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Speaker 3: You are now listening to True Murder The most shocking
Speaker 3: killers in true crime history and the authors that have
Speaker 3: written about them Gasey, Bundy, Dahmer, The Nightstalker DTK. Every
Speaker 3: week another fascinating author talking about the most shocking and
Speaker 3: infamous killers in true crime history. True Murder with your
Speaker 3: host journalist and author Dan Zupanski, Good.
Speaker 4: Evening, nobody means no crime, which makes this the perfect murder.
Speaker 4: Doug Stewart even has an ironclad alibi. He's been seen
Speaker 4: hundreds of miles away when his lovely wife, Venus vanishes.
Speaker 4: What better plan could any murderer hope for? But Doug's
Speaker 4: forgotten one thing, the power of a mother's love. Venus's
Speaker 4: mother believes her daughter's husband lured her outside. They fought,
Speaker 4: he won. Venus's mother wants her daughter back, dead or alive.
Speaker 4: Never Forgive, Never Forget tells the true story of a
Speaker 4: woman whose fear of her husband seems to turn out
Speaker 4: to be justified. It's also the story of a mother's
Speaker 4: quest to win the return of her child, her best friend,
Speaker 4: even if it's only to bury her. The Disappearance of
Speaker 4: Venus Stewart is a shocking true crime story that rocked
Speaker 4: southwest Michigan and eventually the nation. Hundreds of volunteers spent
Speaker 4: thousands of days searching for the mother of two young girls.
Speaker 4: The police and her mother were sure Venus's husband killed her,
Speaker 4: but he was in Newport News, Virginia when the crime
Speaker 4: was committed in Michigan. The neighbor's song uses credit cards
Speaker 4: and even paid on his account at his lawyer's office.
Speaker 4: And it wasn't just a day that Venus disappeared that
Speaker 4: her husband was seen in Newport News. He was spot
Speaker 4: at the next day too. How can anyone be in
Speaker 4: two places at one time. Here's something else. No corpse,
Speaker 4: that's right, The police don't have a body. How can
Speaker 4: investigators even be sure Venus is dead? Her mother had
Speaker 4: to wait more than eight long years before finding out
Speaker 4: what happened to her child. A community rose up to
Speaker 4: stand by Teresa Macombe and her mission to learn the truth,
Speaker 4: and after searching for Venus hundreds of times, they stood
Speaker 4: by Teres at the very end. Never Forgive, Never Forget,
Speaker 4: a shocking true crime story, is a hard hitting tale
Speaker 4: of a mother's undying devotion and love for her child
Speaker 4: and two police officers refusal to give up. It's a
Speaker 4: story that you will never forget. This scripting book will
Speaker 4: also leave you with a question, if you were Venus's mother,
Speaker 4: did you ever forgive? The book that we're featuring this
Speaker 4: evening is never forgive, Never forget, a shocking true crime
Speaker 4: story with my special guest, journalist and author Rod Cackley.
Speaker 4: Welcome back to the program, and thank you again for
Speaker 4: this interview, Rod Cackley.
Speaker 2: Hie Dan, thanks for having me. I appreciate it.
Speaker 4: Welcome back and congratulations on this extraordinary Thank you.
Speaker 2: It is quite a tale, isn't it.
Speaker 4: Yes, it is. Let's get to the introductions right away
Speaker 4: with Venus Stuart, her husband Douglas Harry Stuart, and this
Speaker 4: is twenty and ten. But previously you write about their
Speaker 4: marriage when he had married Venus in two thousand and two,
Speaker 4: and their life in Schoolcraft, Michigan, not far from her
Speaker 4: parents home. Tell us about their marriage, their children and
Speaker 4: their parents, Teres and Larry McComb, and how Venus ends
Speaker 4: up living with them. Tell us about the court petitions
Speaker 4: and their marriage and the background on Venus and Douglas Stuart.
Speaker 2: Okay, Douglas, as you said, Douglas. Doug married Venus in
Speaker 2: two thousand and two and they settled down in Schoolcraft, Michigan.
Speaker 2: They had a home not far from her parents' home.
Speaker 2: Two daughters, Brooks who was born in two thousand and
Speaker 2: four and Rachel, who followed her older sister in two thousand.
Speaker 2: Now the Stuart's marriage cheetered on the edge of a
Speaker 2: nasty divorce. In two thousand and seven, Venus accused Doug
Speaker 2: of being violent. In court three times, she petitioned for
Speaker 2: protection three times. She pleaded for help. In fact, the
Speaker 2: last time, on the last petition, she scrawled the world
Speaker 2: help h ELP at the bottom of the petition in
Speaker 2: big bold, frantic letters with the number two pencil. When
Speaker 2: that failed, that's when she left Doug and went to
Speaker 2: girls and went to her parents' home. The mccomb's home,
Speaker 2: the home of Larry McComb and Therees MacComb, not far
Speaker 2: away in Colon Township, southwest Michigan, by the way, is
Speaker 2: a very made up of small towns, a very rural area.
Speaker 2: Everyone knows everyone. It's just a typical small town existence there.
Speaker 2: For Venus and her kids. At her parents' home.
Speaker 4: Now we talked about the court petitions and now she
Speaker 4: was fearing for her own safety. But she had also
Speaker 4: made an allegation regarding the dogs three and five years old.
Speaker 2: Yeah, she accused Doug of molesting one of the girls.
Speaker 2: No other way to put it. She really made a
Speaker 2: lot of allegations against Doug. Now, Doug is kind of
Speaker 2: the all American guy, though he's an ex marine, a
Speaker 2: lot of friends, everybody loves this guy. But Venus is
Speaker 2: saying there's a whole lot that they don't know, including
Speaker 2: a charge of molestation.
Speaker 4: Now, he's familiar with the area even though in laws
Speaker 4: lived there, but he had prior worked in the area,
Speaker 4: so he's familiar with the area. And then you take
Speaker 4: us to April twenty fifth, twenty ten. What is Douglas
Speaker 4: Stewart doing and where is he on that day?
Speaker 2: Right now, Douglas Harry Stewart in this story is driving
Speaker 2: north through Ohio. He's on the Ohio Turnpike. He's in
Speaker 2: a silver Dodge Ram pickup truck. It's been a tough drive.
Speaker 2: He's been behind the wheel for almost ten hours straight
Speaker 2: and he still has two hours to go at least.
Speaker 2: That's how he feels. Now, now you have to look
Speaker 2: at this from Doug's point of view, I guess he
Speaker 2: feels She's on a mission. And remember he's an next Marine,
Speaker 2: so his life is all about mission centric. He needs
Speaker 2: to complete this mission. He is out to right or wrong,
Speaker 2: not just one wrong in his mind, but a lot
Speaker 2: of wrongs. He thinks that Venus has been lying about him.
Speaker 2: She's been telling everybody who's violent that she fears for
Speaker 2: her safety. She even has gone to the coups to
Speaker 2: try to get them to get him away from her,
Speaker 2: away from her and the children. That's what really bothers
Speaker 2: Doug the most is the daughter losing the girls. She
Speaker 2: has no right at all. He believes Venus has no
Speaker 2: right at all to do what she's doing. So he's
Speaker 2: on the Ohio Turnpike. It's late at night, he's been
Speaker 2: driving for ten hours, has another couple of hours to go.
Speaker 2: Finally he pulls off at an Egbood and there he
Speaker 2: sees a Walmart store. Now he goes into the Walmart
Speaker 2: store and he gets some supplies because again, he has
Speaker 2: this mission. He knows what he's going to do, or
Speaker 2: at least what he wants to do. So he goes
Speaker 2: into the walmart. He picks out a turp, dirty pair
Speaker 2: of work gloves, a new baseball cap, and a shovel.
Speaker 2: Then he pulls out his credit card and uses the
Speaker 2: credit card as a register to purchase those items, takes
Speaker 2: them all back to his truck, gets back in the truck,
Speaker 2: back on the turnpike, and he's headed into Southwest Michigan.
Speaker 4: At that walmart, what's noted mayme I little jumping ahead,
Speaker 4: But what's noted at that time was that he also
Speaker 4: had an unusual request along with the things that he purchased.
Speaker 4: What was that unusual request for?
Speaker 2: He wanted to get line. He was looking for line,
Speaker 2: and what do you use line for? Anybody who watches,
Speaker 2: you know, a gangster movie knows that's the way you
Speaker 2: want to get rid of the body, to make the
Speaker 2: body disappear. So he really has everything he needs to
Speaker 2: make the body disappear.
Speaker 4: You take us to April twenty six, twenty ten, and
Speaker 4: the beautiful Venus Rose Stewart, this mother of two small children.
Speaker 4: He's just in their pajamas and slippers. It's not too
Speaker 4: cooled out, But tell us what she's expecting that day,
Speaker 4: why she's even outside.
Speaker 2: Yeah, it's April twenty sixth April in southwest Michigan at
Speaker 2: one of those times when you really never know what temperatures,
Speaker 2: what the weather's going to bring. You might start your
Speaker 2: day in pajamas and slippers and then have to put
Speaker 2: on a heavier coat at the end of the day,
Speaker 2: or it might be reversed. She's going out in the
Speaker 2: early morning. It's there might be a little light snow coming.
Speaker 2: She's going out to get a package that she thinks
Speaker 2: might be coming today. As a matter of fact, she's
Speaker 2: expecting it because of delivery driver called to make sure
Speaker 2: he had the correct address and directions. And at this point,
Speaker 2: Venus and her kids are living with her parents, so
Speaker 2: she could use some good news. She's really looking forward
Speaker 2: to getting this package. She walks out by herself to
Speaker 2: the mailbox. Again, this is a rural setting, so she's
Speaker 2: walking really to the street on the road in front
Speaker 2: of the house to see if the package is there.
Speaker 4: When she goes out towards this mailbox, which is at
Speaker 4: the edge of the property, it's not right attached to
Speaker 4: the home, she spots a truck that she's very familiar with.
Speaker 2: Yeah, she sees the silver Dodge Ram. It looks like
Speaker 2: Doug's truck. She's really you know. She has said before
Speaker 2: too that in one of those restraining orders, she wrote,
Speaker 2: I'm tired of living in constant fear, and I'm afraid
Speaker 2: of what this is doing to my children. I'm scared
Speaker 2: to death, and every day I live in constant fear,
Speaker 2: and I'm constantly looking over my shoulder wondering when he
Speaker 2: will appear again. Well, then she looks over to the
Speaker 2: side and sees that silver pickup truck. It looks just
Speaker 2: like Doug's truck. She knows the vehicle, she knows who's
Speaker 2: driving it, and even the worse Venus knows why it's
Speaker 2: parked in front of her parents' home. Suddenly, the quiet
Speaker 2: of the early morning, the dew on the grass, and
Speaker 2: the privacy offered by this rural neighborhood isn't as reassuring
Speaker 2: as it once was. She glances to the right, to
Speaker 2: the left, and back over her shoulder. None of the
Speaker 2: neighbors can see her, and worse, Venus knows none of
Speaker 2: them will hear her, no matter how loudly she screams.
Speaker 2: Instead of the mailman with a package, Doug is waiting
Speaker 2: for her, her estranged husband, and she runs, He chases her,
Speaker 2: grabs her. She fights with every ounce of muscle, every
Speaker 2: fiber of her soul. Venus is battling for herself, for
Speaker 2: her kids, for everything. But she can't hold out. She
Speaker 2: just isn't strong enough. Doug is an ex marine. He
Speaker 2: pulls her into the truck. There he grabs her by
Speaker 2: the back of the next wheezing her car out of artery.
Speaker 2: Hard like advice until she loses consciousness. Her last thought,
Speaker 2: Please Lord, referring to her girls, Please Lord keep them safe.
Speaker 4: Now you take us quickly to a person named Colleen Bateman.
Speaker 4: And she works in an attorney's office and in Newport News, Virginia.
Speaker 4: And you say, Newport News is the city of about
Speaker 4: one hundred and eighty thousand, so it's a big place
Speaker 4: in comparison to Colon, Michigan. Certainly, what does she observe
Speaker 4: that day?
Speaker 2: And note, yeah, she looks up. A man is walking
Speaker 2: into the attorney's office where she works. A beautiful day
Speaker 2: in Newport News, Virginia. Now this is where Doug has
Speaker 2: made his home after they split up, after he and
Speaker 2: Benus split out. It's a beautiful day and she looks
Speaker 2: up and there's a man coming into the office. She
Speaker 2: thinks it's Doug. Looks just like Doug, but he's not
Speaker 2: saying much. Actually, the guy says nothing at all. He
Speaker 2: just gives her a slight smile and hands Colleen an
Speaker 2: envelope with the name Doug Stewart written on the front.
Speaker 2: That's not unusual, Doug is a client. Colleen returns to smile,
Speaker 2: opens the envelope and inside there's one hundred dollar bill.
Speaker 2: She has no Doug that well, but she's seen him
Speaker 2: in the office before, and she tells her boss that
Speaker 2: a client is waiting him. Showing up, though unannounced, isn't
Speaker 2: all that surprising either. Doug's making a payment. This is
Speaker 2: what he does to pay off the attorney now, and
Speaker 2: all clients do this, but Doug is doing this. But
Speaker 2: she looks at Doug again after checking out that one
Speaker 2: hundred dollar bill, and she sees the man who's wearing
Speaker 2: green cargo pants, a hooded sweatshirt, and Aviator sunglasses. He's
Speaker 2: also a little bit smaller than she remembers Doug, and
Speaker 2: Colleen thinks to herself that Doug never wore clothes like
Speaker 2: that when he came into the office. Cargo pants and
Speaker 2: hoodie would actually be very out of terature for him.
Speaker 2: Doug's always nicely dressed to see office casual I guess
Speaker 2: that's how you would put it. And he always walked
Speaker 2: with a military bearing. I mean military people when they
Speaker 2: make their career in the military, they do have a
Speaker 2: different way of life walking and holding themselves than the
Speaker 2: civilians do. This guy with the envelope, he's dressed in
Speaker 2: a cargo pants and a hoodie, and he's smaller than Doug.
Speaker 2: He's slouching, and he's not looking anyone directly in the eye.
Speaker 2: He gives her the Colleen the envelope with one hundred
Speaker 2: in it, and he walks out. He leaves quickly. That's that.
Speaker 2: Colleen knows something's wrong. She thinks to herself, as couldn't
Speaker 2: have been Doug. The door closes and she watches the
Speaker 2: man scurry away on the sidewalk outside the office. But
Speaker 2: if it's not Doug, who is it? Who could it
Speaker 2: possibly be? And why would Doug give this guy an
Speaker 2: envelope with one hundred dollars inside as a payment? Who
Speaker 2: pays a professional bill with cash? This just isn't right,
Speaker 2: She's thinking, couldn't have been Doug, Colleen thinks. But if
Speaker 2: not Doug, who and why did he come here today
Speaker 2: of all days with one hundred dollars bill in an envelope? Well,
Speaker 2: Colleen decides that she must be wrong. You know, Doug
Speaker 2: walks out. Maybe that is Doug and she's just seeing
Speaker 2: saying very anoptical illusion or whatever. Then this guy walks
Speaker 2: out of the attorney's office, hops in his car, drives
Speaker 2: a few blocks away to a shopping mall. Of there,
Speaker 2: she goes into a several stores, makes some purchases, putting
Speaker 2: them on his credit cards, Doug Stuart's credit cards. If
Speaker 2: he's not Dun Stuart, he's taking his life and his
Speaker 2: credit cards and his driver's license too that he shows
Speaker 2: his ID when he uses the credit cards. So it's
Speaker 2: got to be Doug, right, But Venus saw Doug that
Speaker 2: same day outside her parents home in Colon, Michigan. So
Speaker 2: how could it be Doug? In Newport News, Virginia.
Speaker 4: Let's get back to Larry McComb and Teres McComb. He's
Speaker 4: at home and he's usually sleeping at seven thirty in
Speaker 4: the morning, but he hears the kids making a lot
Speaker 4: of noise the girl's making a lot of noise, and
Speaker 4: he wonders where Venus is because he would she would
Speaker 4: be taking care of the children at that time. So
Speaker 4: he wakes and looks around and can't find Venus.
Speaker 2: Yeah, you know, and this is he's not in the
Speaker 2: best mood. He's a grandfather who just got woken up
Speaker 2: by the grandkids, and he, you know, he knows Venus
Speaker 2: would have kept the kids quiet for him, So he
Speaker 2: knows something's up right away. He goes into the kitchen.
Speaker 2: Venus isn't there. Well, maybe she threw a lot laundry
Speaker 2: in the washing machine, the washer dryer in her bedroom
Speaker 2: or downstairs. So Larry goes there. Neither the washer nor
Speaker 2: the dryer is running, and there's still no sign of Venus.
Speaker 2: Now Larry's getting scared because he and his wife Teres,
Speaker 2: they know, I mean, Venus has been talking to them
Speaker 2: about her relationship with Doug, about his violence, and about
Speaker 2: her accusation of molestation. So Larry, like any father would be,
Speaker 2: is getting scared to death. Right now, still no sign
Speaker 2: of Venus, and Larry's scared. Damn you, Doug. Larry thinks
Speaker 2: Venus was finally able to get a personal protection under
Speaker 2: from a judge who listened and believed. But what good
Speaker 2: would a piece of paper do to protect his little
Speaker 2: girl against an X marine, a warrior like Doug Stewart.
Speaker 2: And now Larry hates to admit it, but it looks
Speaker 2: like the worst has happened. See, not only is Venus missing,
Speaker 2: but her keys, her purse, her phone, and her children
Speaker 2: are still in the house. And on top of that,
Speaker 2: the front door is open. But Venus is nowhere to
Speaker 2: be seen. So Larry goes to the phone and calls
Speaker 2: the cops. Michigan State Police troop by the name of
Speaker 2: Aaron Steinsma, twelve year veteran of the MSPs, the first
Speaker 2: to arrive on the scene. And now Aaron, the Trooper
Speaker 2: Steinsma is going to be an important player in this
Speaker 2: story down the line too. Theresa is awake by now
Speaker 2: Venus's mother, Larry's wife. She's hysterical, she's crying, She's nearly screaming.
Speaker 2: He took her, he took her, he took her, she
Speaker 2: tells Trooper Stein'sma. Larry tells the trooper Teresa's talking about Doug.
Speaker 2: They've been having problems, Larry explains, as Tom Lee is
Speaker 2: a father Ken who fears the worst has happened to
Speaker 2: his child. Well, now, Saint Joseph County Sheriff's deputies arrive
Speaker 2: on the scene and together with the state trooper Steensma,
Speaker 2: they don't waste a minute. They're out looking for venus
Speaker 2: in the yard and in the in the area around
Speaker 2: around the home.
Speaker 4: Now, what do Aaron Steinsma and does state the troopers
Speaker 4: find there? You mentioned you write that there was a
Speaker 4: plastic rapper. What was the plastic rapper for? And what
Speaker 4: other evidence can they determine from the limited amount of
Speaker 4: evidence that they find at this crime. I'm seen by
Speaker 4: the mailbox.
Speaker 2: They found evidence of a violent struggle by the mailbox.
Speaker 2: The ground is torn up. There are large gounges and
Speaker 2: heel marks on the lawn, like you might leave if
Speaker 2: someone was dragging you and you were resisting. The trooper
Speaker 2: spot's a woman's footprint on the propane gas tank in
Speaker 2: the front yard, like you would if you were being
Speaker 2: held and you put your foot up against the tank
Speaker 2: to try to force yourself free. The torn um sections
Speaker 2: of grass and it looks like somebody was trying to
Speaker 2: break a more muscular person's pull. The police designed and
Speaker 2: it indicates a wild encounter between two combatants. So then
Speaker 2: the troopers and the sheriff's luckies fan out and then
Speaker 2: plastic grapher they found. That's a plastic cover for an
Speaker 2: all purpose turf, one of the brands that Walmart sells.
Speaker 4: Yeah, they find police find a neighbor who saw the
Speaker 4: truck with the other state's plates parked in an empty
Speaker 4: lot next to the Macomb property. So this Doug Stewart
Speaker 4: becomes their primary suspect, doesn't he right?
Speaker 3: Right?
Speaker 2: And another witness police that he was stopped by a
Speaker 2: man who was soaking wet asking for a cigarette. Wow,
Speaker 2: Now Doug Stewart is their primary suspect. Trooper's leading the investigation,
Speaker 2: and they know where he lives. I mean, the Macombs
Speaker 2: know where Doug is set up shop after they split
Speaker 2: with the Venus, So they tell him about Newport News, Virginia. Immediately,
Speaker 2: the Michigan officers and the Saint Joseph County officers call
Speaker 2: their colleagues in Newport News, Virginia and now you've got
Speaker 2: and then so they're tracking. Then they realize that Doug
Speaker 2: must have come up after the witness saw the truck.
Speaker 2: They realized he must have driven up on the turnpike.
Speaker 2: So they're talking to not onli Virginia police, but Ohio
Speaker 2: police and others in Michigan. Everybody now is an all
Speaker 2: points bulletin looking for Doug Stewart and that silver Dodge
Speaker 2: Ram pickup truck and of course Venus Stewart. They're still
Speaker 2: holding out hope that they're going to find her alive.
Speaker 4: Absolutely, you take us to April twenty eight, twenty ten,
Speaker 4: and now back in Newport News, neighbors and friends that
Speaker 4: know Doug knowes something is a miss, especially a person
Speaker 4: named James Weaver. What does James Weaver specifically observe from
Speaker 4: Doug and what does Doug have to say about Venus?
Speaker 4: Because by this time these neighbors have heard this is
Speaker 4: a big story that Venus is missing.
Speaker 2: Right, Venus is missing. Now, Doug has always talked about Venus,
Speaker 2: and every neighbor who will spend a moment with him,
Speaker 2: anybody who will listen, we'll hear the story from Doug
Speaker 2: about how evil Venus is according to him. Now, this
Speaker 2: day is a warm day, or remember we're in Virginia.
Speaker 2: It's kind of day where you know, you open a
Speaker 2: pack of cigarettes, and you're going to start sweating. Okay,
Speaker 2: it's warm, it's kind of human. So everybody's in shorts
Speaker 2: and t shirts. And this neighbor, James, that you mentioned. James,
Speaker 2: he can't help noticing there are bruises and deep red
Speaker 2: scratches on Doug's neck, on his forearms, and even on
Speaker 2: his thighs. James has to wonder, what's this guy been doing.
Speaker 2: Now the apartment complex has heard that Venus is missing.
Speaker 2: She ran away with the girls through her parents somewhere
Speaker 2: in Michigan. Everybody knows that, and now she's gone again.
Speaker 2: This time it's different. The news reports that have aired
Speaker 2: in Newport News, Virginia say Venus vanished from her parents'
Speaker 2: front yard. So when Doug talks about his strange wife,
Speaker 2: everyone's listening a bit closer now to the latest rant
Speaker 2: about Venus. It's not like anybody suspects him of anything yet. Still,
Speaker 2: James isn't the only one who notices Doug looks like
Speaker 2: he's been in a fight. They've all seen Doug around
Speaker 2: the complex every day. No way he could have been
Speaker 2: in Michigan. They saw him around the complex the day
Speaker 2: that Venus vanished. The neighbors all agree on that except
Speaker 2: for the apartment complex as assistant manager Catherine Rock because
Speaker 2: Doug asked her just the other day about the complex
Speaker 2: and surveillance camera, wondering if somebody could get their hands
Speaker 2: on the system's videotapes, and Catherine's wondering why would Doug
Speaker 2: want to know that her suspicions are aroused, and not
Speaker 2: only that, Doug isn't the only one who wants to
Speaker 2: save the complexes tapes. Catherine knows that police are suspicious
Speaker 2: of Doug two they've been talking to her about Doug
Speaker 2: asking her about those tapes, and she thinks that they've
Speaker 2: even been talking to him.
Speaker 4: Introduce Ricky Spencer. Now, he's twenty one years old and
Speaker 4: he had got together and met Doug through his Xbox
Speaker 4: play online. Tell us about this relationship and how it developed,
Speaker 4: and who Ricky Spencer is and what's he thinking when
Speaker 4: he hears the news.
Speaker 2: Yeah, Ricky is kind of like the beta to Doug's
Speaker 2: elfha male personality. They got together in early April twenty
Speaker 2: ten during Ricky's spring break from school, and he Doug
Speaker 2: tells Ricky they're more than best friends. Doug has really
Speaker 2: taken over this guy. And finally, you know they play
Speaker 2: games together, you know they hang out together, and Doug
Speaker 2: has told him the stories about Venus. He says, I
Speaker 2: don't know what I would do if she hurt those
Speaker 2: little girls. I might go on a rampage. He says,
Speaker 2: would you head? Finally, he pops the question to Ricky Stewart.
Speaker 2: He said, would you help me kill Venus? You won't
Speaker 2: have to pull a trigger or even get your hands Bloody, Doug,
Speaker 2: you sure is, Ricky. All you have to do is
Speaker 2: pretend to be me. And before Ricky can say no,
Speaker 2: Doug as it's going to be simple. You move into
Speaker 2: my apartment while I'm up in Michigan, Get into my closet.
Speaker 2: Were are my clothes, Go to my attorney's office, go
Speaker 2: shopping with my credit cards. It all seems like such
Speaker 2: an idle brain. Ricky can't say no, and as a
Speaker 2: matter of fact, he's never said no to Doug about anything.
Speaker 2: The only challenging task now or Ricky will be calling
Speaker 2: Doug's parents in Michigan pretending to be Doug. It'll be
Speaker 2: the perfect alibi. Doug assures Ricky, you do all of
Speaker 2: this and I'll drive up to Michigan. To take care
Speaker 2: of business. Nothing can go wrong.
Speaker 4: There was one thing that he didn't take care of,
Speaker 4: you right, and that was something he did every day.
Speaker 4: Tell us what he forgot to do that one day.
Speaker 2: He forgot to call the McComb family home to talk
Speaker 2: to his kids, the girls, the daughters. Ever since Venus
Speaker 2: was awarded custody a Doug's called Larry and Terteres McComb
Speaker 2: every day asking to speak with his daughters every day
Speaker 2: without fail, never missed a day except for one day,
Speaker 2: and that was the day that Venus vanished. He also
Speaker 2: made the mistake of using his credit card at a
Speaker 2: Walmart off the Ohio. Hard to be in two places
Speaker 2: at once, and the people at Walmart, remember Doug. He
Speaker 2: bought gloves, a shovel of tarp, and a baseball bat.
Speaker 2: And as we said earlier, he also asked them if
Speaker 2: they had any line something that can be used to
Speaker 2: compose a body in mass DNA.
Speaker 4: Tell us about these phones that were purchased as well.
Speaker 2: Yeah, they also bought He also bought two Walmart track
Speaker 2: phones burners if you will that he or whoever could
Speaker 2: toss Doug uses one of the phones to call Venus,
Speaker 2: pretending to be a delivery man bringing a package to
Speaker 2: her parents home. That was when he grabbed her. He
Speaker 2: also uses that phone to call the second burner that
Speaker 2: he bought, a call that police discovered was made you
Speaker 2: a location in Virginia near Doug's home in Newport News. Next,
Speaker 2: detectives access Doug's personal phone records and guess who he's
Speaker 2: been calling quite often before Venus disappeared. None other than
Speaker 2: Ricky Spencer.
Speaker 3: Right, So that.
Speaker 4: Leads police to Ricky Spencer's door, doesn't it right?
Speaker 2: Right? Exactly? And Ricky's getting nervous. He knows something's going
Speaker 2: on since day one, and now he's getting very nervous.
Speaker 2: In May thirty one, twenty ten, that's when they show
Speaker 2: up at his door or they're getting closer to the door.
Speaker 2: Michigan State Police Lieutenant Michael Riskos has investigators in Newport News. Now,
Speaker 2: I believe Doug Stewart was not in Virginia when Venus disappeared,
Speaker 2: and they have new evidence Doug was not inside his
Speaker 2: lawyer's office, in the shopping mall or anyplace else in
Speaker 2: Newport News on April twenty five or April twenty six.
Speaker 2: So Ricky's he's learning all this, and Ricky's getting very
Speaker 2: nervous because he knows he's the guy who was pretending
Speaker 2: to be.
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Speaker 4: we had this essential person crucial to this case, Ricky Spencer,
Speaker 4: fell into the investigator's laps. They know that he has
Speaker 4: been impersonating or they believe they've talked to those women
Speaker 4: at the lawyer's office. They realize that he certainly seems
Speaker 4: to be the person impersonating Doug Stewart and doing some
Speaker 4: things on his behalf to provide for an alibi. So
Speaker 4: how do they approach him, what do they offer him?
Speaker 4: And what does he have to say to these investigators.
Speaker 2: So what we've got now dan is Ricky. They picked
Speaker 2: Ricky up and he's in a police interrogation room and
Speaker 2: he's talking to a couple of Michigan State Police detectives,
Speaker 2: Chuck Christiansen and Shane Kreger. He's trying to look relaxed
Speaker 2: in calm, but it's easy to see he's anything but
Speaker 2: at ease with these two police officers. He's scared to death.
Speaker 2: Ricky knows his future hangs in the balance if he
Speaker 2: doesn't help the detectives. Ricky knows he'll probably be imprisoned
Speaker 2: for the rest of his life. But one of the
Speaker 2: officers says, you're free to leave at any time, but
Speaker 2: he doesn't leave. He looks at from one detective to another.
Speaker 2: Droger says, there are two types of scenarios we're looking
Speaker 2: at here, and this is why we need your help.
Speaker 2: So he again, they're playing Ricky okay, he wants to
Speaker 2: help them, and he said, or they're saying that he
Speaker 2: can help them, And so this is where you know,
Speaker 2: they know that Ricky wants to help them. They know
Speaker 2: Ricky wants to get out of here, and so they're
Speaker 2: going to offer him basically a plea deal if he
Speaker 2: starts talking and he tells him the whole story.
Speaker 4: He tells him the whole story. But what's important is
Speaker 4: that at first it's you have this altercation or connection
Speaker 4: between the investigator and Ricky Spencer, and he has this
Speaker 4: realization instantly because of the question they asked. They asked,
Speaker 4: did you know that he was going to kill his wife?
Speaker 4: And then he went on to tell them everything as
Speaker 4: you said, including that how did he know that he
Speaker 4: had killed Venus? How did he know that Doug Stewart
Speaker 4: had killed his wife? Is also what he told him,
Speaker 4: how was that?
Speaker 2: Did he knowed? It was very you know, he said
Speaker 2: he called and said it's done. I've killed her. That's it,
Speaker 2: it's done. That's what he said. Ricky tells the detectives.
Speaker 2: That's how he knew Venus was dead. It's all Ricky
Speaker 2: had to hear. I asked him if it was worth it,
Speaker 2: and Doug said he did it to protect his kids
Speaker 2: and give them a future. Then he said he'd call
Speaker 2: me back because he had the barrier Venus we mean,
Speaker 2: And so I said, hey, you know, I'm talking and
Speaker 2: I'll call you back. I've got a barrier. And that
Speaker 2: was that. So he told Ricky the whole story.
Speaker 4: There was also a search of the vehicles and what
Speaker 4: they waited for results from the lab. But it looked
Speaker 4: like there was blood in the truck itself and also
Speaker 4: in Doug's other vehicle, right.
Speaker 2: Right in his car. Yeah, they looked. What they had
Speaker 2: was blood in both of the cars and the vehicles,
Speaker 2: the truck and the and the car. And so there
Speaker 2: they've got, you know, they've got evidence, and they have
Speaker 2: Ricky's story. But again the question is where is Venus.
Speaker 2: They still have no proof that Venus is dead even
Speaker 2: and they've talked to Doug. He's, you know, as nervous
Speaker 2: as Ricky was. Doug is a rock. He's still telling
Speaker 2: police he has no idea what happened to Venus. She's
Speaker 2: my wife. I love her, Doug tells anyone who asks,
Speaker 2: including the police. And the fact is there's still a
Speaker 2: missing This is still a missing person case at this point.
Speaker 2: It is not a murder case and it's not consider
Speaker 2: to be a homicide, and if it was, it would
Speaker 2: be a murder investigation going on without a body. And
Speaker 2: the thing is, nobody's using Venus's credit card, no one
Speaker 2: has seen her. What a few tips that are coming
Speaker 2: into the police are going nowhere. Volunteers now you remember,
Speaker 2: hundreds of people in Colon Township have been searching. Volunteers
Speaker 2: are searching for Venus or her body, and they still
Speaker 2: have not found any evidence of the body.
Speaker 4: Now, you talk about the preliminary to make sure that
Speaker 4: there is enough evidence to go to trial. And at
Speaker 4: that hearing, Ricky Spencer appears, takes the witness stand and
Speaker 4: outlines how he and Doug conspired to kill Venus, and
Speaker 4: he talks about the entire story in that hearing, itself,
Speaker 4: so there certainly is enough information to take this to trial.
Speaker 4: Tell us how they proceed, and as you say, they're
Speaker 4: still searching because ideally they'd like to have they would
Speaker 4: really like to have the body of Venus Stewart before
Speaker 4: this trial commences. But regardless, they're going to go ahead.
Speaker 4: So two things are happening at the same time.
Speaker 2: Right right for the body, they're looking for any evidence
Speaker 2: that Venus is either alive or dead. No one can
Speaker 2: answer either question at this point, but they've taken it
Speaker 2: to trial, and in June they do to the judge
Speaker 2: decides there is enough evidence to prosecute Doug Stewart. So
Speaker 2: July first, twenty ten, Lear McComb yell is her father,
Speaker 2: yells from the witness stand when he's asked to point
Speaker 2: out Doug Stewart. He yells, Hi, Doug murdered anyone lately. Now,
Speaker 2: if the courtroom wasn't tense before that outburst, it's ready
Speaker 2: to explode now. I mean, this is just like this
Speaker 2: courtroom is a powder keg. And when he says that
Speaker 2: that like lights the fuse and the judge, Judge Middleton,
Speaker 2: Judge Jeff Middleton makes it clear that contemptive court is
Speaker 2: a crime, and he's not going to put up with
Speaker 2: any outbursts like that. Again, prosecutors will present evidence they
Speaker 2: hope will lead the judge to rule the Doug should
Speaker 2: face trial on the charges. Now, this is this is
Speaker 2: the prelimit in July tenth and Ricky gets on the
Speaker 2: stand and tells the whole story about the video games
Speaker 2: and whatnot. And you know, they're still searching, and Doug
Speaker 2: is in jail. He's being held without bond, as is
Speaker 2: common in Michigan when you're facing a first degree murder charge.
Speaker 2: He spent Christmas in New Year's behind bars in the
Speaker 2: county jail, waiting for the trial to begin. Finally, February
Speaker 2: twenty one, twenty eleven, the trial begins, and the whole
Speaker 2: case of the defense is no body has been found.
Speaker 2: The prosecution can't prove that Venus Stewart is dead, so
Speaker 2: how can they prove be under reasonable doubt that Doug
Speaker 2: Stewart killed his wife, Vina Stewart.
Speaker 4: You say this story goes nationals very very interesting and
Speaker 4: unique aspects of it, but also that you say that
Speaker 4: Teres and Larry and the family brother Dustin attend these hearings.
Speaker 4: What is the deal for Ricky Spencer and how does
Speaker 4: Teresa and Larry and the family feel about this?
Speaker 2: They hate the deal. The Macomb family absolutely hates the deal.
Speaker 2: That Ricky gets off with a year in jail, not prison,
Speaker 2: not state prison, but a county jail and time served
Speaker 2: as well. So he gets off really with a heck
Speaker 2: of a deal. And they are very upset about this.
Speaker 2: As far as they are concerned, Ricky Spencer did as
Speaker 2: much to kill their daughter Venus as did Doug.
Speaker 4: Now, Doug has some talented attorneys, Jeffrey and Cumberland Schroeder.
Speaker 4: And again you say that their big argument, their main
Speaker 4: argument was that no one's even certain that Venus was
Speaker 4: even dead, so they trot that out. But they have
Speaker 4: to contend with Doug's fingerprints on that tart wrapper and
Speaker 4: what the prosecutor McDonough says is basically overwhelming evidence. Give
Speaker 4: us a little bit of the overwhelming evidence, including the
Speaker 4: receipt that was found in the truck for the tarp
Speaker 4: and the shovel and all of the things used to
Speaker 4: bury Venus.
Speaker 2: Yeah, and you know the tarp wrapper with Doug's fingerprints
Speaker 2: on it. His defense attorney contends they should not surprise anybody.
Speaker 2: They admit that Doug bought the tarp at the walnut
Speaker 2: off the Ohio Turnpike, but they reminded Jerry the tarp
Speaker 2: was what they call a movable object. Doug's his fingerprints
Speaker 2: were found nowhere else on the Macomb property. That fingerprint
Speaker 2: proves he held the tart packaging. His attorney, Jeffrey Shuter, said,
Speaker 2: that doesn't necessarily mean that he was there at drift
Speaker 2: would drive. It only proves that the tart packaging he
Speaker 2: held that at one point was there, so you know
Speaker 2: he touched the tart packaging. But it's movable. It could
Speaker 2: have come from anywhere. They're saying it doesn't prove he
Speaker 2: was there, However, the jury, or mcdonahue told the prosecutor
Speaker 2: told the jury in his closing statement, the evidence and
Speaker 2: testimony from the police task force proves beyond a reasonable
Speaker 2: doubt that not only was Venus murdered, but that only
Speaker 2: one person could be responsible for her death, and that
Speaker 2: was Doug Stewart, he argued. The prosecutor argued it was
Speaker 2: illogical to believe that Venus is still alive. However, he
Speaker 2: couldn't prove that he was dead.
Speaker 4: So the jury deliberates for four hours only, which is
Speaker 4: an education not good for the defendant. What is the verdict?
Speaker 2: The vertice is guilty, guilty of murder and conspiracy to
Speaker 2: commit first degree murder. As you said, it was a
Speaker 2: four hour deliberation, so you know this is going to
Speaker 2: be bad for him. Doug took the verdict stoically. There's
Speaker 2: barely a flicker of emotion on Doug's face as the
Speaker 2: guilty verdicts are read. Now he's going to prison for
Speaker 2: the rest of his life, unless, as attorneys win on appeal.
Speaker 2: There's no question about that. But still the question remains.
Speaker 2: Where is Venus Stewart outside the courtroom to Reese and
Speaker 2: Venus's older brother, Dustin are surrounded by reporters. Venus was
Speaker 2: an awesome person, Teres says, I just told Venus sees
Speaker 2: some of what's going on. Dustin replies, So she does, Mom,
Speaker 2: she does.
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Speaker 4: Now they in the sentencing. Now the family that has
Speaker 4: endured this horrible trial and the testimony and hearing the
Speaker 4: details of this murder conspiracy, these people now get to
Speaker 4: make their impact statements. And also on that sentencing day,
Speaker 4: Doug Stewart makes a statement. So tell us about Doug
Speaker 4: Stewart's statement, the gist of it. And you say there
Speaker 4: wasn't a dry eye in that court room that day
Speaker 4: with those impact statements.
Speaker 2: Yeah, Doug says I'm innocent. Doug is not admitting that
Speaker 2: he's guilty. He says, I did not do these crimes.
Speaker 2: All I have to say is I am innocent. I
Speaker 2: asked the police to continue to look for my wife
Speaker 2: if not for me, my children. They need to know
Speaker 2: what happened to their mother. Then, the convicted killer says quietly,
Speaker 2: expression listens. Venus's family gets their chance to talk, and
Speaker 2: no one wants to miss a word of that. Even
Speaker 2: after all this stuff, Venus's brother, Dustin says, I do
Speaker 2: forgive Doug for what he has done. Could it be
Speaker 2: true that Dustin has found forgiveness in his heart for
Speaker 2: the man who killed his sister? The answer is yes.
Speaker 2: But Dustin also has a request. He asks Doug to
Speaker 2: please reveal where Venus's body is buried. It's not too
Speaker 2: late to do the right thing, Dustin says. Doug sits
Speaker 2: quietly through that if Doug is to maintain his claim
Speaker 2: of innocence, how could he help find the body of
Speaker 2: the woman he didn't murder. Finally Doug Judge Stutsman passes
Speaker 2: the sentence as expected. Doug will spend the rest of
Speaker 2: his life in prison. Later, outside the courtroom, Teres tells
Speaker 2: reporters she knows her daughter's dead and knows who killed her.
Speaker 2: There is no doubt in my mind, there, says. Nobody
Speaker 2: else would harm her. Everybody loves her, but she doesn't
Speaker 2: understand why Doug can't confess to the murder, or why
Speaker 2: he did not confess to the murder. Everyone knows he
Speaker 2: did it. She says, why can't he tell us where
Speaker 2: he left the dead body of his wife, my daughter, Venus.
Speaker 2: I don't understand how he can't be thinking about that.
Speaker 2: I know she's out there somewhere buried. I hope Doug
Speaker 2: would tell us, but I don't think he wants to
Speaker 2: give up that power. For him to do this greatly
Speaker 2: hurts me. Dustin says, I don't know what I or
Speaker 2: my family has done to Doug to deserve this. Terse
Speaker 2: and Dustin then told reporters they planned to hold a
Speaker 2: memorial service for Venus in eight days, on April twenty six,
Speaker 2: which will be the first anniversary of her disappearance. Teres
Speaker 2: also says she wants a funeral for Venus even if
Speaker 2: there are no remains to bear it. Just because her
Speaker 2: body isn't here doesn't mean she's not here, Teresa says,
Speaker 2: and Dustin stresses that the search for Venus will continue. Nothing,
Speaker 2: he says, will stop our family and the people that
Speaker 2: love us and care for us from finding her.
Speaker 4: In that continued search, You right about July nine, twenty eleven.
Speaker 4: It looks like a promising development in the case. Potentially
Speaker 4: a small game hunter in southeastern Kalamazoo County in this
Speaker 4: Fulton State game area. He was checking the photos on
Speaker 4: his trail camera and it looked like it might be
Speaker 4: a human body. So he called nine one one and
Speaker 4: then it was a five person task team from Kalamazoo
Speaker 4: County Sheriff's office met up with the Michigan State Police
Speaker 4: detectives and they went there with a dog. What was
Speaker 4: the results.
Speaker 2: They know there's no help for finding her alive. They're
Speaker 2: looking for the body right now, so they bring a
Speaker 2: dog train to find dead bodies cadavers. They found nothing.
Speaker 2: There was no evidence of a body, there no evidence
Speaker 2: of a tarp there. So it was it was just
Speaker 2: another dead end. They found nothing. Well, Doug is in
Speaker 2: jail saying again that he did or in prison rather
Speaker 2: saying again that he did not kill his wife. They
Speaker 2: didn't find a scramp of evidence out there. Yeah, you're right.
Speaker 4: That Dateline NBC was going to do a ninety minute
Speaker 4: story about the case in a few days, and people
Speaker 4: were authorities were hopeful that there would be some leads
Speaker 4: fresh leads as a result. But on July eleventh, twenty eleven,
Speaker 4: the Kalamazoo Gazette receives a letter with someone claiming that
Speaker 4: they have intimate knowledge about this Venus's disappearance. Who is
Speaker 4: this letter from? Who do they find?
Speaker 2: Yeah, the letter is from none other than Doug Stewart.
Speaker 2: He writes to the Kalamazoo Gazette saying that he knows
Speaker 2: who murdered Venus. So he knows. He says that Venus
Speaker 2: is dead, and now he says he knows who murdered her.
Speaker 2: And guess who he fingers for this right, Ricky Spencer.
Speaker 2: Ricky Spencer, he fingers in him. Okay, Doug writes, I
Speaker 2: did not kill my wife, nor did I conspire to
Speaker 2: kill her. I haven't forever do love my wife. Ricky's testimony,
Speaker 2: he writes, and was completely false. Knowing this, I truly
Speaker 2: believe he must know where my wife currently is. If
Speaker 2: Ricky is allowed to serve a one year cap, you
Speaker 2: will forever hide the truth that Venus or family, my
Speaker 2: children and I so desperately need. But I come to
Speaker 2: you as a desperate husband and father of two beautiful
Speaker 2: little girls that need their mother. Please encourage and convince
Speaker 2: Ricky to tell you where my wife.
Speaker 4: Is, and the story continues with another strange twist. October fourth,
Speaker 4: twenty twelve, Teresa McCollum is flying to Los Angeles to
Speaker 4: be on the Doctor Phil Show along with the famed
Speaker 4: psychic named John Edward. It would seem that she would
Speaker 4: try anything to be able to locate her daughter's body
Speaker 4: and cooperate with someone like Doctor Phil on this John Edward,
Speaker 4: how does this turn out?
Speaker 2: But terribly? It just it is, It just goes terribly.
Speaker 2: You know, she wrote before the interview, she said, I'm
Speaker 2: desperate to find her body and have closure. This is
Speaker 2: about a desperate mother, That's what this is. And she's
Speaker 2: willing to do anything to find Venus's body. Well, the
Speaker 2: TV show goes terribly. You know. She's figuring that if
Speaker 2: John Edwards, the psyche, can't find Venus's body, then no
Speaker 2: one will. But the Doctor Phil show for her turns
Speaker 2: out to be a complete waste of time. Doctor Phil
Speaker 2: adds that she says that he Teresa has an addiction.
Speaker 2: Teresa's obception, obsession with Venus's murder and the fact that
Speaker 2: her daughter's body was still missing, lying somewhere lost and alone.
Speaker 2: She needs to let it go. Doctor Phil says they
Speaker 2: also have another psychic on the show, and Collette Baron Reid.
Speaker 2: They all pile on and criticize Teres for her quest
Speaker 2: to find Venus. They all say that she's they need
Speaker 2: to give up on this, to let it go, and
Speaker 2: Teresa can't.
Speaker 4: She will not, She's not so determined to give up.
Speaker 4: Until November one, twenty sixteen, you write that Teresa and
Speaker 4: the family hire a private investigator, but now lead us
Speaker 4: all the way to September fourth, twenty and seventeen. Doug
Speaker 4: is sitting in state prison. Finally there seems to be
Speaker 4: that he wants to cooperate and does he or does
Speaker 4: he have to say?
Speaker 2: He does? But you know who? He confesses to Channel
Speaker 2: three WWMTTV, which is channel three in Calama Zoo. He
Speaker 2: talks to a reporter and he says that yes, I
Speaker 2: killed Venus. He makes his confession on camera. He says,
Speaker 2: you remember everything, I remember the smells, everything, Doug says
Speaker 2: of killing his wife, I think about it every single
Speaker 2: second and now the world knows. But still he refuses
Speaker 2: to tell us where Venus is buried, or to tell
Speaker 2: Teresa or anyone else where. Venus is buried around Christmas
Speaker 2: time though, and maybe it's Christmas time that got to him.
Speaker 2: And there was a rumor too that he was given
Speaker 2: a Nintendo machine as a deal, a Nintendo video game
Speaker 2: as a deal, but I wasn't really able to confirm this,
Speaker 2: so I left that out of the story. But somehow
Speaker 2: he decides he's ready to talk. He's ready to lead
Speaker 2: police to Venus's body. October twenty second, twenty eighteen. We've
Speaker 2: got Chuck Christiansen, the Michigan State Police first Lieutenant and
Speaker 2: MSP Sergeant Todd Peterson. They I've always been They've been
Speaker 2: working on this case too, on their own time, pretty much,
Speaker 2: trying to find the answers to where is Venus. Well, now,
Speaker 2: Doug says he will lead them, and he leads them
Speaker 2: off into the woods. The trio drives down a muddy
Speaker 2: two track path and there see they're not totally sure
Speaker 2: that Doug is telling the truth. He might just be
Speaker 2: an inmate who looks at this as a chance to
Speaker 2: get out in the fresh air for a right out
Speaker 2: of his jail cell. Okay, but they drive down. He
Speaker 2: leads them down a muddy wet two track path cut
Speaker 2: through the middle of the woods by farmers trucks near
Speaker 2: south forty second East View Avenue, and they're about twenty
Speaker 2: miles southeast of Kalabazoo, now twelve miles north of the
Speaker 2: Mancomb family home. When Doug tells the troopers to stay,
Speaker 2: they're close now, Doug remembers eight years away or eight
Speaker 2: years ago this happened. He starts walking through the woods
Speaker 2: through the mud. He says, though they shouldn't find have
Speaker 2: any problem finding the grave. He dug only a shallow
Speaker 2: pit for his wife's dead body, and he set three
Speaker 2: tree stumps on the site so if he could see
Speaker 2: it again, kind of like a makeshift grave marker, if
Speaker 2: he needed to go back there. He tells the troopers,
Speaker 2: even though he was shoveling dirt on her dead body,
Speaker 2: he didn't want to forget rear he buried Venus. Well,
Speaker 2: they do find the grave site, and they do, only
Speaker 2: two of the three stumps are left. But so this
Speaker 2: is three thousand, one hundred and one days after the
Speaker 2: search began for Venus. They find Venus Stewart's remains when
Speaker 2: they're taken to Western Michigan University School of medicine and
Speaker 2: there other remains are identified and they will be released
Speaker 2: to Venus's family in a few weeks.
Speaker 4: They also find the tarp, don't they right?
Speaker 2: They did find the tarp as well. They found the
Speaker 2: tarp near the place where Doug said he buried the body,
Speaker 2: and the MSP says it does match the turf that
Speaker 2: Doug waltha dain for a Venus was murdered. It feels
Speaker 2: good in their hope was always just to give her
Speaker 2: a proper burial and provide some comfort to the family.
Speaker 2: Lieutenant Christensen says, the criminal case was done. There's nothing
Speaker 2: more that was going to happen, but we felt we
Speaker 2: needed to do this to finally close out this case.
Speaker 4: Now, Teres and the family, the brother Dustin got to
Speaker 4: hear that her body was finally found and that the
Speaker 4: grant her daughters would have a place to mourn as
Speaker 4: Teres had described it. But Larry Macomb didn't get to
Speaker 4: see this. Tell us what happened with Larry Macomb.
Speaker 2: Yeah, Larry McComb died of cancer on July ninth, twenty seventeen,
Speaker 2: So he went to his grave not knowing for sure
Speaker 2: what had happened to his daughter Venus.
Speaker 4: And you say too that he spent his last year
Speaker 4: searching for Venus's body.
Speaker 2: Right, right, Yeah, he spent the last year searching for
Speaker 2: the body. And he was sixty one when he died.
Speaker 2: And Teresa today, as the story goes, when they're laying
Speaker 2: Venus to rest next to Larry, she feels better. Means
Speaker 2: a lot, Teres says, because I can go take care
Speaker 2: of her stone and everything. Venus already had her stone,
Speaker 2: but when she wasn't there, it didn't you know, what
Speaker 2: did it mean? So she wanted to have her daughter's
Speaker 2: remains buried there. You've got to go on, she says.
Speaker 2: She you know now, you know, Teresa for the past
Speaker 2: year has been faced with getting out of bed every
Speaker 2: day knowing that her husband is dead and not knowing
Speaker 2: actually what happened to her daughter. You know, you've got
Speaker 2: to get it together. You keep it together. Teres says.
Speaker 2: You've got to take care of the girls and make
Speaker 2: their life happy. And that's what Venus wants. Venus wants
Speaker 2: those girls who live a normal life like everyone else does.
Speaker 2: I'm just glad I have the girls because they filled
Speaker 2: my life a lot. In December fifteenth, twenty eighteen Venus
Speaker 2: was finally laid the rest in a great side service
Speaker 2: at Leon de Cemetery next to Laray mccomb's body, about
Speaker 2: two miles from her.
Speaker 4: Home, and Doug Stewart remains in prison.
Speaker 2: Yep, Bug Stewart remains in prison. He'll be for the
Speaker 2: rest of his life.
Speaker 4: I want to thank you very much Rod Cackley for
Speaker 4: coming on and talking about your Never Forgive, Never Forget
Speaker 4: a Shocking true crime story.
Speaker 2: For those that might.
Speaker 4: Want to take a look other than do you have
Speaker 4: a website or do any social media other than Amazon page,
Speaker 4: we can find all of your work right Yeah.
Speaker 2: Amazon is a good way to go on. This book
Speaker 2: is available where every books are sold, and you can
Speaker 2: always go to my website at Rodcacklei dot com or Facebook.
Speaker 2: I have a Facebook page as well, but Rodcaklei dot
Speaker 2: com is probably the best way to go.
Speaker 4: Thank you so much, Rod Cackley, Never Forgive, Never Forget
Speaker 4: a Shocking true crime story. It's been a fascinating interview.
Speaker 4: Thank you so much. You have a great evening. Good night,