The residents of the quiet village of Murdock, Nebraska, had been jolted when couple Wayne and Sharmon Stock had been found brutally murdered of their farmhouse in April 2006. As the detectives began searching for doable suspects, they shortly realized the couple had develop into victims of a grotesque crime spree. NBC’s ‘Dateline: In The Dead of Night’ chronicles this stunning case and the way in which the investigation lastly led the police to the killers. So, in the event you’d like further particulars, proper right here’s all of the issues we’ve gathered!
How Did Wayne and Sharmon Stock Die?
Born on July 4, 1947, Wayne Stock tied the knot with Sharmon Stock (born on July 25, 1950) in August 1968. The former left the military after years of service and returned to his farming roots, whereas his partner was a coach’s aide for 17 years and as well as ran a cake enterprise from home. The couple had three children, Andrew, Tammy, and Steve, and settled of their farmhouse in Murdock, Nebraska. Loved ones take note the Stocks as simple people, who doted on their grandkids, labored laborious on their hay enterprise, and beloved spending time open air.
Moreover, Wayne and Sharmon had been well-respected within the neighborhood, making their tragic deaths all the further stunning. On April 18, 2006, 27-year-old Andrew arrived at his dad and mother’ secluded farmhouse at 9:00 AM to meet them. However, he immediately felt one factor was off, as his father’s newspaper nonetheless lay untouched on the porch, and he was not up and about as regular. Worried, Andrew went upstairs to see if the latter was in his office, solely to witness a horrific sight.
58-year-old Wayne lay ineffective, face down in a pool of blood inside the hallway, collectively along with his face badly disfigured. Petrified, Andrew ran exterior to his truck and rang the police, who arrived and situated 55-year-old Sharmon lying ineffective inside the mattress room between her mattress and the wall. An autopsy later revealed that the couple had been fatally shot the sooner night with a 12 gauge shotgun. While Wayne had been shot as quickly as each inside the knee, correct eye, and the once more of the head, Sharmon had been shot as quickly as inside the eye.
Who Killed Wayne and Sharmon Stock?
Investigators noticed that the Stocks had been barefoot and of their pajamas, which indicated that that that they had in all probability been woken from their sleep and shot ineffective. In addition, Sharmon had the telephone in her hand, suggesting that she had been attempting to call any individual for help via the assault. The police moreover noticed not one of many valuables had been missing, nevertheless a window inside the laundry room had been compelled open. Based on the pattern of blood splattered on the partitions, they theorized that in any case two people attacked the victims.
Apart from the bullet casings, a marijuana pipe, and a flashlight had been retrieved from the crime scene, seemingly left behind by the perpetrator. Not merely that, the investigators shortly acquired an necessary tip from an space couple, who stated they seen an odd automotive dashing just a few mile away from the Stocks’ farmhouse the night of the murder. The witnesses had allegedly been passing the world on the night of April 17, 2006, as soon as they crossed the talked about car on the freeway, in regards to the similar time as a result of the murder occurred.
In the meantime, the police questioned the victims’ family and realized that that they had been in battle with their nephew, Matthew Livers. The 28-year-old had reportedly argued collectively along with his uncle and aunt over money points, making him a possible suspect inside the murder. When launched in for questioning, Matthew denied involvement inside the murder, nevertheless his subsequent polygraph check out confirmed that he was allegedly lying; after numerous hours of grueling interrogation, he confessed to killing his household nevertheless named his cousin, Nicholas “Nick” Sampson, as his accomplice.
Matthew claimed that he and Nick had conspired to murder Wayne and Sharmon two days earlier and entered their home on the night of April 17. They absconded after taking footage the couple ineffective and continued with their each day lives. Based on his confession, Nick was arrested and the investigators allegedly retrieved a 12-gauge shotgun and a bloodstained pair of jeans from his home. While he claimed he had borrowed the gun from his grandfather, it resembled the weapon used to kill the Stocks.
Later, the police discovered that Matthew’s automotive utterly matched the witness’s description. Furthermore, the car had reportedly been detailed and cleaned just a few hours after Wayne and Sharmon had been shot ineffective. But when the detectives found a blood stain matching the crime scene beneath the automotive’s steering, it cemented their suspicion about Matthew and Nick being the killers. While that they had been jailed and charged with first-degree murder, a model new piece of proof shortly turned the case on its head.
Upon trying the Stocks’ farmhouse as soon as extra, a detective found an engraved gold ring lying on the kitchen floor, presumably having fallen off any individual’s finger. The engraving study, “Love Always, Cori and Ryan,” along with the title of the New York-based jewelry agency. The police immediately contacted the talked about agency and, after a troublesome search, traced the ring’s proprietor to be an individual named Ryan from Beaver Dam, Wisconsin.
When questioned, Ryan reported his pink pickup truck with the ring in it had been stolen just a few days sooner than the murder. Through newest info, the investigators found 17-year-old Jessica Reid and her 19-year-old boyfriend, Gregory “Greg” Fester. The two had been out on bail for stealing the automotive and when launched for questioning, Jessica denied any connections to the double murder in Nebraska. However, as quickly as confirmed Matthew and Nick’s footage, she repeatedly modified her story.
As per the current, Jessica alleged that she and Greg had met Nick and Matthew at a bar in Murdock whereas passing by the use of metropolis, and the latter two had taken them to the Stocks’ farmhouse. While she and her boyfriend claimed the two cousins had shot the victims, the police found shell casings from a 12-gauge shotgun matching the murder weapon at Greg’s dwelling. On excessive of it, they discovered he had moreover stolen a shotgun from Ryan’s farmhouse.
Detectives discovered a letter from Jessica circuitously confessing that she and her affiliate had devoted the murders. After being grilled for the same, she lastly admitted falsely naming Nick and Matthew. Jessica revealed that she and Greg had stolen the truck beneath have an effect on of drugs and had gone on a robbing spree all through three states. While passing Murdock, the couple randomly broke into Wayne and Sharmon’s farmhouse to rob it. But when the farmer awoke in alarm, Greg shot him inside the knee.
Wayne and Greg obtained proper right into a scuffle, ending in Jessica taking footage the sufferer in his eye and her affiliate taking footage him behind his head when he tried to flee. After gunning down the 58-year-old, Greg shot his partner inside the eye, immediately killing her. Based on their confessions and the proof in direction of them, Greg and Jessica had been arrested and charged with first-degree murder. Meanwhile, all costs in direction of Matthew and Nick had been dropped; the earlier’s IQ check out revealed his confession was unreliable.
After rather a lot deliberation and delay, Jessica Reid and Greg Fester accepted a plea deal and had been convicted of second-degree murder. In 2007, Jessica was given two consecutive life sentences with out parole. Her boyfriend was given the similar sentence and an extra 10 to twenty years for using a firearm to commit a felony. Currently, the earlier is incarcerated on the Nebraska Correctional Sentence for Women in York. On the other hand, Greg is serving his jail time interval on the NDCS Reception and Treatment Center in Lincoln.
