The Hendricks Family Murders /// Part 1 /// 711 | Forensic Files

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welcome to True Crime garage wherever you are whatever you're doing thanks for listening I'm your host Nick and with me
as always is a man who gets along fine with modern living here is the captain it's good to be seen and good to see you
thanks for listening thanks for telling a friend [Music] this week in the garage we are happy to
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the record on patreon or through the Apple podcast app and that is enough of the business all right everybody gather
around grab a chair grab a beer let's talk some true [Music] [Music] crime according to several Publications but
specifically the encyclopedia for inpersonal violence familicide is a type of murder
or murder suicide in which an individual kills multiple close family members in quick
secession most often children spouses siblings or parents in half of the cases the killer
lastly kills themselves in a murder suicide in cases where all members of a family are killed the crime may be
referred to as a family Annihilation according to experts cited in a 2007 San Francisco Examiner
article of the over 900 victims of mass murder in the United States between the years of 1900 and 2000 defined as four
victims within a 24-hour period of those more than half occurred within an immediate
family although the familicide cases are relatively rare they are the most common
form of mass killings but familicide differs from other forms of mass murder in that the
murderer kills family members or loved ones rather than Anonymous people this has a different
psychodynamic and psychiatric significance as stated in the book homicide a psychiatric
perspective and finally the Howard Journal of Criminal Justice an academic Journal published on behalf of the
Howard league for penal reform in the UK five times a year the authors of the journal divide familicide into four
groups anomic disappointed self-righteous and paranoid in this typology the anomic killer sees his
family purely as a status symbol when his economic status collapses he sees them as Surplus to
requirements or no longer needed or necessary the disappointed killer seeks to punish the family for not living up
to the ideals of family life the self-righteous killer destroys the family to exact Revenge upon on one
of the family members and often blames the act on that family member lastly we have the paranoid
killer who kills their family and what they imagine to be an attempt to protect them from something even
worse some cases that we have featured here in the garage related to this type of killer are Charles Whitman the
University of Texas Tower shooter Jeffrey McDonald the Fatal Vision Fort Brag killer Bradford Bishop the Bethesda
Maryland man who killed his entire family and Still Remains at large darly roer who remains locked up in Texas for
killing two of her children the grant Amato House of whors case the Watts family murders and the
Murda murders all come to mind I am probably blanking on one or two others this week's case takes us to
313 Carl Drive in Bloomington Illinois where a very similar crime may have taken place but yet here we sit years
decades later with questions it is not so much the what that happened inside of that home but
the why and by who what could be the motive for such a heinous and brutal set of crimes
multiple murders and who did this and will we ever know for certain this is an examination of the Hendrick family
murders case and this is true crime garage Susan Lois Palmer was born in Peoria Illinois on September 15th
1953 to Proud parents Charles and naen Palmer how do I know captain that Charles and naen Palmer were proud
parents well they had seven children together Charles who went by the name of Chuck served this great country in the
Army Reserves at Fort Hood Texas from 1949 to 1951 and then at the age of 18 Chuck was
saved and became a Christian he was associated with the Plymouth Brethren Fellowship in develin Illinois so he and
naen were and still are quite religious and raised their children to be so as well their wonderful daughter Susan grew
up religious as well and carried that with her into her adult life we also have David James hris he grew up in Oak
Park Illinois he and his family were members of the exclusive branch of the Plymouth Brethren Susan Palmer and David
Hendrick met at Oak Park River Forest High School so captain from my understanding here the way that this
works out both of these families are very religious in these this group called The Plymouth Brethren now the two
of them even though they're the same age and they're practicing the same very specific group of
Christianity they don't know one another because delin where Susan lives is about
35 minutes away from where David Hendrick is growing up so they meet at high school but that is because because
Susan was taking correspondence classes and what I think that means here Captain
is that she's probably homeschooled for a portion if not most of her childhood but it was required that she
actually go to and take an actual be present for in a classroom before she could graduate from high school so she
has to take this course at least one course or maybe several courses at the same High School as David Hendrick her
senior year she makes this achievement and she graduates but while there the two meet and from my understanding Susan
was David's first real girlfriend and they became very close very quickly After High School the two got married
David went to school to learn Prosthetics and Orthotics he and Susan were blessed
enough to have three wonderful children together we have Rebecca Karen Hendricks
born in 1974 Grace Esther Hendricks born in 1976 and Benjamin Caleb Hendricks born
1978 so all three children born 2 years apart so the two High School sweethearts
that get married husband goes off to school and then after school he is going to start his business yeah during this
time of new babies and raising young kids together David Hendrick started a prosthetic orthotic practice he also
invented a new orthopedic brace and started a successful business manufacturing and distributing spinal
braces this would be his claim to fame as it would seem so what he does here Captain is he starts up this practice
and during this time he's selling medical supplies as well as the spinal braces that is his speciality or his
expertise and he's quite successful he's a very smart individual and he's a very
good salesperson as well so he's smart with the business and sales come pretty easy to David
Hendrick now David had his what I believe is called a chairback brace that he patented he founded and operated a
highly successful and profitable business in Bloomington Illinois selling that Orthopedic back brace that he had
patented because of David's petted design his intelligence hard work and let's not
forget about his wife's support and dedication to their children David ends up being very successful making a lot of
money during this time period the mid to late 7s and early 80s due to his success
and his growing family and a desire to raise their kids in a nice neighborhood and Community the hendrix's bought and
moved into a large L house at a then new development in Bloomington Illinois so he's a very successful young man has a
young family and they move into a better I guess location for their kids for them
to raise their family yeah this was a newly developed neighborhood so when they move in there it's a new build it's
a very large home or or a larger home this is considered to be an upper middle class neighborhood
but when they're there Captain they are still building and developing this neighborhood so there are homes and
vacant Lots but there are also homes that are still being built around this time because this is going to take us up
to 1983 so all of this achievement by the hris is are is complete in done and all the success by a
relatively young age so now it's 198 three and Susan was just 30 years old David was 29 almost 30 the children we
have Rebecca who is now nine Grace is seven and the youngest Benjamin is just 5 years old well now that we get to
November of 1983 having talked about all of this everything should be peaches and cream
this should be Pie in the Sky type stuff here we have the Hendrick family of five
devout religious folks successful kids growing up plenty of money living in a larger home in a great
Community David has made enough money to not only provide to a high degree for his family but also for recreation as
well he has a motorcycle he has his pilot's license and owns a small airplane this is the white picket fence
American Dream playing out right in front of your eyes well that is until everything comes crashing down this is
because at approximately 10:30 p.m. on Tuesday November 8th 1983 Susan Hendrick a 30-year-old
housewife and her three children were discovered slain in the Hendrick family home by Bloomington Police the victims
were all bludgeon to death found in their beds the husband and father David hris was out of state in nearby
Wisconsin on a business trip a Bloomington Police Officer was at the Hendrick's house when according to the
Chicago Tribune the officer entered the house through a rear door this is a sliding glass door at the back of the
house I want to be very clear about something here Captain because there are several
accounts of the officer entering the home right so we have a sliding glass door at the back of the
house this door is inside of a screen and porch so the officer had to go into the screen and porch and then finds this
glass door either opened or unlocked what we do know is the door had to be unlocked because this is how the officer
made his way into the home I'm clarifying this because I do believe it has significant relevance to
the case and possibly some of the evidence in this case right the two different accounts are one that the officer found
the door unlocked the other account is that he found it unlocked and slightly open and both sources are very
respectable sources so I have a hard time figuring out which one is the most correct here but regardless we know that
he enters the screen and porch and he finds this back door unlocked he enters the home and in fact we already
have some of the Hendrick's relatives on the scene shortly after the police officer
arrives he's actually startled by the family members and he you know he turns and he
shines his flashlight who's there you know it's pitch blackout and he's responding to this
call at this home at 313 Carl drive and when he shines the flashlight he's looking at two individuals that are
shining a flashlight at him and one of them speaks up and says my sister lives here and with me is my brother-in-law we
came to check on them as well right so now we have a situation where this officer is there checking on this family
family members are also there at the same time checking on the family the officer tells the two individuals and
very rightfully so you don't if this is going to be a crime scene we don't know what we're walking into if this is going
to be a crime scene we don't want to contaminate this crime scene at all he very astutely tells those two
individuals you guys are going to have to stay out here I'm going inside and I'd like you to stay out here for fear
that you might see or encounter something that you wish you had not seen or encountered yeah we just need a back
up for one quick second because why is the police officer there in the first place the police officer is there
because he is doing performing a welfare check on the home the police station the
blooming police station has received multiple calls from different family members requesting that someone check or
look for Susan and the kids so some of these calls came from husband David Hendrick who's out of state on a
business trip and some of these calls came from their relatives so police are responding to
multiple calls to check on these individuals put yourself in the shoes of that law enforcement officer you're
doing doing a welfare check you're going around the house you either find that sliding glass door open or you find it
unlocked you go in the house and pretty quickly he discovers one of the family members have been murdered so he's going
to have to call that in to the station yeah he walks into a pitch black house and using his flashlight he
navigates his way through the home it's reported that he entered the master bedroom first after making his way
through the home while on his way there he does note that the the house appears to be messy maybe even potentially
ransacked but again he's simply just using his flashlight not flipping on any lights as he goes and when he makes his
way to the master bedroom he sees what he believes is somebody sleeping in the bed lying still in the bed and he's
shining his flashlight in and the officer when he gives us gives us his account of the events of that night he
says look I've responded on many of these welfare calls many of these welfare checks the overwhelming majority
of the time there's nothing wrong at all right right usually like somebody left a
phone off the hook or maybe there's a situation where one family member is mad at the other and is calling to try to
check on them and can't get a hold of them so sends the police to the house that's commonly what happens according
to this officer in this area bloomington's a very safe area and we'll get into crime
Trends here as we go but he says the the only thing he ever worried about on these welfare checks
when he finds himself actually entering the home was that he was going to encounter a sleeping individual that's
going to pull a gun or shotgun on him because they think he's an intruder right and so he's a little hesitant as
soon as he notices that there's someone in this bed but then by the time that he
shines his light and that beam of light makes its way up to the upper portion of
the the person or the figure that's lying in that bed he can see from afar that this individual has been been
physically attacked and very brutally attacked and is no longer alive it's that obvious to the
officer in that moment and so he Retreats outside calls in the backup everybody's now on scene and remember
that at 10:30 between 10:30 and 11:30 p.m. here's what goes down Susan Hendricks is
discovered killed slain in her bed the police are now on scene searching the property they're looking for evidence
they're trying to figure out what happened and who is responsible who could be responsible what they find
Captain is Unfortunately they find all three of the children dead as well so the daughters shared a bedroom
they each have their own bed in this bedroom the little boy has his own bedroom they find the two girls in each
of their beds and one and the boy is in one of the girls' beds they're all in very bad shape They're All Dead
upon arrival and now we have not only police there but we have detectives investigators there they are processing
the scene as it work the extended family Susan's brother who was on scene that we talked about and
brother in law have been notified as to what the police have found we now have Susan's
parents there as well and now David Hendrick arrives at the house so all of this happens very quickly between 10:30
and 11:30 p.m. on that cold November night in 1983 so sometime before 11:30 p.m. that night
Captain Mr David Hendrick arrives home shortly thereafter only to find police tape surrounding the property and his
family dead ah the sounds of the holiday H ho because when you open a college savings
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onward and upward cheers to you Colonel yes cheers to you Captain power to the people cheers to the people in the back
so what do we know right away from this situation what is the information provided to us by
police neighbors and family immediately after that horrific fine well we know this
Bloomington Illinois at the time is a city of about 40,000 people located about 130 Mi southwest of Chicago
Illinois and leading up to this event the crime trends that we were able to find statistics on in the 5 years prior
to 1983 Bloomington Illinois experienced 30 murders now this city and these officers
would go on to tell us not just in 1983 but even years later that none of them in their careers had ever experienced a
quadruple homicide right none of them in their decades experience as an officer or detective had ever experienced a
triple homicide and only a few of them had ever even experienced a double homicide so this is murder is is
somewhat rare but not unheard of in Bloomington Illinois at this time but this type of case this type of
investigation is extremely rare not just in Bloomington Illinois but thankfully everywhere according to the early
reports the Hendrick family was murdered either late Monday November 7th or early
morning Tuesday November 8th 1983 this is established easily due to several facts one we know that David
left for Wisconsin late Monday night he says his family were all in their beds when he left safe and sound they were
all found still lying in their beds with the exception of the boy who was in The Girls Room David and others
several others tried on several occasions on Tuesday to call and speak with Susan no one ever answered the phone we
learned that the kids did not attend school on that Tuesday the school principal says the kids did not attend
school but he was not concerned or alarmed by the absence as he assumed maybe they were
traveling this is what we need to discuss here Captain is business trips so David
hris had a business and at one point he had a practice where he's selling medical
supplies and specific specifically his back brace that he's designed he's he's the designer and the manufacturer of
this back brace right so he's a business owner but this is a business where you have to travel quite often correct at
one time he had he had a practice where you would come in and he would actually have patience and he would outfit you or
suggest hey you need these crutches or you may need this wheelchair or here's this back brace and he would not only
attempt to he's not a doctor per se but he would treat you and outfit you for whatever equipment medical equipment or
supplies that you may need to help you with your daytoday and at this point in 1983 he's
not only successful because of this back brace but that previous company was successful to which he was able to sell
that at a profit so somebody comes in and takes over that business buys it from him and they're running the old
outfit that he had at this point in his life this back brace is so successful that he is simply operating a
business where he is now a Salesman okay he doesn't take on any patience he doesn't see you don't come
in and talk to David Hendrick right you go to your local doctor you go to your local physician your family doctor and
he travels around to different states talking to these doctors talking to these medical practices and hospitals
and saying oh by the way my David David Hendrick I have this back brace that's really helpful it's really great
everybody's buying it and so he travels around and he is actually selling this back brace and notifying these different
practices in hospitals that look you don't have to get this from some middleman you can call me up and get it
directly from me you can place orders directly with me saving you and your patients and your clients money and time
and making me very successful as well so his business at this point Captain primarily is him
traveling around and networking and passing out business cards and pamphlets and letting people test out his
product so a business trip is relatively common for David Hendricks right on top
of that about half of the time he will take his family with him his wife is a housewife she's a stay-at-home mother at
this point the three children are still pretty young and as we can as we can infer here from what the principal of
their school is saying I will say this I'm a little clueless if the boy because he was only five if he was actually in
kindergarten at that time and attending that school but we do know the two daughters were and what we can infer
here from what the principal is saying he's saying well they didn't come to school
but we had no cause for alarm because I just assumed that they were traveling that they were out with Dad on the road
for a day trip or for two days on the road for one of these short trips now we should also talk about here David does
have a small plane that he owns and he will fly this in and out of a local plane hanger he did not take
this plane on this trip he would on some trips he would take the airplane and about half the trips he
would not take the airplane for this trip he left the night before and he took his vehicle his
personal vehicle so picture this within a 24-hour time period this guy leaves his house and now he's back at his house
the rest of the family has been killed and now he's surrounded by friends and family inside the home very much like
what we had with the John Benet case if people remember remember that one and police are now looking at this
guy saying well we want to talk to you so here's some other things that back up that timeline of of when they
were killed not only did the kids not attend school that day but we have neighbors who say that a neighbor kid
one of the one of their sons knocked on the front door of the Hendrick home around 11:00 a.m. on that Tuesday no one
answered the door David tried calling the house around 9:00 a.m. that morning cuz now he's in
Wisconsin when he didn't get through during a check-in phone call with his secretary so he's on the phone
with his secretary assistant who was back in Bloomington and the assistant after talking to David says oh
you didn't get a hold of your wife and he said no I tried calling her I wanted to tell her what hotel I was could have
been a motel hotel whatever wanted to tell her where I was staying so she could get a hold of me this is 1983 he
doesn't have a cell phone right hotel motel holiday in that's right so he's some of these calls he's going to
make multiple calls throughout the day and some of them will be to his home and we do know we have at least two times
that he's on the phone with his assistant some of these calls are going to come from his hotel room some of
these calls will come from a pay phone but his assistant who's worked for him for a very long time in fact in 1983 she
is the only full-time employee that works for very successful David Hendrick at this time right because he doesn't he
doesn't have a store he's just driving around selling his product well his expertise is making this product and
selling it to people yeah you need somebody else that can handle all the other day-to-day operations that's very
good and very smart at that stuff but also if you're traveling a lot you need somebody to help you with the the
booking and the exactly intinerary and then probably making uh arrangements to meet these different doctors and the you
know set up the different meetings at the different facilities and so she says you know
you're going to be out there on the road he's not going out there just to hit one
facility or go to One hospital or one practice and try to sell his product he's going to be out on the road hitting
several different practices and he's actually going to hit several different cities in the state of
Wisconsin so she says David don't worry about it I will get a hold of Susan I'll
get her on the phone and I'll let her know where you're staying and I will pass along your the phone number to the
hotel where you are staying so now that's her job for the day she says that she made multiple
attempts throughout the day to try to get Susan Hendricks on the phone phone to no
avail now to further things along here Captain Susan Hendrick and the kids were scheduled to go to Susan's brother's
house for dinner that Tuesday evening they never arrive now this is where people are starting to get concern so
David being out on the road having not been able to get a hold of his wife for the entirety of that day he's now
concerned and he thinks well no big deal something may have come up maybe she's running around what have you she'll be
at her brother's house I'll call there well what we see in all these cases is there's a big red flag moment and so
okay I can't get a hold of them there could be a reason they're definitely going to go to her brother's house later
and when they don't end up there boom that's your big red flag you know sound all the alarms and bells and whistles so
this is interesting because we have multiple people to confirm what time this takes place Susan and the kids were
you know hey come over at 5:30 and Susan says yes we'll be there at 5:30 David is
on the phone with his in-laws at 5:40 p.m. on that Tuesday in-laws say nope she's not here
yet and now both are immediately concerned because she was very prompt right Su Susan was very prompt and on
top of that d is now telling her family look I've been trying to get a hold of her all day and cannot and so now David
calls the Bloomington Police Department and from my understanding the the relatives on the other end of that call
that sounds the alarm they offered to call because he's in another state but I think David wanted to make sure that
nobody got confused as to his concern so he says no I'm going to call the police
myself so he's on the phone with Bloomington Police Department Bloomington Police they offer to go to
the Hendrick's home and check and he says well I don't think they're home I've been calling all
day and in fact by this point he says I've even talked to a neighbor who lives a couple doors down who told me that
they went over and knocked and nobody answered the door so I don't think that they're home and the police say well
what about the car was the car in the driveway he says well that wouldn't matter I think they've been in some kind
of accident is my concern a vehicle accident and that's why the cops ask about the car in the driveway and he
says it doesn't matter because she always parks in the garage so you wouldn't know if they were there based
off of that or not right so the police are saying well maybe we should go check the house David is saying I don't think
they're there I have other people telling me that they're not there I'm worried that they had an accident it's a
35 minute drive from our home to where they were going for dinner in delin I'm worried that something
happened to them along the way and so the police department says all right we're going to get in touch with the
Sheriff's Office the count you know because they operate the county is their jurisdiction and we'll see if there's
been any reported accidents in the area or if there are anybody at the hospitals
I I believe he even States like I think this is where they're head and I think this is the direction they
would have went yeah he says yes this is their destination and typically when we
go there we take string town right is the name of the the road that they are on for most of that trip so now that
gives police somewhere to look for these individuals however they very quickly know that there's not been any reported
accidents within that time period of when they would have been traveling so now we get to a point where we learn
that there's no accidents all of this conversation first starts at 5:40 with the in-laws so
several several minutes are going to go by by the time that he talks to everybody but what David says is that
once her family became that concern and once he finds out that there have been no reported accidents he decides he's
got to get home Pronto so David is is staying or attempting to stay at a motel in Madison
Wisconsin so he's about roughly a three-hour drive from Bloomington Illinois right he says upon this level
of concern and talking with the in-laws and after talking to police he checked out immediately he gathered his things
he loaded up the car and he's now headed back home we know that he arrives home and
finds the this horrific scene with police already on the scene police are telling us captain that there was no
sign of forced entry into that home in fact they say that Not only was that sliding glass
door at the rear of the home found unlocked possibly slightly a jar right but the front door was found unlocked as
well so they've checked the entire house uh police chief would he's addressing the local news
and he would not say if the house was robbed or if they had any idea as to motive for these horrific murders well
anybody that grew up with a sliding glass door knew that like those locks were finicky yeah and you could almost
like just keep messing with the door and sometimes it would just kind of come unlocked and so you have that unlocked
front door but that doesn't mean somebody entered that way but it could be that maybe somebody exited that way
exactly and sliding glass door people put like a broomstick or something down there for when you don't actually make
the connection to to lock that door so there's something to jam that door for people from the
outside now police do say that they found a sharp object in a bedroom so they're being they're they're giving us
some detail but being a little vague with it right we found a sharp object in a bedroom that could have been the
murder weapon but the police chief would not describe this item in detail to the news now the
the news on the other hand was telling the public saying that the murder weapon was an axe or that the at least the news
believed that the murder weapon was an axe right the County coroner would only say that the autopsies revealed quote
massive cerebral and various internal injuries on each of the victims it was done with a sharp object and just
quickly to back up to your point of the putting a stick or a broom handle into the sliding glass door I couldn't find
anywhere where they said whether they had something like that or not well what we do know and we're basing this off of
David Hendrick's right account he because he's question that night and in fact he's actually
questioned at length that night which is a little rough considering his situation
right the that he's walking into and the lack of sleep that he's had within the last 24 to 48 hours well and he spent
the last what 12 hours trying to get a hold of his family members so he's worrying and now he has a three-hour
trip back home he comes to this crime scene his wife has been murdered viciously murdered yes and then
his three children have been viciously murdered as well exactly and so he says you know they they don't ask him
specifically if they would ever wedge anything to stop the the door from opening right but they ask him about the
doors you know did you did you what happened when you left yeah did you lock the doors and and look as far as law
enforcement goes you know that there's you know there's a part of you that probably
goes hey it's in poor taste that we interview this guy or that we not not just interview him but we got to kind of
interrogate this guy because look he's the number one suspect because you he's the one that's closest to all of them
and you have to ask him now even though his emotions might not be intact because
he could be he could be the Killer and you you're losing time uh and also you don't want to give
somebody time to get their story straight yeah and I think of it as a a bit of a double-edged sword right so
what we have here is not only could this guy be your suspect right because the statistics would tell
you that when you have an entire family but one wiped out usually the one is responsible so that's the unfortunate
statistics so they would tell you that this is the guy you should probably be looking at but then on the other hand
you have this well even if this is not your suspect we have to talk to him and squeeze every detail out of him and
every bit of information we can out of him because even if he didn't kill them he
might be the last one to have seen them alive before the killer did but he is also the only surviving member of the
family so he has um information about the crime scene that nobody else would have exactly
exactly so when they're asking him about details of the night before he's saying
a couple things when I left the house and and I'm going based off of the questions they chose to ask him that
night did you lock the doors before you left because we found them unlocked you know they're probably not telling him we
found them unlocked but he's saying did you lock the doors before you leave right and he said well I believe that I
did that was my routine that when I would go on these trips that I would lock the doors or
even when I would go to work or anywhere I would lock the doors before I would leave the
house and he specifically references the back door first he says I think that I locked the back door the front door was
locked I got my car and left but I did not lock the door from the garage into the house I and I closed the garage door
behind me as I was pulling out and leaving the house yeah now the other thing that he tells them
is that his wife and children were in bed and that his wife was awake when he left
and the kids as far as he knew were asleep and so that he left and he went on this
trip now to further give detail to this regard about David Hendrick being talked to that night he was in
fact interviewed for approximately 8 hours some Reports say 8 and 1 half hours and we can question I think we
should question this because this information would later be coming from David Hendrick and
from the individual that he would hire as an attorney to represent him now of course he should have representation but
if your attorney's talking to the new newspaper and wants to get and gain sympathy for you his client he might
exaggerate a little bit how long that the distraught father who had just seen his whole family killed and just was
notified of that of how terrible and rude the police were to interview this guy and oh not only did they interview
him on his worst night life of his life ever but they kept him there for 8 and a
half hours hours can you imagine yeah they treated him like an animal so I I don't know that I fully believe that he
was there for 8 and a half hours um but the what it made its way to the newspapers according to David's attorney
is that he was interviewed for approximately 8 to 8 and a half hours after the bodies were found and
questioned very early on and a lot of this questioning took place at the actual police station and what we learn
here here is that very early on right away David is like yes no problem you search the house of course they probably
don't need his permission to search the house at this point but he's saying search my car search my motorcycle make
sure you search my airplane that's at The Hanger um and so police they search all of these locations and then on top
of that they even drive the route that they believe that he would have taken from
Bloomington out to Wisconsin and they drive it back to Bloomington as well they they check and search the
hotel room that he checked into and on the way back they're looking for if he would have discarded of
anything along the way so police are obviously on to this dude right away and they have doubts about David Hendrick
and his story right away we were talking about how he called and he was calling all day trying to get a hold of his wife
figure out where she was at and why wasn't she answering his phone calls but if you look at the transcripts of those
calls one of the things that I find strange if I'm law enforcement is how he keeps pointing out that he's out of town
yeah and but that's one of those things where it's like but if he is out of town
I guess it's not that strange that he keeps pointing that out yeah that's where so what we're going to see with
this case captain is that this this case is so interesting because of the evidence and also the lack thereof
evidence and then you you just mentioned it right there and then you hit the nail
on the head this is a double-sided coin almost every detail in the story is a double-sided coin is it heads or is it
Tails right David Hendrick is reminding the police I was I was out of state I was on business I would hit all these
different locations I spoke to my secretary I spoke to Extended family I tried to get
a hold of Susan well that is absolutely true every bit of that is absolutely true now is it Tails where he's trying
to establish an alibi it could it could be both and so you have this situation and
let's throw in another double-sided coin okay heads or tails the police say well
it's awfully suspicious that when we asked David hris did you lock the doors before you left and David goes right to
the sliding glass door with his answer I think I locked the back door I know the
front door was locked right and the door to the garage I did not lock and then I
left and the garage door closed as I was pulling out police go well we entered the home through the back door that's
suspicious that his mind went to the back door first rather than the front door and I agree with what police are
saying I think that most people's minds would go to the front door first of course but here's the problem we don't
know did police when they first start talking to him at his house before he even goes to the police station do they
say hey we came in through the back door and we found this scene we found your wife and then right so so if if that was
a conversation that was had or information that was given to him of course his mind would go to the back
door first right and that's what's difficult in a lot of these cases like when we hear a 911 call we we examine
and we start thinking well what we what would we say what would we do because if
I'm innocent then I'd do this if I was guilty I'd do this and like you said if I'm talking to law enforcement and
they're saying hey we entered through the back door and the back door was a jar where the back door was
unlocked I'd probably when question about did I lock the doors I'd probably start with the one that you enter here's
another one heads or tails the police say heads this is this is about 24 to 48 hours after finding the bodies the
police tell the local news we have some concerns about David Hendrick because he didn't seem to be
surprised shocked or incredibly upset we don't think that he behaved or acted the way
that we would anticipate one that one should act when discovering that their whole family's been
killed okay so that's heads the tail of that is the neighbors and his family this is David's family and Susan's
family the neighbors and the extended family say the exact opposite David was a wreck he was
destroyed these people know him better than the police do right but let's go back to but also it's
like it's also after the fact yes so it goes back to the whole thing well well my my client was I mean heck police had
him there for 8 hours and then the police go well you know what when we're talking to when we're talking to David
he didn't seem too upset about anything and then the people that are on his side
well upset he he wasn't just upset he he was destroyed and with all of these coin
flips you know one thing that I think would have really helped out this case that we just didn't have because it
wasn't typical protocol for 1983 is that period of time you're exactly right Captain what we have here
is we have several different Witnesses who have different opinions varying opinions of David in his emotional state
when he's at the home that night when he discovers that his family has been killed right we have the neighbors and
family saying oh he was he was a wreck he was destroyed the police saying he's not acting as as upset as we would think
one would act what we don't have is anyone but David's word versus the police's word once they are back at the
police station we don't have that's why it's so important that these interviews are now videotape these
days in almost every jurisdiction right because what we would have here with us today we would be able to play back
those recordings and be and be able to make our own observations and say yeah I think that detective is right Avid
doesn't seem to be he seems to be awfully casual when he's seated at the table with the police answering
questions during that 8 hours or whatever it was back at the police station or this man's a wreck he's
completely lost his mind is is gone he doesn't know how to answer these questions because of the situation what
he's just been through yeah but think about that though is like again and you're using the heads and tails analogy
and I think it's a really good one because if I'm law forc man you go man this guy this guy seems like he's losing
his mind it's like well that could be a guy that lost his family and knows that his family was brutally murdered and he
wasn't there to stop it he wasn't there to save them but on the other hand you could go well he's losing his mind
because he just killed his whole family it's you can it it's almost just like maybe the answers tell or what you
think your opinion tells us more about you than it does the actual suspect so heads or tails we have David Hendrick
who tells police yes I'll go to the police station with you yes I'll sit across the table from you and I'll
answer any of your questions and according to his attorney he's there for8 and a half hours that night after
discovering his family's been killed and after not having hardly any sleep from traveling and and working for 48 hours
but then the the flip of that D you know David before we get to the flip David says yes search the house
search my cars search my motorcycle the the airplane and and please search the hotel room that I checked into no
problem search whatever you need to I I you know I'm an open book The Flip to that is then he's asked if he would take
a polygraph and David says well I don't know if I trust the polygraph test this is 1983 keep in mind in 1983 and I don't
want to get an email because every time one comes up I get an email from somebody who goes you know it's not
admissible in court duh this ain't our first ain't our first garage show here yeah well you're going to get a reply
that says no [ __ ] Sherlock duh d um yeah but what we've said in the past and it's
true where's the plus side if I take one and I pass with flying colors then people are going to say yeah but we we
don't know if those tests are correct and then if I fail then it's nobody's going to come to
my rescue and say well those tests aren't always correct it's I think it's actually more difficult to say because
it's 40 years ago I think because it was 1983 that there's a good solid chance that if he would have taken the test and
passed with flying colors that they may have moved on from David Hendrick given the time period yeah but look at uh the
Ramsay case I mean they took three test and passed and they didn't move on but David tells
police that he has a reason for not trusting the polygraph exam and he says look a friend of mine remember this man
is very religious the Plymouth Brethren community that he's involved in very religious and he says this
individual that I know who's who I consider to be an extremely honest man and religious man had to take a polyg
exam for his work and failed the polygraph and lost his job because of the test the results
of that exam and so David is telling police I don't I don't feel comfortable taking the exam number one because of
this experience that I know of and so I don't trust these tests but I might consider taking it but I wouldn't do it
until I have an attorney so what we learned by that statement is he sat there with police according to his
attorney that he hires at a later time for 8 to 8 and 1/2 hours that night without any representation he's not
requested representation but he's sitting there with nothing in his Arsenal answering the police's
questions and so the police say well this we this is a tool that we that we will use to move move on from you and
David says well what if I fail or what if it's in inconclusive and the police tell him
well then we would probably focus our in investigation on you and to that he then
says I think I'm going to need to get an attorney which rightfully so I mean police are asking you these questions
and they they've even said look we might be Focus we might be moving in and focusing our investigation in on you
more as we proceed so what we have here Captain is a little bit of back and forth
because in the coming days in the coming weeks we will have the police chief and
the this is the County Attorney Ronald doer he's openly telling the newspapers after a couple weeks that
David Hendrick is not coopera op ating in the police's investigation into the murders and you have his now attorney
Harald Jennings who is telling the papers look my client cooperated fully in the early
stages of their investigation for eight hours and now that they the detectives seem to be honing in on him and refusing
to look at anybody else yes my client is reluctant to speak with the police yes I've advised he's not taking the
polygraph exam because I have advised him not to do so in fact his attorney Harold Jennings
who officially wasn't hired yet because he because David Hendricks has not been charged with anything but Harold
Jennings is still representing him as at least as far as PR goes or in relation to Communications with the police but
Jennings is saying look not only have I advised Hendrick to not take the polygraph exam I've advised him to not
speak with police at all unless I am present and I want them to submit the questions to me in advance yeah I mean
this is a common tactic for a lawyer and you pay a lawyer to protect you and protect your
rights we need to get through some of the EV of the night leading up to the murders right because the question still
is we know that they were killed either late Monday night or early Tuesday morning but we really need to be able to
hone in and isolate the time of death for these victims we know that David Hendrick was at the house until a
certain point that Monday night and what also makes this difficult for me I don't
care about all you other people what it does for me is if I'm law enforcement it's a three-hour
drive so it's very possible that David drives checks into the hotel makes some calls does some stuff and then drives
back home commits the murders drives back yeah but keep in mind we we have a couple things going on here he's hitting
multiple stops that's the intention for the sales pitch right to go into these different practices his first location
that he goes to is a little more than 6 hours away from his home he where he ends up when he drives back home is 3
hours away right but what I'm saying is since we can't we don't have a his a cell phone where we can track his uh
locations we can only track it when when he's uh entering a point where he's exiting a point right if people saw them
or didn't see them right so what I'm saying is there can be gaps and his travel that we could be unaware of does that
make any sense no it does but keep in mind we also have some markers along the way that are that should back up his
location so we know that he's making phone calls from um payones we also know that he's making a phone call at least
one phone call probably multiple phone calls from the motel room so all of that because it's long distance and because
it's a pay phone we can track that and we can confirm hey you said you were making this phone call at this time all
right well let's double check okay yes we see that you were making that phone call at this time plus we have him
checking in and speaking with other individuals it's not just I called Susan nobody answered it's I spoke with my
secretary at this time and at these different times on this day and also he was active he he was actively going into
different practices and giving his sales pitch and networking with these individuals throughout the course of
that Tuesday yeah cuz I understand if you're a law enforcement like we said he's the only Survivor of this family so
he would know critical information about the house and about the neighborhood about
uh their friends and families uh possible people that could be connected or possible people that law enforcement
should be looking into so you're going to question him on that but if you're law enforcement I think the first thing
that you have to do instead of trying to get him to confess or take a polygraph or whatever is to go did he have means
and opportunity to actually commit these crimes and here's one of the problems for your case if your case is to build a
case against David Hendricks this scene and I don't want to I don't want to dance in the details for
too long because it's horrific and heartbreaking to discuss this is an incredibly bloody
brutal scene what we would learn is that the victims were killed with at least two
weapons sharp objects one an axe this is not a hatchet this is a l handle axe they were also killed with a butcher
knife now both of those items belong to the Hendrix family the ax belonged to the family the
butcher knife came from the Butcher's Block in the kitchen the individuals had their some
of them had their throats slit and every single one of them were hit multiple times directly in the face with a l
handled axe not once not twice not three times not four times not five times we're talking individuals being struck
directly in the face while they lay there defenseless and silent 10 to 13 times each there was blood
everywhere at this scene whoever killed them should have blood on their person on their clothing
and on places that they cannot detect or disguise or hide the problem for the police with the
scientific evidence very quickly became this in David's motorcycle airplane his car that he drove to
Wisconsin zero victims blood found in any of those locations his clothing that he took with
him his luggage that he took with him the items for business purposes that he took with them zero blood on all of
those items the hotel room that he checked into and stay at briefly zero victims blood found at that
location as well and we're not talking about we're just testing it with the naked eye we're talking about 1983 they
are doing their damn best to try to find blood somewhere that the victims blood got
outside of this house because that's your trail to the killer they took that car
apart down to the nuts and bolts looking for blood in his vehicle they did not find
it they went through that motel room to the point that they were dipping and checking and taking apart the drains to
the sink and to the bathtub no blood found in those locations either no blood found in the traps or
the drains at the Hendrick home so they don't have anything indicating to a great degree that that
the killer completely cleaned themselves upon before leaving the crime scene they
they drove the route multiple times that he would have taken or they believed that he would have taken from
Bloomington to his destination roughly six hours away didn't find anything discarded along the
way could he have done a really damn good job maybe but the all the items that they
tested every location that they searched they did not find any victim's Bloods so
that is difficult for your investigation that's the physical evidence that was going to lead you to your killer they
find the axe they find the knife that was used to kill all four members of the family they find those two items lying
on the floor in the girl's bedroom where three of the victims were found now they have to interview David
Hendrick because the big part of their case in their invest investigation is simply
going to be this because we didn't find any blood evidence leading us to David Hendricks
but yet we don't believe him and we don't trust him he won't take our polygraph exam we need to figure out the
time of death that's going to be key here because if we can then prove that he was still at home during
the time of death then he had to be the one that killed his family there's no way around it
so scientifically you have the corner you have the experts medical examiners Pathologists
all trying to determine the time of death for these four victims right meanwhile you have the police getting
statements from David Hendrick on the night of the the the bodies are discovered getting a timeline from him
for that Monday because if they can prove that they were all killed late Monday night rather than early Tuesday
morning David Hendrick may still have been in the house when they were killed he's our killer so they talk to
David and they get some information from him the interesting thing from his story
of that Monday night is again we're going to have markers Witnesses people that can back up portions of his story
to be absolute fact agreed upon fact right so let's start off roughly around five 5:30 so
for this first marker on our timeline of events we don't have an exact time but what it is is it's a neighbor an adult
neighbor who says my kids were out playing with the Hendrick kids in the Hendrick front yard and around this 5 to
5:30 maybe even closer to 6:00 Susan Hendricks comes outside to the door and she calls her kids in for the evening
okay so kids and Mom alive and well at this time we don't have an exact time for it but what we do know that takes
place is that sometime shortly after that David Hendrick takes his three children to a mall they're at the mall
very briefly they were shopping for something I can't remember exactly what it was but after the mall they go to a
nearby chuckecheese restaurant for dinner now why is it just Dad and the three kids well mom Susan Hendrick is
attending a baby shower that evening so she's off and alive and well and visiting friends at the baby shower
that's not in dispute now one thing that will become very important to this case
will be that while there the family of four split a vegetable pizza thank you everyone for joining us
here in the garage today if you are a member of law enforcement or a first responder and you have a case from your
jurisdiction that you would like for us to feature here in the garage please go to True Crim garage.com and look up our
contact information so much more to get to join us back here in the garage tomorrow and until then be good be kind
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The Hendricks Family Murders /// Part 1 /// 711

Part 1 of 2

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In 1983 in the state of Illinois there were few stories bigger than that of the Hendricks Family Murders. The Hendricks family of five were very religious folks. The kids were young, and mom and dad were as well. Susie Hendricks was a stay at home mom who took care of the families big nice house, and even read the Bible to her two daughters and young son at breakfast time. David Hendricks was a successful businessman. He was both an inventor and great salesperson for his invention, a medical device, a very popular back brace that was selling quite well in the midwest. While away in the state of Wisconsin on a sales trip David’s family was killed in their beds. This case remains unsolved to this day. Join us in the Garage for the true chilling tale of a family killed in the night and the aftermath that followed.

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Brief Summary

The episode investigates the brutal Hendrick family murders in 1983, focusing on the crime details and David Hendrick's suspicious behavior.

Key points

The Hendrick Family's Tragic End. On November 8, 1983, the Hendrick family was found murdered in their home, leaving behind a community in shock.
A Successful Family's Rise. The Hendrick family enjoyed a prosperous life, with David's successful business and a loving home.
Consumer Cellular's Unique Approach. Consumer Cellular promotes a contract-free, flexible phone plan that prioritizes customer choice.
The Hendrick Family Tragedy. In November 1983, the Hendrick family was found murdered in their home, shocking the community.
David Hendrick's Alarming Discovery. David Hendrick returns home to find his family murdered, leading to a police investigation.
David Hendrick's Alibi. David insists he was out of town during the murders, raising suspicions.

Episode highlights

Episode quotes

What could be the motive for such a heinous and brutal set of crimes?

Introduction to the case

7:33WatchNov 16, 2023

Tension

75/ 100High tension

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