Devastated Dad or Cold-Blooded Killer? Investigation Into Triple Murder | Forensic Files

Hi, crime junkies. I'm Ashley Flowers. And I'm Brit. And back by popular demand, we have Chuck
in the studio today for our YouTube audience, who apparently he's their favorite. Like, of course, it's a good
thing he can't talk or we'd be out of a job. But, uh, the story I have for you today is one that honestly has me
twisted up in knots. One minute it's like, "Fetch me a pitchfork and like rally the troops. This guy needs to be
buried under the courthouse." But then like the very next minute I'm like, "Oh my god, maybe he's a victim, too." And
then I feel bad for ever thinking such a thing. So pitchforks or no pitchforks, that will be for crime junkies to
decide. This is the story of the Feni family. When John Feny gets back to his room at
Tantara Resort around 9:00 a.m. on the morning of Monday, February 27th, 1995, he sees that he missed a call from the
high school where he teaches science in Springfield, Missouri. Now, he's been up
here at this Lake of the Ozarks resort for a teachers conference since Saturday. Wait, can we as millennials
just real quick acknowledge that this is a teacher named Mr. Phoenix? Oh my like
boy meets worldart. Honestly, I didn't think about that the whole time I was working on this story.
It's all I can think about. I had to say something. Mr. Feny, not that Mr. Feny.
Anyways, the school knows where he's at and why. So, it's strange that they're calling. So, immediate bad vibes that
just get worse when he calls them back and finds out that they called because they had gotten a call that morning from
a medical center where his wife Cheryl works as an RN. She's the team lead for the gynecological surgical division,
which is like an important role, but she just hadn't shown up for work that day.
So, by the time Jon's on the phone, people had already called over to the kid's babysitter, but they apparently
never got dropped off there. And no matter how many times or who called the Feny house, no one has picked up there
either. John is rattled by this because he hadn't talked to Cheryl since Saturday night. like he had called a few
times on Sunday, even left a couple of messages when he couldn't get through. Mostly like chalking that up to the
craziness of like taking care of their six-year-old son Tyler, their 18-month old daughter, Jennifer, like she's doing
this on her own. But now he's not so sure that something isn't wrong. So, he hangs up, calls the Green County
Sheriff's Office asking them to perform a welfare check. What John doesn't know is that he's not the only person raising
the alarm. Around the same time that he calls, the sheriff's office is also fielding a call from a woman named
Teresa. And she's calling from the Fenie's house because she is a co-orker of Cheryl's and she had volunteered to
like swing by check things out. And she says that when she approached the house,
she noticed that it's so strange. The pane of glass in the door on like the front like front door had been painted
over from the inside, which is odd because Teresa and Cheryl are friends. Like she's been there before and that
hasn't been like that. No. And even more concerning was the fact that the door was unlocked.
Oh, Chuck's back. All right, let's try it again. Come on, lay down. Here you go.
You got it. It's okay. Here we go. You can't breathe right in the microphone, though.
[Music] So, fearing something was wrong, she let herself in, only to find that the house
had been totally ransacked. But like in the weirdest way imaginable. So like example on the first floor where she's
at, the Fenie's kitchen has this door that leads into the attached garage. Well, that door was like wide open so
she could see Cheryl's car in the garage and the car hood was popped and there was all this like random stuff piled on
top of it, including like a TV. So stuff doesn't just feel taken like run-of-the-mill burglary. It also feels
moved. I mean, it's weird. like full body chills. Weird. So, she's not going to snoop around. She knows that police
are in route, so she's just going to like wait for them. Now, season two of the podcast Ozark's true crime is about
this case. And Teresa actually tells journalist Annne Rodri Jones that it takes like 20 minutes for a solo cop to
show up. Now, FYI, some reporting indicates that John's mom got there around the same time, but it's a little
bit confusing because Teresa doesn't mention her at all. But either way, Teresa gives the officer a quick rundown
and then follows him in, pointing out all the alarming things that she had noticed before. Items that aren't where
they should be or are where they shouldn't be. Drawers and cabinets that have been left wide open. I mean,
Cheryl's purse is on the kitchen table looking rifled through. And then in the living room, I didn't mention this, but
there are shoe prints all over the carpet, seemingly like made from some kind of light colored liquid. So, this
cop, what he does is he pulls out his radio. He knows that he's going to need some backup. Like, this is as weird as
she thinks it is. And Teresa kind of hangs back a little while this officer heads to the primary bedroom. And when
he turns on the bedroom light, she asks him a question, but he is just like staring straight forward in stunned
shock. Doesn't even hear her, so she has to repeat herself. She's dead, isn't she? And the best answer that this guy
can muster is look and see. Not his finest moment, no question. But part of me feels sorry for the guy because what
he sees is horrific. There is a woman, presumably Cheryl, lying face down on the bed and her head and neck are just
covered in wounds. Her face is aimed away from the door, kind of like almost hidden by her hair in a way that looks
unnatural, maybe intentional, cuz to Teresa, she looks posed. And then it gets worse because in the next bedroom
is a little boy laying in the bed on his back with a pillow covering his face and
blood visible around him. And then in the third bedroom, there is a toddler in a crib, like curled up tight, her face
buried in the mattress, and a cord wrapped tight around her neck. So within minutes, the house is crawling with
officers from the sheriff's office. Considering the magnitude of the crime, a multi- agency task force called the
South Central Missouri Major Case Squad steps in. But it's up to the sheriff's office to preserve the crime scene till
they can get up to speed. And to do that, the major case squad investigators converge at the Missouri State Highway
Patrol outpost. And as they shuffle into the conference room, someone mentions that the victims are the family of a
Springfield teacher. And there are well over a thousand teachers in Springfield.
Okay? So like, no one mentions any names. It could be any of those families. But in that instant, an
investigator named Rita turns to the person next to her and almost casually says, "Wasn't John Feny's family, was
it?" Which needless to say, the question practically knocks the wind out of the other investigator who's like, "Well,
yeah, actually it was." Yeah, that feels weird. Like, wouldn't even believe it if
it was a movie on the nose weird. Why are they dropping his name immediately? Well, so Springfield may be the third
largest city in Missouri, but it does have major small town vibes, like a six degrees of Kevin Bacon kind of thing.
And apparently Rita and John actually have a history. So they went to high school together and then she took a
chemistry night class that he taught at a local university and that was like just the prior fall. So it's someone she
knows when she goes and takes his class. It's not weird that they got to talking
things even non-chemistry related. And somehow like a recent high-profile crime became the topic of conversation during
one of these classes or after or whatever. And probably because it happened like mid semester and Rita was
working the investigation. You see, in September of '94, a 37-year-old woman named Lisa Rall was killed in her home
south of Springfield. Now, investigators, Rita included, quickly put Lisa's husband under the microscope
as their prime suspect. Like, tail as old as time, right? Yeah. But Rita says that Jon was super interested in the
investigation as it played out in real time. Maybe too interested cuz Rita tells an on her podcast that one
particular question stands out in her mind, especially in hindsight. Jon was obsessed with knowing one thing. What
was the husband's big mistake? What fatal misstep did he make that allowed police to zero in on him? What got him?
Right. Which like, why do you ask, sir? Right. But she gave him an answer. She said that he talked to police and he
shouldn't have. No potential suspect or person of interest or whatever she said should ever talk to the police because
that is how many of them wind up in prison. So that is what is at the back of her mind when she brings up the
fenies. And it probably stays on her mind after they get briefed and head to the Feny house and walk this bizarre
scene. And truly, I mean bizarre. Like on the surface, it's strange, but when you drill in close and look at the
details of this thing, it gets really, really weird. Like those shoe prints in the living room. What they find out is
the liquid that those are in is beige paint. The prints themselves have dried, but they find a still wet puddle in the
garage. Wait, like the same paint used to maybe paint the glass on the front door? You know, I'm not sure that they
ever that's ever verified or reported on. I couldn't find anything about that. But I think that's the working
assumption. But again, that's not even like the strange part. These prints that they have, they don't make sense because
they don't fade like you would expect them to. I mean, like, think about it. If you walk through a puddle of paint,
like the first step should leave the clearest print, right? And then like the more steps you take, the drier it gets.
Especially on carpet, right? Like they're going to start to fade. But the ones that they're seeing, like they
don't fade. All of them are like equally saturated. Like someone is painting the
bottom of their shoes like every step or two, which just like why? Yeah. Like that doesn't make sense for a crime if
it happened this way. And these are the the killer's prints. Yeah, but the paint
was used for something else, too. So, investigators find a cryptic message painted on the wall of Cheryl and John's
bedroom, and it's painted in the same beige paint. The message says in all caps, bit die.
Now, everyone seems to agree that two letters are missing from the end of that first word, like bit is what it says.
And they think that it's missing the ch. So dye is what they think. But maybe they ran out of paint because they use
it all on their freaking shoes. Like my knee-jerk reaction is no. Because here's
the thing. When you actually like see a photo of this, I saw a glimpse of it in like coverage from like the trial, like
old old coverage. Bit is written above the word die. So in my mind, it's like the first word, right? So like running
out doesn't make sense. Neither does the writer getting spooked mid message like
because then we don't we shouldn't have the word die, right? I mean, it's possible that die was written first and
then like maybe they had some paint left over and was like, "Oh, how can I add insult to injury here?" Like, oh, I'll
like call her names, too. But, but then they only got through the first three letters. And I don't know why you would
still write it above the word die. So, not this doesn't make sense to me. But again, so much of this crime scene
defies explanation. So, when I hear beige paint, I'm going to be honest, it's not like the flashiest color. You
would expect like red or something, right? Yeah. Like, would this even stand out on their walls? Like, what color are
their walls? Also, a shade of beige. Like, you can see the words, but they definitely blend in. I don't even know
if you can see them. Maybe because they're still wet or something. I have a feeling, I don't know this for a fact,
but like knowing that they were in the garage, knowing we have that puddle in the garage, that maybe it was like some
kind of touch-up paint for the house that was like already there. So again, potentially not even something that the
killer brought with them. We tried to verify all that, by the way, but like our records request was denied by law
enforcement. Cool. Now, I could spend the entire episode discussing the paint because there is this other weird part.
So the prints that are like saturated the whole way through, they follow a pretty clear path. So the house is one
story, but has a basement with its own entrance. The prints start at that puddle in the garage. They go through
the living room, lead to the primary bedroom, and then they just stop. Like, there's no return path. And again, it's
not like they fade away. The ones in the bedroom are just as clear as the ones in
the garage. So, whoever did this like took the shoes off in the bedroom, maybe. Like, so were they wearing them?
Were they holding them on their hands and not wearing because they're like just making this path? However, they had
these shoes. What I do know is that they had to have taken those shoes with them
when they left because police don't find any shoes in the house that are covered
in beige paint or that even match the size and tread patterns of these prints. Oh,
that's an option. Come on, Bubba. No interest. [Music] Come on. You can lay on the floor if you
want or you can go upstairs. I like it. Weekly. [Music] So, I'm guessing that they to they like
took them off or like stopped using them in the bedroom because again, we never see the prints fading the way they
should have. We never see them going anywhere else. It It's like almost like this arrow beacon. Like it feels too
simple. Like it's someone trying to say, "Hey, go from the garage to the bedroom,
but it's not a big house. Like people would have made it to the bedroom." Well, I was going to say maybe they ran
out of paint with the wall art, but the print should be there and be faded. Like
all the freaking alarm bells are going off in my brain. This is 1,000% staged. It is. And like no matter anyway you cut
it, this is staged. And the rest of the house is starting to give staged as well. So everywhere investigators turn,
it is like torn apart, right? Like almost theatrically. So think less real life robbery and more like over-the-top
Hollywood movie. Even the cabinets under the kitchen are like open, which like why even open those? There would be
nothing there to find but like cleaning supplies. 100%. Especially because there
were actually some things to find that seemingly weren't found. Like they weren't taken. So, for example, like
there was cash in a dresser drawer in the primary bedroom. I mean, not a ton, like 40 bucks. But how are you literally
like rifling through dishwashing supplies but leaving behind cold hard cash? Robert Keys of the Springfield
News Leader speaks to a source who basically says that someone or someone went to great lengths to make it look
like this was done by a group of criminals, but it's like they tried so hard that it backfired. Even what at
first blush appears to be evidence of forced entry is a little sketch. So, the front door is fine. I mean, minus the
like painted window and the fact that it was unlocked, but it's not like damaged
or anything. It is actually the walkout basement door that looks like it's been kicked in. Reporting at the time
describes it as splintered and there is even a visible shoe print, not in paint.
That might have been too obvious, but it's like kicked in. But even this kicked in door is sus because when a
door is forced open, normally you find wood pulp on the screws from being forcibly dislodged, right? They're being
pulled out of the wood, right? But Rita tells Anne that there was no pulp to be found. Not a ton of damage to the door
frame either. Instead, it is almost like the door had been ever so carefully unscrewed from the hinges. And to do
that, it would have had to have already been open for that to work. Yeah. And are you ready for the actual full body
chills moment of this story? So this house is chaos, but there is one thing that makes even the most hardened
homicide investigators shiver. [Music] Two branches of the same tree, two pieces of a soul.
Where one sister goes, the other will be. For she is but half of the whole. The missing half. Pre-order your copy at
ashleyflowers.com. A family might have inhabited this home just a day or two earlier, but you would
never know it from the cold, barren walls. Because every last family photo, every baby picture, every school
picture, every wedding photo has been taken down and turned inward, hiding the smiling faces from sight. I'm sorry,
what? Between this and all the victim's faces either being covered or turned away,
that feels really intentional and like important. Like whoever did this didn't actually want to see their faces, who
they were doing this to, right? It's it's personal. Yeah. It feels like someone they know, which you can see why
investigators are pretty eager to speak with John. Now, when he initially phoned
that welfare check in, they didn't know yet what they had on their hands. They basically just told him like, "Hold
please." Like, not literally, but they had to like send someone out to the house, check things out, whatever. So
Jon was left to his own devices for the next few hours while the deputies made it to the scene. Investigators tried to
figure out what they were dealing with. And Jon later tells investigators that in that time he was frantically calling
and fielding calls from his and Cheryl's loved ones. But the bottom really fell out, he says at noon because that's when
a friend of his, this fellow science teacher showed up at his hotel door looking like all kinds of shook. And the
guy said that like, "Listen, I'm not sure, but I think I just saw your house on the news." And this guy offered to
stay with John while he waited for more information. And before long, the phone rang, and it was John's father with the
worst news possible. Now, when John heard that his family was gone, he says he just fell to pieces. And he later
tells reporters with the Springfield news leader that he remembers reciting prayers. And the teacher friend tells
Anne Rodrik Jones that John kept saying over and over again like this can't be. This can't be. And another friend who
joined them in the hotel room had to remind him to just like take deep breaths, like breathe. So once they find
out, the men immediately hit the road for Springfield. And when they get to the local highway patrol outpost for
John's first interview, his mom meets him outside for this like tear soaked hug and then walks him in where
investigators question him about his weekend. Now they know he was out of town, but they only have the
broadstrokes. They need details. So John says that Saturday, this is the last day
he was with his family. It was uneventful. He didn't have to leave for the conference until later that day. So
he hung out with the kids in the morning while show like ran some errands. They had lunch together when she got home and
then he did yard work before hitting the road in his red Mustang convertible. Now, when he got to town, he says that
he and a fellow teacher that he sees at these conferences a lot named Pam grabbed dinner together, just somewhere
within like driving distance of the resort. Dinner was dinner, nothing wild. And after they were going to go to this
like pre-conference party at the resort, but on the way back he got into a little
trouble. As 30-something men who drive red Mustang convertibles are want to do. Seems that John had a little bit of a
lead foot because he and Pam got pulled over and he got a ticket. Now, because of weird laws that I'd actually never
heard of before, the patrol officer actually confiscated his driver's license, like the physical thing. And
apparently it's something that they can do with drivers who live more than 50 m away. So like being your license until
you've paid your fine. So by the time they're done with this cop, John says he's got a headache. Plus he's got to
deal with this whole ticket thing now. So like no party for him. He parts ways with Pam. He heads back to his hotel
room and when he got there he called Cheryl which he says was their routine. He'll call home like the first day he
gets anywhere to confirm, you know, he's arrived safely, just like chat, see how
the day was. And she even picked up, they spoke, normal conversation, but that would be the last time he gets her
on the phone. When they hung up, he left the resort again. He headed to the Oage
Beach Police Department to pay for the ticket. And according to the police, he was there around 10:30 p.m. or so. So,
he forks over the money, gets his license back, and then he went back for good this time to go to bed at his hotel
room. and he was there all night. Slept there, didn't leave until late Sunday morning when he played golf with some
colleagues sometime before noon. After that, there was a conference session followed by lunch, another session at
4:00. John actually led that one. He called home around 5 just to check in. No one answered. Again, hadn't worried
him too much at the time. Cheryl was solo managing two kids. One of them was sick, by the way, so like extra
handsful. And John went to a conference social event Sunday night and then worked with some colleagues on a
presentation that they were giving Monday morning. He tried to reach Cheryl again around 11:00 p.m. Sunday. Again,
no answer. Also, very late. Knew Cheryl had work early the next morning. Everyone was probably in bed. And then
Monday rolled around and before he knew it, he was getting a call from his school. So investigators know his
timeline now and they kind of shift their questioning and they ask about his and Cheryl's marriage, how it started,
how is it now, like that kind of thing. So they met in 1978 at a trauma center. Cheryl was in nursing school and worked
there as a receptionist and John worked there as an attendant on the weekends. And according to John, they kind of made
eyes at each other for a while, but their romance really began when Cheryl asked him to dance at a co-orker's
party. And for John, this was a big deal. uh like the dancing part because his dad was a preacher in the church of
Christ which had a strict no dancing policy in those days. I mean I've seen Foot Loose, right? So you know feeling a
little rebellious, John said yes and the rest was history. They married in 1981 they had Tyler in 1988. In 1990 they
bought their house and according to the Springfield news leader, Jon was named Missouri's best science teacher of the
year. And at the same time, Cheryl was working her way up the ladder at the medical center. And then Jennifer came
in 1993. John tells investigators their marriage was strong. There was no infidelity like on either person's part.
And he's adamant about that. And that's kind of what they all say though, right?
Like what about money problems? None of those either. Like they are one of those
rare couples that had been financially responsible from the start. I mean, they built themselves a nice little nest egg.
They don't have much debt. Like, you know, on paper, they've done everything right. And Jon can't think of a single
person who would want to hurt his family. Like, this just makes no sense. There's no motive. And for what it's
worth, Jon appears to be completely shocked and griefstricken. Like, if he is putting on an act right now, it is
Oscar worthy. But as the husband, he is still firmly at the top of their list of
persons of interest, even as they let him go. I mean, we're still day one here, but a lot can happen in one day,
like the autopsies, for example. And the findings are awful. They're also revealing.
While baby Jennifer died from strangulation with a cord from the blinds in her bedroom, Cheryl and Tyler
both died as a result of blunt force trauma to their heads. Is it just me or is it odd that the baby's cause of death
is different? I don't Yeah, I don't know because like in my minds like I feel like the way she died was worse. Like
the medical examiner notes that the way she was strangled would have taken minutes and she likely suffered. Say
it's like a longer process. Like who picks the worst way for a baby to go? Like what kind of evil do you have to
be? Most people I mean how many cases have we seen where like the youngest one who won't recognize anyone is is left
alone? Now, the medical examiner also confirms that all three were attacked in their
sleep blitz, which to me is all the more reason to think that the door wasn't kicked in. I mean, you'd think that
Cheryl would have heard that, especially like her husband's out of town, you know, like she might be feeling super
like aware, waking at every little sound, let alone the sound of her door being kicked in. Right. And like again,
I said this before, but this isn't a big house. You just have the main story in the basement. So, I mean, the thing I
don't know is like how hard of a sleeper she was. I like I've got my like earplugs in, my eye mask on. I don't
know that I would wake up, but to your point, like maybe she was more alert because she was alone. I don't know. But
it does seem like she was asleep when someone came at her. Cheryl was struck in the head 10 times with what Ron Davis
describes as some kind of metal pipe or a rod that would have been like a half inch in diameter. and Tyler was struck
seven times with the same object, including three blows to the head. Whatever they had been bludgeoned with,
there was no sign of that at the scene. But according to Rita, that doesn't mean
that there weren't any weapons found there, because I guess Cheryl had superficial puncture wounds to her face
and a knife was found near her body. Now, the medical examiner determines that the murders took place in the
overnight hours from Saturday into Sunday. Although, there are signs that the killer maybe tried to confuse things
because I guess Cheryl and John, you know, there is nothing more '9s than a water bed. And they had a water bed that
where the heat had been turned all the way up to the highest possible temperature, which caused her body to
decompose even faster than it would have otherwise. And I realized this was, like
you said, the '9s. Basic forensics were probably a little less common knowledge back then, but this guy's a science
teacher. Like, he might have had like a little deeper knowledge on all that stuff than a normal lay person. But
what's confusing is the kids weren't messed with. So, like, yeah, that why try to throw things off with the water
bed with her? That's what I'm saying. Like, everyone talks about this water bed as being something that like, oh,
the killer was trying to like like speed up demp. And I'm like, "Yeah, but just for Cheryl, like it wouldn't it doesn't
change anything about like the the demp for the kids the timeline." Again, if you're trying to confuse the scene,
which everything in this this house feels confusing, if you are trying to make it appear as though she died before
the kids, I don't know what that would mean. Or again, I like I'm I'm just spiraling. Or you just have the other
option that it just got turned on. means nothing and it's just this additional weird thing in scene. Now, there's
something else interesting that's found on the bed. So, when they process the crime scene, they actually take samples
of what looks like semen on the comforter of the couple's water bed, although reporting never mentions
evidence that Cheryl was sexually assaulted. And we know that she was found in her night gown. They also
collect a hair from Cheryl's night gown that they can tell was recently dyed reddish brown as well as a couple of
gray hairs from the garage. One of which was on the paintbrush used by the killer. And for what it's worth, John
and Cheryl both have brown hair. Tyler was more of like a dark blonde. I haven't seen any pictures that show
Jennifer's hair color. Whatever it was, none of the family matched these hairs that are found. And as far as I can
tell, there's never any mention of like of other biologics or hairs or anything being found in any of the kids'
bedrooms. But that's not to say that there aren't other clues. One clue they find is just disguised a little. You
see, a Charorse reports for the Kansas City Star that during Tyler's autopsy, the medical examiner finds that he had
liver damage, which doesn't make sense in a healthy six-year-old kid. Like, the Emmy doesn't know what it means yet.
won't know what it means for a while because he has to order some additional tests that are going to take time. But
it's just like this thing that everyone's like, "We've we got to figure this out, right?" And while they wait,
over the next few days, investigators interview Jon's friends, family, co-workers, and basically the consensus
is like there is no way that Jon did this. He would just never do something so heinous. John and Cheryl were happy.
Jon's a good guy. Friends and colleagues from the conference say that he was his
usual self all weekend long. Like heck, the guy teed up for a casual round of golf within hours of the murders and not
a hint of stress or distress or distraction or even a bad mood was anywhere to be found on him. Though to
investigators, that doesn't mean a whole lot. I mean, I've told you about the scene. You got to be a special kind of
inhumane monster to do what this killer did. Whoever did this would probably act
fine after. So, if they're gonna rule Jon out, it's got to be using cold hard facts, not feelings about how he acted.
Oage Beach Police Department confirms for investigators that Jon was there paying the ticket, getting his license
back at 10:30 Saturday night. So, that part of his story checks out. But when they process John's car, they discover
the first crack in his story. No incriminating forensics or anything like that. Like in his car, they don't find
any traces of blood. There's no weapons. There is no bloody clothing. Any beige paint? There is no beige paint to be
found. No shoes matching the prints from the scene either. Which actually, speaking of the shoes, investigators had
determined that those were men's size 11, but at least one source reports that John wears a men's size 12 for what it's
worth. And depending on the store in the cut, I'm like seven different pant sizes. You feel like he could probably
have squeezed his feet in his size 11 shoes. He also could have like not even been wearing shoes and just like right
we keep going back to this May the prince. Anyways, back to the car. So nothing tying him to the crime scene
physically, but what they find is something interesting. So there is a receipt from a McDonald's near the
resort timestamped at 6:59 a.m. on Sunday the 26th. But John's story was that he didn't even leave the hotel
until late that morning to go golfing. Yeah. And like McDonald's never played a leading role in his story. So when they
bring him back in and question him about this, all he can say is like, "Oh my god, I totally forgot that I left to get
breakfast that morning." Like just slipped my mind. If this was like months, even weeks ago, I'd be like,
"Okay, little mixup." But we're not asking about a month ago, John. We're literally talking like 24 hours ago. I
know. I think about serial when like the way Serial season 1 starts where it's like where was the teenager 6 weeks ago.
Like it's John like where were you this like yesterday morning? I know. So we've
got this timeline now. And in this timeline he is unaccounted for for maybe 8 and 1/2 hours. Although unaccounted
for maybe isn't the right phrase because I mean per his story he's sleeping in his hotel room by himself like he should
have been. But we know that the round trip home and back would have taken right around 3 hours give or take. Like
it's 90 minutes each way. Okay, which would leave him a minimum of 5 to 5 and 1/2 hours to theoretically wipe out his
family, do some careful staging and then get breakfast. Was it all truly staging
though? I mean, the photos being turned around feel like a very real part. That part feels real, right? Wow. And it
would take time to do, but it it more makes me think it was someone who, like you said, who knew the family, who
couldn't bear to look at all these photos. Like, it's it's the only real thing here. That feels super personal.
And maybe it is the only real thing. Like and especially when you think about the fact that Cheryl and Tyler's faces
were covered and like Jennifer is like curled up in a ball face down. All of this to me says that it's someone who
was familiar with them. Someone who felt some sort of way after they did what they did during Yeah. and like couldn't
bear to look at the faces of the people that they killed. But the question is, was that someone John? Because even
though the McDonald's receipt is definitely sketch, like the fact that he left it out and it looks really bad for
him, there was something else in the car that actually plays in his favor. John was known to keep a written travel log
in his car where he records all of his mileage. I don't know why. I don't know if the school district like reimbures
for travel or what or like I've truly also my friend's dad does this for like no reason other than his own records.
Just for fun. Cool. Yeah. So, he's got this like detailed log. And when investigators compare the mileage on the
car to the travel log, it matches perfectly for him not making the extra drive home and back. Like, there's no
unaccounted for miles for an extra trip home to kill your family. Per the log, there were just enough miles for him to
have gone on the trip, but not to have made another trip home and back. Listen, I am admittedly not a math girly. But
how hard would that be to fake though? Especially if this was like planned well in advance. Just pad your mileage log
here and there for days, weeks. So when it all comes down to it, those extra miles in your murder your family road
trip are already quote unquote accounted for. Totally possible. But I mean, when you look at everything
as a whole, we have no physical evidence. you have a matching mileage log no matter how you got there. So,
police don't have a lot to work with if they think that John's their guy. Now, for the first week following the
murders, John and Cheryl's family present a really united front. They even go to the funeral home to pick out
caskets together for the funeral, which is held the following Friday. But then the united front becomes a little less
so. And it's because of what happens when John sits for another interview, which will turn out to be his last
interview. This is on Saturday, the day after the funeral and almost a week after the murders. By now, his family
has caught on that investigators are looking at him closely, which like, yes, duh. We said he's the husband. So, they
hire him, this hot shot local defense lawyer, to represent him like mid-in quite literally. Which life rule number
nine, always get a lawyer, for sure. But so this attorney h high tails it to the
station and is like knock you're talking to my client there like I need to speak
with him. But investigators are like sorry sir I can't let you in on account of John hasn't personally invoked his
rights. So the lawyer asked them to pass along a message to his client which I can truly only imagine is just do not
talk, shut the hell up. Shut up. Yeah. What whatever it is. Investigators also declined that request too. So the
interview continues. At some point they ask him to take a polygraph but he says no thank you and they don't have
anything to hold him on. So after a couple of hours John scadaddles and from that point forward he declines further
interview requests at the advice of his new lawyer. So is the hiring a lawyer or
not taking a polygraph what causes a rift between the families? The polygraph is what plants the first seeds of doubt
with Cheryl's family. And I mean investigators don't like it either. They tell the press that it'll be really hard
to rule him out until he agrees to sit for one. John's lawyer points out that like, listen, he's been super
cooperative. He has turned over whatever financial documents they've asked for. He's given them samples of his blood,
his hair. He they like he's let them hold on to his car, and he points out that duh, polygraphs are BS, right?
Also, investigators wanted him to take the test with their polygrapher, like not even like a third party or someone
they picked. So, like double no. Yeah, but in the end like there's nothing investigators can do to like make him
take it, right? Mhm. And so the show or the investigation must go on. Consistent
with what John told them about Saturday night, which the Oage PD mostly already confirmed. Anyway, investigators are
able to get footage from John's traffic stop. And this is what year exactly? This 95. I was surprised. Yeah. Uh, and
if we have footage of this traffic stop, do we have like other footage, hotels, businesses? I guess none that makes a
difference. None that John ends up being on. Like there's footage from a few gas
stations where they like there may or may not have been sightings of him. Although like none that really pan out
to me. It's like the hotel footage that I spiral on. I'm like in this entire resort there's nothing showing like was
his car there? Did he leave? Like I would say even like an entrance exit camera showing like if he did or did not
leave. But like nobody talks about that. The police said they looked for footage,
got footage, but like I'm like dying to know specifically about the hotel and I've never seen anything about that. So
the only relevant footage is from the traffic stop, which doesn't clear Jon by any means, but it puts him by the resort
just like he said. So maybe they've got this all wrong. Maybe Rita was reading too much into his interest in the other
case and like it never crossed his mind since. Say he's just a grieving husband.
Except something in the footage catches their eye. Rita swears that she has seen
the belt that Jon is wearing in that footage before. Specifically, she thinks she's seen that belt at the crime scene.
See, when the scene was processed, investigators had found a belt just like the one in the video rolled up on the
counter in the house, which is like weird. Not a place for a belt, whatever. But again, what about the scene isn't
weird, right? And at the time, they didn't know like what to make of that without context. Also, like I leave like
my shoes on the counter, so like whatever. But now seeing this, Rita starts to think, what if John came in,
undressed completely so that you wouldn't get blood on you, rolled up his belt for like some unknown reason,
whatever, took out his family, and then like when he got redressed, left the belt behind, which like you said might
explain why there wasn't any blood on John's clothes or in his car or anywhere on him. Yeah, it might. And like what's
extra interesting is that as far as like anything that's been reported or we've seen like no belt was found in John's
room at the resort, but it's on the footage of his traffic stop at 10:30. Where' the belt go? Right. So Rita can't
shake this feeling, right? Like it's like just when just when you're about to say like was it wrong? Like am I reading
into things? Like you get these like little things. And what really seals the deal for her is this next thing. So, Jon
is posted up in a hotel room near Springfield while his house is sealed off as a crime scene. And there's this
time or this point in time when investigators, Rita included, show up with a search warrant. And she talks
about this on the Ozarks podcast that, you know, when they show up, John's a good sport about this, like not that he
has a choice. And while investigators are doing their thing, one of them is like, "Man, John, like I really wish
that you would talk to us some more." And Rita says at this point, this like smug smile takes over John's face and he
looks her dead in the eye and says, quote, "Well, you know, I once had a very wise person tell me that the best
way to stay out of prison is to never talk to the police." I can't say he's wrong. Again, always
get a lawyer. Mhm. But woof. Yeah. In that moment, Rita says any doubt that she had about his guilt just evaporates.
And she's hit with the realization that John may well have been plotting to kill
his family even back when she was in his night class and he had all those questions about the case that she was
investigating. But you don't have to be a crime junkie to know that you can't arrest a guy based on a snarky comment.
and whatever they were looking for when they issued that search warrant, it doesn't seem like they find it because
Jon is still a free man who does something that again turns a lot of heads when they finally do end up
releasing his house back to him. Jon just like moves back in. What? Yeah. And like so many people have issue with this
because they're like this is where your entire family in all three bedrooms like
your family was taken out. There's signs of this everywhere and sure it gets cleaned up or whatever, but like he you
know he said that that's just where he had the memories of his family. It's like where he remembers the good times
and that's what he's choosing to remember. I don't think I could I don't I couldn't
I couldn't do it. Yeah, I couldn't sleep at night there. But like also could you
sleep at night if you were the one who did it? I mean again you have to be a true monster to have I don't know. It's
just like it's something that everyone had takes issue with. But he says like the other thing I'll say is like again
they weren't like in debt or anything but like I don't know their financial situation. I don't know if he could
afford to Yeah. like just getting another house or like living in a hotel like that's not a financial option for
like most of the world. So there's that. But while he moves back in and everyone's looking at him like
investigators are losing it because they feel like the truth is right in front of
them. They just can't prove it. Again, they still don't even have a motive. They can't go to a jury with no what and
how and no why. But sometime in March, investigators received a bombshell report involving those additional tests
that the medical examiner ordered on Tyler. And they think that this is the thing that is finally going to give them
a Y. The cause of Tyler's liver damage was hepatitis B. What? That is not at all
what I was expecting. I thought I know. Isn't he happy usually transmitted through like sexual activity or IV drug
use? Like it's kind of rare to see it in a kid, right? It's it's very unusual to
see in a kid, but it's not unheard of. So, there are other ways for children to contract it. Like, it can be passed from
mother to child. It's also spread through bodily fluids, which means in theory he could have picked it up at
school or something like that, but it is unlikely. So, this is when investigators start to
form a theory. What if Jon had been sexually abusing his son and Cheryl found out and threatened to turn him in?
Maybe this would be enough to make him do something desperate. So, the next step obviously is to test both Jon and
Cheryl for the disease. And they're like fully expecting Jon's results to come back positive, but they don't. And
neither do Cheryl's. Neither of them has ever had hepatitis B. Okay. So, what does that even mean?
Like, was someone else abusing Tyler? Maybe. Probably. I mean, they don't know. All they do know is that Tyler's
infection didn't come from either of his parents. And listen, police were right.
This would be a strong motive to kill the family, but it's a motive that now points to it being someone other than
John. And as they get more test results from other stuff back, more and more continues to point away from John. While
the hairs found on Cheryl's night gown and the garage and paintbrush don't yield a full DNA profile, the lab is
able to confirm that they are not consistent with John or Cheryl's hair more than just like color like
genetically. And when you say hair, like what are we talking about? Like strands,
a clump, like what are we dealing with here? You can count like you can count them on one hand. Like the reddish brown
hair, there was like I think there's one of them on the night gown. There was like a few of the gray ones. So barely
any. Okay. Now, they do end up getting a hit with the seaman on the bedspread that belongs to John, but like it's his
bed. His seam in his bed. Yet, it certainly doesn't prove anything. Investigators though would tell you
context is everything because investigators say that they end up learning Cheryl had a habit of washing
the comforter on Saturdays. So if she was killed Saturday night, they allege that this puts him in the house when he
says he wasn't. Does it though? If he was home Saturday and all of this could have happened
after she washed the comforter, but before he left. Like that doesn't it doesn't feel definitive to me. It's well
um them being like intimate or or anything h like that's never part of his story. And do we know for sure she even
washed the comforter that week though? Like she's running errands. She has a sick kid. Her husband's going out of
town for a conference. Like, I could see that being something that doesn't happen
this week. I I agree. And we don't know. There's nobody that I've seen that's been able to confirm like she for sure
watched it that day. No. And like another thing I'm having trouble wrapping my head around is the motive.
Like, does one actually exist? I know murdering your wife and kids like doesn't feel like a sexually motivated
crime. So, like where does that play into like this theory? And it's strange. I mean, again, they they've never said
that she was sexually assaulted. I don't think she was. So, it's more that like they're just saying like his semen is
there. It shouldn't be there based on his story, so it puts him there. Case closed. Even though like again, if they
want to say context is everything, like okay, what's the context of it being there? Like it does not make sense. But
I think the details matter less because they think they've got their guy. And you know this gets like I think this
feeling gets bolstered a little bit when investigators start realizing that John
Feny the teacher dad husband may be more of a mask than an identity because he is
a man with a lot of needs surrounding sex and female attention almost like to a compulsive degree and not always
within his marriage it turns out. Here we go. Yes. Okay. I thought it was weird that he was driving around going dinner
with another woman solo while he's out of town and his wife and kids are back at home. Dude, I like I was like, I
don't know. Maybe it's me. I know. No, that's kind of weird, right? I thought so, too. And I was like, yes. Yeah, I
thought so, too. Actually, believe it or not, though, Pam tells investigators what like that dinner thing wasn't a
date. And like again, remember this whole time Jon has been adamant to investigators that he was faithful to
Cheryl, which of course is a big fat lie because date or no date this time, like
this night. It turns out Pam and John definitely had an affair. Like she eventually admits to that, but she said
it was very brief, happened like three or four times. They ended things the prior November. And when they were doing
this, like their rendevous were always at, you guessed it, teachers conferences. And interestingly, Pam
makes sure to clarify that it hadn't even involved sex sex, just what she calls like intimate relations, which
like I don't know, it sounds the same to me. Like it it sounds like when like super conservative people are like,
"Well, it didn't go in there." And I'm like, my friends like a hole is a hole. Like Jesus made our bodies. A hole is a
hole. You know, that's how I feel. Truly. Truly. Anyways, so it's not just Pam that they find. Another one of the
affairs that they find out about was with this woman who claims that John used quote unquote mind control on her,
which is like what your guess is as good as mine. I have no idea what it means. Like I there's nobody else out there
saying that John like does witchcraft or anything wild like that. Like so I don't
know. But she goes into detail about some of their encounters, including an especially racy one that took place on a
boat involving John and her and two other men. And this was also at a teachers conference. No, no, no, no. So,
it seems like teachers conferences are his like hunting grounds, but what happens at teachers conferences does not
always stay at teachers conferences. So, he takes that stuff right on home with him and like continues to act in some
pretty objectionable ways. See, it turns out that John, who was put on administrative leave after the murders,
has always tried really, really hard to seem cool to his students. No. Nope. No way. No. No. No. No. No. Some of it was
in the category of like gross but seemingly innocuous. Chris Bentley and Robert Keys report in the Springfield
news leader that I guess he had a thing for Cindy Crawford and he like made a point to joke around about it in class
especially with like the other male students which like I know he said seemingly innocuous but like this is not
good. Red flag to anyone whose teachers is like having conversations with them like this. Like a teacher should never
be talking about who they have a thing for. Like it is completely and totally inappropriate type of conversation for
an adult and a minor to have, especially for an adult teacher and their minor student. Like these are the little
things that you do have to watch out for like the boundary testers. Like if you write off the little ones, it makes room
for more and more. Like, oh, you're not just like teacher and student, you're friends. Like he gets you. So maybe it
wasn't weird. It was just cool to the kids when there's this time when he buys them alcohol, which is a tip that does
come in about him. Like I guess he was at a bar and some students were there who like who he would clearly know were
underage. Like duh, they're his students. Yeah. And he bought them some drinks. And when this came out, John
actually tried to sue the investigators to get them to stop sharing further information to the press, but like all
of it ends up getting dropped. Then there are other former students who had weird experiences with Jon that they
with the benefit of hindsight feel like were Jon's attempts to put them in inappropriate situations like to hang
out socially, maybe even one-on-one, that kind of thing. Which takes me back to my point about like boundary testing,
what you would call grooming. John was for sure testing his boundaries there. But there are no reports of him coming
on to or doing anything physical with a student technically. So there is one super
disturbing story from a former student and she actually tells Ann Rodri Jones about this in the podcast. So apparently
there was this post-graduation camping trip that John went on with some recent grads like ostensibly. I would assume
he's there as a chaperone. I otherwise I don't know why he would be there. But he
apparently saw this as a prime opportunity to cozy up to one of the girls. And according to the former
student, they eventually slept together. Now to be clear, everyone involved was 18 at the time. Like this is after
graduation, but she was a former student. Barely former. Yeah. And it is wildly inappropriate and manipulative
and abusive power dynamics, like all the things. Yeah. So, all of that to say, if
there is a motive, police believe it's Jon's philandering. Did Cheryl know, not know? We don't know. But whether she did
or not, they think Jon just wanted to wipe the slate clean, start over, minus the wife and kids, and plus a cool
quarter of a million. Cuz guess what? They find out that John took out an additional life insurance policy on
Cheryl for $250,000 just months before the murders, which like well, of course he did, like they
always do. And though handwriting experts believe Cheryl filled out one part of the application, they're pretty
sure that the final signature is not hers. They can't prove it's John's either, but probably not Cheryl's. So,
like that's not that's confusing. Like everything. Now, it's important to note um there was some sort of promotion
thing going on that the insurance company was doing for teachers in the area at the time when Cheryl's life
insurance was upped. And we know this because the podcaster Ann Rodri Jones, she says her own aunt was a teacher in
the area around this time and she remembers it. So maybe that's the reason that the coverage got up at that time.
like a lot of teachers were doing the same thing. But all of this just has me even more upside down on what to think
about this one. There is like a lot of not great stuff here. But like nothing is flashing lights guilty to me. On the
other hand, nothing is like totally innocent either. I truly don't know where I stand. It's all circumstantial,
right? Which is why it is a huge deal when months into the investigation, investigators find a witness or maybe
settle on a witness. It's this gas station worker from near Springfield who says that he remembers John stopping to
get gas in the wee hours of that Sunday morning after the murders. And this guy's actually been on investigators
radar for a while, but his original stories to police weren't super helpful timing wise because they placed John in
Springfield at a time that he couldn't have been there, which investigators knew because of the McDonald's receipt
that they found in his car. But then the worker's time changed by like a good 3 or 4 hours and like presto changenjo,
we've got ourselves an eyewitness who's going to be like the star of the show. Cool. Cool. Cool. So, he's kind of
useless. a halfway decent defense attorney will rip his story to shreds. They're willing to take the chance
because in January of 1996, they put this case before a grand jury, which John pleaded the fifth before, FYI. And
by April, the grand jury has returned three indictments for first-degree murder. So, while there might be some
holes to fill in their story and their theory and their case, clearly these grand jurors see what the police see.
And the police are thinking that they're going to have time to like shore things
up before the trial. They'll like, you know, just take their time, push it out, maybe even years.
Problem is, we have this little thing called a right to a speedy trial. And John's lawyers take full advantage. You
want to charge him? Let's go and let's go now. So all of a sudden, the prosecution finds itself scrambling. And
it sure doesn't help that the one eyewitness they have doesn't just have a questionable story that's going to leave
the jury wondering, you know, was it right the first time or the second time. The defense is not playing those games.
They get their hands on the gas station attendants time cards. And guess who wasn't even working the night that this
went down. So his story is completely useless. Yeah. It's not real. They cannot use him. So when they go to trial
in September of 1996, it is without their key witness cuz they don't have one. Nope. And that's just the beginning
of the unraveling. Over time, they had found a few friends of Cheryl's who were prepared to testify that she had
confided in them about wanting a divorce. Even said maybe she was scared of John. But they end up being
prohibited from testifying based on case law that get this actually stemmed from
that case that Rita was investigating while she was in like John's night class. So the husband in that case was
convicted but actually like big twist not long before John's trial. His conviction was vacated based on hearsay
violations. He later got retrieded and acquitted by the way. But the judge in John's case decides that this decision,
the one about the hearsay violations, prevents him from allowing Cheryl's friends from testifying to things that
she said about their marriage. And Cheryl possibly wanting a divorce is a big deal. Remember, John's dad is a
minister in the ultraconservative church of Christ, which at the time is like, "Oh, the shame about divorce." So if
Cheryl divorced him, the thinking goes it could have been super embarrassing to his family. And like it sounds wild, but
we have seen this play out before. Like, oh, divorce is awful, so let me just like go with the lesser crime of murder
in the eyes of God, right? Like obviously sarcasm, but like that's their argument. He wanted out. He wanted to be
free, but like divorce was not an option. Mhm. The thing is, and this is what the defense argues, is like John
was already free. He was out sewing his wild oats. He was living his best life. But this thing actually still goes to
trial. And this did he didn't he plays out in court. Now, up to a point, I could see jurors leaning in either
direction. But where the prosecution starts to lose them, I suspect, is when they bring up vampires. I'm sorry,
Ashley. You have not brought up vampires. I know. Why would the prosecutors What? So, okay.
Investigators had apparently learned that John maybe sometimes plays a role- playinging game called Vampires of the
Masquerade. And I say maybe sometimes, by the way, because some of the reporting just says he knows about the
game through his students. So, it's like not even 100% that he plays this game at
all. Either way, think like we talked about Dungeons and Dragons before, right? Like it's that with vampires.
Okay. Per the prosecution, when John, a man with no history of violence, set out
with the unenviable task of decimating his entire family, he just pretended he was a vampire and was killing them in
his game. And I would love to say that I'm oversimplifying this, but I'm really not. Like that's that's what they put
forward. And I'm thinking all of this is happening while the US is still like peak satanic panic era. Yeah. So,
they're like I mean I don't know. I don't know what they thought that they were going to gain by this or whatever,
but like I think that they're it's it's why we've seen the Dungeons and Dragons thing play out before, right? Where it's
just like a game that's like a little weird like and like if people don't understand it, they're afraid of it.
Sure. Yeah. So, again, he's acting as a vampire. This is the prosecution's story. Cool. Meanwhile, the defense
argues a much more believable theory than that one. that someone had been abusing Tyler, had suddenly decided that
they didn't want to risk anyone finding out. And in support of this theory, they
point to the hairs that don't belong to Cheryl or John, found on Cheryl and on a
paintbrush used by presumably the killer. Yeah. And it's very freaking possible that there might have been more
physical evidence pointing to an outside intruder that just wasn't collected. So,
come to find out, some super important crime scene surfaces, like I mean, we're talking Tyler's headboard, Jennifer's
crib, for instance. Like, those were never dusted for Prince. So, like the lowest of the lowhanging fruit that
investigators just totally dismissed, like botched. And again, let's go to how did he contract hep B? Ann Rodrik Jones
notes in her podcast that the official who tracks infectious disease cases for the county was given like a list of 155
names of people who had potential contact with Tyler. And when they compared that to the people being
tracked, like none of those names were on the list. But does that mean it's someone they didn't know had contact
with him or someone who wasn't being tracked? like there's there's still like a hole potentially in that either I I
it's very likely that it's the second because he B isn't something routinely tested for without a specific reason but
this is what's wild to me like they do this like comparison with the list and as far as I can tell that's about where
the efforts to figure out how he got he like stopped. So it's not like they went
back and started testing people who had contact with Tyler. It's like the second
they found out it wasn't John, they're just like, "Oh, well, that doesn't fit our theory, so let's not investigate. We
don't need to find out how he got it." Like, no longer relevant. So when the jury goes to deliberate on October 5th,
1996, they are sent to do so with no forensics, no witnesses, no murder weapon, no nothing other than vampires
and a bad husband with an arguably predatory past and like this bad investigation to look at. So everyone is
on pins and needles until the jurors come back less than 5 hours later with their verdict. Not guilty. Not guilty.
Not guilty. Which to be clear is not a vote of confidence in the innocence of John Feny. Most of the town jurors
included very much think he is guilty AF. No one is more disappointed in the verdict than Rita who told Anne Rodri
Jones that there was evidence that the prosecution just didn't introduce. Like example would be the belt thing. So,
it's like doubly frustrating when jurors explain in interviews that they just weren't given the evidence to prove the
case. Like there was reasonable doubt. And when an interviews the judge who presided over the case, even he says
that he wasn't surprised by the verdict. In the weeks following Jon's acquitt, Cheryl's family sues to prevent him from
collecting on her insurance policies. Although the suit doesn't really go anywhere and it is eventually dropped.
John gets the proceeds, but he pledges to dedicate $50,000 to funding a private investigation into who really did kill
his family. If he did, though, I couldn't find any evidence for it. Now, he sticks around in Springfield for a
while, but at some point, he moves away, eventually landing in Ecuador, where he
resumes his career. He even remarries and builds a new family. And that's pretty much the end of the story until
an released that season of her podcast on this case in 2022, which by the way, I'm going to plug it again, Ozark's True
Crime. It is a really great podcast by a team of like really great folks. I'll link to it in the show notes. Anyway,
after it comes out, Ann hears from a kid who was a neighbor of John's at the time
of the murders. And it turns out that this kid could have been the witness that the prosecution needed was just
overlooked. Someone who placed John at his house in the wee hours of the morning the night of the murders. So
this neighbor, I think she said she was like 9 or 10 at the time, tells Anne that she was up that night with a
stomach ache. She woke up her parents sometime between 2 and 4:00 a.m. and they told her just like go take some
Pepto. And on her way back to bed, she looked out her window and saw John's bright red Mustang sitting in the
freaking driveway. She even thought to herself like, "Oh, weird. Mr. Finey never parks his bright red Mustang in
his driveway." And then she went back to bed. Now, as soon as she heard about the
murders a few days later, she told her dad what she'd seen. And her dad, who could corroborate that she'd been awake
that night at that time, made sure she repeated the whole story to investigators.
But somehow her sighting got like misplaced or overlooked or whatever because when an interviews the
prosecutor, he says that that's the first time he's hearing anything of this. Same goes for Rita. And because of
double jeopardy laws, John can't be tried again with this information or not. No. And I mean like this is the
part of the episode where I would normally say like if you have any tips or know anything, please call X Y andZ
agency at whatever number. But like this officially at least is a closed case. But in my opinion, it's a closed case
with way too many unanswered questions. Like have those hairs from the crime scene ever been analyzed with more
advanced technology? Like how did Tyler contract he be? If I were law enforcement in Springfield, I don't
know. I'd want to be sure. No, you can't try John Feny again. But what if? What if it wasn't him? Police might not be
listening anymore, but I don't know. I guess I am. So, if you're in Springfield and you know anything, the line's open.
Send me an email. You can find all the source material for this episode on our website,
crimejunkkeyodcast.com. And you can follow us on Instagram at crimejunkkeyodcast. We'll be back next
week with a brand new episode. [Music]

Join us as we recount the tragic and unsolved Feeney family murders that occurred on February 27, 1995, in Springfield, Missouri. Cheryl Feeney and her two young children, Tyler Feeney and Jennifer Feeney, were found brutally killed in their home while Jon Feeney, a high school science teacher, was attending a conference at Tan-Tar-A Resort. We explore the details of the case, including the investigation, Jon’s trial and acquittal, and the lingering questions surrounding unidentified forensic evidence. Join us as we respectfully examine this heartbreaking case, its impact on the community, and why it remains one of Missouri’s enduring mysteries.

When the family of a beloved high school teacher is brutally killed, investigators race to make sense of a chaotic crime scene that defies simple explanation. They find themselves asking: was the whole thing staged? And if so, who staged it and why?

We highly recommend listening to season 2 Anne Roderique-Jones’ podcast, Ozarks True Crime. You can listen wherever you get your podcasts!

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Brief Summary

The Feni family murders lead to a controversial trial of John Feny, who was acquitted despite suspicious circumstances and new evidence emerging post-trial.

Key points

The Feny Family Tragedy. A seemingly normal family is thrust into chaos when a welfare check reveals a horrific scene.
A Disturbing Discovery. A co-worker finds the Feny home ransacked and alarming signs of foul play.
John's Heartbreaking News. John Feny receives the devastating news about his family's fate, leaving him shattered.
John's Speeding Ticket. John gets pulled over and receives a ticket, leading to a headache and no party.
The Autopsy Findings. The autopsy reveals shocking details about the family's deaths, raising more questions.
John's Alibi. John's timeline raises suspicions as he is unaccounted for for several hours.

Episode highlights

Episode quotes

This guy needs to be buried under the courthouse.

Ashley Flowers expresses her conflicted feelings about the story.

0:24WatchApr 18, 2025

Tension

75/ 100High tension

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