Pod Insights Park Predators The Musician About this episode When a celebrated Colorado musician disappears in February 2020, law enforcement quickly connects dots between him and a gruesome discovery in Arapaho and Roosevelt National Forests. The web of violence that surrounds the victim and a woman he was planning to meet unveils a dangerous third party who carried out the unimaginable.
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 of those true crime investigations where it took every small detail and every person involved in the investigation paying close attention to solve it. What began as one murder turned into much, much more. And it all started with a gruesome discovery on a lonely mountain road near the border of Arapahoe and Roosevelt National Forests. I've mentioned before on this show just how popular these recreation spaces are. Arapahoe National Forest is one of the most visited national forests in the entire United States. Perhaps a lesser-known fact about this landscape is that it's a kindling box just waiting to blow.
0:44 Speaker 00 Firefighters work diligently to use fire as a means to prevent wildfires in this part of the country. And I know that probably sounds counterintuitive, but how it works is crews collect forest floor debris from all over and then arrange it into big burn piles in the woods. Then they wait for it all to dry out and for the weather to get cold. When winter comes and there's snow on the ground, workers light the debris on fire and conduct a controlled burn. The moisture helps contain the flames and voila, forest protection magic at its finest. This process is meant to keep the landscape healthy, lower the chances of wildfires, and thin out overgrown areas. It's just one way the Forest Service tackles a massive problem: their strategy, precaution,
1:29 Speaker 00 planning, and inherently, danger. And the same could be said about law enforcement's investigation into the crimes I'm going to lay out in this episode. To catch a human predator, investigators had to compile resources, plan extensively, and work to outsmart a dangerous man whose violent nature spread wherever he went. This is Park Predators.
2:34 Speaker 00 On Tuesday morning, February 11th, 2020, a man named Stan Sessions was at his home in Greeley, Colorado, when his phone rang. On the line was a man named George Gray, who worked with Stan's adult son, Scott Sessions, in a Greeley-based Elvis cover band. George told Stan that Scott, one of the best trumpet players, had missed a gig the previous night, and that was really out of character for the 53-year-old. George explained to Stan that several folks had tried to get a hold of Scott when he failed to show up to the concert, but no one had gotten an answer or call back. So the show had gone on without him. But George was concerned enough by Scott's absence that he suggested to Stan, the two
3:16 Speaker 00 of them, go over to Scott's house to see if everything was all right. Stan agreed that was probably a good idea, because he told George that, in addition to Scott missing the concert he was due to play in, he'd also been a no-show the day before that, on Sunday morning, when he was supposed to visit with his mother, who at the time was very sick and nearing the end of her life. As Stan drove to meet George at Scott's house, he wasn't necessarily assuming the worst. He thought that maybe his son had just overslept on Sunday morning or been involved in an accident, something that would logically explain why he'd missed two important appointments and wasn't answering his phone. Meanwhile, George's mind was spinning with far darker concerns.
3:58 Speaker 00 He told producers for Killer Cases, "It just wasn't in Scott's nature to blow off a concert. The only thing that would prevent him from showing off his talents onstage was if he'd suddenly fallen ill or was no longer alive, period." Scott had been playing the trumpet since he was a young kid, and his friends said he loved being the center of attention. The band he and George were a part of was called George Gray and the Elvis Experience. But Scott was also a member of a big band ensemble called The Movers and Shakers. That group, and Scott in particular, had been doing well at recent competitions and getting some well-deserved attention. So to George, it made no sense that his friend would flake on a hometown, sold-out, two-night concert.
4:42 Speaker 00 Not long after getting off the phone with one another, George and Stan met at Scott's house in Greeley. When they arrived, Scott's car wasn't there, and there was lots of snow still in the driveway, indicating no one had shoveled it. Inside, the men looked around but didn't find anything that seemed out of place. Scott wasn't there, but his beloved cat was. And from the looks of it, it didn't appear that the animal had been fed recently. Which was a big red flag to George and Stan, because they knew Scott took exceptionally good care of his cat. According to Scott's bandmates, he would sometimes even leave get-togethers with friends early just to make sure he made it home in time to feed his pet. So the cat not being provided for was just yet another thing that seemed very off to Stan and George.
5:27 Speaker 00 They continued to look through Scott's place and even called some of his friends to get to the bottom of what was going on. But by noon, Stan had had enough. He drove to the Greeley Police Department and reported Scott missing. For the next few hours, loved ones, coworkers, and friends kept trying to get in touch with Scott on his cellphone and posted on social media that they were getting very concerned about his well-being. Law enforcement began its investigation, too. But not long after officially labeling Scott as a missing person, police learned some unsettling news.
6:01 Speaker 00 Around 9:30 a.m. the morning before, so Monday, February 10, a snowplow driver clearing roads near Jack's Gulch Campground in Arapahoe and Roosevelt National Forest had stumbled upon a disturbing scene in the woods. On a hillside next to Pingree Park Road, which is located about 40 to 50 miles north of Greeley, the plow driver noticed a downed tree and some branches that were on fire. Likely worried that the smoldering tree could escalate into a much worse blaze, the operator had pulled over to investigate.
6:34 Speaker 00 Initially, as he trudged up the embankment toward the smoke, he thought the billows of black might be remnants of a campfire that visitors had left behind. He wanted to extinguish it to make sure it wouldn't spread. But when he got closer, within a few feet or so, he realized it wasn't a campfire. Because there, lying next to the still-burning log, was a man's body. It was wrapped in a blue blanket, some kind of plastic sheet material, and had duct tape wrapped around it. It was clear to the plow driver in that moment that whoever the man was, he was past the point of saving because he'd been severely burned, beyond recognition. The driver quickly sprinted back to his truck and dialed 911.
7:18 Speaker 00 First responders, including investigators with the Larimer County Sheriff's Office, responded to the scene. There was no form of identification with the body, so for the time being, the dead man was considered a John Doe. After processing the area for evidence, authorities removed the victim for further examination and transported him to the Larimer County Coroner's Office. The next day, a fingerprint from the deceased was compared to known prints from Scott's sessions, and it was a match. Shortly before 5 o'clock on the 11th, folks with Greeley PD who'd helped Stan file Scott's missing persons report called to inform him that a detective in Larimer County wanted to speak with him.
7:58 Speaker 00 Not long after that, Stan and his wife learned that Scott was dead and was the victim of a homicide. That news was devastating to Scott's parents. They couldn't wrap their minds around who would want to take their son's life in such a brutal way. Scott's friends also couldn't figure out why this had happened to him. He was a popular guy with a great group of friends who loved him. No one could think of a single enemy who would have wanted to kill him.
8:25 Speaker 00 An investigator from Larimer County Sheriff's Office told ABC 2020 that the damage to Scott's remains was the worst he's ever seen. There was clear evidence that his throat had been cut prior to him being set on fire. The sheer violence that was required to commit the crime suggested to this detective and other investigators that whoever had done this to Scott had most likely been in a rage and intended to take his life. One of authorities' first stops was Scott's house, where they executed a search warrant to go through his personal belongings, electronic devices, and basically look for any sign of a struggle or altercation that might have occurred inside his home. But there wasn't anything out of place there. No blood, no overturned furniture, nothing.
9:08 Speaker 00 Just like Stan and George had seen when they'd gone by Scott's the first time, Scott's car was missing, but everything else looked normal. However, when investigators did their walkthrough, they realized that in addition to Scott's vehicle being gone, his cellphone and trumpet were also not in plain sight. The absence of those things caused law enforcement to theorize that maybe Scott had been targeted as part of a robbery or something, because apparently Scott's trumpet was kind of expensive. But the trumpet mystery was solved pretty quickly, because it was eventually discovered tucked away where no one could see it in a closet in his house. His cellphone, on the other hand, never turned up. Investigators put in a request with his cell service provider to track where his device
9:52 Speaker 00 had last pinged and what calls and texts had been received or sent from it. But that data was going to take a little while to narrow down and sift through, so in the meantime, detectives spoke with his father Stan to gather more information. Stan told them that the last time he'd actually spoken with Scott was shortly after 6 o'clock a few nights earlier on Saturday, February 8th. They'd talked on the phone, and Scott told his dad that he was going to Fort Collins to see some friends and had a date later that night. He didn't specify who he was going out with or where he was going to meet this person, but during their call, Scott had confirmed with his dad that he would see him and his mom the following morning, which of course, we know was an appointment that Scott eventually missed.
10:35 Speaker 00 The information about him going on a date, though, was really interesting to investigators. They knew Scott was a bachelor and had been in relationships with women in the past that, for lack of a better term, had their ups and downs. So they decided it would be a good idea to get ahold of some of his ex-girlfriends to see if any of them knew what might have happened to him. Meanwhile, other members of the investigative team continued to sift through the data from Scott's cell service provider, and they made a significant breakthrough. They learned that the location where his device had last pinged was not near Fort Collins, where he'd told his dad he was going, but rather right there in Greeley. His phone had hit on a cell tower that was about three miles away from where he lived.
11:18 Speaker 00 It was in a part of the city where there were apartments, retailers, and businesses. So following that lead, authorities canvassed that area to try and figure out if the phone was still there, but they got the surprise of their lives when they discovered something even more critical: Scott's missing car, a gold Ford Escape with the keys still in the ignition.
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12:49 Speaker 02 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.
12:58 Speaker 03 I don't think I've ever seen anything that looks like this. It felt like electric stars on fire.
13:03 Speaker 02 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.
13:26 Speaker 00 When law enforcement found Scott's vehicle, it was sitting in a parking lot of a King Supers grocery store in Greeley. It wasn't damaged and appeared to have been abandoned there. The only noticeable detail that stood out to investigators about it was that one of the floor mats was outside, sitting on the ground, kind of underneath the car. Forensic techs photographed the vehicle and tested the floor mat for traces of blood, and when you know it, the results were positive. There was a blood stain on the mat, but unfortunately, it wasn't big enough to pull a full DNA profile from. So investigators' next move was to canvass the stores and businesses in the shopping plaza for CCTV footage. They hoped that whoever had driven Scott's car there had been captured on surveillance.
14:11 Speaker 00 And thankfully, that's exactly what had happened. Cameras from various retailers showed grainy but distinguishable footage of a person driving Scott's car into the King Supers lot at 6:48 a.m. on Tuesday, February 11. Then, they parked, got out, walked around the vehicle a few times, and then walked away. Unfortunately, authorities couldn't make out the individual's face, but they were able to determine that the person was likely a man and he'd been wearing winter clothing. This person, whoever they were, was not Scott, because authorities knew that by 6:48 a.m. on the 11th, he was already dead. So the mystery figure immediately became law enforcement's prime suspect.
14:56 Speaker 00 To dig into Scott's background more and learn who he might have been meeting with on the night he was last heard from, detectives asked two of his former girlfriends to come in for interviews. One of the exes described Scott as being kind of jealous in their relationship, and at one point she said the two of them had a big fight that ended with her getting a restraining order out on him. That protective order was eventually dropped, though, and they'd ended up being friendly afterwards. Another former girlfriend told authorities that she'd always felt safe with Scott and characterized him as a loving partner. Their relationship had been sort of on and off since they'd met about two years earlier, but when they'd finally decided to call it quits, there was no bad blood between them.
15:37 Speaker 00 For a hot minute detectives wondered if his most recent ex could be involved somehow because they'd learned that she'd exchanged text messages and a phone call with Scott just one day before he vanished. However, while investigators were right in the middle of speaking with her, they were notified of yet another significant break in the case. A secondary sweep of Scott's house had resulted in members of the investigative team locating passwords for some of his personal electronic devices, including the login info to his Facebook account. When detectives scrolled through some of his most recent messages from the days, weeks, and hours leading up to the Saturday night he disappeared, they realized he'd been conversing with a 48-year-old woman through Facebook Messenger
16:21 Speaker 00 named Heather Frank, and she was the person he'd made plans to meet up with. It just so happened that the apartment where Heather lived in Greeley was near the intersection of 20th Street and 35th Avenue, which was right across the street from the King Super Supermarket where Scott's car had been found. Interestingly, law enforcement didn't go and knock on Heather's door right away. I assume they weren't sure what exactly they were dealing with when it came to her. So instead, they mounted a surveillance camera on a light post that faced her unit at the end of her cul-de-sac, then they waited and watched. It didn't take long for detectives to discover that one particular vehicle, a Subaru Crosstrek
17:03 Speaker 00 with minor front-end damage, was parked in front of her unit. It belonged to a man named Kevin Dean Eastman, who was an oilfield employee that had had an on-again, off-again relationship with Heather for about five years.
17:17 Speaker 00 At the time of Scott's murder, 48-year-old Kevin was wanted by Denver PD for domestic violence charges related to a prior incident with Heather. And he'd previously pleaded guilty in a weapons possession case. So you're probably getting the picture by this point, but Kevin was bad news. Heather, on the other hand, seemed to be living a fairly quiet and assuming life in Greeley. She waited tables at a diner and frequently went to jazz concerts, a few of which had featured Scott's band. She had three adult sons and enjoyed going to bars and having a good time. She'd gotten divorced in 2010, but maintained a close relationship with her boys, always finding time to be a part of their lives and enjoyed seeing each of them build families of their own. Based on the messages that she and Scott had exchanged over social media
18:02 Speaker 00 leading up to his murder, it was clear to investigators that they'd only recently gotten to know one another and had met up maybe once or twice prior to February 2020.
18:14 Speaker 00 The context of their online messages indicated that they'd developed feelings for one another, and Heather in particular seemed pretty smitten with Scott. She told some of her coworkers about him, and he'd shared similar info about her with folks in his social circle. With this information and Heather and Kevin's identities now known to law enforcement, detectives revisited the cell tower data that team members had received. An analysis of that info showed that for several hours on the night of Saturday, February 8, three cellular devices had been pinging at Heather's address. One phone belonged to Heather, another belonged to Kevin, and the third device belonged to Scott's sessions. According to news coverage, Scott's phone data showed
18:57 Speaker 00 that his device had traveled from his home to Heather's place after 8:00 PM, and then never left. It remained at that location overnight, and then around 5:00 AM on February 9, had either ran out of battery or was powered off. Kevin and Heather's devices, on the other hand, had left her house around 7:00 in the morning on February 9. Cell records showed that their phones then traveled northwest out of Greeley, paused for a bit at a gas station, and then entered Pooter Canyon before eventually losing service. Interestingly, that route was in the direction of where Scott's body had been dumped. Around noon on the 9th, a few hours after Heather and Kevin's phones dropped out of service,
19:39 Speaker 00 the devices came back online and showed that they'd left the national forest and traveled back to her apartment. Oxygen reported that Heather had also texted her employer shortly after 3 a.m. that morning to inform them that she would have to miss work that day because she'd become ill overnight. But even as damning as all that circumstantial evidence was, it wasn't enough to prompt authorities to bring both of them in. So investigators continued to watch them via that covert light post camera, and they placed a tracker on Kevin's car. For hours on end, detectives studied Kevin and Heather's comings and goings from her place, but surprisingly, in all that time, Heather didn't appear to be distraught or scared when she left her house.
20:22 Speaker 00 The footage showed her going out to run errands, driving to and from work, and just living her life. However, Heather's employer would later tell law enforcement she had shown up and looked upset and not like her normal self during that time. One of the lead detectives on the case just couldn't shake the suspicion that one or both of them were involved in what happened to Scott. The longer he looked at the surveillance images of Kevin's Subaru parked at Heather's apartment, the more he made note of certain details about it. He noticed that in addition to it having front-end damage, it also appeared to have been recently driven in the snow and had gotten what looked like reddish dirt kicked on the side of it. Now, that dirt was a noteworthy detail because it just so happened that dirt similar to
21:06 Speaker 00 it had been observed on the roadway near the hillside where Scott's body had been found. It was described in the source material as fairly distinct red-colored mud, so not necessarily something that you'd drive your vehicle through every day. The detective who was following this hunch about Kevin's car and the dirt began looking for surveillance video along the road that Scott's killer would have driven into the mountains in order to dispose of his body. He wanted to see what vehicles had headed toward and away from the dump site around the time Scott's remains were found. And when you know it, a familiar car showed up.
21:43 Speaker 00 At 8:37 a.m. on Sunday, February 9th, just three hours after Scott's cellphone had stopped pinging at Heather's house, a CCTV camera mounted to an amphitheater located near the National Forest captured video of Kevin Eastman's Subaru Crosstrek driving into Pooter Canyon. Roughly three hours later, at 11:46 a.m., the same camera showed his car passing back by that amphitheater, headed in the opposite direction, seemingly leaving the National Forest. That was tangible evidence investigators needed to be able to draft arrest warrants for Kevin and Heather in relation to Scott's murder. On the morning of February 16th, six days after Scott was found, authorities prepared
22:26 Speaker 00 themselves to take Heather and Kevin into custody. But there was a bit of a snag. Surveillance video from the homicide squad's light pole camera showed that the couple had left Heather's apartment around 5:30 p.m. the night before, February 15th, and they'd never returned. The footage showed the two of them getting into Kevin's car, and while walking from the front door to the passenger door, Heather appeared to be kind of unsteady on her feet. She was carrying a winter jacket and walking directly in front of Kevin. The two of them got into his vehicle, and then they drove off. When it was time to make the arrests and investigators realized their prime suspects were in the wind, they checked the tracking device they'd placed on Kevin's car to figure out where he'd gone.
23:11 Speaker 00 And it showed that overnight, he'd driven a few different places during the early morning hours of the 16th. His first stop had been at a rural farm property in Weld County, about 45 minutes outside of Greeley, that one of his friends, named Troy Benel, owned. Then he'd gone to a river crossing over the South Platte River, and eventually gone back to the farm property. Troy ran his own trucking business, and so he had quite a bit of land and structures that he stored tools and other things in. He and Kevin had met one another through their jobs and become acquaintances. A lieutenant from the Larimer County Sheriff's Office traveled out to Troy's property to check out things, but when he arrived, he didn't have a warrant to step foot on Troy's land.
23:53 Speaker 00 He saw something burning in the area, but couldn't get a good look, so in the meantime, he drove to the spot by the South Platte River where Kevin's vehicle had gone. But he didn't see anything there other than roadway and water. On his way back in the direction of Troy's property, he caught sight of the large plume of smoke coming from Troy's farm again. When this lieutenant arrived at the property for the second time that morning, he witnessed something truly unsettling.
24:25 Speaker 02 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.
24:33 Speaker 03 I don't think I've ever seen anything that looks like this. It felt like Electric Stars on Fire.
24:38 Speaker 02 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.
25:00 Speaker 00 The Laramo County Sheriff's Lieutenant covertly made his way around some buildings and spotted Kevin Eastman standing over a large burn pit tending to an active fire. Heather Frank was nowhere in sight. After a short period of time, Kevin got into his car and left Troy's farm. The investigator watching him followed, and eventually ended up behind Kevin at a gas station in the nearby town of Kersey. This lieutenant watched Kevin pull out some gas cans and begin filling them with fuel. At this point, the investigator's hackles were through the roof, and he intercepted Kevin before he could drive off again and arrested him right there in the gas station parking lot. Kevin was charged with first-degree murder
25:43 Speaker 00 and tampering with a deceased human body in the death of Scott Sessions, plus third-degree assault charges related to the Denver PD warrant he'd been on the run from. When authorities searched Kevin, they found a knife, two spent .22 caliber shell casings, three live rounds, and a wad of cash. When investigators asked him where Heather was, he wouldn't say. Immediately following his arrest, investigators descended on Troy's farm property and started a search for her. They also transported Kevin to the sheriff's office for further questioning. For several hours, detectives spoke with him about Heather, the nature of their relationship, and discussed how he felt about her seeing other men. Kevin started out being very cooperative, but as the detective's questions got more and more pointed,
26:28 Speaker 00 he claimed to have suffered a head injury at his job, which caused him to experience memory loss. He told investigators about 30 to 50 times that he couldn't remember a lot of things that had happened as of late, other than the fact that the last time he'd seen Heather was on February 15. A few days prior to that, they'd had a disagreement because she'd rejected a marriage proposal from him, which had really bummed him out. Eventually, authorities turned up the heat and revealed to Kevin that they knew Heather and Scott Sessions had been communicating online. Kevin told officials that he didn't know who Scott was and he certainly didn't know anything about what had happened to him. Later on in his interview, though, he walked back that statement when he told his interrogators that he actually did know who Scott was,
27:13 Speaker 00 but only referred to him as "the musician", not by his actual name. When investigators asked Kevin how he knew that detail about Scott, he said he'd learned some information about the case from watching the news. After a few hours of this back and forth, detectives really began to drill down. They confronted Kevin with all the circumstantial evidence that pointed to him being involved in Scott's murder and asked him to tell them what happened. They sort of framed it in a way that I think they thought would entice Kevin to be more forthcoming. Basically, the detectives said things like they would understand if he'd gone over to Heather's place without the intention of harming Scott, but then one thing had led to another, which resulted in Scott's murder. But Kevin didn't take the bait.
27:59 Speaker 00 He told authorities that he had no recollection of being at Heather's apartment on the night investigators believed Scott had been killed.
28:08 Speaker 00 What he didn't know, though, was that while he was being interrogated, forensic teams were sweeping the inside of Heather's apartment, looking for blood or any kind of physical evidence that indicated a violent struggle had taken place there. And, boy, did they hit the jackpot. According to investigators who spoke with ABC's 2020 and the TV program Killer Cases, CSI Tex discovered traces of blood in multiple places inside Heather's apartment. Specs of it were on the walls, throw pillows, and in other nooks and crannies that most people couldn't see with the naked eye. The largest concentration of blood, though, was beneath a commercial-style rug that was on the floor in the entryway.
28:48 Speaker 00 That stain had soaked through the carpet underneath and gone all the way down to the subfloor. There was also a bag of cleaning supplies and paper towels sitting near a couch in the living room, so just further evidence that a cleanup had happened or was still happening. And authorities were only more certain of that when blood test results showed that all of the blood stains technicians had found came back as a match for Scott Sessions. Meanwhile, in Kevin's interview room, investigators continued to interrogate him, and his story began to change. He told detectives that he was at Heather's apartment after Scott had been murdered, but she was the one who'd done it, not him. He claimed he'd just helped her clean up the crime scene to protect her.
29:33 Speaker 00 His new version of the story was that she'd told him that Scott had sexually assaulted her, and so she lured him to her place to seek revenge. But detectives were extremely suspicious of Kevin's version of events. What they needed was Heather Frank to corroborate or dispel what he was claiming. But, you guessed it, Heather was still nowhere to be found. Hours of searching at Troy Binnell's property hadn't turned up much, so while Kevin remained in one room at the sheriff's office, investigators sat Troy down in another room and asked him some questions. He was at a loss for words and claimed he didn't even really know Heather very well, and what little of a friendship he had with Kevin wasn't good.
30:14 Speaker 00 While officials were interviewing him, though, they shared some news about a gruesome discovery that searchers had just made at his property.
30:24 Speaker 00 Tucked beneath a pile of wood and debris next to the burn pit, investigators uncovered a woman's body. It had been wrapped in plastic and bound in baling wire. It didn't take long for officials to ID the victim as Heather. A closer examination of her body showed that she'd been shot twice in the chest at close range, and equally as horrific was the fact that she was found literally beneath a pile of stuff that was scheduled to be incinerated. Inside the ashes of the pit, investigators found charred personal items: keys, a spring that appeared to belong to a handgun, glasses, and some papers. This discovery happened seemingly while Kevin and Troy were both still being interrogated.
31:08 Speaker 00 And when investigators broke the news to Troy, he was absolutely shocked. Kevin also had a noticeable reaction and became very emotional, to the point where he started to do some really odd things, and then accused detectives of trying to trick him. Eventually, Troy was allowed to leave the sheriff's office but remained under suspicion. Kevin asked for a lawyer and ended his interrogation not long after he learned that Heather had been found. But investigators kept him behind bars pending his first appearance. He was also subsequently charged with Heather's murder and tampering with her remains, bringing his total number of charges to seven. Detectives were told by Kevin that he'd randomly come to Heather's apartment on the afternoon
31:53 Speaker 00 of February 8th and tried to convince her to get back together with him, but she rebuffed him. At some point, she'd asked him to go because she had a date. Investigators believe that Kevin discovered Heather was developing feelings for a new guy, Scott, and found out that they were planning to meet up. His history of domestic violence and jealous outbursts prompted him to ambush Scott with a knife when he arrived to take Heather on their date. Sheriff's deputies were almost certain that the messages Heather's Facebook profile had sent to Scott to iron out their plans had not actually come from her. Investigators believed that Kevin had gotten a hold of her phone and been the person sending
32:35 Speaker 00 those messages as a way to make sure Scott would come over to Heather's apartment. Where exactly Heather had been during all that and why she hadn't intervened was still a big question mark for law enforcement. The most likely scenario was that she'd been afraid of Kevin because of his past abuse and had gone along with helping him clean up the crime scene out of fear for her own life. In March, a few weeks after Kevin's arrest and the sheriff's office revealing more details about the crime publicly, Scott's loved ones held a memorial service for him at a church in Greeley and laid him to rest. Heather was also laid to rest by her loved ones. There were two competency evaluations, various court hearings and continuances between when
33:18 Speaker 00 Kevin was arrested and when he finally went to trial. But eventually, in the summer of 2022, prosecutors in Weld County got the case in front of a jury. The state described what Kevin had done to Scott as a "lay-in-wait" kind of crime. They explained in their opening statement that Heather's murder was simply a step Kevin had taken to eliminate the sole witness to Scott's slaying. Law and Crime archived the entire trial on YouTube, and it's clear from watching that footage that the state heavily emphasized the toxic nature of Kevin and Heather's relationship as a contributing factor to the crime. One of the lead prosecutors told the court, quote, "Power, control, coercion, and revenge.
34:01 Speaker 00 At its very core, this case is about domestic violence." He didn't want to lose Heather Frank, and because of that, two people lost their lives, end quote. One of Heather's sons, Alex, who spoke with producers for ABC 2020 and testified at the trial, said his mom and Kevin's relationship had initially started out good, but over time, Kevin had become increasingly abusive toward Heather. Alex told 2020 that towards the end of 2019, his mom had finally had enough and explained to Kevin that she was done with him. Alex testified in court that at various points during the couple's relationship, Kevin had stabbed Heather, hit her, broken her wrist, and inflicted other injuries.
34:45 Speaker 00 But Heather didn't report every single one of those instances to police. Kevin's defense team portrayed the circumstances of his behaviors and actions quite differently in front of jurors, though. They didn't deny the toxic nature of his on-again, off-again relationship with Heather. However, they claimed that it was Heather who'd murdered Scott, and Kevin had simply helped cover it up. Now, it was particularly painful for Heather and Scott's loved ones and friends to hear both of them portrayed as bad actors regarding the defense's allegation that Scott had sexually assaulted Heather and that was why she'd killed him and involved Kevin after the fact. It was straight-up victim blaming and essentially put Scott and Heather, both victims in this
35:28 Speaker 00 case, on trial for allegations that neither of them could defend themselves against because they were dead. As far as Heather's murder was concerned, the defense stated there was no physical evidence that connected Kevin to that crime. Instead, his lawyers loosely pointed the finger at Troy Binnell, the man whose property Heather's body had been found on. It came out at trial that additional forensic testing on the items discovered with Heather's body showed that a cigarette pack wrapped in the plastic material she'd been rolled up in contained Troy's DNA. He also didn't have the most rock-solid alibi. According to the coverage, he'd been sleeping while Kevin was reportedly on his property attempting to burn Heather's body.
36:13 Speaker 00 And there was also a 22 caliber firearm that he usually stored in his garage that was unaccounted for. Steve Wren, one of the prosecutors on the case, told producers for Killer Cases that he anticipated the defense would likely portray Troy as an alternative suspect. He was an easy target because he had unrelated outstanding criminal charges and was a very inconsistent witness on the stand. During the trial, the prosecution's rebuttal to Troy being painted as Heather's killer was simple: He didn't have a motive to murder her. Kevin, on the other hand, was the only person in the whole story who had every reason to want both Scott and Heather out of the picture. On top of that, a forensic analysis of some of Kevin's clothing after his arrest proved
36:58 Speaker 00 that he had traces of Scott's blood on his clothes, and his DNA had been found on the wire that was used to secure Heather's body after her murder. But things that didn't really support the state's "Kevin did it" theory, though, were the fact that Heather's DNA had been found on the duct tape that had been put around Scott before he was burned. And the knife and spent shell casings that authorities had found on Kevin after his arrest were never able to be tied to the crimes. But in the end, jurors felt that the overwhelming body of evidence pointed to Kevin Eastman as being responsible for both murders. On July 20, 2022, they found him guilty of two counts of first-degree murder and a handful of other felony-related charges.
37:42 Speaker 00 The day after the verdict was read, a judge sentenced him to two life sentences without the possibility of parole. During that hearing, Heather's son Alex spoke to the court and said, quote, "My mom was more than just my mom. She was my best friend. The memories we had together I will cherish forever. I miss her every day and will continue to miss her every day. And for that reason, I'm standing here today to say, Kevin, I have not forgiven you yet. I no longer have hate for you, just disappointment that you decided to do the unimaginable act that took not only my mother's life, but the life of Scott Sessions as well. I pray that one day you will come to the realization of what you've done.
38:26 Speaker 00 I would lastly like to say that my heart and prayers and condolences go out to the family and many friends of Scott Sessions." End quote. Stan Sessions, Scott's father, spoke at the sentencing as well and delivered such a riveting victim impact statement that, similarly to Alex's, "I feel the need to share it with you all," verbatim. He said, quote, "Scotty wasn't perfect. None of us are. But he loved his family. It pained my heart to hear the concocted story of him raping somebody. Never, ever, ever, ever, in 54 years, ever had a complaint like that in his life. He was not that kind of guy.
39:07 Speaker 00 Now, finally, I am truly a Christian man, believe in the Gospels of Christ completely. With that, it is incumbent upon me the last two years to find a way to forgive this man for what he did, because I don't want to carry his burden on my shoulders. I will not let him or anyone else determine my happiness for the rest of my life. So, Mr. Eastman, I have no quarrel with you. I hope and pray that you will take advantage of the services of the prison system, that you'll find God in your life, and that you will find a way to become a better person." End quote. Almost a year after the trial concluded, ABC News took a closer look at what were
39:48 Speaker 00 described as failures by multiple law enforcement agencies to properly address Heather's previous domestic violence incidents involving Kevin. Police body camera footage after an altercation between the two of them at a hotel in Denver just 10 months before her and Scott's murder showed her hospitalized and begging officers to help keep Kevin away from her. She stated on the body cam footage that Kevin always got away with hurting her and that the incident in their hotel room wasn't the first time she'd been victimized by him. Unfortunately, despite her pleas and police reassuring her that the system would protect her, Kevin wasn't arrested for that assault.
40:29 Speaker 00 An arrest warrant for that offense wasn't executed for him until after he'd already killed Heather and Scott. I've mentioned this before on this show when discussing cases that deal with domestic violence. We all should stay informed. If you're someone who believes you may be experiencing domestic violence, please know that you're not alone and there are organizations out there that can help. You can call the National Domestic Violence Hotline at 1-800-799-SAFE, or check out other resources I've listed in the show notes for this episode. Heather's loved ones emphasized in their public statements and in her obituary that she was a true light in their lives. She was crafty, liked cooking, enjoyed spending time with her sons, and desired to live the
41:14 Speaker 00 best life that she could. Kevin Eastman, her abuser, took that away from her far too soon. Scott's father Stan revealed in his interviews with the press that he and his wife, who has since passed, adopted Scott as a baby and raised him along with another son they had later on. When Scott turned 25, he wanted to connect with his biological mother, and through that process eventually discovered he had a half-sister named Allison who lived in Kansas. The siblings reunited not long after realizing one another existed, and instantly, they had a strong bond. Allison told Dateline that her entire life she always felt, deep down, that she had a brother out there somewhere.
41:56 Speaker 00 It wasn't until she was a teenager, though, that she learned the full story of how her mother, who was young when she'd given birth to Scott, had placed him for adoption. Interestingly, Allison learned from her mom that Scott's biological father, who was never in the picture, was a musician. In the years they had together, Allison said she and Scott spoke frequently on the phone and realized they had many things in common. She told Dateline, quote, "He'd sing on the phone to me or take pictures of himself making funny faces in the mirror. We'd just start laughing. We found a way to calm each other down when it seemed like the rest of the world didn't understand." End quote. About a year and a half after the trial ended, Stan gifted Allison Scott's treasured trumpet.
42:41 Speaker 00 Today, it is reportedly still with her at her home, surrounded by other mementos of Scott's. I wanted to end this episode by encouraging you all to celebrate Scott doing the one thing he loved as much as life itself: playing the trumpet. If you have time, honor his life and his love of music by watching and listening to him and his bandmates. Some of their concerts and gigs are still on YouTube. Links to those will be in the show notes and on the blog post for this episode.
43:15 Speaker 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. You can also follow Park Predators on Instagram, @parkpredators.
43:34 Speaker 00 I think Chuck would approve.
43:40 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.
44:01 Speaker 05 It's a house that looks like a castle, but it's under investigation for being a possible factory, a baby factory.
44:08 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.
44:18 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?
44:29 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.
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