The Informant (PODCAST EXCLUSIVE EPISODE)

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[2] On June 8, 1989, in Pikeville, Kentucky, a young woman stood outside on the second floor balcony of a motel room, smoking a cigarette, and staring down anxiously at the parking lot below.

[3] A few minutes later, a little Ford Tempo car pulled into the lot, and the driver got out and started walking towards the first floor of the motel.

[4] When the woman saw who the driver was, she instantly flicked her cigarette and began charging down the outside stairs two at a time to go cut the driver off.

[5] Moments later, the young woman and the driver would be inside of that little Ford Tempo car together, speeding down a dark mountain road, screaming at each other about what the heck they were going to do now.

[6] What happened that night inside of that little car after the driver had finally pulled over on that dark road would be so rare and so terrible that the FBI would actually report that it literally, in its entire history, had never seen a case like this before.

[7] 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.

[8] So, if that's of interest to you, the next time you visit the Amazon Music Follow buttons home, bring along a container of German cockroaches, and release them in the same time you visit the Amazon Music Follow buttons home, to their pantry.

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

[10] I'm Dan Tversky.

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

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

[13] What's the answer?

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

[15] Hysterical.

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

[17] Binge all episodes of hysterical early and ad -free on Wondery place.

[18] In September of 1987, 25 -year -old Susan Daniel Smith stood in the corner of the living room inside of a house she rented in a small mountain town near the Kentucky West Virginia border.

[19] People were talking loudly inside of this room, but Susan pretended not to be paying attention to what was going on around her.

[20] She lived in the small four -room house with her two young kids and her ex -husband, Kenneth.

[21] And sharing a home with her ex -husband was bad enough, but recently things had gotten a lot worse when he invited two of his friends to stay with them.

[22] They were a couple, and Susan knew they were dangerous.

[23] The man in the couple was known around town as cat eyes because he had piercing hazel blue eyes.

[24] And he was a hero to the petty criminals in the area because years ago, he had successfully robbed a bank and gotten away with over $300 ,000.

[25] And rumor had it, Cat eyes had then gone out and blown all of that money on flashy cars and cocaine.

[26] Susan wanted nothing to do with Cat Eyes, and she definitely didn't want this man and his girlfriend anywhere near her kids.

[27] But she didn't try to kick them out of the house because she knew that would make her ex -husband Kenneth angry, and when Kenneth got angry, he could get violent.

[28] So Susan stood there in the living room, staring off into space like she was in another world.

[29] But the whole time, she was really listening to Cat Eyes brag about his plan for his next big bank robbery.

[30] And as Susan listened, she decided Cat Eyes's plan was her ticket out of that small town and into a better life for her and her kids.

[31] Susan had spent years dreaming about getting out of the situation she was in.

[32] She'd been poor since she was born, and she had lived most of her life in an area of the Appalachian Mountains that was known for hosting an annual event called Hillbilly Days and for being the home of a legendary feud between two famous families, the Hatfields and the McCoys.

[33] And so Susan just felt like everything around her physically, emotionally, mentally, was trapped in the past.

[34] But she wanted a life that was new and modern, like the lives she saw people leading on TV and in movies.

[35] And she would spend hours at a time imagining what it would be like to go on an exciting adventure or to fall in love with the perfect guy and move to a big house in the suburbs with a huge yard for her kids to plan.

[36] But Susan knew finding a new life like that would cost money, and she didn't even have enough money to rent a place of her own without her ex -husband.

[37] But now, standing in the living room, Susan believed Cat Eyes's next bank robbery could change her life for good.

[38] So while Cat Eyes dazzled his girlfriend and Kenneth with his latest plan, Susan slipped out of the living room and into the kitchen.

[39] She listened to make sure Cat Eyes was still talking, and then she placed a phone call.

[40] And when a man picked up on the other line, Susan spoke in a whisper, said a few words, and then hung up.

[41] Then she walked back into the living room and interrupted cat eyes to say she was going out for a jog but would not be gone for long, and she told Kenneth to keep an eye on their kids who were playing in another room.

[42] The group in the living room barely looked up at Susan, so she walked to the front door, stepped outside, and headed down the street towards the center of town.

[43] Susan was five -foot, five inches tall, with short brown hair, and she wore cut -off jeans shorts and a sleeveless shirt to show off her tan.

[44] The weather was warm, and she loved feeling the sun on her face, and even brief moments away from the chaos of her house made her feel like she was free.

[45] But as nice as it was outside, she reminded herself that this was not a leisurely walk.

[46] And as she thought about what she was on her way to do, she started getting nervous, and she felt like she had a pit in her stomach.

[47] Then, when she got to the center of town, Susan turned off from the main road onto a nearby deserted side street, and she saw an old Dodge sedan parked there.

[48] Susan glanced back and forth and looked over her shoulder, and when she was sure nobody was watching her, she walked down the street to the Dodge, open the door, and slid into the passenger seat.

[49] Then she turned and said hello to the man sitting in the driver's seat.

[50] It was FBI agent Mark Putnam.

[51] Mark was only 28 years old, but he looked older in his dark suit and tie, and he had a confidence about him that made him seem like he'd been an FBI agent a lot longer than he actually had.

[52] Mark thanked Susan for meeting with him and then asked what information she had that could help him.

[53] Mark had met Susan a month earlier when he had started working in the Pikeville -Kentucky FBI office, which was not far from where Susan lived.

[54] Coming to the small Kentucky town had been Mark's first major assignment at the Bureau, and at the time, his wife had been shocked that Pikeville even had an FBI office.

[55] But Mark knew that region of Kentucky and West Virginia had long been a favorite spot for bank robbers, because the towns in surrounding hill country were dotted with small banks that carried significant amounts of cash, but didn't always have the same level of security that larger banks in bigger cities had.

[56] And so Mark had come to Pikeville primarily to crack down on bank robberies.

[57] And soon after his arrival, he had focused his attention on cat eyes.

[58] But to bring cat eyes down, Mark needed inside information.

[59] So he had reached out to local law enforcement to see if they could help him find a trustworthy informant, someone who would give him the information he needed to catch cat eyes in the act.

[60] And a sheriff's deputy had introduced Mark to Susan.

[61] Susan had dealt drugs in the past and she had connections to criminals in the area and most importantly to Mark, Susan knew cat eyes.

[62] But at first, the idea of becoming an FBI informant had horrified Susan and she told Mark she would never rat out people she knew to the government no matter what crime they committed.

[63] But then, Mark had explained the FBI would pay her good money if she provided them with useful information.

[64] And soon, after meeting Susan, Mark handed her $500 just to prove he was serious.

[65] And right then, Susan had realized that becoming an FBI informant was her best chance to start a new life for her and her kids.

[66] So, in the Dodge sedan, Susan shifted back and forth in the passenger seat, took a deep breath, and told Mark she was ready to start talking.

[67] And so Mark grabbed a pen and a small notebook from his pocket and listened.

[68] Then Susan told Mark that Cass Cat Eyes and his girlfriend had been staying at her house, and she said Cat Eyes had been actively talking about the next big bank robbery he was planning.

[69] She said he never mentioned the exact bank, but she was sure it was one in the area.

[70] Mark said she was probably right, and then he asked her to give as many details as possible.

[71] So Susan relayed everything she'd heard Cat Eyes say in her living room.

[72] Mark wrote everything down and thanked her for talking to him.

[73] He said the information she provided could prove to be very valuable, and he told her if she had If the information turned out to be true, the FBI would pay her $1 ,500, which by today's standards in 2023 would be worth about $4 ,000.

[74] A huge smile crossed Susan's face.

[75] That kind of money could go a long way to helping her and her kids.

[76] And she knew if she was right about this bank robbery, the FBI would probably want to keep using her as an informant so she could keep earning money by talking.

[77] Then Mark reminded Susan to just act normal when she got back home and to not talk about the bank robbery at all.

[78] Susan said she understood, then she looked around to make sure nobody was close by, and she stepped back out of the car.

[79] Once she was outside, she put her head down and walked as fast as she could back to her house.

[80] When she got home, everybody, cat eyes included, was still talking in the living room, and they barely even noticed she'd been gone.

[81] Susan let out a sigh of relief and went to check on her kids in the other room.

[82] And she told herself, she just had to play it cool for a few days and then everything would be fine.

[83] And then on September 10th, just a couple of days after Susan had met with Mark, Cateyes robbed a bank in Pikeville, Kentucky and got away with thousands of dollars.

[84] But because of Susan's information, the FBI had been prepared.

[85] And so banks throughout the area had used dye packets to stain the cash in their vaults.

[86] And so a week later, when Cat Eyes tried to exchange the dye -stained bills he'd stolen for clean bills at another bank, the bank teller immediately called the FBI on Cat -Eyes and the FBI tracked him down.

[87] The information Susan had provided Mark had led directly to Cat Eyes' arrest, and so Susan got her $1 ,500 and proved she was an informant the FBI could trust.

[88] And for the first time, Susan started to believe she really could change her life, and that her dreams of having a big house and a safe, quiet neighborhood were about to come true.

[89] In the months following Cat Eyes' arrest, Susan kept in contact with FBI agent Mark Putnam, and the FBI believed that because Susan had dealt drugs in the past, she might be able to help them with drug trafficking cases that reached as far west as Chicago.

[90] Susan was excited at the prospect of helping them with these cases, and she felt like working as an informant for the FBI was the closest thing to being a character in an action movie she could possibly imagine.

[91] But then, in early 1988, about four months after Cat Eyes got caught, Mark told Susan, the FBI needed her to testify against cat eyes in court.

[92] But the thought of appearing in court terrified Susan.

[93] She said secretly passing along information to the FBI was one thing, but testifying out in public was too much.

[94] She was afraid if she helped send Cat Eyes to prison publicly, well, his friends and family might try to take revenge on her.

[95] But Mark said if she agreed to testify, the FBI would pay her $4 ,000, which, by today's standards in 2023, would be over $10 ,000.

[96] And that was just too much money for Susan to turn down.

[97] So about a month later, she took the stand in court and testified against Cat Eyes.

[98] And it turned out that Susan was a very strong witness for the government, and her testimony really helped put him behind bars.

[99] And after the court case, Susan continued to work as an FBI informant, and she even gave them information that helped them bust Cat Eyes' uncle for another bank robbery.

[100] Susan was really excited that the FBI believed in her and that she had even more money coming in, but people around Susan were starting to catch on to her new job.

[101] Susan's ex -husband, Kenneth, knew she had testified against his friend Cat -Eyes, and now he suspected Susan was still working as a government rat.

[102] And he said he was disgusted that she would sell out people she knew to a bunch of FBI agents.

[103] And so he grew increasingly angry and violent towards her.

[104] And Susan was afraid of Kenneth, and she was scared that having testified in court had now put her in danger just like she said it would.

[105] And so by the fall of 1988, about a year after Cat Eyes was arrested, Susan was living in almost constant fear that someone was going to kill her.

[106] And to deal with that fear and paranoia and stress, she had started drinking heavily and doing cocaine.

[107] Then, on a night in May of 1989, over a year after she had testified against Cat Eyes, Susan was throwing back a few drinks at a local bar.

[108] The music was loud, Susan was laughing with her friends, and she could hear the sound of pool balls crashing against each other from the pool tables at the back of the bar.

[109] And at least for a few minutes, Susan forgot about all the problems in her life.

[110] When she was done drinking, she paid her bill, and she and her friends stumbled outside into the night air.

[111] But as she walked down the street, Susan heard someone shout her name from behind her.

[112] She stopped, lurched forward on her feet a little, and then turned around.

[113] Her balance was off and her vision was fuzzy from the alcohol, but she saw the woman who had called her name.

[114] It was Cat Eyes' girlfriend, the same one who had...

[115] had been at Susan's house for a time.

[116] And before Susan could do anything, the woman was running right at her.

[117] Cat -Eyes' girlfriend screamed, lunged at Susan, and slammed her to the ground.

[118] Then she got on top of Susan and began pounding on her with her fist.

[119] Susan tried to get the woman off of her, but she couldn't, and then she felt a sharp pain in her back from where she'd fallen on the hard concrete, and her head throbbed with every hit she took.

[120] Finally, Susan's friends who saw this happening ran over and managed to break up the fight, but Susan just stayed on the ground trying not to show how upset and scared she was.

[121] Cat Eyes' girlfriend started to walk off, but she stopped, turned around, and told Susan she would find her again soon, and next time she would kill her.

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

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

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

[125] We just launched a brand new, strange, dark, and mysterious podcast called Mr. Ballin's Medical Mysteries.

[126] 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.

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

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

[129] 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.

[130] I'm Dan Tiberski.

[131] In 2011, something strange began to happen at the high school in Leroy, New York.

[132] I was like at my locker and she came up to me and she was like stuttering super bad.

[133] I'm like, stop fucking around.

[134] She's like, I can't.

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

[136] It's like doubling and tripling and it's all these girls.

[137] With a diagnosis, the same.

[138] state tried to keep on the down low.

[139] Everybody thought I was holding something back.

[140] Well, you were holding something back.

[141] Intentionally.

[142] Yeah, well, yeah.

[143] No, it's hysteria.

[144] It's all in your head.

[145] It's not physical.

[146] Oh, my gosh, you're exaggerating.

[147] Is this the largest mass hysteria since the Witches of Salem?

[148] Or is it something else entirely?

[149] Something's wrong here.

[150] Something's not right.

[151] Leroy was the new date line and everyone was trying to solve the murder.

[152] A new limited series from Wondery and Pineapple Street Studios, hysterical.

[153] Follow hysterical on the Wondery app or wherever you get your podcasts.

[154] You can binge all episodes of hysterical early and ad -free right now by joining Wondery Plus.

[155] In the days following the fight with Cat -Eyes' girlfriend, Susan's fear and paranoia got much, much worse.

[156] Every time she left her house, she was convinced she was being followed, and at home, she got jumpy whenever the phone rang, so she didn't feel safe anywhere.

[157] And she knew she couldn't keep living like that, so she turned to the FBI for help.

[158] But agent Mark Putnam, who Susan had trusted and worked closely with, had transferred months earlier to the FBI branch in Miami, Florida.

[159] But during his time working with Susan, Mark had introduced her to another agent who he trusted, and Susan had worked with that agent as an informant as well.

[160] So Susan called that FBI agent and told him about everything that was happening in her life.

[161] The agent was concerned and he wanted to help, so he booked her a room at a motel in Pikeville, not far from the FBI offices.

[162] Susan was worried about being away from her kids for too long, but despite the ongoing huge issues she was having with her ex -husband Kenneth, he had moved into his own place and had been taking care of the kids far more often since Susan's life had started falling apart.

[163] So Susan felt like even if she went away for a little while, the kids would be looked after.

[164] And so Susan accepted the offer from the FBI agent and went to stay at the motel.

[165] A few days later, at 10 .30 p .m. on June 8, 1989, Susan was standing outside her second floor motel room smoking a cigarette.

[166] She wore gray gym shorts and a t -shirt.

[167] With the moon glowing bright in the sky, Susan stared at the outline of mountain peaks on the horizon.

[168] The view was beautiful, but it made Susan sad.

[169] Because not that long ago, she had believed she was finally going to move somewhere else new with her kids to start a better life.

[170] But now, at only 27 years old, things seemed like they just kept getting worse for her.

[171] and Susan was losing hope that she would ever escape this place.

[172] Just then, Susan heard a car pull into the parking lot down below.

[173] She leaned over the second floor railing to get a better look, and she saw the car was a forward tempo.

[174] And immediately she felt her pulse quicken because she recognized that car.

[175] Susan stepped back from the railing but kept an eye on the parking lot.

[176] Then she saw the driver step out and go into a room on the first floor.

[177] Susan stood there for a minute trying to decide what to do.

[178] But then she flicked her cigarette to the ground and rushed down the outside.

[179] side stairwell towards the front door of the room the driver had just gone into.

[180] When she got to that room, Susan started banging on the door.

[181] The door eventually opened and immediately Susan just rushed past the driver inside.

[182] And as soon as Susan was inside, the driver slammed the door in frustration behind her.

[183] Then, just a few minutes later, the door opened again, and the driver and Susan rushed through the parking lot together, and they both got into the Ford Tempo car.

[184] then the driver started the engine, hit the gas, sped away from the motel, and they turned onto a dark mountain road.

[185] On the morning of June 16, 1989, eight days after Susan and the driver of the Ford Tempo had left the motel, Detective Richard Ray of the Kentucky State Police, sat down at his desk in the state police offices in Pikeville.

[186] Ray was 54 years old, and he had recently started thinking about retirement.

[187] He was the most experienced detective working out of the Pikeville office, and he'd started to get tired of all the bureaucracy he felt like he was always running up against in the department.

[188] But Ray didn't let his thoughts of retirement keep him from doing his job.

[189] And his bosses knew that whenever there was a particularly tough case in the area, Ray was the man they wanted leading the investigation.

[190] Ray took a sip of coffee and saw a handwritten note addressed to him on his desk.

[191] He picked up the note and quickly read it over.

[192] The note was a request from his boss for Ray to look into a new missing person's case.

[193] So Ray took another sip of coffee, put his mug down, and walked across the station to talk to the officer who'd taken the missing person's call.

[194] And the officer told Ray the missing person in question was a woman named Susan Daniel Smith and that her sister had called in after not seeing or hearing from Susan for several days.

[195] Ray nodded and said he'd get right on it.

[196] He'd worked in the area long enough to know who Susan was and that she had been working as an FBI informant.

[197] And Detective Ray also knew that that meant she could be in real danger.

[198] So he headed out of the office and drove to the nearby town where Susan's sister lived.

[199] And when Ray arrived at her house, Susan's sister led him inside and they sat down at the kitchen table.

[200] Detective Ray was a man of few words, but when he did speak, he had a warm, reassuring voice.

[201] And he told Susan's sister, he was going to do everything he could to help.

[202] And she told Ray that Susan had mentioned she was going to stay at a motel in Pikeville for a few days, and that after that she might go to Chicago with some friends.

[203] When Ray heard this, his first thought was that Susan might have actually gone out of town just to help the FBI with something.

[204] But he kept that to himself, and he asked if it was possible Susan had just extended her trip for a few days.

[205] But Susan's sister said that Susan would never do something like that without calling, or at least without checking in on her kids.

[206] And Susan's sister knew that Susan's kids had not heard from their mom in over a week.

[207] Ray said it was good that she had called it in, and then a serious look came across his face, and his voice got even quite.

[208] and he asked Susan's sister if she knew of anyone who might want to hurt Susan.

[209] And without missing a beat, she said Susan's ex -husband, Kenneth, was a violent man. Detective Ray thanked Susan's sister for her time and said he would keep her informed when he learned more.

[210] Then Ray walked back through the house, stepped outside, and got into his car.

[211] Ray knew Susan's ex -husband Kenneth had dealt drugs in the area for years, and that he was a friend of Cat Eyes, the bank robber Susan had helped put away.

[212] But before Ray could track down Kenneth, he knew he had to check in with the FBI.

[213] The missing person was one of their informants, and he had to make sure his investigation was not going to interfere with something they were working on with Susan.

[214] So, later that day, when Ray got back to the station, he reached out to the FBI.

[215] The relationship between the FBI and the state police in Pikeville was not always the best.

[216] FBI agents, especially young ones, often clashed with state troopers when working cases together, and there seemed to be a level of distrust from both sides.

[217] But Detective Ray had worked closely with several FBI agents in the area and he knew they were committed to their jobs just like he was.

[218] And even if he didn't always see eye to eye with them, he knew they generally shared the same goal as him, to keep the people in the area safe.

[219] So Ray spoke to the FBI agent who had recently begun working with Susan, and when the agent heard Susan was missing, he got very concerned.

[220] He told Ray that she had been given a room at a local motel but it was his understanding that she had left town and gone to Chicago.

[221] Ray and the agent talked a little bit longer, and then they agreed to keep in touch and let the other one know if they discovered anything new.

[222] And so after touching base with the FBI, Ray contacted Susan's friends and family to see if any of them had information that could help him.

[223] And after talking to Susan's friends, it didn't take long for Ray to start hearing more about Kenneth, her ex -husband, as well as a few other people around town who apparently had a personal grudge against Susan.

[224] In the following weeks, Detective Ray thought he had at least two legitimate suspects who he believed could have something to do with Susan's disappearance, her ex -husband, Kenneth, and Cat -Eyes' girlfriend.

[225] But while trying to pursue those leads, Ray suddenly ran into a lot of the issues at his job that had started to frustrate him and make him think about retiring.

[226] Ray discovered that as far as state police leadership and the FBI were concerned, Ray had no proof that any crime had actually been committed.

[227] Susan's body had not been found, and there was no evidence that any violence had taken place at the motel where she had been staying, or at the homes of her ex -husband, her sister, or any of her friends.

[228] And so as Ray tried to argue his case for bringing in suspects for questioning, he was continually told that the missing person, Susan Daniel Smith, had a history of using and dealing drugs, and that there was a good chance that she had just left town to deal or use drugs in a place where she wasn't so well known.

[229] Ray felt like he'd run up against a bureaucratic brick wall and that his investigation was stalling before it really even got started and his job only got harder when he was quickly assigned to other cases and anything involving Susan got put on the backburner.

[230] But as he moved on to these other cases, Ray refused to put Susan's case completely aside and he made time even if it was just for a few hours a week to keep his search for Susan going because he believed that even if this young woman had made some questionable choices in her life, she still deserved to be found and protected.

[231] And so for months, Susan remained missing, and Ray continued to put pressure on his superiors to let him pursue the people he believed could be responsible for Susan's disappearance.

[232] And finally, in January of 1990, seven months after Susan was last seen, Ray was allowed to bring Susan's ex -husband Kenneth in for questioning and a polygraph, or what some people call a lie detector test.

[233] On a cool winter day, months into the investigation, Ray led Kenneth into a small interrogation room at the State Police Department in Pikeville, and they sat down across from each other at a table.

[234] Kenneth was tall and handsome with long brown hair, and he wore jeans, a t -shirt, and cowboy boots that he tapped on the floor while he talked.

[235] Since Susan's disappearance, Kenneth had been taking care of their kids on his own, and he told Ray that he was trying really hard to clean up his own.

[236] act and become a better father.

[237] He said he'd gotten a job and that he'd kicked using drugs of any kind.

[238] But despite Kenneth's claims, his hands were jittery, and he was talking so fast that Ray wondered if the man was high right there in the interrogation room.

[239] But then Detective Ray asked Kenneth if he knew where Susan was, and Ray's sense of calm seemed to immediately rub off on Kenneth, and so Kenneth he took a breath, and then clearly laid out a timeline of when he had last seen and spoken to his ex -wife.

[240] He said, Susan had stayed with him and the kids at his new place for a night back in June right before she was planning to leave town, but then she never called or showed up again.

[241] Detective Ray nodded, and then he asked Kenneth about past arguments and physical altercations he had had with Susan.

[242] And Kenneth said he knew he had been a terrible husband and a terrible father in the past, but, as Kenneth leaned across the table and looked right at Detective Ray, he said he had nothing to do with Susan going missing.

[243] And by the end of their discussion, while Ray was not willing to rule Kenneth out as a suspect, he was inclined to believe that Kenneth truly didn't know what had happened to Susan.

[244] And the polygraph that Kenneth willingly took proved to be inconclusive.

[245] So Detective Ray knew he had to keep looking for answers elsewhere, and that meant he would have to convince his superiors to give him the time and resources to go after other suspects.

[246] But not long after he met with Kenneth, Ray was preparing to make his case to his superiors that he needed more time and support when he got a call from Susan's sister.

[247] And when Ray asked her if everything was okay, she started laughing on the other line, and she said he could stop searching for Susan.

[248] Ray shook his head like he must have misunderstood her, and then he asked her what she meant.

[249] And Susan's sister told him that one of their cousins had gotten in touch to say she'd recently spoken to Susan on the phone, and so Susan must be okay.

[250] Ray really wanted to believe Susan was somewhere safe and sound and that she had made that phone call, but he had to follow up on it to be sure.

[251] So he took down the name and address of this cousin, thanked Susan's sister for letting him know, and then he headed out of the station with the hope that he might actually find Susan.

[252] In mid -January, seven months after Susan's disappearance, Detective Ray sped down a country road outside of Pikeville, and after driving for several miles, he turned on to a dirt road, and then a few minutes later, he arrived at a small trailer home.

[253] Ray parked his car and stepped out into the cool winter air, then he walked through the overgrown grass towards the front of the trailer, and he saw the door was open.

[254] But before he could say anything, he heard a woman shout from inside, and he heard footsteps cutting across the trailer.

[255] And then the woman appeared in the doorway with the barrel of a shotgun pointed right at Ray.

[256] Ray put his hands up, introduced himself, and reassured the woman he was only there to help find her cousin Susan.

[257] The woman looked Ray over and then lowered the gun.

[258] Susan's cousin was 52 years old, but she looked way older than that to Ray.

[259] And even though she'd put her weapon down, she still stared at him like she didn't trust him.

[260] So in his very calm voice, Ray asked her about the phone conversation she'd had with Susan.

[261] But Susan's cousin suddenly had a strange look come over her face, like she was trying to remember something from a long, long time ago.

[262] And so Ray asked her if everything was okay.

[263] And she looked right at him and said she wasn't convinced anymore that the woman who had called her actually was Susan.

[264] She said she might have been on some prescription pills at the time that made her a little loopy and confused.

[265] And so maybe that's why she thought it was Susan when really it wasn't.

[266] And then she leaned in close to Ray and said that she thought someone might have been playing a prank on her.

[267] Ray smiled and thanked her for the help, then he turned and walked back to his car.

[268] The truth was, he had no idea what to make of this.

[269] He could easily believe this woman had mistaken another caller for her missing cousin, and he was sorry to admit it, but he also believed there were people in town who were cruel enough to play a prank like that on a lonely woman like her.

[270] So by the time Ray got back to the station, he was feeling desperate.

[271] It had taken months for him to get the okay to question Susan's ex -husband, and now his hope that Susan had contacted a family member had disappeared in one quick conversation with the cousin, and Ray knew he didn't have the support to just keep pursuing this case for as long as he wanted.

[272] But he was not willing to give up yet, and he still believed he could find Susan.

[273] So he went back to the one group he thought might be able to help him, the FBI.

[274] And finally, after months of his investigation, Ray had a face -to -face meeting, with an FBI agent that would help shed new light on the case.

[275] And soon after that meeting, Detective Ray and members of the FBI would have a clear picture of what happened that night at the motel and they would find Susan.

[276] Based on the information from Ray's face -to -face meeting with the FBI agent and interviews conducted throughout the investigation, here is a reconstruction of what authorities believe happened on the night Susan disappeared.

[277] June 8, 1989.

[278] On June 8, 1989, at 10 .30 p .m., the Ford Tempo pulled into the motel parking lot.

[279] The driver stepped out of the car and glanced up at the second floor.

[280] The driver saw Susan standing there in gray shorts and a t -shirt, but the driver just put their head down and tried to move fast enough so Susan would not see them.

[281] Then the driver headed into a room on the first floor, closed the door behind them, and sat down on the bed.

[282] But only a few minutes later, the driver heard someone pounding on the door.

[283] They knew it had to be Susan, so they took a deep breath, got up, and opened the door.

[284] And as soon as the door opened, Susan barged in and started screaming and yelling.

[285] The driver shut the door behind her and tried to calm Susan down, but she wasn't calming down.

[286] She just kept on yelling.

[287] The driver knew the motel walls were thin, and they didn't want to draw any attention to themselves, so they grabbed Susan by the hand, led her out of the room, into the parking lot, and over to their car, the Ford Tempo.

[288] They both got inside, Susan kept yelling.

[289] and the driver just immediately fired up the engine, pulled out of the parking lot, and they made their way out onto a dark mountain road.

[290] But as they drove, Susan just continued to yell, and the driver struggled to concentrate on the narrow winding road, so they eventually found a clearing to pull into, and they parked the car.

[291] But once the car was stopped, Susan just got louder and louder, she was angry and she was saying things that didn't make any sense.

[292] And so the driver finally snapped at her and told her to be quiet, but she just kept going.

[293] The driver tried to interject and to make her listen, but Susan didn't want to hear anything they had to say.

[294] And soon, all of Susan's words started to blend together and the driver could feel a sharp pain starting behind their eyes, and they really wanted Susan to just stop talking.

[295] So finally, the driver slammed their hands down on the dashboard and then lunged across the car at Susan.

[296] The driver wrapped their hands around Susan's throat and started squeezing as hard as they could.

[297] Susan thrashed her arms and tried to break free, but the driver squeezed Susan's throat even tighter.

[298] Then Susan kicked her feet wildly and she cracked the windshield with her shoe, but the driver did not let go.

[299] They tightened their grip and watched Susan's face turn red as she spit and gasped for air.

[300] And then finally, Susan's legs and arms went limp.

[301] The driver released their grip on Susan and her body slumped over in the passenger seat.

[302] Then the driver looked down at their hands and they were shaking, and they saw there was a cut on one of them, and they looked at Susan's body and the cracked windshield, and suddenly the car felt like it was spinning.

[303] So the driver took a breath and tried to keep themselves calm.

[304] Then the driver glanced outside to make sure no cars were on the nearby road.

[305] And when they were sure they were alone in this clearing, they got out of the car, went around to the passenger side, opened the door, and pulled Susan's body out onto the ground.

[306] Then the driver stripped Susan out of her shorts and shirt and carried the clothes around to the back of the car.

[307] They popped open the trunk, tossed the clothes in.

[308] and then went back to Susan's body.

[309] The driver crouched down, picks Susan up, and then threw her into the trunk as well.

[310] Then they got back into the car, pulled out onto the mountain road, and headed back towards the motel.

[311] At the motel, the driver showered, bandaged their cut hand, and stayed awake all night.

[312] Then, on the following morning, they drove to a meeting with Susan's body still in the trunk of their car, and later that night, they got rid of Susan's clothes in a trash can, and then they drove the Ford Tempo down a series of mountain roads that led past an old coal mine to a dense wooded ravine.

[313] There, the driver parked the car, went around to the trunk, pulled out Susan's body, and laid it down in the ravine beneath a pile of weeds and underbrush.

[314] Then the driver left the ravine, got back inside of their Ford Tempo, and headed back to the motel.

[315] And the following week, they flew to Miami and headed home to see their wife and kids before going into work at the offices of the FBI.

[316] FBI agent Mark Putnam, the man who had first recruited Susan as an informant, had strangled Susan to death and left her body in the middle of nowhere.

[317] It turned out Mark and Susan had been having a secret affair while she was working for him as an informant.

[318] But when Mark had left for Miami, Susan felt completely used and discarded, and when she tried to call Mark, he had pushed her away.

[319] But then, in June of 1989, Mark had to return to Pikeville, to help wrap up a case he'd worked on while he was there.

[320] And it turned out, the other FBI agent Susan had worked with knew about her and Mark's relationship.

[321] And so when Susan had reached out to that agent for help after Cat -Eyes' girlfriend attacked her, she told the agent she was pregnant with Mark's child.

[322] And the agent believed Susan had the right to confront Mark about the baby, so he told her that Mark was coming back to town and he booked her a room at the motel where Mark would be staying.

[323] So then, on the night of June 8th, wearing Grey Jim Short, shorts and a t -shirt that belonged to Mark, Susan had waited for him to pull into the parking lot and go to his room.

[324] And when Mark went into his room, Susan followed him inside.

[325] And she said she was going to tell Mark's wife and his superiors at the FBI that he had slept with one of his informants and gotten her pregnant.

[326] And that's when Mark had pulled her out of the room and taken her to the car.

[327] And after they had parked in that clearing and continued to argue, Mark finally grabbed Susan and strangled her to death.

[328] It would turn out, Detective Ray had actually suspected Mark from the beginning.

[329] But investigating an FBI agent for possible homicide was extremely difficult and complicated.

[330] But when Ray had finally gotten the FBI to set up an interview, Mark denied he had had an affair with Susan and said she had made the story up about her being pregnant, and he said he had nothing to do with her disappearance.

[331] Susan's claim that she was pregnant with Mark's child would never be confirmed.

[332] But that interview with Mark still led authorities to a piece of incriminating evidence.

[333] Mark had rented the Ford Tempo through the FBI when he went back to Pikeville.

[334] But he had returned the tempo early and rented another car.

[335] And the rental car company had noted that the tempo had a badly cracked windshield.

[336] And when Mark was confronted about the cracked windshield by investigators, he struggled to come up with a viable excuse for it.

[337] And after that, Mark panicked and his version of events quickly started to fall apart.

[338] And he eventually admitted to having an affair with Susan and then he confessed to killing her.

[339] It was the first time in history that an FBI agent would be convicted of murder.

[340] But Mark still had one move he could make that could save him from life in prison.

[341] He said in exchange for a more lenient sentence, he would tell Detective Ray, state police, and the FBI where he had left Susan's body.

[342] Mark signed a plea deal and gave law enforcement the location of Susan's body, and on June 5, 1990, almost exactly a year after Mark had killed Susan, Susan's remains were located and retrieved, and soon after, Susan's family was able to bury her in a private funeral.

[343] As part of his deal, Mark pleaded guilty to first -degree manslaughter, and he was sentenced to 16 years in prison.

[344] But he was released from prison after serving only 10 years and three months.

[345] As of 2023, he was living in Georgia and working as a personal trainer.

[346] Thank you for listening to the Mr. Ballin podcast.

[347] If you enjoyed today's story, be sure to check out our YouTube channel, just called Mr. Ballen, where we have hundreds more stories just like this one, many of which are only on YouTube.

[348] So that's going to do it.

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[355] She struck him with her motor vehicle.

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

[357] In January 2022, local woman Karen Reid was implicated in the mysterious death of her boyfriend, Boston police officer John O 'Keefe.

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

[359] What happens next?

[360] Depends on who you ask.

[361] Was it a crime of passion?

[362] If you believe the prosecution, it's because the evidence was.

[363] compelling.

[364] This was clearly an intentional act.

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

[366] Or a corrupt police cover -up.

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

[368] Everyone had an opinion.

[369] And after the 10 -week trial, the jury could not come to a unanimous decision.

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

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

[372] You can listen to Karen exclusively with Wondery Plus.

[373] Join Wondry Plus in the Wondry app, Apple Podcasts, or Spotify.