Forensic Files - Season 5, Episode 14 - Broken Promises - Full Episode | Forensic Files

when a popular high school teacher was found dead of a gunshot wound investigators believed it was an
accident but an audio tape recorded by the victim just three days before his death
raised serious questions that required answers [Music] [Applause] [Music] [Applause]
historic durham north carolina is both a big city and a small town best known as the home of duke
university and its world-famous medical center but it is also a close-knit southern
community where families stay for generations great place to raise a family you look
around for communities throughout the country that have wonderful school systems great parks great recreational
facilities for children and families and you'll find that here at durham high school russell steger was
a popular baseball coach and driver's education teacher a man respected by faculty and students
alike jennifer joyner was one of russ steger's students all the kids who needed advice or
needed someone to talk with about their problems coach steger his door was always open and
he just meant a lot to the kids there after college russ steger married his high school sweetheart joe lynn
russ was a very gentle compassionate caring full of life human being he embraced life um he had a
very tender heart unfortunately stiger wasn't as successful in his personal life as he
was in his professional life after four years of marriage russ and joe lynn divorced
less than a year later russ married a 31 year old widow barbara ford he adopted her two sons brian and
jason he took in barbara's sons as his own he loved them he cared for them and treated him like like they were his
own sons barbara worked as a secretary at duke university medical center russ continued to teach and coach
he worked weekends in the national guard and with his new wife barbara taught sunday school in their church
by all outward appearances russ and barbara steger lived a storybook life but all that changed in the early
morning hours of february 1st 1988 just as the night shift was ending police got an emergency call of a
shooting at the stager home russ steger was found sprawled on his bed with a bullet wound to the back of
his head he died three hours later in the hospital she kept saying she kept making the
comment i kept telling him about those damn guns i kept telling him about those damn guns
[Music] barbara steger said that russ slept with a 25 caliber pistol under his pillow
because of some recent burglaries in the neighborhood [Music] just before dawn barbara said she was awakened when one
of her sons went into the bathroom barbara was worried that russ might mistake her son for a prowler
so she tried to remove the pistol from underneath russ's pillow [Music] when she did the gun accidentally fired
shooting russ in the back of the head the death was ruled an accidental shooting
he was a mentor he was a baseball coach he was a likable guy to so many children
at a durham high school and they felt a sense of loss they felt a sense of shock they felt a sense of
disbelief what has happened to the guy that we loved when i first heard it i couldn't believe it i was like no not
coach steger he was a great coach and everything learned wanted the news i felt sorry in
my heart history had unfortunately repeated itself in a bizarre coincidence barbara's first husband had died in a
shooting accident too he was cleaning his 25 caliber pistol when it accidentally went off shooting
himself in the chest barbara steger was now a widow once more because of a shooting mishap
[Music] a few hours after rustager's death detective rick buchanan went to the stagger home to ask some routine
questions [Applause] when he got there barbara steger's father was removing the bloody sheets pillow and bed spread
since the death had been ruled accidental the bedding was not considered evidence
[Music] it was buchanan's first interview with barbara steger she was a little withdrawn perhaps but
she was not overly friendly she was not boo hoo and all way through the interview
barbara steger repeated her account of her husband's death saying the gun went off accidentally as she pulled it from
under her husband's pillow she told buchanan that her nine years of marriage to russ had been happy that he
was a great father to her two young boys something wasn't right i couldn't put my
finger on it i didn't know exactly what it was but it still wasn't enough to to indicate anything other than
accidental shooting the news of russ steger's death was particularly troubling to his first wife
joe lynn my reaction was it was no accident and that's what i said to my parents
and i remember my dad said you you can't know that it was no accident you can suspect but you can't know and i said no
i know that it was no accident joe lynn wrote a letter to police because russ often confided in her
russ told her that barbara removed large sums of money from their bank account and that he suspected barbara was having
sexual affairs with other men he had once caught her kissing another man in a parking lot
when investigators looked into barbara steger's background they learned some surprising information
about her first marriage her first husband had died in bed and was killed at the business end of a 25 caliber
pistol and so now we have um a lady who's had two husbands killed in bed with a 25 caliber gun
and on both occasions she was present barbara's first husband larry ford had been cleaning his 25-caliber pistol when
it accidentally discharged shooting him in the chest although the death of larry ford had
been ruled an accident his family vigorously fought to have the case investigated as a possible murder
but the ruling was never changed barbara inherited larry ford's entire estate and suspicions remained
investigators now had another suspicious death and more questions about the same
woman i desperately wanted to know that truth i wanted a full-blown investigation
if it was accidental i wanted that to be known but if it was not accidental as i so
suspected i wanted that to come out too 90 of what we do is common sense and then we apply the
other ten percent to law and if it looks like a duck walks like quacks like a duck by god it's gonna be
a duck was it possible that barbara steger was not unlucky at all but was in fact
a serial killer the death of barbra stiger's first husband larry ford by an accidental
self-inflicted gunshot wound to the chest had officially been declared an accident
and after 10 years the case had long been forgotten but shortly before his death it had
clearly been on the mind of russ staker barbara's second husband russ steger told his ex-wife joe lynn
that he feared for his own life he also knew that her first husband had died under somewhat mysterious circumstances
and so when he put all of that together i think he he was a little concerned for his safety
but it would mostly he felt paranoid according to barbara steger the gun under her husband's pillow had
gone off accidentally as she tried to remove it barbara said the gun had a hair trigger
and that she had barely touched it before it went off firearms expert eugene bishop performed
what's known as a trigger pull test on the gun weights are attached to the trigger in
one pound increments to measure the force required to pull the trigger the gun had a four pound trigger pull
which is no hair trigger deliberate force would be required to fire the gun a contradiction of barbara steger's
story in the autopsy medical investigators discovered another discrepancy the trajectory of the fatal
bullet was not consistent with barbara steger's account the bullet struck rustager's head in a
downward angle barbara claimed that the gun fired as she pulled it from under the pillow
which would have sent the bullet in an upward trajectory the angle of the trajectory
would indicate that she was above and behind russ when the shot was fired so it was the autopsy was inconsistent
with the story she was telling the spent shell casing was found just inches from the gun near russ steger's
head eugene bishop test-fired the pistol and found that it ejected shell casings to
the right and rear of the shooter which meant if barbara's version was correct the shell casing should have been found
somewhere in the middle of the bed as far as the story concern was not what she was saying her story did not
coincide with my findings looking at the crime scene pictures of the cartridge case itself where it was
laying on the bed it could not have been fired as she said it was fired when any firearm is discharged dust oil
and gunpowder are expelled from the barrel if barbara's version was correct powder
burns would have been present on the sheets the sheets had been removed by barbara's
father immediately after the shooting and had been laundered but powder residue can be identified
even after fabrics have been washed when the sheets were examined scientists found no evidence of
gunpowder residue with all of these contradictions detective rick buchanan asked barbara
steger to demonstrate on videotape what happened on the morning of the accident oh i'm standing face-to-face with killer
i know it but she don't know i know it with the detective playing the part of russ staker barbara steger recreates her
version of the story and i don't know how it was in my hand i have no idea if i touched i don't know i don't know and
almost immediately she realizes there are inconsistencies well wait a minute that one's quite long
okay and then i start getting up okay that's how that's how it was to start getting
up with it in my hand but i don't know how i had it in my hand okay she's repositioning the body
in the bed with her trying to make it fit her story and she can't do it she's a lying ass [ __ ]
and that was probably vocalized as i watched the video and replayed it and replayed it and
replayed it there was no doubt at all that she intentionally shot and killed russ steiger
no doubt whatsoever [Music] police also doubted that russ steger a member of the united states national
guard with weapons training would have placed a loaded pistol under his pillow with the safety turned off and cocked
with a round already in the chamber this along with barbara steger's videotape recreation was enough to
convince investigators that russ stager's death was no accident but investigators were not prepared for
the next clue in the case a message from the victim himself this is russ steger this is january 29th 1988
10 minutes i started to get up to get it out from under there heard the noise shocked
evidence was mounting that russ steger's death was not the accident claimed by his wife barbara but if she had killed
him in cold blood as police suspected they needed to find the motive for that they looked into the couple's
financial records though the staggers had a modest income russ was a school teacher barbara a
secretary barbara was known for spending extravagantly and the couple was deeply in debt
we learned that barber had become involved in some debt and this apparently was without russ's
knowledge uh it appeared to be credit card debt among other things records of the stigers bank transactions
were sent to forensic documents examiner derwood matheny he compared russ steger's known
signatures to signatures found on that second bank loan as well as his will which had been revised only months
before his death they brought to me a will they brought me some checks and other documents
that were signed with the name russell steger that it was not his signature on the wheel i determined that it was a
simulation of the signature other words someone trying to make it look like his signature
if russ steger hadn't signed these documents who did there was actually forged checks where
russ steger's account was being drawn upon and the money was being deposited in barbara steger's account so all the
financial evidence tended to show that barbara was in debt and russ did not know about it
the beneficiary of the forged life insurance policy with the payout of 170 thousand dollars was none other
than his wife barbara steger [Music] the final piece of evidence in the case came from a most unlikely source
at durham high school one of rustager's students was cleaning a gym locker when he came upon a
cassette tape the voice on the tape was one he recognized immediately this is uh russ steger
this is january 29th [Applause] 1988 10 minutes she stood there the tape was recorded
just three days before rustager's death on the tape he confided his belief that his wife barbara
was planning to kill him last few nights barbara has worked me up and gave me what she said was too
aspirin she stood there to see if i took it i did not take it russ steger went on to question the
allegedly accidental death of barbara's first husband the first one i don't know what happened but according
to his parents there was some foul play going on he supposedly accidentally shot himself
in their bedroom my question is did her husband larry ford accidentally shoot himself sometimes i
wonder listening to that tape was surreal i had never ever experienced anything quite like that in
prosecution where you try a case a person for homicide and yet the victim who you represent
who has no voice in the courtroom is now telling you what he is feeling experiencing
and worried about immediately prior to his execution so to speak investigators now had both evidence and
motive barbara steger was arrested on a charge of first degree murder here these will help you sleep
prosecutors believe that barbara steger had been planning her husband's death for weeks
first with poison and when that was unsuccessful with the gun shortly before dawn
prosecutors believe that barbara removed the 25 caliber handgun from its usual place in the dresser drawer
walked over to her sleeping husband and fired into the back of his head the bullet entered at a downward angle
she was also standing above the bed which explains the lack of powder burns on the bedding
to stage the scene bob replaced the spent shell casing just inches from her husband's head which was
a mistake if the gun went off as she pulled it from under the pillow as she claimed
the shell casing would have ejected to the right towards the foot of the bed the angle of the bullet the placement of
the shell casing the lack of powder burns the forged will and life insurance policy and
most damning of all russ steger predicting his own murder on audio tape made a compelling case to drawers
without the forensics of this case there would have been nothing but theory and speculation
and you can't prosecute theory and speculation you've got to have physical evidence
that's where the forensics came in barbara steger was found guilty of first degree murder and was sentenced to death
her sentence was later reduced to life in prison after an appeal i think those of us who cared so deeply for us
ran it and raved and felt this was so unfair to take someone so special and so kind
and you there's there's never an answer to why there's there's never an answer to
why evil wins sometimes prosecutors also suspect that barbara steger was responsible for her first
husband's death but with her current life sentence they see no need for further prosecution
this case was a terrible tragedy a good man not just one but two are gone and they're gone forever because of the
criminal conduct of barbara steger and our court system worked it uncovered the truth
a verdict was rendered and justice was done [Music] [Music] [Music] so [Music] you

When a popular gym teacher is found dead of what appears to be an accidental gunshot wound, his family is suspicious. A tape recorded by the victim just before his death tells the true story of his strange marriage and his wife's insatiable greed.

Forensic Files is the longest-running true crime series in television history. Evidence and interviews with experts help solve real crimes, disease outbreaks and accidents around the world.

Brief Summary

Russell Steger's suspicious death leads to his wife's murder conviction after he recorded fears of her intentions days prior.

Key points

Tragic Death of a Beloved Teacher. Russ Steger, a popular teacher, is found dead, raising suspicions of foul play.
A Gripping Investigation. Detectives uncover evidence suggesting Barbara Steger may have murdered her husband.
A Shocking Discovery. An audio tape reveals Russ's fears about his wife's intentions just days before his death.
Justice Served. Barbara Steger is convicted of first-degree murder, but the case leaves lingering questions.

Episode highlights

Episode quotes

I kept telling him about those damn guns.

Barbara's regret about the gun incident.

3:37WatchNov 11, 2021

Tension

85/ 100High tension

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