On July 5, 1995, a citizen of Wayne City, Illinois called to report a mid 1980s, green Oldsmobile had been submerged nose-deep in a local pond. Police went to investigate and discovered a bloody scene. Blood had been smeared on one of the car's tail lights and filled the floor pans. A piece of wooden furring was holding the accelerator pedal and bloody hand prints were found inside the trunk along with .32 caliber shell casings. Meanwhile, 38-year-old Sue and her 13-year-old daughter Melinda Marshel had been missing, with their family highly worried as they had not shown up to the family's annual July 4th celebration. While Sue had pending Cocaine possession charges and was working with the police to catch a drug dealer, her family did not believe this was the cause for her disappearance.

Sue had five ex-husbands, and police began interviewing them when her most recent ex-husband, Niels Nielsen was swiftly identified as being a person of interest due to his lies, odd demeanor, and previous convictions. On July 6th, fishermen found a floating duffel bag containing the charred remains of Sue and Melinda in a pond just one mile from where Sue's submerged car had been located. The search for further evidence to connect Niels to their murders and concealment was on.

Sources

Case Text

The Midwest Crime Files

Oxygen (2023)

Oxygen: Homicide for the Holidays Season 5 Episode 2