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to 500 500 visit

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audible.com/TCAT or

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text TCAT to 500 500. Hello

1:02

everyone and

1:06

welcome to

1:09

episode 372 of

1:12

the true crime

1:24

all the time podcast

1:29

I'm Mike Ferguson. And with me as

1:31

always is my partner in true crime,

1:33

Mike Gibson. Gibby, how are you? Hey,

1:35

I'm doing good. How about yourself? I'm

1:37

doing very, very well. You

1:40

and I have a boatload of

1:42

stuff out right now on

1:45

Saturday night. We published a

1:47

brand new Patreon episode. Yeah,

1:49

we did on Christine Rauch. And

1:52

you know, this was a

1:54

woman who was given up by

1:56

her birth mother. Yeah. When she

1:59

was very. young, extended

2:01

family took her in, gave her

2:03

a great life. She reconnected with her

2:05

birth mother years later and then

2:07

ended up killing her. Yeah. So there's

2:09

a lot that went into it.

2:11

It's, it's kind of a very strange

2:14

story. Definitely some troubling details. Yeah,

2:16

absolutely. And then on true

2:18

crime all the time, when solved, we

2:20

have an episode out on Adam. Emory,

2:23

Emory was convicted of secondary murder

2:26

for stabbing a young man, but

2:28

he and his wife fled the

2:31

day he was convicted. His wife's

2:33

remains were found months later, but

2:36

Adam Emory is still considered a fugitive

2:38

from justice. So a little

2:40

strange that we're talking about

2:42

the unsolved disappearance

2:44

of a murderer. Doesn't

2:46

happen all that often. No, no, it really

2:48

doesn't. Let's go ahead and give

2:50

our Patreon shout outs. We had Jessica

2:52

Staples. Hey, Jessica. Tony hunt. What's going

2:54

on, Tony? Ray B jumped out at

2:56

our highest level. Hey, Ray. Art Bellen.

2:59

What's going on, Bellen? Nicole Sheppard.

3:01

Hey, there's Nicole. Jason Lunsman.

3:04

Oh, I appreciate that. Lunsman.

3:06

Ducky Laird. Hey, Ducky. Cornelia

3:08

Gustafson. Ah, Gustafson son. Johanna

3:11

Bergland jumped out at our highest

3:14

level. What's going on, Bergland? And

3:16

appreciate that. Lucy. Hey, Lucy. Taylor

3:19

Hudson. Well, appreciate that Taylor. Mike

3:21

Abbott. Hey, Mike. Mack. Mackanda.

3:24

Hey, Mack, Mack. And last

3:27

but not least, Beth. Hey, appreciate that, Beth.

3:29

And if we go back into the vault,

3:32

this week we selected Jody Eubank.

3:34

Well, thank you so much, Jody.

3:36

Yeah, appreciate all the Patreon support.

3:38

And then we had a great

3:40

PayPal donation from Charlene Brewer. Hey,

3:42

thanks, Charlene. You know, when you

3:44

said Tony's name, I wanted to be like George,

3:46

that, you know, and Seinfeld and Tony. That

3:49

Tony guy. Remember that Tony guy? Hey,

3:51

Tony. Tony. Tony, Tony, Tony. You

3:54

remember that guy? No. Oh,

3:56

it wasn't Tony, was it? Probably not.

4:03

Oh, I love your stories, man. Are

4:07

you ready to get into this episode of True

4:09

Crime all the time? I'm ready. We

4:11

are talking about Steven Todd Jenkins.

4:14

Jenkins was convicted of murdering two

4:16

bankers who seized his family's farm

4:19

after his parents filed for bankruptcy.

4:22

Steven cast a blame on his father, but

4:25

prosecutors argued that Steven, who was

4:27

a skilled marksman and

4:29

obsessed with weapons, was the shooter. From

4:32

1977 to 1980, James

4:34

and Darlene Jenkins lived on a

4:37

10-acre dairy farm in Ruthton,

4:40

Minnesota with their son,

4:42

Steven. James Jenkins grew up

4:44

on farms, and farming was the

4:46

career he was most passionate about.

4:49

He was described as a quiet loner.

4:52

One local sheriff said he was

4:54

a likable sort and didn't

4:56

cause trouble. The sheriff noted

4:58

that James paid some of his

5:00

bills late, but this was not

5:02

uncommon in the agricultural community because

5:05

of the unstable income. Yeah,

5:07

I think it was kind of a norm. Well,

5:09

let's face it. It's not like

5:12

the job that you have. You

5:14

know, for a fact, that

5:16

every two weeks you're going to be

5:19

paid X amount. Exactly. Now, that

5:21

amount might not be as much as you would like

5:23

it to be. But I know

5:25

what it's going to be. It might be more

5:27

than you're actually worth, but you

5:29

know what it's going to be. It's

5:32

not the same when you're a farmer. You

5:35

don't know what the yield's going to be. You

5:38

don't know what the price for the crop is

5:40

going to be. So I mean, there are a

5:42

lot of variables. Before they

5:44

purchased the farm in Ruthton, the Jenkins

5:46

family moved from farm to farm. James

5:49

once tried to start an

5:51

earth-moving business. His friend

5:54

Bernard Knuth said he purchased

5:56

machinery but didn't get much

5:58

business. his father

6:00

co-signed on the loan and

6:02

had to mortgage his house to help

6:04

his son. Well, that's a good dad.

6:07

Right. It's a good dad. And I get

6:09

trying to start a business. Now it can

6:11

be risky. If you go out

6:13

and you buy some of

6:15

this very expensive machinery and the

6:18

work doesn't come your way, it's

6:20

going to go south in a hurry. Yeah. Those bills are

6:22

still coming in. Darlene Jenkins

6:25

told the Minneapolis Star Tribune that

6:27

they had to move often because

6:29

James had trouble keeping a job.

6:32

One of James's former attorneys told the

6:34

Star Tribune that James went

6:37

through a dramatic personality change

6:39

after he suffered head injuries

6:42

in a car accident in his early

6:44

twenties before he

6:46

was described as mild manner, but

6:48

after the accident, he was

6:50

prone to wild fits of

6:52

temper. Does that shock you? You

6:55

know, at this point, nothing shocks me

6:58

all that much when it comes to talk

7:00

of head injury, I

7:02

mean, we're just, we hear about them so

7:05

much more nowadays than we ever

7:07

used to, and we know so

7:09

much more. And you think about

7:12

some of the NFL stars

7:15

who died early. Some

7:18

of them have donated

7:21

their brain to science. They studied

7:23

those brains. Um, other

7:25

people have done as well. There's

7:28

no doubt that head

7:30

injuries can not always,

7:32

but can cause dramatic

7:36

changes in people.

7:38

There's just no doubt about it. Yeah. And

7:41

we've talked about several of those

7:43

types of cases over the

7:45

years. In 1977, James

7:48

and Darlene purchased a small farm

7:50

in Ruthton and 45 dairy cow. They

7:54

eventually ran into money problems. They

7:56

didn't have enough pasture to feed

7:58

the cows. So. They had to

8:00

buy hay and grain. They weren't making

8:02

enough money and struggled to pay the

8:05

bills. The cows became

8:07

malnourished and liens were put

8:09

on their machinery. Now

8:11

I didn't grow up in any

8:14

type of farm environment whatsoever.

8:16

There were a lot of

8:18

farms around where I

8:20

lived because it was kind of a

8:22

rural community, but we lived like in

8:24

a neighborhood. So I never

8:26

lived on a farm, never had much

8:29

to do with the farm. I always thought

8:31

that it would be a very demanding

8:34

life, but could also be

8:36

very satisfying. If you think

8:38

about growing something

8:41

from the ground up with your own two

8:44

hands, right? Seems like that

8:46

would be satisfying, but how

8:48

much work, you know, goes in

8:50

to getting that done.

8:52

How much work is it to milk 45 cows? I

8:56

know you say you wouldn't mind milking some cows

8:59

just for the practice or. Yeah.

9:02

I know you like to drink that milk

9:04

right fresh out of that cow. Or

9:07

I just want to pull on the teat. Is

9:09

that what you're trying to say? Maybe the fact

9:11

that you know, that's what you do. Well,

9:14

for your information, I have milk cows before,

9:16

so I know how it's done. I'm surprised.

9:19

And I know it's called the teat in

9:22

the late seventies and early eighties. There

9:24

was a farm credit crisis in the

9:26

Midwest due to a recession. This

9:29

case came to symbolize

9:31

the rising tensions between

9:33

farmers and lenders. In

9:36

1983, the New York Times reported

9:38

with the rise in farm foreclosures,

9:41

forced farm auctions and voluntary

9:43

liquidations in recent months, banks

9:45

and federal loan agencies have

9:48

been the target of

9:50

mounting criticisms and demonstrations,

9:52

some violent among a

9:55

wide range of farm

9:57

organized labor, environmental and

9:59

anti-nuclear. groups coalescing around

10:01

the financial plight of

10:03

farmers and unemployed workers

10:05

across the middle west. It

10:08

was a pretty big thing too. I mean we've I've seen

10:11

movies so many movies about that time frame

10:13

of you know the bad

10:15

bank coming to take the farm

10:17

away from the family. Yeah it's

10:20

kind of like a movie trope but it

10:22

was a real thing it did happen. Yeah.

10:24

But you could also see why a lot of

10:26

people would have sympathies

10:29

for farmers. We need

10:31

farmers because we have a

10:33

lot of people to feed here

10:36

in the US and so

10:38

to have a bunch of farms go out

10:41

of business can be kind of catastrophic. In

10:43

1979 James and Darlene took on a farm operating

10:47

loan from the Buffalo Ridge State

10:50

Bank in Roosten. The following

10:52

year they got divorced, defaulted on

10:54

their loan, and declared

10:56

bankruptcy. Darlene alleged verbal

10:58

abuse in her divorce filing. James

11:01

claimed that Darlene was having

11:03

an affair with Rudolph Black,

11:06

the president of the Buffalo Ridge

11:08

State Bank. Seems a

11:10

little like a conflict of interest in

11:12

a strange way. Yeah but

11:14

here's my thought if you're

11:16

having an affair with the president of the

11:19

bank don't you think you could

11:21

get an extension on your loan? Thank

11:23

you. Or more favorable terms? You would

11:25

hope. You would think so. The

11:28

Jenkins family soon abandoned the property

11:31

and the title transferred back to the

11:33

bank. According to a news article

11:35

from Farm Form James illegally

11:37

sold cattle that were meant

11:40

to be collateral for his loan. He

11:42

was forced to file for bankruptcy because he

11:44

was $25,000 in debt.

11:47

Yeah you can't sell something that doesn't belong to you

11:49

anymore. Yeah that's just a good rule of

11:51

thumb. After the divorce

11:53

James briefly worked a trucking

11:55

job in Ohio before he

11:57

hitchhiked to Texas. He was hired

12:00

hired as a maintenance man by the

12:02

school district in Brownwood. James

12:04

eventually saved up enough to buy a

12:06

camping trailer and an old truck so

12:08

he could bring Stephen to Texas with

12:11

him. After the divorce, Stephen

12:13

spent his time living with his mom or

12:16

his paternal grandparents before he moved to

12:18

Texas to be with his dad. Like

12:21

his father, Stephen was described as

12:23

a quiet young man. He was

12:25

also described as hardworking and well

12:27

behaved. He was known

12:29

for always maintaining a military

12:32

haircut, wearing camouflage, and

12:34

his interest in weapons. There's really

12:36

nothing standing out. I mean, there's nothing wrong

12:38

with having interest in

12:40

weapons. Well, and you're

12:42

always rocking that short

12:44

military haircut. You wear

12:47

fatigues in here a lot. I don't

12:49

understand it. But I'm fatigued. Because you're

12:51

tired. Yeah. Stephen was

12:53

a teenager. James bought him a .30

12:56

caliber M1 semi-automatic

12:58

rifle. A coworker

13:00

who served in Vietnam taught

13:02

Stephen how to use it. That's a healthy

13:05

gun. Yeah, an M1. It's

13:07

kind of an iconic rifle. Yeah.

13:11

Stephen tried to join the Marines

13:13

in 1981, but he

13:15

couldn't join because he ruptured a spleen

13:17

in a bicycle accident the year

13:19

before. James' grandfather said

13:21

that he was very upset by

13:23

his parents' divorce. Around

13:26

that time, his fascination with

13:28

weapons became more extreme. Okay, now

13:30

we're getting into maybe some concern.

13:33

Well, yeah, you said there's nothing

13:35

wrong with, you know, liking

13:38

weapons or something like

13:40

that. But when you start

13:43

to throw around the word obsession,

13:45

extreme, well, then

13:48

you're envisioning in your mind, you

13:51

know, a possible problem. Yeah.

13:53

Stephen's grandfather later told the investigators

13:56

that Stephen had hand grenades

13:59

and had been making making and

14:01

detonating pipe bombs. I

14:03

think it's concerning that you have hand grenades

14:05

and that you're making pipe bombs. I

14:08

think both are very concerned. If

14:10

you own a pistol or

14:12

a rifle or both and

14:15

you like to go out and do some target

14:17

shooting, is there anything wrong with that? No,

14:20

not in my mind whatsoever. I

14:22

don't know why anyone would really need a

14:24

hand grenade. Is it even legal

14:27

to own a hand grenade? I don't know.

14:29

I don't think so. What

14:32

are the uses for a pipe

14:34

bomb? Legitimate uses.

14:37

That creek down there is damming

14:40

up and we've got to break that free.

14:42

We've got to change the water flow of

14:44

this creek. But I can just imagine

14:46

this kid keeping these things,

14:48

making them, and keeping them in

14:51

his room. It was

14:53

said that he often did

14:55

target practice with his M1 and

14:57

other guns. But one of

14:59

his targets was a human dummy. He

15:02

didn't have the beer can out

15:04

there that you would shoot on a string.

15:06

Or even a paper target. Which

15:09

is what I'm used to

15:11

or a cardboard target. He

15:13

used a human dummy. But

15:15

basically what all this practice did

15:18

was turn him into a skilled

15:20

marksman. And that's what practice will

15:22

do. It's not just

15:24

shooting. If you

15:26

practice anything enough, you'll

15:28

get good at it. Yeah, I

15:30

could hit something downfield 400

15:32

yards with a 15 degree

15:35

wind. 60%

15:37

of the time all the time. The fact

15:39

that none of that made any sense leads

15:42

me to believe that you don't know what the hell

15:44

you're talking about. Oh, no, come on. Let's not debate

15:46

it. Steven later testified

15:48

before Grand Jury that he

15:51

used a machete to trim trees and

15:54

another knife to bail. He

15:56

kept professional handcuffs. playing

16:00

around and did target practice

16:02

when he didn't have anything else to do. Steven

16:05

testified that he enjoyed hunting, but never

16:07

got his license. He said he took

16:09

a gun with him whenever he left

16:11

home. Well, look, the

16:13

handcuffs, I've seen a set laying

16:15

around here. I don't ask questions. I

16:18

just assume, you know, what happens after

16:20

I leave here is done to

16:22

my business. That's a good assumption. Now

16:25

we are in Texas. You know,

16:27

I, I don't know how many people

16:29

carry guns in Texas, but I'm

16:32

thinking dead by percentage

16:35

it's higher than many other state.

16:38

I would agree. And you think about

16:40

Texas, somebody driving the truck, they got

16:42

a rifle in the back of the

16:44

truck in the hanging up there. I'm

16:47

not saying everyone. It's just kind of what you

16:49

think of. Yeah. And I don't

16:51

have an issue with the machete either. I mean,

16:53

I use a machete a lot when I want

16:55

to clear vegetation away. So it's

16:58

actually a really good tool. Do

17:00

you have a lot of vegetation that

17:02

needs to be cleared? Not anymore.

17:04

In your apartment. Steven

17:07

dropped out of high school in the 11th grade

17:09

and moved to

17:12

Texas to be with his dad. Steven's

17:14

friend, Dale Van Derustein said he

17:16

wasn't getting along with his teacher.

17:18

He was having a hard time

17:21

because of his attitude and

17:23

the military clothes. He wore teachers

17:25

thought Steven was weird. And

17:28

to me, if that's the case, I'm

17:30

assuming other kids probably did as well.

17:33

Yeah. I agree with you. They

17:36

had to, but despite his

17:38

obsession with weapons, Steven

17:40

had no history of violence or

17:43

problems with authorities. According to the

17:45

star Tribune, Steven said he

17:47

only lost his temper once when he fired

17:49

a shot into an

17:51

empty family vehicle. And

17:53

I thought this was a little strange because, you

17:55

know, normally the people that

17:58

we talk about on TCAT. More

18:00

often than not have a

18:02

pretty lengthy criminal history run

18:05

ends with authorities It

18:07

seems like Steven didn't have any of that

18:10

in May 1983 when he was 18 years old

18:13

Steven returned to Minnesota from

18:16

Texas followed by James in

18:18

July James had saved

18:20

up enough to start another dairy farm

18:23

according to the Star Tribune He

18:25

rented a farm near Hardwick, Minnesota

18:27

in September James had the land

18:29

But not the cows to get the farm

18:31

up and running He sought loans

18:33

from at least five banks and two

18:35

cattle dealers But was denied

18:37

credit by everyone he spoke to this

18:40

was because Rudolph Blythe president

18:43

of the Buffalo Ridge State Bank that

18:45

had previously issued him a loan and Informed

18:48

the lenders about the bankruptcy James

18:51

was aware that Blythe was giving

18:53

bad credit references well, that's a

18:55

problem right if you have a President

18:57

of a bank telling all the other banks. Hey

19:00

this guy is not credit worthy But

19:03

was he wrong? I mean he

19:05

had defaulted on his loan Yeah,

19:08

so to me it's not like this

19:10

guy was out trying to smear him. I

19:13

think he was giving factual

19:15

information to other banks Susan

19:18

Blythe Rudolph's wife and vice president

19:20

of the bank Confirmed

19:22

that Rudolph told prospective lenders

19:25

about the bankruptcy when they asked for

19:27

a credit reference So it wasn't like

19:29

he was just calling everyone in town and saying

19:32

hey don't give this guy a loan They

19:35

obviously knew that there was

19:37

a previous loan With

19:40

Buffalo Ridge State Bank. So

19:42

before they would give out a loan, they're gonna call

19:44

the bank and What is he

19:46

gonna say? He defaulted on the

19:48

loan. He declared bankruptcy It's not gonna ruin

19:51

his reputation by lying on September

19:53

28th 1983

19:55

James made a final effort to get a

19:57

loan from a cattle dealer, but was rejected

20:00

James then called Rudolph Blythe

20:03

and pretended to be a buyer

20:05

named Ron Anderson, who was interested

20:07

in buying the abandoned Jenkins family

20:09

farm in Roosten, which was still

20:11

in the bank's possession. He

20:13

arranged to meet Blythe at the old

20:16

farm at 10am on September 29. On

20:19

that day, Rudolph Blythe and

20:21

loan officer Deems Thule drove

20:24

to the abandoned farm to meet

20:26

the prospective buyer. Steven and

20:28

James were waiting to ambush them.

20:31

Steven later testified before a grand jury

20:33

that his father told him we

20:36

were going to go there and

20:38

rob Blythe and scare him, scare

20:40

the hell out of him. Because that's going

20:42

to help you secure a loan? Well,

20:45

the other thing I thought was, man, this

20:47

must have been a really small bank. The

20:50

president of the bank is

20:52

actually going out to the

20:54

farm to meet these people. Yeah,

20:57

not like having an agent

20:59

represent them or, you

21:01

know, having this as a salesperson at the bank

21:03

to take care of it. Yeah, the president is

21:06

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22:37

Your journey begins at the University

22:40

of Florida. Steven

22:43

drove them to the farm early

22:45

on September 29. They

22:47

took four guns with them,

22:49

including Steven's M1 carbine rifle,

22:51

which was later identified as

22:53

the murder weapon, ammunition,

22:56

two knives, three

22:58

diffused hand grenades, and

23:00

other military equipment that belonged

23:02

to Steven. That scared the hell out

23:05

of them, but bring all this with us. That's

23:07

going to do it, right? I mean, wouldn't you be

23:09

kind of scared to see somebody having all

23:12

these guns set up around you and some

23:14

hand grenades that you do not

23:17

know that have been diffused? And

23:20

other military equipment, whatever that might

23:22

be. So they got to the

23:24

farm around 8 30 a.m. and parked in

23:26

front of the garage. James took

23:28

off their trucks front license plate.

23:31

Steven put one gun on the seat and

23:34

two guns within reach on the hood of the

23:36

truck. While James was removing

23:38

the rear license plate, they heard

23:40

a car coming up the driveway. This

23:42

was unexpected because they still

23:45

had a while before the appointment. They

23:47

each grabbed a gun and hit. Steven

23:50

said he hid behind the garage, but

23:52

he didn't see where his dad hid. Rudolph

23:55

flies station wagon parked in front

23:57

of James's truck. got

24:00

out of the car and began looking

24:02

around, calling out, who is here? Minutes

24:05

later, Susan Blythe arrived at

24:07

the property to switch cars

24:10

with Rudolph. Rudolph told her

24:12

he thought the truck belonged to

24:14

the Jenkins family. And

24:16

my thought is, right then and there, he

24:19

had to have been concerned. Sure. You know,

24:21

he thinks he's selling this Jenkins

24:25

farm to a third party

24:27

named Ron Anderson. But when

24:29

he pulls up, he sees what he

24:31

believes to be the Jenkins truck.

24:34

And why are they here? And how could

24:36

anything good come from it? Susan

24:38

stayed for a few minutes to speak

24:40

to Thulin. She

24:42

watched Rudolph walk past the vehicles along

24:44

the side of the garage towards a

24:47

grove of trees. He didn't

24:49

see anyone and returned to

24:51

the vehicles. While he

24:53

was looking around, Susan said she

24:55

heard a metallic creaking kind of

24:57

sound. This was later

24:59

identified as the sound of someone

25:01

stepping on old rain gutters that

25:03

were piled in the weeds behind

25:05

the chicken coop. Rudolph

25:07

told Susan to go call the sheriff

25:09

because there were trespassers on the property.

25:13

As she drove away, she saw

25:15

Rudolph in the grove area and

25:17

Dean Stulin looking around near the

25:20

station wagon. So this is the

25:22

early eighties. Susan can't just

25:24

whip out a cell phone. None

25:26

of them can whip out a cell phone and call

25:29

the authorities. She's got to drive

25:31

somewhere. Find a pay phone or a pay

25:33

phone. Yeah, most likely a pay phone. Steven

25:35

testified that he remained

25:37

hidden behind the garage and didn't see

25:40

his dad or the victims until

25:42

after the shootings. He heard

25:44

someone say something about going

25:46

to get the police and saw one

25:48

car leaving. And no

25:51

doubt this is going to be important. Right.

25:54

This case is going to come down

25:56

to, you know, who did the

25:58

shooting. Was it Steven? Steven was

26:00

it his dad? Well, Steven is

26:02

saying, I was hiding behind

26:05

the garage. I didn't see

26:07

anyone until after the shooting.

26:10

Almost immediately after Susan drove

26:12

away, someone fired three

26:14

shots at the station wagon. Doolin

26:17

was killed almost instantly by

26:19

a shot to the throat. Blythe was

26:21

shot in the back. He ran

26:23

towards the front yard of the farmhouse and

26:26

was pursued by the killer. He

26:28

was shot four times as he tried to get

26:30

to the road and died within minutes.

26:34

A shot to the throat. Precisely.

26:37

It's rough. I think the

26:39

one thing that you can say is these

26:41

weren't accidental. No,

26:44

you know, definitely targeted.

26:46

Targeted, the killers meant business.

26:49

They meant to kill because they shot

26:51

Blythe, but he was able to run.

26:54

Tracked him down and

26:56

shot him four more times to

26:59

make sure that he died. Steven

27:02

and James fled in their truck. A

27:04

witness named Paul Bartz was

27:06

driving past the farm around 9am.

27:09

So not Paul Blart, the mall

27:12

cop. This is Paul Bartz. He

27:14

turned his truck around to investigate

27:16

a yellow object in a ditch,

27:19

which was Blythe jacket. He then

27:21

saw a white Chevy truck with

27:24

a rear Texas plate, according

27:26

to him, screaming down the driveway.

27:29

So the sheriff's office received two calls

27:31

at the same time. One

27:33

from Sue Blythe and

27:35

one from Paul Bartz, who

27:37

reported seeing a man in a ditch in

27:40

front of the old Jenkins farm. The

27:43

police arrived and found Rudolph's body

27:45

in the ditch. Dean Stoolin

27:47

was hanging out of the car door

27:49

with a gunshot wound to the throat.

27:51

Not a way to start the morning. No, I

27:54

can't imagine anyone at the sheriff's office thought

27:56

this was going to be their day when

27:58

they woke up that morning. I'm

28:00

also assuming that, you know, for the

28:02

most part, it was a, a

28:04

fairly quiet area. Yeah.

28:07

As far as crimes go. And

28:09

I can't imagine that there were a

28:12

ton of homicides. I have no

28:14

idea what the homicide rate was,

28:16

but you would think in

28:18

a rural area like that, it would

28:20

probably be pretty low. Steven

28:23

and James decided to go back to their

28:25

farm in Hardwick on the

28:27

way home. They encountered Rock County

28:29

deputy sheriff, Ronald McClure,

28:32

deputy sheriff McClure was driving to

28:34

an accident scene when he

28:36

received a message to look

28:38

for a white truck with a Texas license

28:40

plate. He saw the truck

28:43

and began following it. James

28:45

told Steven to get out of the truck and

28:47

shoot the officer. They turned onto

28:49

a gravel road where Steven got out

28:51

with his M1 rifle and shot three

28:55

times at the police car as it

28:57

passed the intersection. McClure laid

28:59

down in his seat and

29:02

hit the gas. He was not shot.

29:04

So I think some pretty quick thinking

29:06

on his part for sure. Yeah. McClure

29:08

radioed for air and ground support, but

29:11

the truck was gone by the

29:13

time help arrived. About 15 minutes

29:15

later, James and Steven were

29:17

seen purchasing a hundred rounds of

29:20

30 caliber ammo from a store

29:22

in Laverne. They told the clerk

29:25

they were going hunting, but the New

29:27

York times reported that these

29:29

shells are illegal for hunting. They

29:31

purchased four 10 shotgun

29:34

ammo and a flashlight and another

29:36

store. James paid

29:38

for both purchases with checks in

29:40

his name. So they're stocking up. Fun.

29:43

People might question a hundred rounds. That doesn't

29:45

seem like a lot. And you know, some

29:48

people might say that seems like a ton,

29:50

but a hundred rounds of

29:52

30 cal probably pretty expensive. I

29:54

know it is today. It would

29:57

have been more expensive than let's say

29:59

pistol. Ammo. Yeah, for

30:01

sure. Sheriff's officers

30:03

visited James' parents' home

30:06

that evening and found spent 30

30:08

caliber carbine casings that matched those

30:10

at the crime scene. Stephen

30:12

and James drove to South Dakota where

30:15

they stole license plates for their truck.

30:17

They drove through the night to avoid

30:19

the police. So, you know, let's

30:21

just recap here. These guys are in a

30:24

world of trouble. I mean, two

30:26

men are dead. They shot

30:29

and tried to kill and now

30:31

they're on the run. And like you

30:33

said, they've stocked up. So

30:36

what does that mean? That they're

30:38

going to be ready for another

30:40

shootout if confronted? I

30:42

think they're prepping for it. Stephen and

30:44

James arrived in Paducah, Texas on

30:47

October 1st. They went

30:49

to an abandoned shed about five miles

30:51

north of town and they

30:53

talked about what they should do because they

30:55

had no money, had no gas.

30:58

On October 2nd, Stephen left his

31:00

father at the abandoned farm and

31:03

surrendered to the local police telling

31:05

them he was wanted in connection

31:08

with murders in Minnesota. Okay.

31:11

Pretty interesting and not something that we

31:13

see a lot of the time. No.

31:15

But we're also not

31:18

talking about, you know,

31:20

a hardened career criminal, a

31:22

serial killer. We're talking about

31:24

a young man who by

31:27

all accounts really didn't have run-ins with

31:29

the law and by his

31:31

own account wasn't involved

31:34

in the shootings at the

31:37

farmhouse. Now, he did admit

31:39

to firing three shots

31:41

at the sheriff, right? Or

31:43

the deputy sheriff. But

31:46

according to him, he didn't kill those two

31:48

people. But he said that he turned

31:50

himself in because he was tired

31:52

of running. But James told him

31:54

that he was not going

31:57

to give himself up. Around 6.30 P.m. Stephen

32:00

lead officers back to the farm

32:02

because his father had talked about.

32:04

Ending is what. They. Found James's

32:06

body in the middle of the

32:09

dirt road leading to the shared

32:11

with a shotgun beside him. He'd.

32:13

Shunning self in the head that eve. Inside

32:16

James's truck be found

32:18

for guns, a makeshift

32:20

silencer, a machete, To.

32:22

Unarmed grenades. Throwing

32:24

Stars. And four hundred rounds

32:26

of amp. Throwing Stars? Yeah.

32:29

That's. Something you don't hear everyday. You do

32:31

not but you're throwing stars were pretty

32:33

big back on as a kid. They're

32:35

always wanted some. To. Stood tall some

32:37

around. Yeah, I'm sure I would have.

32:40

Thrown. My I'll. Probably. Would

32:42

have but I never ended up

32:45

getting any price. It's. A good

32:47

thing. But. Four hundred rounds of ammo.

32:49

They found that so that so they were

32:51

healthy amount. Yeah, Especially.

32:54

If. A lot of that

32:56

is thirty caliber rifle. Ammo.

32:59

During. A search serves Jenkins

33:01

Farm Deputies found another rifle,

33:04

ammo. A formula for

33:06

making nitroglycerin and books on how

33:08

to make bar. Okay,

33:11

That. Can be. Pretty. Exposes

33:13

they could be. We've already said

33:15

you know, Stephen had made some

33:17

pipe bomb. Stephen. Was

33:20

quickly extradited to Minnesota. October.

33:22

Twenty eighth. Nice. Nice. Three. He. Was

33:25

indicted on two counts of first

33:27

degree murder and for town saw

33:29

of second degree murder. Him.

33:31

I first saw it was that

33:34

you stevens in a really bad

33:36

spot here. For. A number of

33:38

reasons. First. Of all, he was

33:40

involved in this whole thing, right? Now

33:43

to what degree? That.

33:45

Remains to be see. The. Problem

33:47

is his father's gone. Jays

33:50

Bollard. Let. Them hang him. So.

33:53

Who are they going to pin? Every

33:55

single. State. versus anderson

33:57

specified the charges as as

34:00

first degree murder of Rudolph

34:02

Blythe, first degree murder of

34:05

Rudolph Blythe while committing

34:08

or attempting to commit aggravated

34:10

robbery, second degree murder

34:13

of Rudolph Blythe, second

34:15

degree murder of Dean Stuhlen,

34:18

aiding, advising, and conspiring with

34:20

another to cause the death

34:22

of Rudolph Blythe, and

34:25

aiding, advising, or conspiring with another

34:27

to cause the death of Dean

34:29

Stuhlen. All right, there's a

34:31

lot there that all revolves around

34:34

the murder of two people. Some very

34:37

serious charges. Yeah, very serious.

34:40

What I thought was interesting was that

34:42

it was first degree

34:44

murder and second degree

34:46

murder as it pertained to Rudolph

34:48

Blythe, but only second degree

34:50

murder when it came to Dean

34:52

Stuhlen. I thought that was strange. Yeah,

34:55

I wonder if they feel like he was more involved

34:58

in Rudolph's murder than Stuhlen's.

35:00

Yeah. Steven's defense attorney

35:02

was a man named Alan

35:05

Swinn Anderson who was described

35:07

as controversial, loud, and

35:09

profane. Three things that

35:12

you've been called many, many times.

35:14

Just today. Anderson took

35:16

the case pro bono and

35:18

tried to earn money for

35:20

a psychological examination by selling

35:22

the story to a screenplay

35:24

writer. Steven lived with his

35:26

lawyer during the trial and

35:29

was adopted by Anderson in 1984. Okay,

35:33

it's a little strange. It is very

35:35

strange. I get it. Sometimes

35:37

these attorneys take cases pro

35:39

bono, but I think

35:42

anytime you have an attorney who

35:44

is involved in trying to sell

35:46

the rights of a client's

35:48

story, it doesn't ever seem

35:50

to end well. Yeah, I mean, you're

35:53

trying to profit off of what

35:55

happened and the potential outcome of

35:57

the trial. And then he ends up- adopting

36:01

this guy. But why would you have to adopt

36:03

somebody that's already legally

36:06

an adult? Yeah. He was

36:08

18 years old when this all happened. So,

36:11

you know, that seems a little strange. Anderson

36:14

filed documents stating that he would

36:16

show Steven was under the psychological

36:18

control of his father and

36:21

fear death. If he disobeyed, Anderson

36:24

alleged that James was prone

36:26

to fits of violent anger.

36:29

So I think he's, you know, he's

36:31

laying out his defense right there. Right.

36:33

Steven was there. He

36:36

participated in some of it,

36:38

but he did so against his will

36:41

because he thought if he didn't,

36:43

his father would kill him. Steven confessed

36:45

before the grand jury. He testified

36:47

that he and his father were

36:50

going to rob and scare Rudolph

36:52

Black and did not discuss the

36:54

plan on the way to their old farm.

36:57

Steven's testimony was made public in December,

36:59

1983, as

37:01

well as a psychiatrist report. The

37:03

report stated that James threatened

37:05

to kill Steven. If he chose to

37:07

live with his mother after the divorce,

37:10

Steven believed it was his mission

37:12

to reunite his family. And

37:15

he could only do this by spending

37:17

time with both parents. The

37:19

psychiatrist described Steven as a

37:22

courteous, clean perfectionist,

37:24

moral, emotionally over controlled

37:26

individual who had a neurotic dedication

37:29

to his

37:31

father. He also

37:33

said Steven was conned,

37:35

castigated, castrated emotionally and

37:38

coerced into this very sick relationship.

37:43

So it sounds like his dad was good

37:45

at manipulating him. Yeah. It

37:47

also sounds like this psychiatrist likes to use

37:50

a lot of words that start with the

37:52

letter C. Yeah. I noticed that. As

37:54

we detailed earlier in the episode, Steven

37:57

Testified that his father told him

37:59

to take. The guns out. While.

38:01

He removed the trucks license

38:04

plates. A. Car approach the

38:06

property. In. James told him the ha.

38:08

Stephen. Hid behind the garage where

38:11

he couldn't see his death. He.

38:13

Said he heard voices. Someone asked

38:15

who's there. Another car arrived

38:17

about three to five minutes later

38:19

and one card left a property.

38:22

Someone. Team near the grunts and

38:24

asked if any one was there.

38:26

Stephen heard gunshots about twenty seconds

38:28

later. Someone. Yelled he's got

38:31

a gun. And. Then there were

38:33

more shots. Stephen. Came out

38:35

from behind the garage and saw station

38:37

where. A man was slumped

38:39

out of the passenger door. James yelled

38:41

at him to get in the truck

38:43

and start Dr. Stephen. Testify

38:45

the James Holden to shoot the

38:47

police officer. When. They were being

38:50

fall. So. Sounds like he's definitely making

38:52

sure that they know. Is dead

38:54

at all. the shooting up until the police

38:56

officer. Deputy. Was that

38:58

did kill the killing for sure. And.

39:01

He didn't even according to him,

39:03

take a shot at the two

39:05

minutes to farmhouse. I did admit

39:07

to shooting at the. The. Deputy.

39:10

He also said that as he

39:13

and his father drove to Texas,

39:15

James talked about robbing liquor stores

39:17

and gas stations and killing Darlings

39:20

new both. Stephen. Testified

39:22

he talked his dad out of the

39:24

till. I'm getting a real. No.

39:27

Country for. Old men

39:29

vibe year. Is a guy with

39:31

the. The. Air Canister. Or

39:34

we're going into gas stations and

39:36

flipping coins and stuff like that.

39:38

Today. Can be your lucky day or that.

39:41

To. On that coin lane at right. Yeah. Don't

39:43

think desk Jacqui how he said it. Said

39:46

the some labour. On. January Six,

39:48

Nineteen Eighty Four. And alleged

39:50

suicide no written by James Sink

39:52

was found on the For Duke

39:54

a farm where he ends his

39:56

life. A Minneapolis handwriting

39:58

expert. determine the note

40:00

was authentic because the signature matched

40:03

a check written by James. The

40:05

note was published by the Austin daily

40:07

Herald. It read, I killed

40:10

Rudy Blythe, the SOB, Steve

40:13

leaving, won't listen anymore. A

40:16

guy just as well be dead. So

40:18

it sounds like he took responsibility for at least

40:20

one of the murders and was sharing

40:23

his frustration that his kid

40:25

didn't want anything to do with them anymore. Yeah.

40:28

That's what it sounds like. Now he

40:30

doesn't mention Dean Stoulin

40:32

though at all. Darlene's

40:34

partner, Louis Tevier,

40:37

found the note in a fuse box

40:39

on the property. One local

40:41

sheriff believed the note was planted. On

40:44

March 14th, 1984, a judge ruled that Stevens psychiatric

40:49

report was not admissible at

40:51

trial. Prosecutors wanted

40:53

the report suppressed because

40:55

the conclusions were based on

40:58

full acceptance of Stephen's story

41:00

and the psychiatrist relied on statements

41:02

from Stephen, his mom, her boyfriend,

41:05

and his grandparents. And

41:08

that's not unusual. The

41:11

prosecution always wants something

41:13

suppressed that doesn't support

41:15

their argument or

41:17

their theory. And the defense

41:19

is the same way. Yeah. Prosecutors

41:21

also filed documents with witness

41:24

statements claiming that Stephen talked

41:26

about blowing someone's head off

41:28

according to the Star Tribune.

41:31

Well, it's not good to tell somebody you want to

41:33

blow somebody's head off. And then after

41:36

that, someone's been shot in the

41:38

throat and somebody else has been shot in

41:40

the back and then shot four more times.

41:43

Doesn't look good. No. And the

41:45

prosecution is playing that up, right?

41:47

You know, here's a guy who

41:49

was obsessed with guns. He talked

41:52

about blowing someone's head off.

41:54

He was at the scene of

41:56

this double murder. So he

41:59

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42:01

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offer. to

43:35

bomb them. Okay. If

43:37

true, that's a little more damning than

43:39

the other statement because it's

43:42

specific to two

43:44

businessmen. Now it doesn't say bankers,

43:47

but you can kind of draw the parallel

43:49

there. At the

43:51

time, Debra had taken in a

43:53

girl who ran away from home. The

43:55

girl's mother called the police and tried

43:58

to make trouble for her. Steven

44:00

made two bombs that he planned to

44:02

drop in the woman's gas tank to

44:04

get revenge. So he's got a, uh,

44:07

bad side to him. Yeah. Would you

44:09

say maybe he's got a little, little frog demon?

44:12

Oh yeah, there he does.

44:14

Somewhere, but he had

44:16

no real criminal history. So

44:19

is this a guy who, you know, liked

44:22

the guns was full

44:24

of bravado and liked to talk,

44:26

or was he really planning on doing

44:29

these things? And that's a question

44:32

that, you know, a jury would

44:34

have to answer because he

44:37

didn't bomb this woman's car. We

44:39

know he never blew anyone's

44:41

head off and he didn't bomb the

44:44

two men in Minnesota.

44:47

I mean, Steven has definitely made

44:50

statements if you believe his girlfriend

44:52

and others, and others, he's

44:54

not happy with what happened up

44:57

there in Minnesota. It's impacted his

44:59

life. Yeah. But who

45:01

would be happy, right? About, you

45:04

know, your family losing their

45:06

farm. But to me, you

45:08

know, the jury's going to have it tough.

45:11

They're going to have a tough decision to make

45:14

because, you know, how do

45:16

you view these statements that

45:19

are going to come into the record? Right.

45:22

He made some bombs. He

45:24

said something about blowing a woman's car

45:26

up. He talked about bombing

45:28

these two guys. He talked about blowing

45:30

someone's head off. But as far as

45:33

we know, he never did any of that. Yeah.

45:35

It sounds like he talks about getting revenge, but

45:38

they have no proof that he ever falls through. Right.

45:41

So how is the jury

45:43

going to view his role in the shooting of

45:45

these two people? And I think it's going to be,

45:47

you know, a real tough one for them. Steven's

45:52

trial started on April 10th, 1984. Prosecutors

45:55

argued that Steven was the only one who was in the

45:57

trial. the

46:00

shooter, not his father. Steven

46:02

was described as an excellent marksman.

46:05

James Jenkins had poor eyesight

46:08

because of diabetes and

46:10

was unfamiliar with Stevens M1.

46:13

Thulin was shot from approximately

46:15

90 feet away and

46:17

Blythe was shot from a hundred

46:19

feet away. According to prosecutors,

46:22

James could not have fired

46:24

the shots with his poor

46:26

eyesight. Well, James got him

46:29

the M1. James had

46:31

the veteran from the Vietnam

46:33

war show Steven how

46:35

to use it. So could you make

46:37

the assumption that James was there

46:39

and made himself familiar with the gun too? Well,

46:42

I don't know how familiar you have

46:44

to be with the M1 to

46:47

be able to shoot it. I

46:50

don't think it's a very complicated gun

46:52

to operate. Especially if you've shot other

46:54

guns in the past. Yes. Now,

46:57

90 feet away,

46:59

a hundred feet away with the

47:02

rifle. It doesn't seem all

47:04

that far to me. Now, I

47:07

don't know what they mean by poor eyesight.

47:10

Is it distance? Is it close

47:12

up? Is it both? I

47:15

don't know. Was he wearing glasses?

47:18

Deputy Attorney General Tom Fable

47:20

called Stevens story implausible and

47:22

said Steven was as close

47:24

as a man in a gun could

47:27

be. Okay. You could

47:29

take that a couple of different ways. Yeah. I'm

47:31

thinking full metal jacket in

47:33

the beginning when they get their rifles.

47:36

This is my gun. They have to name

47:38

them. You know, that's as, as

47:41

close as you can be, I guess to

47:43

a rifle. According to the

47:45

San Angelo standard times, Fable

47:47

said Steven and his father drove

47:50

to the farm with the express

47:52

intention to commit a violent crime.

47:55

Steven Jenkins himself said,

47:57

and I don't know that that is.

48:00

true. I actually think that is true.

48:02

The question is who actually

48:04

fired the shot. And Stephen

48:07

Sane wasn't me. Stephen's

48:09

defense admitted he was at the crime

48:11

scene, but argued he was just obeying

48:14

his father. Stephen hid behind

48:16

the garage during the shootings and

48:18

later talked his father out of

48:20

committing more murder. So, you know,

48:23

very easy, not

48:25

all that complicated, right? The

48:27

prosecution's argument and the defense's

48:30

argument. According to the Fort

48:32

Worth Star Telegram, forensic pathologist

48:34

Brad Randall testified that the bullet

48:37

holes in the bodies did not

48:39

show powder burns, which meant

48:41

the shots were fired from more than two

48:43

feet away. Okay. I

48:45

think they were to establish that. Yeah,

48:49

they said 90, 100 feet.

48:51

But I guess what he is saying is

48:54

these were not close up shots

48:56

because the powder burns would have

48:59

proved that an agent from

49:01

the state bureau of criminal apprehension

49:03

testified that seven shell casings were

49:06

recovered from the farm. Three

49:08

casings were found 86 feet

49:11

from Thulin's body and

49:13

four casings were found 98 feet from Rudolph

49:16

Blythe's body. So from

49:19

that I'm getting that's where they got the 90,

49:21

100 feet estimation where

49:25

the shell casings landed when

49:27

they ejected from the rifle versus

49:30

where the victims

49:32

were shot. James Lansing,

49:34

head of the firearms division

49:36

of the bureau of criminal

49:38

apprehension, testified that the bullet

49:40

fragment retrieved from Blythe's body

49:43

came from Stephen's M1 rifle. Additionally,

49:46

a shell casing from a

49:48

test firing matched shell casings found

49:50

on the farm. So, you

49:52

know, I think that pretty conclusively

49:55

says that Blythe

49:57

was killed with the M1 rifle. It

50:01

was Steven's rifle. It doesn't

50:03

conclusively answer the question of who

50:05

actually fired the rifle. That's true

50:08

Susan Blythe testified that her husband didn't

50:10

see anyone when he checked out the

50:13

property and walked behind the garage

50:15

The jury heard that just three

50:18

days before the murders Steven asked

50:20

a man named Richard Hartson what kind

50:22

of glass Bank shoes

50:24

and teller windows. He

50:26

also asked what type of ammo

50:28

would penetrate bulletproof glass almost

50:31

making it sound like they planned on going into the bank

50:34

and shooting up the bank or This

50:37

would be later on when they were on

50:39

the run where they were going to

50:41

rob back But I don't know

50:44

on April 20th Witness Ted

50:46

Beard who met James and Steven when

50:48

they lived in Texas Testified

50:50

that James could not see through the

50:52

scope on the deer rifle James

50:54

needed a flashlight to see anything at

50:56

night and Walked as if he

50:58

was using his feet to feel where he

51:00

was going this supported the

51:02

prosecution's argument that James had poor

51:05

eyesight And was

51:07

unfamiliar with more complex

51:09

guns. This is talking about

51:11

nighttime This is during the day

51:13

when these shootings happened. That's a big difference. It is

51:15

I don't know, you know

51:18

why that that really came into play

51:20

and I also Don't

51:23

know that this gun had a scope

51:25

on now this part about you

51:27

know him walking as if

51:29

he was using his feet To feel where he

51:31

was going. I mean, they're making

51:34

him sound like mr. Magoo. Yeah,

51:36

he can't see Anything

51:38

in front of him. How is he

51:40

driving the truck at one point? Yeah,

51:42

it makes you wonder now Let

51:44

me ask you this if someone has

51:47

this m1 and they just pointed

51:49

in the direction of where they think The

51:52

target is meaning they see the target

51:54

and they just point the barrel at that target

51:56

and pull the trigger It's possible.

51:59

They're gonna hit that target. Yeah,

52:01

possible. But to me,

52:03

not probable from 90, a

52:06

hundred feet away, you know, to

52:08

hit, you know, fooling in the

52:10

throat and, and Blythe in

52:13

the back. I'm

52:15

thinking you're going to need to be looking

52:17

through the sights to, to

52:20

make that happen. And ophthalmologists

52:22

testified that James suffered from

52:24

tunnel vision and night blindness,

52:26

which is a degenerative eye

52:29

disease. He examined James back

52:31

in 1981. The

52:33

doctor testified that his eyesight would have been

52:35

as bad or worse by 1983.

52:38

And I would say that's

52:40

a given. Eyesight normally does not get better.

52:43

That's true. As you and I both

52:45

have experienced in his opinion,

52:47

James could have shot a running man

52:49

from a hundred feet away. If

52:52

he had experience with firearm, the

52:54

doctor estimated that James could have seen up

52:56

to 450 feet away with

52:59

his glasses on. So again,

53:01

I go back to the glasses. If

53:04

you don't see that

53:06

well, as a lot of people

53:09

have trouble with their vision, well, normally

53:12

you get glasses. Yeah. Well, obviously

53:14

this guy had glasses. So

53:17

doesn't that make a difference when

53:19

you're talking about whether

53:21

or not he could have looked through the

53:24

sights, whether or

53:26

not he could have seen these

53:28

people at 90, a hundred feet away.

53:30

To me, glasses on versus

53:32

glasses off. It

53:35

does make a difference. Yeah. Now we don't

53:37

know if he was wearing them or

53:39

not. No, we don't. But I think the

53:41

defense likes this testimony. Oh, absolutely.

53:44

However, he testified that it is

53:46

difficult for a person with glasses

53:48

to see along the barrel of

53:51

an M1 without a scope. The

53:53

M1 used in the shootings did

53:55

not have a scope. But

53:58

my thought is it had. sites.

54:00

It had iron sites, I would

54:02

assume. Couldn't you make the case that

54:05

any rifle could be kind of difficult if

54:07

you're wearing glasses, because you can't get

54:09

your face positioned the way you

54:11

really want to, depending on the frames

54:13

you have on? Maybe. Yeah. It

54:15

depends on your vision, right?

54:18

And what kind of glasses you have, I guess. An

54:21

agent from the Bureau of Criminal

54:23

Apprehension testified about his interview with

54:25

Darlene after the murders. Darlene told

54:28

the agent that, James

54:30

was not interested in target shooting.

54:32

However, at trial, Darlene

54:35

testified that James used to shoot at

54:37

rats and their farm windmill

54:39

a couple times a week. Well,

54:41

if you're target shooting and hitting

54:44

moving rats, you've got some

54:47

skill. Yeah. But we're

54:49

also getting a little bit of conflicting testimony.

54:52

I don't know if she's changing her testimony.

54:56

I think she's just saying he wasn't real interested

54:58

in target shooting, but he did shoot rats

55:00

and he shot guns and he

55:02

had some experience. She testified,

55:04

I'd say he was as good as I

55:07

was, and I wasn't a bad shot. She

55:10

testified that herself, Steven and James

55:12

practice shooting together, and

55:14

sometimes did target practice with the M1.

55:17

They claimed they shot at cans from 300 feet

55:20

away. Well, now you've

55:22

got testimony that saying he was familiar

55:24

with the gun. And 300 feet away, shooting

55:28

a can is a heck

55:30

of a lot harder than shooting

55:34

the broad side of a man 90 feet

55:37

away. Right. Darlene did

55:39

not recall telling the agent that

55:41

James didn't hunt or target shoot

55:43

and said she couldn't remember making

55:45

similar statements to a grand jury.

55:48

Defense witnesses testified that they

55:50

saw James climb up icy

55:52

steps, operate a crane and

55:55

well. So I think the

55:58

defense is really trying to chip away. at

56:01

this notion put forth by the

56:03

prosecution that James was so pore

56:06

sighted. He couldn't even hardly

56:08

walk. Right. He had to use his

56:10

feet to kind of gauge where

56:13

he was going. And I thought that

56:15

was a little strange as well. In closing

56:17

arguments, defense attorney, Alan Swin Anderson

56:19

said James was the killer because

56:22

he blamed the bank for his

56:24

troubles. He noted that three

56:26

shots were fired at Thulin, but

56:29

he was hit once. Five shots

56:31

were fired at Blythe and he

56:33

was hit four times, which indicated

56:35

an erratic pattern. The shots

56:37

were likely fired by someone

56:40

who had trouble seeing. So

56:42

now the defensive attorney is

56:44

even using that or trying to

56:47

use that to his advantage. I

56:49

think what he's saying is if

56:51

my client was doing the shooting, he

56:54

wouldn't have missed that many times.

56:56

But according to you, James

56:58

has these vision problems. Maybe

57:01

he did. That's why I took him so

57:03

many shots to hit these individuals.

57:06

The jury rejected this argument. And

57:08

on April 26, 1984,

57:11

Steven Jenkins was convicted of the first

57:13

degree murder of Rudolph Blythe

57:15

and the second degree murder of Dean's

57:17

Thulin. On May 22,

57:20

Steven was sentenced to two life

57:22

terms plus 116 months, but he would

57:26

be eligible for parole after 17

57:29

and a half years. Steven also

57:31

pleaded guilty to second degree assault

57:33

for shooting at the deputy sheriff,

57:35

he was sentenced to five years

57:37

of probation. And remember, that was

57:39

the only thing he actually confessed to doing. Yeah.

57:42

According to the Albert Leah

57:44

Tribune, Alan Anderson spoke at

57:47

the hearing and said, Steven

57:49

was the victim of the most severe

57:51

child abuse I have ever witnessed in

57:53

my life. He described

57:55

James as absolutely

57:57

insane and said, Steven would.

58:00

have been a straight A college student if

58:02

he was raised normally. Prosecutor

58:05

Tom Fable didn't make any sentencing

58:07

recommendations and told the court two

58:10

lives were senselessly and needlessly snuffed

58:12

out and their primes in cold

58:14

blood and two families were destroyed.

58:17

But on the other hand, we have

58:19

a youthful defendant from a

58:21

broken family and an unhappy

58:23

childhood. So it's kind

58:25

of interesting that the prosecutor even

58:28

acknowledged that. But he's right. No,

58:30

he is right. Earlier

58:32

that month, Alan Anderson adopted

58:34

Steven. Steven would change his

58:37

last name from Jenkins to Anderson.

58:40

Anderson told the UPI, I did

58:42

it because I love him like my own son.

58:45

It's important that he get an education and

58:47

treatment so he can do something with his

58:49

life. The boy has been a

58:51

victim too long. The Minnesota Supreme

58:54

Court upheld Steven's conviction. In

58:56

December 1985, Alan

58:58

Anderson died of a heart attack on February

59:00

2nd, 1986. He

59:03

was only 49 years old. In

59:05

May of that year, the U.S.

59:08

Supreme Court upheld Steven's verdict and

59:10

sentence without comment. After

59:12

17 years of maintaining his story,

59:15

Steven confessed to the murders in

59:18

a TV documentary that aired on September

59:20

11th, 2000. The

59:23

timing was pretty convenient for him

59:25

because he was up for parole

59:28

the following year. But

59:30

Steven wasn't granted parole until 2013 when he was

59:32

48 years old. He

59:36

expressed remorse for the murders and

59:38

told the Marshall Independent, I'm

59:40

feeling very grateful for the opportunity

59:43

to possibly return to society

59:46

in a couple of years. But I can't

59:48

forget the fact that I took two people's

59:50

lives and destroyed two families.

59:53

I have a debt that can never be

59:55

repaid. But I do have a

59:57

lot of remorse for the harm I caused.

59:59

Steven said The murders felt justified

1:00:01

for the first few years because

1:00:04

he believed his father. When

1:00:06

he told him Blythe was the reason for

1:00:08

their troubles. Steven continued in

1:00:10

his interview, then I didn't want

1:00:12

to think about it because I felt guilty.

1:00:15

I murdered two men for the lies my

1:00:17

dad told me. I had deprived

1:00:19

four kids of their fathers and

1:00:22

other people of their brothers, sons, and

1:00:24

husbands. And I had

1:00:26

not just deeply affected the families,

1:00:28

but also colleagues and entire community.

1:00:31

I believe what he's saying. I believe he

1:00:34

helped us because he didn't have to

1:00:36

say this. No, but he

1:00:38

could have owned up to it from the beginning.

1:00:41

He could have. You know, so when

1:00:43

we talk about it being

1:00:45

convenient because he's coming up for

1:00:47

parole, you know, then you

1:00:49

have to question something. What

1:00:52

is he saying? Because he believes

1:00:55

it's better for him as it relates

1:00:57

to the parole board versus,

1:01:00

you know, did he lie

1:01:02

back then? But now he's telling the

1:01:04

truth. Right. And the jury got it

1:01:06

right. Steven's mother, Darlene, told

1:01:09

the Marshall Independent that Steven

1:01:11

took the brunt of James's

1:01:13

anger towards the bank after they

1:01:15

got behind on mortgage payments. She

1:01:17

said, Jim tried to control

1:01:19

everybody in his life. He was a

1:01:21

control free. And if he couldn't

1:01:23

control you, like he couldn't control

1:01:26

my life, then he just took it out

1:01:28

on Steve. Steve just couldn't do

1:01:30

anything right for him. So

1:01:32

it does sound, and we

1:01:34

didn't have a lot of the information, but it does

1:01:36

sound like, you know, he had

1:01:39

a very rough childhood. Yeah, sure. Sure.

1:01:42

Sound like it. I don't know

1:01:44

if we're talking physical abuse, but at

1:01:46

the very least we're talking some pretty

1:01:48

serious emotional abuse at

1:01:51

the hands of his father. It

1:01:53

was former prosecutor Tom Fable who led

1:01:56

a campaign to help Steven get parole.

1:01:58

The two developed a. friendship in 2009. Fable

1:02:02

told the Marshall Independent, the story

1:02:04

of Stephen Anderson, as far as

1:02:06

I'm concerned, is an important

1:02:08

one. It's one of redemption

1:02:11

and retribution. He's transformed

1:02:13

his life and I feel

1:02:15

good about the opportunity that Stephen is going to

1:02:17

be given because he deserves it.

1:02:20

Stephen Anderson was released from prison in May

1:02:22

2015. He will remain under supervision

1:02:26

for the rest of his life. So

1:02:29

as we wrap this one up, Gibbs, I

1:02:32

didn't want to give it away too early

1:02:34

that Stephen ultimately

1:02:37

admitted to the murder.

1:02:39

I still maintain that the jury had

1:02:42

a pretty tough job based on the

1:02:45

evidence that was presented. I think

1:02:48

both sides had a pretty

1:02:50

compelling argument. So

1:02:53

much was made of his dad's

1:02:55

eyesight, really was, about

1:02:57

whether or not he could have

1:03:00

made these shots and all

1:03:02

of that. Was Stephen

1:03:04

telling the truth back then or did

1:03:07

he switch and start telling the truth

1:03:09

when he admitted to the murders? It's

1:03:11

a little bit tough to tell

1:03:14

because I'm sure he could have thought

1:03:16

that there was some benefit to

1:03:18

him by admitting to the

1:03:21

murders for which he was convicted that it

1:03:24

would play better in the eyes of the

1:03:27

parable. But it could also be

1:03:29

that he was the murderer from the

1:03:31

very beginning. Yeah, maybe his defense attorney

1:03:33

said, hey listen kid, you're

1:03:35

probably gonna be found guilty but

1:03:37

I think the best way to play this is

1:03:40

let's go this route so that when

1:03:43

it comes time to get your sentence

1:03:46

it won't be as bad as it could

1:03:48

be if you just come out and say, hey raise

1:03:51

my hand I did it. Right, because there

1:03:53

were some mitigating factors and

1:03:56

again the prosecutor even acknowledged

1:03:58

them, the troubled child. hood,

1:04:00

the influence that, you know, his dad

1:04:03

had on him so that, you

1:04:05

know, even if he was the shooter as

1:04:08

the prosecution alleged and the jury

1:04:10

believed, even the prosecutor

1:04:12

felt a little bit bad for

1:04:15

him in some way. Yeah. And

1:04:18

acknowledged that. And then years later led

1:04:20

the campaign to help get

1:04:22

this guy out. It tells you something. It

1:04:25

does. It really does. And

1:04:27

then the other thought I had was whether

1:04:29

or not he was the shooter,

1:04:32

he was going to be

1:04:35

convicted of something related

1:04:37

to murder. He was there. He

1:04:40

was a part of it. I just think

1:04:42

it's an interesting case when you don't

1:04:45

really know for sure who

1:04:47

fired the shots that killed

1:04:49

these two individuals. He

1:04:51

kind of comes down to whether

1:04:54

you believe Steven early on or

1:04:56

you believe that he lied

1:05:00

early on and then started to

1:05:02

tell the truth later on,

1:05:04

like during that documentary. Right.

1:05:07

And then there's the argument, would he

1:05:09

have done this on his own or

1:05:12

was he being so controlled or

1:05:14

had he been so kind

1:05:16

of indoctrinated by

1:05:19

his father that the

1:05:21

bank was bad? The bank was the

1:05:23

reason for all of our troubles.

1:05:25

It's the reason why your mom and I

1:05:27

aren't together. It's the reason why we lost

1:05:29

the farm. You know, you

1:05:31

plant that in somebody's mind for

1:05:34

long enough. And does

1:05:36

that become kind of

1:05:38

the catalyst? No, I think his dad

1:05:41

did influence him. I think he

1:05:43

was scared. And he used

1:05:45

the word influence. Some people could even

1:05:47

use the term brainwash. But

1:05:51

again, there are some unknowns in this case.

1:05:54

And to me, that makes it even

1:05:56

that much more interesting.

1:06:00

You know, one of the questions I have is

1:06:03

why did dad end his life? If

1:06:05

the note was real, then he took

1:06:08

credit for killing at least Blythe. He

1:06:11

said, Steven is leaving me.

1:06:14

I got nothing to live for. You know, I

1:06:16

don't remember exactly what the note said, but, and

1:06:18

if he didn't write it, then who

1:06:20

did? And why does his signature match?

1:06:23

Yeah. So did Steven lie

1:06:26

about that? About, you

1:06:28

know, when you, before the parole, did

1:06:30

he not really kill Blythe? You

1:06:32

know, or I mean, you can chase

1:06:34

another rabbit hole, right? I mean, did

1:06:36

his dad take his life or did Steven

1:06:39

end it? Yeah. Yeah. I mean,

1:06:41

there, there's a lot of different things that

1:06:43

you can look at. You can debate. Again,

1:06:46

all we have is, you know,

1:06:48

what came out of trial, what

1:06:51

Steven has said, because obviously his dad wasn't

1:06:53

around to say anything, but that's

1:06:56

it for our episode on Steven Todd Jenkins.

1:06:58

We've got some voicemails. You want to check

1:07:00

those out? Let's hear them. Hey,

1:07:03

Mike. Hi, Gibby. My name is

1:07:05

Joseph. I am from Anderson, South Carolina.

1:07:07

Uh, I've been listening to your podcast for a while. I want

1:07:10

to say about a year now, a year and a half,

1:07:12

uh, I found you guys, uh,

1:07:14

when the Dahmer Netflix miniseries,

1:07:17

uh, came out about two

1:07:19

years ago or so. Um, been

1:07:22

a listener and a supporter since then.

1:07:24

Um, I am

1:07:26

homeless. Uh, I'm

1:07:29

not on any substances. Never

1:07:31

done any drugs, never drawn a

1:07:34

much call straight edge. Sorry

1:07:36

for the noise in the background, uh, children

1:07:38

running around. But anyway, I was listening to,

1:07:40

uh, the latest two

1:07:42

episodes, uh,

1:07:45

the release of Rudd and the, uh,

1:07:48

episode about the two

1:07:50

oldest brothers killing their entire family.

1:07:52

I was just, I

1:07:54

dunno, that kind of put things into perspective

1:07:57

for me. I'm like I said, homeless.

1:08:00

Working at Applebee's clocking it like

1:08:02

50 hours weekly unfortunately

1:08:05

pay is biweekly so I'm Still

1:08:08

struggling just wanted to say thank you

1:08:10

guys for at least giving me a

1:08:12

little bit of normalcy I listen

1:08:15

to you guys on my daily walks to

1:08:17

and from work Along

1:08:20

with my many other true crime

1:08:22

podcasts and professional wrestling podcasts. I

1:08:24

just want to say thank you so much You

1:08:27

guys are awesome Stay

1:08:30

safe and keep your own time ticking Well,

1:08:32

thank you so much for calling in leaving

1:08:35

a voicemail You know

1:08:37

give sounds like he's going through a rough

1:08:39

time in his life. Sure. My

1:08:41

thought is that He's

1:08:43

working his ass off. It's clocking in

1:08:45

50 hours a week He's

1:08:48

gonna get over that hurdle because

1:08:50

he's working his rear end. Yeah, he'll

1:08:52

get there So we're rooting for you,

1:08:54

but I think you're on the right

1:08:56

track, you know hard work Doesn't

1:08:59

solve everything but it sure helps.

1:09:01

It certainly does and so we'll

1:09:03

be thinking about you We'll be rooting

1:09:05

for you. You've got our support. I'm

1:09:08

glad to be on those walks with you I

1:09:13

just want to let you guys know i'm a team of

1:09:16

those of y'all Um, did he I

1:09:18

have such a horrible memory. I don't remember

1:09:21

And like um, I was born in 1973.

1:09:23

So all your stuff you talk about from

1:09:25

your childhood I totally remember um, and I

1:09:28

also want to say i'm probably your biggest

1:09:30

fan been listening to you from the very

1:09:32

beginning A few years ago. I had

1:09:34

a tragedy happen and I went into a coma for

1:09:36

three and a half months I was in the hospital

1:09:38

total eight months But after I woke up and

1:09:41

saw my loved ones my very next thought

1:09:43

was how many mike and gibbies have I

1:09:45

missed? So it's good to have you all.

1:09:47

Um, love the true crime I love the

1:09:49

respect you give to the families and the

1:09:51

victims and just keep it going I wish

1:09:53

I had a suggestion, but I do not

1:09:56

at this time. Love y'all. Well,

1:09:58

just the voicemail alone It

1:10:00

is amazing and obviously

1:10:02

she didn't say what she went through but

1:10:05

to be in a coma for that long

1:10:07

It's a long time. It must have been

1:10:09

something rough to be in the hospital for

1:10:11

eight months We're just so

1:10:14

glad that it sounds like

1:10:16

you're doing great and you're

1:10:18

you're back up to Hopefully

1:10:20

full speed. Yeah hoping for the

1:10:23

best for you. Yeah, absolutely But

1:10:25

I did get you know a little bit of

1:10:27

a kick out of hey Obviously

1:10:30

glad to see everybody now how

1:10:32

many right I can give you

1:10:34

have I miss That is

1:10:36

something I guess I'm catching up to do. Yeah, we

1:10:38

had One thing in the mailbag

1:10:41

Tana Atkinson Great

1:10:43

listener great supporter send us each

1:10:46

a really cool shirt. Yeah, it's

1:10:48

really cool Almost

1:10:50

like a base shirt which I can use

1:10:52

down here in the studio because it's cold

1:10:55

Somehow the warmer it is outside the colder

1:10:57

it is down here. Sometimes you have to

1:10:59

come to the surface No,

1:11:02

I'm like a mole mole or I like

1:11:04

to burrow All right,

1:11:06

buddy. That is it for another episode

1:11:08

of true crime all the time So

1:11:10

for Mike and give me stay safe

1:11:12

and keep your own time ticking You

1:11:49

If you're listening to this podcast then

1:11:51

chances are good You are a fan

1:11:53

of the strange dark and mysterious and

1:11:56

if that's true, then you're in luck

1:11:58

because once again, mr. Ballin podcast,

1:12:00

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1:12:02

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1:12:07

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1:12:09

hear new stories about inexplicable encounters,

1:12:11

shocking disappearances, true crime cases, and

1:12:13

everything in between. Like our

1:12:15

recent episode titled White Dust. After

1:12:18

a middle-aged couple fail to answer their daughter's

1:12:20

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1:12:22

hours to her parents' house to check on

1:12:24

them, but after arriving and

1:12:26

seeing both her parents' cars in the

1:12:28

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1:12:30

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1:12:33

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