The story begins with a 1974 mistaken identity homicide in D.C., where a group of women, believing they were investigating a sexual assault, mistakenly shoot judge Louis Sisler at his father-in-law’s home. The case ends with the conviction of Mary Harris for related charges, though no suspect was ever identified for the assault. Detective Bobby Moore, who solved the case, marries Louis’s widow, Barbara, and moves to Indiana, where he becomes town marshal. However, his marriage deteriorates, and in 1988, Barbara is fatally shot in their home, with Bobby claiming self-defense. Multiple inconsistencies—including a lack of gun use, medical impossibility of holding a firearm, and a missing phone call—undermine his story. Barbara’s daughter’s testimony and the absence of fingerprints on the weapon further cast doubt. Despite a lack of evidence, public outrage grows, and Bobby faces threats, including pipe bomb attacks. Five months after the shooting, Bobby is murdered at home, with the timing suggesting a targeted, revenge-driven act. Though a former police officer and close associate of the Sisler family, Samuel Sisler—discharged from the state police for reportedly wanting revenge—is the most prominent suspect, though no direct evidence connects him to the killing. The case remains unsolved, with the Indiana State Police continuing to investigate, highlighting deep ethical and investigative questions about justice, motive, and the limits of evidence in complex, emotionally charged tragedies.
Hi, Crime Junkies. I'm your host, Ashley Flowers.
And I'm Britt.
And the story I have for you today reads more like an old film noir than real life.
It starts with a mistaken identity and murder in D.C.,
pivots to small-town power politics,
spirals into domestic violence,
and ends with a town marshal gunned down on his own doorstep in Indiana.
And the reason I know about this case is because I actually got a call
from Captain Smith with the Indiana State Police,
who's known for cracking cold cases,
and who urged us to cover this story in hopes that someone, somewhere,
can bring him answers to a question that has haunted the small town of Fremont, Indiana,
for decades.
Who killed Bobby Moore?
It's July 13th, 1974 in D.C.,
a time of epic unrest in the capital city.
Watergate just broke.
Nixon is like,
a month away from resigning from the presidency.
And when this is happening,
Metro PD homicide detective Bobby Moore gets a call that a judge has been shot.
He rushes to the hospital and finds Judge Louis A. Sissler dying in a bed.
And some of his final words to the detective are telling him that he had been at his father-in-law's house,
and when he opened the door,
there was a group of people who shot at him as they tried to get into the house.
They didn't, but they got him.
And shortly after,
shortly after giving that information to the detective,
Louis dies.
With only those few facts to go on,
Bobby sets out investigating what is now a homicide.
So he goes back to the scene of the crime,
which, as Louis told him,
was at his father-in-law's house,
Samuel Haynes.
Samuel's daughter Barbara had married Louis 23 years before,
and they'd built a life together in northern Indiana,
where Louis had been a state judge.
They'd left their three adult children and moved to D.C. for Louis' work,
because after he retired as a judge,
he went to work for a senator on Capitol Hill,
and he was also a lobbyist for the National Rifle Association.
So, for a hot minute,
considering the political climate,
they probably wondered if Louis was targeted for his work.
But the real motive was much different,
and as it turns out,
had nothing to do with politics at all.
Apparently, earlier that night,
a young woman who is referred to as Mrs. Brannon in the court records,
she was walking home from a neighborhood bar
when a guy grabbed her,
forced her into a garage,
and sexually assaulted her.
After the assault,
she made it back to her mom's house,
told her mother Mary what had happened,
and right away,
Mary went to police to report that assault.
Now, I don't know what their response was,
but probably not great,
because it seems like Mary thought she needed to take matters into her own hands.
So, she got her grandson and his friends together,
and they decided that they were going to go back to that bar she had been at
to find this guy themselves,
Now, he wasn't there,
so they came up with another idea.
Mary's daughter identified two garages in the neighborhood
that looked like the ones she was assaulted in.
But it's not totally clear from the limited records
that we were able to get
why she thought that the guy who assaulted her
might have owned the garage that she was attacked in.
But this is all she has to go on.
So, they go to one house,
and they determine this isn't the right guy.
So, then they go back to the bar,
start at a bar fight,
and then left.
Possibly after several drinks.
And when they leave,
they go to the second home that Mary's daughter had picked out.
And that second home is Sam Haynes' house.
So, Mary and several others
march up to the front door,
knock,
and when Louis opens the door,
the New York Times reported that they said,
quote,
we're looking for the guy that raped our sister.
And Louis is like,
listen, you must have the wrong house,
and he tried to close the door.
And it was then that two people in the group
started shooting through it.
The judge gets hit several times,
and as we know,
later dies in the hospital.
So, once Detective Bobby Moore
pieces all of this together,
he comes to the conclusion
that this must have been a case of mistaken identity,
and all the arrests are made.
According to an appeal document,
which was one of the only records
we could get for this case,
Mary Harris,
who is the mother of this woman,
she ends up getting convicted of
conspiracy to commit assault
with a dangerous weapon,
felony murder,
and attempted first-degree burglary
while,
you know, armed.
Now, the burglary charge
was because someone in the group
allegedly tried to push past the judge
into the house,
and the court suspected
it was to commit a burglary.
Now, I know two other men
were convicted, too.
They were the ones police said
actually pulled the trigger or triggers,
but I don't have as much detail
because there weren't any court records
for them that we could get.
Wait, so,
who actually committed the assault
on Mary's daughter?
So, short answer?
I don't know.
We couldn't find anything
saying that a suspect
had been involved
or had been arrested
for that sexual assault.
Like, in all the court documents,
the perp is referred to
as an unknown assailant.
But they know
it's not the judge?
That's what they said.
Mistaken identity.
How do we know
it's not the judge?
Because it's not like
they were shooting
at everyone's front door.
They went to someone else's house first
and they, like,
knew it wasn't the right guy.
Like, did they say
they got the wrong guy?
Are they standing behind the ID?
You're asking
all the right questions,
the same ones I did,
but they're the questions
I can't get answers to.
At first blush,
I'm like,
um,
how hard did we look
at former judge
Louis Sisler
who works for a senator
in D.C.?
Right.
Like, did Mary
and her crew say
that they got the wrong person?
Or, like you said,
were they standing
by their statements?
What weight
did they give their statements,
whatever they were,
compared to that
of Louis and his family?
Who have all these
political connections.
Right.
All these friendships.
So, I mean,
is Mary or any of her family
still around?
Girl, I
tried to
find them.
I can't.
I'm, like,
weirdly obsessed
with this part
of the story now.
I'm just kind of sad
you said part of the story
because that means
we can't, like,
hang out here
and dig deep.
Yeah, it's literally
just, like,
the setup for our main story.
But I don't know.
I don't know.
There's, like,
layers here,
I can feel.
So, if this story
makes anyone listening,
like, their ears perk up,
if you knew Mary
or her family,
like, I'm still down to talk.
Email me,
tips at audiochuck.com.
But I'm kind of wondering,
what if it's everything?
Like, what if it was
mistaken identity?
What if it wasn't Louis,
but it was someone else
at the house?
Like, what if it's,
like, he's not even
in his own house, right?
Like, he's not,
he doesn't own the house.
No, it's his in-laws,
but I don't even know
if they were there.
I don't know if anyone else
was there.
This is where
the investigative records
would have been
really helpful,
but I don't have those.
Based on everything
that's been reported
and documented,
it seems like the judge
was in the wrong place
at the wrong time.
And at the end of the day,
Bobby got what he was after,
a conviction for a judge
is shooting.
But like I said,
that is just the start
of our story.
Because believe it or not,
the murder investigation
ends up changing
the course of Bobby's life.
Because through investigating
the death of Louis Sisler,
Detective Bobby Moore
meets his wife,
Barbara Sisler,
and they get married
three years later.
Wait, you,
you meant his wife,
like, Louis's wife?
Yes.
He,
you're telling me
he marries the victim's wife?
Yes.
I don't know what it would be,
but like,
is there not a policy
against dating
a murder victim's wife
after you investigated
the murder?
I don't,
I don't know.
It's definitely,
it's weird to me.
Yeah.
But for Bobby,
this is like a Hollywood ending.
He solves the crime,
he gets the girl,
and he eventually retires
from Metro PD.
And now that they can live anywhere,
he and Barbara decide
to move back
to Fremont, Indiana
in 1984.
My guess would be
so that Barbara could be closer
to her grown children,
Barbara Jr.
Samuel and Debbie.
One big happy family.
But apparently,
things weren't as movie-esque
as they appeared
on the outside.
And this move to Indiana
marks the beginning
of a very twisted end.
Not long after moving,
Bobby gets appointed
as town marshal,
which is like
the chief of police
in small towns.
And he is viewed
as this, like,
hero, right?
This big shot homicide detective
from D.C.
And all these deputies
seem to look up to him.
Of course,
according to the Washington Post,
Bobby is officially appointed
in June of 1984.
Captain Kevin Smith
with the Indiana State Police
says that Bobby
was the town marshal
you picture,
like, when you think
of a 1960s TV show.
He's friendly.
He's pretty lax.
He probably wasn't
always that way.
But, you know,
as a homicide detective,
especially in D.C.,
he would have seen it all.
Like, the worst of the worst.
And Captain Smith says
that he was at that point
in his career
where he probably wanted
to be as laid back
as he could.
Like, let things slide
a little.
And, like,
small town versus D.C.
Right.
Like, it feels
like an easier job, maybe.
Yeah.
There might have been
more to it
than just where he was
in his career.
Because, you see,
Bobby has a pretty severe
alcohol use disorder.
And it just seems
to worsen
once they move to Indiana.
So, along with
all the ways
that that could affect
his job,
it also affects
his home life.
His and Barbara's marriage
begins to fall apart
over the next couple of years.
They're fighting
all of the time.
And Barbara confides
to her,
daughter that she thinks Bobby's actually having an affair. So by the end of
1987, the two of them are barely coexisting. They're still in the same house, though. Like,
Barbara lives on the main floor of their home, and Bobby stays out of her way, paying his wife
rent to live in the finished basement. And it was done up like almost like a little apartment. It
had a bedroom, a kitchen, separate entrance, separate phone line, everything. And by the way,
this fairytale ending is dissolving publicly. In small towns, everybody knows everybody's
business. I mean, specifically small town, northern Indiana. We know that place. So it
doesn't come as much of a surprise to anyone when Bobby and Barbara both file for a divorce.
But it is not amicable. Nothing like, oh, you know, we just realized, like, we're not good
together. Like, it's not. Yeah, they're living in the same house. Like, even they're in different
parts of it. Like, yeah. Yeah, it's and toxic. But the clock is on now. Divorce papers have been
filed. And I assume that once the divorce is final, one of them.
We'll have to move out and they can both move on. I don't know what the arrangement was. They
might have still been figuring that out, but they won't need to because just three days before their
divorce is set to be finalized. Barbara is shot dead in their home and Bobby is the one holding
the gun. But when he calls police at 1041 p.m. and they show up five minutes later, he says it's not
what it looks like.
What really happened in the basement of Bobby and Barbara's home on the night of February 26,
1988, is still a mystery. One that divided a town and turned locals against one another.
Only two people were in the house that night. One of them is now dead. Here is what Bobby said
happened, according to the probable cause affidavit that we got. Bobby says that around 1030 p.m., he was downstairs in his home and he was in the basement.
his apartment area of the shared house talking to someone on the phone in his kitchen when his wife
Barbara, who wouldn't be his wife in three days when the divorce was finalized, started pounding
on the door of the basement. He hung up the phone and went to unlock the door at the end of the hall
and when the door opened, Barbara was on the other side just livid. She came in hot and accused him
of having an affair with the person that he was speaking to. He says that she had come all the way
in and was in the kitchen by that point and he says that Barbara was so angry that she like swept
this stack of papers off the counter and threw his phone at him and at that moment he says that
Barbara's phone line rang. Now she had a receiver like in the main floor but also at the bottom of
the basement stairs so she went to pick up that one in the basement and the next thing Bobby knew
she was yelling at him to come to the phone but Bobby didn't want anything to do with it. He said
he went back into his bedroom and Barbara followed him.
He tried to close the door to keep her out but Barbara was pushing against it trying to force
her way in. I mean she's smaller than him but she's got a little leverage since the door opens
inward so she's pushing in, he's pushing out against it trying to hold it closed but he said
that he was pushing the door so hard to try and close it that he pushed the door through the
frame and broke the door off the hinges and when that happened he says that Barbara rushed into
the bedroom where he was brandishing a cocked pistol in her right hand. He shouts at her to
put the gun down but she keeps coming at him so he grabbed his own gun off a nearby shelf and shot
her. Oh my god. Now his phone was out of commission because she'd thrown it at him so he immediately
went to the phone by the bottom of the stairs. It's still off the hook so he hangs it up and
calls 911. Now they're here and he's like you know this is terrible but it's all self-defense.
The thing is the receiver was off the hook because someone was on the line. Someone who
heard everything and between her story and what the crime scene is showing something isn't adding
up. So here's the story from the person on the other end of that receiver. That was Barbara's
oldest daughter, Barbara Shuford and I know them having the same name could get a bit confusing so
I'm just going to call her by her married last name Shuford. So Shuford says that her mom called
her earlier that evening and in that time she seemed to be in a good mood. To my surprise based
on what we know Barbara told her daughter that even though her divorce from Bobby was imminent
she and Bobby were getting along and they'd actually just gone out to a nice dinner. So they
have that conversation, they hang up, that's that. Nice call with mom. But later that evening Barbara
calls back and now she's upset and she said that she found out who Bobby was having an affair with.
The record doesn't say who it was or
explain how Barbara allegedly caught them. I mean I wonder if she was like listening on their phone
conversations. I don't think she could. So there was that phone in the basement but it's connected
to her main line not his. So like I don't know what she thought she knew or how she knew it but
regardless at this point when she thinks she knows Barbara is so angry that she didn't even
want to be in the same house anymore. She wanted her daughter to come pick her up.
So her daughter hangs up is like listen I'm going to talk to my husband about this and then
she calls her mom back. This is the call that Barbara went to answer on the basement phone
mid-fight. So Barbara picks up on the first ring and her daughter could tell that she was even
more upset now. So she's trying to like calm the situation down and at some point her mom said that
she wanted her to speak to her stepfather meaning Bobby and she could hear her mom put the receiver
down and then she heard Barbara and Bobby shouting at each other. Her mom was yelling to Bobby that
he needed to come to the phone and like.
Admit what he'd done and Bobby just replied by yelling profanities and then he told her to quote
shut up. She then heard a loud noise and then the next thing she knew Bobby was on the phone
telling her to hang up because he had to call 911. Now the second she heard him say that she
and her husband got in the car and headed to her mom's house and the first thing her husband Tom
says when he walks up to the scene leaves little room for doubt about what they think happened. He
looked right at Bobby and he said why did you kill her and Bobby's only response was that he didn't
mean to but they don't believe him. Not just because of what Barbara Shuford heard on the
other end of that phone that night. She's basing a lot of her feelings on what she heard on a tape
that her mother made her three months before her death. A tape that she hands over to police
where from beyond the grave Barbara talks of Bobby trying to kill her.
And that if something ever happens to her no one should believe that she took her own life.
Basically if I die look at Bobby. Did she hear anything more than shut up on the phone? I mean
he said he told her to put the gun down. She tells police in no uncertain terms that she did
not hear Bobby say put the gun down. There was no talk of any gun ever. And by the way she had
no reason to believe her mom would even be holding a gun. And moreover she says that her mom used to
usually kept her gun in a closet upstairs and she didn't hear her mom go up or down the stairs
which she feels like she would have because the phone is right there by the stairs. And she says
that she wouldn't even had enough time based on the length of the call that like in what she was
hearing and everything happening. But there might be an explanation. Just not one that really helps
Bobby's position much. Allegedly Barbara's son-in-law Tom had heard from Barbara's other daughter Debbie
within the last week or so. Her mom told her that Bobby had taken her gun from her. So that gun was
probably in the basement. If he took it yeah. But that still doesn't line up with his story. I mean
in his version of events the phone call comes in and then she tries to get into his bedroom. He
breaks the door off the hinges which by the way I feel like you would hear. I feel like that would
be a little bit of a commotion especially with two people kind of battling it out on either side of
the door. And the door coming off the door. I feel like that would be a little bit of a commotion.
Yeah. So like so they're fighting. The door comes off the hinges. Then Barbara supposedly comes at
him with the gun. He fires. Her daughter only hears one loud noise. It just doesn't add up.
No it doesn't. I also don't like physically get how he pushes the door so hard it breaks
through the door frame and comes out into the hallway yet she's left standing to pull a gun
on him. I guess that's what I'm thinking. Like if like when I say a commotion I mean
the door is coming through and it's got to knock her over knock her into the hallway.
Or the wall like. Or put I guess push her back if it happened kind of slowly or. It's just like
it just feels like there'd be so much more again commotion. And like right away like right she's
pulling the gun on him he shoots her like it's all happening so fast that I just can't make heads or
tails of it. Also none of the stories explain how Barbara ended up where she did. Bobby said that
Barbara was well inside his bedroom holding the gun in her right hand. But officers found Barbara's
body out of the door. She was in the room. She was in the room. She was in the room. She was in
the bedroom. She was outside of the bedroom in the hallway. But there is blood spatter from Barbara's
exit wound inside the bedroom. Which would like exit wound would have been like kind of behind
her if she's in the hall not the bedroom. Or her body was like so the question is like if she shot
inside how does she end up in the hallway or outside of the room. And where exactly on her
body was she shot. Her chest just to the left of center. Okay. But listen if you want to ignore
all of the above. Weird logistic things. Everything happening so fast. He did the moment. He doesn't
remember whatever. Fine. Okay let's just look at Barbara. So according to Bobby's version of events
he pushes the door open. He pushes the door open. door out of its frame she comes advancing at him with the cocked gun in her right hand he grabs a
gun off his shelf shoots and hits her while she's still quote well inside his room there's what they
call the back spatter which is like the blood material thrown from the bullet inside bobby's
room but we know barbara herself is found outside of the room the gun is laying next to her hand
and honestly listen the position of her body could work so there's some blood on a wall across from
bobby's room that suggests that maybe she staggered back like out of his room hit the other wall
before collapsing but the state police at the time could not figure out how to make sense of the gun
if that is what happened they're like it makes more sense that she would have dropped the pistol
either when she was shot or even if she had held on to it she would have dropped it when she hit
the wall as she like staggered back the weapon could have gone off at any point but it didn't
and even if it didn't it should not have landed next
to her hand her right hand by the way the very right hand which oh by the way she physically
couldn't have pulled a gun on him with according to her daughter barbara's daughter told police
that her mom recently had surgery on her right hand for carpal tunnel syndrome and she wouldn't
have been able to grip anything as heavy as a revolver in that hand what's more when the police
dust the gun that barbara was allegedly holding for her prince none come back
so she never even held it not so fast are you ready for a crime junkie first always and never
at the same time i did not know that this was a thing until this case but in this case police
talk with barbara's doctors and they basically say okay yes she had carpal tunnel syndrome but
they actually say she probably would have been able to hold a gun of that size and weight whatever
so that's not shocking as far as her prince not being on it they say that's actually not surprising
either because apparently she had another condition where she could not leave fingerprints
what i'm sorry i've no what i'm actually gonna have you read this right from the prosecutor's
motion to dismiss it's wild it says the victim was 59 years old the skin of her right hand
according to her family doctor was atrophied tightly drawn and very very thin in interviewing
the victim's physicians it was learned that she suffered from a medical condition
and was not able to hold a gun and she was not able to hold a gun and she was not able to hold
a gun known as reflex sympathetic dystrophy of her right hand one of the symptoms of this condition
is a diminution and or cessation of perspiration in the affected hand given this fact the lack of
the victim's fingerprints or smudges on the weapon she allegedly was holding at the time of her death
is not a significant evidentiary data so legalese aside and like medical jargon basically
barbara couldn't secrete oils in her fingers to leave fingerprints i mean not a hundred percent
of the time so what that all means is that like this syndrome would make it less likely that she
yeah would leave any fingerprints like it's not that it's not weird to them they're like yeah
she like she could touch something and not leave a print that is bonkers i know and it all really
ends up working in bobby's favor because even though he's been arrested and held on murder
charges he's been arrested and held on murder charges and he's been held on murder charges
over the course of about a month the special prosecutor that's brought in realizes that
their case just isn't super solid how there was an ear witness but so even that falls apart
investigators actually set up this experiment where they did a kind of sound test reenactment
and they had one officer and barbara's daughter listening on the phone at the bottom of the stairs
and then they had two other officers like shouted each other in the basement and they found that
very little could actually be heard so they were basically like oh my god i'm gonna have to go to
basically like while the daughter didn't hear the mom go upstairs or hear bobby yelling at her to put
the gun down that doesn't prove that those things didn't happen okay what about the tape that barbara
made saying that bobby was going to kill her you know they don't even mention that in the court
record my thinking is like even though barbara may have had a good reason to think that her life
might have been danger they were going through what sounds like a contentious divorce and it
and that she had reason to grab her gun to protect herself against bobby
so because they can't prove bobby's lying about anything the prosecution decides that they don't
have enough evidence to win a trial against him for murdering his wife on purpose and a little
more than six weeks after the shooting prosecutors dismiss all charges and they let him out of jail
did they ever figure out if he really was having an affair might have but it's not in the few
documents that are publicly available
and if they did it didn't help them build their case which as you can imagine was not very
comforting to barbara's children like they are angry and they start to rally the people in
fremont against bobby like how could they let this man who they all believe so clearly killed their
mom just like get away and it's important to mention that at the time they didn't have the
evidence like we can now the prosecution didn't have a case beyond a reasonable doubt to prove
that bobby definitely killed his wife in anything other than self-defense but as far as everyone
outside the investigation knows bobby's story is murky at best and as a former homicide detective
they think he would definitely know how to stage a crime scene to make it look like a self-defense
shooting and to add fuel to the fire four days after bobby is let out of jail dude wants his job
back uh bold move yeah the town board has to hold a vote
to decide whether or not to give it to him and this meeting draws a crowd oh i'm sure people
come out with what local reporters describe as torches and pitchforks but despite this just
about two months after the shooting the board votes two to one to reinstate him as the town
marshal and people are big mad it's not like they can just elect someone new the position
of town marshal isn't elected it's appointed by this board and listen i went down a
rabbit hole on this like board and like some weird stuff i think there might have been like
something up going on there i don't want to derail our episode but i will do a short little video on
social for anyone who wants to know what i found about this board makeup and what i think is a
little sus but anyways the decision to reinstate bobby ignites this firestorm literally people are
making threats against bobby and someone even plants pipe bombs at the homes of two board
members who were i assume like the two that voted for his reinstatement right
and both of these actually explode though it's unclear if anyone got hurt now people are so
mad that a senior county official warns bobby to leave town for his own safety but bobby's like
nah i'm just gonna sell the home i'm gonna move a little closer to town and get back to work i'm
gonna be fine but he is not fine five months to the day that barbara was shot someone comes for
bobby and it is so clear that they're sending him to jail
a message
on july 26 1988 bobby gets off duty and guides his cruiser into the driveway of his new home
at around 10 30 p.m he gets out of the car and mounts the stairs up to a little side porch
when suddenly a shot rings out the first shot doesn't hit him but a second bullet rips through
bobby's right shoulder and out through his left cutting a clean path through his aorta and both
lungs he drops to the ground i mean within minutes he's dead now this is a much more populated area
than where he and barbara lived just a few months ago so neighbors hear the gunshots and call police
bobby is the one who would normally respond but it's his deputy that arrives then the indiana
state police investigators eventually find two shell casings from a high-powered rifle
in a vacant lot across the street so it sounds to me like whoever shot bobby was probably laying
in wait and that could suggest that the killer knew bobby's schedule well enough to know when
he would be getting home the current investigator on bobby's case captain kevin smith says that the
fact that the killer missed the first shot doesn't say anything about their experience with a gun
because he says even if you're an experienced shot shooting at a human is way different and like
your nerves can get in the way i just keep coming back to five months to the day of when he shot
barbara like that feels like such a mess
it's not even just the day though it's to the hour yeah and this ends up being a critical clue
for investigators like if the timing was intentional which it sure feels like it was
then that tells them that whoever shot bobby may have been avenging barbara and that is motive folks
so although there could be a long list of culprits police pretty quickly have one person that they
want to talk to most barbara's son samuel sisler i feel like we haven't talked about him
at all yeah there because there's nothing about him in the court documents for barbara's case that
like where he's mentioned but i know he'd split his time between fremont and lafayette which is
like a town a couple of hours away he was a new grad of the indiana state police and so that's
where he'd been stationed but come july when bobby is killed he's actually in a whole different
position so he had been dismissed from the indiana state police job in may he was definitely in
fremont the night of the shooting so he was definitely in the night of the shooting so
Someone saw him like 25 minutes before.
four. But in the days after, no one can find him. All police can find is Sam's car, which is at his
sister's property at Crooked Lake, which is like 15 minutes at the most from Fremont. So rumors
quickly swirl that Sam could be involved in Bobby's death. Turns out Sam was in Colorado Springs,
and when police do reach him, he's like, yeah, I'll talk, but later. But by the time he gets
back to Indiana, it seems like he's had a change of heart, and he tells police basically to stuff
it, and he's not talking to them. Him not wanting to help in the murder investigation of the guy
who killed his mom, like, I don't know, I'm not shocked. Yeah, I get it, but there is a lot that
they would love to talk to him about. According to a local reporter, Mike Martrello, Samuel had
allegedly bought a long rifle at a local gun shop about 15 minutes away from Fremont, like
three or four days prior to Bobby's shooting. Mike said that a couple of Fort Wayne TV news
stations at the time reported this, but we could not independently confirm that. He also was said
to have bought similar caliber ammunition as the bullet that killed Bobby, and again, this is just
according to Mike. But when police got wind of this, they could not find the gun that Samuel
allegedly bought. Still have not found anything like it to this day. Were you able to find out
why he got dismissed from the state police?
Like, that feels important. It sure does. I couldn't really get a straight answer. We tried,
though. So the South Bend Tribune reported that he had been dismissed for, quote,
unsatisfactorily completing his probation period, end quote. We tried to get official records on
this, but because it involved an internal affairs issue, we weren't able to confirm that. I, of
course, asked Captain Smith, and he said he couldn't comment on why he got dismissed, but I know he
knows. Not just because he's the lead investigator now. In a weird twist made only for Hollywood,
Captain Smith, who is now in charge of Bobby's cold case, he went to the academy with Samuel
Sissler. Smith, Sissler, they sat near each other in every class. They roomed right next door to one
another. Graduated in the same class December 19th, 1987. Oh, I hear before we were born. Our
birthday. Pre-birthday.
Our reporter asked Mike, like, what he remembered from back then. Does he know why he got dismissed?
And he did confirm the dismissal for us, but he said it's been a really long time and he's not
totally sure. But he remembers the police telling him that Samuel was dismissed because he made
comments about wanting revenge for his mom. Translation, he wanted to either hurt or kill
Bobby. Captain Smith did say that it certainly seems like he was going to get dismissed. But he
said, like, revenge is a motive here, considering the timing of the shooting. But there's actually
no real evidence that connects Samuel, or anyone for that matter, to the murder. Captain Smith said
it could be anyone. And we tried reaching out to Sam on two occasions, but we're not even sure if
our contact information is correct because no one ever got back to us. Smith said that they've had
a lot of leads in this case and they continue to follow up on that. Bobby was a cop. Cops make
enemies. And it could be anyone. And he said, like, revenge is a motive here, considering the timing
anyone with reason to murder him. And, you know, as we know, lots of people were angry with Bobby
before he died. Was there ever a definitive connection made between, like, the pipe bombs
that were planted and exploded and his murder? We asked that, too, but Captain Smith declined
to comment on that. And I don't like this whole case. I don't know. Like, for me, it's lives in
the gray area. Like, Bobby's story is steeped in tragedy. And it is so complicated because Bobby
was far from a perfect victim. Right. But he was a victim. We all want justice. We want right and
wrong to be super clear. But sometimes it's not. He was ultimately cleared of murder. And to most
people who knew him, Captain Smith said that Bobby was known as a peacekeeper, like this quiet,
agreeable man. And murdering Bobby for whatever motive was wrong. And I can feel it, you guys,
already in the comments section. It's going to light up. It's hard not to have an opinion about
this case. And I think it's going to light up. And I think
I want you to have an opinion. I want you to tell us what you think. But keep it productive. Like,
let's talk about it. What does this case make you feel? What does justice look like for Bobby?
This case is personal for Captain Smith. He knew Bobby and Barbara. He knew Samuel. And he still
wants a chance to talk to the guy that he roomed next door to. There were only a couple of unsolved
police shootings in the state of Indiana, and Bobby is one of them. So Captain Smith is determined to
shrewd. If you live in Fremont, Indiana, in July of 1988, and you know anything about the shooting
of Bobby Moore, please reach out to the Indiana State Police Cold Case Investigations at 1-800-453-4756.
Or you can reach out anonymously through Crimestoppers at crimetips.org.
We'll see you next time.
Crime Junkie is an AudioChuck production. I think Chuck would approve.
Podcast Summary
Key Points:
A mistaken identity led to the 1974 murder of judge Louis Sisler in D.C., where a group falsely believed they were targeting a sexual assault suspect, resulting in a shooting at Samuel Haynes’ home.
The case culminated in the conviction of Mary Harris for conspiracy and felony murder, while other suspects were arrested without clear evidence of involvement in the assault.
Detective Bobby Moore, investigating the murder, married Louis’s wife Barbara and later moved to Fremont, Indiana, where he became town marshal—only to face a toxic marriage and a violent home incident.
In 1988, Barbara was shot dead in their home, with Bobby claiming self-defense after a confrontation; however, inconsistencies in the timeline, phone call, and physical evidence cast doubt on his account.
Barbara’s daughter testified that she heard no gun-related conversation, and medical evidence showed she had carpal tunnel syndrome and reflex sympathetic dystrophy, making it unlikely she could have fired a gun.
A reinstitution of Bobby as town marshal sparked public outrage, leading to pipe bomb attacks on officials, and despite no concrete evidence, revenge motives were widely suspected.
Five months to the day of Barbara’s death, Bobby was fatally shot at home, with the timing and location suggesting a targeted attack, possibly linked to revenge.
Samuel Sisler, Barbara’s son and a former state police officer, was briefly linked due to his dismissal and prior statements about revenge, though no evidence ties him definitively to the murder.
Summary:
, where a group of women, believing they were investigating a sexual assault, mistakenly shoot judge Louis Sisler at his father-in-law’s home. The case ends with the conviction of Mary Harris for related charges, though no suspect was ever identified for the assault. Detective Bobby Moore, who solved the case, marries Louis’s widow, Barbara, and moves to Indiana, where he becomes town marshal.
However, his marriage deteriorates, and in 1988, Barbara is fatally shot in their home, with Bobby claiming self-defense. Multiple inconsistencies—including a lack of gun use, medical impossibility of holding a firearm, and a missing phone call—undermine his story. Barbara’s daughter’s testimony and the absence of fingerprints on the weapon further cast doubt.
Despite a lack of evidence, public outrage grows, and Bobby faces threats, including pipe bomb attacks. Five months after the shooting, Bobby is murdered at home, with the timing suggesting a targeted, revenge-driven act. Though a former police officer and close associate of the Sisler family, Samuel Sisler—discharged from the state police for reportedly wanting revenge—is the most prominent suspect, though no direct evidence connects him to the killing.
The case remains unsolved, with the Indiana State Police continuing to investigate, highlighting deep ethical and investigative questions about justice, motive, and the limits of evidence in complex, emotionally charged tragedies.
FAQs
There is no definitive answer. The case remains unsolved, and despite investigations, no conclusive evidence has linked anyone to the murder. The killer is believed to have been someone with a motive, possibly revenge, but no direct connection has been proven.
Barbara's death was initially ruled as a self-defense shooting by Bobby, but it remains controversial. Her daughter reported she did not hear Bobby say 'put the gun down,' and forensic evidence, like the lack of fingerprints and physical impossibility of holding a gun, raises serious doubts about the account.
The timing strongly suggests a possible motive of revenge. Investigators believe this intentional link points to someone seeking retribution for Barbara's murder, especially given the emotional and personal connections in the family.
No. She had a medical condition called reflex sympathetic dystrophy, which caused her right hand to lose the ability to grip objects. This makes it medically impossible for her to hold a gun, and no fingerprints were found on the weapon, supporting this.
Samuel, Barbara's son, was a suspect due to his dismissal from the Indiana State Police for allegedly expressing revenge against Bobby. He allegedly bought a rifle and ammunition in the days before the murder, but no gun was found, and no direct evidence ties him to the crime.
No, but it was heavily challenged. The prosecution ultimately dropped charges due to lack of solid evidence, such as inconsistent audio recordings, physical impossibilities, and eyewitness testimony. The case ended with Bobby being cleared of murder charges.
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