331. The Cold Fusion Murder Conspiracy - Eugene Mallove

- You're listening to an ONO media podcast. - Hey everybody, welcome back to the podcast. This is Murder with My Husband. I'm Peyton Morlin. - No, I'm Garrett Morlin. - And he's the husband. - And I'm a husband. - You think the good people of Netflix can tell we literally just woke up? - Good morning, you don't do this, but we're doing an early 70M recording session. - You know, you know, with just the bagel shop, and I'm not, I gotta stop talking about the bagel shop. Sometimes you just gotta squeeze things in, you know? Life's crazy right now. Peyton has her baby shower today, so it'll be a little bit, lots going on. So we said, you know what, we're gonna wake up early. We're gonna record. Here we are. - But we're not really the type to wake up and get all ready, so that's what you get. - This is true. Happy Monday. - Happy Monday. - Happy Tuesday when you're listening. Thanks to everyone who continues to say, hi to us at the bagel shop. What else have we got? Peyton has her baby shower today. - Also everyone who continues to listen. - Mm-hmm. - Just like week to week, the fact you guys come back. It's just amazing. - You guys ever get to know any of our voices? - Are you annoyed of our voices right now? - No, I can't hear your voice. - Oh, true. - If you don't know, only I wear headphones. - Yeah, I don't wear headphones. Kind of random, but it's been really, it's been so hot here in Utah. It's been insane. I don't like the heat. I don't know how you people in Arizona do it, 'cause it's been, it's been like a hundred degrees here. - More than that. Five PM, it was 101 last year. - Yeah, it was 101 degrees, which not a fan of, what can you do? But it's been really hot, it's been crazy. So kind of just been staying inside, to be honest. Golf here and there, pickleball here and there, mainly podcasts, bagels. Can you believe that we're gonna be parents? - Yeah, no. - We're just gonna have a little munchkin, just running around. - No. - We're not very nervous. A lot of people are like, are you nervous? No. - I'm terrified. - I'm not nervous at all, it's just a baby. - Oh. - Like we could possibly go wrong, you know? I turn out great. - So much. - Pain turn out great. Anyways, that's what we got. Good morning. Let's just hop into this week's episode. Our sources for this episode are oxygen.com, formpolicy.com, at NBCCanadicate.com, norwitchbolatin.com, W-M-U-R.com, CapeCodTimes.com, fox61.com, thebolatin.org, technologyreview.com, keencentinal.com, truecrime, and e.com, davidcushner.com, and peacock TV. Every once in a while, we come across someone who can be defined as a genius. Who's brain operates on another level than most other people's do. Someone who thinks outside of the box and has ideas that can truly change the world for the better. - Feel like you're, I feel like you're explaining me. - Exactly. Someone who comes up with world-changing bagels. - I like that, I like to hear. - But ideas this big and the people who come up with them can be seen as a threat. When you're shaking up the status quo, sometimes that comes with a cost. And the people who get hit by these geniuses with big ideas are often the people in power. They don't like change. They like everything to work the way it is. So when someone that's a genius that's brilliant, that's making headway in technology, is killed in a mysterious way, we are kind of conditioned to think it might be a tinfoil tail. What wealthy or powerful forces wanted this person gone? But as we'll see in today's case, not everything is as calculated as we think. Sometimes coincidences are just more common than they seem. And sometimes the truth is stranger than fiction. So today we are gonna take a trip to New England to the town of Bow, New Hampshire. This is where in 2004, 56 year old Eugene Mollav is just trying to get by. He wants to be a good husband and dad and accomplish some of his lingering drains again, 2004. Eugene or Gene, as his family and friends called him, grew up 150 miles away in Norwich, Connecticut in a house that Eugene himself now owned and was using as a rental property. You know, I really want to go to Connecticut or like the Virginias. The Virgin, the Carolinas. The Carolinas and the Virginias. I feel like you can't, you can't find that here. - No, not really. - No, on the west, maybe like Northern California, but or again, Washington, I guess. - Was that a mountain or two? - Anyways. - This house he grew up in that he now owned and rented out had a special place in Gene's heart. It was where he spent his nights as a young boy, looking up at the stars and asking big questions about the universe. Now, ever since he was little, Gene always had a love for science fiction novels and the idea of space exploration. And as he got older, that turned into bigger concepts. Like, what is his place in this very vast universe? But it was clear to everyone who knew Gene in his early years, he was probably gonna end up being someone special. He was a genius. He understood science and astronomy in a way that other people couldn't. And this was a skill that actually later got him into the Massachusetts Institute of Technology or MIT. In Boston. - That's so cool. - Gene actually started classes there in the fall of 1965. And by the summer of 1968, Gene was working in a lab as a staff assistant helping to run tests for the Apollo lunar missions. Following year, he graduated with a bachelor's in aeronautical and astronomical engineering. And then went on to continue his studies at Harvard University. And you know, that's pretty impressive 'cause I can barely pronounce what he's getting a degree in and he's getting a degree in them. - Yeah. - So while he was living in Boston, Eugene also met the love of his life during this time. It was a Boston University student named Joanne Smith. And the two were made for each other. They were both pretty outgoing, warm and friendly people. And they ended up tying the knot on September 9th, 1970. And they go on to have two kids, Kimberlyn in 1974 and Ethan in 1979. And as his little family is growing, he's having kids at home with his wife, Joanne. Gene's career was skyrocketing, pun intended. He graduated from Harvard with a doctorate in environmental health sciences. He worked for several tech engineering firms. And then the same year they had Ethan, Gene founded Astronomy New England. This was a company that was making and marketing astronomy tools like 3D Star Maps and computer-connected telescopes. - Dang. - From there, Eugene started publishing a lot of his work in scientific papers. And he began teaching science journalism MIT and Boston University. And then in 1991, Eugene ends up having one of the greatest accomplishments of his career. - Dude, Eugene's a genius. - He was nominated for the Pulitzer Prize for a book he wrote. - It's impressive. - On something called Cold Fusion. - Okay, yeah, I think I might have heard of this before. - Really? I had no idea what Cold Fusion was. - I've heard of Cold Fusion for sure, but also I'm into all that, so. So, to understand Cold Fusion is to understand a big piece of Gene. I won't get into the weeds on this, but Cold Fusion is basically a source of free energy. That's like what I think it boils down to in a very simplified way. - Yeah. - It all came about in 1989 when two electrochemists claimed to discover nuclear fusion in a simple lab setting. Now, unlike other forms of energy, Cold Fusion doesn't need extreme temperatures and pressure to create it. It's a carbon-free energy source that honestly could solve a lot of the world's problems. Meaning, even back in 1989 when they discovered it, they were thinking this could replace coal, oil, natural gas, eliminate things that could lead to global warming. The problem was, when other scientists went to replicate that supposedly successful 1989 Cold Fusion experiment, no one could produce the same results. So, these scientists were like, hey, we did it. This is how it works. This is what happened, but then no one could do it again. Which is why, to this day, Cold Fusion actually remains an unproven and controversial hypothesis in the energy world. - Okay. - Are you a tinfoil tail about Cold Fusion? - Oh, I totally am a tinfoil tail about Cold Fusion. - You've got your tinfoil hat on. - Yes, I am very-- - It exists, but it's being covered up. - I think a lot of that. I think there's a lot of technology that exists that we cover up for multiple reasons. - Right, okay. So, this is all happening around the time that our genius, Jane, is working. And he is like, we're really close to making Cold Fusion a reality. In fact, he believed it so much You actually had a falling out. out with his own alma mater, the university he taught at MIT. And after the 1989 experiment was publicized bunch of different people, like I said, they tried to recreate it, including scientists at MIT. But after not being able to reproduce it themselves, these scientists at MIT were like, it's obviously a hoax. As did multiple government institutions like the Department of Energy. But not Eugene. He was like, I believe it. I believe this study, the science makes sense. Cold fusion is very possible, if not right around the corner. And he thought some of these larger institutions, including MIT, were purposely concealing data and shooting down ideas on the subject because of a larger hover app, like the people who fund MIT, not wanting this to happen. So Eugene quit MIT and instead goes on to write a book about cold fusion. It was called Fire From Ice, searching for the truth behind the cold fusion furor. Eugene went on to be one of the most outspoken advocates for cold fusion in the world from like a science view. And it changed the trajectory of his career. After leaving MIT in June of 1991, he went on to launch a magazine called Infinite Energy that focused on scientific developments and kept the public updated on cold fusion. And in the meantime, he found work consulting with private research companies. But this wasn't paying the bills. So he had to take work as a high school science teacher just to also make ends meet. And at the same time, he turned his family basement into a makeshift lab and continued working with friends on cold fusion experiments to try to recreate it. And his basement's crazy. His daughter, Kimberly, remembered going down there, growing up and seeing her dad tinkering away like a mad scientist in the basement. I think that's actually so cool. Yeah, sometimes I think it's amazing. It reminds me of that goose bumps episode. Yes. So sometimes he would even sleep in the basement. But by the late 1990s, Gene had some investors sniffing around his projects in magazine, Infinite Energy. Many of them were anonymous out of fear of risking their own reputations. Because again, he's kind of been ostracized. This is bunk science. And yet Eugene poured his heart and soul into this work. And by the time he was 56 years old, Eugene had dedicated 15 years of his life studying cold fusion. And there didn't appear to be an end in sight. But-- Dude, if this guy had Hatch BT, it would have been over. Money obviously is still on his mind. So after taking many odd jobs, he was looking for some ways to make extra cash. And this is when he was like my childhood home. For Eugene, like I said, it was a sentimental place, a spot where the world was his oyster, could lead to endless possibilities. And he's like, I don't want to let go of it. So when his parents decided to sell it, he had a better idea. He was like, keep it and rent it out. I'll do it. So that's what he did for a year or so. But in May of 2004, his current renters had moved out of his childhood home. So Eugene got into his green minivan with his Infinite Energy bumper stickers and made the drive from his home in Bono, Hampshire to Norwich, Connecticut. The plan was to go clean up the place, get it ready for the next renters. But that night took a turn that no one saw coming. So it's around 11 PM. On the night of May 14, 2004, a woman pulls up to Eugene's family home in Norwich, Connecticut. About an hour or so before, she had actually seen the forensic sign out on the lawn while driving by. So she called the number on it and ended up speaking to Joanne. This is Eugene's wife. She's like, yeah, I'm interested in this property. And Joanne was like, oh, my husband, Gene actually just drove down there. He's cleaning it up now. You should just go back and stop by. So the woman goes back, parks her car, and approaches the home. But before she could even knock on the front door, she comes across a horrifying scene. There, just lying in the driveway on his back was a man. He wasn't wearing any shoes, but he had on a white t-shirt and khaki pants, and they were covered in blood. So she races back to her car. She grabs her very old cell phone, 2004, and dials 9-1-1. She told the operator her location and that she'd found a man who was not moving in a driveway, covered in blood, and actually appeared to be deceased. So a few minutes later, police and first responders arrived at the scene, and there they find the manning. They find the man in question. You, Gene. He had been beaten. Oh, my gosh. And stomped on repeatedly. He had 32 stab wounds to his face. He was unrecognizable outside of his beard. And because his shoes and his wallet were missing, police immediately are like, this is a robbery, right? Oh, my gosh. I know this. You know the story? I've heard about this. It happened. This is a first. It happened less than two years ago, a year ago, maybe. Or no, am I mixing something up? This is 2004. It happened in 2004? Yes. OK, then I don't know it. OK. Nevermind. Well, you know, it's not that far off, because a lot of people who uncover things do end up dead in this-- They do. --in this weird space. In this day and age, yep. So one would be shocked if there was another mad scientist who ended up dead. All right, you guys, we are getting into an ad. And Amazon Music is your one app for music, podcasts, and audio books. You can get access to audio books included with your Amazon Music Unlimited subscription. So in simple terms, your Amazon Music Unlimited subscription does more for you now. Again, music, podcast, audio books, all in one app. And if there is one thing about me, it is that I love to put an audio book on at night, right before I'm about to fall asleep. I will literally just kind of play games on my phone, listen to an audio book as it puts me to sleep. And they have everything OK. If you're a court of thorns and roses, girly, you know. And you can listen to all of their books on Amazon Music. And it really brings them to life. It is such a fun way to go about reading. And I know Garrett, you just watched Project Hail Mary. It was crazy because I watched the movie but I also listened to the audio book. So when Amazon Music wanted to sponsor us, I was pretty excited because I don't read many books, but I will listen to audio books. And I think the thing that's so fun about audio books is that they can really bring a story to life in a way that maybe isn't happening when you're reading. So it is one of my favorite ways. Well, it's almost like a podcast where you can do it wherever you are. So if you're driving somewhere, if you're cleaning, like kind of like how a lot of people are listening now, they're doing a bunch of different things. Also, you need to listen to Project Hail Mary. If you haven't listened to it yet, it's amazing. - Via Amazon Music. - Yep. - Yeah, like Garrett said, a lot of us now are multitasking and that is what's so amazing about Amazon Music is audio book, podcast, music, whatever it may be. You can do both at once. - Music, podcast, audio books, all in, or one app, go check it out. - Didn't you listen to a core of Thorns and Roses on Amazon Music or via audio book? - I read it first and then listen. 'Cause if you know, you know, you have, like reading it was one experience and then listening to a core of Thorns and Roses was an entirely different experience. They also have like Verity, Verity by Colin Hoover is really popular. You can listen to that one as well. They have so many, whether you're looking for like self-help romance. Also, the voices are good. They're not like cheesy, like they're good. They intrigue you. It gets you interested. It keeps you intrigued in the book and what's going on. And I don't know, for me, I feel like that's something that's pretty important because if a voice is boring or like monotone, I'm like nah, I'm done. Get me out of here, not doing it anymore. - One of my dreams is actually to voice an audio book. One day, I think that would be so fun. So hey, Amazon Music. Maybe one day, it won't be just a podcast. You're listening to my voice on Amazon Music on. It will also be a book. - That's true. One of Payne's dreams, she actually does want to do a-- - An audio book. - She wants to do an audio book. - Not even when I wrote. I just genuinely want to be the voice, like a voice actor. - You've talked about this before. You're like, I want to just read a book. - Yeah, that'd be cool. - Like bedtime stories or something? - Yeah. - Maybe so cool. - All right, you guys, music, podcast, audio books, all in one app. We love Amazon Music and you will to go check it out right now. So the police are like, wow, this is pretty bad. But what's strange is just how vicious this looked. Like, if it's just a robbery for the shoes and the wallet, why does it feel so much more personal? Not beating, stomping on someone, stabbing them over 30 times in their face. - That's weird. And honestly, it doesn't take him very long to figure out that this man was 56-year-old Eugene. To detectives, it seemed like Eugene was first attacked around the back of the house and then actually dragged to the spot where his body was found in his driveway. Officials collected blood, hair, and fiber samples, but the property itself was in complete disarray and not because of that. the fight. But because there were things everywhere that Eugene was trying to clean out from the previous tenants, there was broken glass in places, metal, bike parts. So they're having a hard time being like, what was part of this crime? Like, where's our crime scene? And what is just part of the mess? He's been here all day, basically tearing things apart. And while they didn't seem to find the murder weapon, they did bag and tag a couple items of interest, like a garden hose. There was a brick with blood all over it, a key chain with some keys on it, one that didn't look like it belonged to Eugene. And then unfortunately, the police had to break the news to his wife Joanne later that night. Around 2 a.m., they call his house back in Bo and say, Hey, your husband has been found murdered in the driveway of his family home. Now, this obviously comes to a shock because she had just sent this woman who found his dead body over to talk to him. And she had last spoken to Gene that afternoon. He told her he was coming home that night around 9 p.m. So she probably figured when he didn't show up, he just got caught up still cleaning out the property. But it's in speaking to Joanne that they learned something interesting. Eugene had taken his 1993 green Dodge minivan to Norwich that way. But one police had arrived. There was no minivan at the house. Okay. She told them, the van should probably be pretty easy to spot. There's bumper stickers. Yeah. And his vanity plate reads INF and RG infinite energy. Okay. Good. I mean, too good thing. So police put out a bolo for the missing green minivan contacting all local police departments. And meanwhile, we started canvassing the area to speak with neighbors. I mean, he's found dead in the driveway. Someone had to have seen something. And one of them said, actually, I did see Eugene out there mowing the lawn earlier that day. And the minivan was there as well. But when I looked outside around 8.30 p.m. obviously, his van was gone. So that gave the police a little bit of timeline to work with. But there's something else about the crime scene. There's grass cuttings all over the yard. And a lot of the items scattered around the property. But there's one thing that doesn't have a shred of grass on it, almost like it appeared after the mowing. And that was that set of keys they found, which is why they collected it because it fell out of place. Police actually feel confident this first day, like at the crime scene that these keys belong to the killer. Like we don't think these are from the house. We think they were dropped after the crime. But before they could even start to connect the dots, they receive a tip from a local casino. So there's a Foxwoods resort in Casino about seven miles away from Eugene's rental property. And an employee calls to say, Hey, there's a car that's been sitting in our employee parking lot that matches the one I heard police are looking for. So police rush over to the casino. And sure enough, they find jeans 1993 dodge minivan with his energy plates. Police touch the tailpipe. It's cold. It's been sitting there for at least an hour. They end up towing the car to Norwich police works garage to have it processed for evidence. And in the meantime, they're like, Hey, you got security footage? Like can we see? Unfortunately, it doesn't help. It was a foggy night. They weren't really able to make anything out. So they end up scanning the van for fingerprints DNA fibers, anything. And they find there are zero fingerprints in or on the car outside of Eugene's. There's nothing on the steering wheel. So they're like, Okay, well, whoever move this car because obviously it wasn't Eugene was probably wearing gloves. So over the next day or two police are like, we got to learn more about this guy. Like was this targeted? Is it random? They end up speaking with Joanne and the rest of Eugene's family. And when they asked Joanne, well, is there anyone at all that you think might have wanted to murder your husband? I felt that such a loaded question being how smart he is. She's like, I mean, besides the government. Yeah, besides every single person in the world. So she goes, maybe the previous tenants at the rental property. She's like, he was at the rental property. Maybe it was the previous tenants. She said two weeks before the murder, Eugene had to make a tough call and evict the couple. Their names were Pat and Roy Anderson. Apparently they hadn't been paying their rent for the last six months. Eugene had let it slide, but he needed the rent money. And so he evicted them. So police start looking into the Anderson's. And while they aren't sure where they're living now, they do find an address for their son Chad. Chad was living with his girlfriend, Candace, not too far away from the rental property. So they go, Hey, can we talk to your parents? He says, listen, I don't know much about Eugene, like the, the, the guy who owned the house. My parents were renting, but I know my parents haven't seen or spoken to him since he kicked them out two weeks ago. Chad also said, there's also no hard feelings. Like they hadn't been paying rent. They understood the situation. So when police are like, well, where, where were you on the night of the murder? He's like me and Candace. My girlfriend were at home. All of it seems to add up to police. Chad is cooperative. He gives the police his parents new address. Okay. So they then go to visit Roy and Pat. It's about eight miles away. And Pat tells them pretty much the same thing. No, we were evicted. We understood why everything's cool. We moved out. Like there's no bad blood between us and Eugene. And when they're like K, where were you the night? He was murdered. Pat was like, I was at home. I had been working a long day at a local nursing home. And when they ask Roy, he goes, Oh, I was at work that night from 5 p.m. to 1 a.m. They're like, cool. We're going to like go follow up. Where are you working? He's like, Oh, the Foxwoods casino. Okie dokie. The same place Eugene's van was found. Yes. Obviously police are like, mm hmm. So they send over other police to Foxwoods to confirm this and employees vouch for him. Yeah, he was here. He was working the shift on the night in question. Now, luckily, the police had asked Pat and Roy smart question. They're like, did anyone else ever live with you? Like on Eugene's rental property? They were like, actually, yeah, a guy named Lenny Campbell was living with us when we got evicted. She's like, we had let Lenny stay in our basement. He had moved into our place for a for a bit here as well. Now Lenny Campbell is not a stranger to Norwich police. Like when they hear this, they're like, OK, he had had multiple run-ins with police before this detective said he was pretty intimidating. And what made his situation even more shady was right after Eugene's murder, the Anderson's said Lenny packed up his stuff in a rush and moved out of their new property. So the officers were like, we need to track Lenny down. They find he hasn't gone far. He's working and staying on a farm in Massachusetts. When they speak to them, he's like, I had nothing to do with Eugene's murder. He's like, actually, I never even spoke to Eugene. He was just the owner of the property. And so they end up clearing Lenny as well. OK. And without any concrete evidence pointing against him or the Anderson's are like, well, the wife pointed us in this direction. It's been a dead end. But they still have been receiving some tips. Ones they think might lead them down a new path. And that was about Eugene and his work on cold fusion. So essentially, they end up going to MIT. They end up talking to everyone. Basically, everything I've told you in the past, they end up discovering, they end up talking to, they end up realizing this guy's kind of been ostracized from the science community. People would say he's working in bunk science. But other people would say, no, he's actually so smart and it's threatening the world that we currently live in today. They look into all of this and they decide it goes absolutely nowhere. Well, a conspiracy seemed like a fascinating twist in Eugene's story. Like I mean, they're like, well, you know, this is this could happen. Police are like, maybe it's just much simpler. Maybe this isn't, maybe maybe the government, the CIA didn't actually murder Eugene because they learn about a guy after this named Nick Gardiner. Now, during their investigation, police received a tip from a shuttle driver who is at the casino, the night of the murder. Now, this shuttle driver is like, obviously, we've all heard that the murder victims minivan has been left in our casino parking lot. He's like, the night of the murder, sometime between eight and 10 p.m. I was stopped at a traffic light and I saw a man driving that minivan. But he had noticed something odd, which is why he remembers it. He said, I looked over in the driver of this green minivan was wearing socks on their hands. Okay. Socks, which is why he even remembers it, which I'm not going to lie. It's actually kind of funny because when I've been called before, I've worn socks on my hands. Same. Is it weird? Yeah, extremely weird. But I mean, it's because he was hiding his fingerprints. Right. This is obviously, remember, there were no fingerprints in the cigarette set. So this leads detectives back to Gene's van. And when they look through at this time, they find they had missed something. A plastic bag. They send it off to the lab for analysis. And when it comes back, friends say they did find a fingerprint on this plastic bag in the van. And when they run it, they get a hit. This is a man from Norwich named Nicholas Gardner, which is how they even get this name, okay? They went, they took the tip. They went and re-looked through the van, found the bag, run it, get these fingerprints. Nicholas has a few burglaries on his record. I mean, Gene was missing his wallet. So they track Nick down and they bring him in for questioning. And when police tell him, hey, this guy has ended up murdered. We found his van abandoned by the killer in the parking lot. And your fingerprints were found inside the van. Nick is pretty quick to clear the air. He's like, I had nothing to do with the homicide, but I did do something else. - It took the car. - He said, I broke into a bunch of cars in the police in-pound lot. - No way. - It's like, so after you had already collected, he said I went and broke into that. - And I broke in and that was one of them. Police are like, oh, like this is too dumb to be true. This is too dumb to be true. - But it probably is true. - And it would explain why they didn't find the bag the first time. So they go examine the other cars and they're like, it checks out. Nick's fingerprints are in more than one car at the police in-pound lot. - That's hilarious. - So, Nick is charged, but only for the burglaries. Like another dead end in this homicide investigation. - They promised I'd go home. We don't even want to deal with you. - They are like, what are we doing until another set of criminals come across their desks. So a few days after the murder, the police get a call from a station about an hour away in New Britain, Connecticut. New Britain, Connecticut. They set out with the old Britain and we left them and we're coming over and making New Britain. - Yep. - They say one of their officers found two men, a sleep and a stolen car in a parking lot and that car had been reported stolen the same night as Jean's murder. So these police call, they're like, hey, we don't know if we have something but two cars go missing in the same night. And when the officers get a look inside the car, they notice something else. There was blood all over the seats and the two men they found sleeping had scratch and defensive wounds. So the guys are arrested and brought into the station. Their names are Joseph Riley and Gary. - I thought you were gonna say Garrett. - Make a boy. Now, when asked where the blood from the car comes from, they're like, oh, we just gonna fight with each other. But police throw them in a lineup anyways. They photograph them. They send the photographs over to the shuttle driver. They're like, is this any of these guys' sock hand guy? Did any of these guys the guy you saw? Sure enough, he literally points out Joseph Riley. He's like, that's the man who was driving the van with the socks on his hand. - Okay. - Okay. - So the police are like, maybe we're getting warm. They separate Riley and McVoy and they start questioning them about Eugene's murder. And one of the first things Riley asks is, did the guy get the crap kicked out of him? This is huge because Eugene being beaten to death hasn't been released. - Why are people asking that? - Exactly. But when McVoy's questioned, he has a different response. He ends up curling into a ball in the corner of the room and threatens to die by suicide. He's shaking, hyperventilating, basically having a full on nervous breakdown. So they get both the guys DNA. They compare them to a few things they found at the crime scene. And the results do come back pretty quick. The DNA recovered from Gene's van is a match with Gary McVoy. Finally, this is enough to arrest someone. Like you have DNA. - Why did the other guy ask that? - Probably just like, oh, I don't know about the murder. Did he get the crap beat out of him or something? They're like, how would you know how he died? - No, but I mean, if it matched, Gary would not. The other guy, how was the other guy involved or not? - Yes, they worked together most likely. They're like, yes, we're gonna arrest them. We found their DNA, but before they can officially charge them with Eugene's murder, the lab calls back and they're like, ah, whoops, we made a mistake. There was a clerical error. The hair we compared his DNA to actually wasn't from Eugene's minivan, it was from the car that they were found in the other stolen car. We got the stolen cars mixed up. So they're like, okay, well now we still have nothing tying them to the minivan, we can't charge them. So they sit, this case stalls for another four years. So four years go by. No one knows what's going on with this case. There was nothing tying the men to the minivan. You know, I'm kind of mad that it was just a random person. I mean, I'm mad in general because he got killed and it's horrible, but they just killed them because they wanted some stuff from the house, you know? - Yeah. Well, this story isn't finished yet, Gary. - Okay, sorry, keep going. - So people who Eugene, after these four years go by, they're like, maybe it was a conspiracy. Like maybe there really was something else going on and maybe we'll never find out. But in 2009, Norwich PD put together a task force to look at cold cases. This is very popular in the later 2000s. And Eugene's case was top of their list. With a bunch of new resources and funding, they were able to offer a $50,000 reward for any information that would lead to an arrest in the case. They put up a huge billboard along the highway. And within a few weeks, they actually get an important tip. It was May of that year, 2009, when a mother of three named Jill Sebastian walked randomly one day into the Norwich police station. She said, "Hey, I've seen the billboard. "I think I have information that could be useful "in Eugene's murder case." She said, "I, back then, was friends "with a woman named Candace Foster." - Okay. - That name rings a bell, it's because Candace was a girlfriend of Chad Schaefer, if Chad's ringing a bell, it's because he was the son of Pat and Roy Anderson. And if that's ringing a bell, it's because Pat and Roy Anderson were the tenants, who the wife had originally pointed the finger to. So someone comes in and ties it back to the first suspects they actually had in the case. So she's friends with the son's girlfriend, Candace. Her name is Jill. And she's like, "I actually used to stay "with the three of them, my boyfriend, the son, "and Pat and Roy, the parents, from time to time." And not long after the murder, she noticed something about Chad. He would get really upset anytime a new story about Eugene appeared on TV. She's like, "I saw him multiple times, get antsy, irritable. "Like, any time it was brought up, "especially when Jill heard something from Candace. "Candace had told Jill her friend after the murder. "She remembered Chad coming home with bloody clothes on." And apparently Jill had also seen those bloody clothes running around too. Now she comes in and she's like, "I don't even know if this is important. "It feels like speculation, like a little bit of drama. "It's my girlfriend's boyfriend came home with bloody clothes. "I saw them too, but this is all I have. "This is all I have for you, but maybe, "maybe it's worth looking into again." But she also says there's another witness to all of this. Her boyfriend, Keeshawn, had heard something too. According to her boyfriend, Chad had actually fully confessed to him about killing Eugene. She's like, "Oh, and my boyfriend also said "that Chad told him he killed Eugene." So the following months, detectives are like, "Okay, this is a little weird. "We're going to bring Candace in, the girlfriend." She and Chad at this point are no longer together, but she also tells police, "I don't want to speak out against him "because we have children together." So the police make a deal. They're like, "We'll put you in witness protection. "If you tell us all you know about this." And after looking at the crime scene photos, she points something out to the police. She was those keys that Keeshawn you found in the crime scene that I literally see. Those are from our house. - Oh my gosh. - But other than that, she doesn't really say much. So the police keep pushing. They're confident, she knows more. And eventually Candace opens up. She's like, "Hey, fine. "Me and Chad weren't alone that night. "I alabied him, but he wasn't alone the night of the murder. "He'd been hanging around with a cousin of his "named Mozel Brown. "And Mozel himself had a violent past." She says, "This is what happened "the night of Eugene's murder." Candace claimed the afternoon, Pat had been calling Chad to complain about something. Eugene had showed up that day and was throwing all of their things away. They were supposed to have moved out of the house. There was some stuff they hadn't have got out. And he had showed up the owner of the property, Eugene, and was throwing things away that they hadn't got out. So Pat tells his son, "Chad, you need to go get our stuff." So Pat tells her son, "Chad, you need to go get our stuff. "Like go get it before he throws everything away." So Chad's like, "Yeah, I gotta go down and make this right." Chad and Mozel, his cousin had been hanging out that day and the more they start talking about Eugene, they get angry or he's throwing their stuff first. He kicks their parents out. Now he's throwing their stuff away. So they decide to go to Eugene's house together. They confront him and he's like, "Listen. I have to go." I gave you guys a move date. I gave your parents a day they had to be out. There was more than enough time. Your things needed to be out. And that's when either Chad or Michelle through the first punch. They start a physical altercation with Eugene. Obviously it's two versus one. They end up beating him. Oh my gosh. They hit him over and over. He's clinging to life. And this is when they drive away and go back to Chad and Candace's apartment. Like they have beat the crap out of him. I just can't believe that there was a connection the entire time. Right. So police are like, okay, so you're just saying they beat him, but he was still alive when they left. Of course they're saying he's yeah. Candace is like, yep, that's what I'm staying. Police are like, okay, well, what happened with his minivan? Like someone ditched the minivan. Did you forget that part? And she is like, oh my gosh, okay, I wasn't on it too. Later that night, I went back to Eugene's house with the guys. They found that Eugene was still alive in the driveway just barely. They're like, we're going to actually kill him and you need to get rid of the minivan. Oh my gosh. So they began stomping on him, stabbing him in the face. And then they staged the house to make it look like a robbery and Candace drove off with the van to the casino, which actually means a driver didn't even see the man with the socks on his hands. It had been Candace with socks on hands. It had been a woman, which that driver had I did our other two guys who were found sleeping in a stolen car had actually I did one of them, but it just happened to be wrong. It's crazy. Which we know, we know, we know that I witness accounts are not great. So it takes a while to get arrest warrants almost a year, but eventually Candace and Chad are arrested. They're charged with felony murder. And when police finally find Mozel, he's already serving time in Ohio for another crime. He's extradited back to Connecticut. At first of all, she wouldn't have been arrested because no one would have known anything. Now she's going to go to prison. Maybe she thought the boys would actually throw her under the bus for driving the van. So she was eventually just like, I have to tell the truth. I think there's a lot of psychology that goes into confessions. I think go plays a bigger part than we think. Yeah. So all three, Chad is ex-girlfriend Candace and Chad's cousin Mozel are tried separately. And since the jury considered him to kind of be the ringleader, Mozel was convicted of murder in October 2014 and sentenced to 58 years in prison. Chad actually ends up pleading guilty to first degree manslaughter and accessory to third degree robbery. And he receives 16 years. And then Candace, she pleads guilty to lesser charges. She only pleads guilty to hindering the prosecution and tampering with evidence. And she was sentenced to time served already followed by probation. So Eugene's research might have been controversial, but it was brave. He was someone who saw hope in a world that at times honestly can be dark. He saw a solution to some of mankind's biggest problems. I mean any scientist who's out here trying to help the world advance in a way that is beneficial to everyone is putting light into a dark place. And he dedicated his life to making that solution a reality. Who knows what Eugene might have achieved if he hadn't have been murdered that day. But one of the most shocking parts about this case to me is how someone so brilliant, like someone who you could easily say this was a conspiracy because they were so smart because of things they were uncovering actually met his fate over something so trivial, like cleaning up his rental property and it basically being not even the people who were renting the property, but their son and cousin come over and get in a physical altercation and end up literally savagely killing him. And that is the case of Eugene Mallow. That's annoying. Right. It's annoying. I just, it's crazy to me. There's how many people out there resort to violence. Yeah. Like there's a good amount of people like even like from watching clips on social media, like the amount of people that just violence is their first like interacts like their first thought process. We come over. We confront him. Stop moving our stuff. He's like, I gave you plenty of time to move it out. I have new renters coming. This has to get out of here. And so you kill him. Yeah. So many people though, like I see stuff on social media all the time. Yeah. People just want to punch people and like, yeah, because we're wrong with you chill out like, here's my thing. We're just completely skipping over the fact that he was alive. Oh, I know. Suffering in that driveway and they came back and continued the poor decisions. Horrible. Like, all right, you guys, that is our episode for this week. And we will see you next time with another one. I love it. And I hate it. Goodbye.