The Manhunt

Authorities in western North Carolina discover a gruesome double homicide in a missing couple’s home and track their prime suspect into the unforgiving forest of Appalachia. When a seasoned tracker and his four-legged partner are getting close, tragedy strikes yet again.

• 0:00Speaker 00

  Hi park enthusiasts, it's Delia. If you listen to Park Predators, you already know that sometimes the most beautiful places can hide the darkest secrets. But what happens when the danger isn't miles from civilization? It's in your community, and sometimes even in your own backyard. On Crime Junkie, hosts Ashley and Britt dive into real cases every week, from missing persons to unsolved murders, breaking down what we know, what we don't, and the details that still don't sit right. If you care about the stories behind the headlines and the victims at the center of them, you'll want to check out Crime Junkie. Listen now, wherever you get your podcasts.

• 0:40Speaker 00

  Hi park enthusiasts, I'm your host, Delia D'Ambra. And the case I'm going to tell you about today takes place in Burke County, North Carolina, in a stretch of woods in the western part of the state, close to the Pisgah National Forest. I first discovered this case while researching another incident from this region, but the available reporting on this crime was pretty slim. So I knew that in order to cover it thoroughly, I was going to have to connect with the people closest to the investigation to get the inside scoop. The perpetrator in this case didn't just take one life, he took several, all within a time span of just a few days. The story involved a lot of moving parts, car crashes, foot chases, and an officer-involved shooting.

• 1:21Speaker 00

  So getting a hold of the firsthand accounts and documents related to all those elements was critical. It's been more than a decade since the crimes took place, but for many residents and law enforcement officials in western North Carolina, the saga of events I'm going to dive into today is still quite fresh. According to a tourism website for Burke County, it's known for being "nature's playground", and a destination where you can catch beautiful sights, enjoy a small-town atmosphere, and learn about the area's rich history. If you're familiar with Grandfather Mountain, that landmark is less than an hour from Burke County. However, in the spring of 2014, the idyllic and inviting image of the region was tragically

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  shattered when one ruthless predator tore through the community on a violent rampage. The fracture effect of his actions on the people there was immeasurable, but it was the brave sacrifice of one Forest Service officer and his canine partner that ultimately led to the perpetrator's undoing. This is Park Predators.

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  Around 8:45 on Wednesday morning, March 12, 2014, Burke County Sheriff's deputies received a call from a concerned member of the community. The caller said they worked with a woman named Rhonda Wisnig, and they were pretty worried about her because she'd missed several days of work and wasn't picking up the phone. Rhonda's coworker asked the sheriff's office to send a unit out to her house to do a welfare check, you know, just to see what was going on. Where Rhonda lived with her husband Levi was on Fish Hatchery Road in Morganton, North Carolina. The area was densely wooded and mountainous, and Fish Hatchery Road itself is a two-lane road where the homes are spread out. So definitely not your typical layout for a residential community.

• 3:46Speaker 00

  On the way to the couple's house, the responding deputy noticed a vehicle pass him going in the opposite direction. Inside was a man that the deputy recognized as Rhonda's adult stepson, Troy Wisnig. 38-year-old Troy was a troubled guy who'd had run-ins with the sheriff's office before, so the deputy clocked him the moment he saw him. During this brief interaction, the deputy didn't think much of seeing Troy, though, because he knew that his dad and stepmom lived just down the road. So, doing what he was asked to do, the deputy continued on towards the Wisnigs' house to conduct a welfare check. A few minutes later, though, everything changed when the deputy made a disturbing discovery after pulling up to the family's home and knocking on the front door. The entryway seemed to be locked, but on the front porch, there was what appeared to be

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  reddish-brown traces of blood.

• 4:34Speaker 00

  When the deputy peered inside a door window, he saw what looked like a trail of blood winding through the home. After forcibly entering the house, the deputy followed the blood trail down to Rhonda and Levi's basement, where he found the 55-year-old and 60-year-old dead from gunshot wounds. Additional investigators and personnel responded to the crime scene and quickly determined that both victims had been deceased for at least a few days and had likely died sometime between Sunday afternoon, March 9, and Monday morning, March 10.

• 5:07Speaker 00

  Based on the evidence gathered at the crime scene, which included a rifle and several spent rifle cartridges, it seemed Levi had been shot first while in the basement. And when Rhonda had seemingly gone to investigate the disturbance, she'd been killed outside the house near the porch while trying to flee. After being shot, her body was then dragged down to the basement. The rest of the home was in disarray with stuff strewn everywhere and a television set missing from a wall. Authorities quickly noted that the front door of a neighbor's home had been kicked in and several firearms, including a 12-gauge pump-action shotgun, were missing. Investigative reports state that from the jump, law enforcement's prime suspect was the couple's son, Troy.

• 5:49Speaker 00

  The vehicle the responding deputy had seen him driving belonged to his dad, and it was later found abandoned in nearby McDowell County. In addition to that, Troy's extensive prior criminal record for offenses including assault, drug possession, breaking and entering, larceny, fraud, DWI, and manslaughter, put him at the very top of authorities' suspect list. And the assumption that he was responsible for his parents' murders was spot on because over the course of the next four or five hours, word got out that authorities were looking for him. And during that time, he went on the run. He stole and crashed several vehicles, including a tow truck, which he eventually wrecked off a private road after passing by an investigative command post that had been set up to apprehend him.

• 6:33Speaker 00

  Shortly before bailing out of the crashed tow truck, he'd hit an NC Department of Transportation vehicle in the area. After abandoning the tow truck, Troy ran off into a densely wooded piece of property that housed an outbuilding, broke into it, and holed up there before fleeing again. The homeowner who saw him run back into the woods dialed 911 and reported to authorities that he'd been spotted in the general area. Meanwhile, as many as 150 officers from various law enforcement agencies organized a manhunt for him and pieced together the string of car thefts he'd committed earlier that morning. The best outcome was to precisely pinpoint his location and take him into custody without incident. So shortly after noon, additional resources were called in to help find Troy, and some

• 7:18Speaker 00

  of those resources included tracking dogs. At the time, the city of Morganton had their own canines, but those dogs had only recently wrapped up their training and were really new to the job. So authorities asked a local U.S. Forest Service officer named Jason Crisp to come to the command post with his more seasoned canine, Moros. Wade Keener, who happened to be Jason's partner at the time, told me that the main types of investigations Forest Service law enforcement officers like them worked involved inspecting timber sales, preventing timber theft, and general recreation calls like fights, alcohol-related incidents, drug investigations, car break-ins, and loud parties. 38-year-old Jason had joined the U.S. Forest Service in 2004 as a part-time entry-level

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  firefighter. Prior to that, he'd been employed for nearly eight years with the McDowell County Sheriff's Office. By 2006, though, he'd worked his way through additional law enforcement training to become a full-time federal officer. He'd inherited his four-legged partner, Moros, and begun learning German commands to be a better handler for the dog. In the early and mid-2000s, some local law enforcement agencies in the region didn't have canine units, so quite often, other departments would ask Jason and Moros to help them with tracking. Moros was trained in a variety of methods, including tracking for people and drugs, as well as canine protection. The more cases the pair worked together, the more recognition they got amongst area law enforcement agencies.

• 8:46Speaker 00

  When they arrived at the command post during the Troy Wisniewicz manhunt, Maros signaled to go one direction while two tracking dogs from Morganton went in another direction. For a bit, the Morganton canines followed what the team suspected was the suspect's scent, but then, seemingly because the dogs were so new to the job, they lost the scent. Meanwhile, Officer Jason Crisp realized Maros had locked on to Troy's scent trail and wanted to follow it. So, he notified everyone in the group that Maros was on the move. Shortly after 2:50 PM, with Maros leading the way at a brisk pace, Jason followed his dog further into the woods and down the side of a hill into a thick grove of young, white pine trees.

• 9:28Speaker 00

  As they worked their way through the thick brush, several North Carolina State Highway Patrol troopers trailed behind them about 10 to 15 feet away. But, in the blink of an eye, Jason and Maros dipped out of sight of the troopers, and just a few seconds later, a shotgun blast rang out. According to Jason's former partner Wade Keener and some official incident response documentation he provided me with, unbeknownst to Jason, Troy Wisniewicz had tucked himself behind a large poplar tree, directly in Jason and Maros's path, and was laying in wait. When Jason and Maros got within 15 feet of Troy, he shot Jason at close range in the side of his head, killing him instantly. In the thick brush, Maros became entangled in his leash and was unable to run and attack Troy.

• 10:13Speaker 00

  So, a few seconds after Jason was shot, Maros was shot too. According to Wade, Troy unintentionally jammed the shotgun he'd used to shoot Jason, so, to kill Maros, he pulled out a handgun and aimed it at the dog's head. Then, right before fleeing the scene and going further into the terrain, he approached Jason's body, unholstered his handgun and extra magazine, and stole those items. While that was happening, the state troopers who'd been behind Jason and Maros ducked for cover and called out for Jason, but didn't get a response. His silence, combined with the fact that Maros was no longer barking, indicated to everyone that the tracking pair were likely mortally wounded. Right away, authorities continued to look for Troy in the woods, but didn't immediately find him.

• 10:58Speaker 00

  Poor radio communications between members of law enforcement and spotty cellphone reception made it challenging for anyone to really know what was going on or where Troy might be. Meanwhile, a small group of officers and troopers, led by a sergeant who personally knew Jason, assembled and cautiously approached the section of the forest where they believed he and Maros had gone down. When that group arrived, they found the pair's bodies on the ground, and it was clear they were gone. Investigators quickly set up a perimeter and made note of the fact that Jason's service weapon was missing, which I imagine only heightened their concerns that Troy might use it against another member of law enforcement if he was cornered again.

• 11:38Speaker 00

  For the next few hours, the manhunt continued, but search conditions were not ideal. Helicopters flying low overhead created a lot of noise in the forest that made it difficult for searchers on the ground to hear anything in the woods. Eventually, officials decided to move most of their search resources out of the immediate area where Jason and Maros had been shot, and they started looking for Troy further away in the woods. Shortly after 4:30 PM, three members of law enforcement canvassing a tree line adjacent to a nearby farmhouse property spotted something in the distance close to a fallen tree that caught their eye. It was the subtle movement of a man's tennis shoe.

• 12:22Speaker 01

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• 12:53Speaker 00

  One day last year, detectives knocked on the door of a multimillion-dollar mansion in Los Angeles County. Inside, they found a strange scene. A dining area converted into classrooms with children and toddlers seated at rows of desks. The couple that lived there had 21 kids.

• 13:13Speaker 02

  It's a house that looks like a castle, but it's under investigation for being a possible factory, a baby factory.

• 13:20Speaker 00

  Where had these children come from? Almost all of them were born through surrogates. But those surrogates had been deceived.

• 13:28Speaker 03

  Me and my coworker, we named her the surrogate pimp.

• 13:31Speaker 04

  That's the one time that we called the cops because she was screaming. And then he pulled out a gun.

• 13:35Speaker 05

  I started crying. I was like, what the heck did I just get myself into?

• 13:41Speaker 00

  I'm Ava Kaufman. The Journey is a new series from In the Dark and The New Yorker. Find it now in the In the Dark feed, wherever you get your podcasts.

• 13:58Speaker 00

  According to my interview with retired U.S. Forest Service law enforcement officer Wade Keener, when state troopers and a deputy from an area sheriff's office approached an old farmhouse in the search radius of where law enforcement suspected Troy was hiding, they saw a man's tennis shoe move on the ground next to a large fallen tree. The group was about 15 to 20 yards away from this shoe, but they were confident it was Troy. And sure enough, just moments later, after failing to comply to the officer's commands, Troy showed himself, turned towards the group, and pointed a gun. The officers fired, and when the dust settled, they found Troy motionless, lying on the ground, barely clinging to life. He'd suffered a single gunshot wound to his buttocks area and a self-inflicted gunshot

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  wound to his head, which appeared to have come from the Glock handgun he'd stolen from Officer Jason Crisp's body. Not long after that, Troy died on scene, and it was later confirmed that the firearm which had caused his fatal injury was, in fact, Jason's service weapon. When news of Jason's, as well as Rhonda and Levi Wisniewicz's murders, reached people in the community, folks were shocked and devastated. On the evening of the crime, a family friend of the Crisp visited Jason's wife Amanda at home and notified her of what had happened. Meanwhile, relatives and friends of the Wisnits were horrified to hear how they'd been found. Rhonda's nephew told WSOC-TV, quote, "They didn't deserve to go through this.

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  They just had their dream house built a few years ago. They built it all by hand and paid for it all by cash. They worked for what they got." One of the couple's neighbors told the news herald via the Hickory Daily Record that he'd known Troy for all his life and did not think the 38-year-old was an upstanding citizen. The neighbor stated, quote, "He's a dangerous man. Let's put it like that." He later continued, "His daddy and stepmom are two of the greatest people in the world. They didn't deserve this." According to the couple's obituary, Levi was retired and usually spent his mornings with Rhonda, puttering around the house, drinking coffee while watching birds and wildlife.

• 16:08Speaker 00

  Rhonda was still working as a nurse, but they both shared a dream of one day opening a petting farm on their property. Jason's partner and fellow Forest Service law enforcement officer Wade Keener was not in North Carolina when the murders happened. He'd been sent to Virginia earlier in the week to assist with a timber audit at another district office. It wasn't until around 3 o'clock on the day of the crime that he began hearing reports of an officer-involved shooting in Burke County. And by 6:00 PM, he learned the sad news that Jason was gone. He described that moment to me as a gut punch and said that Jason was truly like a brother to him. As he asked questions and learned more information, he had a bit of a "you've gotta be kidding me" moment when he heard the name of the man who was responsible for Jason's death.

• 16:53Speaker 00

  Turns out, Wade had put Troy Wisna in handcuffs once before. About two or three years earlier, Wade had received a request from Burke County Sheriff's Office to assist in serving a warrant on Troy. At the time, the sheriff's office couldn't find Troy, but they wanted him for an offense related to breaking and entering. So they asked Wade to keep an eye out for him in the Pisgah National Forest. Wade told me that this kind of request was normal because oftentimes fugitives would use the national forest to evade capture.

• 17:26Speaker 00

  So while out on routine patrol, Wade happened upon a remote campsite and found two men there who eventually provided him with their IDs. One of those guys was Troy Wisnet. And because he had an outstanding warrant for his arrest, Wade took him into custody. At the time, though, Wade had no idea what Troy was capable of, or that just a few years later, the young man would be back out in society and responsible for a series of murders. Wade told me he still feels a lot of regret about not being in North Carolina when his partner Jason was killed. His hands were tied because he was required to be out of state for work, but he still can't help but wonder if maybe he had been on the call, he could have done something to save his friend.

• 18:08Speaker 00

  A frequent characterization I heard from Wade about Jason was how fiercely dedicated he was to training Moros and becoming the best dog handler he could be. It's not surprising to Wade to know that even until Jason's final breath, he was doggedly pursuing a suspect. But even as much as Jason loved his job, he always made time for his family. He was a husband and father to two boys, Garrett and Logan. In 2014, Garrett was a teenager, and Logan, who is 10 years younger, was just a kid. Their dad was described as soft-spoken, understanding, a conversationalist, a prankster, and a dedicated Christian. Garrett told me that his father loved the outdoors and would frequently take him fishing

• 18:50Speaker 00

  and camping at different spots he discovered while working in the woods. In addition to being coworkers, Jason and his partner Wade were literal neighbors. Several years prior to the murder, Jason and his family moved into a home next door to Wade and his wife, but that wasn't where the Crisps wanted to be forever. In 2009, Jason and his wife had purchased a 30-acre tract of land in McDowell County near Mount Mitchell. The plan was to eventually build a forever home there, but until they could save up enough money to pay down the mortgage on their current home as well as the acreage, their dream of having a homestead was a work in progress. In the interim, Jason bought a mobile home and kept it on their acreage and worked diligently to make the structure livable so his family would at least have a place to stay when they visited.

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  In early 2012, Amanda had discovered she had breast cancer and underwent treatment. She ultimately went into remission and by late 2013, the Crisps had sold their house next to the Keeners and were kind of in-between relatives' places until they could get their mobile home up and running. On the day of the crime, Jason had been on that property with his family and a plumber who'd come to help them with an issue. Right in the middle of working beneath the mobile home with his son Garrett is when Jason, who was off-duty, got the call to assist in the manhunt for Troy Wisniew. On March 17th, about five days after the crime, Jason's colleagues and loved ones held a funeral service for him at a local high school and then buried him at his home church in Marion, North Carolina.

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  His son Garrett told me that his dad's casket processional wound through several city streets and was a very public event. As a symbol of Jason's bond and companionship with his four-legged partner, Moros, the dog's cremated remains were buried with him. At the time of Jason's passing, tributes to the slain officer poured in online and his family released a statement that read in part, quote, "Jason was a loving father, loving husband, and a great friend. He was his wife's best friend and the love of her life. He loved the Lord and was an honest Christian man who gave his life protecting his friends. He loved doing his job with a passion. The only thing he loved more than his job was his family and friends. He died a hero."

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  However, he was a hero well before. "Moros was also our family member, and he was loved like a child." End quote. Rhonda and Levi Wisniew's funeral took place at a church in Burke County, and they were later buried in Morganton. A brief obituary for Troy indicated a private funeral service was held for him after the murders as well, but it's unclear who attended. At the time of his suicide, he had a surviving sister, grandmother, and a son and daughter. I imagine even though he'd made some terrible homicidal decisions in his final days, Troy's family members still grieved his death in their own way. But there was another family connected to his violent history who felt a strange sense

• 21:44Speaker 00

  of déjà vu about everything that had unfolded in March 2014. And those folks had not kept silent about how they felt.

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  One day last year, detectives knocked on the door of a multimillion-dollar mansion in Los Angeles County. Inside, they found a strange scene. A dining area converted into classrooms with children and toddlers seated at rows of desks. The couple that lived there had 21 kids.

• 22:49Speaker 02

  It's a house that looks like a castle, but it's under investigation for being a possible factory, a baby factory.

• 22:56Speaker 07

  Where had these children come from? Almost all of them were born through surrogates. But those surrogates had been deceived.

• 23:04Speaker 03

  Me and my coworker, we named her the surrogate pimp.

• 23:06Speaker 04

  That's the one time that we called the cops because she was screaming. And then he pulled out a gun.

• 23:11Speaker 05

  I started crying. I was like, what the heck did I just get myself into?

• 23:17Speaker 07

  I'm Ava Kaufman. "The Journey" is a new series from In the Dark and The New Yorker. Find it now in the In the Dark feed, wherever you get your podcasts.

• 23:34Speaker 00

  According to the coverage in this case, in early February 1996, so 18 years before Jason Crisp and Levi and Rhonda Wisnitz murders, Troy, who was just 20 years old, walked into the Burke County Sheriff's Office with his dad and stepmom and confessed to murdering a man. He claimed that he'd shot his best friend, 21-year-old William Shane Newton, in the head the night before while the two of them had been hanging out inside William's trailer. Now, from what I read in the source material, William seemed to go by his middle name, Shane, most often. So that's what I'll be referring to him as from here on out. Anyway, after confessing to Shane's slaying and turning himself in, Troy was charged with murder.

• 24:16Speaker 00

  But at his arraignment in late May 1996, he pleaded not guilty. In February 1997, after the one-year anniversary of the crime came and went, the case had still not gone to trial, and Shane's mother Shirley was frustrated by that. She took it upon herself to gather nearly 800 signatures petitioning the district attorney's office for the case to move forward to trial. She specifically did not want Troy to be offered a plea deal because she was worried he would receive a very low prison sentence. She and the rest of Shane's family could not understand why Troy had done what he did. According to Shirley, Shane had sort of taken Troy under his wing and been a person who'd stood up for him when others wouldn't.

• 24:59Speaker 00

  There had been times when Troy had stolen from Shane, but Shane didn't make a big deal of those incidents because he believed Troy had no one else in his life to turn to. Shirley never got a good vibe, though, from Troy, and she'd asked Shane to stay away from him, but Shane voiced that he thought abandoning Troy as a friend wasn't the right move. Shirley described her son as a very friendly, loyal, and kind person, at one point stating, quote, "If you just knew Shane, he was so wonderful. Everybody claimed him. He made friends with everybody. He never turned up his nose to nobody. If he saw somebody he knew, he'd grab them around the neck and hug them." End quote. The thought of the DA potentially offering Troy a plea deal was incomprehensible to the Newton family.

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  They wanted Troy to answer for his crime and face the penalty of his actions, plain and simple. Initially, detectives told the press that drugs and alcohol may have been a factor in the crime, stating that Troy was possibly drunk when he killed Shane, and that he'd claimed to have consumed a mixture of hard liquor, Xanax, and a dozen beers before the shooting. But inebriation had not been an issue for Shane because his autopsy revealed there were no drugs or alcohol in his system at the time of his death. And on top of that, his autopsy also showed he'd been shot point-blank in the back of his head, which, to me, points to a scenario that Shane probably never saw the attack coming, or if he did, he had no chance to fight back. In the nearly 13 months after the crime,

• 26:29Speaker 00

  surely Shane's mom said her life had been made unbearable thanks to strangers taunting her about Shane's death. For example, she told the News-Herald that on Shane's birthday in October 1996, someone had phoned her home three times and never spoken a word. They just played funeral music on the line. I know, how horrible and creepy to do to a person who'd already been through so much. But the big sticking point with the case hinged on the DA's opinion that Troy had been unaware of his actions at the time of Shane's murder, due to being under the influence of substances. So by early 1997, prosecutors were very much leaning towards letting Troy plead down to manslaughter.

• 27:11Speaker 00

  But in a letter to the editor of the News-Herald, the Newton family contested the state's theory that Troy was so inebriated that he couldn't be held criminally liable for his actions. The family pointed to the fact that Troy had used Shane's own gun to commit the crime. Then he'd stolen the firearm and Shane's car and taken it joyriding for several hours without damaging it. Then, after all that, he'd traded Shane's gun for money and brought his car back to the crime scene, which, to Shane's family, did not sound like behavior someone who was unaware of his actions would be capable of. They wrote in part in their letter to the newspaper, quote, "The family feels that Wisniewski needs to do his time and be punished for his actions.

• 27:55Speaker 00

  The loss of Shane has left an empty place in our hearts, and all we have are our memories of Shane. We have less than one week to try to prevent this injustice from happening. Who can say that Wisniewski won't go out and take another innocent life? Who knows? It could be a family member/friend of yours. We must try to prevent this from happening." End quote.

• 28:19Speaker 00

  On February 28th, 1997, the Newtons presented their petition, which by that point had garnered more than 2,100 signatures to the district attorney's office. All of the supporters who'd signed it were opposed to Troy getting a plea deal, but the effort did not sway the DA's mind. At the end of April, Troy was allowed to plead guilty to voluntary manslaughter and was sentenced to just 11 months in prison after being given credit for time served. Attorneys for the state presented in court the high-level sequence of events that they said law enforcement believed had occurred between Troy and Shane on the night of the crime. Shane and Troy were hanging out by themselves at Shane's place after he'd just run off a group of friends who'd gotten into a fight.

• 29:03Speaker 00

  While Shane reached into a drawer inside his trailer to grab something, Troy saw a .38 revolver sitting inside the drawer, and for reasons unknown to anyone, picked the gun up and shot Shane in the back of his head. Then, he stole the weapon, took Shane's car, and drove around for a while before eventually trading the gun for money and then returning Shane's vehicle back to the trailer. After that, Troy hitchhiked to his sister's home and fell asleep until the following afternoon. The court's decision to give leniency to Troy was heart-wrenching to Shane's family. It seemed that everything Shirley Newton had initially feared would happen, did. In response to the court's decision and Troy's actions, Shane's father stated,

• 29:46Speaker 00

  "Nothing can be done to bring Shane back. It has been a hard 14 and 1/2 months for us. He had sense enough to drive a vehicle. He should have had sense enough to get help for Shane. It seems the system is more for the defendant than the victim and the family." Shane's mom Shirley emphasized that, in her opinion, Troy knew exactly what he was doing when he shot her son, and that drugs and alcohol use could not excuse his behavior. The state's main rationale, though, as to why they offered Troy a plea bargain was because a clinical psychologist who'd been working with Troy since the murder concluded that he'd had an extensive history with substance use disorder, starting at the age of 12.

• 30:29Speaker 00

  Levi, Troy's dad, who would eventually become a murder victim at the hands of his own son, told the psychologist back in 1996 that he expected Troy to commit a crime as violent as murder, given his history with alcohol and drug use. Despite the psychologist stating that the nature of Troy's drug and alcohol use disorder could, as the News Herald put it, "cause a person to become suicidal or homicidal," the court in 1997 did not agree that he was criminally liable for taking a life. Fast forward almost two decades, though, and Troy had racked up additional criminal convictions and been in and out of prison several times.

• 31:10Speaker 00

  When he killed his parents in March 2014, he'd just recently been let out of prison after serving time for receiving stolen property, and there were outstanding charges against him for hit-and-run, traffic violations, and breaking and entering. To this day, no one has been able to understand his motive for killing his dad and stepmom. According to the coverage in this case, at the time of the crime, Troy was not living with Levi and Rhonda, though at least one article I saw did mention he might have recently moved back in. Apparently, he'd moved out prior to March, but then perhaps came and went periodically. One of his aunts told the Charlotte Observer that on Sunday, March 9, Levi had asked Troy to join him and Rhonda for church, but Troy declined.

• 31:53Speaker 00

  Then, when the couple returned from the service, he shot them both. Most officials who were involved in the case chalk Troy's homicidal actions up to his violent nature as a person and his long history with substance use disorders. According to investigative reports and my interviews with Wade Keener and Jason's son Garrett, authorities determined that after murdering Levi and Rhonda, Troy stayed at their home, with their bodies still in the basement, and made a phone call to a relative, as well as went on a bit of a bender. He'd also left intermittently, used his parents' credit cards, and accessed their checkbook. It was documented in some court records related to his prior convictions that he had a history of mental health issues for which the court system recommended he be given

• 32:38Speaker 00

  help. It's not stated in the available source material, though, if he ever received the care he needed. In the weeks before his violent crime spree, Troy wrote on social media that he was struggling, typing, quote, "Why is it that you take everything that you love for granted? I have nothing left and am not in a good place. Please keep me in your prayers," end quote. He'd also posted about how his dad Levi was the best father in the world and had always been there for him, but Troy wrote that he believed he'd let his dad down. According to relatives who spoke with the Charlotte Observer and WBTV, Levi was the type of parent who would do anything for Troy.

• 33:20Speaker 00

  So it didn't make sense to family members why the 38-year-old would have killed his dad and stepmom and then remained in the home with their bodies for several days. The fact that that was what had happened, though, cemented for some relatives that Troy likely had to have been inebriated or in some kind of disassociative state and not thinking clearly. These developments brought a sense of justice, though, to Shirley Newton, Shane Newton's mom. She told the Charlotte Observer, quote, "I've waited 18 years and justice has finally come to me. They didn't give him no time at all. If they'd done something to him, given him a longer sentence, maybe these families wouldn't have to feel what I feel," end quote.

• 34:02Speaker 00

  She also put it this way to the News Herald, quote, "I told them at the courthouse, if he gets off of this, he will hurt someone else. And I thought about it every single day. If we had a justice system back then, all of this could have been avoided. There would have been no more pain like what I had to go through. They should punish somebody for the crimes they've committed, or at least get them some help. I believe that if they had given Troy some help after he killed Shane, that this might not have happened. He needed mental help and he needed help getting off the drugs," she later continued. "They'd just slap him on the hand. If they would have given him more time when he killed Shane, I believe it would have straightened him out and none of this would have happened," end quote.

• 34:46Speaker 00

  Shirley 100% blamed the former District Attorney's Office in Burke County for giving Troy a plea deal back in 1997. She said that her son's blood, and the blood of all the victims in 2014, was on the former Assistant District Attorney's hands. Period.

• 35:04Speaker 00

  In the wake of the 2014 murders, the community stepped up in a big way to support Jason's widow and two sons. A handful of volunteers and builders donated supplies and pitched in to finish remodeling the family's mobile home. Amanda and her sons remained in that home for a number of years before eventually selling it a couple of years ago. As a gift, the family also received a German Shepherd puppy that they named Mara. According to Levi and Rhonda's obituary, their family members asked that memorial contributions made in their honor go to a benefit fund that had been established for Jason's wife and sons. Troy's sister told WBTV that she was very sorry her brother's actions had caused the Crisp family so much pain.

• 35:47Speaker 00

  She pointed to Troy's history with substance use disorders and mental health issues. The District Ranger Station building that Jason worked out of in western North Carolina was renamed in his honor as the Jason Crisp Forest Service Building. His sacrifice was also memorialized in Washington DC at the National Law Enforcement Officers Memorial. Even with all those great things, though, Jason's former partner Wade Keener told me that he still finds himself getting upset by the fact that a career criminal like Troy was given so many breaks by the justice system. He told me he feels like a lack of accountability for offenders like Troy who have violent records empowers them to keep reoffending because they perceive there will be no recourse or punishment for their actions.

• 36:32Speaker 00

  Garrett, Jason's son, told me that the hardest part of this whole ordeal, aside from losing his dad at such a young age, was trying to forgive Troy. He told me that he was eventually able to forgive him, but it wasn't easy. It's now been more than a decade since his dad was murdered, but Garrett still thinks about him all the time. He told me that when he's out in the woods or doing an activity in nature, his father comes to mind. Garrett said that in a way, his dad's love of nature became his love of nature. He ended our interview by saying he never really knew how important his father was to their community until he was gone. And isn't that the way it usually goes? We never know how bright someone's light shines until it goes out.

• 37:19Speaker 00

  Park Predators is an AudioChuck production. You can view a list of all the source material for this episode on our website, parkpredators.com. And you can also follow Park Predators on Instagram, @parkpredators.

• 37:38Speaker 00

  I think Chuck would approve.

• 37:44Speaker 00

  In the dark, even the most familiar trail can feel like it leads somewhere else. Every rustle becomes a warning, every shadow, a doorway. In Full Body Chills, those doorways open into worlds pulled straight from your nightmares. This spooky season classic returns with chilling new tales, immersive sound, and no promise that you'll find your way back. So step off the familiar path if you dare. Listen to new episodes of Full Body Chills every week, wherever you get your podcasts.