1:58

I'm

2:00

sure everyone's took a getting gas. Like

2:02

going to the gas station, just I guess not that

2:04

big of a deal, but I feel like in the truck every two to three

2:07

days,

2:08

just gets old after a while. Yeah. All

2:10

right, let's hop into it. Okay, our case sources

2:13

are the Montana Standard, the Kalispell

2:15

Daily, the Green Bay Press Gazette, the Billings

2:17

Gazette, Wausau Daily Herald, the

2:19

GlendiveRangerReview.com, MontanaRightNow.com,

2:23

theslowlane.com, Find a Grave,

2:25

medium.com, and ancestry.com.

2:28

All right, so this week our case takes us

2:30

to Montana, which is known for

2:32

its wide open spaces and for

2:34

being one of the least populated

2:36

states in the United States. Now

2:39

it's not a place that one would typically

2:41

associate with violent crime and

2:43

for good reason. Montana has one of

2:45

the lowest murder rates in the entire

2:48

country. According to figures

2:50

from the Murder Accountability Project, which

2:52

has tracked the total number of homicides

2:54

by state for the time period from 1965 to 2021. That's

2:59

a span of over 50 years. Montana

3:02

has had only 1,392 homicides, which

3:06

sure sounds like a lot, but over 50 years.

3:09

Just for reference, the state with the highest

3:12

number of homicides during that same time period

3:14

is California, which has had a whopping 131,113

3:16

homicides. That's 100

3:22

times as many as Montana. But

3:24

you do have to remember there is

3:26

way more people in California than there

3:29

are in Montana. I agree,

3:31

I agree. But. That's

3:33

a lot. It's still a lot. Now

3:36

you might remember from learning the state capitals

3:38

in grade school that the capital of Montana

3:41

is Helena, but the largest city in Montana

3:43

is actually Billings. And if

3:45

you're ever traveling through Montana, there's a good

3:47

chance you'll end up on Interstate 94. You

3:50

can take I-94 East through

3:52

North Dakota, Minnesota, Wisconsin,

3:55

or through Michigan, and actually all the

3:57

way to the Canadian border. So in

3:59

our store. It's November 1985 and

4:02

Fred Siegel is the custodian janitor

4:04

of the Bad Route Rest area in Eastern

4:07

Montana. He's the person who

4:09

keeps the facilities all clean and stocked

4:12

for the motorists and truckers passing through. Now

4:14

the Bad Route Rest area is off I-94 at

4:16

exit 192 in a rural area

4:19

about 200 miles northeast of Billings. It's

4:24

generally pretty quiet in that

4:26

part of Montana. The area

4:29

around the rest area is rather

4:31

flat and desolate with low dry

4:33

brush for miles and not much

4:35

else around in terms of buildings. The

4:39

mountains are way off in the distance. The

4:41

closest town is Glendive, Montana,

4:43

which is about 20 miles northeast

4:46

of the rest area.

4:47

I've looked at like some

4:49

houses in Montana and obviously I know

4:51

there's cheaper areas of Montana, But I

4:53

looked at I would assume are the nicer

4:56

places of Montana like

4:58

by lakes or on the lake it is expensive Expensive

5:02

it looks beautiful, but

5:04

it's expensive.

5:04

They make it really hard to go out there and live

5:07

in the middle of nowhere You know what? I do I

5:09

know So at

5:11

this rest area, it isn't uncommon

5:14

to find a weary traveler sleeping

5:16

in a car in addition to the bad route

5:18

rest area there's a Bad Route Creek,

5:21

a Bad Route Creek Bridge, a

5:23

Bad Route Road, and a Bad Route

5:25

School. I haven't been able to

5:27

find out exactly why that area

5:29

is called Bad Route, but it's a bit

5:32

of foreshadowing for our story

5:34

today because this is a murder podcast.

5:37

Now on Tuesday, November 19, 1985, Fred

5:41

Siegel shows up for work at the Bad

5:43

Route Rest Area at his usual time, somewhere

5:46

between 8 and 8 30 a.m. So

5:48

when Siegel arrives this morning it's nearly

5:51

empty. He does see one vehicle

5:53

parked there in the Bad Route Rest Area

5:55

parking lot. It's pickup truck. However,

5:58

Seagull doesn't notice anybody. around.

6:00

Although it's odd that there's no sign

6:02

of the driver, there's nothing especially

6:05

remarkable about the situation to Siegel,

6:07

so he doesn't take particular note of the pickup

6:10

truck. He just goes about his business of

6:12

cleaning and taking care of the rest stop as

6:14

normal. Now meanwhile, a Montana

6:16

highway maintenance supervisor named Clyde

6:19

Mitchell is making his rounds in the

6:21

area. Part of his job is

6:23

to stop at the various rest areas and

6:25

make sure they're being tended to and functioning

6:27

properly. At 8.45 a.m. Mitchell stops at

6:29

the Bad Route rest

6:32

area which is part of his route and he

6:34

plans to check on Segal while there.

6:36

Now when Mitchell pulls up into

6:39

the Bad Route rest area he sees Segal's

6:41

pickup truck parked there as it should be.

6:44

Mitchell also sees another pickup

6:46

truck in the parking lot. This is presumably

6:48

the same pickup truck that Segal saw

6:50

when he got there. Now Mitchell is

6:53

naturally observant and as a a supervisor,

6:55

it's part of his job to be observant. Right

6:58

away, he feels that something is a little

7:01

off about this other pickup truck in

7:03

the parking lot. It's parked in what he

7:05

considers to be an odd location.

7:07

It's away from the restrooms. This

7:10

is unusual for someone who's just pulling in. In

7:13

Mitchell's experience, people usually park near

7:15

the buildings also if they want to sleep,

7:17

because it's safer. Mitchell gets out of

7:20

his vehicle and walks around the pickup

7:22

truck trying to see if anyone's in there, but

7:24

he sees no signs of anybody. Again,

7:26

this is his job. And aside from Seagull,

7:28

there's no one else in sight at the rest

7:30

stop. So where is this person?

7:33

Whose truck is this? It is bitterly

7:36

cold outside in Montana at this point. With

7:38

the wind chill factor that day, it's minus 60

7:41

degrees Fahrenheit. So that's really

7:43

cold. It's certainly not a day to be out

7:45

taking a stroll or wandering

7:47

around outside. Mitchell notes

7:49

the pickup truck is a Chevy

7:52

four-wheel drive with a blue trim

7:54

and a cow catcher also called a

7:56

cattle guard in the front of the pickup

7:58

on the front bumper. Mitchell thinks

8:01

it's a Chevy Blazer and it's probably about 10

8:03

years old. The blue trim

8:05

is really a wide blue horizontal

8:08

stripe and there's a white camper

8:11

shell on the back of the pickup. Mitchell

8:13

notes that this truck has Arizona license

8:16

plate and the license plate holder is from Phoenix.

8:18

Now, the pickup has gold hubcaps,

8:21

bucket seats, and he notes that the windows

8:23

look like they're tinted. According

8:25

to the Green Bay Press Gazette, the vehicle

8:28

is described as a three quarter ton

8:30

cab. While looking around, he can see

8:32

plenty of clothes and bedding inside,

8:34

enough to make it look like someone's been living in

8:36

there. But where is the driver? Mitchell

8:39

finds Siegel in the utility room and asks

8:41

him about that lived in pickup truck that

8:44

seems to have no one in it that's parked in the parking

8:46

lot. And Siegel's like, yeah, I

8:48

noticed it too, but I don't

8:50

know anything about it. He tells Mitchell,

8:53

he hasn't seen the driver, that the pickup truck

8:55

has been there all morning since he first

8:57

got there. So now both Siegel

8:59

and Mitchell have seen this pickup truck in the parking

9:02

lot. Mitchell seems to be the one

9:04

who's more observant about it like I said, because he

9:06

does notice the Arizona plates. He figures

9:09

the pickup truck's occupant would be especially

9:11

cold on a day like today, given they're from Arizona.

9:15

So it's just really standing out to him

9:17

that the person is missing. However,

9:19

despite the whole thing being unsettling, Mitchell

9:21

needs to keep working. At around 9.15

9:23

AM, he leaves the rest area to

9:26

continue on his regular rounds. He's

9:28

heading next to Terry, Montana, which

9:30

according to Google maps is about a 19 minute

9:33

drive west on I-94. And

9:35

then after that he's planning to double back

9:37

and head east to go back home. Fred

9:40

Siegel stays at the rest area when

9:43

Mitchell leaves around 9.15. And

9:45

at around 9.30 AM, about 15 minutes

9:48

after Mitchell drives off, Siegel

9:50

is just leaving the rest area when he

9:52

sees a late model brown Plymouth

9:54

Horizon pull into the rest area. This

9:57

car is a sub-compact four

9:59

door with a hat.

9:59

Segal sees the driver,

10:02

a Caucasian man, get out of the Plymouth.

10:04

No one else is in the car and the man is carrying

10:07

two large plastic containers.

10:09

According to Segal, he was around six feet

10:11

tall, between 35 and 40 years old, and had real

10:15

light skin, no sign of anything wrong with

10:17

him.

10:17

People are way more observant than I am. Oh, 100%.

10:21

Like, if someone got out of a car with plastic

10:23

containers, I guess I would note

10:25

that, but I probably would have said, oh, I don't remember

10:27

if they were cardboard or plastic. Like

10:30

I just looked over at him and he was carrying something. And

10:32

also for Siegel, it's like he works here

10:34

and sees people here every day. Yeah,

10:37

super reservant, which is a good thing. Right,

10:39

but I'm just like, why does one stand

10:41

out? Like wouldn't they just become another face

10:43

to you? Yeah, you would think so.

10:45

I don't know. Either way, Siegel notes that the

10:47

man is clean shaven and because

10:49

it's very cold out, the man is wearing a parka.

10:52

This is when Siegel notices that the man who

10:54

pulls up in the car takes the jugs

10:57

to the lived in Chevy pickup

10:59

truck that's already parked there.

11:02

And he starts pouring gasoline from

11:04

the containers into the pickup truck's

11:07

gas tank.

11:07

Oh, okay. I think it's the into the

11:09

car. No. Like inside the car. But Siegel's like,

11:12

oh, okay. The car ran out of

11:14

gas and this is the owner

11:16

and he had to go get more gas.

11:19

Got it. So Siegel walks over and asks

11:21

the man if he needs any help. and the six

11:23

foot man says, no, no, no, he's fine.

11:25

Some reports say the man states that he'd run

11:28

out of gas, but that he was able to get some. Now

11:30

the man isn't chatty. It's a very brief

11:32

conversation. And then Seagull's finished

11:34

for the day. So he gets in his own truck and

11:36

leaves the rest stop. When he drives

11:39

out of the parking lot, the man is still

11:41

there as is the pickup truck and

11:43

the Plymouth Horizon. So the two cars and

11:45

the man. About 30 minutes later

11:47

at just a little after 10 a.m. Clyde

11:50

Mitchell, this is our worker who stopped

11:53

in and noticed the truck then left to

11:55

continue work, is back on the

11:57

road heading east towards home. when

12:00

he sees smoke coming

12:02

from the direction of the bad route rest

12:04

area. He thinks of Siegel's smoking

12:07

habit and worries that maybe Siegel has

12:09

accidentally started a fire of some sort.

12:11

So Mitchell begins hurrying over to see what's

12:13

going on. When he pulls into the parking

12:15

lot, he finds a shocking scene.

12:18

The pickup truck with the blue stripe

12:21

is gone. Siegel's truck

12:24

is gone, but now there's

12:26

a Plymouth Horizon in the parking

12:28

lot and it's completely engulfed

12:31

in flames.

12:31

So he was pouring gas inside?

12:34

Well, he was pouring gas into the truck.

12:36

The car he drove up in was the Plymouth

12:39

and now that's the one that's

12:40

on fire. Oh, that's right, okay.

12:42

So it's a very cold November

12:45

and there's lots of snow on the ground. So Mitchell tries

12:47

to douse the flames by using a shovel

12:49

to throw snow on the car, but the car

12:52

is already too far gone at this point.

12:54

It continues to burn out of control. The

12:56

tires are popping from the flames

12:58

the extreme heat and it's beyond

13:01

Mitchell's ability to put it out. So Mitchell

13:03

makes an emergency call for the fire department

13:05

and the sheriff. Mitchell can see

13:07

that no one's in the Plymouth so he checks

13:09

the bathroom but the owner of the car isn't anywhere

13:12

to be found. In fact, no one else

13:14

is around at the rest stop. Now

13:16

Sheriff Jim George of the Dawson County

13:19

Sheriff's Department gets the call of the car on

13:21

fire at the bad route rest stop and

13:23

the Sheriff's Department quickly arrives on

13:25

the scene and officers search all

13:27

all around the area of the rest stop to find

13:29

the missing driver, but they don't find

13:32

anyone. Other than the burning car,

13:34

the sheriffs don't see any sign of foul

13:36

play in the area, except for

13:39

the fact that there's no driver. They

13:41

all note that the driver's seat of the burnt up Plymouth

13:43

Horizon is pushed all the way back, indicating

13:46

what to them means that a tall driver had been

13:48

at the will, maybe someone who was at least

13:50

six feet tall. I

13:52

mean, I'm sure it's looked down

13:54

upon, but I assume it's not illegal

13:58

to light your car on fire. your own. Yeah,

14:00

your own car. That's a good question I mean,

14:02

I guess if you're putting others in danger while

14:04

doing it then yes Yeah in a public

14:07

space in a public space, but

14:09

I don't know if it's just on your land I don't

14:11

know granted his was in a public space, but I don't know I

14:13

just

14:14

Someone surely knows someone's gotta know if

14:16

it's illegal or not. Let me know.

14:17

It's a good question Yeah, so

14:19

the Plymouth has Wisconsin license

14:21

plates Wisconsin license plates

14:24

and all that remains is the ashy gray

14:27

burned-out hole of the cars carcass Law

14:29

enforcement need to figure out the mystery of what's

14:32

going on here. They need to try to construct a

14:34

timeline of when and

14:36

how this car got here and what happened

14:38

to the owner. Keep in mind, they haven't

14:40

talked to Siegel yet because Siegel knows how

14:42

this car got here. Siegel knows everything. Yeah, he's

14:44

a Siegel, he sees it all. That's

14:47

so stupid.

14:48

So first they run the plate, which apparently

14:50

Mitchell was able to get, even though the car

14:52

ended up being completely burned. So when he arrived,

14:55

he got the plate. Or perhaps they get

14:57

the VIN number, but however they do it, law enforcement

14:59

learns that the registered owner of the Plymouth Horizon

15:01

comes back to a 67 year

15:03

old Wisconsin man named Dexter

15:06

Stefonic. The police are now

15:08

simultaneously trying to get information

15:11

on this Dexter Stefonic and also trying

15:13

to find witnesses to the comings

15:15

and goings at the rest area that morning.

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17:48

Law enforcement officers talk to anyone

17:50

they can find, including employees who'd

17:52

been there. This leads them to Clyde

17:55

Mitchell and Fred Siegel, who helped

17:57

fill in the timeline. The Sheriff's

17:59

Inter... of you, Mitchell and Siegel, who provide all the information

18:02

they can about the car and about the now

18:04

missing pickup truck. Siegel is

18:06

the only person who saw the tall man

18:08

who'd been driving the Plymouth that ended

18:10

up in flames. Neither Mitchell

18:13

nor Siegel got the license plate of

18:15

the Arizona pickup truck. The

18:17

sheriffs eventually tracked down Dexter

18:19

Stefonik's family, and they find out

18:21

that Dexter had left his son's place

18:24

in Oregon on November 18, 1985, just

18:26

the day before. and

18:30

that he was making the 2000 mile drive alone back

18:33

to his home in Wisconsin. Dexter's

18:36

family hadn't heard from him that day, which is very

18:38

unusual for him. And they're extremely

18:40

concerned that something terrible had happened

18:43

to him on this drive.

18:43

That's really sad.

18:45

The family lets the police know that Dexter

18:48

definitely had no plans to abandon

18:51

or set his car on fire. And he certainly

18:53

had no plans to disappear and they don't

18:55

know what this truck, this

18:57

pickup truck that's now missing was about. They

18:59

have no idea why supposedly

19:02

Dexter would pull up in this Plymouth with

19:04

gas cans and fill this truck and then somehow

19:06

his car lights on fire and he's

19:09

now missing. So the official thinking

19:11

from the beginning is that he wandered

19:13

off and was overcome by the bitter cold.

19:16

However, despite extensive searching of

19:18

the area, his body isn't found. Another

19:21

theory is that he wanted to get rid of his car for

19:23

some reason and so he ended up getting a ride

19:25

from someone like a trucker passing by.

19:27

which it's funny all these

19:30

theories. I mean, I get they have to like think

19:32

of other things, but no way. Like

19:34

none of this happened. He didn't wander off.

19:37

He didn't all of a sudden be like, I'm gonna get rid of my car.

19:40

Like this did just not happen.

19:41

Even though an eyewitness saw

19:44

him with the gas cans, you're not thinking

19:46

he lit his own car on fire. No,

19:49

no, no, no. There's no way he lit his own car on fire.

19:51

Right, because it's also like he's 67 and was

19:53

on his way home. Yeah, he's coming

19:55

back from his sons. Yeah. He

19:57

didn't come up with this diabolical plan You're like, it's calm.

20:00

and disappear. He's not gone, girl.

20:02

So again, other than the fire,

20:05

there's no evidence of a crime here, despite

20:07

the fact that an adult is missing. Law

20:10

enforcement starts digging deeper into Dexter's

20:12

background in order to try and solve this mystery.

20:15

They learned that Dexter William Stefonic was

20:17

born on January 31st, 1918, in

20:21

Rhineland or Wisconsin to John Stefonic

20:23

of Minnesota and Ethel Schultz of Wisconsin.

20:27

His father had died in 1928 when

20:29

Dexter was only 10 years old. His mother

20:31

later remarried and she and her new husband

20:33

had a child together who was born in 1931

20:36

and it's Dexter's half-brother. Dexter

20:39

also has a step-sister in Arizona,

20:41

a brother, two step-brothers, his son

20:43

David and two grandchildren. Dexter

20:46

has lived in Rhineland or Wisconsin his

20:48

whole entire life up until this point. He

20:50

has many cousins there and also a nephew.

20:53

Now Rhinelander is in the northern part of Wisconsin,

20:56

not too far from Michigan's Upper Peninsula.

20:59

Now Dexter married Vivian Abby

21:01

on December 15th, 1940 in

21:03

Wisconsin and Vivian was born

21:06

on November 17th, 1905 which

21:08

makes her 12 years older than Dexter.

21:11

She was a resident of Wisconsin and both of her

21:13

parents were from Wisconsin as well. Dexter

21:16

and Vivian were married for 44 years before

21:19

her death on Christmas day in 1984 in

21:22

Portland, Oregon at the age of 79. Now,

21:25

presumably they were visiting their son and

21:27

his family for the holidays once she died.

21:30

Dexter continued living in the same home

21:32

in the town of Pine Lake, which is in the area

21:34

of Rhinelander after his wife

21:37

Vivian died. And by 1985, Dexter is 67 and

21:41

he's been retired for several years. He'd

21:44

been a paper mill worker at Rhinelander

21:46

Paper Company where he worked for over 30 years. He's

21:49

a churchgoer and a member of the Seventh

21:51

Day Adventist Church. After retiring,

21:54

he was taking care of his wife, who was suffering

21:56

from arthritis until her death the previous

21:59

year. Dexter's got

22:01

dark eyes and dark hair, wears eyeglasses

22:03

and is hard of hearing. The police learned

22:06

that Dexter's not a

22:08

tall man,

22:09

not at all.

22:10

In fact, he's slight, only five

22:13

foot six and 150 pounds, according

22:15

to his driver's license. And according

22:18

to his family, he's short, especially

22:20

in the legs. And when he drives, he pulls

22:22

the seat all the way forward.

22:24

So despite Siegel's

22:26

eyewitness account And the police

22:29

initially believing that Siegel had

22:31

saw Dexter and that that was the man he

22:33

had talked to, they're now thinking, wait,

22:36

was that not Dexter in his car

22:38

who drove to the rest stop?

22:41

So clearly the man carrying the containers

22:43

of gasoline was probably not Dexter

22:45

himself. So

22:47

where is Dexter? Their only lead that they

22:49

thought they had, his last known whereabouts

22:51

isn't even true. So earlier

22:54

in 1985, Dexter had been staying a

22:56

few months with his son David and David's

22:59

family in Oregon while adjusting

23:01

to life after the loss of his wife. Remember

23:03

his wife did just die. Oregon

23:06

is on the banks of the Columbia River which divides

23:08

Oregon from Washington. But in mid-November

23:11

with Christmas coming soon and the one-year

23:13

anniversary of his wife's death approaching,

23:15

Dexter had decided it was time to go

23:17

back home to Wisconsin. David

23:20

wants his dad to stay for the winter but

23:22

Dexter has made up his mind and he's he's ready to

23:24

leave. So David tells him to come back

23:26

if he changes his mind.

23:28

Again, Dexter will be setting off alone

23:30

in his brown 1984 Plymouth Horizon

23:32

for this 2000 mile drive. I

23:34

mean, that is a long

23:36

drive. But realistically, people

23:39

make these long drives all the time with

23:41

no issues. And Dexter had before.

23:44

He had made this several times before.

23:46

It's not like he's some incompetent

23:48

person. He knows the route well, he's

23:51

familiar with the roads, and he's comfortable making

23:53

the drive. It likely feels safe

23:55

to him, so he's okay going at it alone. Plus,

23:57

he's got a new car, so he wouldn't be-

23:59

worried about car trouble and 67

24:02

is not that old. I mean, it's not like you're sending

24:04

off your great, great grandpa to make this.

24:06

Like you're 96 years old.

24:07

Yes. So Dexter

24:09

leaves his son place in Oregon early

24:11

in the morning on November 18th and

24:14

he sets off for the drive to Wisconsin. He

24:16

tells his son he's not planning to stop at

24:18

any motels along the way. He plans

24:20

to make the trip quickly and he's just going to pull

24:22

into rest stops whenever he gets too tired.

24:25

The next morning, Tuesday, November 19th, is

24:28

when his car is found in flames

24:30

at the bad route rest area and he's now

24:32

missing. So he didn't even make it a day in.

24:35

Law enforcement pieces together that the last

24:37

time Dexter is seen was actually at a gas

24:40

station in Park City, Montana. The

24:42

sources don't say what time this was, but according

24:45

to Google maps, Park City, Montana is 222

24:48

miles southwest of the bad

24:50

route rest area or about three

24:52

hours and 15 minutes if

24:55

you're driving. The police

24:57

say they believe that Dexter likely arrived

24:59

at the rest stop at around 7am, so

25:02

then it seems logical to presume he must

25:04

have gotten gas in Park City sometime around 3

25:06

or 4am.

25:08

A little confused because they think he actually

25:10

made it to the rest stop? They do. Okay.

25:14

Even though he wasn't the one who

25:16

then pulled up later. So they think he

25:18

made it to the rest stop in his Plymouth at 7am,

25:21

And then another man later

25:23

that morning drove his

25:25

Plymouth back to the rest stop again. So

25:28

this may or may not be true. No one actually

25:30

ever sees Dexter at the rest stop.

25:32

Now the timing and distance are such that

25:34

Dexter couldn't have stopped much along

25:37

the way since his burning car is found

25:39

just a little over 24 hours from

25:41

when he left Oregon. And since

25:43

his car is found at the rest stop, if

25:45

he really did make it there like police

25:47

are thinking, that would mean that he

25:50

probably drove most of

25:52

that 24 hours and didn't stop since

25:54

leaving his son's place the day before.

25:56

If that's true. if that's how he got

25:59

there. So So

26:00

Dexter's disappearance is treated

26:03

as a missing person's case. The

26:05

coroner isn't involved yet and doesn't think

26:07

there's been a murder. They just think he's missing.

26:10

The sheriff brings in an arson investigator

26:12

to determine the cause of fire and the arson

26:14

expert determines that the fire was indeed

26:16

set intentionally and that

26:19

gasoline had been used. The

26:21

investigation reveals that the backseat and

26:23

trunk of the car had burned the hottest.

26:26

Furthermore, investigators also determined that

26:28

the backseat had the most gasoline

26:30

poured

26:30

on it. So, Dexter's

26:32

car was found burning November

26:34

19th and

26:36

even though originally they thought that there was

26:38

no foul play that he just willingly

26:41

up and left by December 7th

26:43

a little under a month later, law

26:46

enforcement is announcing and Green

26:48

Bay Press Gazette is reporting that

26:50

they believe foul play is suspected.

26:52

So let's just pause here

26:55

just for a moment to think about this.

26:57

What a horrible holiday season

26:59

and Christmas for Dexter's son.

27:02

His mother had just passed away a year ago

27:04

on Christmas day and now just

27:07

before Christmas the next year his

27:09

dad had disappeared driving home

27:11

from his house and police

27:14

now suspect foul play. That's horrible.

27:16

Horrible. Right. So

27:18

Christmas though, comes and

27:20

goes. And now it's turned 1986. The

27:24

case goes cold for months. Literally 67

27:27

year old Dexter just

27:29

disappears. No one hears from him

27:31

and there's no trace of him whatsoever. On

27:34

March 8, 1986, however,

27:37

almost exactly four months later,

27:39

that all changes. A

27:42

local Montana couple named Cynthia

27:44

and William Shaw are dumping garbage

27:47

at a remote landfill about 17 miles

27:49

away from the Bad Route rest area.

27:52

This is something they apparently do on

27:54

a regular basis. The The dump is down a

27:57

dirt road that isn't used or known

27:59

by many people. The dump is apparently a private

28:01

landfill owned by a farmer. Okay.

28:04

It's very isolated, out

28:06

of the way, and it's difficult to find. Now

28:09

while at the dump on March 8th, 1986, Cynthia

28:12

and William Shaw come across something unusual

28:15

on the ground. It's a wallet and

28:17

it looks like it's full. They open

28:19

it and they find that there's cash inside

28:21

along with a driver's license. They

28:24

check and see that the driver's license

28:26

belongs to missing 67 year

28:29

old Dexter Stefonic. Okay.

28:31

The Shaw's live in the area and they've

28:34

heard all about Dexter's disappearance

28:36

from the bad route rest stop. They

28:38

keep looking to see if they can find anything

28:40

else of significance there at the dump. They

28:43

search around and find things

28:45

that they say weren't there the last time they

28:47

were there and they go to the dump on a regular basis

28:49

like I said. They find men's clothing

28:52

and belongings strewn about including

28:54

a shaving kit. They keep searching

28:56

until Bill finds a boot

28:59

on the ground.

29:00

He picks it up and then realizes

29:02

in horror

29:03

that there's a foot nearby. Oh my

29:06

gosh, okay. That's when the shaws make

29:08

the horrific discovery. They find

29:10

a man's body where it had been dumped

29:12

and left, partially hidden underneath

29:14

a mattress at this landfill.

29:17

Which

29:18

it's interesting that whoever dumped the body knows

29:21

about this landfill.

29:22

And that it's so close to the rest stop where

29:24

the car was found burning. So it's obviously

29:26

somebody local. Right. It

29:29

would have

29:29

to be. Cynthia and William Shaw call the police and

29:31

this is now a crime scene. While searching

29:34

the crime scene, Dexter's suitcase is

29:36

eventually found and Dexter's clothing

29:38

is found scattered all around the dump

29:40

site. It looks to the people who find

29:43

it like it had been purposely scattered. Dexter

29:46

had been carrying cash in his suitcase as well

29:48

and the cash is still there. Wow. Reportedly,

29:51

even though Dexter disappeared four months ago,

29:53

All of these items look like they've just

29:56

been thrown around in the past few days.

29:59

So they look

29:59

They don't look like they've been sitting there

30:02

for four months Dexter's belongings

30:04

are in such good condition that they don't appear

30:06

to have been outside in the elements all of

30:08

this time Also reports indicate

30:11

that people who visit the dump site regularly

30:13

hadn't seen these items the past few

30:15

months They believe Dexter's belongings

30:18

must have just appeared there in the last week

30:20

and that makes things that's really weird

30:22

even more Yeah, that doesn't make sense at all

30:25

The Shahs say these things hadn't been scattered

30:27

around like this the previous week and nothing appears

30:29

to be missing from Dexter's wallet

30:32

or suitcase. In addition to the money

30:34

and the driver's license, the police also find

30:36

four postcards in his wallet addressed

30:39

to a lady friend of his in Wisconsin

30:41

that he was riding as he made the drive

30:43

back to Wisconsin. There are reports

30:46

that he'd asked this woman who's divorced

30:48

and had several kids to marry him but

30:50

that she declined because of the large

30:52

age gap between them. And before you're

30:54

like,

30:55

oh, his wife just died. There's

30:57

no point in going through life alone. So I'm

31:00

I'm glad that he's able to find

31:02

some company to

31:04

live out his life with. OK, let's not

31:06

go. Let's not go blaming

31:09

a quick, a quick turnaround

31:11

here. Peyton is going to kill me and remarry. Oh,

31:14

stop. That's all I heard. Stop.

31:15

So police learned that the

31:17

day he left his son's house, Dexter

31:19

had mailed a letter to this lady. It's

31:22

postmarked November 18th and the letter

31:24

reads, I miss you and the children and the family

31:26

worship. May the Lord be with you until we

31:28

meet again. Love, Dexter. But

31:31

sadly for the Staphonic family, the body

31:33

found in the dump is that of an elderly

31:35

male as announced by the Dawson County

31:37

attorney and everyone assumes it's Dexter,

31:40

particularly with his driver's license

31:42

and belongings found there. But of

31:44

course they'll need to officially ID him

31:46

and the autopsy is performed in Billings,

31:49

Montana and the autopsy reveals that

31:51

the body is Dexter and

31:54

he had been shot twice

31:56

in the head.

31:57

Geez, okay. He had also been

31:59

severely

31:59

beaten. Okay. There were

32:02

marks on his hands, there was damage

32:04

done to his neck and throat, and he had

32:06

a bruise or damage on the front

32:08

part of his skull that was probably caused

32:11

by a beating.

32:11

And whoever did this obviously

32:14

was not trying to get money.

32:15

No. Was not trying to get belongings,

32:18

he was trying to kill somebody.

32:19

Also what is our timeline here?

32:22

Yeah. What is our timeline here? Why

32:24

are these things just barely

32:26

being dumped?

32:27

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