01x01 - The Women

[bunniefuu]

[ominous music]

- The first time I remember my dad k*lling somebody

was when we lived in Bartlett, Iowa.

It was around ,

and I was probably four years old.

♪ ♪

When my dad k*lled somebody,

he would take them to the well.

And he would ask us to carry bags of lye

up to the well...

because the lye would help decompose the bodies.

♪ ♪

I remember dumping the lye in the well,

and it used to, like, float down

like a white, powdery, cloudy thing,

and I would just watch it.

And it was actually really pretty, you know?

Isn't that weird to think?

- I couldn't begin to tell you.

♪ ♪

Maybe .

♪ ♪

- He loves you, or he hates you.

And if he hates you, you're dead.

- He said it was a woman's body.

I was carrying the upper torso.

He just acted nonchalant,

like it was an everyday occurrence.

- He k*lled her and made it look like a suicide.

- I'm not lying!

There's f*cking bodies up there!

- He had three, maybe four wives

and/or girlfriends who committed suicide.

That's a lot.

- I came up here tonight

to defend my family against your fat little mouth.

- Do you think I like trying to prove

that my dad's a criminal and a m*rder*r?

- If your dad did the things you say he did,

what you've been looking for all these years

is sitting right behind you under the ground.

- There's no question in my mind that Don was a k*ller.

I think he was the personification of evil.

♪ ♪

- Police in Western Iowa are searching

for any sign of a serial k*ller.

- ♪ Something's comin'

♪ Something's on its way ♪

- The woman claims her late father k*lled

at least women and used his children to help bury them.

- ♪ Take all the children ♪

♪ Where floodwater's rolling ♪

♪ Ain't no devil ♪

♪ Gonna be where we go

♪ ♪

[tense music]

♪ ♪

- There had long been a story

about the monster of Green Hollow,

who would k*ll people.

- There's different nicknames,

but the two that I've heard around here were

the Green Hollow Hacker

and the Green Hollow Goatman.

♪ ♪

- All of the kids my kids' age,

they're calling him the Green Holler Mauler.

[chuckles] For real.

♪ ♪

- Growing up in the area,

we heard stories about bodies in a well.

♪ ♪

- The first time I heard a rumor

was probably while I was in high school.

♪ ♪

The road used to run clear through Green Hollow.

That was just a spooky drive you'd do on a Saturday night

with a bunch of your buddies.

- People would come out to gawk

because they'd heard of the hollow folk.

And they were chased off with g*ns.

- If that's where the rumor is,

do not go up Green Hollow.

♪ ♪

- I mean, growing up, we knew

not to go around his place and stay away from him.

It was kind of a boogeyman-type story.

- My mother told me a lot of things

that you only thought

you knew about in horror stories.

- Lucy believes

that the monster of Green Hollow

is Donald Dean Studey.

♪ ♪

- I'm rolling.

Hey, Lucy, can you do me a favor?

Can you just clap your hands in front of you?

- Thank you. - Perfect.

- OK. - OK, we're ready.

- Oh, that's, like, a take. - That's like--yeah.

Yeah, yeah. - Oh, OK.

I never wanted to be in front of a camera,

and I am not photogenic, so...

[laughs] God.

OK, let's get out of here.

What time is it? :, OK.

[soft music]

♪ ♪

We're going to where my dad used to live--

Green Hollow, Iowa.

♪ ♪

I don't know why I have a good memory,

but I remember things by where we lived

and locations.

♪ ♪

I remember running around that town.

I remember the train would pass through there.

We'd put pennies on the track.

♪ ♪

And they'd be flattened out.

I remember jumping in mud puddles

from the potholes.

[children playing]

I remember that we used to play hide-and-seek,

and I was little, and I thought if I stood as a statue

on top of the washer or dryer, that I was actually hiding.

[laughter in distance]

My dad was married five times,

and my mom was wife number three.

But she died when I was months old.

I grew up with my dad

and three full-blooded siblings--

my older brother, Gary,

my sisters, Susan and Linda, and then myself.

I'm the youngest out of us four.

♪ ♪

After my mom died,

we were on the road for a few years.

♪ ♪

My dad was a degenerate gambler,

and he would bet on the horses.

And when my dad needed money,

he had a pipe with cement in it.

And he would just go find someone to mug

and just beat 'em, take the wallet, and leave.

But one time outside of Texarkana,

there was a guy he hit too hard,

and Dad thought for sure he k*lled him.

[soft music]

When Dad and us kids moved back to Green Hollow,

he needed someone to watch us.

He would look for women

who didn't have a place to--to stay.

♪ ♪

I guess nowadays, you'd call them lot lizards,

but those were, like, prostit*tes at truck stops...

and women at bars.

He called them bar slushes.

♪ ♪

And he brought 'em home.

♪ ♪

They had a consensual relationship with my dad.

My dad was a very good-looking, charming man.

But eventually, the mental abuse would start,

the physical abuse would start.

And you could be perfect, and it would still get worse.

♪ ♪

Some of the women were like moms to us.

♪ ♪

I remember the lady who started with a D--

Darlene, something like that--

I really wanted Dad to marry Darlene.

I liked her.

She used to take and trace my ear.

♪ ♪

And she'd do that over and over.

And then sometimes she would twist my hair

around my ear.

She was nice.

But she did not leave Green Hollow alive.

♪ ♪

- Unbelievable story tonight, unbelievable story--

bodies in a well.

Like, dozens and dozens and dozens of bodies.

- Lucy has told authorities for years

that her father demanded she and her siblings

help him bury the bodies.

- A woman claims that her father was a serial k*ller.

- Cadaver dogs searched the area where Lucy Studey

says her father buried bodies.

What is it like, and what did the cadaver dogs find so far?

- They naturally were drawn

to both the well and--and other spots.

- Lucy's story, as wild as it may seem

to readers and audiences,

checked out--

every word.

[tense music]

- The article on Don Studey rocked our world.

- Knowing his history with us,

it made me sick to my stomach to think I lived with that guy.

- I saw the article,

and the first thing I thought was,

it's about damn time.

- When the "Newsweek" story came out,

that's when everything got huge.

I finally had to turn my phone off,

because, I mean, everybody was calling.

- A lot of reporters start showing up,

to the point we actually put a "no trespassing" sign

at the front of the house.

♪ ♪

- Once the story broke,

we just kind of, like, sat back and watched.

But then we realized

that they were trashing Lucy again,

and we knew she was telling the truth.

- After many discussions,

we decided that it was time to reach out

and see if we could contact Lucy.

♪

It had been years

since we had contact with any of the Studeys.

So it was a blessing to be able to reconnect

with my stepsister.

♪ ♪

- This is the entrance of Green Hollow.

You can see how isolated it is,

and there's a lot of sh*t that went on

up in these hills that, you know--

that nobody knows about.

Where that trailer house sits

is where the end of our trailer was,

and our trailer went that way.

That old blue and white trailer house,

we used to live in...

and then my dad got a better trailer house.

[tense music]

And that's where I remember Dad k*lling the women.

♪ ♪

Between

up until at least ,

I remember my dad, on average,

k*lling at least four people a year.

♪ ♪

[somber music]

♪

- My name is Eric Ferkenhoff.

I'm a reporter at "Newsweek."

I focus on investigations.

I remember exactly where I was,

and this woman called.

She's like, "My name's Lucy Studey McKiddy,

"and my dad has been k*lling people

for his whole life and hiding them in Iowa."

You know, you get calls from people all the time,

especially in investigations,

and vetting these calls is very important,

but you're never gonna properly vet a call unless you listen.

♪ ♪

She said that her dad would find women,

bring them home, k*ll these women,

bring them up to a well on the Studey property,

and would dump their bodies in the well

on the land that they grew up on.

She tells me this story over an hour, hour and a half,

and she is precise.

She's been making these complaints

and reports for years.

♪ ♪

So we run a big story about this in "Newsweek."

And that got enough attention

that the sheriff's department

and the DCI and the FBI decided,

we're actually gonna dig and find answers.

♪ ♪

- Well, I'm Sean Smith.

I'm a fourth-generation farmer in Fremont County.

The property we're talking about

where we think these bodies are

is actually on a piece of my ground.

[tense music]

Don called me one evening.

I think he was drunk.

But, yeah, he was just ranting and raving.

And he started talking, and he says,

"When you were in that well,

did you see cow bones or human bones?"

I said, "Don, I've never been down in the well in my life.

What the hell are you talking about?"

And he goes, "Well, my daughter says I put a body in a well,

and the sheriff's office is gonna dig it out."

But when he said it...

I don't know-- it was the weirdest feeling.

I mean, why would he call me up if they--

if he wasn't worried about something?

♪ ♪

And as soon as I got off the phone,

I called the sheriff's office

and left a report with them.

And then several years later,

that's when this stuff all popped up again.

♪ ♪

I took the sheriff and the-- I think some FBI guys,

showed them where I thought the well was.

There was a little indentation

where I was pretty sure that's what it was.

We went and made a path down to it.

Then they decided to go ahead and do the core sample.

[soft music]

- They bored three holes

feet deep in one well.

That lasted about / days.

- I personally don't think they did a good job.

That's my opinion.

I think there's a very good chance that

there's a body in that well, yes.

- After a several-day excavation

of a reported mass grave in southwest Iowa,

authorities say no evidence of human remains was found.

- As of this time, we have no--

nothing.

- Nothing was popping out of the ground,

and they closed the case.

But according to Lucy, they dug in the wrong place

and that it was a botched investigation.

[tense music]

- When I realized that

they weren't even in the right spot--

they were on the wrong hill,

and they were core-drilling into the wrong well--

I was mad.

You know, I was in Florida,

and I couldn't do a g*dd*mn thing.

- She was not allowed on the property

at the time they dug in the well.

She says, had she been there,

they would have gone to the correct coordinates

and dug a different well.

- The woman's older sister argues

these allegations against her father are not true.

♪ ♪

- When I first interviewed with the FBI,

I did tell 'em Lucy's right about one thing.

And they perked up. They go, what's that?

I go, "Dad did like the horse races."

And they both giggled.

The whole thing, since "Newsweek" broke out--

the whole thing's been a lie since day one.

♪ ♪

And just because she made "Newsweek"

doesn't mean she's telling the truth and I'm lying.

I have pictures that show

the tender moments of my father,

that he was human.

And I have pictures of Lucy and Dad together

showing she was not afraid of him.

This is us at Louisiana Downs.

This is when my dad traveled the horse-racing circuit.

It might have been a little ill*gal,

but Dad used to bet us horse-racing tickets--$.

Dad was actually a pretty good gambler.

Lucy here is drinking a soda. She doesn't look afraid.

We actually had a lot of fun.

He was a very good father.

He was loving. Times I felt bad, he hugged.

Had nightmares, he consoled us.

♪ ♪

Here's Lucy in Green Hollow...

giving my father rabbit ears.

If she was that traumatized and scared of him,

why would she be holding rabbit ears behind his back?

He was caring. He was--he was loving.

Here is my father holding my son,

and Lucy is sitting there caressing my son

right beside my father with a big smile on her face.

♪ ♪

This is in Green Hollow,

supposedly the land of nightmares.

There was no nightmares up there.

Lucy told me one time I blocked it out.

I didn't block nothing out.

Why do you think they found nothing?

There is nothing.

I mean, you're talking about the Iowa DCI,

and you're talking about the FBI.

Here's my father during his th birthday.

If we hated him that much,

why would we throw him a birthday party?

There was no trauma. There was no nothing.

I grew up a normal childhood.

My dad didn't have much money, but you know what?

He got us through, and he got us through happy.

He was committed to keeping us together after my mother died.

There was nothing in the world he wouldn't do for us,

even Lucy.

He was honored to walk her down the aisle.

It was one of the best moments of his life.

She was his baby.

♪ ♪

He might have been rude to other people,

but he wasn't to us.

He wasn't a people person.

I will admit, he was no angel.

♪ ♪

But he was no k*ller.

[ominous music]

- [sighs]

[vehicle door opens, closes]

♪ ♪

In this town, everyone's related to everybody.

We just don't know how.

You better check your DNA before you marry.

Let's see here. This is our row.

This is where some of the Studeys are buried.

This is Ira and Rose, dad's parents.

This is my Uncle Louis, and he was involved

in criminal activity with my dad.

That's Dude Studey.

He was the local drunk.

He was Dad's first cousin.

He was into some of the criminal activity.

The rest are just related to us.

And this is my dad and my stepmom, Charlotte.

Dad k*lled her.

It's listed as a suicide, but he k*lled her.

[tense music]

I hope he's burning in hell.

♪ ♪

- Our mother passed away

February of .

[somber music]

We were told she k*lled herself

with a r*fle in the car.

But we've always believed that he k*lled her.

- Don Studey.

- Don Studey k*lled her.

- And when we reconnected with Lucy,

Lucy did say that she believed her dad k*lled Mom

and asked us if we would agree to have our mother exhumed

to help prove her death was not a suicide,

it was a homicide.

- And we all agreed.

[soft music]

- Our mom, Charlotte,

was Don's fourth wife.

♪ ♪

- Growing up, the three of us were always close.

- Mm-hmm.

- A lot of my memories is our mother

teaching us how to bake and how to sew

and how to.. - Garden.

- Garden.

- And she loved flowers.

We always had flowers. - She loved flowers.

- And birds, she loved birds. - Yes, birds.

- Yep. - Snakes...

- She did not like creepy-crawlies.

- No, we used to go and find 'em.

And we would stick 'em in her pocket all the time.

And when Mom went to go do laundry...

[laughing]

- She would find all my creepy-crawlies.

- She would get us back, though.

- Yeah, chi--childhood was not perfect by any means.

♪ ♪

- She had a drinking problem,

and then she would quit.

♪ ♪

- Pretty happy up until...

all the crazy with Don started.

The first time I met Don,

I would have been .

I remember we were having dinner,

so they came over, him and his four children.

- He was a very nice gentleman.

I mean, nice to us kids, nice to his own kids.

- Yeah, what I remember about him is,

he was charismatic, and he was funny.

- Yeah.

- And we did have a good time, yeah.

- He would take us places, you know?

- I was living at home when they met.

I was a senior in high school.

And I was worried about how fast it moved.

Here comes this guy with four kids in the picture.

And I said, "You don't know him that well yet," you know.

I don't--I don't--

I didn't trust him,

because he never could even look me in the eye.

And I moved out before they moved in.

- Mom married Don.

And once he moved into our home

with his children,

his personality started to change.

[tense music]

- If Don lost money at the racetrack

or if Don was drinking or in a bad mood,

he would come home and just take it out on his kids.

- Yeah.

- I mean, he literally would take the belt buckle--

the buckle-- and just whomp on 'em,

kick 'em, stomp on their heads, their necks,

their feet, their hands.

♪ ♪

But then he started taking it out on Mama.

And it wasn't pretty.

- The first time that I knew

Don beat my mom was when Marie called me

from the neighbors' and said, "He..."

[voice breaking] "He beat her so bad,

she's in the hospital."

[sniffles] And it was so bad.

- It was. - [sniffles]

♪ ♪

- When I was ,

I had come home from a babysitting job.

And when I came in...

I don't even know how she was still alive.

I really don't. - Neither did the doctor.

- He was--he was hitting her in the face

with the butt of his r*fle.

He was just--

then he put the r*fle down,

and he just started punching her.

I--I--it was just surreal.

I went in and, of course, you know,

got in the middle of it and pulled him off

and then got really mad.

Just the look on his face was complete and utter evil.

It was... - Red eyes.

- It--yeah, and he grabbed me by the throat

and held me against the wall.

♪ ♪

Somehow, I ended up getting loose,

and I took off running.

And I just remember turning around,

and he was at the corner of the house

with the r*fle pointed at me.

♪ ♪

I'm not sure why he didn't sh**t me,

but I did get away.

And that's where the cops were called.

And they did take her to the hospital,

and that's when I called Dawn.

- And then I went up to the hospital.

And when I went in and saw her,

I mean, I can't even explain to you how bad--

it was--

there weren't too many spots on her body

that didn't have a bruise.

♪ ♪

The doctors told me that she was lucky to be alive.

♪

If it happened again, she probably wouldn't survive.

They said they had a psychi--a psychologist

talking to her too,

because she refused to press charges.

She was terrified of him.

She was terrified of him.

I said, you know, "Mom, you need to leave him.

You have to leave him."

And she said, "You don't understand. I can't.

He told me if I do, he'll k*ll you kids."

And I said, "Well, he won't do anything

"to us kids if we let the police know

that he's threatening us."

And then she really started shaking,

and she really started crying.

And she said, "No, you don't understand."

She said, "You need to leave it alone.

He knows people, and he has connections."

♪ ♪

- Well, at least we're in Council Bluffs, David.

We made it.

- Yeah. Long trip, though.

- We did pretty good on the time.

We left Wednesday at : p.m.,

and it's Friday at :, so...

And what was it, like, , miles?

- About.

[soft music]

♪ ♪

- This looks like our apartment.

Our garage is over there, David--

opposite end of where we're gonna be.

- Yeah, well...

[imitates crash] - Yeah. [imitates crash]

- [laughs] - Yeah.

Let's meet a neighbor by taking off their mirror.

[laughs]

- Nah, just total their car.

I'm David McKiddy.

I'm not that much of a talkative person,

so I don't know what else to say after that, really.

- [scoffs]

Very lightly, yes.

Mom exaggerates the amount of tricks I actually know.

In my wallet--considering it's a normal wallet,

but little do people know is that it bursts into flames.

Starting to run out of fluid on that.

[solemn music]

The first time I remember

Mom talking about her dad k*lling people,

I was around eight to ten.

♪ ♪

Whenever she hasn't been investigating,

it's been relatively normal.

We've lived normal life.

Whenever we do end up investigating,

she goes in depth with it.

Most of the time, it causes us to...

like, leave the place we're at.

It causes us to go quite downhill money-wise.

Eventually, the money problems would actually,

when I was younger, get so bad

that she had to take a break from the investigation,

just because, if not, we were gonna be homeless.

So she'll stop for a year to three,

get back to a good state financially.

But then she always thinks,

maybe I can finally get the justice again,

which begins the whole cycle

of going through the investigation,

getting nowhere, losing all the money,

restart the cycle.

♪ ♪

I'm getting tired of, like, moving around a ton.

It has caused quite a lot of fighting between us,

but I know Mom's not just crazy enough

to, like, ruin our lives repeatedly over this.

If Mom's lying, which I know she's not,

there'd be absolutely no reason to at this point.

♪ ♪

- When I was pregnant with my son, David,

and after he was born...

I knew that I had to get better.

I wanted to be a better mom for David.

♪ ♪

But I have ruined his life three times in years,

going after those bodies,

where I've put myself on the verge of bankruptcy.

And I--I get myself out,

and then I put myself right back in.

♪ ♪

I tried to be happy.

I tried to forget.

I had a husband, a son, a house.

I should have been happy.

But deep inside, I wasn't...

because...

there was bodies in a well.

I can't forget about 'em.

I would look at my son, and I would think,

what if it was him in the well?

[voice breaking] If my son was missing...

I would want to know.

[tense music]

♪ ♪

I can't believe I left Florida to move to Iowa.

♪ ♪

[sighs] I'm sitting here relaxing.

I'm sunburnt. I'm soaking wet from sweat.

[sighs]

♪ ♪

This better be worth it.

♪ ♪

This--

it better be worth it.

[Kossoy Sisters' "Down in a Willow Garden"]

♪ ♪

- ♪ Down in the willow garden ♪

♪ Where me and my love did meet ♪

♪ There we sat a-courtin' ♪

♪ My love dropped off to sleep ♪

♪ I stabbed her with my dagger ♪

♪ Which was a bloody knife ♪

♪ And I threw her into the river ♪

♪ Which was a dreadful sight ♪

♪ My father often told me ♪

♪ That money would set me free ♪

♪ If I would m*rder that dear little girl ♪

♪ Whose name was Rose Connelly ♪

- We rollin'? - Camera rollin'.

- Test, feeding. - Great.

[tense music]

- I'm Robert Masson,

and I helped Don Studey carry a body into the woods.

♪ ♪

[tense music]

♪ ♪

- When I saw the newspaper article,

I recognized the trailer.

And it just-- boom, I was there.

♪ ♪

I met Don at the bar near Thurman.

I'm not sure of the name of the town.

I was in my s.

Being drunk and stoned, going bar hopping--

I mean, that's what I did.

Don was working behind the bar,

and there weren't very many patrons at the bar.

He started buying me drinks.

And then he asked me if I...

wanted to earn bucks.

"Want to help me move some stuff?"

"Sure." [scoffs]

♪ ♪

I drove my car.

We had separate vehicles, and I just followed him.

♪ ♪

We ended up at the Green Hollow residence

with the trailer there.

♪ ♪

Oh, yeah, that's the right place.

It's just a lot of things have changed.

I parked here, but he asked me to move my car over there,

and he parked his truck back in here and then went around,

and there was a body wrapped up in--in white.

I don't know if it was plastic or--or cloth,

but all I saw were some black...

Converse-like tennis shoes,

and he said it was a woman.

[ominous music]

He grabbed one end, I grabbed the other,

and we walked down this way.

♪ ♪

And he was leading the way,

and he was going a pretty good clip.

And I was stumbling behind,

and it was an awkward feeling.

And this was just a skinny path with trees on both sides of it.

It wasn't open like it is now.

But we went back, and we went--

went a ways.

This would be about the most that I could have gone with it.

♪ ♪

I was winded, and I just dropped

the end of the body I had.

And he didn't get mad.

I just said, "This isn't for me."

And--and he said, "Go on back where you were,

and I'll get-- I'll do the rest of this."

I hopped in my car, and I--I sped away.

I remember just going so fast, I thought I was gonna

almost wreck off this gravel road, and...

[tense music]

I didn't feel safe yet.

I still felt under the--

the umbrella of fear.

I could have been buried in the same hole or whatever

that he buried that lady's body.

- I think I was carrying the upper torso,

and he--and he was carrying the feet as we walked.

That was traumatic to me.

To him, it was like...

everyday occurrence or something.

It was like no big deal.

This wasn't his-- his first rodeo.

This wasn't his first time.

He--

he'd done this before.

♪ ♪

I'm uncomfortable bringing this stuff up from the past.

I never shared it with anyone.

I'd buried it, buried it deep.

I have nothing to gain...

by coming forward.

I mean, it's a risk for my future.

♪ ♪

A lot of people aren't believing Lucy.

I felt, like, compelled to stand up for her.

My hope is that someone follows Lucy's story and--

and finds the bodies,

'cause I'm--I'm sure they're there.

I know there's at least one there.

♪ ♪

[tense music]

♪ ♪

- I was years old in February of

when Charlotte died.

She was trying to leave Dad, you know?

She had a place.

She came home that night to get her belongings,

and she was trying to get her clothes.

And Dad said,

"The b*tch can leave with nothing."

- Here's a picture of my father

and my stepmother.

If you can tell, they looked all lovey-lovey.

They used to walk hand in hand, arm in arm.

When she was sober,

she was the sweetest, kindest gal in the world.

Even to this day, I miss her.

♪ ♪

[scoffs]

I really can't remember what went down that night.

All I know is, once they started arguing,

we all went to our rooms.

Lucy and Linda went to their room.

I went to mine.

♪ ♪

- I was watching TV in the living room,

and I just tried to stay out of their fight.

And she made a couple of trips in and out of the house

to her car.

And every time she left,

she had clothes clutched to her,

because Dad was trying to grab 'em out of her hand.

♪ ♪

- My bedroom door was shut,

and they were arguing in their bedroom.

Maybe--I don't know how long.

It was for a while.

And then I heard her stomping down the hallway.

I just remember her exact words--

"f*ck you. I'll k*ll myself."

♪ ♪

And she took off out the front door.

♪ ♪

- Dad left about an hour later.

I didn't see him go out the door,

but I heard the door slam, and his car was gone.

[solemn music]

He came home in the morning,

and the first thing he said when he walked in the door is,

"I found Charlotte dead in her car.

She committed suicide."

And he went to the phone and called the police.

After he hung up, Dad told Susan, Linda, and me

that we better say that he was home all night,

so we did.

But I do remember I was numb

because I knew she didn't commit suicide

and that Dad k*lled her.

- [chuckling] No.

Not at all.

He's dead.

Why would I condone him now?

Dad was home that night.

I got up to go to the bathroom, middle of the night.

There was a lump in the bed.

I have no idea what went down when she left the house.

Lucy and Linda have no idea.

I wish I would've stopped her, but she was drunk.

I think if she would've been sober,

I don't think she would've k*lled herself.

♪ ♪

- According to the police report,

Charlotte shot herself using my dad's r*fle.

But that night, I saw her leave each time.

She never took the g*n.

You can't sh**t yourself with a g*n

if you never took it.

- I had my door shut. I saw no g*n.

I don't know where she got the g*n,

but I swear on my soul--

I don't care if people think I'm lying.

God knows I'm not lying.

I heard her say the words.

I heard her say, "f*ck you.

I'll k*ll myself the way your wife did."

- Susan is lying.

But I understand why she's lying.

I really do.

My dad's manipulation was master level.

He could convince you of anything.

He could be mentally and physically a*usive to you,

and you still want to try to please him.

So being around Dad

and having him twist your mind like that,

she's turned him into a saint.

- No.

- I saw both of them be a*usive towards each other.

There was times we pulled Charlotte off of Dad.

There was times we pulled Dad off of Charlotte.

There's times we pulled them off of each other.

Charlotte could fight.

She was a tiny woman,

but she could hold her own.

Men aren't supposed to hit women, which is fine.

But you know what?

When women hit men,

you got to expect to get--

I mean, they both weren't innocent.

- They threatened to k*ll each other all the time.

Then the next day, "Oh, I love you so much."

- Well, maybe the time Charlotte went to the hospital,

but there was times Dad was pretty bloody too,

but he didn't go to the hospital.

The cat scratched. [chuckles]

♪ ♪

[solemn music]

♪ ♪

- It's : a.m.

We are going down to the Thurman Cemetery.

Charlotte is being exhumed out of her grave.

I'm with Marie and Charlotte,

her two daughters. - Hi.

- We just exited Interstate ,

and we gotta go through Thurman

to get to the cemetery.

♪ ♪

My school used to be right here where that shed is--

Thurman Elementary.

Charlotte was there.

Charlotte came to my school for some Christmas pageants.

- Oh, really?

- This is my kind of country.

- It is pretty here, and it's peaceful.

And the road is right here.

Take a left. Yep.

Oh, the truck is already there.

It better not start without us.

- Well, it's not : yet. - OK.

- They just probably have to get themselves all set up.

- Yep, that's us.

Right there is-- They started already.

- They weren't supposed to frickin' start.

- Well, you know. - OK.

This is what's wrong with f*cking--

who in the hell is up here?

- I don't know.

- I have a question.

Why did you start?

- They wanted us to start.

- Yeah, well, it takes quite a bit of time

to get everything ready.

So that's why everything's all dug and everything.

- You guys weren't supposed to start without us.

- That's--that's how we got-- everybody's on a time schedule.

- [scoffs] - You guys didn't tell us that.

- [sighs] - But it takes--

I mean, these guys have to get everything--

- But when you say : a.m., it's supposed to be : a.m.

- I get it, but it takes hours to dig this grave.

He had to move stone.

- It just would've been nice to know,

'cause we really, truly wanted to be here when it started.

- Yeah, so since I'm a one-man guy,

and by Iowa law, I have to be here,

I couldn't say, well,

what time's it gonna come out of the ground?

I don't know my schedule.

- As soon as you even broke ground,

you should've called us!

We could've came out!

Why did you break ground without calling us?

- I'm gonna make one phone call right now,

so I could end this real quick.

- Do you know what?

- She's a loose cannon. - I know.

- Why did you break ground? - Lucy, can you please stop?

I get that this has all changed,

but you screaming at people is not helping it, so stop.

- He broke ground, and he didn't contact us.

- I don't f*cking care right now! Stop!

- Those are the f*cking pricks that live in Fremont County.

- Just leave it!

- You know, f*ck him.

- Stop it. - No, because--

- You're acting like your f*cking father right now!

So stop! - Why didn't he call?

- Because it just happened. - They broke ground,

and they didn't call!

- I get it, but it isn't helping.

Stop it.

If you're gonna be like this, go sit in the car.

- When they're nothing but a bunch of small-town,

small-minded f*ck--

they are why my dad got away with m*rder!

Do you know what?

Maybe my dad should've put

more f*cking people in the well!

And he can start with that man!

- Easy. Don't hurt my--come on!

You just dented the f*cking truck!

- I did not! - Look at it!

- Fine. - You dented the f*cking truck!

- f*ck you.

I'm getting my sh*t out of here,

and I'm never talking to my stepsisters again.

I'm gonna get my millimeter,

and I'm gonna solve it the way my dad solves sh*t.

♪ ♪

What is wrong with people in Fremont County?

Do you not know that there's f*cking bodies up there?

I'm not lying!

There's f*cking bodies up there!

- Hey, miss-- - Calm down, Lucy.

- Calm down, Lucy. - "Calm down"?

Everybody should be mad!

There's f*cking bodies up there!

- Yes, we know. - More bodies than here!

- Lucy, we know.

- And you guys just calmly-- like, no big deal.

There's f*cking bodies up there!

♪

- My dad goes,

"It seems like every woman I love dies on me."

He goes, "I don't understand."

[g*nsh*t]

- Charlotte Studey was found

in a vehicle in front of a house.

- She had a b*llet wound to the right temple.

- He said, "Your mom committed suicide."

And I said, "No, she didn't."

- I saw the electrical cord hanging from the crossbar.

It--it just didn't add up.

- She's trying to protect herself as the g*n's fired.

- He's got two wives and a girlfriend

who he called in to the police reporting their deaths.

What's the odds of that?

I think he'd be better off winning the lottery.

- She said, "How could I not be loyal to my brother?

He k*lled for me."

- I don't understand the actions

of the Fremont County Sheriff's Department.

- You don't want to go down that path with me,

because I guarantee you, you will not like that at all.

[upbeat music]

- ♪ And now he sits by his own cottage door ♪

♪ A-wiping his tear-dimmed eye ♪

♪ And now he waits for his own dear son ♪

♪ Upon the scaffold high ♪

♪ My race is run beneath the sun ♪

♪ Though hell's now waiting for me ♪

♪ for I have m*rder*d that dear little girl ♪

♪ Whose name was Rose Connelly ♪