Pod Insights Park Predators The Hunters About this episode When two hunters are murdered within days of one another in nearby popular Florida hunting grounds, law enforcement realizes they may be dealing with a serial killer. Their journey to catch the elusive killer spans years and multiple U. S. states.
Transcript 0:00 Speaker 00 Hi, park enthusiasts. I’m your host, Delia D'Ambra. And the case I’m going to tell you about today is one that is just downright chilling. Everything about it will give you full-body chills because it involves two victims that seem like they should have been the least likely people to have been targeted. They were hunters, armed veteran outdoorsmen, whose killer, in my opinion, took a huge risk attacking them, but somehow succeeded. The crimes unfolded in two different recreation spaces: Osceola National Forest and Camp Blanding Wildlife Management Area, which are both in Florida. According to the U.S. Department of Agriculture’s website, Osceola National Forest is somewhere
0:42 Speaker 00 people visit to disconnect with their normal lives and take solace in nature. It’s known for having an abundance of trails and great areas to fish, camp, swim, and hunt. It’s located in northern Florida, about a 45-minute drive west of Jacksonville. It actually butts right up to the Georgia border. The Camp Blanding Wildlife Management Area sits about an hour southeast of Osceola National Forest, and it’s located basically right between the cities of Jacksonville and Gainesville. It encompasses more than 56,000 acres, some of which is closed to visitors and hunters during the year because the Florida Department of Military Affairs operates on it. When portions of Camp Blanding are open, the Florida Fish and Wildlife Conservation
1:25 Speaker 00 Commission monitors its use for fishing, hiking, hunting, and other recreational activities. FWC has strict guidelines that hunters must follow if they want to catch game there. But in November 1993, a sportsman entered Camp Blanding in Osceola National Forest with no intention of following the rules or upholding the law. What resulted from his actions sent law enforcement investigators on a years-long hunt of their own that ultimately revealed a ruthless human predator who preferred hunting hunters. This is Park Predators.
2:43 Speaker 00 On Friday night, November 19th, 1993, a man named Joe Hill arrived at the Cobb Campgrounds in Osceola National Forest to meet up with his dad, 63-year-old Don Hill. Just prior to this, Don had gone ahead of his son and set up a small camper trailer at the campground and spent that Friday hunting in the forest. When Joe arrived, though, he discovered that his father's trailer was locked, which felt odd to him, because he fully expected his dad to be inside and settling in for the day. The only rational explanation Joe could come up with as to where Don might be was that maybe his dad had taken a quick trip to get supplies or something in nearby Lake City, which was only like 15 miles away.
3:24 Speaker 00 Because Joe hadn't seen Don's 1989 maroon and silver Chevy pickup parked near the camper trailer when he'd arrived, that indicated to him that Don had probably just left the area for a little bit. Figuring his dad would be back soon, Joe decided to stay put and wait for Don to return. But when one hour went by, and then two, that's when Joe realized something wasn't right. So he used a payphone at the campground to call his mom at his parents' house in Orange Park, Florida. But she told Joe that she hadn't heard from Don since much earlier in the day. I imagine not wanting to send his mom into a panic or anything, Joe downplayed the situation as a big misunderstanding and told her not to be too concerned. However, deep down, he was definitely worried by that point.
4:09 Speaker 00 Joe spent the night of the 19th either there at his dad's vacant campsite or at his own home. It's hard to tell from the source material. But whatever it was, by the time the sun rose the following morning, Saturday, November 20th, he was determined to figure out what was going on with his dad. So he decided to drive around Osceola National Forest and look in a few places that he knew his dad liked to hunt in. He searched high and low for any sign of his father's Chevy pickup and even drove on overpasses along Interstate 10, which cuts right through the national forest. He also drove several main roads and forest roads until finally, he spotted the vehicle. It was parked on the side of what I think was a more rural side road called Dobson
4:51 Speaker 00 Grade Road, but when Joe looked inside of the Chevy, Don wasn't there. Unsure where his father could be, Joe yelled out Don's name several times, hoping that he would respond. As Joe hollered, he began walking down what's known as a fire break, which is a man-made path in the forest that has been cleared of vegetation in order to stop a wildfire from spreading if one comes along. And as Joe got further and further down this fire break, he saw what he recognized as a tree stand, which essentially was a ladder going up a big pine tree. And once he was right in front of it, he saw his father's body lying on the ground. Don's fairly new .30 .30 caliber Winchester rifle was still slung around his right arm
5:34 Speaker 00 and laying across his body, which was lying on its right side. Joe immediately saw that his dad had sustained a lot of trauma to his head, and the sight was so disturbing that he quickly retreated from the area and jogged back to where he'd parked his own car to get help. Not long after Joe made this discovery, the Baker County Sheriff's Office became aware of the situation and sent deputy sheriffs to the scene. The Florida Department of Highway Patrol also dispatched some of its troopers to assist in the investigation. Shortly after law enforcement arrived, Don's body in the tree stand it was at the base of was cordoned off, and one of the first homicide investigators to arrive was a lieutenant from the sheriff's office named Charlie Sharman.
6:16 Speaker 00 Charlie had been off duty when he got the call about a hunter who died of an apparent gunshot wound. And actually, when he arrived, Charlie was wearing casual clothes: a sweatshirt, boots, and blue jeans. But despite his informal attire, he jumped right into detective mode. After observing Don's body and the environment around the tree stand, Charlie concluded that the 63-year-old had most likely not died as a result of a hunting accident. For one thing, Don had been shot at least twice at close range: once in the head and once in his back. The ammunition that had been used appeared to have come from a shotgun, not a Winchester rifle like the one Don was carrying. Another clue authorities noted was that it seemed as if Don had been assaulted from
7:00 Speaker 00 behind while already in the tree stand, or possibly when he was climbing out. There were also a few indications that someone had tried to clean up the crime scene. What exactly those clues were, though, I couldn't find specifically stated in the available source material. An article by Jim Redman for Outdoor Life Magazine and an episode of Cold Case Files called "The Hunter Homicides" later reported that Don's belt had been cut, and a hunting knife in a sheath that he was known to keep on him was gone, as well as his wallet. Investigators suspected that both items had presumably been stolen by whoever had attacked him. The totality of the crime scene as a whole caused investigators to suspect that Don had not done this to himself.
7:44 Speaker 00 I mean, the fact that he'd been shot twice with ammunition suspected to have come from a firearm that didn't belong to the gun he was hunting with was a strong indicator that he'd not died by suicide or some kind of bizarre hunting accident. That just seemed physically impossible. Plus, when he was found, he was wearing his bright orange hunting vest, another obvious sign that it would have been very unusual for a fellow hunter to mistake him for an animal or something. The Tampa Bay Times, formerly the St. Petersburg Times, reported that at some point in the investigation, authorities received a tip about a blue van that had been spotted in the general area where Don was found. But it seems like the details about who was driving that vehicle or what direction it left in were minimal.
8:28 Speaker 00 Over the next few days, as news of Don's death got out, other hunters who frequented Osceola National Forest and other recreation spaces were a bit spooked, to say the least. Don was a retired Navy chief petty officer, originally from San Diego, California, who, by all accounts, was very familiar with the landscape he'd gone hunting in. At the time of his death, he lived in Orange Park, Florida with his wife, which is about an hour southeast of where he'd gone hunting. So I imagine it was really alarming to other outdoors enthusiasts to see such a seasoned local hunter get gunned down in what appeared to be cold blood. And their fears would only ratchet up that much more when yet another hunter from Orange Park turned up dead, mere days after Don's body was found.
9:19 Speaker 01 My name's Jack Wagner, host of Other World, a podcast featuring real people who experience something paranormal, supernatural, or unexplained. I have no idea how I got there.
9:27 Speaker 02 I don't think I've ever seen anything that looks like this. It felt like electric stars on fire.
9:32 Speaker 01 I started Other World to take a grounded approach to the paranormal, help people tell their own stories, and encourage more to come forward. I certainly don't have the answers, but maybe one day we will. Join me as we explore our world's greatest mysteries. Listen to Other World now for free wherever you get your podcasts.
9:54 Speaker 00 On November 24th, several days after Don Hill's death, a woman named Mary Marzola, who was some 50 miles away in Clay County, Florida, spoke with her boyfriend, 35-year-old Greg Wood, about what his plans were for the day. Greg and Mary lived together along with their daughter in Orange Park. And while normally Greg would have been working his shift at a business in nearby Jacksonville called Sun Golf, teaching golf lessons or making sales, he happened to have November 24th off. So he told Mary that he was thinking of going duck hunting in St. Augustine, Florida, but he wasn't sure yet. He remarked that if he did end up doing that, he'd be sure to leave her a note at their place indicating that's what he decided to do. But when Mary got home from work that evening,
10:38 Speaker 00 she didn't find Greg or any message from him. She checked a closet in their house and discovered his 308 rifle was still inside, which indicated to her that he hadn't ended up going duck hunting after all. It wasn't until a little while later, when Mary talked with her mom Ginger, that she learned Greg had spoken with Ginger around 3:30 PM that day and arranged for Mary's daughter to go to Ginger's house after school while he went out for a while. During his conversation with Ginger, though, Greg had failed to specify where exactly he was going or what he was planning to do on his day off. So Mary was just left with a lot of unanswered questions as the night got later and later, and she still had not heard from Greg. Her concern grew stronger as more time went by, so with few options to turn to,
11:23 Speaker 00 she called Greg's loved ones and friends to see if any of them knew where he was, but no one did. To figure out if he'd traveled to Camp Blanding, Mary phoned the management area's office and told an FWC employee what Greg looked like and the type of car he drove, which was a gray Mazda. The next day, November 25th, which also happened to be Thanksgiving Day, Greg's father, Don Wood, and one of his brothers, Vigo, thought it would be worth a shot to look for him at Camp Blanding Wildlife Management Area because they knew it was one of his preferred hunting spots. The article by Jim Redman for Outdoor Life Magazine states that "in addition to the .308 rifle Greg had left at his home, he also owned a 12-gauge Remington shotgun, as well as a .357 Smith & Wesson handgun."
12:07 Speaker 00 Apparently, Mary had not checked to see that those two firearms were missing when she'd gone through their house the first time. When Vigo and Don went out to the wildlife management area to start looking for Greg, it seemingly didn't take them long before they found his car parked on the side of a paved road near a hunting blind that was one of his favorites. The episode of Cold Case Files I mentioned earlier stated that the Mazda was near a body of water called Kingsley Lake. But despite searching high and low in that area for Greg, his brother and father didn't find him. So Don left Vigo by the Mazda and drove to Camp Blanding's check-in station to report that they'd found the car, but not Greg. The employee working at the check-in station gave that information to an FWC officer
12:51 Speaker 00 named Steve Chance, who then joined Don and headed back to meet up with Vigo. Steve was a great addition to the search effort because he had more than 20 years of experience tracking and finding people in the woods, especially lost hunters. During his and Don's ride to meet up with Vigo, Steve asked the nearby Jacksonville Sheriff's Office to send its helicopter to help in the search. But before that aircraft even got off the ground, Steve canceled the flight because when he and Don made it back to Vigo, they learned that Vigo had already found Greg's body. Turns out, in the time Don had been gone, Vigo had continued to look for his missing brother and eventually found him lying on the ground next to a fallen tree. He was positioned on a path just a few hundred yards away from the hunting blind that Don
13:35 Speaker 00 and Vigo had previously checked. I think that was the same one that seemingly was Greg's favorite. Anyway, it was obvious from looking at his body that he'd been shot execution style in the back of his head at close range with a shotgun. And he'd been dead for some time. Right away, FWC Officer Steve Chance noticed several things at the scene that looked suspicious to him. One, Greg's wallet was nowhere to be found, and it was obvious that his belt had been cut. Two, the Remington shotgun that he was believed to have been carrying was also missing, as well as the Smith & Wesson handgun and holster he usually kept on him while hunting. He was also wearing a bright orange hunting vest, making it seemingly impossible for him
14:19 Speaker 00 to be mistaken in the woods for anything other than a hunter. A Clay County Sheriff's Office homicide detective who responded to Greg's death investigation shortly after his body was discovered was a guide named Jim Redmond. Jim authored the Outdoor Life magazine article on this case that I mentioned a little bit earlier, which was a crucial piece of source material. Jim was informed by Officer Steve Chance that the circumstances surrounding Greg's death felt eerily similar to Don Hill's death. It also wasn't lost on him that Don had been slain just a few days prior in a similar type of recreation space. And some of his personal belongings, just like Greg's, were missing. To help Jim and his team process the crime scene, the Florida Department of Law Enforcement
15:03 Speaker 00 provided crime scene techs to collect evidence and take pictures. Blood spatter on the plants and ground around Greg's body, as well as his positioning, caused Jim Redmond to suspect that Greg most likely had been kneeling down, possibly praying, when his killer shot him from behind. Unfortunately, though, there wasn't much else in terms of physical evidence at the crime scene. No shell casings left behind, no hairs, no fingerprints, and no fibers. One of the first phone calls Detective Redmond made after leaving the crime scene was to officials in Baker County who were investigating Don Hill's murder. That agency also had very little physical evidence to work with, but the two agencies almost immediately joined forces because investigators strongly suspected the same
15:47 Speaker 00 perpetrator or perpetrators could be responsible for both crimes.
15:52 Speaker 00 On December 8th, Baker County and Clay County Sheriff's Offices, along with employees from FWC, the US Forestry Service, now known as the US Forest Service, FDLE and the Camp Landing Military Police formed a task force that they named Task Force Orion. The name was derived from the constellation Orion, which, if you're unfamiliar, is known as the hunter. Around that same time, authorities also set up a tip hotline and offered a $20,000 reward for information. They even made sure to submit details about Greg Wood's two missing firearms into the National Crime Information Center database, also known as NCIC. You know, in the event that the stolen guns ever popped up in a transaction
16:36 Speaker 00 or crime scene somewhere else in the country. There were no hits right after they first submitted the two guns' data, but law enforcement remained hopeful that lead would eventually go somewhere. In the meantime, news publications across the country picked up the story, and I think that's when the reality that someone or a group of people were potentially hunting hunters in Florida really set in for outdoor enthusiasts. It was downright scary. One murder was one thing, but two was super unusual. A guy who owned a hunting business in Orange Park, where both victims were from, told the Tampa Bay Times, formerly the St. Petersburg Times, quote, "Somebody is stalking people. You're going to have to become wary of strangers.
17:20 Speaker 00 I think this is a crazy person doing this. I've never heard of anybody getting robbed in the woods before." End quote. What the two murders communicated to outdoor enthusiasts was that whoever was responsible for the crimes was brave enough to walk up to a person who was armed and attack them. That fact alone indicated that the perpetrator or perpetrators were extremely brazen. It certainly seems unusual to me that someone would choose to target a victim who very easily could have returned fire or somehow injured them during the attack. And yet, that was looking more and more like the type of person or people that law enforcement was dealing with. Other hunters from Florida told the New York Times that because of what had happened to Greg and Don, they planned to go hunting in pairs instead of by themselves.
18:05 Speaker 00 You know, as a means of extra protection. When the victims were killed in late November 1993, there were several weeks still left in the deer hunting season. Authorities cautioned hunters to be careful in the woods because investigators were genuinely concerned that whoever the killer or killers were, they could and likely would kill again. Clay County homicide detective Jim Redman used this to his advantage. Early on in the investigation, he came up with a plan to try and lure the suspect or suspects out. He dressed in hunting attire, grew a beard, and went into Camp Landing Wildlife Management Area where investigators suspected the killer or killers might be. He perched himself under the very tree where Greg Wood had been murdered and waited.
18:50 Speaker 00 He was essentially using himself as human bait, but don't worry, he wasn't totally alone. FWC Officer Steve Chance was fairly close by and armed with a scoped rifle, just in case things went sideways. But hours and hours went by and nothing happened. The undercover sting operation was a bust, and investigators were no closer to identifying who was responsible for the murders. Six months went by, and then a year, and not a whole lot of progress was made in either case. After year one, Task Force Orion disbanded, and almost two years later, in 1995, concerns were still high in the hunting community that someone had gotten away with two brutal murders.
19:32 Speaker 00 In those two years or so, Greg's loved ones erected a memorial plaque for him at the entrance of Camp Landing Wildlife Management Area. It stated, quote, "In loving memory of Greg Wood, may all who pass here go with peace in harmony with nature and all mankind. 11/24/93."
19:53 Speaker 00 Jim Redman wrote in his article for Outdoor Life Magazine that within six months of the murder, the reward for information was increased to more than $45,000. And he chased down a handful of potential leads in other US states, including similar kinds of crimes, but nothing panned out. It was frustrating, and investigators began to wonder if perhaps robbery wasn't the killer's only motive. Other than the two victims' wallets and the firearms that had been stolen from Greg and the knife that was taken from Don, there wasn't much else of value for the killer to make off with. And typically, hunters were not known to carry much cash in their wallets while out in the woods. So theoretically, whoever robbed the victims likely didn't get away with much,
20:38 Speaker 00 which was just another detail that didn't quite make sense to authorities. In the summer of 1996, Jim Redman turned to the media for help. He agreed to participate in the pilot season of Cold Case Files, which I think at that time was a CBS program just called Cold Case. The segment aired the following year in April 1997, and right away, Jim started receiving a bunch of new leads and information. At that point, it had been almost four years since Don and Greg's murders, and investigators really needed to catch a break. In August of that year, that's exactly what happened. One of Greg Wood's long-lost stolen guns turned up.
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22:30 Speaker 01 My name's Jack Wagner, host of Other World, a podcast featuring real people who experience something paranormal, supernatural, or unexplained. I have no idea how I got there.
22:38 Speaker 02 I don't think I've ever seen anything that looks like this. It felt like electric stars on fire.
22:43 Speaker 01 I started Other World to take a grounded approach to the paranormal, help people tell their own stories, and encourage more to come forward. I certainly don't have the answers, but maybe one day we will. Join me as we explore our world's greatest mysteries. Listen to Other World now for free wherever you get your podcasts.
23:05 Speaker 00 On August 6, 1997, nearly four years after Dawn and Greg were murdered, a records clerk for Putnam County Sheriff's Office in Florida sat down to enter a pawn shop ticket into her computer database that kept track of firearms and their serial numbers. This clerk would then cross-reference guns she entered against lists of missing or stolen firearms in the NCIC database. She was surprised to discover that the gun from the pawn shop ticket got flagged as a 357 Smith & Wesson that had been reported stolen out of Clay County some four years earlier. When she looked to see where it had been pawned, she read that it had been involved in a transaction at a store called Super Pawn in Palatka,
23:46 Speaker 00 Florida. And just to give you some geographical context, Palatka is a little less than an hour southeast of Camp Landing Wildlife Management area where Greg Wood was killed. So, not very far away from his crime scene at all. Within a short amount of time, Putnam County investigators got in touch with Clay County Sheriff's Office, and together Detective Jim Redman and a Putnam County detective traveled to the Super Pawn in Palatka to interview the owner. The pawn shop owner revealed that a woman had sold him the gun, and in exchange, he'd given her about $75 in cash. Thankfully, the owner still had the firearm in his store, and Jim Redman was able to seize it as evidence. From there, he and the Putnam County detective worked to trace
24:29 Speaker 00 how many hands the gun had passed through since November 1993. They started with the woman who'd pawned it at SuperPond, and she revealed she'd gotten it from her boyfriend. That guy told authorities he'd purchased it from a 14-year-old who eventually confessed that he'd stolen it from a truck in Hastings, Florida. What's really cool is that Jim Redman and his team were able to trace the gun through 14 different people before eventually identifying the folks who owned the truck it was reported stolen from. Those people were a set of brothers named Michael and Paul Tyler. Now, Michael and Paul were kind of interesting guys because they were both avid hunters and kind of fit the general suspect profile for the person law enforcement suspected killed Dawn and Greg.
25:13 Speaker 00 Paul and Michael were both outdoorsmen, white, in their 30s to 40s, and of course, had been in possession of Greg Wood's stolen handgun. However, upon closer examination, Jim Redman learned that Michael and Paul both had solid alibis. For example, on the day Greg was killed, they were working together for a tractor dealership making a delivery in the town of Belle Glade, Florida, nearly five hours south of Camp Blanding Wildlife Management Area. The brothers were able to prove their alibis from delivery paperwork they'd turned in to their employer. But even with the two of them off the board as suspects, homicide investigators still needed to know how they'd ended up with Greg Wood's stolen revolver. When Jim Redman interviewed them, he learned that Paul and Michael
25:58 Speaker 00 had received the gun from one of their cousins, a guy named Jimmy Ray Beagle. Now, what's super interesting about Jimmy Ray is that authorities learned from Paul and Michael that he'd also sold another family member a shotgun around the same time he sold them Greg Smith & Wesson. And wouldn't you know it, the shotgun Jimmy Ray was reported to have sold was a Remington, the same type that Greg Wood owned. So with all of that information in mind, investigator Redman decided to really narrow in on Jimmy Ray as a suspect. He learned that the 39-year-old had made many attempts to work as a police officer, but never quite made the cut. So instead, Jimmy Ray had found employment as a security guard.
26:41 Speaker 00 Investigators also learned that Jimmy Ray had a fixation with firearms and was known to his family to be a bit odd. His cousins, Paul and Michael Tyler, told authorities that on the day Jimmy Ray had sold them the .357 Smith & Wesson, they'd curiously asked Jimmy Ray where he'd gotten it from. But Jimmy Ray didn't really give them a straight answer. All he said was that the guy it had belonged to wouldn't be needing it anymore. And that was it. End of conversation. Now, I don't think at that moment Paul and Michael thought anything was super sinister about Jimmy Ray's vague remark, but in hindsight, they realized it was kind of strange. Strange enough that the brothers began to wonder if Jimmy Ray might be hiding something.
27:24 Speaker 00 So Paul decided to wear a wire and record his conversations with his cousin. All the while, investigator Jim Redman was taping those interactions and listening in. In one conversation, Paul told Jimmy Ray that he was upset because the FBI and police had come to his workplace and asked about the origin of the Smith & Wesson revolver, because they believed it was involved in a murder. Paul basically lamented that he was upset because now he and Michael were being investigated for a murder they had nothing to do with. The goal, of course, in all of this was to get Jimmy Ray to speak up and say something to comfort Paul or defend him. But Jimmy Ray never did. Paul told producers for Cold Case Files that Jimmy Ray was very cold when it came to the
28:07 Speaker 00 woes Paul was pretending to face, and acted like he could care less that Paul and Michael might have a man's murder pinned on them. Paul and Jimmy Ray continued to talk about the issue over the course of several conversations, and at one point Jimmy Ray told Paul that he knew exactly who Jim Redman was, and started advising his cousins on how to deal with law enforcement. Jimmy Ray assured Paul that he would go speak with Redman in person to clear up the whole thing. He eventually did that on March 24, 1998, several months after coming onto investigators' radar as their prime suspect.
28:44 Speaker 00 Some of the source material states that law enforcement had interviewed Jimmy Ray three times before that date, though. However, I'm not sure how long those interviews lasted, or what all was discussed in them, or if Jimmy Ray ever became aware that he was law enforcement's prime suspect. I should also mention, too, that there was a short period of time in November and December 1997 where investigators all the way in Ohio thought a murder suspect they had in custody there was possibly involved in what happened to Greg and Dawn. But in the end, that was not the case. The guy from Ohio was suspected of at least five murders, two of whom were hunters, and all of which had occurred between 1993 and 1997. The reason he came on Florida investigators' radar at all was because he'd lived in Florida
29:29 Speaker 00 in November 1993 and become a convicted felon there for a drug offense. My point, though, in mentioning him is because if you look up news coverage on this case, you'll see that even though Detective Jim Redman was solidly pursuing Jimmy Ray Beagle as a prime suspect by the end of 1997, he was also still considering potential leads in other states. You know, just doing his due diligence, I guess. Anyway, on March 24, 1998, it was clear that Jimmy Ray was the main person Florida authorities were looking at for the unsolved Hunter homicides. And in order to try and get him to confess, Investigator Redman came up with a unique plan to confront Jimmy Ray inside a Clay County Sheriff's Office substation when he
30:12 Speaker 00 arrived for his formal interview. During his research about Jimmy Ray, Investigator Redman had learned that Jimmy Ray claimed to have recently become a new Christian. So Redman wanted to set up the interrogation space to sort of tap into Jimmy Ray's faith. You know, things like heaven and hell, right and wrong, salvation and condemnation, that sort of thing. Redman dressed himself in a black sports coat with a white collar underneath, which kind of gave him the appearance of a member of the clergy. On one side of the interview room, he set out all of the crime scene photos of Don and Greg, as well as some evidence and the pawn shop ticket for the Smith and Wesson. On the other side of the space, he set up an open Bible.
30:54 Speaker 00 Softly playing from speakers in the room were the recorded wiretaps that investigators had captured between Paul and Jimmy Ray throughout the course of their investigation. Basically Detective Redman was subtly going to imply to Jimmy Ray that he could either choose to tell the truth and come clean, or he could not cooperate and face judgment. When Jimmy Ray arrived around 12:30 PM on the 24th, he was reported to be very surprised and confused by the interrogation setup. But over the course of the next 45 minutes to an hour, he revealed incriminating details about Don Hill's murder in Osceola National Forest. And he said he'd stumbled across Greg Wood's body at Camp Landing a few days afterwards.
31:37 Speaker 00 Before continuing to talk though, Jimmy Ray asked for a bathroom break and was directed to the restroom in the sheriff's office. But several minutes went by and eventually Detective Redman realized Jimmy Ray had not returned to the interview room. Redman then knocked on the bathroom door several times, but Jimmy Ray refused to exit. This went on for a little while, but after four more failed attempts to get Jimmy Ray to cooperate, Detective Redman kicked in the door to the restroom and crashed down onto the floor. When he looked over, he found himself staring at Jimmy Ray who was crouched in a fighting position and pointing the barrel of a gun right in his face. Jimmy Ray threatened to kill Detective Redman if he didn't leave the room immediately.
32:21 Speaker 00 Turns out, when Jimmy Ray had first arrived at the substation, deputies didn't think to pat him down for weapons. They knew that as a security guard, he had a valid license to carry a concealed firearm, but they assumed that since he'd come in willingly, he wasn't armed. Which turned out to be a big mistake on their part. But anyway, after Detective Redman got to safety and strapped himself with a protective vest, the sheriff's office and its SWAT team went into full-blown hostage negotiation mode. This lasted for nine hours, and during all that time Jimmy Ray passed several messages to Detective Redman underneath the bathroom door that detailed more about the circumstances surrounding Greg and Don's murders.
33:02 Speaker 00 Including how he'd cut both of their belts in the back, a detail that had not been previously known to the public. During the standoff Jimmy Ray also scribbled notes and drawings on surfaces inside the bathroom. It was in those writings that he ended up confessing to even more crimes, including the arson of his own home for insurance money and other offenses. At various times, he broke out in singing religious songs and could be heard throughout the sheriff's office building. All of this seemingly bizarre behavior led investigators to grow concerned that Jimmy Ray might be intending to die by suicide. So before midnight on the 24th, the sheriff's office's SWAT team devised a plan to pump chemical gas into the restroom where Jimmy Ray was to try and force him out, I guess,
33:47 Speaker 00 before he could do something drastic. But after like 10 minutes of that Jimmy Ray realized what authorities were doing, and he opened fire on the SWAT team through the roof and door of the bathroom. The source material doesn't mention any deputies being hit or injured, but what is clear is that Jimmy Ray eventually took his own life with his firearm. In the aftermath of the shootout, it was clear to investigators that they'd caught Greg and Don's murderer. I mean, the sheriff's office even said that much to the press. But unfortunately, they weren't able to bring Jimmy Ray to justice, at least not in the way they'd hoped. To this day, some might argue that the true motive behind why Jimmy Ray did what he did is still a bit of a mystery.
34:31 Speaker 00 A lot of folks, including Detective Jim Redman, believe it was as simple as greed. Jimmy Ray wanted what Don and Greg had that was valuable, so he took it by force. An article by the Associated Press stated that at the time of the killings Jimmy Ray said he was desperate for money after having some of his stuff repossessed and losing his business and home. In his communications with investigators during his final hours, he indicated there was no reason why he'd specifically targeted Greg Wood and Don Hill, which, if true, means they were just in the wrong place at the wrong time. What's super tragic is that it was reported Jimmy Ray likely only got $20 in cash
35:11 Speaker 00 from both of his victims' wallets, plus $75 for selling Greg's handgun. So in total, less than 100 bucks. It's heartbreaking to think that was his reason for taking two lives, for gunning down in cold blood two men who had families and people who loved them. I think this is a reminder for all of us, especially those of you listening who are into hunting, to be vigilant. In no way are Greg Wood and Don Hill to blame for what happened to them. They are both innocent victims in this case. But it's important to remember, just because someone may approach you and be dressed like you, or appear to share the same hobbies as you, you can't let your guard down.
35:53 Speaker 00 Because sometimes predators are much closer than you may think. 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. So what do you think, Chuck? Do you approve?
36:28 Speaker 04 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.
36:48 Speaker 05 It's a house that looks like a castle, but it's under investigation for being a possible factory, a baby factory.
36:55 Speaker 04 Where had these children come from? Almost all of them were born through surrogates. But those surrogates had been deceived. Me and my coworker, we named her the surrogate pimp.
37:06 Speaker 06 That's the one time that we called the cops, because she was screaming. And then he pulled out a gun. I started crying. I was like, what the heck did I just get myself into?
37:16 Speaker 04 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.
Previous REVISITED - The Amazon Next The Tracker Page updated November 3, 2026 · transcript and summary are machine-generated