Programming Alert: Missing Michigan hunters

[wiseguy182]

Not 100% positive, but tomorrow's episode description of Murder Book sounds a lot like the Missing Michigan Hunters, which were briefly profiled on UM. This airs tomorrow night (Thursday, December 3) at 10 pm EST on the ID channel.

http://www.charleyproject.org/cases/t/tyll_david.html

[Kane]

You're correct. Last night's episode (titled "Into the Woods") was about the missing hunters.

[crystaldawn]

Thanks for the heads up. That case is so disturbing I don't think I could handle watching an hour show on it. Did you watch it Wiseguy?

[wiseguy182]

Originally Posted by crystaldawn

Thanks for the heads up. That case is so disturbing I don't think I could handle watching an hour show on it. Did you watch it Wiseguy?

Not yet, I'll try to catch it on a rerun. There were a pair of 48 hours episodes I recorded instead. I do have the Cold Case Files episode on it though.

[dynoguy88]

Some show on ID covered this horrific case a couple years ago. I immediately made the connection to the Special Alert that mentioned this case on UM. But it felt more surreal happening in my home state. I was in kindergarten at the time this happened.

Chopping body parts up and feeding them to pigs....there really are no words to accurately describe the kind of sick f***s that would do that.

[Awsi Dooger]

I saw this thing. From memory I'll try to summarize aspects of it:

* One of the hunters had a wife, another a girlfriend. The wife watched them depart and was invited to tag along, but declined. They told her they would return Sunday night. It was Friday the weekend prior to Thanksgiving 1985.

* A friend is interviewed by the program. He says the two hunters were best buddies. They had been looking forward to this trip for a long time. Otherwise the show has many segments with actual detectives who worked on the case, but none of the relatives appear nor the people who eventually turned in the brothers

* The wife was concerned when the truck didn't arrive on Sunday night. She contacted the police the next day. A detective from that era says there were 13 missing persons cases in that time frame from the same area, with 12 of them solved normally. This is the one exception

* The early investigation yields few if any clues. The wife and girlfriend make flyers including a $15,000 reward and post them everywhere. The detectives realize the media is a big asset in this case, since it's hunting related and hunting is huge in that area of Michigan. The case makes it to the local stations.

* The wife remembers a brief mention days before the trip of a cabin in a remote area owned by a friend. Maybe they headed there and not the typical destination. The friend with the cabin is located. He hasn't seen or heard from them and is concerned. The city is Mio.

* First break is when a man comes forward and remembers speaking to the two hunters late at night. They were looking for directions to the cabin. It fits the Friday time frame of the departure. The man advised the hunters that it was a tricky area to navigate...better to get a hotel and try in the morning.

* Once the area is identified, the Duvall family is tipped to investigators by a man who says he remembers conversation about the missing black truck, that it was parted out. That man wants secrecy, which becomes a pattern. He also mentions rumors that the two hunters were killed and fed to pigs. The investigator finds that hard to believe and mostly dismisses it.

* I should mention that several people worked on this case over the years. The early chief investigator from 1985 handed off to two guys in 1994. Those guys made some inroads but eventually retired or were reassigned. The guy who broke the case is featured heavily in the program. I think his nickname is Bronco, or something like that. I think he took over in the late '90s, maybe '98.

* The wife and girlfriend travel to Mio once the early information surfaces. They put up posters and visit local bars but are not treated warmly, to say the least. The program depicts a female bartender who was a regular at the place where the initial confrontation occurs. She pulls the two women aside and basically warns them they are putting others in jeopardy, that she is only a bartender and doesn't know anything and can't help. The program starts using terms like "wall of silence" and "code of silence."

* The Duvall brothers are not depicted favorably, to say the least. Nor as tough individually as other programs have favored. This show's theme is that they only fight when the numbers are stacked in their favor, and even then they don't fight fair. Cheap shot artists. There are many brothers and when numbers are even they call for reinforcements to establish a manpower advantage.

* There are scenes with the two hunters at a bar, supposedly tipping heavily by standard of that area, $2 per drink. The hunters may have gotten in trouble by mocking the cheap tipping habits of the Duvall brothers, calling them "25 cent tippers."

* When the Mio area is checked thoroughly in the early going, a female owner of a local hotel recognizes the pictures of the two hunters and confirms they stayed there on Friday and Saturday night, leaving on Sunday and paying cash. Every transaction was apparently in cash. The authorities couldn't find any credit card or paper record. This segment should have been earlier in my summary. Sorry about that.

* The authorities have suspicion but not nearly enough to get a conviction. They don't want to blow it by charging too early. A break surfaces when a younger Duvall brother who is facing lesser charges offers to squeal. He wants to go scott free. His information involves the dismantling of the hunter's vehicle, that he was summoned to help. But it doesn't involve the murders directly so it isn't much help.

* Over the years more people whisper the info about the hunters being fed to the pigs. It happens so frequently, and by people who otherwise don't know each other, that the detectives begin to accept it could have happened, as grotesque as it is

* A former Duvall girlfriend is an early target of authorities, and again when she moves 1000 miles to Texas. They get some good info from her, including that the Duvall brothers arrived home disheveled and shook up on that Sunday night that the hunters didn't return home. Her boyfriend Duvall brother was drunk and muttered something about killing two hunters. The next day she asks him about it and is physically beaten and extensively threatened. The authorities suspect this woman is holding back. She never cracks, although she does provide verification of the missing black truck in the possession of the Duvalls.

* Bronco receives word that a local woman knows something and may be willing to talk. He dresses in plain clothes and drives a plain vehicle, so the neighbors won't get suspicious. She is shook up by the visit and says she'll give him only one minute. He knows he can't blow it so he proceeds gently. This relationship ends up being the key to the case. He visits her frequently for 3 more years, extracting bits and bits.

* The woman finally spills the key details out of the blue, saying a disagreement during a game of pool at the bar led to the Duvalls summoning their brothers. Other patrons were warned to leave, and told that they didn't see or know anything.

* The woman agrees to give grand jury testimony. She had told Bronco that she knew what happened that night but did not see it. Her version was that she went home with a boyfriend to watch television. They heard loud thuds outside. She supposedly peeked out the window while her boyfiend went outside to watch, but made sure to circle around back so the Duvalls wouldn't see him. He returned to describe the massacre. A Duvall brother is shown banging at their door and threatening them in no uncertain terms.

* During her taped testimony for the grand jury the woman asks that the tape recorder be turned off. She says she hasn't been entirely truthful. She saw the whole thing. Bronco is stunned. Her full version is that the brothers used baseball bats to obliterate the two hunters, that you could hear the cracking skulls. Sorry if this is too graphic.

* The program finally shows real life photos of the two Duvalls in question. Middle aged and not looking as tough as their reputation. Looks of resignation while shackled. They were charged a month after the woman's testimony.

* The episode ends rather quickly from that point forth. Bronco says he got very emotional after the arrest, that he cried on the way home and doesn't mind admitting it. A graphic details that both brothers were convicted of first degree murder and sentenced to life in prison. I believe the year was 2003, 18 years after the disappearances.

* I'm sure I left out plenty of stuff. Somebody else can pick it up, with a more lengthy version.

[LooksLikeCRicci]

Originally Posted by dynoguy88

Chopping body parts up and feeding them to pigs....there really are no words to accurately describe the kind of sick f***s that would do that.

I actually thought the beating with a baseball bat until his head reportedly popped was the worst fact of this whole thing.

So freaking sad.

I appreciate the play by play of the episode, Awsi. I'll make sure to look for it.

[dynoguy88]

Originally Posted by LooksLikeCRicci

I actually thought the beating with a baseball bat until his head reportedly popped was the worst fact of this whole thing.

So freaking sad.

It's horrific. In my opinion, people who kill like that (to such an extreme degree with relative ease) have killed before. And it makes me wonder if there were other corpses fed to the family pigs.

People who strike that amount of fear to a community are used to getting their own way and have the type of freedom to kill as many people as they want. It took 18 whole years just to bust them for this crime. Just think of other people they could have done away with before and after 1985....it's a scary thought.

[LooksLikeCRicci]

Originally Posted by dynoguy88

It's horrific. In my opinion, people who kill like that (to such an extreme degree with relative ease) have killed before. And it makes me wonder if there were other corpses fed to the family pigs.

People who strike that amount of fear to a community are used to getting their own way and have the type of freedom to kill as many people as they want. It took 18 whole years just to bust them for this crime. Just think of other people they could have done away with before and after 1985....it's a scary thought.

Agree 100%. I'd argue this is a killing family. The sheer concept that they told everyone to leave the bar and that they all "saw nothing" is pretty amazing. To render a community silent for all those years speaks volumes at how scary this family had to have been.

[jjmcgr]

the big thing about this case (yes the pig part is a big deal but) is that many people knew what happened but no one talked for almost 20 years... reminds me a little of the Maura Murray case where some people must know more than they are saying.

[wiseguy182]

Re-airing this Saturday (December 19) for those that missed it.

[thinwhiteduke74]

I read Darker Than Night, and the key witness' living with the fear and guilt for all those years chilled me.

[Wawwie]

Originally Posted by dynoguy88

Chopping body parts up and feeding them to pigs.... there really are no words to accurately describe the kind of sick f***s that would do that.

Hunters being fed to pigs.... karma?

[jjmcgr]

Originally Posted by Wawwie

Hunters being fed to pigs.... karma?

I think karma is nonsense but recently in Kansas City Kansas a man and his new wife were arrested for murder. the man supposedly beat his young son to death and fed the body to pigs. The residence is in a rural area on a road I drive along frequently.

[wiseguy182]

Originally Posted by jjmcgr

I think karma is nonsense.

I'm confident that if a person commits a horrible act on someone, they will eventually pay dearly for said act.