The Puppet Master (PODCAST EXCLUSIVE EPISODE)

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[2] On December 13, 2001, 35 -year -old Tracy Roberts was upstairs in her house in the rural town of early Iowa, running a bath for her baby daughter.

[3] And as the water began to fill the tub, Tracy heard the front door open downstairs.

[4] Tracy assumed it had to be her husband getting home early from a trip, So she scooped the baby up and headed into the hall and over to the top of the stairs to call down to him and say hello.

[5] But when she got to the top of the stairs and looked down to the first floor, it was not her husband who had just come in the house.

[6] Instead, it was two people who she didn't recognize, and the moment she saw them, they looked up at her and began charging up the stairs after her.

[7] Within minutes, two guns would be fired and at least one person would be dead.

[8] But the mystery of what actually happened that night and why would take nearly a decade to solve.

[9] But before we get into that story, if you're a fan of the Strange, Dark, and Mysterious Delivered in Story format, then you've come to the right podcast because that's all we do, and we upload twice a week, once on Monday and once on Thursday.

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[11] Okay, let's get into today's story.

[12] I'm Dan Tversky.

[13] In 2011, something strange began to happen at a high school in upstate New York.

[14] A mystery illness, bizarre symptoms, and spreading fast.

[15] What's the answer?

[16] And what do you do if they tell you it's all in your head?

[17] Hysterical.

[18] A new podcast from Wondry and Pineapple Street Studios.

[19] Binge all episodes of Hesterical early and ad -free on Wondry Plus.

[20] On the afternoon of December 13, 2001, 35 -year -old Tracy Roberts was making tea in the kitchen of her beautiful two -story Victorian -style house in the rural town of early Iowa.

[21] Tracy's husband, Michael, had been out of town on business for a week, so Tracy had been on her own taking care of her three kids, and she felt like she'd barely had a moment to breathe.

[22] But now, her 11 -year -old son was at school, and her three -year -old son and baby daughter were both napping, so she finally had a minute to herself.

[23] The teapot whistled, so Tracy grabbed a tea bag, put it in her cup, and poured in the hot water.

[24] Then she poured in some milk, grabbed a spoon to stir it with, and sat down at the kitchen table.

[25] But before she could even take a sip, there was a knock at the door.

[26] Tracy shouted, come in, and then got up from the table.

[27] Tracy had spent most of her life in Chicago, Illinois, and moving from a huge city like Chicago to early Iowa, a town of 500 people, where no one even locked their doors, had taken her a while to get used to.

[28] But after three years of living in Early, she'd really started to love the peace and security that came with it.

[29] Tracy walked through a large living room with hardwood floors and when she arrived at her front door she saw a 20 -year -old man named Dustin Wade standing there Dustin was five foot seven inches tall and skinny and he was wearing jeans, a t -shirt and a brown leather jacket Tracy said hello and Dustin smiled Tracy was tall with blue eyes and long brown hair and from the moment she'd moved to early people in town talked about how beautiful she was Tracy asked Dustin if everything was okay and he said he'd come by the house because Tracy's husband, Michael, said he had some work for Dustin to do.

[30] Michael was an Australian businessman who had started his own computer security company when he moved to the U .S. after marrying Tracy.

[31] And a year earlier, he had hired Dustin's mom to work part -time as an office manager for him.

[32] And when Michael had met Dustin, he'd taken to the shy young man almost immediately.

[33] And so Michael had started paying Dustin to do small jobs for his company like filing and making copies.

[34] Dustin had struggled in school throughout his childhood, and even when he got older, he had trouble making friends.

[35] Doctors had diagnosed him with attention deficit disorder and said he had learning disabilities that could be the cause of his shyness.

[36] But Dustin had really started to come out of his shell when he started working for Michael and spending time with him and Tracy.

[37] Michael and Tracy had even taken Dustin paintballing with them, and it was pretty much all Dustin talked about now.

[38] back at the front door Tracy told Dustin that there must have been a mix -up because Michael was still out of town and so she told Dustin to just come back the following day to see what Michael needed him to work on Dustin thanked Tracy and then walked back outside Tracy closed the door and then went into the kitchen and sat down to drink her tea but just a few minutes later there was another knock at the front door and so Tracy figured it had to be Dustin wanting to ask her something else and so she took a deep breath a little annoyed she couldn't relax with her tea and shouted come in and then headed back to the door.

[39] But it wasn't Dustin standing there this time.

[40] It was one of Tracy's friends who'd come by to drop off some Christmas cookies she'd baked for Tracy and the kids.

[41] Tracy hugged her friend and asked if she wanted to come in for a cup of tea.

[42] Since moving to Iowa, there were only a handful of people that Tracy felt like she could really talk to, and this friend was one of those people.

[43] And right now, Tracy desperately wanted to talk to this friend about what was going on in her life.

[44] Her friend said she'd love to come in for some tea, and so the two of them walked back to the kitchen.

[45] The friend sat down, and Tracy poured her a cup, and then she sat down as well.

[46] Then Tracy told her friend that she wanted to tell her a secret, something she hadn't even really told her husband.

[47] Immediately, a concerned look came across her friend's face, but Tracy didn't seem to pay attention to that.

[48] Instead, Tracy took a sip of her tea and then looked around the kitchen cautiously like she thought someone could be listening, and then after feeling satisfied, Tracy looked at her friend and she told her that she was scared her ex -husband might try to hurt her.

[49] Her friend's eyes went wide.

[50] She knew Tracy had been married to a doctor before she was married to Michael, but she had never heard Tracy talk much about her ex -husband.

[51] Tracy took another sip of tea, then she told her friend that her ex -husband had filed with the courts to try to get sole custody of their son, Tracy's 11 -year -old.

[52] The boy was her only child.

[53] with her first husband, and she said she had tried to keep things as simple as possible during the divorce for her son's sake.

[54] But now her ex -husband was living in Virginia, and he wanted their son to leave Tracy and go live with him.

[55] As she said this, Tracy's hands began to tremble, and her spoon rattled against the side of her teacup.

[56] And then Tracy said there was no way she would ever let her son go live with his dad halfway across the country.

[57] And then, with a trembling voice, Tracy said her ex -husband was a bully, and she really worried that he might do something to try to hurt her.

[58] Tracy's friend felt so bad for Tracy, and so she got up, she walked around the table, and gave Tracy a hug.

[59] And the two women would stay in the kitchen a little longer, and they would continue to talk both about the ex -husband and just about life, but eventually Tracy's friend had to head home, and Tracy had to check on the kids.

[60] By around 6 .30 p .m. that night, Tracy had managed to push basically any thoughts about her ex -husband out of her head.

[61] And now she was focusing on the bedtime routine for her kids.

[62] And so she asked her 11 -year -old to keep his little brother company while she gave the baby a bath.

[63] The two boys ran upstairs to the 11 -year -old's room to watch a movie.

[64] Tracy turned off the lights downstairs to save on the electric bill, and then she carried the baby upstairs to the bathroom.

[65] Tracy started running the water, but before she was about to start giving the baby a bath, she heard the front door open downstairs, and then footsteps began to move around inside the entryway.

[66] Tracy figured Michael must have gotten home earlier than expected, so she lifted the baby up and she walked down the hall to the top of the stairs, but Michael wasn't in the entryway.

[67] Instead, two men in dark clothes were standing there looking up at her, and immediately Tracy screamed.

[68] Tracy heard the two men rush across the entryway towards the stairs, and she felt like she could barely breathe.

[69] The first floor of the house was pitch black, so she couldn't really see who the men were, but she knew they were there to hurt her and her kids.

[70] So Tracy clutched the baby close to her chest, and she yelled for her oldest son, then she ran down the hall towards the boy's bedroom and got there just as the 11 -year -old opened the door.

[71] The boy was confused and scared by his mother's screams, but Tracy didn't have time to explain.

[72] She could hear the footsteps of the men on the stairs.

[73] So she handed the baby to her son, told him to go back into the room, locked the door and protect his brother and sister at all costs.

[74] The boy was about to cry, but he took his baby sister in his arms.

[75] He went back into his room, slammed the door shut, and locked it, just as his mom said to do.

[76] Then Tracy turned around and began walking down the hallway in the direction of the stairs where these two men were originally running up.

[77] And as she walked down the hall, suddenly she felt a pair of nylon pantyhose wrap around her throat from behind, and one of these men yanked her towards him and started strangling her.

[78] Tracy was choking and kicking and trying to get free, but the panty hose kept getting tighter and tighter around her neck.

[79] Finally, Tracy used all of her strength to launch herself forward.

[80] She broke free from this chokehold and stumbled down the hall, and her attacker fell back and lost his footing.

[81] Then Tracy ran to her bedroom at the end of the hall near the top of the stairs, and then once she went inside, she ran to the back corner of the room next to the bed, dropped down onto her knees in front of a small gun safe she and Michael kept on the floor.

[82] In the dark, Tracy punched in the code for the safe, she opened up the door and grabbed two revolvers from inside.

[83] And just then she felt one of the intruders grab her legs and she fell flat on the floor.

[84] Tracy screamed and without thinking, she turned and pointed one of the revolvers behind her and fired off multiple shots.

[85] The gunfire flashed in the dark and smoke began to fill the room.

[86] She heard the man who was holding her legs start to groan in pain and crumple onto the floor, and she heard the other man run out of the room down the stairs and out the front door.

[87] Tracy struggled to breathe and her throat felt like it was burning, but she pulled herself to her feet and in the dark she could make out the shadow of the man she'd just shot.

[88] He looked like he was face down on the ground.

[89] But then the man groaned and started to stand up, so Tracy screamed again and fired the other revolver, and this time the attacker fell back onto the floor motionless.

[90] Tracy stood in the dark bedroom, wheezing and fighting back teeth, Then she called out for her 11 -year -old son again.

[91] Down the hall, the boy opened his bedroom door and rushed out of his room still holding the baby and with his little brother at his side.

[92] The children came into their mother's bedroom, Tracy put down the guns, she took the baby in her arms, and they all stood there in the dark for a minute next to this guy she had just shot.

[93] Then they all went downstairs, turned on the lights, and Tracy's oldest son went to the kitchen and dialed 911.

[94] Around 7 .15 p .m., a few minutes after the 911 call was placed, Deputy Daniel Brusher of the Sack County Sheriff's Office was driving in his cruiser outside of early Iowa when he got an urgent call from the dispatcher.

[95] She said there'd been a shooting in early, but the caller had been a young boy, and she couldn't get that many details.

[96] All she knew was that two men had attacked the boy's mother, and the mother had managed to shoot one of the attackers.

[97] Deputy Brasher said he was on his way and told her to make sure if the ambulance got there before him that nobody went inside until police had cleared the area, because for all he knew, there might still be a shooter inside of the house.

[98] Then Brasher flipped on his sirens, hit the gas, and sped down a country road toward Tracy's house.

[99] On his way, he called for backup from the sheriff's department, local early police, and the state police.

[100] And about 10 minutes later, he arrived outside the beautiful Victorian -style home, turned off the sirens, and parked his car on the driveway behind an old white sedan.

[101] An ambulance was parked nearby, but the EMTs had heated his warning and had not gone inside yet.

[102] Deputy Brasher took a deep breath.

[103] This type of call was not something he was used to.

[104] Break -ins and shootings just did not happen in early.

[105] So he was nervous, but he knew at least one child, the boy who had called 911, was inside the house, so he needed to act fast and get the child to safety.

[106] Brasher stepped out of his car and felt the cold winter air against his face.

[107] He steadied himself, drew his gun, and crept towards the house.

[108] He could feel his heart beating fast, but he tried to stay calm and focused.

[109] Then, as he was approaching, he saw the front door of the house open, and he tightened his grip on his weapon.

[110] But a stunned look came across his face when he saw Tracy and her three kids calmly walk out of the house.

[111] Brasher yelled at Tracy for her and the kids to get behind him as fast as they could, but Tracy said the house was safe now.

[112] Brusher was obviously reassured to hear that, but he still yelled for her to get away from the door.

[113] So Tracy did as she was told, and she walked with the kids towards the deputy, and he rushed over to meet them.

[114] He saw right away there was a red bruise across Tracy's throat, but at least at first glance, she seemed okay and the kids seemed to be unharmed.

[115] Then Tracy looked at Brusher and told him that one of the men who attacked her had run off, and the other one was dead in an upstairs bedroom because she said she had killed him.

[116] Brasher told her to stay there and then signaled for the EMTs to come over and look at Tracy's injury as well as the kids.

[117] Then Bruther walked up to the front door of the house.

[118] He still wasn't sure what was going on inside, so he kept his weapon drawn, and he moved carefully and slowly.

[119] Once he was inside, he made his way up the stairs, and when he reached the hall, he could smell gunpowder in the air.

[120] And as he got closer to Tracy's bedroom, the smell got stronger.

[121] Brasher stepped into her bedroom and flipped on the light.

[122] and on the ground he saw a man lying on his chest with his face slightly turned out.

[123] There was a wide pool of blood that surrounded the body, and it looked like it was starting to seep into the cracks of the hardwood floors.

[124] Brasher crossed the room to the body and crouched down beside it, and after feeling for a pulse and not finding one, he noticed there was a wallet in the back pocket of the dead man's jeans.

[125] So Brasher grabbed the wallet and pulled out a driver's license.

[126] He looked at the photo on the license and then held it up next to the man's face.

[127] Clearly, the license belonged to the dead man. The dead man's name was Dustin Wade, the same Dustin Wade who had been working for Tracy's husband.

[128] The scene in the bedroom totally shocked Deputy Brasher.

[129] The amount of blood on the floor and the multiple bullet wounds on the body were beyond anything he'd seen before.

[130] But he shook it off because he had worked to do.

[131] There had been two intruders in the house, and now the other one was presumably on the run somewhere in town.

[132] Brasher contacted all levels of law enforcement in the area and let them know that one of Tracy's attackers had fled the scene and was likely in the area, but he had no physical description of the suspect.

[133] Then Brasher walked out of the bedroom, headed downstairs, and stepped outside.

[134] He walked over to one of the EMTs on the scene and asked if the kids were okay, and the EMT said none of them had been injured, at which point Brasher let out a sigh of relief.

[135] Members of the medical team were still looking over the wound on Tracy's throat, but during their medical exam, she was still able to give Brasher a more detailed account of what had happened.

[136] But when Tracy said she was still having trouble breathing, the EMTs said they needed to get her to the hospital to make sure she hadn't suffered any internal damage when she was being strangled.

[137] So Bruther told Tracy, once she was feeling up to it, the police would follow up with her.

[138] Tracy thanked him, and then she and the kids got into an ambulance and headed to the hospital.

[139] At this point, members of multiple law enforcement agencies were arriving on the same.

[140] scene.

[141] And forensics and ballistics headed inside and got to work assessing the evidence in the upstairs bedroom where Dustin had been shot and killed.

[142] And while they did that, Brousher and officers from the sheriff's department walked the grounds to see if there were any clues that might lead them to the second attacker.

[143] But while they were searching, Brusher heard a car suddenly come screeching to a halt in front of the house.

[144] A short woman in her 40s stepped out at the car.

[145] It was Dustin's mother.

[146] She was shaking and she had a frantic look on her face and she began yelling, is my son here?

[147] Is Dustin here?

[148] Brasher walked over to Dustin's mother and tried to calm her down.

[149] He had hoped they'd have more time before word spread, but in a town that small, it was impossible to keep something like this secret for very long.

[150] Then Dustin's mother pointed at the old white sedan in the driveway.

[151] She said it was Dustin's car and she needed to know if he was there.

[152] Brasher nodded, but the look in his eyes gave something away because immediately Dustin's mother asked if her son was dead.

[153] And in a soft voice, Brasher said, yes.

[154] Dustin's mother started sobbing and wailing and her head fell on Brasher's shoulder, and through tears, she asked if she could go inside and hold him.

[155] Brusher felt sick.

[156] No matter what had happened in that bedroom, he couldn't imagine the pain this mother was going through right now.

[157] He put his hands on her shoulders and told her he was so sorry, but she could not go inside.

[158] Then he helped her back to her car and told her that the best thing she could do right now was just go home and he would come talk to her as soon as he could.

[159] As Brusher was speaking to Dustin's mother, one of the local early police officers who knew Dustin's mother came over to talk to her as well, and after a few minutes, they had convinced her to head back home.

[160] Watching the devastated mother drive off into the night made Brusher feel like he'd stepped into another world.

[161] How could something like this have happened?

[162] Why would a young man like Dustin attack a woman in her home while she was there with her three young kids.

[163] Brasher hoped he could find some answers in Dustin's car, so he walked over to the white sedan.

[164] The driver's side door was unlocked, and when they opened it and looked inside, Bruther saw a pink spiral notebook in the passenger seat.

[165] He reached across the car, grabbed the notebook, opened it, and started reading, and a look of complete shock came across his face.

[166] The handwriting was sloppy, but Brasher could still make out what was written on the first page.

[167] Dustin had written out a confession saying he was going to go kill Tracy, but the attack wasn't personal.

[168] Instead, Dustin had written that he was going to murder Tracy because her ex -husband had paid him to do it.

[169] If you're listening to this podcast, then chances are good.

[170] You are a fan of the Strange Dark and Mysterious.

[171] And if that's the case, then I've got some good news.

[172] We just launched a brand new Strange Dark and Mysterious podcast called Mr. Ballin's Medical Mysteries.

[173] And as the name suggests, it's a show about medical mysteries, a genre that many fans have been asking us to dive into for years, and we finally decided to take the plunge, and the show is awesome.

[174] In this free, weekly show, we explore bizarre, unheard of diseases, strange medical mishaps, unexplainable deaths, and everything in between.

[175] Each story is totally true and totally terrifying.

[176] Go follow Mr. Ballin's Medical Mysteries wherever you get your podcasts, and if you're a prime member, you can listen early and ad -free on Amazon Music.

[177] Hey, all you fans of the Strange, Dark, and Mysterious.

[178] It's me, Mr. Ballin, and today I have some big news.

[179] It's something I'm holding in my hands right now, and so obviously you can't see it.

[180] But this is something you're really going to want to see.

[181] It's the first ever official Mr. Ballin publication.

[182] It's a graphic novel, and it's called Mr. Ballin Presents, Strange, Dark, and Mysterious, the Graphic Stories.

[183] It's an anthology of both classic and brand new, terrifying stories that we've never covered on any of my other platforms, because we created them specifically for this first book.

[184] Each of these stories in the book are feature -length Mr. Ballen's stories that really needed to be told visually.

[185] And the artwork in this book is, I mean, I'm looking at it, and it's just absolutely stunning.

[186] So the book is not actually coming out until my birthday this year, October 1st, but you can pre -order it right now at book .bollen studios .com.

[187] Again, that's book .bollendtstudios .com.

[188] In the days following the attack, Brasher and other members of the investigative team returned to Tracy's house multiple times.

[189] They still had no information on the second attacker, and so they were desperate to find any new evidence that might point them in the direction of this second person.

[190] And when Tracy came home from the hospital, she tried to give police as many details as she could about what had happened, including trying to describe this second person, but it had been dark downstairs and dark in her bedroom, and everything had happened so fast that all she could say about the second attacker was that she thought he was maybe average height and had brown hair.

[191] That description wasn't much for police to go on, so Brasher asked Tracy about her relationship with her ex -husband.

[192] And as soon as the ex -husband came up, Tracy's entire demeanor changed.

[193] She told police about their ongoing ugly custody battle, and she said when they were married, he used to get violent with her and their son.

[194] And so after interviewing Tracy, Brasher felt like that pink notebook with the confession by Dustin was the piece of evidence that could break the entire case open, because there was direct reference to Tracy's ex -husband having set up the attempted murder, and, now hearing from Tracy about this custody battle, Brasher felt like that could be the ex -husband's motive for wanting to kill Tracy.

[195] But before going after Tracy's ex -husband, who lived halfway across the country, Brasher had to make sure Dustin had really written the words in the Pink Notebook.

[196] So, on December 18th, five days after the attack on Tracy, Brusher and other members of the investigative team headed to Dustin's house.

[197] They were greeted at the door and led inside by Dustin's very upset mother.

[198] The house was cold and dark.

[199] Brasher saw Dustin's father sitting in a chair motionless and staring at the floor, and Dustin's two younger sisters were sitting on the couch, and it was obvious they'd been crying.

[200] Brasher apologized for bothering the family, but he said he needed their help figuring out if a note he had found was actually in Dustin's handwriting.

[201] Dustin's mother said she could help, and so she led Brusher and the others through the first floor of the house to a door that led to the basement.

[202] Then she opened that door, flipped on the light, and they began walking down a creaking staircase.

[203] And on the walk down, Brousher was thinking he had no idea what he was about to find.

[204] He wondered if Dustin had laid out plans for the attack that they would find, or if maybe Dustin had covered his walls with photos of Tracy.

[205] But when they stepped into the basement, Brasher saw that Dustin had convinced.

[206] converted it into a bedroom that any typical 20 -year -old guy might have.

[207] Stacks of video games were on the floor in front of a TV, clothes were piled up in different spots, and there were a few books and video game magazines laying next to a computer.

[208] Dustin's mother looked around the room and stopped herself from crying in front of the officers.

[209] Then she crouched down and dug through a stack of papers and found a couple of pages that were filled with writing Dustin had done in high school, and she handed it to brush her.

[210] He thanked her and then told her some of the other officers needed to check Dustin's computer to see if they could find out anything more about this home invasion, and she said she understood.

[211] And then with just one glance at Dustin's school papers, it was obvious to brush her that the handwriting matched the handwriting in the Pink Notebook where Dustin had claimed Tracy's ex -husband had hired him to kill Tracy.

[212] So the Pink Notebook looked like it was going to lead right to the man behind the attack, Tracy's ex -husband, and police hoped that would then lead them to the second attacker who had gotten away.

[213] But because Tracy's ex -husband lived in Virginia, investigating him was going to take some work.

[214] So law enforcement in Iowa coordinated with local and state agencies in Virginia to conduct a thorough investigation into Tracy's ex -husband that included interviews and searches of his computer and phone data correspondence and financial transactions.

[215] But nothing they found showed any connection between Tracy's ex -husband and Dustin, and searches of Dustin's computer and phone records didn't reveal any connection either.

[216] So no matter how investigators looked at it, there really was no evidence other than the entry in the Pink Notebook that suggested Dustin and Tracy's ex -husband even knew each other.

[217] And by the time the initial investigation into Tracy's ex -husband concluded, Brasher had been on the case for over a month, and he felt like he'd already hit a dead end.

[218] Police still had no legitimate lead on the second attacker, and their hopes that Tracy's ex would prove to be the man who had arranged everything had kind of fallen apart.

[219] But despite all that, nobody, including Brasher, believed that Dustin had planned the home invasion and Tracy's attempted murder on his own.

[220] They just didn't think he had the intellect or the personality to do something like that.

[221] So they needed to find out who had gotten Dustin involved and set this attack in motion.

[222] And then, in late January of 2002, about a month after Dustin died, the investigators had a simple thought.

[223] What if they were focusing on the wrong husband?

[224] Instead of Tracy's ex, what if they needed to look more closely at the person she was currently married to?

[225] The Australian businessman Michael Roberts.

[226] Right after the attack on Tracy, her husband, Michael, had been considered a suspect because when something like this happens, spouses are almost always suspects.

[227] But the discovery of the Pink Notebook had quickly shifted the investigation's focus to Tracy's ex -husband, and so Michael had not been a priority in late December of 2001 or in January of 2002.

[228] But now, with the investigation into Tracy's ex -husband going nowhere, investigators started digging deeper into Michael's background, and they found a lot of red flags.

[229] It turned out that Michael and Tracy had met through an online dating site when Michael was still living in Australia.

[230] And just 18 days after they had met, Tracy had flown to Australia and they had gotten married.

[231] And soon after the wedding, Michael had moved to the United States to be with Tracy, and they had moved to early Iowa together where Michael set up his computer security business.

[232] And it was Michael's company and financial situation that really jumped out at Brasher.

[233] Because despite Michael's claims that he was this wealthy international businessman, investigators discovered that his computer security company, was actually failing and Michael was facing possible financial ruin.

[234] But it looked to police like Michael had a very morbid way out of his financial mess.

[235] If Tracy died, he would receive over a million dollars from her life insurance policy.

[236] With this new information, Brasher contacted Michael and said he wanted Michael to come down to the sheriff station and take a polygraph test, which is more commonly known as a lie detector test.

[237] Michael was not sure if he wanted to subject himself to that, But Brasher told him it would help police eliminate him as a suspect.

[238] So, on February 13, 2002, two months after the attack on Tracy, Michael arrived at the sheriff station.

[239] It was cold outside, but the second Michael stepped inside, he started sweating.

[240] Brasher met Michael, thanked him for coming, and then led him down a bright hallway into a small interrogation room where two men were waiting, a state police investigator and the polygraph examiner.

[241] The investigator got up and led Michael to a chair at a wooden table, and once Michael was seated, the polygraph examiner approached him and ran a Velcro strap across Michael's chest and then another one across his stomach.

[242] These were steps in setting up the polygraph test.

[243] And as he was getting set up, Michael continued to sweat profusely, but smiled politely at the examiner.

[244] Then the examiner wrapped a blood pressure cuff around Michael's right upper arm and connected two small metal finger plates to his index and ring fingers on his left hand.

[245] The examiner explained that all of these tools were used to monitor Michael's blood pressure, breathing, and sweat gland activity.

[246] Michael gave out a little laugh when the examiner brought up the sweat gland activity because Michael at this point was basically drenched in sweat.

[247] The examiner went to a separate table to monitor the test results on his computer, and then at this point the investigator sat down across from Michael.

[248] The investigator smiled, and then in a friendly voice, reminded Michael to just answer the questions truthfully to the best of his knowledge.

[249] They checked to make sure the polygraph machine was working, and then the investigator launched into a series of questions about the night Tracy was attacked.

[250] He asked Michael about his relationship with his wife, his relationship with the dead man Dustin, and about his work and financial situation.

[251] The investigator's voice remained calm and steady throughout the questioning, but Michael struggled with some of the questions about.

[252] about the night of the attack, like he couldn't think straight.

[253] And as the test went on, Michael began acting more and more uncomfortable, and the sweat kept pouring down his face.

[254] Finally, the investigator smiled again and thanked Michael for his help, and the examiner walked over to Michael and removed the straps, the blood pressure cuff, and the finger plates.

[255] Then they told Michael his test was over and he was free to go, and Brasher met him outside of the room and walked him back through the sheriff's station.

[256] And as they walked through the station, it was like all of the tension that had been building up during the polygraph suddenly spilled out.

[257] Michael, who now had an angry look on his face, said to Brusher that he couldn't believe the police were wasting their time on him, that he loved his wife, and they needed to find the second attacker before anything else happened.

[258] But after Michael had stormed out to his car, the polygraph examiner began going over the results of the test, and while the examiner knew that polygraph tests could not be considered 100 % accurate, there still was a very strong indication from Michael's test that he had lied multiple times when responding to questions about the night of the attack.

[259] And so for now, police considered Michael their primary suspect for being the person behind getting Dustin to try to murder Tracy.

[260] The money Michael would receive from the life insurance policy if Tracy died was a clear motive.

[261] He had a good relationship with Dustin.

[262] and he knew enough about Tracy's custody battle to try to make it look like Tracy's ex -husband was the one behind everything.

[263] Later that day, Michael got home and he was furious that the investigation had turned its sights onto him.

[264] And Tracy was just as angry.

[265] She didn't believe Michael had anything to do with the attack, and she thought the police were desperate to make up for the fact that after two months, they still had no leads on this second attacker.

[266] And so she told Michael that she was afraid the second attacker could show up at the house any time to try to kill her and finish the job Dustin had failed to do.

[267] But over the next few months, the police still had not made progress in finding the second person who'd gone into Tracy's house.

[268] And while Michael remained a suspect, they hadn't found any evidence that could prove he had hired Dustin to try to kill his wife.

[269] So as the police struggled to move the investigation forward, Tracy came up with a plan to try to force them to work harder and faster to find this second attacker.

[270] She decided to take her story to the public, in the hope that that would put added pressure on investigators.

[271] So in October of 2002, 10 months after the attack, Tracy and Michael appeared on the Montel Williams Show, a popular daytime TV talk show that aired all across the country.

[272] On the show, Tracy told her story about the night Dustin and this other person had broken into her house and how she had fought them off and managed to kill Dustin in self -defense, while her 11 -year -old boy protected his little brother and sister.

[273] And then before the interview ended, Michael spoke, and he said one of the main reasons they came on the show was because the second attacker was still out there and that attacker posed a big threat to their family and the entire community in early Iowa.

[274] And Michael urged anyone who had any information to come forward, and he pressed the authorities to keep working to find this second attacker and bring them to justice.

[275] After appearing on this show, there was a media frenzy in early Iowa.

[276] Newspapers and TV channels all wanted to talk to Tracy and their family and hear the story again for their listeners.

[277] And this is exactly what Tracy and her family had hoped for.

[278] But it didn't actually bring investigators any closer to finding the second attacker because no one came forward with any more information.

[279] And so really the constant media attention just started to tear both families at the center of this story apart, Tracy's family and Dustin's family.

[280] On Thanksgiving Day of 2002, almost a year after Dustin's death, his father walked through the cemetery where his son was buried.

[281] It was a cold and gray day, and Dustin's dad walked past bare trees and felt dead grass crunched beneath his feet.

[282] Then he passed a row of headstones and finally arrived at his son's grave.

[283] He sat down on the cold ground next to Dustin's headstone and he put one hand on it.

[284] Then he took a breath, reached into his pocket with the other hand, pulled out a revolver, pressed the barrel against his chest, and fired.

[285] Dustin's father died on his son's grave, and he left behind a note saying he had cried every day since his son's death.

[286] And not long after Dustin's father took his own life, people in town started to wonder if Tracy and Michael had pushed things too far by going on a national TV talk show and had driven Dustin's father to take his own life.

[287] And when the town of early Iowa started to turn against Tracy and Michael, Tracy and Michael started fighting all the time.

[288] And the fighting got even worse in the summer of 2003 when it became clear that investigators had all but given up on finding the second attacker and the case seemed like it was going to go cold.

[289] And so not long after that, Michael and Tracy got divorced and Tracy left early Iowa with her kids, hoping she could put everything that had happened behind her.

[290] With Tracy gone, Deputy Brasher knew the case was no longer a priority, and that even if it remained open, the case files would likely just sit in a drawer somewhere collecting dust.

[291] And for years, Brasher would be right.

[292] Fast forward to the end of 2008, seven years after Dustin's death.

[293] Detective Trent Valletta, of Iowa's Division of Criminal Investigation, was sitting at at his desk, looking at crime scene photos of Dustin Wade lying dead in Tracy's bedroom.

[294] Part of Valletta's job was to review cold cases.

[295] Cold cases are those that remain open, but likely cannot move forward without the discovery of new evidence.

[296] And the cold case involving Dustin and Tracy, which hadn't progressed in years, occupied most of Valletta's time and energy.

[297] Because when he reviewed the files, there were several things he just could not shake.

[298] He didn't understand why there was absolutely no information about the supposed puppet master behind Dustin and this other phantom second attacker, or why Michael had seemingly been dropped as a suspect without any definitive proof that he really wasn't involved.

[299] And the more Valletta studied the crime scene photos, autopsy report, interviews, and the pink spiral notebook found in Dustin's car, the more he felt like evidence had been overlooked and that the case really needed to be closely re -examined.

[300] But Valletta knew he would need to have something far more concrete than just his feelings about the case to get the resources and manpower needed to remount a full investigation.

[301] And so, in early 2009, a couple of months after Valletta had begun looking back into this case, Valletta reached out to an Iowa State Police Detective who he trusted.

[302] The guy was a former Navy SEAL, an expert marksman, and was known for catching things at crime scenes that others might miss. And when this detective dug into the case files to help Valletta, something jumped out to him right away.

[303] And what he saw would give Valletta enough new information to convince his bosses to fully reopen and reinvestigate this case.

[304] And once they did that, Valletta was able to find the so -called puppet master who had planned everything on the night that Dustin Wade showed up at Tracy Roberts' house.

[305] Based on new information discovered after Valletta and the other detective started reviewing the case, evidence found at the crime scene and interviews conducted throughout the investigation, here is a reconstruction of what police believe actually happened on the night Dustin Wade died, December 13, 2001.

[306] On the evening of December 13th, Dustin pulled his white sedan into the driveway of a home in a suburban neighborhood.

[307] He stepped out of the car, walked up to the front door, and knocked.

[308] A moment later, he heard the sound of the puppet master calling for him to come inside.

[309] And so Dustin opened the door, stepped inside, and he was immediately greeted by the puppet master who was smiling at him.

[310] Before Dustin could say anything, the puppet master asked Dustin if he wouldn't mind writing a few things down for them.

[311] Dustin said, no problem, and he followed the puppet master into the kitchen and sat down at the table.

[312] And as soon as he was seated, the puppet master handed him a pink notebook along with a pen and told him to write down everything they said.

[313] And so Dustin just did as he was told.

[314] He wrote down everything the puppet master said.

[315] And when Dustin was finished, he asked the puppet master if there was any other work they needed from him.

[316] And the puppet master said, yes, actually there was something they wanted to show him that was in the upstairs bedroom.

[317] And so the puppet master got up and told Dustin to follow them, and Dustin did just that.

[318] Once they got upstairs, the puppet master led Dustin into a bedroom, and while Dustin was standing near the door of the bedroom, the puppet master walked around the bed and crouched down out of Dustin's view for a second.

[319] And so Dustin just stood there waiting to see whatever it was the puppet master wanted to show him.

[320] Then suddenly, the puppet master stood up, turned around, and pointed two guns directly at Dustin.

[321] And before Dustin could figure out what was happening, the puppet master fired multiple shots at him.

[322] One of the bullets hit Dustin in the stomach and he began to stumble backwards, and then when he turned to run out into the hallway, the puppet master shot him again in the arm.

[323] Dustin cried out for help, but the puppet master kept on shooting and put another round into his back, which caused Dustin to fall to the ground onto his chest.

[324] At this point, Dustin was barely breathing and a huge pool of blood was forming all around his body.

[325] The puppet master, who by this point had stopped shooting, took a few steps forward and stood directly over Dustin.

[326] They aimed one of their guns at the back of his head and fired four more shots, killing Dustin.

[327] Then the puppet master put the guns down, ran out of the bedroom, flew down the stairs, and rushed to the kitchen, they picked up the pink spiral notebook they'd given Dustin to write in, and ran to the front of the house.

[328] They threw the front door open, stepped out into the cold winter air, and walked over to the driveway where Dustin's car was parked.

[329] They opened the unlocked driver's side door, reached across, and placed the pink notebook on the seat, then the puppet master calmly walked back inside, headed upstairs to the bedroom, for their children to get help.

[330] It would turn out there had never been a home invasion or an attack on Tracy Roberts by Dustin and some unknown second attacker.

[331] In truth, the puppet master was Tracy, and she had killed Dustin in cold blood, and almost everything she had told the police was a lie.

[332] Tracy had set up the entire thing.

[333] She knew Dustin would be easy to manipulate, and so on the promise of, of giving him some extra work for some money he could use to buy more video games, she had lured Dustin to her house, and then tricked him into writing a fake confession in that pink notebook, then she murdered Dustin, and then wrapped pantyhose around her own neck to give herself an injury, and then she tried to frame her ex -husband for hiring Dustin to kill her, so she could win the custody battle for her son.

[334] And it was the former Navy SEAL who had pointed out to Valletta that the crime scene photos didn't match with Tracy's story.

[335] She said she had been attacked in the dark and was wildly firing her gun behind her and then also shooting at a shadow of her attacker as he tried to get up off the floor.

[336] The former Navy SEAL said that it would have been impossible for someone even with his level of expertise in firearms to create the gunshot pattern found on Dustin's body while struggling and firing blind.

[337] And he told Valletta, he was certain that the multiple shots to the back of Dustin's head had been made with the light on and with the shooter standing directly over Dustin with a clear view of their target.

[338] And once Feletta had that information, he was able to convince his bosses to let him reinvestigate the case.

[339] And it turned out that when he tracked Tracy Roberts down, she was living under a new name in Ohio, she was using a British passport she'd obtained with forged documents, and she was presenting herself to some people as a London socialite and even using a fake British accent.

[340] Once Valletta met with Tracy, her story about the home invasion unraveled quickly.

[341] Valletta discovered discrepancies in different interviews she'd given to the police, to the newspapers, and on the Montel Williams show.

[342] And eventually, her second ex -husband, Michael, admitted that he had never fully believed Tracy's version of events, and that was probably why it seemed like he was lying during his polygraph test.

[343] and with Michael and others who had been close to Tracy now helping police, they were able to get enough evidence to finally arrest Tracy for Dustin's murder.

[344] Tracy would be convicted and sentenced to life in prison.

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[353] She struck him with her motor vehicle.

[354] She had been under the influence and she left him there.

[355] In January 2022, local woman Karen Reid was implicated in the mistake.

[356] serious death of her boyfriend, Boston police officer John O 'Keefe.

[357] It was alleged that after an innocent night out for drinks with friends, Karen and John got into a lover's quarrel en route to the next location.

[358] What happens next?

[359] Depends on who you ask.

[360] Was it a crime of passion?

[361] If you believe the prosecution, it's because the evidence was so compelling.

[362] This was clearly an intentional act.

[363] And his cause of death was blunt force trauma with hypothermia.

[364] Or a corrupt police.

[365] cover -up.

[366] If you believe the defense theory, however, this was all a cover -up to prevent one of their own from going down.

[367] Everyone had an opinion, and after the 10 -week trial, the jury could not come to a unanimous decision.

[368] To end in a mistrial, it's just a confirmation of just how complicated this case is.

[369] Law and crime presents the most in -depth analysis to date of the sensational case in Karen.

[370] You can listen to Karen exclusively with Wondery, Join Wondry Plus in the Wondry app, Apple Podcasts, or Spotify.