Preston Murr and the Boise Murder Mansion | Morbid | Podcast | Forensic Files

hey weirdos I'm Ash and I'm Elena whoa and this is [Music] morbid do you ever I bet some people
think that we hate each other based off of our like answers I just went wo like I was like okay calm
down but really I was just like wow she's crazy oh they're definitely some people who think we hate each other
should we tell them guys we actually hate each other like it's really hard to be around each other is I hate it every
day the worst it's terrible Did I Even Say in this is morbid yet yeah okay that's good so we're here we're here we
love each other it's true in fact I just said hey I did something crazy and she said what and I said I ordered a bunch
of pumpkin Bagels on a whim that are coming tomorrow and she said that's not crazy at all I'm excited about that and
I was like that's why you're my people that's not crazy in any way yeah you were like that's not crazy at all
especially based off the things that I impulse purchase when I show you my impulse purchases you go that's
literally insane insane mine aren't Bagels yeah mine are just like look at these Bagels that look like a pumpkin I
don't have kids so I just be buying myself doing cool [ __ ] I'm so excited to put those bagels in the girls lunches
I'm so excited to put one of those Bagels into my face hell yeah hell yeah hell yeah
brother well it's morbid we're reunited we're in person I'm not Coy anymore you're not Coy anymore yeah I'm negative
I'm still I still got that like lingering cough which is very annoying I never [ __ ] got one I did wake up this
morning though I also tested negative finally which is great um and I woke up this morning and I was like sneezing a
lot that could be alleries uh cuz everything's kind of like moving around now with the rain and stuff you know
what's so weird like you're you're just like laying in your bed and then you wake up with allergies like did the
allergies come in my room do you know what I mean like I don't really get it did they make an appointment and I
didn't write it down like I don't sleep with my windows open so how did the allergies get in I think your body is
just like it's allergy out there maybe that's got to be it I think that's that's the scientific reason for
it I would love if I asked my doctor and he just said well your body is just allergies out there my specific doctor
too to just say that I feel like my doctor might say that honestly I also which I appreciate we don't have this no
uh like anyway no communicate it was just like no no no we don't have the same doctor but we do go to the same
mine I think would mine also would yeah maybe it's like a practice wide thing yeah I like that all right well that's
doctors that's allergies and my abysmal understanding of them and on to the episode because it's spooky season y'all
spooky season spooky season but I feel like we kind of like made this a theme that we're also doing like I feel like a
lot of times we go like full spooky which is like super fun yeah but without even meaning to we've intertwined True
Crime into this spooky season yeah it's definitely become like a more like um Mish mashed one which I like yeah it's a
lot we we've touched upon a lot of different things got some like spooky we did some spooky
cemeteries and like spooky hotels which is fun we've done some haunting some you
know fake haunting some true crime that caused the fake haunting yeah you know so we're actually in a place of like
True Crime causing the fake question mark haunting this is a place that like honestly I'll be quite Frank and open
with you at the beginning most of this is just True Crime um and the end is like a little bit haunted but there's
debate over how haunted it truly is ooh so we're going to be talking unfortunately about the murder of
Preston myrr but also the Boise murder Mansion ooh so a little after midnight on June 30th 1987 so not too far back
guys no I was born I was not so there's I wasn't even a star in the sky um but you were I was you were out of the sky
yeah I mean I was only like two but still that's I was here that's kicking you might have been able to walk yeah I
mean I hope so by then I don't Milestones I'm not there yet okay but anyway I was like maybe I hope I don't
know I don't know how any of that works but uh a little after midnight on June 30th 1987 when Elena knew how to walk
yes Clinton Clinton Sparks was woken from sleep by what sounded like somebody running down the street and shouting out
of outside of his window no I just go back to sleep no no that's exactly what we tell people not to do I know but it's
so scary it is so scary the noise was loud enough to disturb his who started barking uncontrollably at
the noise outside so that's when you really can't go back to sleep no you can't so Clinton got out of his bed to
investigate the noise and he looked out his front window where he saw quote two figures running toward the door a moment
later one of the figures had reached his front steps and was banging on the front
door frantically Clinton later said I didn't know what was happening I didn't hear voices at that time so completely
[ __ ] terrified he backed away from the door and at that very moment he heard a man voice shout let go of me let
go of me oh and to him the voice sounded desperate sounded terrified he said it sounded like someone who was in a lot of
pain oh so after hesitating for like a minute or two cuz you know you got to be oh well I would not know what the [ __ ]
to do in that situ I'd be calling the police that's the only thing I would know how to do that's the thing like
immediately all you like all you need to do in that situ situation is call the police you don't have to open your door
but because this is 1987 it's not like he has a cell phone on him where he can just quickly call no he's got his
landline like yeah so he opened the door and he saw what appeared to be a large smear of blood on his storm door and he
said he could still hear yelling from somewhere outside but by then whoever had been at the door was gone so he was
like what the [ __ ] do I do and I think he probably was sitting remember this is
like the middle of the night so he's like yeah did this just happen like what the [ __ ] he's very like shaken here damn
what a [ __ ] badass that he opened that door like I'm s not everybody would no I don't know that and honestly it
would be very dangerous to if you you know what I mean like it sounds like there's multiple people out there oh
knowing what we know I think it's a good it's not a good thing that he didn't open the door but I think it it could
have gotten a lot worse yes exactly yeah so after waiting about 10 minutes he called 911 to report what he believed
was a violent altercation of some kind and he said I'm pretty sure there's somebody out there in need of assistance
like somebody's bleeding and screaming so he told the dispatcher a couple of guys came up and beat on the door I went
outside and looked and there's some blood on the door it looks like and he said he couldn't see anybody in the
street at that time like when he was calling but he said it appeared as though quote some things going on in the
house across the street and when the dispatcher asked what Clinton wanted them to do for him he was like well I'd
like an officer to come check out the neighborhood to look around I'd be so irritated I'd be like what the [ __ ] do
you think I want you to do I want you to write me a high coup about it the [ __ ]
do you think I want you to do that's the you're the godamn emergency Services come emergency serve please like I just
told you I heard yelling and there's blood and somebody in need of help and you're like well what do you want me to
do I'm like your job just I want you to tell me what you think of the new Terminator movie could you tell me a
nighttime lullabi who are you not somebody smart no so he was like can you send somebody out to have a look around
and he gave the address in the cross street and then was like okay like hope you're coming goodbye now that same
evening a fire had broken out at a house across town and the dispatcher decided that emergency should be given a higher
priority the fire than the disturbance so Clinton's call wasn't even flagged as an emergency wow which is very that's
wild crazy like I understand that a fire is like happening right now yeah so like
that's you got to triage those things but it's like this is still a big deal someone's bleeding outside well that's
the you you do have to um triage them to like some level of importance and if somebody's bleeding I think that would
be like high on the list I would think so strangely enough though uh the call wasn't dispatched to an officer until 48
minutes after the call was placed awesome at that time the officer who was assigned to the call was busy and asked
that it be reassigned but for whatever reason the dispatcher never sent the call to another officer what the [ __ ] it
was like a huge [ __ ] up yeah so the next day another resident in the neighborhood
called the police to report what they believed was a large amount of blood in the street okay so much so that quote
someone or something could have bled enough to have died they said what the [ __ ] so at that point officers finally
got around to investigating the front door of Clinton Sparks home where they did indeed find a bloody handprint
Sergeant Jim tibs told a reporter it appeared like he had a whole handful of blood so there was like a straight up
bloody handprint on Clinton's door oh yeah and Clinton's house wasn't the only one police also found a bloody handprint
on uh bloody handprints excuse me on the Windows of another nearby home like multiple my goodness so they were able
to follow a literal blood trail from the large pool in the street all the way to
the front door of 805 West Linden Street the home of Daniel and Katherine Rogers
the couple told the investigating officers that they actually weren't home the night before and they didn't know
anything about the blood or the supposed fight that happened in the street uh but
when officers returned with a warrant a short time later they discovered that the blood trail LED inside the house and
continued down into the basement where they discovered more than 13 pounds of marijuana scales and packaging material
oh oops Yeah so Daniel and Katherine Rogers were um immediately arrested yeah uh and that they got arrested at that
point on charges of possession of a controlled substance with intent to distribute and the house was corded off
for further investigation cuz were they just like hanging they were just in that
house with that blood trail going through it yes just like stepping over it when they had to get to the kitchen
for a snack like what do you what I guess they just hadn't cleaned up and then the cops come and they're like oh
it's fine this is we shouldn't clean this up I think yeah no no this is not like I'm glad that they didn't yeah
obviously but like when also the cops come and remember 1987 weed was not legal so you have 13 lbs of weed in your
basement I don't know maybe clean up maybe just like you know yeah maybe do anything literally anything but again
glad they did it so as they continued searching the Rogers home investigators found a
significant amount of blood spatter on multiple surfaces throughout the house obviously indicating that something
pretty violent had happened there and that they are not good clean people no no even though there wasn't any victim
found in the home and no wounded victim had reported to area hospitals tibs told
a reporter we're safe to say that it was human blood now during their canvas of the neighborhood one neighbor told
officers that she actually saw Daniel Rogers hosing down the front porch of the house that morning as well as the
yard and sidewalk in front of the house so he cleaned the outside of the home but not the Inn H uh in further
searching of the home/ crime scene at this point crime scene technicians discovered a handgun and bullet
fragments lodged in the wall by the front door one in the laundry room and one in the door frame leading to the
basement so like multiple bullets just bullet fragments just lodged into various places in the this home that's
probably fine yeah totally we don't have to worry now given the large amount of blood found inside and outside of the
home investigators started to theorized that the house had uh probably been the sight of a murder yeah likely mhm but
unfortunately without a victim they weren't able to charge the couple with anything other than the possession
charges that's so [ __ ] up but under the circumstances a judge set their bond at an unusually high amount of
$250,000 each so it was going to be very like unlikely that they'd be released now the next day two 13-year-old boys
were fishing on the banks of Boise Snake River when one of their fishing lines got caught on two plastic bags floating
in the river and the boys hauled in the bags and when they opened them they discovered the arms and fingers of a man
that police would later identify as 21-year-old Preston myrr holy [ __ ] two 13-year-olds finding that gruesome of a
[ __ ] Discovery like God and 21 and 21 years old and that's just his arms and fingers so where's the rest of him what
happened here well the next day Carl kitchen was fishing with his family when he spotted several objects floating in
the brownley reservoir when he managed to bring the bags to shore he opened them to discover more body parts later
determined to belong to Preston myrr kitchen later told a jury I saw it had to be a piece of a human body from above
the navl to just below the leg joints oh my God yeah investigators would eventually find 13 garbage bags in total
all containing Preston M's remains wow now Preston myrr was like a petty Criminal Who had spent his short life in
and around Idaho Falls Idaho and he'd been arrested on a handful of times for minor offenses just like disturbing the
peace he wasn't a violent guy yeah but just a few days earlier on June 29th he had attended a funeral for a friend and
during the funeral several attendees including Daniel Rogers had gotten drunk and gotten into an argument that quickly
did escalate into a physical altercation so the police were called to this funeral and Preston myrr and the other
men were given a citation and asked to leave so Preston went back to his sister's apartment where he was staying
and he called the police to inform them that after he left the funeral somebody called his sister's apartment and
threatened to kill him whoa now according to his sister Tonda streer Preston drank and smoked pot
recreationally but as far as she knew he wasn't involved in any major criminal activity she told reporter she didn't
know anybody who would want to kill him yeah so when investigators put all the pieces together a picture of what had
actually happened to Preston M started to emerge with Daniel and Katherine Rogers at the very center of it all by
the end of the week Katherine had been ruled out as a participant in the murder but detectives had identified Daniel
Rogers accomplice 31-year-old Darren Cox both men were charged with the murder of
Preston myrr and Cox ended up being held without bail so the more detectives learned or looked into Dan Rogers
background the more they became convinced that he was the primary shooter in the death of Preston myr
really he had a pretty violent past uh he dropped out of high school in the ninth grade and spent most of his life
just working menial jobs he met his first wife Kay at one of those jobs and they quickly got engaged and married
later kay would tell a reporter that she never actually loved Daniel but she saw
him as her ticket out of her own abusive family oh that's sad would it's even sadder because he was just as abusive
turn her her dad was like really really AB abusive I read um one of the newspaper clippings that Dave found I
was reading and their dad used to like wake them up in the middle of the night and sit them on the couch and like hold
them at gunpoint like she grew up in an incredibly abusive home oh that makes me
so sad yeah it's horrific so then she married Daniel and he was just as bad oh that happens so often yeah it's it's
hard the cycle repeats cuz it's like you don't know anything else that's all you
know so you don't know that you think love is and that's what you think you deserve exactly but so they moved around
for a while from state to state across the South mostly uh they had their first son together and then Daniel just
suddenly ran off one day with the neighbor's wife damn Daniel back at it again with the
neighbor's wife like holy [ __ ] yeah and then he just came back but honestly I'm
glad oh he came back no yeah I was G to say I was like he's gone bye no Daniel never goes away I wanted K to be free he
just showed up one day like came back and begged Kay to take him back and she was like no you're a piece of [ __ ] so he
kidnapped their six-month-old son essentially holding the baby as hostage until she agreed to take him back [ __ ]
this guy yeah he's a piece of [ __ ] I know and she has her own issues too which is sad but she the good news is it
really sounds like she turned her life around good job Kay yeah so in 1975 Daniel and Kay's relationship came to an
end when he ended turning her into the police in order to avoid being arrested himself for a robbery that they
committed together in South Carolina they had committed a couple robberies and Kay had committed other robberies
herself in the past with various accomplices uh even without Daniel so she ended up when he turned her in she
ended up being sentenced to 12 years in prison holy [ __ ] yeah cuz these were like armed robberies too damn um at that
point Daniel was awarded temporary custody of their two kids at this point oh God and then this is insane 2 years
later the day the very day that he was awarded permanent custody of his two kids he was arrested after shooting and
killing his friend George weather ax during an argument he shot his friend in the head during an argument my God the
very day that he was awarded custody of his two children like Perman why was he not put away forever I don't know like
this man is a problem for some reason it was only second degree murder that he got convicted for so so he only served 5
years in prison for this oh my God yeah when he was released in 1982 he married Catherine and moved to Boise with his
new wife and two children still and a few years later he just decided that he was tired of fatherhood so he called Kay
and told her to come get the kids and take them for good so she was like okay I can't understand these people mhm
luckily Kay it sounds like she like got married I think she became like a real estate agent like a very successful real
estate agent okay K and she like she got the kids together like everything was good okay K yeah happy for K since
paling the kids off on his ex-wife Daniel and Katherine his new wife had been earning a living selling drugs
primarily cocaine and weed um and through the checks that they they also got an an earning through the checks
that they received from the state for foster care services no I'm sorry what wait they
were Foster somehow they were involved in like foster care y I don't know how as a
convicted second deegree murderer I'm very confused I don't know if they just used Catherine's credentials but I'm
assuming my God you check into both credentials you should right yeah speaking of foster parents and I'll say
like no this is I'm going to flip it on it head okay good good because that just
made me really sad that they were Foster these poor kids are going to that home yeah but I can tell you like there's a
foster parent that I follow is the lady on Tik Tok I love her and she so I think
her thing is them hofers cuz their last name was Hofer I think we've talked about them hofers before I think we have
and she they she and her husband are like incredible just if you believe in angels
on they're angels on earth like I'm fully am like you are supposed to be here for these kids yes um her name is
Cindy and they are just like the kindest seeming people theyab they take newborns like she has taken newborns
that are literally like hours old like literally hours old but she is like and she treats them like like you would
treat your own newborn and it's just like she uh and she like never shows their faces like she respects their
privacy even as newborns you know what I mean like no matter what and I think they um she also has a podcast oh does
she and it's called Mom's the Word Mom's the Word and it's a podcast with her friend oh I want to listen to this yeah
so it's called Mom's the Word I want to start listening to it because I just like and you can follow like her on
Instagram or um on Tik Tok I think it's them hofers is their thing and you can donate too like I think I think she has
like a link tree and you can donate so that Amazon things to like just help with because she's always like stocking
up on things cuz she takes kids at like B at like a moment notice and at every age MH so she's got kind of a stockpile
of supplies to be ready for whatever which obviously she needs to replenish every now and again and I came across
her for the first time when I saw like I was just flicking through my for you page and it was a her before she was
about to receive a newborn infant in the middle of the night and I just like couldn't stop watching her cuz I was
just like oh my God like and she was just like so lovely probably like a year or so ago yeah I remember think yeah but
yeah so that that just bummed me out so much that I was like I need a happy like
there's good people there's so many good foster parents like so many good ones hope that like they were good to the
kids I hope so I I didn't find anything to say that they W but I don't know but their their contract with Idaho Health
and Welfare ran out in uh June of 1987 so something happened where or they maybe they were like hey we missed that
one of you as a convicted murderer so but yeah now going back to the unfortunate murder of Preston myrr given
the state of his Remains the autopsy obviously took more than 10 hours to oh my God I can't even fathom what that
room looked like according to the medical examiner Preston M's cause of death was a single gunshot wound to his
head from a 357 caliber handgun but the doctor noted that Preston had sustained additional gunshot wounds including one
in his shoulder but because of the condition of the remains and the amount of time that they'd been submerged in
water also it was difficult to determine if there was any other significant trauma to the body but they were able to
say that there was two gunshots now although investigators were fairly certain that Daniel Rogers had committed
the murder it wasn't until they interviewed Preston's girlfriend that the rest of the puzzle kind of came
together according to his girlfriend after threat the threatening phone call that he got at his sister's apartment he
called Daniel Rogers and Darren Cox who like seemed to be at the I don't know if
they were like friends friends but they seemed to be like they around acquaintances very least you know like
they know each other uhhuh and he believed they would know who threatened him and what he should do about it and
obviously felt like safe going to them so they met at a local convenience store where the cashier recalled seeing
Preston use the pay phone while holding a wooden baseball bat uh the three men then returned to Preston's sister's
apartment and discussed the fact that several guns had been stolen from Daniel Rogers house I think there was like a
lot of crime going on in this circle obviously so Preston told Daniel that he knew where they might be where those
stolen guns might be and after all after that all three of them drove around Boise for hours looking for the house
where Preston thought the weapons would be but they just couldn't find it so he called his girlfriend and he said they
were going back to Daniel Rogers house on Lynden Street M now investigators theorize that a little after midnight
Preston and Daniel got into some kind of argument where Preston was shot in the shoulder and then as he attempted to
flee the house he went to Clinton Spark's door where he left that Bloody handprint
but unfortunately Daniel and darring caught up with him and dragged him back to the house leaving that long trail of
blood in the street that holy [ __ ] as you remember LED right to Daniel Rogers door and once they got him back inside
they believed Daniel Rogers shot mer in the back of the head and then he and Darren dismembered Preston's body and
they placed his remains in 13 trash bags which they then dumped in three different locations across Boise after
they disposed of their remains they went back to the house and attempted to clean up the crime scene
yeah I think outside like they hos down some stuff outside really lazy business I don't know what they did inside maybe
they were very tired after the outside yeah but that accounted for the neighbor witnessing Daniel hosing his car the
yard in the front porch so in Late July the Ada County Prosecutor Greg Bower which I feel like we've encountered
another case with him it sounded like a very familiar name GRE B Greg bow yeah but um Greg Bower filed an additional
charge of assault against Daniel Rogers for his role in yet another violent crime the beating of a man named James
McMillan which he had been accused of committing along with his friend James Miller so they just they found that and
added that charge too they were just like you know what you also did this yeah I think in like interviewing people
in his life it probably came up and they were like let's pile these on exactly keep them in here as long as we can well
I think they probably saw like Oh weird that he murdered a man his friend by shooting in the head and got out in five
years so by the end of the month Daniel Rogers was arraigned on three separate charges one for the drug possession with
intent to distribute one for the assault on Miller and one for the first degree murder of Preston myr and he pleaded not
guilty on all counts at a preliminary hearing held in early September multiple people testified about what they
witnessed on the night of Preston's murder including testimony from multiple detectives who relayed what Darren Cox
had told them about the night of the murder cuz he sang like a canary yeah of course according to the uh to Boise
detective Dave Smith when the upper torso was thrown in the river it started floating Cox was directed by Mr Rogers
to retrieve it and take it to the Foothills detective Smith testified after his arrest Cox quote broke down
and said he wanted to tell me the truth but then later became concerned about his confession detective Smith continued
he was worried about what he told me worried about what was going to happen to him I mean as you should be yeah
which it's like you should you should give up whatever information you have about somebody's murder should also be
worried but now you got to be scared because now you're going to face the consequences and you're both going to go
to prison together so good luck with that but according to Smith Darren Cox later LED investigators to a local
dumpster where he disposed of Preston my's upper torso and multiple other items related to the murder detective
Smith said the stench was very prevalent there was a lot of blood two shoes as well as gloves that had blood on them
and further we found one sock so just like all his stuff just thrown in a dumpster with part of his torso the part
of him and he's 21 years old that's a bab he has his whole life ahead of him uh Daniel Rogers lawyers Emil michan and
John Adams objected to the inclusion of Cox's statements to the police but that was overruled by the judge who was like
no I'm pretty sure that's valuable pertinent info but thanks yeah that's a direct quote uh the defense also
requested that the judge Clos the hearing and trial to the media with a member of the defense telling a reporter
I can't even imagine how bad it's going to be if the media sits it on this but regardless of their concerns the judge
said nah kept it open oh denied the request oh [ __ ] in the months leading up to the trial the defense team tried
again and again to get the trial moved to a new County and at one point they even moved for a mistrial after the
Prosecutor Greg Bower quote told jurors that Rogers was in police custody on other charges when he was arrested and
MS death according to Emil michan Bowers quote clearly violated the Court's ruling and forever tainted the jury
panel but the judge disagreed and declined the motion oh wow there's like a lot of [ __ ] [ __ ] going on and I love
that this judge is just like no no it's fine Daniel Rogers trial finally started
in March of in early March of 1988 in his opening statement Bower gave the jury a brief history of his criminal
history despite the judge explicitly disallowing such information uh and presented the state's
theory that at some point after the three men had gone back to Daniel's house Daniel and Preston argued over
drugs and Daniel shot Preston to death the reference to the previous criminal charges and pending drug charges
obviously were objected to by the defense yeah they immediately again moved for a Mist trial they were hoping
so desperately for a mistrial in this case hoping wish and praying but guess what that was rejected by judge George
KY he said he's not no he only knows no he's not here in Play No among the various Witnesses who testified on
behalf of the prosecution were multiple police officers multiple crime scene technicians who explained the evidence
that was discovered from the blood in the street to the evidence also collected inside the house officer Mike
major explained to the jury what the search team had discovered on their initial search of the home which was the
gun ammunition and an axxe which Daniel Rogers buried in the garden next to the house oh my God obviously that was used
similarly Boise crime lab technician Darla shaver presented irrefutable fingerprint evidence that was collected
from the house including prints on the gun and the very bullets that killed Preston mer oh [ __ ] similarly even
though DNA DNA testing was unavailable to them at the time the technicians were able to determine all the blood that
they found in the house on the street and the axe was from the same person uh with type O blood which was a match for
Preston myrh damn look at them I know and I think it's so that's why I do love when we cover cases that are like not
super modern because they to work for those results not that I'm saying people now don't have to work no of course they
have people now do have a lot more at their disposal to solve these crimes digital Footprints and cameras
everywhere and DNA like all these you know familial DNA and all this fun stuff that is great and that's what we want
but that's why we always saying like the older cases are just like they're fascinating to see how they come to the
conclusion because they have to be so creative with it and you have like when you have DNA it makes or breaks a case
think about like you had to make or break a case without DNA because that wasn't even an option like it's it's
just crazy to think about and 1987 doesn't even sound like that long ago but to think that like wow they didn't
even have DNA testing like obviously it was like in its infancy they were working on it but just that they didn't
have it at their disposal yet it's crazy it is uh crime lab technician Wally Baker also testified that the bullet
removed from Preston M skull was a match for one of the Slugs pulled from the door frame at the scene and both of
those came from Daniel Rogers 350 7 Magnum revolver and so they asked uh whether two identical guns from the same
manufacturer could produce similar results they wanted to see like oh maybe we can get something get something here
but baker said even consecutively made barrels are different meaning every gun which I didn't know this and I thought
it was interesting every gun that comes off an assembly line is unique in some identifiable way which is how they could
conclusively say that both bullets came from Daniel's gun yeah the inside of a gun barrel has almost like its own
fingerprint so when the bullet passes through it's going to leave marks that you won't find on a another gun I never
knew that that's so interesting yeah isn't that interesting yeah how did you know that just like took a ballistics
class in uh in college once cool like a uh like forensic science had ballistics as part of it that's cool yeah I feel
like that' be like very interesting it was sometimes I'm like wow I really wish I paid attention in college or like did
something like this you know well that's the thing it was like something I was really interested in so I liked it so
much I just wanted to be a teacher back then and then I said I don't know if I want to do that actually no and I said I
think I want to do hair but anyway when it came time for the defense to present their case they
offered a pretty simple but also very questionable explanation they said Daniel Rogers didn't kill Preston myrr
Darren Cox did oh there you go you might as well give it a shot you know I think
that was proba only thing they could have done at that point that's literally all they have so according to Daniel
Rogers who took the in his own defense interestingly enough he couldn't have participated in this murder or this
dismemberment because he had an extreme phobia of blood that's for real Sor I'm sorry he
said what guys I know you think I did this and I know that like these bullets were shot from my gun and everything but
I didn't sh I have a gun but I would never shoot anything cuz I can't see it bleed because I'm so scared of blood
blood gives me the I so I can't I'm like blood makes me go that's why I couldn't have done this you shot your
friend in the head and served time for that already yeah like when you shoot someone in the head I'm willing to bet
that's pretty bloody I got to know in their like pre-trial stuff when they're all sitting in there practi this like he
pitched that idea or somebody gave him that idea they said good they all said good idea let's let's have you do that
he literally said direct quote I can't stand the sight of blood I felt like I was going to throw up whoa and he said
he had an extreme phobia not just a phobia an extreme phobia I you know I doubt it yeah you
got to be quicker than that I'm just going to go out and say I doubt it I got to I'm like the man in the is that
theate commercial you got to be quick be quicker than that that's what I would have somebody should have just like
called Paul mat man to show you got to be quicker than you got to be quicker than that that's ridiculous that's
honestly that that is he said guys this is our best bet that's reckless that's reckless behavior I'm afraid of blood I
couldn't have done this that's reckless testimonial Behavior tell them there's no way it was me I got phobia blood
makes me go want to throw up like like what you just membered a man's body are you
[ __ ] kidding he's the worst now during several hours of testimony Daniel Rogers explained to the jury that it was
Darren Cox who had gotten in a fight with Preston while the two were smoking some weed in the basement and he said he
heard he wasn't even there he was upstairs and he heard the fight escalate from where he was upstairs so far away
and he said by the time he made it down to the basement which was you know so far that Darren Cox had pulled out a
knife and was threatening Preston and he said I decided to break it up he told the jury they weren't paying me a bit of
attention at this point they were fighting and cussing at each other of course they were so he said he fired a
warning shot to break up the fight in his own home okay if I was Catherine I would be o honey yeah warning shots in
my house uhuh I'm going get you but he said that only caused and M to rush at him knocking him to the floor on his way
up the stairs to flee but he said Darren Cox then grabbed the gun from him from Daniel and uh chased Preston myr out
onto the street eventually dragging him back into the house he said next thing I
do is I try to go and stop them when I got to the kitchen part of the house I heard the gun go off so he's like it's
weird I'm always so away when these things are happening it's it's wild I'm just like never there
but I'm I'm around so I can hear things yeah I'm just never close enough right there and it's because I'm so scared of
blood that's the thing I'm worried somebody's going to like scrape themselves somewhere and I'm just going
to go ah I just yeah I just fire Waring shots in my own home yeah but in his version of events he was simply an
innocent bystander who actually tried to intervene to save Preston myrr what a hero oh wow but the problem was that um
none of the evidence supported his theory or his story and by all accounts of the two men it was Daniel Rogers not
Darren Cox who was was more likely to react with explosive deadly violence but good try he had a whole [ __ ]
full-blown history of it he shot his friend in the head once to shoot your friend in the head and serve time for it
and then kill another man and go up to the jury and to insult them that way by saying I have a phobia of blood so
couldn't have been me like so what happened when you shot your friend in the head couldn't be me hello yeah after
2 weeks of evidence and testimony the jury deliberated a little more than 6 hours which I'm like 6 hours it took you
that long but they found Daniel Rogers guilty of first-degree murder good Preston's mother may told reporters I'm
so happy with the verdict I'm delighted and a few weeks later Daniel Rogers returned to the court and was sentenced
to life in prison bye Danel rightfully so now based on the outcome of Daniel Rogers trial which named him as the
shooter Darren Cox retracted his original plea of not guilty and decided to make a deal with the district
attorney to plead guilty to charges of being an accessory to a felony and aggravated assault
in exchange for his plea he got um a sentence of 5 years in prison and a fine of
$10,000 my go I just want to reiterate that this man helped his friend kill somebody and dismember their body to the
point where it had to fill 13 trash bags yeah like come on and he got five years
in prison and a fine wow that's [ __ ] that is indeed but he in his version EV of events he said he didn't know what
was happening until after the assault began and after that Daniel Rogers threatened his life telling him you're
either with me or you're against me and he interpreted that to mean that Daniel would also kill him if he didn't assist
in disposing of the body damn as far as his participation in the murder and mutilation he said it was more or less
for my own safety you know more or less like oh you dismembered a man for your own safety more or less if that helps
you sleep at night it's the more or less for me yeah you know more casual just offhand yeah but in the years since his
trial Daniel Rogers has actually tried to have his verdict overturned and ition for a new trial multiple times claiming
among other things that the court abused its discretion in revealing his criminal
past and the jury was biased by media attention but as of now he has been unsuccessful wow now the convictions of
Daniel Rogers and Darren Cox for the gruesome murder of Preston myrr should have been the end of this tragic story
but for the house on Lyndon Street it was just the beginning of a new and definitely more maob status as the
murder Mansion Boise's most notorious on house ooh it's kind of unclear at what point the rumors of The Haunting began
or who started them but it actually does turn out that Preston m is not the first
person who died in that house in June of 1952 the home's owner 91-year-old birdie
ston she died in her home I know Bird's like one of my favorite names she died of natural causes after living in the
house for 44 years a few years later in 1958 71-year-old John uh I think it's Egan also died in that home followed a
year later by 90 uh 89-year-old Ellen marker damn this is like the florid of houses so far yes it is just like that
retire yes there you go it's so true but maybe I hope they were all like comfortable and happy in their home I
know I hope so too yeah and then the next person to die in the house was murdered that was ter cuz before that
it's just like super old yeah like people at the end of their lives at the end of their lives dying of natural
causes in the home that they that they live in ably love yeah exactly you know feel comfortable in a terrible way to
end that then a 21-year-old who was sh brutally murdered and brutally killed and that was nearly 30 years after Ellen
marker had passed away despite the Gap in years and um decidedly different circumstances of deaths this group would
serve as the basis for the rumors of the haunting at 805 Lyon I mean I get it I would also wonder recipe here in 2012
local news channel KBOI interviewed the homes new owner Dean Davis um she hadn't
experienced anything unusual herself but she was well aware of the rumors about her house she told them living there I
don't I really don't feel that I was ever afraid or felt it was haunted but there are so many stories that everyone
else is convinced it is well maybe you're not afraid because they're like all happy ghosts like nice ghosts you
know that's what you would hope yeah for the most part she and her children Had No Reservations about living in a house
for something that tragic had happened but even they weren't immune to the stories and speculation about the house
one of her daughter said I feel there's something kind of there and kind of not when I went into the basement it was
dark and I was scared and when I went in there I was like get me out get me out cuz I felt there was something there and
I didn't want to go near it I mean yeah I feel like there's got to be some kind of vibe yeah even if it's not like
haunted or like you know like malevolent you know it's like right it's just a vibe that something's there
cuz like the energy I always say the energy that's dark energy dark that's dark SED that's Sinister
babe what happened in there and I feel like that stuff doesn't just like go away you know dissipate exactly but
according to deian Davis from the moment she moved in with her kids in 2008 they
were constantly asked by the neighbors and even paranormal enthusiasts if they would ever open the house for tours uh
no be like it's my literal home no that's a that's a wild thing to ask someone imag don't ask your neighbors
imagine walking up to your neighbor and being like are you ever going to like open this place up for tours yeah like
your house is [ __ ] up you ever think of having people trumps through it for a couple of bucks like it's than it's also
like older people died here at the end of their lives and then a poor young man was brutally murdered what's there to
see yeah you just want to walk through my house so you can feel if it's creepy I'm not getting it I think it's the
rumors that really added to everything oh yeah but she said it had a lot of Fame that people would want to come by
and have a tour of the house it's like third it's listed like third in the United States as haunted houses is it I
don't maybe at that time as of 2016 yeah I'm not sure if it still is uh but according to the lifelong Boise resident
and content creator for Boise radio station 179 Light FM Michelle Hart said there are so many rumors about the house
everything from a czy serial killer who killed multiple people in the home to it
being a frat house for Boise State where Brothers frequently saw blood running down the walls oh we got more of that
yep stories of a woman dressed in clothes from the 1800s standing in the window okay which is interesting none of that
makes sense but no right no um she did clarify that the house was actually never used as a BSU frat house but its
association with the Merm murder gives it a certain legitimacy and credibility that allows that speculation in the
numers to grow in the years since Daniel Rogers was senten the house has been owned by a handful of people and not a
lot of those people put a lot of effort or money into its curb appeal which kind
of only added to the notoriety cuz it looked it starts looking a little haunted yes according to Heart there are
multiple Vehicles parked on the property what appears to be trash piled in the Second Story window broken windows and
debris all over the front porch I mean that'll do it yeah not great while Hart herself has never gone into the house or
onto the property she's been collecting stories from those who supposedly have in one story from a a young woman named
Lacy her best friend's father owned the house house and hired his daughter and some friends to do some yard work and
cleaning and she said we worked there for about a week nothing weird ever happened when I was inside but I did not
want to go near the basement M and then others had more detailed experiences according to one of Hart's respondents
referred to as d d we were upstairs in one of the side bedrooms when we heard someone walk upstairs didn't think much
of it thought it was the roommate but then we heard it again and we never heard anyone go downstairs me and my
friend be went to check it out we thought it was someone breaking into the house we checked everything out don't
see anyone so we go and stand on the porch to let whoever was there know we're watching if he comes back I just
thought I was tired until be asked me if I was seeing this stuff too we figured out that we weren't looking for a person
I stepped out into the front yard and look up to the main bedroom upstairs in the window is a big black oily looking
thing I doubt what I'm seeing until it moves back toward the dresser stops goes to the door and disappears oh that's
creepy an oily looking thing big black oily looking thing hate it now like d d Another
respondent Christy also saw inexplicable things in the windows she said when I lived on Leadville when I was a kid I
saw a woman in an upstairs window banging on it it looked like she was screaming but there were no sounds oh
that's terrifying horrifying that's chilling so a lot for a lot of people it's like it seems like people who don't
live in the house have experiences but for those who actually lived in the house the experiences are much less
Supernatural uh and they just have more of like an ominous feeling so there it is it's The Vibes but yeah there's
definitely something there according to a BSU student who rented a room in the house the basement was creepy and had a
weird feeling to it we would take people down there to scare them I never saw any
ghosts but you could tell something wasn't quite right and it's the basement the basement which yeah which makes
sense that's where like the really bad [ __ ] happened exactly so whether or not
the house is truly haunted as a matter of debate but for those who are interested in finding out for themselves
they actually might finally have the chance in spring in the spring of 2024 Mark Iverson the Creator and tour guide
of Ida uh Ida history began advertising upcoming tours of the house on lynon street and according to him he quote hit
it off with the homes owner and the two of them are working together on opening the inside of the home for tours and a
portion of the proceeds from the tour will reportedly benefit the preservation of the mansion and the property which is
nice that's good that it'll go back to like taking care of the property yeah cuz it sounds like for a long time the
property like wasn't being made and that's also feeding into all like the lore yeah exactly [ __ ] so it's like
that's better yeah I think so too wow but what a story huh that is a tale it's a tale I've never heard of that I never
even this place um Dave suggested it actually yeah Dave always comes out with these things that I'm like well [ __ ]
well [ __ ] Dave thanks [ __ ] Dave did you end up seeing if it was on a list anywhere I looked I'm not seeing it on
any of the lists I'm looking on but there there's so many lists now it could be on another one that I'm like it it
who knows which one that person was looking at yeah I looked at one point and I didn't see it but yeah it's really
just unlike Idaho things that makes sense probably like one of the most haunted places in Idaho yeah for sure
but wow what a tale what a TA what a sad sad tale poor I don't know if I would want to go poor Preston yeah that's the
thing that like what happened to Preston was like so like brutal and senseless and that he
was running down the street trying to get help I know and like those poor people who
like you know poor Clinton yeah like poor Clinton like like nobody blames that you like hesitated for a second
like he did the right thing and called the police I mean did the dispatcher if anybody failed yeah real bad like that
was yeah that dispatcher failed not a great dispatcher moment sorry like poor Clinton poor the people who you know
like that's that's rough the neighborhood like damn waking up to that in your neighborhood just a blood too
yeah it's it's if you look it up it's a big it is a man I was just going to say yeah yeah it's interesting yeah an
interesting tale alog together but a tragic tail really scary one yeah that is the murder of Preston bur and the
Boise murder Mansion so keep an eye cuz you might be able to take a tour if you want to yeah that's what you're you're
thinking you want to do that's your deal if you live in Boise yeah I love saying
Boise Boise Boise it's Bo I know I just like it it's Boise Idaho I hope you like
Boise too and I hope you keep listen and I hope you keep it weird but not so weird that you don't just keep talking
like this talk like this all day now all right love you bye bye bye [Music] oh [Music]
[Music]

In the early hours of June 30, 1987, Boise resident Clinton Sparks was awoken by someone pounding frantically on his storm door. A moment later, Sparks heard a loud scream in the distance, and he went inside to call 911.

Although he didn’t know it at the time, what Clinton Sparks heard was the last desperate cry of twenty-one-year-old Preston Murr, Two of Murr’s associates, Daniel Rodgers and Daron Cox, were arrested and tried and convicted for the murder.

The trial and conviction should have been where the story ended, but for the house on Linden Street where the murder occurred, it was only the beginning. Since Murr’s tragic death more than thirty-five years ago, the house has become a source of local legends, with claims ranging from the appearance of ghostly apparitions to blood inexplicably dripping down the walls. As a result, Boise’s “Murder Mansion” has become known as one of the most haunted houses in America.

Thank you to the Incredible Dave White of Bring Me the Axe Podcast for research and Writing support!!

References

Ensunsa, David. 1987. "Boisean held on drug charges has prison record." Idaho Statesman , July 2: 1.

—. 1987. "Murder suspect cared for foster teens." Idaho Statesman, July 8: 1.

—. 1987. "Sister says Rodgers, slaying victim fought over drugs, money." Idaho Statesman, July 8: 1.

Fiorentino, Alyssa. 2022. The True Story of the Boise Murder House Is Straight Out of a Horror Movie.September 7. Accessed September 7, 2024. https://www.housebeautiful.com/lifestyle/a41059891/boise-murder-house/.

Heart, Michelle. 2021. 7 chillding and real stories from Boise's infamous murder house. September 15. Accessed September 06, 2024. https://liteonline.com/7-chilling-and-real-stories-from-boises-infamous-murder-house/.

—. 2024. Dare to enter? Boise's fascinating Murder House will open for public tours soon. May 23. Accessed September 7, 2024. https://liteonline.com/murder-house-tours/.

—. 2017. Nightmare on my street: Boise's Murder House. October 5. Accessed September 5, 2024. https://liteonline.com/nightmare-on-my-street-boises-murder-house-video-2/.

Idaho Statesman. 1988. "Fingerprints tied to murder victim." Idaho Statesman, March 10: 7.

KBOI News. 2012. The Murder House: Is site of decades-old murder haunted? June 27. Accessed September 6, 2024. https://bakersfieldnow.com/news/nation-world/the-murder-house-is-site-of-decades-old-murder-haunted-11-17-2015.

Lamay, Colleen. 1988. "Court told gun bore Rodgers' prints." Idaho Statesman, March 15: 10.

McFarland, Kelsey. 2016. Murder house: Is site of decades old crime scene haunted. October 27. Accessed September 6, 2024. https://idahonews.com/news/local/murder-house-is-site-of-decades-old-crime-scene-haunted.

Peterson, Anne, and Julie Stutts. 1987. "Police discover blood on street in southeast Boise." Idaho Statesman, July 1: 26.

Pewitt, Jana. 1988. "Deal frees Cox of murder charge." Idaho Statesman, March 22: 13.

—. 1988. "Nampa man says he found body parts." Idaho Statesman, March 11: 19.

—. 1987. "Police: disposal of body recounted." Idaho Statesman, September 5: 15.

—. 1988. "Rodgers' lawyer asks for mistrial." Idaho Statesman, March 8: 7.

—. 1988. "Rodgers says blood sickens him." Idaho Statesman, March 18: 21.

—. 1987. "Screams prompted call to police." Idaho Statesman, September 4: 9.

—. 1988. "Crime lab expert testifies bullet in skull belonged to Rodgers' gun." Idahome Statesman, March 17: 19.

Romine, Dannye. 1989. "She led two lives." Parade Magazine, June 25: 4-6.

State of Idaho v. Daniel Rodgers. 1990. 17785 (Court of Appeals of Idaho, November 13).

Stutts, Julie. 1987. "Ada to suspend 2 dispatchers over call." Idaho Statesman, July 16: 1.

Stutts, Julie, and Jana Pewitt. 1988. "Verdict: Rodgers guilty of murder, dismemberment ." Idaho Statesman, March 19: 1.

Connect with Wondery http://wondery.com/shows http://facebook.com/WonderyMedia http://twitter.com/WonderyMedia http://instagram.com/WonderyMedia

Brief Summary

The episode details the murder of Preston Myrr, police mishaps, and the haunted history of the Boise murder mansion.

Key points

Pumpkin Bagels on a Whim. Ash shares her impulsive pumpkin bagel order, showcasing their quirky friendship.
A Gruesome Discovery. Two boys fishing find dismembered body parts in the river, shocking the community.
Daniel's Violent Past. Revealing Daniel's history of violence and crime, culminating in a shocking murder.
Daniel Rogers' Trial Begins. Daniel Rogers' trial for the murder of Preston Myr begins, revealing a history of violence.
Guilty Verdict. After deliberation, the jury finds Daniel Rogers guilty of first-degree murder.
Darren Cox's Plea Deal. Darren Cox pleads guilty to being an accessory in a gruesome murder, receiving only five years.

Episode highlights

Episode quotes

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2:07WatchOct 21, 2024

Tension

75/ 100High tension

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