Boys on the Tracks /// Part 2 /// True Crime Garage | Forensic Files

[music] [music] Heat >> [music] [music] >> Welcome to True Crime Garage. Wherever
you are, whatever you are doing, thanks for listening. I'm your host, Nick, and with me as always is the [music] next
sheriff of a beautiful little town called Parts Unknown. He is the captain. Let me see your hands, [music] boy. Let
me see your hands. It's good to be seen and it's good to [music] see you. Tonight in the garage, we are drinking
Huntsman Red Ale by Barley Mo Brewing Company. Garage Grade 4 [music] and A4 out of five bottle caps. The sheriff
approves. This is an Imperial double red ale that is not only hoppy and malty, but also smooth and sweet and has a very
beautiful red color. And Huntsman Red Ale was brought to us by First Up, where else Captain but in the beautiful little
town of parts unknown. >> Spray them. >> We have Lori and Bonnie and Janette as well. Looks like it looks like
>> all of you can spread them. >> It looks like the land parcels are filling up in parts unknown.
>> I'm selling a lot of tents. >> Next, we have Denise who says that this is a fivestar podcast.
>> Yeah. >> Well, thank you, Denise, for grading on a curve. And if you'd like to leave us a
fivestar review, go over to iTunes and treat yourself. And this next one is from Lynn who says, "Lots of love from
Little Rock, Arkansas. Much love to you." >> And last but not least, also a very big
thank you to Reququella in Minneapolis who is celebrating a birthday this month. So happy, happy, happy birthday.
Thank you all for pitching in for this week's beer fund. And if you want to buy us around for next week's show, go to
trueimeg.com [music] and click on the donate button. like your old jib. If you'd like to follow us on Instagram,
Snapchat, Facebook, [music] Twitter, any of that stuff at True Crown Garage. >> Do you have any new music for us,
Captain? >> Yeah, some people keep asking me, uh, who did the music on that one? It's the
captain. >> It's still the captain. >> That's my job. >> Well, that's enough of the business.
Let's get to the trailer. Everybody gather around. Grab a chair. Grab a beer. Let's talk some true crime.
>> [music] [music] >> where we uh didn't realize there was anybody else out there at first. We were
just like I said, goofing off. Uh and [music] uh we come up on or didn't really come up on we noticed there were
people on the track saw a flashlight come on and then go back off. They weren't looking in our direction but we
could see [music] the light and so we kind of quieted down and snuck up a little bit closer to see what was going
on. And there was five individuals uh standing on the tracks. One [music] thing that struck my curiosity is uh at
the time my mother was dating [music] uh an attorney named Dan uh Dan Harmon. I knew him well enough to recognize him.
There were two more [music] individuals that few minutes after we got there uh were
walking down the railroad tracks that had a rifle uh and what looked to be a flashlight and they were more or less
kind of minding [music] their own business. Uh, and when they realized someone else was on the tracks, uh, they
stopped and was fixing to turn around. When someone, uh, or Danny motioned for them to come closer,
>> [music] >> uh, over to where they were, uh, they hesitated and eventually [music] ended up walking on
towards the rest of the group. While my head was turned, I heard a what sounded like a gunshot. I saw a flash [music] as
you would expect with a gunshot at night. We were pretty much terrified and bolted and ran. Other witnesses [music]
corroborated that evidence. [music] This is part two of the boys on the tracks case. Captain, should we do a
little recap? >> Last time on True Crime Garage, >> in the early morning hours of August
23rd, 1987, this is in Bryant, Arkansas, two boys were laying motionless on the train tracks, and [clears throat] they
were passed over by the train. The investigation of their deaths falls into the jurisdiction of the Saline County
Sheriff's Office. Now, that investigation has been called botched at best. And where it picks up from there,
the medical examiner, this is Fami Malik, he takes over the case and he has to investigate his ruling on the cause
of the boy's deaths. He's going to claim that the boys were high on marijuana and
they passed out on the train tracks, then the train came and ran the boys over and that's the cause of death.
>> Ruling it an accidental death. >> You're exactly correct. >> Exactly. So, the parents of the two boys
are obviously dissatisfied with the sheriff's investigation as well as the medical examiner's findings. So, they
schedule a press conference. And it's after this press conference that a grand jury is established. And the grand jury
decides that they review the they review the evidence and they decide that the cause of death might not be accidental,
that it's a possible homicide. >> And they're going to call for a second autopsy. After the grand jury
successfully got the latest autopsy, this was conducted by well-renowned pathologist Dr. Burton. Now, remember,
he was from out of state. He was actually from Atlanta because they they needed not only fresh eyes on this, but
they needed someone that would not have connections locally or at the state level, but also at the time Atlanta and
Dr. Burton had access to better technology. This is going to change their findings of the death not being
accidental but by being murdered. >> Yes. Let's let's say correcting, right? Because they they just got it wrong from
the beginning. So from a possible homicide to a definite homicide and because the grand jury and the change in
the correcting of the rulings of death, the investigation was then transferred to the jurisdiction of the Arkansas
State Police. I say that because it's not only important to the telling of this story, but in today's episode, we
will be reviewing some statements that have been taken from the Arkansas State Police files from their investigation
into the murders of 16-year-old Don Henry and 17-year-old Kevin Ives. This new investigation team has an uphill
battle because from the get-go, it should have been investigated as a homicide, but it wasn't. and they didn't
do their due diligence and it was disinvestigated as a traffic death. >> Correct. And we even discussed items
that they failed to collect at the scene that may have had value towards pointing
towards any kind of of evidence. >> And before we get to the timeline, we need to kind of discuss what was going
on in the drug community in this town. >> Cocaine and other drugs were flowing into the city of Little Rock, Arkansas,
and the smaller communities that surrounded it as well. Uh this is coming from Central America via the freeways
that connected Miami, Los Angeles, and Dallas, but they were coming in by all forms of transportation. By the time of
1987, >> the movers would place cocaine on trains, and it would be dropped at designated drop spots. This was also
coming in by airplane as well. >> And not too far from the tracks where the boys were found, there's an airport
called the Mena Airport. And this was known by many to be trafficking drugs. >> Planes were landing near the airport
under the cover of night without using their lights. They were landing, sitting briefly, and taking off again without
cutting off their engines. >> Mhm. >> The state police was aware that this was going on. So to combat this, they
started parking vehicles near the airport. Well, the airplane started adjusting what they were doing. They
picked out different locations and now rather than landing they were just kind of buzzing the fields getting real low
about 100 ft off the ground and dropping things from the planes. >> Obviously we have Kevin Ives and we have
Don Henry. Those are the two boys that were found on the tracks. But now let's get into some of the other key players.
>> Yes. The first person that we will introduce is a man by the name of Jeff Rhodess. He's a young man that was
interviewed by investigator Don Birdong. And this is from the state police files.
Birdong's report. This is with an interview with a young man that Birdong does not identify in his notes. But his
notes state that the Wednesday before the boys were killed. Someone had contacted this man looking to buy an
ounce of cocaine. This being possibly Roads, the buyer. This guy was unable to obtain the cocaine, so he contacted Don
Henry. Don and Kevin met with the buyer and they said that they could get coke from Don's connections. Now, this
connection is not mentioned as well. >> Well, and mind you, that Don Henry was 16 years old at this time.
>> In another interview with the state police, this is with Don Henry's sister, Gayla. Gayla stated that Don had been at
the home of a alleged drug dealer to purchase marijuana on the Thursday or Friday before he was killed.
>> Mhm. >> She had also heard Don say that he knew quote the ultimate dealer unquote. He
didn't give a name to this person, but he said that the dealer worked out of Little Rock, Arkansas.
>> Well, we have evidence that the boys were smoking pot, so they got to get that from somebody.
>> I've been on pot runs. >> Mhm. Right. So, you go into the house just because the guy sells maybe all he
does is sell pot, but he might sell other things. In another statement, this is from Chris Ballard, who was at one
time married to Don's sister. He says that he saw Dawn on the Thursday before Don's death. Don said that he was going
to steal some cocaine. Chris also said that Dawn had mentioned something about this ultimate guy working out of Little
Rock, Arkansas. In one of the investigators notes, this is investigator Don Birdong. These were
entered into the file in the summer of 1989. And this is in regards to a conversation with a confidential
informant stating that Don and Kevin had overheard a phone call between the dealer and an unidentified individual
about a large drug drop near the area of the train tracks. Sergeant Barney Phillips interviewed a friend of Don and
Kevin's and said that the night that they had died, he was at a party at a mobile home and the two of them dropped
by. Before leaving this party, he said that they had told him that they were going to go get some cocaine so they
could sell it and make a bunch of money. >> Now, let's introduce Keith Con. >> Keith Con is a young man. He's a an
acquaintance of Don and Kevin's. Keith's mother, Betty Alexander, reported to a drug task force officer that her son had
told her that he knew something about the Ives and Henry deaths, but he wouldn't explain to her what. Now, Keith
would go on and tell his father and some of his friends that he had been out that
night with >> Well, unless, you know, not to interrupt, but he was pretty close with
his mother. >> Mhm. >> He was afraid to tell her. >> Correct. Yes. like severely afraid, but
in a moment and he I think he was afraid to tell his father as well. Wasn't like
he just came out with this information willy-nilly. >> No, he wasn't just running around town
telling anybody that would listen. Uh this was something that he was it was burning inside of him, but he was afraid
to talk about it. >> But I also think possibly, you know, having been in that father role that if
if my son, you know, my stepson would have said, "I know something, but I don't want to tell you." I would have
made him tell me, you know, because because I can't I can't try to protect you if I don't I don't know what you
know. >> Yeah. Yeah. Well, Keith had told his father and he had told some friends that
he had been out that night with Don and Kevin, this being the night of their deaths, and he stated that they were out
near Show Road, uh, where they were approached by two police officers in a vehicle.
>> Okay. Now, at this time, Keith is on his motorcycle at this point, and he states
that he fled the scene, and he believed that the boys were attacked and possibly
killed by those two police officers. >> So, so he saw them being attacked, and he fled the attack.
>> Yeah, he was he was hanging out with the two boys and as the officers approached,
he he took off. He got out of there. Months after having telling his father about the story involving the police.
Keith Cony's mother, Betty Alexander, she's at the local prison visiting her other son, Eugene Coney.
>> Now, while she's there, she meets a man by the name of Mike Crook. Mike Crook is
a former manager of GG's, which is a nightclub on the county line. Mike had told Betty about a Gigi's customer who
frequented the club and an incident that the customer had said he had seen at a small grocery store near Shrobe Road.
This is located in the general area of the train tracks where the boys were found. On the night of their deaths, he
was parked at the store close to the railroad tracks waiting for his wife. That's what this statement says. There's
actually another statement that says he believed that his wife was running around on him. So, he had parked there
hoping to catch her in the act of being with a boyfriend or being with another man.
>> Could you imagine just sitting out in a parked dark car waiting for your significant other to possibly be with
somebody else? >> I wouldn't waste my time. >> Yeah, I think that's that's good advice.
>> Wouldn't waste my time. Well, while the man is there and Crook will refer to this man as Jerry and he says that Jerry
saw three teenagers. One of them was on a motorcycle and then he saw two officers arrive at the scene.
These boys were there smoking pot is what he believed that they were doing. >> So, one could assume that that is Keith
Cooney on his motorcycle. >> Mhm. >> And that is also Don and Kevin and they're all kind of hanging out smoking
a little pot. >> Yes. Yes. Crook would say that Jerry does not identify the boys by name, but
he did in telling Crook this story. He did say, "I believe that two of those boys could have been the boys that were
found that night." >> Well, right. But this is just proving that his story makes a lot of sense with
Keith's story. >> Mhm. Jerry then sees what he believes to be a police car pull up. And at this
time, he says that one of the boys hops on the motorcycle and takes off. Now, some kind of interaction goes badly
between these police officers and the two remaining boys, and he sees that an altercation breaks out. And during the
course of this, he basically says that he sees the police officers beating the [ __ ] out of the remaining two boys. And
afterwards, they throw the kids into the back of the patrol car. The man, Jerry,
he tells Crook this story back at Gigi's nightclub at some point. And after discussing the story, Crook tells him,
you know what, that's probably, you're probably right. Those are probably the two boys that were found that night, and
you really should report this. Now, Jerry was a little hesitant to do so because he saw police officers, what he
believed to be police officers, you know, abusing some citizens. >> Right. Right.
>> And so he convinces Jerry to report this. Jerry does go and report this situation to the sheriff's office. Mhm.
>> Uh Jerry is immediately thrown in jail. Uh he's thrown in jail for back child
support >> and they keep him in jail for the mandatory sentence of 90 days that he
was to serve. After the 90 days, this Jerry person immediately leaves town. Now, why do we keep referring to him as
Jerry? Well, it's because Crook in the statement refused to name the guy, right? just stating that his name was
Jerry and he looked he looked kind of Mexican was the best description that he would give about regarding Jerry.
>> Yeah. Well, I think his real name was Sketchy Jerry. >> Well, we're going to follow that up with
another statement and this is from a man named Ronnie Godwin. Now, Ronnie Godwin,
according to his statement, he had been at Gigi's nightclub uh for about three or four hours the night that the boys
had passed away. >> This is a happening place. He said that he had had seven or eight beers there
before he left and he left around midnight. >> Uh when he was driving home, he was
driving down Highway 5. He turned down County Line Road. Uh and then he turned right on to 111. As he approached Shrobe
Road, he saw an unmarked police car. He said it was either tan or gray, but it had three antennas, police hubcaps, and
spotlights on it. uh instead of turning right onto Shra Road toward his home. >> Wait, hold on. Which could be like a
detective car. >> Yes. >> You know, because a lot of times like we we live in a pretty small town and when
you see Well, well, I do. You live north, but um you grew up here and you know, you see these cars, you have the
police cruisers. >> Mhm. >> And then sometimes you have the sheriff cars or you have like maybe a chief of
police car, but then you also have these detective cars. >> They're pretty easy to spot. tented
windows, a bunch of antennas. >> Yeah. Well, after seeing the vehicle, he decided to go straight to avoid being
noticed instead of turning towards going to his home. >> He had been drinking obviously that
night. He said seven or eight beers. And he was concerned that he was going to get another DWI had they spotted him. He
would eventually park his car and shut off his lights. But when he was near Shrobe Road,
>> dark canoe, >> he saw two cops with two boys. Uh his first thought was that the police may
have caught some boys trying to break into the store that was in the area. One of the boys was described as being
taller than the other and more heavy set and this boy had light colored hair. Uh
this boy had been shoved up against the phone booth by a larger cop. >> We can assume at this point the teenager
that they're pushing up against this pole would be Don Henry. >> Mhm. He during this altercation he
believes that he sees one of the teenagers being hit with something in the head. And this was near a phone
booth. So he wasn't certain if it would have been the receiver from the phone. Uh that would be would have been from
the phone booth or if it would have been a larger item. It's you know it's dark out. He's got his lights off. Uh but he
sees the one boy being hit in the head >> and remember in the autopsy was the whole skull fractures. Mhm. And he also
says that he did not believe or did not see the boys to be resisting in any form
that these guys were just going after these kids. >> Right. These guys were just getting
their ass kicked. >> Mhm. The second boy he saw uh there was an officer standing over the other
teenage boy who was kneeling and on the ground, but he had his head down and he couldn't really make out whom the kid
was. After this all took place, he said that he saw the two officers throw the boys into the back seat of their
vehicle. He then sees one of the officers grab what he believes to be a rifle and throw it into the car as well.
The officers then get into the vehicle and they take off. He says that they make a turn and he noticed that they
went onto a road that that is a dead end. Mhm. >> Uh he lost track of their lights, so at
some point he believes that they may have turned off to the left. >> He was obviously concerned about this
situation and a bit scared, but he's still also watching out for himself. He's still worried about that possible
DWI, >> right? >> And so he decides that since nobody noticed him there, he knew that these
officers would have to turn around at some point because it was a dead end and he was worried that they could come out
at any second. So, he decided to still lay low there and he said it's probably about 15 or 20 minutes went by before he
sees the vehicle drive by again. He did not notice if the boys were still in the
vehicle at this point. Ronnie Goodwin estimated that all this took place around 2 or 2:30 a.m. that night, the
night that the boys were found on the tracks. >> Right >> now, this is interesting here, Captain.
We have a couple of stories that seem to be lining up with one another. We have we have their friend Keith Cooney who
states that he left because police officers drove up, scared him off and he believed that there something happened
between the police officers and the and the boys. >> Yeah. At least a confrontation.
>> So we have that story. >> Then we have the unknown Jerry person. >> Mhm. >> And then we have this Ron Goodwin come
forward. >> Shady Jerry. Yeah. >> Yeah. Well, the thing here is the state the state police officers uh during
their investigation, they believed because this Ronnie Goodwin story was so similar to the story of this unknown
Jerry person >> that his name right >> that had moved out of the area. >> They believe that Jerry and Ronnie
Godwin were one of the same. And the thing here is when they approach Crook and and they asked him, you know, here
here's the guy that we believe this Jerry person is. Can you confirm this or deny it? He states very matterof factly,
this is not the person that I'm talking about. This is I I still refuse to give his name, but this is not the person
that that I was describing. >> In a sense, it's almost like they're trying to minimize the idea that there
was police officers involved. You know what I mean? like, well, we got three stories right now that they all kind of
line up, but uh we're we're thinking that, you know, guy A and guy C are the same. So, really only have two stories
that line up. >> Or possibly it could be the exact opposite, though. Maybe they're trying
to corroborate this Godwin story, right? And and and and just go to him and say,
"Okay, now we know you told somebody else about this and we believe you even more." Um, I mean it really could go
either way, >> which does make some sense because he was coming from the bar. >> So that would, you know, put two and two
together. >> Yeah, there there's a lot of things that line up there, >> but there's probably more than one
person leaving that bar that night. >> Correct. Yeah. >> Well, now we have three stories. So,
let's get to the fourth story. This is going to come to us by Tom New House. Not to be confused by Tom Old House, but
this is the guy that was hiding in the bushes. Tom Newhouse is not introduced into this whole thing until around 1993.
This is when a friend of Kevin Ives reaches out to Linda and he says that he knows a boy that's now 18 in 1993 uh
that had seen some things that took place that night and he wanted to put her in contact with this boy. This boy
didn't want to talk to anybody, but he thought that maybe if Linda talked to him that he would he would feel the urge
to come forward with this information having meeting one of the one of the victims. So he puts the two of them in
touch together. >> Well, meeting the victim's mother. >> Correct. And so Tom Tom tells this story
that he is out the night that the boys are found and he was out with a couple of his friends. They were out in the
area of the tracks and they were looking for marijuana plants and they were goofing around and just, you know, just
kind of being out in the middle of the night, you know, doing weird stuff. >> Well, yeah. Well, and we kind of talked
about this like when we're kids, the whole thing was especially around the summertime
>> was you might if you could camp out in the backyard that you might go like do
some pranks, right? You might toilet paper somebody's house, you might pee in somebody's mailbox, stuff like that. uh
inappropriate, not nice stuff. But the the best was >> good for the toilet paper manufacturers,
[laughter] >> right? Well, good and bad. Yeah. >> But uh but it was always weird to me is
like you'd be walking to the neighborhood and you might have a couple buddies with you and then all of a
sudden you see another group of people from your high school and they're out doing the same thing. Do that ever
happen with you? >> Once happened once. >> Yeah. But it like freaks you out. So,
kind of similar thing where you have this one group of boys out where we're not for sure what they're doing yet.
They claim that they're hunting >> and then you got this other set of kids out and they're maybe looking for bot
just kind of looking around. >> Yeah. Well, and you know what happens, Captain? If you're out at night and
you're a kid in the dark and you see some lights, headlights or a light turn on, you what do you do? You duck and you
hide. Mhm. >> And these kids, Tom and these other kids, they see Tom would have been 12 at
the time >> and they see a light and they decide to duck down and they're going to kind of
observe what's going on and they see three men on the tracks and he he very outwardly describes these guys as men.
Uh, and during this time he also sees two other figures approaching. Now Tom and the other kids, they kind of move up
and try to get a little closer to the situation to see what's going on. Now they're intrigued, right? And he sees
that the men are trying to engage the other two figures. They're kind of calling out to them and telling them to
come over and talk to them. >> This is the boy that we heard in the trailer. >> Correct. Yeah. And he says that the boys
seem he describes these other two figures as as not grown men, as possible teenagers. He states that the teenagers
didn't seem to be they didn't want to go over and talk to the men. They were very
reluctant to do so. At some point though, they get must have been convinced to do so because then they
start walking over towards the men. Now, at this point, Tom is ducking down and he's kind of hiding because he sees
several flashlights at the time and he hears what he believes to be a gunshot go off.
>> Like he said in the trailer, he kind of looked away. >> Mhm. And then but he also saw the flash
of the gun. >> Saw the flash of light. Now he cannot say whether that gunfire came from the
teenage boys or from the three men that he had already seen on the tracks. >> What he does say though is as soon as
they hear that, him and his friends decide to take off and flee the area. >> Well, and the thing is that he
recognizes one of the guys on the tracks. >> Yes. And And why does he recognize one
of them? Well, I he claims that his mother was seeing an attorney in town. >> Mhm.
>> And that attorney was on the train tracks. >> And that man is Dan Harmon. And where do
we know that name from, Captain? Well, he was the prosecutor that we had talked about in episode one.
>> Uh that was involved in the case of the death of the two boys. >> So, get your head around this, right?
This is what we're saying, people. This is why this case is mind-blowing to me >> is that we have later years down years
down the line, right? >> In 1993, this stuff comes out, but years earlier, we have two boys that, you
know, mysteriously die on train tracks. >> They think it's a a traffic accident and
then they bring it to a grand jury and that's brought by this guy. Dan Harmon and he is the the lead
prosecutor and he's the one that's in charge of all the evidence and collecting all the evidence and getting
his hands wherever and years later comes out that oh he might have been on those
tracks. We have an eyewitness that states that it was in fact Dan Harmon that he could identify positively
identify him as Dan Harmon because he knew Dan Harmon. He had some he had a relationship with him. the man dated his
mother. >> And we also have another eyewitness that points to Dan as well. Yeah.
>> And we're going to get to her right after this quick beer break. [music] >> [music]
>> All right, we're back. >> And I know the story just took a bit of a twist there at the last part, but
>> yeah, it did. >> We're going to add to that twist a little bit by introducing a person by
the name of Charlene Wilson. Um, now this woman, she's in her 30s and she was known to be popular around town. Uh, but
this is this would take place years after the investigation into the deaths of the boys. And this is during an
investigation regarding criminal charges in an unrelated case. Uh, Charlene Wilson testified in front of a grand
jury to amongst other things. But the important thing here to our case is that amongst those other things, she
testified that she had dated Dan Harmon for some time. Now, this would have taken place in 1987, right? The same
year as the deaths, >> right? And to call a female popular, let's just go ahead and put it on the
table. Dan Harmon was also considered popular. >> Yes. Yes, he was. And uh during this
time, Dan Harmon, he was married. Um, and she said that they dated probably seven or [snorts] eight times during the
course of that year, but the two of them had snorted cocaine on several of those
occasions. >> Right. So, not only was Dan Harmon popular, but he was also what I'd like
to call [ __ ] [laughter] Yeah. Because you can't you can't have a girlfriend when you're
married or you shouldn't have a girlfriend when you're married. Well, the big [snorts] deal here, Captain, is
that not only does she say these things, but let's keep in mind, she's testifying
to this to these statements in front of a grand jury. So, this is a big deal. This is not like you just said it to
some news reporter or somebody on the street. No, this is now opening up a line of questioning that is probably
going to open up to a line of investigation about the person that you're talking about by saying that the
prosecutor, somebody that has been a prosecutor, was known to be using illegal drugs during the course of of
his tenure. >> Yeah, Dan is basically a cocoa. >> And this is going to lead us to a lot of
the other questions regarding Dan Harmon. Now, the police get involved here because after this statement in
front of the grand jury, they want to know more about not only Dan's drug use, but also this witness's drug use.
>> And they also want to know what else she may know about things that were going on
in the area around 1987 in 1988. So, when they question Charlene Wilson, they start off by providing her with two
prepared questionnaires. Um, and one of them is more directed toward Dan Harmon and the other is more directed towards
the deaths of Kevin and Dawn. Now, I'm going to read these for you. Uh, the first one starts off by asking, "Tell us
about your drug dealings with Dan Harmon." And Charlene responds, "He kept me high a lot. On occasion, I would make
specific drops to different areas for him. I got high with him a lot." The next question is, "If you were going to
conduct an investigation on Dan Harmon, how would you do it?" She states that she would go to his ex-wife Rebecca,
then he would then she would check his money background with a fine tooth comb. >> Mhm.
>> She then recommended going through drug task force records to see who they may
have let off during his time when he was in power, as well as payoffs and drug trades and things of that nature.
>> Mhm. They asked her to list the five most important causes that would have led Dan Harmon selling drugs and using
drugs. She states that it would be his family history. Also, letting people go that had enough money to buy him off
would have led to his drug use. Uh drugs being confiscated but not actually being
reported would be things that he might have been using or selling, right? >> And by letting big-time dealers off for
free. She also stated that it's common knowledge of his drug use and that had been common knowledge amongst many
people in his circle for years. They asked her to write in detail one drug deal that that she had conducted with
Dan Harmon. >> Now, now this is going to be a little difficult because like she said, I mean,
she was high a lot of the time. >> Yes. And I imagine that there were probably more than one drug dealings
that she was involved with with Dan Harmon, but she's going to give the answer to one of those. And the one that
she states is one that took place at a place called Lee Beastro Club. Uh she says Dan Harmon was there as well as
Roger Clinton and herself. She said that this took place on a weekend night and that they had met there in a parking lot
and did a cocaine exchange. The next question she's asked, "Do you know who else deals drugs with Dan
Harmon?" And now they've they've pulled this information from this questionnaire
because she's naming other people here, but she does name at least four other men. The next question is, while filling
out this form, what were your emotions? And she states that she was scared, but she was also ready to come clean. She's
worried about what Dan may find out that she is saying about him. Now, in the second question here, as I said, is more
related to the deaths of the boys. And it starts off by saying, "Tell us what you know about the circumstances that
might have led to the deaths of Don Henry and Kevin Ives." She states that she feels that Dan Harmon has more
knowledge of the two boys deaths than he is ever told. In late summer and in August, she says that she drove with
Harmon to Alexander to meet with, she assumes, a man named Keith McKascal to make a pickup. Now, she says this would
have been around the time of the two boys deaths. They ask her to write in detail what happened on August 22nd,
1987. From the time that she got up until the time she went to bed that evening, she states that she got up, she
did some coke and crystal mixed. I guess that she says that's called highballing.
Uh she cleaned up the house, left, and went off to find some more drugs. Later that afternoon, Dan wanted to show her a
house and they went in his car and they looked at a house in Alexander. When they came back to her house, she
said she ate something and put on some makeup. Dan then asked her to take a ride back out to Alexander with him and
he asked her to pull down the old Corey road and she he told her to wait in the car. He gets out and he leaves. She
states that she stayed in the vehicle and she got high a while while she was waiting for him to come back. She said
he suddenly then comes back shouting, "Let's go." They hop in the vehicle and they head back to her place and that's
when she is told to take a shower. Um he's she's asking him if there's anything wrong. He's saying there's
nothing wrong. Uh [snorts] that they spent some time together that evening. He took a shower. She went to bed and he
left. >> Well, he had to go back to his wife's house. Well, the final question on this
questionnaire is they ask her, "Do you have any reason to be afraid of answering any of these questions?" And
she states simply, "Yes, I do because Dan Harmon does not like me." In 1993, this would be in May. Uh, by this point,
Dan Harmon has been charged with some drug possession charges, and he is currently awaiting trial. Now, I think I
think some of this is going to come to light here, Captain, because I think that at this point, Charlene Wilson
might feel that she might be safe from Dan Harmon because he's facing these charges and he could potentially be
going to prison, >> right? >> Uh but in in an interview with the state police department, she states that she
knows quite a bit more about the night that the boys were killed. >> Oh, now it's getting kind of juicy.
>> This is a statement given to Detective Brown. Charlene said that she had been
with Dan Harmon and Keith McCascal the night that the boys had been killed. She went with them to the train tracks. She
said that when they arrived, there were two other men that were there as well. But all these men seemed to be agitated
because there was a small band of kids that had tried to rip off the drop. See, now they were going there because there
was going to be this drug drop. They were expecting to get 3 to four pounds of coke and five pounds of weed.
>> Well, and and like we said, there was drops that were made from trains, but also possible that the planes would come
in and stop in a field, make a drop, and then fly to the airport. >> Mhm. Now, she said that when the men got
there, they stumbled upon these boys that were apparently trying to rip them off.
>> And what had happened was they chased after the boys and they got away. Now, she said that they caught two of them
and they were brought back to the tracks. This was Kevin Ives and Don Henry. >> Uh she said that when the boys arrived,
one of them was already deceased at that point. She then claimed that Keith McCascal killed the other.
>> Uh no, no, no, no, no. She's lying. She's lying. That's not the whole story. >> It's not the whole story, but it's it's
also not the end of the story. So, she would actually give multiple confessions to what had happened to the boys.
>> Of course, she would. >> So, well, we kind of see it with that first part with the questionnaire,
right? She kind of leads on that she and Dan Harmon know more about the boy's death than what Dan Harmon is willing to
admit that he knows. And apparently is more than what she's willing to admit to knowing during filling out that
questionnaire. Now, when she gives her second statement, this to Detective Brown, she now states that she one of
the boys is dead. She knows exactly what had happened to them. One of the boys is
dead when she's at the tracks and the other boy is killed in front of her by Keith McKascal.
>> Well, we see another confession from her. And one thing I do want to point out here though, Captain, is you know,
we've talked about this a lot. When we see multiple confessions from people, usually the stories can change change
drastically. >> That's not what takes place with Charlene Wilson. No, with Charlene
Wilson, basically what I think we get, Captain, is we I think we get the story, you know, we get the tip of the iceberg
with her with that questionnaire. Then we get pretty much the whole story, right? She's filling us in on more
things. Now, this this last, let's call it confession. It's basically the same story as the
second with one little twist in there. >> Okay. >> Okay. And the twist being that she
actually stabbed one of the boys. >> I knew it. I knew it. >> She said that she was quite high at the
time. Um, >> coked out of her mind. >> She had been hanging out with Dan Harmon most of the evening.
>> Coke and fizz. That's what they call it. >> Doing coke and sex. >> She said that after the boys were
attacked, the one was already dead and the one was near death. That the the men that were there, they were they were
telling her to stab the boy. >> Well, yeah. Because their thought process there is if she is a right now
she's just a witness. >> Mhm. >> And she's basically accomplice but she can get away with that.
>> Yeah. >> But if she stabs one of the boys, >> she's guilty. >> Then she's also a murderer.
>> Yeah. Yeah. >> And that's why they wanted her to stab the other boy. >> Yeah. She she would be guilty as a
witness, but now she's guilty as a as a conspirator to murder. >> Mhm. >> Um so she does admit to stabbing one of
the boys in the back. Um she does >> right. Right. And we have the evidence >> of the stab hole.
>> And so that's basically her confessions to to that evening. Well, that really to
me, we've pointed out quite a bit of other stories regarding that night that all kind of have some loose parts to
them, but once you factor in Charlene Wilson's statement that she gives, >> she's kind of the glue.
>> She's the glue kind of binding everything together. So, I think we need to kind of using these stories, we we
should be able to kind of walk through a timeline for the evening of August 23rd,
1987. >> Yeah. I mean, she's the glue that's made out of mainly cocaine. >> So, we'll start off with the boys,
right? Kevin Ies and Don Henry. Well, we've pointed out that if if we take into account everyone's statements that
were given to the police, and let's say we believe every statement that was given to the police. Well, this kind of
points out that maybe the boys might not have been going out that night to actually go hunting. They might been
involved in something else. Regardless, they went out that night. We know they went out that night. This would be
between 12:30 and 100 a.m. They leave the house saying that they're going to go hunting. Mhm.
>> Well, we now have eyewitness accounts of other people being at the tracks that
night. >> Yeah. And so the assumption here is that Kevin and Don got this plan in their
head >> that, you know, we buy pot and we don't have much money, but we know some guys
that actually sell some stuff where we can make a bunch of money off of it. So, if we could intercept one of these, you
know, I'm not saying that these these kids wanted to try cocaine. I'm saying that it's probably more likely that
they're like, you know what, if we could get some cocaine and we probably know some people that would buy it, we could
make some quick cash. >> Mhm. >> And we wouldn't even have to put any money up front because we're just
intercepting a drop. >> Yeah. Well, I mean, there's there's some proof that they might have been looking
to purchase cocaine or to to distribute it to other people to make some cash. Um, and if that's if that in fact is
true and they did stumble into a situation where they overhear this big-time drug dealer that they keep
referring to as talking about a drop, then maybe this is some kind of plan that they devised.
>> Do you think the big-time drug dealer that they were talking about was uh Dan
Yes, I actually do. Um, and whether they knew him by name or knew it to be Dan Harmon, I don't know. But I think that
there might have been people that talked about this big time drug lord, this big
time >> big time play big time. >> Um, the thing here is the the reason being is if if he's at the drop, I don't
see why he's not the big time guy. You know, you know the way these things work, you usually have one, it's like a
pyramid scheme. You have one guy that's doing pulling in a lot of the product. He's distributing it to a couple people
who distribute it to a few more people and the the it gets bigger as you go down the pyramid there and it spreads
out the money and most of the money goes to the top there. And we're talking about a drop if we believe Charlene
Wilson here. We're talking about a drug drop of she says 3 to four pounds of cocaine.
>> [ __ ] >> And 5 lbs of weed. That sounds like a pretty decent drop to me, right? I don't
know much about drug drops. >> Drug drops. >> Raindrops. Drop tops. >> But we also have Charlene Wilson's
statement saying that she was at the tracks that night with Dan Harmon, Keith McKascal, and a man by the name of Larry
Rochelle. Now, who are these other two guys? So, Keith McCascal, he is a local bartender. He works at one of those
places up by the county line, and he's [clears throat] he's a pretty well-known bartender as well. He's he's a guy
that's known to be a bit rough around the edges. He's known to be a drug user as well as a distributor.
>> He's also a burly guy. Right >> now, I don't know much about this Larry Rochelle guy. Um, but what I'm kind of
assuming here, Captain, is that I think this Keith McKascal is involved with moving drugs for Dan Harmon. And this
Larry Rochelle is probably involved in the same thing. >> Maybe this Larry guy is Shady Jerry.
>> It's a possibility. >> You know what I like where he's like, "Uh, who's who's your friend?" Uh, not
not Larry. Jerry. >> Yeah. Yeah. But I don't think that Larry I don't think that Larry's going to come
forward and fess up to anything when he's involved in a murder. >> Or maybe a way to tell a story to cover
his own ass. >> Well, we got to stay clear about this because now we have the two teenage
boys. We have Don and Kevin at the tracks. And we also have Dan Harmon, Keith McKascal, and Larry Rochelle. Now,
we know some of these players here because we have two eyewitness statements. We have Charlene Wilson
stating that Dana Harmon, Keith McCascal, and Larry Rochelle are at the tracks. We also have we also have Tom
Newhouse who's hiding in the bushes nearby witnessing this event take place. Now, there are some statements that say
that that other boy that we talk about later, Keith Cooney, might have been one of the boys in the bushes with Tom New
House. Now, the situation here is New House witnesses these guys interact with each other. There seems to be some kind
of disagreement. He hears the gunshot go off and then the two teenagers flee. At
this same time, we have Tom Newhouse who flees as well. Shortly after that, we have Don Henry and Kevin Ives who are
seen near the store near Shrobe Road. Now, this is with the uh Keith Cooney as well. He states that he was there with
the boys. >> So, we have Keith Cooney statement stating this and he says that two police
officers pull up and at this point that Keith takes off. Now, we also have the other two eyewitnesses.
This is your buddy Shady Jerry. Now, he's there. He says that he sees two police officers. He also sees one boy
take off on a motorcycle and two remaining teenage boys. We also have Ronnie Godwin's story who basically says
about the same thing. We have these two eyewitnesses that state that they see police officers beating up kids and
throwing them in the back of a vehicle. Mhm. >> Now, through these statements, one thing
that we learn, we do learn who these officers are because of descriptions given as well as names given during some
of these statements. And these [clears throat] officers are Jay Campbell and Kirk Lane. And they work
for the Palaski County Sheriff's Office. So, now we got more we got more characters here.
>> Well, let's just stop right there, right? So, you know, look, some sometimes I get, you know, hate mail
saying, we don't need to recap. Hey, sometimes we do. >> There's a lot going on right now.
>> So, here it is. These boys go out to the woods. We're assuming that maybe instead
of hunting that they're trying to get in on a drop so that they possibly could get the drugs, maybe sell the drugs. Who
knows? >> Yeah, they're going to do a Robin Hood move. They they've they've identified
some bad guys. They found a way that they could make some money off of this. They're going to intercept these drugs
and sell them off to their friends, >> right? And again, they're 16 and 17, so I think some of it is just like you you
make some weird decisions. I don't even want to say bad decisions. You sometimes
it's just a weird decision. >> So anyways, they go out there, there's some kind of confrontation, they jet,
they leave. >> Mhm. >> Then they meet up with their friends. So now they're back at the store and
there's three of them. Mhm. >> And then guess who rolls up the police officers. Now what we do know is if Dan
Harmon was there that you know he's a prosecutor or he becomes a prosecutor after this event.
>> He knows people of power, he's in a position of power. >> And if he's the big- time drug dealer,
he is a position of power, >> right? And he probably has people working for him within the system and
out of the system. And so it's not like, you know, if these cops did what the eyewitnesses claimed that they they did,
they were working for Dan Harmon. >> Yes, you're exactly right. And what what takes place here, we don't know. We
can't figure out if the police officers, if these two sheriff officers, if they intended to kill the boys, if they were
told to kill the boys, but they were certainly told to go out and catch these boys, right? you know, go find these
guys that that stumbled upon our our operation here and bring them back to me. You know, they bring these boys back
to the tracks. And at that point, this is where Charlene Wilson's statement carries through, stating that one of the
boys was dead by that time. >> Probably the one that was, you know, beat in the face.
>> Yes. He was he was hit in the face with with the either the gun or a telephone
receiver or both. And it could have been as simple as the orders were bring these
guys back to me and then when they tried to apprehend these boys, it got out of control because the boys knew what they
were going to head back to, >> right? >> They're heading back to a a drug boss. And if you don't know much about it, all
you then would know is Hollywood. >> Mhm. >> So then you have to deal with the images of you have from Hollywood,
right? So you'd be scared out of your mind. So, you're going to fight for your life. The boys are then brought back to
the tracks and according to Charlene Wilson, that's when the second boy is killed. Um, whether it be from Keith
McKascal or whether it be from her stabbing him, but then they place the boys on the tracks so that their bodies
are destroyed and all the evidence would be destroyed as well. >> Well, that's five key players in this.
And I would I would say, you know, to me that all five of those players are involved in the death.
>> Yeah. Yeah. >> Right. >> Yeah. Yeah. There there's some moving parts here that that we don't have um we
don't have a solid statement that locks them into this timeline for the entirety
of the timeline because we have this Keith McKascal. He's a bit of a He's a bit of a rogue situation here, right,
Captain? We don't know if he was actually at the tracks from the start to the finish of this because there is a
statement that says that Keith Cooney had went and and told Keith McKascal what he had seen at the tracks and that
he had fled from some police officers and that Macascal then went down to the railroad tracks. The only person that
states that McKascal was there is Wilson who says that she didn't see him until the time that the boys were brought
back. >> Right. >> So my question here is I got a little bit of a question with this mascal. But
you're exactly right. These are the five key players. But you know, did he only show up for the second portion of this?
>> Mhm. >> Or was he one of the three men that Tom New House saw on the tracks? Because the
situation I think is what what is more likely is that both of those officers might have been there with this Larry
Rochelle and Dan Harmon as a form of protection for this drop. You know, maybe you leave one officer in the car
because New House only saw three guys on the tracks. You leave one guy in the car
to keep it as a lookout and the other officer walks along with you as a form of protection. That's the only thing
that makes sense to me other than maybe because they can't make a radio call saying these two guys inter interrupted
our our drop. Go catch our drug deal. Yeah. Yeah. So our drug drop. Yeah. >> Right. So I don't know if I don't know
if Keith McKascal was actually involved in the murder or if he stumbled upon it later and then was terrified because he
was dealing drugs for Dan Harmon and didn't want to throw him under the bus because Dan Harmon had a lot of a lot of
stuff on him. Well, and on top of that, you just you have two dead bodies. You're going to go run in your mouth
after you saw, you know, two dead bodies. >> So, even if you didn't get there till
after they're dead, then at that point, you're you're maybe not talking because you're
>> Well, he he wouldn't be talking if he's dealing for Dan Harmon is my guess. If
he's working for Dan Harmon as a drug dealer, >> right? But some people are drug dealers
and not murderers, >> right? And that's that's why I'm I'm bringing up Keith McKascal because I
don't I'm not convinced that he was there for the actual murder of these boys, right? I'm stating that it very
clear he could have just stumbled upon the end result while the men were still there. And because he was dealing drugs
for Dan Harmon and he was caught up in this drug ring, he didn't come forward with information.
>> Well, and maybe it sounds stupid, you know, but you got five adults here. got two
teenage boys that, like I said, making a weird decision. Maybe a dumb decision. You know, ultim ultimately they paid the
price for it. >> You know, we're going to go out into the woods. If it wasn't just for hunting, if
it was to disrupt a drug drop, then that that's a very bad decision, you know. >> Yeah.
>> Um if you're just going out and hunting, wrong place at the wrong time, right?
Mhm. >> And uh you saw some things that you shouldn't have seen, but it seems like
there's a lot of weight that they were planning to do this, >> but they're teenage boys,
>> 16 and 17 years old, >> and you got these adults that are some in the system, some out of the system.
They're just doing it for [ __ ] money anyways, >> right? >> And so, and and I and maybe these guys,
like I said, there's a big difference between a drug dealer and a murderer. But then once these guys thought they
were caught, they had to do something about these boys and they and they chose, I think, to
murder them or knock him unconscious cuz the one that was beat in the face could
have, you know, you know, drifted off into a coma for all we know and then they lay him on the tracks. Doesn't
matter that there's a train coming. He's not waking up >> from that, you know, and they might not
have been fully dead by the time the trains hit them. >> I I think it's most likely that they
were, >> but either way, it's murder. >> Oh, yeah. Yeah. And and I agree with you. I think it's most likely that they
were in fact dead when they were placed on the tracks. We have Wilson's statement, Charlene Wilson's statement,
saying that she believed both boys to be dead when they were placed on the tracks. This also goes along with
something we talked about in the first episode with the EMTs, what they what they thought about the blood as well as
the train crew, right? Who were avid hunters that when they saw the blood of these boys, it was not bright red,
right? >> It was not flowing. This blood wasn't, you know, it had they been killed while
they were unconscious on the tracks, their their heart would have been pumping seconds before they were run
over. This would have caused the blood to flow. This would have meant more blood evidence everywhere at that scene.
There was a lot less blood than anybody with a trained eye expected to see and it also was not the color that they
expected to see. It was purplish in color. It did not look to be fresh blood. >> Right? So, we have these five adults,
but we also have these people, like I said, of power, people that are in the system. And that's what's so crazy
because then, you know, once they rule it at accidental death, which is probably ruled at accidental death
because of the people that Dan Harmon knew, >> right? >> And so they can get this ruling and then
all of a sudden when it when all this new information starts coming to light and we're going to bring it in front of
grand jury, guess what lawyer volunteers his services? He rises to the occasion and he throws himself in the middle of
the investigation. not only throws himself in there, but he's going to be being the guy that's steering and
directing the grand jury. And on top of that, he has the power. He's going to use the grand jury like his own set of
bodyguards. He's going to basically run a racketeering operation and a blackmailing operation through this
grand jury. He can now subpoena whoever he wants in the area, >> bring them in for questioning, submit
them to questions to find out what they know, what they do or don't know, who they've talked to,
>> and he can he can sift through the dirt, man. He can sift through the dirt and
see what rises to the top to find out what people know and maybe who he needs to shut up.
>> Right. But who's this lawyer's name? >> Well, this is Dan Harmon. >> Right. Right. Right. Once a prosecutor,
twice a prosecutor, but clearly always a drug dealer >> and always a douche canoe.
>> And he's got two sheriffs, at least two sheriffs that we know of that are on the
take. He's got drug dealers working for him. He's created his own little web, his own little operation. And he's done
it all under the watchful eye of of the local police. >> Well, and I've never heard of a story
where Okay, one accidental death. You know, that's what it's they claim it's Axel Don death. Oh, it's not. Now we got
to bring it to trial. Who brings it to trial? Dan Harmon. Years later, who's one of the number one suspects in the
actual murder? Dan Harmon. >> Mhm. >> I've never heard of that ever. I mean, it's freaking mindblowing. And we're
just we're just getting warmed up. I mean I mean, we should call part three of four should just be called death.
Death. That's what she'd be called. >> Yes, we certainly got so much more to get to. We'll get to that next week. We
got more evidence. We got more crimes being committed. We're just getting started.
>> Ray, what's our recommended reading for the week? >> Recommended reading this week. I'm
excited about this one, Captain. It's called Dark Spell: Surviving the Sentence. Uh, this is by one of my
favorite and I believe one of the very best true crime authors out there, Mara Lever. In this story, Dark Spell, it's
about Jason Baldwin. Most of you will know him from the West Memphis 3. Uh she's written about them before. This is
kind of continuing on in the case. So, if you're like me and you always want to read more about the West Memphis 3, pick
up Dark Spell, Surviving the Sentence by Mara Leett, you can do that by going to
our website, true crimegar.com. You click on the recommended page and you can pick things up through our Amazon
banner. And real quick before we go here, Captain, we have something to talk about regarding iTunes and and the
episodes. We've had a little trouble. Okay. So, all we do is we we have a host and then our host sends it to iTunes.
And sometimes it's just been coming up that there's an error. Sometimes we get it. Sometimes it's a download error.
>> We're not really for sure. All we can do is do a request. Sometimes our host says, "Oh, well, we did something
wrong." Sometimes that it's on iTunes in and it's it's very frustrating and it it
basically keeps me up a bunch of times. But also, every time that we add an episode
>> Mhm. uh it knocks off uh normally West Memphis 3 part one >> and so I have to go back in and add it
and sometimes I forget to so when it disappears it's because I forgot to and just give me a day or so and I'll fix
it. Yeah, the the pro we pro we apologize for the troubles and for the frustration but it's just equally as
frustrating on our end. We are aware of the issue. We've reported the issue many, many times and it is in their
hands now. >> Yeah. And I like to send them a bunch of video chat messages of me just
screaming, "I'm I'm going to put you in your face. Fix it. Fix it now." Anyways,
thanks for sharing. Every time somebody shares it on social media, it just it fills my heart. An angel gets its wings.
>> My my heart gets all gooey. All right, much love to you. And until next week,
be good, be kind, and don't litter. [music] [music] [music]

Boys on the Tracks /// Part 2 /// 94

TrueCrimeGarage.com

By all accounts, the engineer did a masterful job of bringing his train to a stop. It had taken a screaming, screeching half mile. By the time the engine shuddered to a standstill, Conductor Jerry Tomlin was on the radio notifying an approaching train on a parallel track to stop because some boys had been run over. He also called the dispatcher. "Have you got injuries?" The dispatcher asked. "No," Tomlin said. "We've got death." -From "The Boys on the Tracks" by Mara LeverittTonight we discuss the case that many wanted to keep quiet. Two teenagers are run over by a train in the middle of the night. Was it an accident, a double suicide or a double murder? Join us in the garage for the tragic story of the boys on the tracks.

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Brief Summary

The episode investigates the deaths of two boys in Arkansas, revealing police involvement and drug trafficking connections.

Key points

The Boys on the Tracks Case. A recap of the mysterious deaths of two boys found on train tracks in Arkansas.
Drug Trafficking in Arkansas. Exploration of the drug issues surrounding the deaths of Don Henry and Kevin Ives.
Witness Accounts. Multiple witnesses provide chilling accounts of the events leading up to the boys' deaths.
Multiple Stories Align. Several accounts begin to converge, suggesting a deeper connection to the boys' deaths.
Charlene Wilson's Testimony. Charlene Wilson reveals her connections to Dan Harmon and the night of the boys' deaths.
Confessions and Revelations. Charlene Wilson gives multiple confessions about the events surrounding the boys' deaths.

Episode highlights

Episode quotes

Cocaine and other drugs were flowing into the city.

Discussion about drug trafficking in the area.

7:52WatchDec 14, 2025

Tension

75/ 100High tension

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