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#Buried in the Backyard
#Buried in the Backyard
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00:00:00I don't know what you want.
00:00:18What's my money?
00:00:19Well, what's the money for?
00:00:22For drugs.
00:00:24The next time the shots are not going to be warning shots.
00:00:30They would say that at first he was very charming.
00:00:39But then he was very possessive.
00:00:43He put one woman in the hospital.
00:00:46He beat her so badly.
00:00:50I walked inside.
00:00:53Tables were overturned.
00:00:56Bloods battered all over the refrigerator.
00:01:00It was a poor attempt to make it look like a robbery had occurred.
00:01:07We had another victim.
00:01:11He was marked there at the point of a gun, then shot.
00:01:16And buried in the snow in Deep Gap, North Carolina.
00:01:20There was an international connection.
00:01:28I stepped right into a murder investigation.
00:01:33We had a murder of a prime minister.
00:01:35He escaped into the shadows in old Stockholm.
00:01:41Perhaps Swedish hitman came.
00:01:44That gave us the final piece of the puzzle we needed.
00:01:51I'm going to tell you something.
00:01:52You're going to quit spreading these damn lies and rumors that you've been spreading about me.
00:01:56You tried to ruin me in this damn town.
00:02:00Dammit.
00:02:01I'm tired of it.
00:02:04And I'm going to put a stop to it.
00:02:05Watauga County is in the northwest corner of North Carolina in Appalachian Mountains.
00:02:28It's a very rural area, very mountainous, and the winters are very treacherous.
00:02:36The temperatures range from sub-zero to a little above freezing.
00:02:41On the morning of January 7, 1994, the roses already started getting bad because it was snowing
00:02:54and there were freezing temperatures.
00:02:59We received a phone call into our dispatch center.
00:03:02The survey crew with the Department of Transportation had been out in the Deep Gap area surveying some land
00:03:13and had stumbled across a pair of bare feet sticking up out of the snow on the ground.
00:03:25The surveyor believed it to be a human body.
00:03:32We went to the intersection of U.S. Highway 421 and the Blue Ridge Parkway there in Deep Gap.
00:03:38There were no houses in the area.
00:03:40It was very remote.
00:03:42The deputies that were first on the scene had set up boundaries to protect evidence of the crime scene.
00:03:51The surveyor appeared as a bleep shaken by what he had discovered.
00:03:59He led me in the snow and the wind.
00:04:02Into a wooded area with thick pine trees and thick underbrush.
00:04:06Up a hill to the base of a fallen tree where the body was discovered.
00:04:18There was lots of snow on the ground and there were no footprints around anywhere.
00:04:24No vehicle tracks.
00:04:25All that was visible when I arrived were two bare feet that were sticking up out of the snow.
00:04:37No shoes, no socks.
00:04:40Some of the skin and the toes were missing off of one foot.
00:04:44We could see the outline of the body underneath a blanket of snow.
00:04:51It was evident that the body had been there for some time.
00:04:58Near the feet of the body was a length of tape, maybe 18 inches long.
00:05:03There was hair and small dots of blood spatter on the back of the tape.
00:05:08It wasn't until we started removing a little bit of that snow that we were able to get a better look at what we had.
00:05:19The body was nude.
00:05:25It was an adult male and he was not wearing anything with the exception of a signet ring and a watch.
00:05:33There was a gunshot wound to the left temple, also to the right side of the neck.
00:05:43This scene is very bizarre.
00:05:46At this point, we're trying to figure out how this nude adult male ended up in Duke Cab, North Carolina, buried in the snow.
00:06:03Salisbury, North Carolina, is about 40 miles from Charlotte, along Interstate 85.
00:06:26The town has a lot of history in it, a lot of historic homes and parks.
00:06:35Salisbury was pretty laid back.
00:06:37Small town, local-owned stores, charming downtown.
00:06:43It was really safe.
00:06:44My friend, Victor Gunnarsson, moved to Salisbury, North Carolina, from Sweden.
00:06:58By 1993, he's been traveling all over the world.
00:07:03The globetrotter.
00:07:04And Victor liked the United States.
00:07:08I think he saw America like the land of opportunities.
00:07:12He wanted to live the American dream.
00:07:14And I think he adapted very easily.
00:07:18I always had a dream.
00:07:20I wanted to come over to the United States.
00:07:22This would be a good opportunity.
00:07:25On October 25th, I flew over.
00:07:27It was my first time out of Europe.
00:07:30It was wonderful.
00:07:31Victor introduced me to many of his friends in Salisbury.
00:07:36He didn't consider people strangers.
00:07:38It was just like friends that you didn't know.
00:07:40Victor knew everybody in Salisbury.
00:07:47He really loved it.
00:07:48He said that that felt more like home to him than Sweden did.
00:07:53He was an extremely smart person.
00:08:03He was probably the sharpest one I've ever met.
00:08:06He was a genius when it came to languages.
00:08:08He knew the Scandinavian languages.
00:08:10And English, German, Spanish, Italian, and French.
00:08:15He worked as a language tutor.
00:08:18And he enjoyed it.
00:08:21Victor had a good life in Salisbury.
00:08:22I worked at West Rowan High School.
00:08:31I taught English and theater.
00:08:34My mother lived in Salisbury.
00:08:38I had decided to come back after my divorce.
00:08:43And I wanted to raise my son, Jason, in a small-town value system.
00:08:48My friend Tana and I went to a cafe.
00:08:58Victor Gunnarsson and his friend Daniel Johansson were there.
00:09:02Tana was a very social person.
00:09:04And she had met Victor before through some friends.
00:09:10And I thought Victor was the best-looking thing I'd ever seen.
00:09:13He had dark hair and beautiful blue eyes.
00:09:16So charismatic, we talked.
00:09:20And I just thought, what a delightful person.
00:09:23He just was nice and somebody so entirely different.
00:09:30When I saw Victor and Kay together, I mean, I knew there was instant attraction.
00:09:35It was mutual.
00:09:37On the ride back to his apartment, he said he really liked her and everything felt really good with her.
00:09:42And he hoped that they could get involved more seriously.
00:09:50The following week, we spent almost every day together.
00:09:55I introduced him to my son, Jason.
00:09:59Victor helped him with his math homework.
00:10:01Jason felt very comfortable with Victor.
00:10:04He just liked him immediately.
00:10:07I had got this strong feeling that this relationship with Kay was going to turn out to be something really good.
00:10:14After about a week, there was time for me to go home to Sweden.
00:10:25Victor woke me up in the morning and we drive to the airport.
00:10:29I said, thank you.
00:10:30I had the time of my life.
00:10:32It's been amazing.
00:10:33And he thanked me, too.
00:10:35And he said, we'll meet when I get back to Sweden in March.
00:10:38I'll see you then.
00:10:40We said goodbye.
00:10:42And I see him walking down that long corridor.
00:10:45And he turned around, smiled at me, and waved one time.
00:10:49So that's my last memory of Victor.
00:10:52That night of December 3rd, we were going to go to Blue Bay Seafood.
00:11:02I asked my mother if she wanted to go so that she could meet Victor, because I just thought so much of him.
00:11:08And when my mother met Victor, she thought he was such a nice-looking man and so kind.
00:11:14It just was a really nice, nice time.
00:11:22The date ended, and I asked Victor if he was interested in going to find a Christmas tree
00:11:28and maybe cut it down and bring it back to the house and decorate it.
00:11:36And, of course, with his agreeable nature, yeah, let's do it.
00:11:42Let's do it.
00:11:43I think we both felt something, and it just was starting to grow.
00:11:52I got back to Sweden on an early morning on December 4th.
00:12:09And I called Victor, and I left the message.
00:12:11Hey, I made it safe.
00:12:13I'm back home now, and you can call me back.
00:12:17So, uh, when he didn't call me back,
00:12:20I thought it was a bit strange, because, uh, we talked to him all the time.
00:12:28I never heard from Victor.
00:12:31We were going to go find a Christmas tree.
00:12:34And so I started calling him and saying,
00:12:37Hey, did you forget?
00:12:38So we went and got the tree by ourselves.
00:12:41After that, Tana and I went to Victor's apartment because I was starting to get concerned.
00:12:50The door was open about four or five inches.
00:12:55It was winter and very cold outside, and you don't leave your door ajar.
00:13:00It was very strange.
00:13:01I just felt something was not right.
00:13:08Inside, it was disheveled.
00:13:12Items strewn about.
00:13:16Blood on the floor.
00:13:18Blood spatter all over the ceiling.
00:13:23It was scary.
00:13:31I never heard from Victor after our date.
00:13:47On December 3rd, I called, and I never could get him.
00:13:52My friend Tana and I went to Victor's apartment.
00:13:56The door was ajar.
00:14:04But he wasn't home.
00:14:06I walked inside and saw that everything was just like he had been there.
00:14:11But there was a blinking flash on the voice machine.
00:14:15And I thought, well, he hasn't even picked up his voicemail.
00:14:18So where could he be?
00:14:21I walked right back out, thinking that maybe he was downstairs.
00:14:25Maybe he was visiting friends.
00:14:28But he wasn't anywhere.
00:14:30And I see his cars outside.
00:14:33Nothing makes sense.
00:14:37I thought, does he not want to see me anymore?
00:14:39What have I done?
00:14:41My feelings were hurt.
00:14:43I thought it was over.
00:14:44When I got home to Sweden, I tried to call Victor quite a few times.
00:15:00He didn't respond to any of my phone calls.
00:15:04I was worried.
00:15:05This is not like him to not call you back.
00:15:13I was thinking, well, maybe he's out doing some stuff.
00:15:18Maybe he was with Kay.
00:15:20On December 9th, 1993, I woke up, did my usual thing, went to school teaching my classes, and they called me to the office.
00:15:44And I went to the office, and I saw my mother's boss.
00:15:50He told me that my mother didn't come to work.
00:15:54He was concerned, because she was a widow who lived alone.
00:15:58He drove me from West Rowan High School to my mother's house.
00:16:08Her car was in the driveway.
00:16:11My mother didn't come to the door.
00:16:14I had the wrong key.
00:16:16As much as I tried, I could not get in.
00:16:19Something had happened to my mom.
00:16:22I was afraid.
00:16:25My mother's boss called the police.
00:16:28Kay was prevented from going in the house.
00:16:32The officers who had responded to Catherine Miller's home had to force entry.
00:16:40As an investigator for the State Bureau of Investigation, I was immediately called in for assistance.
00:16:47When I entered the Catherine Miller residence, Mrs. Miller was propped up against her refrigerator inside of her kitchen.
00:16:58She was covered with blood.
00:17:11There was blood on the floor.
00:17:14There was blood spatter all over the refrigerator and her ceiling above her.
00:17:23A brief examination showed two apparent gunshot wounds to the head.
00:17:29She was fully clothed.
00:17:32Her legs were in front of her.
00:17:34The glasses that she wore were still on her head.
00:17:39There was a pot of beans on her kitchen stove as if she was about to prepare some dinner when she was killed.
00:17:49There was no question that Catherine Miller had been murdered in her own residence.
00:17:56I was standing in the driveway after a few minutes.
00:18:03A detective came to me and he said, she's gone.
00:18:08Some kind of scream came out of my throat that I had never heard before.
00:18:19I remember not knowing what to do.
00:18:22I felt nothing and then everything.
00:18:26It's almost like time stops.
00:18:29My mother and I had a love for each other that every mother and daughter should share.
00:18:42At that moment, I felt so all by myself.
00:18:49This is a 77-year-old, defenseless, older person.
00:18:55Whoever did this is just filled with evil.
00:18:59Who would do this to my mother?
00:19:19On December the 9th, 1993, I responded to the murder scene of 77-year-old Catherine Miller.
00:19:29It was scary.
00:19:35I stood out there on the street with neighbors, police cars everywhere for hours and hours.
00:19:45While they conducted their investigation to see what had happened to Mrs. Miller.
00:19:50There did not appear to be any evidence of her residence being broken into.
00:20:03The alarm system was not set.
00:20:06It had been turned off.
00:20:08Inside the house, it was disheveled.
00:20:11There were items strewn about.
00:20:13There were magazines thrown across the floor.
00:20:20Tables were overturned.
00:20:22But there were jewelry in jewelry boxes.
00:20:27There were firearms in the residence, in closets.
00:20:31As we examined the scene, we believed it was a poor attempt to make it look like a robbery had occurred.
00:20:39But all kinds of valuable things remained in the property, so she hadn't been robbed.
00:20:45There was a Salisbury Post newspaper inside her residence, an evening newspaper.
00:20:58This was on Thursday, December the 9th.
00:21:02But the newspaper was dated December the 8th.
00:21:05We knew she collected a newspaper, so there was no question that she was murdered on December the 8th.
00:21:16Kay Whedon was the closest person in Catherine Miller's life.
00:21:25She was completely devastated and in no state to be interviewed.
00:21:30We started interviewing Catherine Miller's grandson, Jason Whedon.
00:21:39He was visibly upset that she had been murdered, and he had no idea why this happened.
00:21:51Catherine Miller did not have enemies that we could determine or any people who even disliked her.
00:22:00Fall Spring has lots of drug activity that creates violent crimes, robbery, shootings.
00:22:17So we had a lot of work cut out for us to try to determine how and why this happened.
00:22:23The autopsy showed Catherine Miller was murdered by 238 caliber gunshot wounds directly into her head.
00:22:53The autopsy showed her.
00:22:5913th of December.
00:23:02I was back home in Sweden.
00:23:04It's been 10 days since I last heard from my friend, Victor Gunnarsson.
00:23:09His dad had called, and his parents were worried because they haven't heard anything either.
00:23:15He was very close to his parents.
00:23:18They had a very good relationship.
00:23:20And I was thinking that was strange.
00:23:23So I called him, but he didn't call back.
00:23:29I had a beginning to get a strong feeling that something just isn't right.
00:23:34So I called Bonnie Whitley, Victor's landlord,
00:23:37Liquid Apartments in Salisbury.
00:23:40She went to his apartment, and his car hadn't been moving.
00:23:44And Victor loved his car, and that's also confirming that it might be something wrong.
00:23:52The door was unlocked, so she went in.
00:23:57She found his keys in there.
00:24:01That was about the time that Bonnie found the missing persons report on him
00:24:05with the Salisbury Police Department.
00:24:10I had a strong feeling that something just isn't right,
00:24:13that something really bad may have happened to him.
00:24:17It was a nightmare.
00:24:23She had received several anonymous, threatening letters,
00:24:28and also telephone calls.
00:24:31I thought, when is it going to stop?
00:24:33Bad things were happening to Kay and Jason Whedon.
00:24:39A few days after the murder of Catherine Miller,
00:25:06the department office manager, where Victor Gunnarsson lived,
00:25:11filed a missing persons report with the Salisbury Police Department.
00:25:18Victor Gunnarsson was a Swedish national
00:25:22who had relocated to Salisbury, North Carolina.
00:25:26His family in Sweden were very concerned.
00:25:30The missing persons report was put out all across North Carolina.
00:25:35But we received no leads.
00:25:44My mother was murdered.
00:25:47I was in shock.
00:25:49I didn't think about Victor
00:25:50until there was something in the newspaper
00:25:53that showed a picture of him.
00:25:55They were looking for Victor as a missing person.
00:25:58I really thought something had happened to him.
00:26:02This isn't right.
00:26:04And then Daniel called me.
00:26:08Kay told me that she hadn't heard from Victor.
00:26:11We just prayed and hoped for the best,
00:26:14that somewhere there might be some kind of logic answer.
00:26:18When the local Salisbury Police went to Victor's apartment,
00:26:24Victor's car was there covered in snow.
00:26:28Inside there was a dirty skillet on top of his stove.
00:26:33His brown bomber jacket was inside the apartment.
00:26:36And they also were able to see Victor's car keys
00:26:41and his wallet inside the apartment.
00:26:44There was no indication of violence
00:26:49or what happened to Victor Gunnarsson.
00:26:53At this point, he was just missing.
00:26:58At the time, I was with
00:27:01the North Carolina State Bureau of Investigation
00:27:04working on a different case.
00:27:06We were trying to determine
00:27:08who would want to kill 77-year-old Catherine Miller.
00:27:14A neighbor came forward
00:27:16and stated that the day before her body was discovered,
00:27:21she had seen a red Oldsmobile
00:27:24parked at Catherine Miller's house
00:27:26sometime on December 8, 1993.
00:27:30The neighbor had seen a white male
00:27:33get out of that red Oldsmobile
00:27:35and walk around Catherine's house.
00:27:38We brought in a sketch artist
00:27:40who sat down with that neighbor
00:27:43and created a composite drawing
00:27:46which we had hoped would help us
00:27:49lead to the identification of this person.
00:27:54We released the composite to the media,
00:27:58but it did not lead to anything.
00:28:05The next day, we interviewed Kay Whedon.
00:28:10We learned Kay and her mother,
00:28:13Catherine Miller, were very close.
00:28:17She didn't know anyone
00:28:19who would harm her mother.
00:28:21But then she revealed
00:28:23that earlier in 1993,
00:28:26she had received several anonymous,
00:28:29threatening letters
00:28:31and also telephone calls
00:28:33implicating her son Jason
00:28:35as owing drug money to different people.
00:28:41Some of those letters threatened Jason physically.
00:28:46I told the detective
00:28:49that Jason wasn't a troublemaker.
00:28:52He was just a kid that walked to the edge.
00:28:55A letter that I got was,
00:28:57roses are red, violets are blue.
00:28:59We're going to up Jason in your house too.
00:29:02And then there was something
00:29:03about burning it down.
00:29:05And that really scared me.
00:29:07And then one day,
00:29:11I discovered on the garage wall,
00:29:13written in red paint,
00:29:14Jason.
00:29:15I called the police.
00:29:17I told the detective,
00:29:19I thought maybe Jason
00:29:20had made somebody mad
00:29:21at his own school.
00:29:24But I just,
00:29:27I didn't know.
00:29:28Also, I got a series of phone calls
00:29:30about Jason and drugs
00:29:33and breaking both of his legs.
00:29:35I didn't recognize the voice.
00:29:36It was very gravelly.
00:30:00And then one night in March,
00:30:03it was late.
00:30:06And we were in bed
00:30:08and Jason woke me
00:30:10from a sound sleep.
00:30:13He heard something.
00:30:17We went outside to look.
00:30:20I saw a hole.
00:30:23The wood had sort of splintered off of it.
00:30:27Somebody had shot at the house.
00:30:29I called the police.
00:30:30When the detectives came out,
00:30:32we found the bullet
00:30:34in the sock drawer,
00:30:35inside a sock.
00:30:38I was really terrified
00:30:40that something was going to happen to me
00:30:42or to my child.
00:30:44I would never sit in front of a window anymore.
00:30:47You're always looking over your shoulder.
00:30:51I thought,
00:30:51when is it going to stop?
00:30:52Those letters were personal.
00:30:57The telephone calls were personal.
00:30:59That being the case,
00:31:01it's someone close to the family
00:31:04who's involved in this.
00:31:08The case had not been resolved.
00:31:11At that point,
00:31:12the State Bureau of Investigation
00:31:14began investigating the threats
00:31:16and Kay's house shooting
00:31:18as part of the ongoing
00:31:20homicide investigation
00:31:22of Catherine Miller.
00:31:24All of this clearly indicated
00:31:27that Jason and or Kay
00:31:30were being targeted.
00:31:46on Thursday,
00:31:50December the 9th, 1993,
00:31:53Catherine Miller
00:31:54had been found murdered
00:31:56in her own residence.
00:31:58Shot in the head.
00:32:08We interviewed her grandson,
00:32:11Jason, several times
00:32:13at great length
00:32:14and in great detail.
00:32:16He didn't know
00:32:20who sent threatening letters
00:32:23or shot at the house.
00:32:26Jason admitted using marijuana,
00:32:29but he said that
00:32:30he did not owe anyone
00:32:32any money for drugs.
00:32:35He was always forthcoming
00:32:36with his information.
00:32:38Jason and Kay Whedon,
00:32:41their alibi completely checked out.
00:32:44They were not suspects
00:32:45in the murder of Catherine Miller.
00:32:50But there is no doubt
00:32:52bad things were happening
00:32:54to Kay and Jason Whedon.
00:32:58I interviewed Kay
00:33:00about her past relationships
00:33:02to learn about any incidents
00:33:05that may have occurred.
00:33:06I learned that she was
00:33:08that she was the former fiance
00:33:10of police officer
00:33:12L.C. Underwood
00:33:14with the Salisbury Police Department.
00:33:16I told the detectives,
00:33:21I met L.C.
00:33:24through my next-door neighbor.
00:33:27He was a police officer.
00:33:30He said all the right things.
00:33:33He was handsome.
00:33:35I thought he was wonderful.
00:33:37After a few months,
00:33:41he took me to Boone
00:33:44for a weekend,
00:33:46and he proposed to me there.
00:33:49It seemed like too good
00:33:50to be true,
00:33:51which it was.
00:33:55Soon L.C. started questioning
00:33:56my every move.
00:34:00It seemed like he was
00:34:01trying to isolate me.
00:34:03I refused to let that happen.
00:34:06I just couldn't take this behavior.
00:34:09I ended the relationship
00:34:11at the end of summer of 92.
00:34:13L.C. Underwood did agree
00:34:21to talk with SBI agents
00:34:24early on in the investigation.
00:34:26He was willing to cooperate.
00:34:29He said that he was at home
00:34:30the night of Catherine Miller's murder.
00:34:33He had no problem
00:34:34with Kay Whedon or her mother.
00:34:43The murder of Catherine Miller
00:35:03was a difficult case,
00:35:05not easily or quickly solved.
00:35:09And then on January 7, 1994,
00:35:13a man discovered a body
00:35:15buried in the snow
00:35:17in Deep Gap, North Carolina.
00:35:30I met the other deputies
00:35:31on the scene.
00:35:33I was directed into a wooded area
00:35:35up an incline,
00:35:37completely out of sight
00:35:38from either road.
00:35:41We could see the outline
00:35:43of the body.
00:35:45Two bare feet were sticking up
00:35:46out of the snow.
00:35:48We started removing snow.
00:35:54We saw the gunshot wound
00:35:56to the left temple
00:35:58of the victim's head
00:35:59and also to the right side
00:36:00of the neck.
00:36:00An animal had chewed
00:36:05on one of the toes.
00:36:10It had been there
00:36:12for some time
00:36:14and was in the process
00:36:16of decomposition.
00:36:18It was difficult
00:36:19to look at it
00:36:20and to give any recognition
00:36:21based on facial
00:36:23or body appearance.
00:36:25But when law enforcement
00:36:28removed the snow,
00:36:29they discovered
00:36:30the body was nude.
00:36:37He was not wearing anything
00:36:38with the exception
00:36:39of a signet ring
00:36:41and a watch.
00:36:44Immediately,
00:36:45that made us think,
00:36:46well, robbery
00:36:46wasn't a motive here.
00:36:48There was no weapon found
00:36:50at the crime scene.
00:36:51There was no clothing
00:36:53in the area.
00:36:55But near the feet
00:36:56of the body
00:36:57was a length of tape
00:36:59with hair stuck
00:37:00to the back
00:37:01and small dots
00:37:03of blood spatter.
00:37:09They photographed the body
00:37:11and sent it
00:37:12to the North Carolina
00:37:13chief medical examiner
00:37:15for autopsy.
00:37:24The victim had been shot
00:37:26twice about the head
00:37:27with a .22 caliber weapon.
00:37:30The bullets were found
00:37:31inside the body,
00:37:33extracted,
00:37:34and sent up
00:37:34to the lab
00:37:35for analysis.
00:37:37We reached out
00:37:37to law enforcement agencies
00:37:39across the state.
00:37:45I received a telephone call
00:37:47from Detective Paula May
00:37:49that a body
00:37:51had been found
00:37:52in Watauga County,
00:37:53buried in the snow.
00:37:55Based on his description,
00:37:57she gave tall,
00:37:59dark hair, mustache.
00:38:01We thought it was
00:38:02Victor Gunnarsson,
00:38:03but it wasn't official.
00:38:05From that point forward,
00:38:07we were working together
00:38:08as one unit.
00:38:11We did not have
00:38:12dental records
00:38:13or fingerprints.
00:38:15We had to request
00:38:17them from Sweden
00:38:18because this was
00:38:19a foreign citizen.
00:38:20When the documents
00:38:22arrived,
00:38:23the records
00:38:23confirmed
00:38:24the man buried
00:38:27in the snow
00:38:27was Victor Gunnarsson.
00:38:33His family
00:38:34in Sweden
00:38:35was notified.
00:38:38Victor's dad
00:38:39called me
00:38:40and just said,
00:38:41sit down.
00:38:42They found him
00:38:44and he was murdered.
00:38:46And, uh...
00:38:51It was awful.
00:38:56I can still feel
00:38:57the pain.
00:38:59Daniel called
00:39:01and they had found
00:39:02Victor Gunnarsson's body
00:39:03in Deep Gap.
00:39:06My mom
00:39:07had only been dead
00:39:09for a month.
00:39:09I didn't
00:39:11connect Victor
00:39:12with the death
00:39:13of my mother.
00:39:15I was thinking,
00:39:16how can anybody
00:39:17do this?
00:39:19Kay did not tell us
00:39:21initially about
00:39:22missing person,
00:39:24Victor Gunnarsson.
00:39:25It's completely
00:39:26understandable.
00:39:28She was
00:39:28so extremely
00:39:30upset
00:39:31about her mother's death.
00:39:33She only
00:39:34dated Victor
00:39:35for a few days.
00:39:36two victims
00:39:37from the same town
00:39:39found
00:39:3990 miles
00:39:41away
00:39:41from each other.
00:39:43We didn't know
00:39:44if there was
00:39:44any link
00:39:45between these
00:39:47cases.
00:39:53On January 11th,
00:39:55the investigative team
00:39:56and I went back
00:39:57to the crime scene
00:39:58there in Deep Gap,
00:39:59North Carolina,
00:40:00where the body was found.
00:40:01At that point,
00:40:03the State Bureau
00:40:03of Investigation
00:40:04performed a luminol test.
00:40:07The whole place
00:40:07lit up,
00:40:08indicating the presence
00:40:09of a lot of blood
00:40:10that made us believe
00:40:12that he was murdered
00:40:13there and bled out
00:40:14on the scene.
00:40:15At that point,
00:40:25we went to Victor's
00:40:26apartment
00:40:27looking for
00:40:28evidence
00:40:29of what happened.
00:40:32We inventoried
00:40:33everything.
00:40:34His passport
00:40:35and ID
00:40:36were present,
00:40:36his wallet.
00:40:38He had dirty dishes
00:40:38in the sink.
00:40:39He had mail
00:40:40stacked up.
00:40:41We needed
00:40:42to learn more
00:40:42about his nature
00:40:43and what was going
00:40:44on with him
00:40:44in order to
00:40:46figure out
00:40:47who killed
00:40:47Victor Gunnarsson.
00:40:49Earlier that month,
00:40:51Victor's parents
00:40:51called my newspaper
00:40:53and asked
00:40:54if he could help
00:40:55them find out
00:40:56where Victor was.
00:40:58I knew
00:40:59the Gunnarsson family
00:41:00in Sweden.
00:41:01Victor Gunnarsson's parents
00:41:03were worried
00:41:03because they had not
00:41:04heard from Victor
00:41:05in a long time.
00:41:07I had been
00:41:08the U.S. correspondent
00:41:10for the Swedish
00:41:11newspaper Express.
00:41:12I had been traveling
00:41:13for most of that week
00:41:14to Salisbury.
00:41:16That day,
00:41:17I arrived
00:41:17at Gunnarsson's place.
00:41:20I stepped right
00:41:21into a murder
00:41:22investigation.
00:41:23There were detectives
00:41:24working there.
00:41:26They had a bunch
00:41:27of newspaper clippings
00:41:28and letters
00:41:29in Swedish
00:41:29that they were
00:41:31looking at.
00:41:32Then they realized
00:41:33that I could be
00:41:33of help
00:41:34with translations.
00:41:35We learned
00:41:36that Victor Gunnarsson
00:41:38had actually
00:41:38been arrested
00:41:39and charged
00:41:40with the assassination
00:41:41of Olaf Palme,
00:41:43who was Sweden's
00:41:44prime minister.
00:41:45February 28th, 1986,
00:41:54Wolf Palme
00:41:55was murdered
00:41:55in the old city
00:41:56of Stockholm
00:41:57and Victor
00:41:58had been a suspect.
00:42:00He was one
00:42:00of the Palme haters.
00:42:05Some of the policemen
00:42:07working on the case
00:42:08quickly came
00:42:09to the conclusion
00:42:10that Victor Gunnarsson
00:42:11was their man.
00:42:12They were going
00:42:13to get him.
00:42:14We thought
00:42:15perhaps he had
00:42:16political enemies
00:42:17that we were
00:42:18not aware of.
00:42:20There were so
00:42:21many possibilities.
00:42:24Perhaps
00:42:25Swedish hitmen
00:42:26came
00:42:26and murdered Victor.
00:42:29He moved
00:42:36to Salisbury,
00:42:37North Carolina.
00:42:38Just turned the page.
00:42:40We have
00:42:41two homicide victims.
00:42:43It was a city
00:42:44in shock,
00:42:44country in shock.
00:42:46They opened
00:42:47his mail,
00:42:48they listened
00:42:48to his phone.
00:42:51Couldn't feel safe,
00:42:52he was looking
00:42:52over his shoulder
00:42:53all the time.
00:42:55They're setting up
00:42:56their tripods
00:42:57in the street.
00:42:58waiting for
00:43:00me to come out.
00:43:01It was,
00:43:02it was a madhouse.
00:43:04You
00:43:04backstabbing
00:43:05son of a
00:43:06He showed
00:43:07anger,
00:43:09he showed
00:43:09volatility.
00:43:11You want to
00:43:11fight,
00:43:12come get it.
00:43:14And he had
00:43:15guns.
00:43:16the body of a
00:43:31nude.
00:43:32The body of a
00:43:33nude.
00:43:34the body of a nude adult male has been found murdered and buried in the snow in a rural area
00:43:52of deep gap north carolina it's very bizarre we believe that our victim's body belonged to
00:44:01victor gunnerson a language tutor he moved to salisbury north carolina early in 1993 several
00:44:10months before he was killed when we found the body we learned that victor was a swedish citizen
00:44:16who had been formally charged with the assassination of sweden's prime minister
00:44:21olaf palme the swedish authorities charges were never carried out against victor but the prime
00:44:30minister he was very controversial most people either loved him or hated him it was a huge group
00:44:37of palmer supporters and palmer haters in sweden at the time victor was one of the palmer haters but
00:44:45the government posted a big reward about many millions of dollars to find the murder of the
00:44:49prime minister when we learned that i thought perhaps swedish hitmen came and murdered victor
00:44:59february 28th 1986 olaf palmer and his wife went to the cinema late night performance nine o'clock to
00:45:13meet their son and his girlfriend when we left the cinema in the old city of stockholm a man came
00:45:22running up he shot two shots one for the wife and one for palmer the prime minister's wife was only two
00:45:31three meters from the shooter she was wounded slightly the prime minister was shot as a lot of blood
00:45:38he was one of them it was a lone gunman he escaped into the shadows up the stairs
00:45:44there was a taxicab on the other side of the street the taxicab called the police say there's a shooting
00:45:55the alarm went off in the police headquarters
00:45:59the ambulance brought palmer to the hospital and soon after declared him dead
00:46:06we had a murder of a prime minister it's big news such things were not supposed to happen in a country like sweden
00:46:23it was a city in shock the country in shock
00:46:30that's kind of news that changes everything
00:46:35to compare it with the american experience it was like the kennedy murder
00:46:41there's a ton of interrogations with people who have been close to the murder scene
00:46:53thousands of phone calls tips information regarding murder
00:46:58victor gonersom was one of those that was mentioned in those tips
00:47:04we call him the 33 year old
00:47:09witnesses saw him sitting at the cafe a few hundred meters from the crime scene about the time of the murder
00:47:22the police investigated his apartment police found documents anti-gulof palmer's propaganda material in in a zoo
00:47:34we arrested him
00:47:38it was questioned several hours without any lawyer
00:47:45the prosecutors let him go after the first 24 hours
00:47:53that enraged the policemen working the case
00:47:56they opened his mail
00:47:59they listened to his phone
00:48:01to his friends
00:48:02telephones
00:48:03and they went all over the place to find something about him
00:48:08Victor's name was everywhere over the media it was terrible he was like a prison in his own home
00:48:20it took like three years before they finally realized he had an alibi for the crucial hour of that murder night
00:48:33the government's lawyer paid gonersom damages for the time he had had been arrested
00:48:49what really happened nobody knows
00:48:53Victor being accused the suspect of killing our prime minister that was devastating for him
00:48:59he was innocent
00:49:04Victor's name was everywhere in the media and he lived in such a small village so everybody knew
00:49:10people could see him everywhere and he couldn't feel safe he was looking over his shoulder all the time
00:49:16he felt like he wanted to get away from Sweden
00:49:20Victor had a friend
00:49:22he lived in Salisbury
00:49:23he said that it was the perfect place
00:49:26he moved to Salisbury
00:49:30North Carolina
00:49:32just turned the page
00:49:33it's often scratched somewhere else
00:49:36it felt like a safe little town
00:49:39but it turned out not to be for him
00:49:43four years later
00:49:45Victor Gunnarsson's body was found
00:49:47buried in the snow
00:49:48in a rural area of
00:49:50Deep Gap, North Carolina
00:49:53the fingerprints of Victor Gunnarsson arrived from Sweden on January 14th
00:50:03following the identification of Victor Gunnarsson several media outlets began contacting us
00:50:12Victor's murder was huge news once this information got back to Sweden and it attracted a lot of international attention
00:50:23the international press was really speculating about maybe this was a payback killing
00:50:31Victor Gunnarsson had been vocal about his opposition to the Prime Minister Palme and we thought he could have been targeted
00:50:46we also spoke with Victor's friend Daniel Johansson who had been in Salisbury a few days before Victor was murdered
00:50:55the detectives wanted to know who would want Victor dead
00:51:00I just knew that someone did it
00:51:02but who it was I had no clue
00:51:05it wasn't real
00:51:12now we're trying to play catch up
00:51:15Victor was last seen on the night of December 3rd
00:51:18we didn't find his body until January 7th
00:51:21we're about 34 days behind in our investigation
00:51:24Don Gale was the assisting agent from the State Bureau of Investigation
00:51:29it was at that time
00:51:32Watauga County Sheriff's Department learned that officials in Salisbury
00:51:36had been investigating the murder of Catherine Miller for the past three weeks
00:51:39Catherine Miller was Kay Wheaton's mother
00:51:41we very quickly began sharing information
00:51:46I told him Catherine Miller was the 77 year old woman
00:51:51shot in the head inside of her kitchen
00:51:57at the time of his death
00:51:59Victor Gunnarsson had become friends with Kay Whedon
00:52:02and they had begun a romantic relationship
00:52:08they were together the last night that Victor Gunnarsson was ever seen alive
00:52:12and we had a clear relationship with Victor Gunnarsson and Kay Whedon
00:52:21and Catherine Miller and Kay Whedon
00:52:23it could have been why both of them had been killed
00:52:28we immediately thought there was an instant and very strong connection there
00:52:38we just could not rest until we saw both the murder of Catherine Miller and Victor Gunnarsson
00:52:43code
00:52:51do
00:52:53you
00:52:54do
00:52:56We have two homicide victims, Swedish national Victor Gunnarsson, Salisbury native Catherine
00:53:19Miller, and one common denominator, and that is Kay Whedon.
00:53:23Victor Gunnarsson was in a romantic relationship with Kay Whedon.
00:53:27Catherine Miller was Kay Whedon's mother.
00:53:30There is an instant and very strong, important connection there.
00:53:34With all that was going on, we certainly did not want to overlook even the smallest detail.
00:53:41We began with the apartment.
00:53:45Victor had been reported missing by his apartment manager in Salisbury on December 15th.
00:53:50We learned from the apartment manager that a few days after Victor went missing that
00:53:55his apartment door was left ajar.
00:53:58But when we went there with a search warrant, the apartment door had been locked and secured
00:54:03by the apartment manager.
00:54:05His car was in the same place in the parking lot, still covered with a little snow and ice.
00:54:13Victor Gunnarsson was found murdered in Deep Gap, 90 miles away from Salisbury.
00:54:20You start thinking about potential scenarios.
00:54:26We also learned that Victor had lots of female friends.
00:54:32Because many of them had been intimate with Victor and had shared some kind of relationship
00:54:36with him.
00:54:39We didn't know if we were going to end up with a jealous husband or a jealous boyfriend.
00:54:47On January the 18th of 1994, we began a follow-up interview with Kay Whedon.
00:54:58I learned from Kay, she and her mother, Catherine Miller, and Victor had all gone to dinner together
00:55:03on the night of December 3rd.
00:55:06After dinner, they had then gone home to Kay's house.
00:55:11Victor and Kay were sitting outside around a fire with her son, Jason, and some of Jason's
00:55:18friends, and she saw Elsie Underwood drive by her home.
00:55:27Underwood was a Salisbury police officer.
00:55:29Kay had been through a terrible relationship with Elsie Underwood.
00:55:33She said that her relationship with Underwood was super dysfunctional and unhealthy.
00:55:39He wanted to get back together, and she did not want anything to do with him.
00:55:45She said that he was extremely jealous.
00:55:47Months before she went to a restaurant to have dinner with one man, Underwood shows up,
00:55:54causing a scene, dumps a glass of tea in her lap that got Underwood temporarily suspended
00:56:01from the Salisbury Police Department.
00:56:04What really unnerved me about Underwood is that not only did he go by her house, but Victor
00:56:11Gunnarsson's car was parked there in Kay Whedon's driveway.
00:56:15It was the last night that Victor Gunnarsson was ever seen alive.
00:56:20Elsie would have seen Victor and Kay together at Kay's residence.
00:56:27We thought that Underwood could have been bad and bitter that Victor Gunnarsson was in a
00:56:32dating relationship with Kay Whedon.
00:56:34We were also aware that Kay's mother had a very strong feeling about Underwood.
00:56:39I learned from Kay that her mother advised her to get a restraining order against Elsie Underwood,
00:56:47and the magistrate talked them out of applying for the restraining order, saying that,
00:56:53did they really want to end a man's law enforcement career?
00:56:57Kay had gone for help, but she did not receive the support that she should have received.
00:57:03Kay Whedon said that during that weekend of December 3rd and 4th and 5th, when Victor went
00:57:12missing, Underwood was really reaching out to Kay, but Kay is still not interested in a relationship
00:57:19with him.
00:57:19A couple of days later, Catherine Miller's body is found.
00:57:29He wasn't jealous, but he was also law enforcement in North Carolina for 19 and a half years.
00:57:35We didn't know, was he capable of murdering two people?
00:57:40He was bound and taken there against his will.
00:57:47The husband said, I'm not letting nobody miss my wife.
00:57:52He obviously is very dangerous.
00:57:55At this point in the investigation, Catherine Miller and Swedish national Victor Gunnarsson
00:58:22had both been violently murdered.
00:58:29The one common link between both of these homicides turned out to be Elsie Underwood.
00:58:39He was the former fiancé of Kay Whedon.
00:58:45The other detectives and I delve into Underwood's background.
00:58:52We learned that he was married three times.
00:58:56All three marriages failed.
00:58:58We interviewed those women.
00:59:02They would say that at first he was very charming, but then he was very possessive, very jealous,
00:59:08and he would become very controlling and very violent.
00:59:13He put one woman in the hospital in intensive care.
00:59:17He beat her so badly.
00:59:18Mr. Underwood was interviewed by detectives again.
00:59:31He nodded very vigorously that he was involved in the murders.
00:59:36He showed anger.
00:59:38He showed volatility.
00:59:40When Underwood was questioned about the night of Friday, December 3rd, and he said that he
00:59:47had a date with another Salisbury woman, Shirley Twitty, and he was in the neighborhood.
00:59:53We went to Shirley Twitty, and she was able to tell us everything that happened.
00:59:58She told us that the night that Victor Gunnarsson was having dinner with Catherine Miller and Kay,
01:00:04Underwood had told Shirley that he was going to take her to dinner.
01:00:09Then on the way, he said, I'm really not hungry.
01:00:12He said, I need to drive by my buddy's house because he thinks his wife is cheating on him.
01:00:17And they drive by.
01:00:18She says he gets very interested when he sees there's a car in the driveway.
01:00:21Shirley said that Underwood called and had his buddy with Salisbury Police run the tag number,
01:00:28and then ended up going home early that evening.
01:00:32After the interview, detectives took her, put her in the car, and said,
01:00:37lead us to that house that Underwood had you drive by.
01:00:40She took them right to Kay Whedon's house.
01:00:43We believe he was stalking Kay.
01:00:52We had confirmed that Underwood obtained Victor Gunnarsson's name and address from his license plate number.
01:00:59But at that point, we didn't have any physical evidence.
01:01:02We did not have his fingerprints or any DNA at the crime scene at Catherine Miller's house.
01:01:07Captain Miller had been murdered with a .38 caliber, and Mr. Gunnarsson had been killed with a .22 caliber.
01:01:17A search warrant was necessary to see if the weapons were there in L.C. Underwood's house.
01:01:26On February 1st, 1994, we conducted a search warrant of L.C. Underwood's house.
01:01:35He was super OCD.
01:01:36Everything was in its place.
01:01:40The fringe on his throw rugs had been ironed.
01:01:44His canned goods were alphabetized, and all the labels turned facing forward.
01:01:50He had six, eight pair of the same sheet.
01:01:52On his walls, where most people have photos of their family,
01:01:56he had professionally framed letters from his time in law enforcement for him directing traffic at a funeral.
01:02:03I'd never seen anything like this.
01:02:07These were all things that he apparently had to control.
01:02:11Because we thought that Victor was kidnapped and taken to Deep Gap, we searched his vehicles as well.
01:02:20Both trunk mats were seized from L.C. Underwood's red Monte Carlo as potential evidence.
01:02:30A neighbor had stated that she had seen a red Oldsmobile parked at Catherine Miller's house sometime on December 8th, 1993.
01:02:44She had seen a white male get out of that red Oldsmobile.
01:02:48We could not confirm that it was, in fact, L.C. Underwood last seen in the driveway.
01:02:55But we did not find any weapons.
01:03:01Both trunk mats were processed extensively with no results at all.
01:03:09We knew he was very jealous, but there was no physical evidence to connect L.C. Underwood.
01:03:16It was really important to me that we all remain open-minded, not zero in on one suspect.
01:03:23There were so many possibilities of the murder of Victor Gunnarsson.
01:03:30The Swedish news organization were curious because Victor Gunnarsson had become infamous as a suspect in the assassination of the Swedish prime minister, Palmer.
01:03:44One theory was that hitman from Sweden had come and murdered Victor Gunnarsson.
01:03:52We tried a number of tactics to develop information on this.
01:03:57I spent a lot of time talking with the investigating officials in Sweden, but there was no evidence to confirm the Swedish hitman theory.
01:04:07It became a whirlwind of investigations.
01:04:13Who killed Victor?
01:04:14Who killed Miss Miller?
01:04:16Everywhere.
01:04:18Internationally.
01:04:19Worldwide.
01:04:20Salisbury became the focus.
01:04:23The Swedish press came to Salisbury and used our newsroom.
01:04:27I have been trying to figure out what happened.
01:04:29I had to get the story home to speed and now.
01:04:33They're calling me.
01:04:35They're showing up outside my house.
01:04:37They're setting up their tripods in the street, waiting for me to come out.
01:04:43It was a madhouse.
01:04:45With no one arrested and the interest internationally into Victor's homicide growing, we felt the pressure on the investigators intensify.
01:05:01We have two homicide victims.
01:05:04The killer was still at large.
01:05:05In early 1994, in the months following the murder of Victor Gunnarsson,
01:05:30we still have no physical evidence to connect a suspect to Victor Gunnarsson and his murder or Catherine Miller's murder.
01:05:44We felt like we had plenty of reasoning that L.C. Underwood could be involved.
01:05:53We got a court order for a mail cover to make a copy of all the incoming mail that Underwood received.
01:06:00Salisbury was a very, very small town, and the only thing people were talking about was this case.
01:06:17I had known L.C. since the late 80s.
01:06:22And one day, L.C. started calling me at night,
01:06:26telling me about how they were zooming in on him,
01:06:32that they had tunnel vision, that he didn't do it.
01:06:38L.C. Underwood had talked to the press.
01:06:42He was telling friends with the Salisbury Police Department,
01:06:45we were trying to frame him, and this was all a setup.
01:06:48In May of 1994, we decided to request a court order to trap and trace Underwood's phone calls.
01:07:05Trap and trace does not allow you to hear the contents of the call,
01:07:09but it identifies the call.
01:07:11In July, four of us were interviewing the people that were identified by the trap and trace.
01:07:24One of the people identified happened to be the girl that L.C. Underwood was dating at that time
01:07:33in Charlotte, North Carolina.
01:07:35I went to that person's duplex apartment in Charlotte, knocked on the door.
01:07:45The door was opened.
01:07:47I identified myself.
01:07:49She stepped outside of her door and told me,
01:07:53I know all about you.
01:07:55I know everything I need to know, and I don't have a thing to say to you.
01:07:59Instead of just walking away politely, what I said was,
01:08:06well, really, all I wanted to know was that,
01:08:10was he beating you like he did his other girlfriends?
01:08:15And then I left.
01:08:17I knew that he was very hot-tempered,
01:08:20but we needed to tell her who the real L.C. Underwood was.
01:08:25Later that same evening, my pager started vibrating,
01:08:32and I looked at the number,
01:08:35and I recognized it as L.C. Underwood's residence,
01:08:40and it just kept going off.
01:08:46We went to the sheriff's department, set up a recording device,
01:08:49and Don made the call to Underwood's number.
01:08:53L.C., this is Don Gale.
01:09:02I'm going to tell you something, Don Gale.
01:09:03You're going to quit spreading these damn lies and rumors
01:09:05that you've been spreading about me.
01:09:07I'm going to guarantee you that.
01:09:09I'm tired of it, and I ain't taking you no more, Don.
01:09:12You're going to ruin me in this damn town.
01:09:15You're not going to do it anymore.
01:09:17Now, damn it.
01:09:18I'm tired of it, and I'm going to put a stop to it.
01:09:23I was able to say very, very little.
01:09:27L.C.
01:09:28L.C., hello?
01:09:29He just goes ballistic on me.
01:09:31I'm hurt.
01:09:33You ain't taking you damn damn no more, you mother****.
01:09:36What I was hoping for was that he would threaten me.
01:09:42You damn backstabbing son of a ****.
01:09:44So that we could arrest him for that and put him in jail.
01:09:49You don't want to **** fight, don't do it.
01:09:57Even though he was raging, he still never crossed that line.
01:10:00Unfortunately, there was not enough evidence to make an arrest of L.C. Underwood.
01:10:10Because this was such a high-profile case, we had not one but two homicide victims.
01:10:15The governor of North Carolina did issue a reward of $50,000 for anyone with information.
01:10:28Calls began to come into our dispatch center.
01:10:31We did receive information from a person who said that their male friend told him that in
01:10:37November of 1993, his friend caught Victor Gunnarsson in bed with his wife.
01:10:44In a hotel room, he had made Victor leave nude from the hotel room at gunpoint.
01:10:51And then the husband had, in a jealous rage, gone and murdered Victor Gunnarsson.
01:11:00In the fall of 1994, the investigation of the murder of Victor Gunnarsson and Catherine
01:11:21Miller, we did receive information from a person who said that their friend had confessed
01:11:27to them that he had caught Victor Gunnarsson in bed with his wife.
01:11:33In a hotel room, and in a jealous rage, he had killed Victor Gunnarsson.
01:11:40So, of course, we jumped all over that lead, and we interviewed the people involved.
01:11:46We learned there was a man who was jealous over his wife.
01:11:51He'd been seeing all these things about Victor Gunnarsson's murder in the newspaper.
01:11:54And the husband said, look, I'm not letting nobody mess with my wife.
01:12:00They're in a bar when he tells them.
01:12:02But none of that ever happened.
01:12:05It's just bragging.
01:12:07And through that interview, he admitted that he had just made the whole thing up.
01:12:10At that point, we refocused the investigation.
01:12:18As we kept building this puzzle, it just became apparent that the only suspect with the motive
01:12:27for the two murders was Elsie Underwood.
01:12:30We had placed a trap-and-trace device on Elsie Underwood's telephone.
01:12:43So it was recording both the numbers of people who were calling him
01:12:51and the numbers of people he was calling.
01:12:55We did that for months.
01:12:57We found multiple calls from a person identified as Cherry Mac.
01:13:09We learned Cherry Mac lived on Hoorah Street.
01:13:17When Catherine Miller was murdered, one thing that was taken was her wallet.
01:13:22It's contents were found on Hoorah Street in Salisbury.
01:13:28Cherry told us that somebody probably used her phone, but we weren't sure what it meant yet.
01:13:34On the first anniversary of Catherine Miller's murder, Agent Gayle suggested that we would ask the public for help.
01:13:47We decided to play one of the recordings of the anonymous caller who may threaten a cause to Kay Whedon.
01:13:55In March of 1993, we believe there is a connection there to the murder of Kay's mother, Catherine Miller.
01:14:07So the local TV station plays the recording of this threatening call.
01:14:11If you know who this person is, please give us a call.
01:14:27And it worked.
01:14:28A federal probation officer contacts the news station, and he says, I know exactly whose voice that is.
01:14:35In fact, I have him on federal probation.
01:14:37That person who was making those calls was a man by the name of Rex Keller.
01:14:42Once we had Rex Keller identified, we learned he was Cherry Mac's boyfriend.
01:14:55We interviewed him, and we confronted him with the calls that were made to Kay Whedon.
01:15:01Keller said that at the time, he had been running a convenience store in South Salisbury.
01:15:08He said he didn't know about any phone calls or Catherine Miller or Victor Gunnarsson,
01:15:15but he was on probation and was not looking forward to any more prison time.
01:15:24Rex Keller finally confessed that Elsie Underwood had asked him to make threatening calls about Jason Whedon, the son of Kay.
01:15:34At that point, we had circumstantial evidence, but we needed something even more tangible
01:15:42that would give us probable cause to arrest Elsie Underwood.
01:15:47We just could not prove beyond a reasonable doubt that Elsie Underwood committed these two homicides.
01:15:55He's still living in Salisbury, North Carolina.
01:15:58He's a free man.
01:16:00It was extremely frustrating, to say the least.
01:16:04In October of 1995, almost two years after these homicides occurred,
01:16:12the State Bureau of Investigation looked at the trunk mat evidence of Elsie Underwood's red Monte Carlo,
01:16:21and we didn't get any positive results.
01:16:25But the lab analyst examined both trunk mats one last time.
01:16:33The light hit just right, and then he saw deeply embedded hairs in that trunk mat.
01:16:41He then analyzed those microscopically with known head hairs of Victor Gunnarsson,
01:16:49and it was a match.
01:16:51That gave us the final piece of the puzzle we needed to arrest Elsie Underwood for Victor Gunnarsson's homicide.
01:17:03After Victor Gunnarsson's hair was found in Elsie Underwood's car,
01:17:11we submitted to the grand jury of Watauga County an indictment charging first-degree murder and
01:17:19first-degree kidnapping.
01:17:20I put together a multi-faceted plan of action to make the arrest involving multiple police agencies.
01:17:35We didn't want Underwood to barricade himself inside his home.
01:17:39We were conducting surveillance.
01:17:41If at some point Underwood left his residence, they were going to stop him in a car.
01:17:45L.C. Underwood was a police officer, and he had guns.
01:17:55He was a very dangerous and volatile person.
01:18:00Finally, he left his house.
01:18:03We were holding our breath, waiting to see what would happen.
01:18:15Prosecutor, District Attorney Tom Ruscher, gave the go-ahead to arrest Elsie Underwood for the murder of Victor Gunnarsson.
01:18:36They stopped him in a felony vehicle stop, made the arrest.
01:18:40We took custody of Underwood and brought him back to the Sheriff's Department.
01:18:48I was at school, teaching, when they called me.
01:18:52Don said, we have arrested him.
01:18:55I was so excited.
01:18:58I just fell out of the chair, crying.
01:19:02I was so relieved.
01:19:04This case also involved a second capital offense.
01:19:15Elsie Underwood murdered Victor Gunnarsson first, and then we thanked the letter to Catherine Miller.
01:19:23So we announced that we were seeking the death penalty.
01:19:27It was a tense time.
01:19:29There was no direct evidence that positively pointed to him.
01:19:36Underwood was the killer of Catherine Miller.
01:19:40In 1997, the state put Underwood on trial for the murder of Victor Gunnarsson.
01:19:47We felt that Elsie Underwood could not accept the breakup of the relationship with Kay Whedon.
01:19:56And he was insanely jealous of Victor Gunnarsson.
01:20:01He felt that Catherine Miller was an impediment.
01:20:05He felt that Victor Gunnarsson was an impediment.
01:20:09Therefore, they had to be destroyed.
01:20:11We believe that Friday night, December 3rd, 1993, Underwood left his home and went to Victor Gunnarsson's apartment.
01:20:33Gunnarsson was kidnapped and transported in the trunk of a Monte Carlo owned by Mr. Underwood.
01:20:41Victor was bound and taken there against his will.
01:20:47Gunnarsson was probably marked there at the point of a gun and shot.
01:20:57Underwood was a police officer.
01:21:00He had been trained in forensic work.
01:21:03We think he removed all the clothing to eliminate any possible trace evidence.
01:21:11We believe that on December 8th, he murdered Catherine Miller and her house.
01:21:19Both victims had been shot twice in the head.
01:21:32Elsie Underwood wanted to be with Kay Whedon.
01:21:35His motive was jealousy and control.
01:21:39And that was it.
01:21:40A jury can do whatever they want.
01:21:49You never know.
01:21:51But it did not take them long to come back with the verdicts.
01:21:59Mr. Underwood was found guilty of the first-degree kidnapping of Victor Gunnarsson.
01:22:05Underwood was found guilty of first-degree murder of the death of Victor Gunnarsson.
01:22:13I was never so happy the day that he was convicted.
01:22:31In the sentencing hearing, the jury came back 11 to 1 in favor of the death penalty.
01:22:36And because of that one holdout, he was given a life sentence for the first-degree murder.
01:22:44For the first-degree kidnapping, he was sentenced to 40 years to be served consecutively rather than concurrently.
01:22:53Unfortunately, we didn't have any physical evidence against him regarding Catherine Miller.
01:22:58And that's a tough hurdle to overcome.
01:23:03It's not fair, but Elsie was locked up.
01:23:08I hope he suffered.
01:23:09It kept him away from me and I think kept my family out of harm.
01:23:15I spoke to Kay the same day.
01:23:21Kay was crying and I was crying and we were happy at the same time.
01:23:25You know, that, you know, now he is where he belongs.
01:23:31My mother, who was a working mother and made herself somebody.
01:23:59She was Catherine, she was mom, she never skipped a beat.
01:24:05My mother was beautiful.
01:24:08I always remember Victor as a happy, humble, warm-hearted, genuinely friendly person.
01:24:23Victor was just so kind.
01:24:26And I just admired that so much about him.
01:24:31What an amazing person he was.
01:24:34I love you, brother.
01:24:34I love you.
01:24:35I love you.
01:24:40Transcription by CastingWords
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