riding around for a bit. Then I'll go home or something. You just, you know. But other than that, you know, I haven't even been able to do that because my hours that I've been working. Yeah.

Ron, seemingly earnestly, struggles to pin down the exact day for the rest of the interview, but finally narrows it to one of two days, one of which was the correct day. Though it had only been 36 hours since Becky's body was discovered, the cops already knew that Becky hadn't been seen since the night she was with Ron. We have a big problem, and that is that the information that we have

was that the night that you and the girl went around, okay? The night that you wound up dropping the girls off and going for a ride with Becky, okay? That particular night was the last night that we could find Becky. We don't have anybody talking to Becky or seeing Becky or hearing Becky since that time. So you may very well be the last person that saw her. Yeah. Okay? That's pretty significant.

I mean, you were the last person that saw her then. Yeah. It's very important that you remember about that night and what she said and what you said and where you went and what you did. Have you made the switch to NYX? Millions of women have made the switch to the revolutionary period underwear from NYX. That's K-N-I-X. Period panties from NYX are like no other, making them the number one leak-proof underwear brand in North America.

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Zamboni plied Ron for more information. He used the knowledge he had from other interviews to jog Ron's memory. Did you let her drive the car? I was gonna, but then I got thinking about it and it's my wife's car. And if there's any trouble, then I'd be in trouble. So I didn't.

At any point during the conversation that night, did you agree to let her drive it and then maybe change your mind later? Yeah. When did you first agree to let her drive it? Do you remember? Uh-huh.

Well, she kept at me and I said, I'll let you drive later, you know? Did you say in any particular location you'd let her drive? Oh, I said we'd take and go out on towards Levant. Uh-huh. Why? Because it's in the country. Mm-hmm.

You know, and there's no cars on the road. Uh-huh. But then, like I said, I just, after we dropped that last girl off, I think it, yeah, it was out in Capehart. We dropped the last girl off and she wanted, she said, well, let's go downtown. Then it was, let me drive down here. And I said, no. And I took it. When you agreed at first to let her drive and then, you know, later changed your mind. But when you first agreed, did you sort of tell the other girls that you didn't want them in the car when Becky was driving because of

you know, safety concerns or whatever. Yeah. You know, she screws that car up, then it would have been my ass. That's, you know, I probably was feeling pretty, you know, I was, I was feeling a little mellow. I weren't intoxicated, but I mean, I was feeling the alcohol and I just, you know, I... Did you tell the other girls though that, you know, you didn't want anybody else in the car when Becky was driving? Yeah. Yeah.

Because she was going to drive? Yeah. And that was because you didn't want anybody... Well, I didn't want anybody else to get hurt if there was an accident. If there was an accident. Okay.

Ron, throughout the interview, established that after they went to the liquor store, they went to a nearby market to get a mixer, orange juice, to make screwdrivers. They drove through downtown and went to a hill overlooking the Bangor Airport, near Hope House Health and Living Center, where he cracked open the vodka and made drinks for everyone. They then went to the drive-thru at McDonald's in Bangor, but realized they didn't have enough money for the meal, so they went to Burger King instead.

Ron then said he took her two friends home, leaving just Becky and him in the station wagon. We went out by that Kanduske Park there and back in through just talking. She was a real screwed up girl, you know. I can relate to these kids, and I don't know, it may seem strange that a 24-year-old... You know, I didn't realize that she was as young as you guys said she was, but... How old did you think she was?

I thought she was 16, 17, you know, and part of the AA program is reaching out and helping others, you know? And these fucking kids, they don't have anything. This Laura, all she does is steal from stores and stuff. Or she says she does and puts a tough character on.

Same with Becky. You know, they don't have nothing. And I don't know. I try to help out in that area. You know, be a friend. Like, you know that they can have someone that doesn't take and push the drugs on them. You know, granted, now that I'm sober again, I look back and where we had that drink, that was the wrong thing to do. But I just, you know, these fucking guys that are pushing these drugs around and shit like that, it's just... Zamboni thought that Ron might have had other intentions with Becky.

Okay, I know you know you were there with her at night. You've been riding around with her at night, alone in the car, and I... You know, to me, there's a... Statistically speaking, there's a high probability there'd be some fooling around going on. I can understand you saying that. Yeah? Yeah. But that was the first time Becky's ever been alone with me. Okay. Okay.

And I take and, you know, it may sound, you know, I love my wife. Mm-hmm. Okay, and I wouldn't fuck around with her on her. Okay. All right? And that's just, that's the way it is. Okay. All right. I shouldn't even have been out with Becky or with Laura or any of them in the first place. But I just, it's like I said, I don't know.

I thought I could help. I mean, I go down through Main Street and I see these goddamn kids on the street all the time. And I thought I could do something. You know, that's why I... Okay, you know what happens in a lot of these cases when you got a runaway girl like Becky? You know, she winds up staying with different guys, you know, for a couple of weeks at a time. Most of the time, right? I want to know if you had sex with her. No.

I did not have, not had sex with her. Did you change your mind later on? Maybe fooled around? I did not have any sex with Becky. You're absolutely positive? None. Not even so much as a kiss. According to Ron, after a heartfelt chat, Becky insisted again that Ron let her drive, but he refused. After that, she asked to be dropped off, and Ron obliged. There was nobody downtown. It was a frigging dead night that night. What time was this?

I dropped her off around 9, 9.15, somewhere around there. At the arcade? Yeah, and it just, there was nobody out. No kids hanging around or anything? No. So there wasn't a soul around when you dropped her off? No, it was just, she said that it would be coming to life later on and that was it. And then in the next breath, she said that she had to go home.

Zamboni pressed Ron on their driving route. If he never left Bangor, how did Becky's body end up in Herman? Are you absolutely sure you didn't drive out of town with Becky that night? Uh-huh. She didn't go out towards Levant? Like I say, we drove on, drove out Union Street and drove out Hammond Street and down through town and... Bangor? Yeah.

Yeah, Bangor area. But you didn't go out in the country? No. Are you absolutely positive about that? Could you be mistaken, you think? No. They moved on from the night of Becky's disappearance and started asking about the next day, when Ron and Becky were supposed to meet back up at the arcade.

Well, when the girls were in the car at any point, did you sort of make arrangements or a date to see them again the next day or sometime after? Yeah, well, we were supposed to... I was going to meet them, I guess, at 5.30 the next day. Where were you going to meet them? In front of the arcade. And I think the next day I got tied up at work or something.

I just didn't. Didn't make it? I didn't make it. I don't know if it was because I took it. I got home early and I ended up going right home or what. Uh-huh. Okay. And the purpose of this date with the girls was to do what? Just go out and ride around. Ron later recalled in the interview that he started making some changes in his life on that same day, the day after Becky disappeared.

Okay, when did you start back being sober again? I sobered up a couple of days before. A couple of days before I went back to my meetings. And I went to my first meeting last Thursday night. Up to Cape Heart, I think it was. Yeah. Okay. When you drank with the girls that night, I mean, was that just a momentary slip in your sobriety or was that... No, that was my tapering off. That was the tail end then? Yeah, that was the tail end of it.

Ron said that he had been sober for 18 months, but in the last two to three months, he'd relapsed. He had told the detectives that he had been abusing alcohol since he was 13 years old and had used drugs recreationally in the past. Coke, heroin, pot, and acid.

He sought help through Alcoholics Anonymous and had recently started attending meetings again. He said he had, quote, gone on a bender with coke and acid about four weeks ago, which made him realize that he needed to get sober again and that he was in the process of tapering off when he went out with the girls.

He later clarified in the interrogation that he had attended not one, but two meetings the day after Becky disappeared. The first one was at noon at First Congregational, and the second was at a community center in Capehart, a large, low-rise apartment community on the edge of Bangor. The detectives began to apply pressure. They implied that they had some physical evidence that could be connected to Ron.

What's going on here? We got a missing person. We know she was with you. And you were the last person to see her, basically. Right. So we want to be able to feel confident that nothing bad happened to her as far as your relationship with her goes. Right. And we can do that through things such as your car. Okay, I just... Double checking your hair. Obviously, if you haven't done anything wrong...

There's no problem. Oh, no, there's no problem. I mean, I'm willing to cooperate 100%, all right? I mean, there's no problem. It's just if you got a missing person, that's my hair got to do with it. You know, I mean, but that's all right. You want a sample of my hair? You can have it. Like I say, I want to do anything to help you guys out.

Ron backed up that promise with action. The detectives presented him with a series of forms that authorized them to take samples from him. Ron signed the forms and gave them samples of hair from his head, his sideburns, and his pubic region as well as a saliva sample. He turned over two pairs of shoes and his trusty blue folding knife, and he allowed them to take photos of him.

After a ten-minute break to get some coffee, the detectives level with Ron. They explain why they need Ron's hair. We have located Becky. You have? Yes. What's this? It's a missing person. What's this all about? Well, she's dead. She's dead? Yes.

How'd it happen? Well, we don't really like to talk about that. It wasn't an accident. Put it that way, okay? Like I said before, the reason that we wanted to talk to you is because... Because I was the last person to see her. So obviously you know you're someone we have to be kind of careful with to make sure we don't leave anything undone.

So basically, what I've got to make you understand, Ron, is that you've got to be truthful with us. If you haven't done anything wrong, you obviously don't have anything to worry about. Right. If you have done something wrong, you might as well tell us.

Because, you know, it's just a matter of time. We'll be able to prove it anyway. What a waste. It's unfortunate. Very unfortunate. I guess I'd like to ask you point blank. You know, man to man, you were the last one with her. Are you the one that's responsible for what happened to her? No. You sure about that?

Detective Zamboni wanted to gauge Ron's reaction. Becky hadn't been identified publicly as the victim whose body was recovered in Herman, and if Ron was friends with her, this would be some sad news. What are your feelings? Right now I got fucking, I'm a little upset. I mean... Why are you upset?

It's a waste. I mean, this girl's 14 years old and she had the rest of her life to go, you know? And it's like, she was a good girl. I mean, I saw. You liked her. Yeah, I saw a lot of me in her as I do a lot of the kids. I mean, if you were to go take and do a run on me of my past and judge me on that, as so many people are or do, I wouldn't be much of a person. And that's the way she was, you know? You said she was promiscuous from her record. Yeah.

You said that she was, you know, she had a habit of doing this and doing that. But the girl, there was some good in her. I'm sure there was. Oh, I'm not saying you would. I mean, she was very well liked. She was a real nice girl. You know what I mean? She was...

Real nice girl, and that was... She was mixed up at times, and you know, she had some problems. She was mixed up, and she was hanging with the wrong people. She certainly didn't deserve to die. She didn't. The detectives ask Ron to put himself in their shoes, putting them on the same team, asking Ron for his help.

Do you think it would be a person, the person responsible for this would be a person from the Bangor area? A local guy or some stranger coming through town, based on what you know of her? I'd be willing to bet, knowing what I know of Becky and how the way Becky acted the first time I met her. It weren't a stranger. Okay, what do you mean by that?

Explain that a little bit. - Okay, Becky was right with Lori the whole time, you know? I mean, if Lori went into the store, Becky went into the store. - They were real good friends, real close. - They were close, but it weren't that I don't think. I think it was the fact that I was a stranger to Becky when we first met. - Security reasons?

So it was like for security reasons. She didn't know who the hell I was from the hole in the ground, you know? And I don't think that I just, the way I look at it is I can't picture Becky getting into a car with a stranger, you know, unless, you know, she, he or she or whatever, you know, had something that she wanted.

The detective asked him to elaborate on this train of thought, and he suggested that Becky might be looking for drugs or alcohol, and that she might get into a car with someone to make a deal.

You know, drugs and booze are like candy to the kids out on the streets these days. Where are they getting the money for all this, Ron? I mean, that's... Oh, that's easy. They go out and they go out to the Bangor Mall and rip the place off and sell it. Shoplift, you mean? Shoplifting, yeah. Who are they selling it to? Different people on the street. I have no idea who they're selling it to. I mean, their friend will buy it? Well, friends or, you know, I mean, this Laura chick.

She took Jesus Christ. She used to take in orders. To go rip off something. Yeah. I mean, she was walking out with brand new outfits. Ron said that Laura Lee and Becky both liked to jam out to music in his car and that he had a good radio and stereo system in his station wagon. When they were driving around, Ron said that Becky told him about a guy that she was seeing and that she told him that she loved him, but in the same breath, called him a jerk.

That night, Ron said Becky had a bottle of Bacardi Rum 151 with her. The detectives went back through the events of that evening, and Ron described the clerks that waited on him at the market where he bought the OJ and at the liquor store where he bought the vodka. He even said that the guy at the market might remember him because he asked for four cups. Ron was being very cooperative, helpful even.

That morning was the article from the Bangor Daily News about a young woman's body found in Herman. To public knowledge, the woman was still unidentified.

When you started reading about this girl in the papers, did you make any connection that it might have been Becky? Well, honestly, there's only been one article in the paper on it that I've seen. You know, and I've been getting home, I caught something about, my roommate told me about a girl that was killed in Herman. They were gauging his reaction. Perron never wavered. Zamboni again tested his cooperativeness.

We talked about a polygraph before. You said you'd be willing to do that. If I could set one up, maybe Saturday? What's a good day for you? Take probably a good two, three hours. I got Saturdays off, so I'm taking this weekend off. I've been planning to take it off for a while. I don't know if I could do it that quick. Could... would you be available? Well, let's put it this way.

Set it up as soon as you can, and I'll take the day off if I have to. When would you rather do it? Anytime you guys want to set it up. The important thing for me right now isn't my job, all right? One is to find out what happened to Becky, who did it, all right? And two is to clear myself. You know, and if by cooperating with you guys will help, that's killing two birds with one stone. That's the way I look at it anyways. It's, you know, as far as money-wise, I can budget around it.

Ron was putting himself on the side of justice, on finding the son of a bitch who did this terrible thing. What's your opinion on what should happen to somebody that kills a girl like- It's funny you mention that because we was talking about that at the job site today. Really? They ought to be shot. Why? I have no use for people like that. 14-year-old girl that didn't have a chance to complete her destiny or whatever-

It was 3:30 a.m. Everybody was struggling to keep their eyes open. They took a break to clear their heads and recharge their battery. After a few gulps of coffee, they returned to their seats. I'm sending my Aunt Tina money directly to her bank account in the Philippines with Western Union. She's the self-proclaimed bingo queen of Manila, and I know better to interrupt her on bingo night, even to pick up cash.

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Earlier in the interview, Ron had clarified that the station wagon was in his wife's name and that he'd only been using the vehicle for about seven or eight months. He was a 1984 model, just four years old, but it had some recent damage. Ron said that he was doing some construction work on a camp about an hour north of Bangor on Long Pond and that the roads leading up to the camp were pretty gnarly. He would usually borrow a four-wheel drive pickup to commute to the job site.

But this past Monday, five days after Becky was last seen, he drove the station wagon instead. The roads were muddy, and as he was struggling through with his rear-wheel drive vehicle, he managed to scrape the bottom of it, putting a hole in the oil pan.

Did you tell your wife about that? It's her car. Did you mention it to her that there was some damage? Yeah. When did you tell her about that? When? Yeah. I don't know. Right after it happened? No. No? When do you think you told her? I can't remember when I told her. In addition to this recent damage, he also said there was rubber missing from the front driver's side bumper from hitting a tree a couple weeks ago and a dent in the back door where his father had dropped a sheet of plywood siding on it.

He said he'd taken the car in to be repaired a couple of times, most recently on Monday because of the oil pan damage. Zamboni connected the dots for Ron, and he turned up the heat. I'm going to do something for you that I don't normally do, okay? I'm going to do something for you that I haven't done before with any of these cases, because I think you're a special case, all right?

I'm going to brief you on what happened. This is a diagram of the scene of the murder, okay? This is Clark Road. It's a dirt road. Off the Clark Road, this little tote road. Now, across the front of this tote road is an old branch. Somebody just laid it across to discourage people from going in there.

Now, the interesting thing about this tote road is there's cables across each end of the Clark Road and they're hooked by a nail. You're going to find this very interesting. Where's the Clark Road? In Herman. This is confidential information. I won't say a word about it. Now, in order to get through these cables, all you have to do is lift the cable off the tree, all right? There's no padlock. Now, a normal person who's not familiar with the area would see that cable and stop.

They would assume they couldn't go onto the road. Right. Right. But a person who's been out there before would know that cable was... Easy to move, to go down in there. So we're looking at a person who's been there before and knows where this is. Right.

The other point here is that this branch was laid down here by a farmer who owns the land to kind of, you know, disguise the tote road, all right? So you'd have to know it was here or you'd never see it. Right. When you go up this little tote road, there's a couple of rocks. One here, and there's one here, and one here. Now, the vehicle that came in here...

went over these rocks, all right, evidently scraped the oil pan in the underneath of the car. And that's good for us because we can take samples of the rock and we can compare it. Right, to the vehicle. And we can look at how the striations and the scratch line up and we can match the material content of the rock because rocks are somewhat unique, you know, depending on what part of the country they're from.

So we came here and the tracks came up here and they go up like this for a ways and they kind of like back down here. So what we're assuming is the guy drove up and backed in or perhaps he drove in this way and backed up this way. But I think the way I looked at it, he must have driven up here.

here hit these two rocks on the way and back down here well he backed down here he hit these little pine trees down here fir trees uh-huh and he damaged the car now when he damaged the car he left bark and green fibers from the trees and the bushes in the car okay caught in the bumper and caught in the stripping on the side and also some paint was damaged

No, all we have to do is find the car. Because once we find the car, we can put all this stuff together. You know, we'll be able to identify which car it was on this road. Zamboni was watching Ron carefully, trying to read him. But Ron was unflappable.

The other thing that we found was down here is evidently where this, either the assault took place or this girl was removed from the car. Mm-hmm. Because here on the ground was one of her shoes, black shoe, and numerous hairs and fibers, which aren't hers. And the hairs and fibers obviously came from whoever is responsible for doing this. Uh-huh. Okay? So by getting hair and fiber samples from a suspect, we can compare. Okay.

So we have enough here. We have like lots of fibers. In the woods over here, we found where he had thrown the black shoe, the other black shoe, and the girl's panties. And right here in the woods, we found her body. Evidently, she was carried in and just propped. All right. Okay. Into the bushes. And her clothes were with her, all right? And on her clothes are, and there's numerous, numerous pieces of evidence, okay? I think...

I think you know, based on what I've seen and what I've heard, that was your car. You do? It weren't. I don't even know where this is. Well, we know where it is. Okay? I don't... There's no way. The question is...

Were you in it or was it somebody else in it? I don't know where this place is and I had nothing to do with this. There's no fucking way I'm going to ever get wrapped up in this, some shit like this. I've got too much going on for me to blow it, okay? Some of the other things that were found there, Ron, lots of hairs, you know, fibers, like Joe just said.

And lots of hairs that we found were just like your hairs and extremely similar to the hairs on your head. And as you may or may not know, hairs and fibers and bodily fluid evidence, things like that, we retrieve those and we do compare them. Yeah, I know. Whoever committed this crime left a lot of things behind.

And he took a lot of things with him. You know, you don't go into a room and touch another person without transferring things, fibers, hairs, and things. So, you know, we can match all these things. Oh, I know that. But... Ron. There's no fucking way, man. No.

Ron had told the detectives where his car was located, at his other job, working for certified auto parts in Lincoln, Maine, close to where he was working on the camp. While Detective Stewart was out of the room, he had made some phone calls. Another trooper for the Maine State Police, during the interrogation, had made his way up to Lincoln and was looking at the car. He relayed his findings over the radio to the two detectives.

Okay, he observed body damage to the left front, okay? And a side back to the wheel well. In the what? Side back to the wheel well? Yeah. What are we talking? The same side? I'm not sure. Passing... On the front. The left front driver's side. If you're looking...

All right. This is exactly the same kind of damage we're looking for. Hit these trees over here. I don't know what to say. I weren't there. The point is, Ronnie, that if the fibers and the bark on this tree is on the car that hit it, okay, it's there. It can be matched in the laboratory. As well as the material from the rock that's on the car right now. And the material from the car that's on the rock.

scratches underneath the car, the damage to the oil pan, okay? It can be matched in a laboratory. Well, I realize that. I understand what you're saying. I...

What I'm saying is, your car is apparently the car that was on this road. You have an explanation? No, I don't know how the hell... We're assuming you're driving, unless you know somebody else that's been using your car. No, my car couldn't have been on that road. Yeah, it is. We also got tire impressions. There's no way. Your size tires and the width of your vehicle match what was found at the scene for measurements right here.

See, it's more than one thing, Ronnie. Oh, I realize that. I mean, I'm not... Whole bunch of things. I know, I understand that. But I'm telling you that I was not, and as far as my car has not been out on that road. It was going on four hours of discussion in the middle of the night, and Zamboni and Stewart realized they were running out of time. They decided to lay out a scenario, see if Ron would crack. You know what we think happened? What?

We think you were all out for a ride just like you told us. Drop the other girls off. You and Becky were alone together. She's indicated a desire to drive your car. You told her you'd take her out to Levant to do that because there's not much traffic and there's no cops around, right? So you head out Union and going towards Herman on the Binlings Road. Take a side road. Maybe you don't know what the name of it and, you know, you probably don't. Take a side road out there. Get in this tote road.

Becky's a good looking little girl. No way. You're a normal male. No way. Ronnie, what happened? I don't think you intended to go up there and kill her. I didn't kill her. Period. No way. No fucking way. No, I'm not. No, I'm not talking. No, I didn't fucking do it.

I didn't go out on the fucking Clark Road. I didn't go no fucking Tote Road. No way. There's no fucking way. When somebody does something like this, the state, the government, they want to do what's right. And I want to do what's right. I want to help you guys find who killed Becky, but I ain't the one that fucking did it. There's no way.

No way. I've got everything I want. I don't want anything more. You were drinking that night, Ronnie. So what? That kind of loosens inhibitions. No. Kind of a different person when you're drinking. No, no, no fucking way. I'm not capable of fucking murder. I'm not. No way. Under normal circumstances, I agree with you. On any circumstances. It's just there's no fucking way. No way. Mm-hmm.

No. What happens when all that stuff matches up at the lab? You still going to deny it? I weren't out there. I was not out there.

I don't give a shit if you guys bring me a stack of papers that are this high saying that I was out there. I was not out to that place. I was not intoxicated. I was not on the fuck that tote road. There's no way. You can sit here. You can sit here for the rest of the day and throughout tonight. There's no fucking way I was out on that tote road. I didn't want to fucking kill these girls, and I don't want to fucking take them. I don't want to do fuck that.

All I was trying to do was being friends with these girls and fucking one of them show up dead. And now I'm the one that fucking did. No, now I understand you guys. All right. I understand your point. I mean, me being the... This sucks. This fucking sucks. It wasn't just the circumstances, though. It was the evidence.

Ronnie, if this stuff goes to the lab, and it's not your hair, and it's not your fibers, you got nothing to worry about. But you're sitting here accusing me of fucking... Well, it's overwhelming, isn't it? Isn't it overwhelming? No, it isn't. Not to me, at least. Ronnie...

Your car has all the damage in the right places. The hair's the same color, the sneakers, everything. I mean, it's not one thing, Ron. I can't. It's all kinds of stuff. I ain't, no way, I'm fucking, no way, I'm innocent of this shit, no fucking way, no fucking way. Sometimes in these cases...

The outcome, the death of the individual, isn't intended. It just happens. I was not out there, period, okay? I don't even know where it is. I don't even have the slightest idea. I don't even know where the Billings Road is. I mean, I know how as far as Union Street and outer Union Street, okay? I think it's Route 222. No, is it Route 222? Mm-hmm. Straight out through? Mm-hmm. To Stetson? The Billings Road comes right off 222. It does. Yeah. Okay. I don't know where about it is. I fucking...

I start out trying to help you guys find this jerk, find out it's a fucking murder, and now I'm being accused of it. Granted, I have nothing to hide, okay? But even to be accused of it, it's ridiculous. I want to help these girls. I don't want to fucking take and kill them. I don't want to have sex with them. I don't want to hurt them in any way, okay? And that's the truth. I mean it. That is...

I don't know. I don't know what else to say. You know, sometimes people block things out. Very unpleasant things. They block out. It's a self-defense mechanism. You know, some people been in a war. You know, they can't even recall being there because it's so painful for them. It's so shocking for them that they can't deal with it. So they block it out. They pretend it never happened.

This is fucking, it's crazy. I mean, this is just a fucking nightmare. Is there more than one person involved? What are you talking about? Is there more than one person involved in this case? I don't know. Did more than one person? I don't know what happened after 915 or 930. I don't know what happened after I dropped Becky off. All I know is Becky was alive and talking and healthy when I dropped her off in front of the arcade.

It had been four hours. The interrogation was winding down. They didn't get what they were after, a confession.

We want you to be honest with us, and we want you to be honest with yourself, okay? We don't want to make you say anything that you don't want to say. We want you to say what's true and what's right, where our function is to... I understand that. ...is to make you realize the facts are the facts. I understand the facts, and I mean, I don't like what the facts are saying. We'll say, Ronnie, that you've been very cooperative.

I will say that you act like a person who's innocent. You don't seem to be afraid of providing us with statements or evidence that's all in your favor. But I'm saying from my position, this stuff comes back from the lab and it doesn't belong to you. I'm going to drop that. I mean the statistics here. It's phenomenal.

You're the last one seen with the girl, the victim. The car's got all the right damage in all the right places. Firecrackers, hair and fibers, same color. If you were sitting here, would you think the same thing that we're thinking? I mean, it's as plain as plain can be. Now,

what we're giving you here is the opportunity to clean your conscience. I got a clean conscience, man. I'm telling you guys, I weren't out there. My fucking conscience is clear. I didn't fucking harm that girl at all. I dropped her off at fucking Main Street, and that was the end of the fucking night. We're not going to arrest you yet because we want you to be honest with yourself. We want you to go home. We want you to do some soul searching. I had a fucking kid on the way, and I got a life. It's fucking...

There's no fucking way I'm gonna do something to fuck that up. Not saying you intended to or that was your plan. Ron. Things happen. They took Ron back home to his wife, to their two-bedroom apartment. Just as the sun was starting to rise, the detectives had a long day ahead. But Ron could finally rest. Join me for part two on January 31st, where we'll tell the impact of Becky's death and follow the detective's search for her killer.

I want to thank you so much for listening. I am so grateful that you chose to tune in and I couldn't be here without you. Thank you. If you would like to support the show, there's a link in the show notes with options. Another way to support is telling a friend, sharing on social media, or leaving a review.

A very special thanks to Christina and Kirk Small for sharing their memories and trusting me with Becky's story. Additional thanks to Wesley Tunison, Jacob Smith, and Bob Mata for providing their vocal talents. A detailed list of sources and photos can be found at MurderSheTold.com.

Thank you to Byron Willis for his writing and research, and to Bridget Rowley for her research support. If you have a story that needs to be told or a correction, I would love to hear from you. My only hope is that I've kept the memories of your loved ones alive. I'm Kristen Sevey, and this is Murder, She Told. Thank you for listening.