This has been driving me crazy forever. i'm quite fuzzy on the details so please forgive me...

I remember watching a segment a while ago where a con man forced the owner of a home to live either in the garage or tool shed while the con man and his girlfriend lived in the house and spent the homeowners money. Does this ring a bell to anyone. If anyone could fill me in with details or updates I'd greatly appreciate it.

I think you are talking about the case where that man became brainwashed by the black minister and his wife. They used religion to control him. The man actually moved into the basement of his home and the minister and his wife lived in the main house and ended up murdering the man. Terribly sad. I "think" the house was on a ranch??? Does this sound right?

That's it! Thanks so much. Gosh that was such a weird and sad case....

I wish I could remember the NAMES.....anyone remember?

Here's the story from the Unsolved Mysteries website. There is an update to the story. The dead man was Tim Good. The killer was Winston George Jelks aka Dave Freeman.

http://www.unsolved.com/UD228-Jelks.html

SYNOPSIS: On November 14, 1994 in Folsom, West Virginia, police, acting on an anonymous tip, discovered the badly decomposed body of 37-year-old Tim Good, in sparse basement living quarters of his farm house. Tim, a well-to-do farmer had been strangled, and left undisturbed for over a year. Authorities described the basement as cell-like, while upstairs the residence was lavishly furnished. The investigation also quickly revealed that someone had been living in the house almost the entire time that Tim Good's dead body had been in the basement. All of the air vents were sealed, no doubt to prevent odors from wafting upstairs. Then police discovered volumes of diaries, written by a man who was known as "Dave Freeman." It was Freeman's cryptic writings that would help authorities piece together the tragic demise of Tim Good.
Tim Good had owned and operated an approximately 350 acre dairy farm in Collinsville, Pennsylvania. One of his workers was a young man named Gene Kennedy. Gene was from a broken home and had come to live on the farm, with Tim Good as his unofficial guardian. The author of the diaries, Dave Freeman, was hired on in 1987. At the time, however, he went by the name "Ben." Within months, "Ben" Freeman and his wife, Eliza, had moved into the main house with Tim and Gene. Freeman was something of a self-styled preacher. Tim Good was estranged from his family and apparently turned to Freeman for spiritual guidance. But Freeman seemed to have his own agenda. Gene Kennedy claims that soon Freeman began acting as if he owned the farm.

Within a year of Ben's arrival, Tim stopped dairy farming. Then he sold the farm, reportedly for more than a million dollars. Tim turned around and bought another, much smaller farm in West Virginia. Gene Kennedy stayed in Pennsylvania. But Freeman and his family made the move with Tim. Oddly, Ben Freeman was now calling himself "Dave." A West Virginia neighbor of Tim's later noted that it often seemed as if Dave owned the farm and Tim was the workman. The living arrangements also reflected this strange role reversal. Freeman's diaries revealed that while he and his wife lived comfortably upstairs, Tim Good became a virtual prisoner in the basement. According to police, the detailed diaries also indicated that Tim Good was apparently under the complete control of Dave Freeman.

Soon both men dropped out of sight. Neighbors assumed they had left the area. Then, on the afternoon of October 30, 1994, a taxicab came up the road, headed for Tim Good's farm. Inside were Dave Freeman and his family. The road to the farmhouse was blocked by a tree, so Freeman had gone up on foot. Freeman denied any knowledge of Tim's whereabouts and also stated that it appeared the house had been broken into. Later that afternoon Freeman and his family were given a ride to Washington, D.C. They were dropped off at a service station along the beltway and have not been seen since. Investigators theorize that Dave Freeman had returned to the Good farm to retrieve the diaries, hoping to be unobserved. But his quest was unsuccessful after being confronted by neighbors.

Two weeks later, police discovered the decomposed remains of Tim Good. Grocery receipts indicated that Freeman and his family had lived in the house for approximately seven months after Good's death. They apparently left when they ran out of money. Tim Good's bank account, which had previously held almost a million dollars, now contained less than $2. Authorities soon discovered that the man who called himself "Dave Freeman" is actually Winston George Jelks.

On February 15, 1996, Winston Jelks was officially charged with the murder of Tim Good. Authorities suspect that Jelks has committed additional murders in the past. Among the victims may have been two of his own children from a previous marriage.


UPDATE: As a direct result of an Unsolved Mysteries broadcast, Winston George Jelks, wanted for first degree murder, was arrested on May 18, 1996 by members of the Loudoun County, Virginia Sheriff's Department near his Sterling, Virginia home. Moments after the broadcast, an Unsolved Mysteries viewer contacted our phone center and provided Jelk's location. Surveillance began at 1:00 a.m. the next morning. When an unidentified couple later left the house, authorities were able to confirm that Jelks remained inside. Concerned about the additional presence inside of a woman believed to be Jelk's wife, and four children, authorities opted to wait until the suspect left the house before attempting to make an arrest.

Jelks, who was working as a freelance auto mechanic under the alias William David Cooper, was taken into custody as he drove away from his home. Winston George Jelks is the 138th fugitive apprehended because of Unsolved Mysteries.

At the time this update was compiled, Jelks was being held without bond in the Loudoun County, Virginia Adult Detention Center. Although he was fighting extradition, he was expected to eventually be returned to West Virginia to stand trial on first degree murder charges in the death of Timothy Good.

Thanks for providing us the name and as far as the jerk being caught: yahooooooooooooooooooo!

Thanks you guys :). i'm very glad he was caught too.

Hello, I was doing some research on this case and came across this post. This story is very close to me. Tim was my cousin. I was floored when we got the call from my Aunt about Timmy's death. I was also very greatfull for U.M. and the person that had the called the tip in. For years this had haunted me in many ways. I never got to see the episode and was hoping some day I will. There is alot more to this story but I will keep this short. Timmy was a very head strong individual, and to this day I still can't understand how this guy got into his head like that. I miss him alot because he was not only my cousin, but my friend. If any one knows if this episode is on the DVD please respond. I would like to see it.

HI! I don't think its on the Bizarre Murders dvd, but I have it on tape You can email me at heathergraup@yahoo.com if you're interested.

This segment always scared the sh*t outta me.

I think Freeman has since been released from jail. What a scumbag.

That's a darn shame. I wonder if he's changed his ways, or if he's doing the same to another innocent man.

Matthew 7:15:

"Beware of the false prophets, who come to you in sheep's clothing, but inwardly are ravenous wolves."

Tragic that Mr Goode did not take heed to this verse when he met Dave Freeman.

Nothing more despicable than a man using God to plunder, steal, and murder. Mr Freeman should have never seen the light of day again.

Just noticed this from the synopsis above:
"Authorities suspect that Jelks has committed additional murders in the past. Among the victims may have been two of his own children from a previous marriage. "

This seems quite frightening, knowing that Jelks has since been released from prison. Does anyone know anything about these murders? Or if Jelks is back in prison (hopefully)?

Also found this: http://radaris.com/p/Winston/Jelks/
Might be him?