Paper Ghosts: The Ozarks

During the 1981 Fourth of July weekend, four people were found dead inside a massive farmhouse that belonged to a wealthy Ohio family. Desperate to find answers, surviving family members reached out to M. William Phelps for help. After a years-long investigation, new developments help track the movements of a new suspect and uncover a series of mysterious deaths that could expose what really happened that terrible night 40 years ago...

Everyone in Bethel, Ohio, has a theory about what happened to the Stevenson family on July 6, 1981.

An incident that takes place at one of the family's fireworks stands becomes an eerie prelude.

As the focus starts to shift towards the mystery man who visited the Stevensons just hours before the murders, unique investigative techniques are implemented by law enforcement in an effort to find answers. Forty years later, those tactics are revealed when a cache of never-before-heard recordings are discovered and reveal a puzzle of new information.

See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information...

Detective Cooper finds a new person of interest with connections that are hard to ignore.

Dick Weston is the key to the Stevenson murders. As the Sheriff’s Department and FBI begin to build a case against the former convict, their investigative aim steers toward the two women who alibied him. 

See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

As Dick Weston remains the prime suspect in the Stevenson murders, one question keeps coming up: Where is family friend Ron Thomas? Meanwhile, an unlikely source surfaces with new information that adds weight to a possible motive.

See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

Is Ron Thomas a cold-blooded killer, or misunderstood? To really understand Ron, one needs to look at his life before the Stevenson murders. A detective helps reveal where the Stevenson family friend had been hiding every time he evaded cops and fled town–and introduces a woman with a dangerous past.

See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

In the months after the Stevenson murders, Dick Weston and Drucilla Merida were indicted by a federal grand jury–but not for murder. Ron Thomas, on the other hand, was no longer the Fed's priority. This didn't go over too well with Carol Thompson. So she decided to do something about it herself.

See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

When you spend your entire life cheating and stealing, karma is bound to show its dark face and destroy you. 

Thank you for listening to season 2 of Paper Ghosts. Stay tuned and subscribed for more to come.

See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.