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Today's episode is a fan favorite. It comes from episode number 62, which is titled Murder Island.
In late December of 2003, a 32-year-old man named Russell drove along scenic back roads on an island off the coast of Washington State until he arrived at his destination, a house tucked way back in the woods.
After driving down the property's long driveway, Russell pulled into a parking spot and came to a stop.
After turning off his car's engine, Russell went to unbuckle himself when he stopped, because right in front of him in the tree line, he saw a figure moving in the shadows.
As Russell leaned forward and strained his eyes to see who it was, the figure suddenly emerged and began walking quickly toward Russell's car.
At first, Russell thought he knew who this person was, but as they got closer, Russell realized he didn't.
But before Russell could do anything about this situation, this stranger had arrived right outside of Russell's car door and had begun staring down at Russell through the glass.
As they did this, Russell turned to look up at them, and what he saw was so shocking, he just froze in terror.
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32-year-old Russell Douglas climbed into the driver's seat of his bright yellow Chevy Tracker.
Even though the forecast called for rain and clouds, there was nowhere Russell would rather have been than right where he was, on beautiful Whidbey Island, the place where Russell had spent most of his life.
Just 35 miles long and 10 miles across at its widest point, Whidbey is the largest of nine islands that make up the state of Washington's Island County.
All of the islands are clustered amid bays and inlets inside a body of water just off the western edge of Washington called the Puget Sound.
The islands are all close enough to the mainland that you can look out over the Sound and see the Olympic Mountain Range along the coast of Washington.
But for islanders like Russell, Whidbey was a world away from the hustle and bustle and confusion of the mainland.
And Whidbey's artsy little town of Langley, where Russell was spending this Christmas holiday, felt as much like a true home as the larger town further north where he had actually grown up with his mom, stepdad, his brother, and sister.
Before starting his car and heading west to the town of Freeland to run a few errands, Russell took a long look at the house he had once shared with Brenna, his wife of nine years.
Russell was not a person who had a lot of wonderful days, but on this particular morning, he was feeling better and happier than he had felt in a really long time.
It was the day after Christmas, December 26, 2003, and after a seven-month-long separation from Brenna and their two children, it now felt to Russell like he and his high school sweetheart might actually succeed in rebuilding their marriage and their relationship.
Although Russell couldn't see any sign that Brenna was watching him leave or blowing him a kiss from a downstairs window, Russell still peered up at the house from the driver's seat and gave a wave and smiled before finally starting the engine and backing down the driveway.
Even as he dropped his hand back down to the steering wheel, Russell knew that he was already expecting too much from Brenna.
Russell had a habit of blaming circumstances, and in particular his mother and her strict upbringing, for many of the problems he experienced as an adult.
But he was not blind to his own faults. Even before their separation, his marriage with Brenna had never been easy, which was one of the reasons why they waited almost a year after their first son Jack was born to get married.
Russell knew that both he and Brenna were quick to get angry at each other, and Russell's habit of self-examination seemed like a waste of time to Brenna.
To her, the questions that Russell jotted down to himself, like, why are you so afraid to just be without Brenna, or why are you holding yourself and Brenna and the kids back, were pointless.
Russell just needed to make a decision one way or the other about their marriage and about what he wanted.
Russell also knew he was subject to mood swings, and that he spent more time feeling depressed than he spent feeling upbeat.
But no matter what he tried, therapy, the regular exercise that kept him trim and fit, writing those notes to himself, it still never took much for him to sink into a dark place.
And Russell also knew that the chance he had now to try again with Brenna might be a very uphill struggle.
Because during their separation, even though he had told himself that he'd use the time to think about their marriage, instead of actually doing that, almost immediately, Russell had struck up a new relationship with another woman, 50-year-old Marge Bailey.
And even though their affair was over now, Russell knew it was still a huge sore spot for Brenna.
But what Russell could never explain to Brenna was that that affair had actually helped him grow up and stop thinking of himself as a victim of his moods and of his overly strict and rigid upbringing.
And when Russell had met Marge at a bar in the Washington resort town of Ocean Shores shortly after he and Brenna had separated back in April of 2003, the last thing on his mind was a sexual relationship with Marge.
But leaving Whidbey Island and his kids had been very difficult, and the small apartment he had rented in Renton, a suburb south of Seattle, was a typical and depressing bachelor pad, more like a storage container for his belongings than a home.
And although his apartment was just 45 miles away from where Brenna lived with their kids, no sooner had Russell left the island that he felt the depression that he had always struggled with settle over him like a black cloud.
So when Marge had walked up to Russell when he was sitting alone at the bar in Ocean Shores, he was grateful for her company.
And right away, Russell and Marge had hit it off.
It didn't take Russell long to discover that Marge was much more relaxed and open-minded than Brenna had been when it came to sex, and also when it came to Russell's own unconventional taste in clothes.
If Russell wanted to wear a kilt or a sarong, a length of fabric that's tied around the waist like a skirt, that was fine with Marge.
And if he wore pink spandex shorts and a gold necklace to his fitness club, that didn't bother her either.
It was also fine with Marge that Russell was still married, and that he was not even sure if he wanted a divorce or not.
And when Russell and Marge had finally ended their affair just a few weeks earlier, Marge had told him that if his marriage was really important to him, then he should try his best to fix it.
So that's what Russell had decided he would do.
According to the separation agreement that he and Brenna had worked out back in the spring, this was the Christmas that Russell was supposed to have eight-year-old Jack and five-year-old Hannah.
But when Russell had told Brenna that his affair with Marge was over, he'd also floated the idea to Brenna that he could just come to Whidbey Island over Christmas and all four of them, him and Brenna and their two kids, could spend the holiday together at their house in Langley.
And Brenna had said yes. As Russell slowed down to make a left onto the main route that would lead him 13 miles west to Freeland, he looked down at his blue jeans and flannel shirt.
Of course, along with agreeing to this Christmas reunion, Brenna had had a lot of other things to say as well, including the fact that she'd had enough of what she called Russell's deviant lifestyle.
And by that, she didn't just mean his sense of adventure when it came to sex, but also his collection of slightly wild clothes.
And even though Russell had been careful to dress in a style Brenna found acceptable during this reunion, he knew that since his arrival, he had already made at least one serious mistake.
He'd been so excited about getting back together with Brenna that when he showed up for Christmas, he had given her some fancy lingerie, and inside the lingerie gift box, tucked under the folds of suggestive and flimsy fabric, he'd slipped an assortment of flavored condoms.
Still, Brenna's annoyance with him had not stopped them from making love together earlier that very morning.
And now, as Russell drove through some of the most beautiful landscapes in the Pacific Northwest, that voice inside him that constantly second-guessed his decisions and made him feel like happiness and contentment were always going to be out of his reach seemed to fade away.
Not only was Russell back on his beloved Whidbey Island with Brenna and his kids, financially his life was also improving.
He'd recently gotten a small, but to him very meaningful, promotion at the land management company where he worked, and in just four months he'd finish his online master's degree in business administration.
He knew that the hairstyling business he and Brenna had bought together a year ago so Brenna, a licensed beautician, could have her own salon, needed an infusion of cash to cover some debt Brenna had run up.
But if they could make their marriage work, his skill with money management, coupled with her skills as a beautician, could put them on the path towards a comfortable financial future.
He also knew that that kind of security and status was very important to Brenna.
Even though she had never gone to college or spent really any time off of Whidbey Island, Brenna had a few close friends whose lives she envied.
One of them was her best friend, Peggy Sue Thomas, who also happened to be a licensed hair stylist, as well as the owner of the house that Russell and Brenna rented in Langley.
Although Russell had never been close friends with Peggy Sue, who was four years older than he and Brenna, it was impossible to grow up on Whidbey Island and not know about the six-foot-tall high school basketball star from Langley with the outsized personality and fiery red hair.
After high school, Peggy got married and then got her beautician license, just as Brenna would later do.
But after Peggy's first marriage fell apart, she surprised everybody by joining the military and becoming one of the few female aircraft mechanics in the US Navy.
After that, Peggy went on to marry a fellow veteran, and when she left the service, she raised two daughters, and in addition to working on and off as a hairstylist alongside Brenna, Peggy Sue also got a job as a car mechanic.
And when her second marriage ended in divorce as well in the 1990s, Peggy Sue responded to the fact that her husband had left her for another woman by hitting the gym.
By the year 2000, Peggy Sue had lost 100 pounds, and that year, she won the Mrs. Washington beauty pageant.
And now Peggy Sue was out in Las Vegas, Nevada, living the high life with her two daughters.
It was hard not to feel a little jealous of Peggy Sue, with her confident good looks and her grit.
But at least if Russell and Brenna could get their marriage straightened out, they could actually buy Peggy Sue's house, since that had been the original plan back when Peggy Sue had moved to Las Vegas and agreed to rent the house to him and Brenna.
As Russell made yet another decision, he would definitely talk to Brenna about buying that house.
He also made a quick mental review of the directions he needed to follow to get to his next destination, an address on Wall Road just outside of Freeland.
He was not familiar with this particular area he was going to.
All he really knew was that Wall Road was about four miles outside of Freeland and that lining the narrow roadway was a mixture of everything from churches to upscale homes and million-dollar getaway lodges for summer residents to rustic cabins and the occasional trailer.
Looking out his car window at the hills that fell away to the ocean on his left, and catching a glimpse now and then between the trees of the white sailboats bobbing out on Puget Sound, Russell thought of the hikes he could take here with his children.
Much as Russell had enjoyed his brief time with his lover Marge, he was now feeling like the separation had finally shown him how important his wife Brenna was in his life, the one constant that had given him more happiness and security than anything else.
For Russell, that insight alone had felt like a huge win, and as he thought about it, he bumped the steering wheel with his fist in a gesture of celebration that he felt so ready to make this reconciliation with Brenna work for both of them.
As Russell neared his destination, he slowed and began looking to the left and the right for the landmarks that would confirm he was in the right place.
As he did this, he reminded himself that he just needed to be patient and give Brenna the time she needed to accept him back into her life.
A little bit distracted by this thought, Russell turned into what turned out to be the wrong driveway.
He knew he had made a mistake when he saw a red Volvo parked up ahead of him.
He'd been told to look for an empty driveway.
So he immediately stopped his car, he backed up, and resumed driving west on Wall Road, but very slowly now since he knew he must be getting close to his destination.
And sure enough, several hundred yards further along, Russell saw that he'd arrived at the right place, 6665 Wall Road.
He turned his Chevy Tracker onto the long driveway and drove to the end of it where he pulled off to the right side into a parking spot that was at a right angle to the driveway.
Beside him were two fir trees that cast a dark shadow over his vehicle.
But before Russell could pull off the sunglasses he always used when driving so he could see better into the thickly forested and shady area in front of him, he noticed a figure emerge from the woods in front of him and this person began walking directly toward him.
Russell turned off his car engine, but before he could undo his seatbelt so he could get out of the car and greet this person, the person from the woods had rushed up right next to Russell's car door, blocking him from opening it.
Russell turned to look at the stranger to see what they wanted, and when he realized what they were doing, he froze with fear.
A few seconds later, and the world that Russell had finally begun piecing together in his mind for himself and his family ended in a sudden and terrific blow to his head.
Almost five hours later, at about 4.30pm, two women who were residents of Freeland, who lived on Wall Road, were surprised to see a yellow Chevy Tracker parked in the driveway of one of their neighbor's houses.
Not only was the car unfamiliar to them, but they could see in the near darkness that the driver's side door was open and the interior dome light of the car was still on.
Also, the women knew that the owners of the house where the car was parked, the Black family, were not in town.
They had gone to Costa Rica for a vacation.
So the two women were very curious about who owned this yellow car and why they were there.
However, none of the women wanted to approach this vehicle, and anyone who might be inside of it, when it was this dark outside and no one else was around.
So the two women decided that if the car was still there tomorrow, they'd call the police.
Then the two women just resumed their walk, made their way back to their own houses, and forgot about the bright yellow car with the open door.
It wasn't until the afternoon of the next day, December 27th, that a dad out walking with his sons under a cloudy winter sky would also spot the yellow Chevy Tracker.
Like the women who had been out walking the night before, Joseph Doucette, a schoolteacher who was staying with his family in a nearby cabin, was also immediately drawn to the car's open door.
Joseph's first impulse was to walk over and shut the door before the interior light drained the car's battery, but when he called out and no one inside the car answered, he felt a sudden shiver of uneasiness, and instead of approaching the car right then, he turned around and took his kids back to the cabin.
And then, at a slow run, he returned to the car alone, feeling a mixture of urgency but also fear.
Telling himself to get a grip, Joseph took a deep breath and then walked down the long driveway.
When he reached the open car door and looked inside, what he saw was so shocking and gruesome, he practically fell backwards as he tried to step away.
There was a man inside the yellow car. Joseph registered that the man was young, with sandy blonde hair, and that once he must have been handsome.
But now, something red and sticky was hanging from his forehead, and the man's clothes were covered in blood.
His head and shoulders were slumped over the steering wheel, and his hands lay in his lap, the fingers balled into tight fists.
Trying to keep from vomiting, Joseph turned around and began running, while pulling out his cell phone and dialing 911.
And eight minutes later, at 4.34pm, as the sun fell below the horizon, the first police car arrived on the scene.
Not long after that, the dark, quiet road was filled with other police and emergency vehicles, and flashing blue and red lights.
It didn't take long for the first medical responders to realize they were too late.
The man inside of the car was obviously dead, and he was obviously dead from a bullet wound to the head.
And once detectives arrived on the scene, it didn't take them long to realize that their first assumption about what had happened to the driver of this car was completely wrong.
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Hey listeners, Mr. Ballin here. What if I told you that some of the strangest, darkest, and most mysterious stories happening right now are all connected to what might be the biggest crime of our generation? you know i'm always on the hunt for the most chilling and perplexing tales out there well i've discovered a new podcast that uncovers real world mysteries unfolding right now much like how another ball and studios podcast redacted declassified mysteries brings hidden government secrets to light and it's called lawless planet host zach goldbaum reveals how shocking tales of murder cover-ups and mysterious deaths are all part of something bigger the systematic destruction of our planet.
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Given the fact that the residence where this man was found was not only totally isolated, but looked obviously vacant, it would turn out the black family who owned the property really had been on vacation in Costa Rica at the time, and they would tell police they were not expecting anyone to be on their property while they were gone. and the fact that the driver was still buckled into his car seat, Detective Mike Plumberg's initial theory was that this must have been a suicide, that this man found this isolated place and this is where he took his life.
Violent crimes on Whidbey Island were rare, but the suicide rate among islanders was actually pretty high, especially over the holidays.
But even with the help of portable lighting that police used to illuminate the area around the car, officers could not find the one item that would even make suicide in this case a possibility, and that was the gun that had fired the fatal shot.
But, tucked away between the driver's seat and the doorframe, Detective Plumberg did find the one item that would eventually prove critical to solving what he now realized was a homicide.
The spent shell casing from a gun later identified as a .380 caliber Bursa pistol.
Figuring out who the victim was did not take long.
Whidbey Island was a small place where pretty much everyone knew each other.
So when detectives examined the wallet inside the pocket of the dead man's pants, they recognized both his name and the Langley address printed on his driver's license.
In the picture that stared back at them from the license, they recognized what was left of the driver's face.
The murder victim was 32-year-old Russell Douglas.
By 10 o'clock that night, the detectives were ready to clear the crime scene.
Russell's body had been transported to the medical examiner's office for an autopsy, crime scene techs had photographed and collected evidence, and police who had been sent out to interview nearby residents had already come back with two helpful pieces of information that would give them a window for when the crime had occurred.
According to the owner of a house just down Wall Road, a yellow SUV had entered and then quickly exited her driveway where her red Volvo was parked between 11.30 and noon the previous day.
And the two local women who were out for a walk the previous afternoon told police that they had seen the yellow car at the end of the Black's driveway at about 4.30 p.m.
So the police knew the murder probably occurred between 11.30 a.m. and 4.30 p.m.
What police did not uncover was any information about other unfamiliar cars or people entering or leaving the area during that time period.
But before the police could move ahead with their investigation, Detective Plumfield and his partner needed to inform the victim's wife, Brenna Douglas, that her husband was dead.
So at about 10.15 p.m. on December 27th, the two officers were standing at the front door of the Douglas' modest house on Furman Ave in the town of Langley.
Even though the lights in the house were out, the door was opened almost immediately.
Brenna, a big strong woman with curly brown hair, was standing in front of them, dressed in her night clothes.
Without asking why they were there, Brenna exchanged a short greeting and then invited the men inside.
When one of the detectives asked if they could all sit down to talk, Brenna led them to the dining room table.
As Detective Plumberg pulled out a pad of paper so he could take some notes, Brenna settled herself into her chair on the other side of the table and looked out at them with a blank expression.
In any murder case, the spouse is always one of the first people of interest, so instead of disclosing that Russell was dead, the detectives began by asking Brenna when she had last seen her husband.
Over the next hour, even after police told Brenna that they had just discovered Russell's body in his yellow car and that he had been shot once in the forehead right between his eyes, Brenna displayed no sign of grief or even surprise.
Instead, she shocked detectives by giving a list of grievances and complaints about her recently murdered husband.
According to Brenna, she had initiated their recent separation by kicking Russell out of the house seven months ago.
She'd also filed a report with police alleging that he was verbally and physically abusive, that he threatened to punch her in the face, and had once, years ago, hit their son across his face.
And even though Brenna had withdrawn that complaint, she insisted to investigators that the information she had given police at the time was true.
Russell had been controlling, he had once called her fat, and he had cheated on her both with women and with men.
Brenna also claimed that Russell had downloaded tons of pornography to his computer and that he liked using sex toys.
As for their recent reconciliation, it had been his idea more than her idea for the two of them to try to get back together and fix their marriage.
And even though they had had sex during their Christmas reunion, Brenna told detectives that she had only done that because she wanted to feel loved.
Brenna also told police that Russell abused both alcohol and drugs, and if he had any friends at all, they were only the friends that she herself had made and introduced him to.
Brenna's barrage of criticism about the father of her children and the man who was never late with child or spousal support and who showed up right away when Brenna needed help with a household project, not only shocked the two detectives, it made them wonder if all that bitterness Brenna was expressing to them added up to a possible motive for Brenna to kill her husband.
Sensing that the police had found her response surprising, Brenna wasted no time sketching out her own airtight alibi for December 26th, the day Russell was killed, from the moment he had kissed her and the children goodbye before leaving mid-morning to run some errands, right through the early afternoon of December 27th.
As to why she had not contacted anyone when Russell did not come back to the house that afternoon or night, Brenna said she assumed he'd probably just blown her off again.
But even as police verified Brenna's alibi, she remained a person of interest, especially when investigators found out that Russell had made Brenna the beneficiary of two life insurance policies.
One of them was worth $200,000 and the other was worth close to $400,000.
Those suspicions sharpened over the next couple of weeks when the interviews they conducted with Russell's family, his former lover Marge, and his co-workers at the land management company where he worked, all painted a very different picture of Russell and suggested that maybe Brenna either had a distorted view of her husband, or she wasn't telling the truth, or that Russell was one of those people who turned into a totally different person when he was with his wife and kids.
Because according to those other witnesses, Russell was a friendly, almost shy loner who had surprised his boss one day by wearing a kilt to work.
But Russell came across in interviews as a smart and hardworking employee who took to heart his boss's request that Russell stick with more conventional wardrobe choices at work.
Russell was definitely prone to depression, but his coworkers had never seen any sign that he was a drinker or that he even dabbled in drugs.
Russell was excited about earning his master's in business administration, he obviously loved his kids, he talked a lot about the marital problems he and Brenna were having without ever bashing Brenna, but he also seemed very hopeful that they could save their marriage.
And those close to both Russell and Brenna said the arguments between husband and wife were definitely two-sided, that Brenna had a short fuse and that her poor money management had led to her hair salon sinking into debt.
If that was true, that Brenna was in serious debt, then Brenna would have a financial motive for getting rid of Russell and claiming the payout from his life insurance policies.
Brenna had told detectives that she was not aware of Russell having any life insurance policies, but right after saying this to police, Brenna had contacted Russell's insurance companies and put in her claim as Russell's beneficiary.
However, since Brenna was suspected in Russell's death, the insurance company would not allow her to collect any money.
Instead, the insurance company sent investigators of their own out to speak with police about Brenna's possible involvement in Russell's death.
And what Detective Plumberg found out in speaking with the insurance company's investigators was that Brenna had presented herself and Russell very differently to the insurance company than she had to police.
To insurance investigators, she described Russell as a loving and supportive husband, and as a couple, they were committed to reconciliation after going through a minor rough patch in their marriage.
At around the same time police were speaking with the insurance investigators, an examination of Russell's work computer and personal laptop were completed, and what police learned was that 1.
Brenna had full access to her husband's email and bank accounts, and 2.
Russell was not a big consumer of pornography like Brenna had said.
After her initial interview with detectives on the night Russell's body was discovered, Brenna quickly hired a lawyer, she refused to take a lie detector test, and then she refused to answer any more questions unless the police could come up with hard evidence that would link Brenna to her husband's murder.
And as suspicious as this made Brenna seem, the police didn't have any hard evidence connecting her to her husband's murder, and so for the time being they had to leave her alone.
However, that would change a few weeks later when police were able to examine Russell's phone records.
And there was one number with an out-of-state area code that popped up a couple of times in the second half of December that did not fit the pattern of other calls to or from Russell's cell phone.
And when Detective Plumberg called that number out in Las Vegas, Nevada, they found one of the things they'd been hoping for.
Someone, anyone, who had a link to both the victim, Russell, and to their person of interest, his wife, Brenna.
That person turned out to be none other than Peggy Sue Thomas, Brenna's best friend who had moved off Whidbey Island back in 2000.
That's when Peggy had gone to Las Vegas to compete in the Continental Mrs. USA pageant.
Although Peggy Sue had won the evening gown competition and impressed judges with her stint in the Navy as an aircraft mechanic, she had not won the title.
But during that competition, Peggy Sue had fallen in love with the bright lights and big city feels of Las Vegas.
That's when she rented her house to Russell and Brenna and moved with her two daughters to Henderson, Nevada, just outside of Las Vegas, where Peggy now made a good living as a glamorous limousine driver with a loyal clientele of high rollers and big tippers.
Peggy told detectives that she and her boyfriend had been out to Whidbey Island over the Christmas holiday and that she, Peggy, had seen Russell at his apartment just outside of Seattle on December 23rd, but she had only seen him long enough to hand him a Christmas gift that was for his wife, Brenna.
That's what the three phone calls that the police had seen in the phone records were about.
Peggy had called Russell to arrange this gift exchange, but when he didn't answer that call, the two of them had kind of played phone tag for a little bit before they did connect and make their plans.
As for Peggy Sue's boyfriend, Jim Huden, he was also a native of Whidbey Island, but he'd left the island years ago after he had struck it rich selling a computer program he had designed to the computer giant Microsoft.
And although Peggy Sue and Jim had spent Christmas together in Washington State, Jim had not come with her to see Russell on the night of the 23rd to deliver the package for Brenna.
Peggy Sue admitted that most of what she knew about Russell was second-hand information she had gotten from his wife and her best friend, Brenna, and almost all of it was very negative about how terrible Russell was.
However, Peggy Sue would tell police that during her brief visit with Russell on the 23rd, he was very nice and seemed happy and excited about spending Christmas with Brenna and the kids.
By the time the call ended with Peggy Sue, Detective Plumberg had started to wonder if Russell's murder would ever be solved, because every lead they followed up on seemed to turn into a dead end.
By June 2004, five months after Russell's murder, and with no fresh or promising leads, Detective Plumberg decided to go back and review the entire investigation.
But it wouldn't be until the end of July, a full seven months after Russell had been shot at point-blank range, that police would get the first of a string of tips that would eventually break the murder case wide open.
And the first of those tips would come so far out of left field that at first, Detective Plumberg literally could not believe what he was hearing.
On July 26th, the Island County Sheriff's Office picked up a call from a man who asked them if they had any information on an unsolved homicide that had happened around Christmas the year before, in 2003.
When the detective who had answered the call replied that they did have such a case, the caller went quiet.
After a few long seconds, the man told the investigator that he had information, but he was, quote, scared to talk about it.
Over the next several days, this caller, who initially refused to give police his name or his location, would eventually give Island County detectives his own name, Bill Hill, and the name of a person who Bill said had first-hand knowledge of who killed Russell Douglas.
After chasing down so many false leads and dead ends in this murder investigation, Detective Plumberg was very skeptical of the story.
But as more and more details showed that Bill wasn't just getting his information from news stories, the detective got more and more interested.
And by August 4th, 2004, just a week after Bill had made his first call to the Island County Sheriff's Office, Detective Plumberg and his commander were on a plane headed to Florida to talk with Bill's mysterious person of interest.
At the same time, two other detectives were on a plane headed to Las Vegas to have another chat with Brenna's best friend, Peggy Sue Thomas.
Once Detective Plumberg and his commander arrived in the small town of Punta Gorda on the southwest coast of Florida, they wasted no time following up on the tip they had received from Bill.
Not only were they very eager to talk to this mystery witness, they were also eager to get back out of Florida before the big storm system that was forming out over the Caribbean Ocean just off the coast of Central America turned into a hurricane.
But just a few hours after knocking on the door of this new person of interest, Detective Plumberg was once again feeling defeated and more confused than ever.
Their mystery witness had been more than willing to talk with the detectives and had even gone with them to the local Punta Gorda police station for questioning.
But they denied knowing anything about what happened to Russell and were flabbergasted when they were asked if they were involved in the murder.
Their response to that question was, why would I do that?
What possible motive could I have? And in truth, Detective Plumberg was secretly thinking the same thing.
It didn't make any sense. Plus, he knew that police had no hard evidence at all that could link anyone, including this new mystery person in Florida, to Russell's murder.
An hour later, the interview was over and Detective Plumberg's mystery witness had left the police station and returned home.
The only good news for the Washington Island County detectives was that they'd still managed to fly out of Florida ahead of the storm.
And they were lucky because by August 9th, just a few days after they had left, that storm had turned into a Category 4 hurricane that headed straight into Florida's southwestern coast and the town of Punta Gorda where they had been.
Meanwhile, the team of Island County detectives who had headed to Las Vegas had hit a similar dead end.
In his conversation with Island County investigators, the caller, Bill Hill, had mentioned the name of a woman named Peggy as well as the name of another woman, Brenna.
Bill had told police that he'd heard both names mentioned in connection with Russell's murder.
With Brenna no longer talking to investigators, Detective Plumberg had wanted his officers to speak again to Peggy Sue, and this time in person and on the record.
But Peggy Sue said she had no information for county island officers.
She was also outraged at the sight of detectives showing up with a search warrant at her house in Henderson, Nevada.
Peggy Sue watched as police searched everywhere in her house for any evidence that she had lied to police when she described her meeting with Russell on December 23rd at his apartment.
And after the police could find no evidence, the very frustrated investigators began asking Peggy Sue about her boyfriend, Jim Huden, and his possible connection to Brenna or Russell Douglas.
But it would turn out that not only had Jim never met Russell, Jim had left Peggy Sue in early February of 2003, two months after Russell's murder, and the couple had not parted on friendly terms.
Jim had been married when Peggy Sue had met him on Whidbey Island in 2002, and even though he'd lived with Peggy in Las Vegas for several months, ultimately he decided to return to his wife and his small computer software business.
That said, Peggy Sue could still account for their movements on the day Russell was killed, December 26, 2003.
And she even managed to locate some old receipts from that day to show detectives exactly where they had gone on Whidbey Island before leaving Washington State late that night to return to Nevada.
When detectives pressed Peggy Sue on having a financial motive for killing Russell, maybe she was going to split his life insurance policy with her good friend Brenna, Peggy pointed out that she already made a very comfortable living, so why would she do that?
So, a few days later, Island County detectives came back from Nevada as empty-handed as Detective Plumberg had been when he came back from Florida.
But 15 days later, on August 18th, 2004, all of that would change.
That was the day that the local Whidbey newspaper ran a news story based on unofficial sources that mentioned that former Whidbey Island residents Jim Huden and Peggy Sue Thomas were persons of interest in the ongoing investigation into Russell Douglas' murder.
And on August 19th, one day later, yet another person who said they knew something about the case stepped forward.
This time, it was a former police officer named Keith Ogden who lived in New Mexico.
Keith, who had heard about the news story from a cousin who lived on Whidbey Island, would tell Island County investigators a story that put everything they had heard on their recent trips to Florida and Nevada in a whole new light.
Because not only did Keith have the name of the likely murderer, he also had the weapon that was likely used to kill Russell Douglas.
It was the .380 Bursa pistol, and ballistic tests would soon confirm that the markings on the shell casing found at the crime scene and the bullet that had been removed from the inside of Russell's skull exactly matched the grooves on the inside of that gun.
The murder weapon, combined with the stories police now had from both Keith and their other informant, Bill Hill, finally allowed Detective Plumberg and his team of investigators to identify Russell's killer.
Based on that information, here is a reconstruction of what happened to Russell Douglas on December 26, 2003.
On that morning, Russell took special pleasure in the time he was spending with his family.
Their Christmas celebration the day before had been everything he could have wished for.
After arriving in Langley on Christmas Eve, Brenna had taken his car to the store and bought pies and other fixings for the Christmas dinner they planned to share the next day with Brenna's widowed stepfather.
And except for Russell's gift of lingerie to Brenna, the other gifts he had brought for his family, especially the new Xbox video game console he'd bought for Jack, turned out to be nothing short of inspired.
After Brenna's stepfather left at 5 or 6 p.m., Russell and Jack played Xbox while Brenna and Hannah watched a movie together.
Once the kids were in bed, Russell was allowed into Brenna's room where they watched a movie together in bed and then fell asleep.
And then on that morning, the 26th, he and Brenna made love.
Now, having eaten breakfast with the kids, Russell was getting ready to go out and run a few errands.
In fact, he had arranged a surprise for Brenna, one that he knew would make her happy.
So, at about 10.45 or 11 a.m., Russell gave Jack, Hannah, and Brenna each a kiss and a hug before leaving the house and climbing into the driver's seat of his yellow Chevy Tracker.
Whether anyone inside the house saw him or not, it felt good to wave at the house where his family lived before he pulled out onto Furman Ave and headed west toward Freeland.
Russell's killer had chosen the time of their rendezvous very carefully.
They had given Russell clear directions and they also knew that Russell was very punctual and if anything he might arrive a little early.
But the killer was in place and ready well before Russell arrived.
The killer had only test fired the Bursa pistol a few times, but at close range they figured it would be nearly impossible to miss.
Right on time, the killer heard the sound of an approaching car.
And so before Russell pulled into the driveway, the killer stepped back into the shadows and waited.
A moment later, Russell pulled his yellow Chevy Tracker into the long driveway that led to 6665 Wall Road.
Now that he saw how out of the way this place was, he wondered why on earth they hadn't agreed to meet somewhere closer to Langley.
Still, Russell had enjoyed the drive, and except for his wrong turn into that driveway up the road, he hadn't really had any trouble finding their meeting spot.
Anyway, it would make a good story to tell Brenna, since she was the reason he was here in the first place.
Almost as soon as Russell had pulled into that parking spot and turned off the car engine, he saw a figure in front of him step out of the wood line.
With the sunglasses still on, it was hard to make out this person's face, but Russell figured it had to be the woman he was here to meet.
How many other women were six feet tall on Whidbey Island?
But before Russell could unbuckle his seatbelt and step out of the car to greet Peggy Sue, this person from the tree line had rushed over to his vehicle and stopped right outside of his car door, kind of blocking him from getting out.
And so as they did that, Russell turned and looked at them and realized very quickly this person was not Peggy Sue.
He didn't know who this person was. Instinctively, Russell just started to roll down his window to ask this person what they wanted.
But as he was rolling the window down, Russell suddenly froze because this stranger was now holding a pistol.
And without ever saying a word, the stranger raised the pistol, aimed it at Russell's face, and pulled the trigger.
As the bullet traveled through Russell's brain, his brain tissue stretched along the trajectory of the bullet, and when the tissue did tear, it snapped back into place with force so great that Russell's forehead suddenly bulged outward, and along with blood, the gray matter of Russell's brain began leaking in ropey strands out of the small hole centered right between his eyes.
Before leaving, the killer opened the driver's side door of the tracker.
They wanted to make sure Russell really was dead.
By the time the police discovered Russell's body one day later, his body was stiff and cold to the touch.
Even before the EMTs confirmed the cause of death, Detective Plumberg would describe the wound as a massive head trauma caused by an execution-style shooting that occurred from a distance of just 12 inches.
It would turn out Russell's killer was Peggy Sue's boyfriend, Jim Huden. and it was Peggy Sue who had arranged the time and place where Russell would be murdered.
Peggy Sue had in fact called Russell several times not long before Christmas to arrange a meeting so Peggy Sue could give Russell a Christmas present from her to Brenna.
But Peggy Sue never then went to Russell's apartment in Renton on December 23rd to drop that present off.
Instead, Peggy had told Russell, on the subsequent phone calls, to meet her on December 26th at 6665 Wall Road, and at this meeting she would give him her present for Brenna.
Peggy had chosen this location because it was already a very isolated spot, and the family who lived at 6665 Wall Road, the Black family, they'd be gone in Costa Rica, so there'd be no witnesses.
And so on December 26th, when Russell arrived at the meeting spot, instead of Peggy Sue coming up to him, it was her boyfriend, Jim Huden, who would step out of the tree line, walk over to Russell's car, and then shoot Russell point-blank in the face.
It would turn out that during the four months that Jim and Peggy Sue had lived together in Las Vegas back in 2003, Peggy had spent a lot of time on the phone listening to Russell's wife, Brenna, complain about Russell.
None of what Brenna had to say was new, but now Peggy Sue could share her friend's complaints with her new boyfriend, Jim.
When Jim later confessed his crime to his good friend Bill Hill, down in Florida where Jim lived with his wife Jean, Jim told his friend that he decided to kill Russell because Peggy had told him Russell was abusive to his wife and children.
Jim said that he himself had had a violent stepfather and killing Russell seemed both thrilling and like a kind of revenge killing for what Jim himself claimed to have suffered.
Island County detectives in Washington had a different theory.
They believed that Brenna may have offered to split the proceeds from Russell's life insurance if Peggy and Jim killed Russell.
At that point in Peggy Sue's life, and Jim's life too, money had become a big problem.
Seven months after hearing Jim's confession, Bill Hill's conscience finally got to him, and he contacted investigators in Whidbey and told them what he knew.
But even though detectives then flew to Florida to question Jim, who was the so-called mystery witness, and Nevada to question Peggy Sue, it wasn't until Keith Ogden contacted police on August 18th and provided the murder weapon that police would have the physical evidence they needed to arrest Jim for murder.
According to Keith, who had met Jim and Peggy in Nevada, Jim had approached Keith and asked him to hold onto a gun for him since Jim said he didn't want to keep it in a house with Peggy's kids.
Keith agreed, but when Keith heard that Jim was a suspect in a homicide, he realized the gun Jim had given him could potentially be a murder weapon, and so that's why he had come forward.
Four months later, in December of 2004, almost a year to the day that Russell was killed, Detective Plumberg requested an arrest warrant be issued for Jim Huden.
But it would take another seven years before either Jim or Peggy Sue were actually arrested and charged for the murder of Russell Douglas.
Shortly after being interviewed by investigators down in Florida in August of 2004, Jim, the mystery witness, had taken advantage of the chaos caused by Hurricane Charlie to flee over the border from the U.S. into Mexico.
It wasn't until Jim's wife, Jean, who got tired of sending money to her husband in Mexico, came forward that the police were finally able to track Jim down.
And so on June 9, 2011, Jim was arrested and charged with first-degree murder.
While Jim had been on the run, Peggy Sue had gone on to marry and then divorce Alaskan oil millionaire Mark Allen.
After seven months of marriage to him, she had walked away with more than a million dollars in money and assets.
At the time of her arrest, one month after Jim's, on July 9, 2011, Peggy Sue was living off the shore of New Mexico on a houseboat she had named Off the Hook.
While Jim refused to implicate Peggy Sue in Russell's murder, Peggy Sue didn't waste a minute before she put the full blame for Russell's murder squarely on Jim's shoulders.
One year after their arrests, on July 20, 2012, 59-year-old Jim Huden was convicted of first-degree murder in the shooting death of Russell Douglas and sentenced to 80 years in prison at the Washington State Penitentiary.
Six months later, on January 26, 2013, three days before her murder trial was scheduled to begin, 47-year-old Peggy Sue Thomas Allen pled guilty to a lesser charge of first-degree criminal assistance involving first-degree murder.
Peggy Sue was given the maximum sentence of four years in prison at Washington Corrections Center for Women.
The presiding judge said he regretted the Washington state statute that limited him to imposing what he called a shockingly short sentence.
Peggy Sue was released in 2016. Russell's wife Brenna, who now goes by her maiden name, Brenna Haslam, has never faced any formal charges in her husband's murder, although Island County investigators have continued to treat her as a person of interest.
In December of 2005, so two years after Russell's death, his insurance company agreed to release a payout of $400,000 from his life insurance policy to Brenna.
Brenna used the money to buy a new car and a new house that she subsequently lost one year later when she stopped paying the mortgage.
There is no hard evidence that Russell Douglas ever physically abused his wife or his children.
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