In the summer of 1995, the Grundy County Sheriff?s Depart-ment was consumed with a drug-related triple murder investigation that would rival anything you might see on television. Now the story will be on television after a production crew was in the area last week filming for the Discovery Channel?s ?The New Detectives? program.
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In the summer of 1995, the Grundy County Sheriff?s Depart-ment was consumed with a drug-related triple murder investigation that would rival anything you might see on television. Now the story will be on television after a production crew was in the area last week filming for the Discovery Channel?s ?The New Detectives? program.
Grundy County Sheriff Greg Coon, who helped investigate the deaths of Alfred Pinegar, 29; Stacy Hodge, 21; and Randy Hamilton, 39, said the producers of the show decided to profile the case because of the forensic evidence that was used to convict Spickard residents John Middle-ton and Margaret Hodges on charges of first degree murder in Pinegar?s death. The two were convicted of killing Pinegar, of Davis City, IA, who was found shot to death near Ridgeway in Harrison County. An autopsy showed he had been shot once in the head and twice in the back at close range. Middleton is currently on death row in connection with all three murders, while Ms. Hodges is serving a life term in the Missouri Department of Corrections.
Sheriff Coon said that forensic science was used to match a piece of Velcro found on the dash of Middleton?s truck to a piece of Velcro found on a digital clock at the scene of Pinegar?s death. In addition, forensic science was used to show that a brown leather strap found at the scene had come from a jacket found in Middleton?s rural Spickard residence.
While the forensic evidence is what attracted producers to the story, Sheriff Coon and Bethany Police Chief George Martz, who was the Harrison County Sheriff at the time of the murders, are the focus of the show. Coon said the show is accurate as far as the evidence goes, but some of the scenes are a little misleading.
?They made it look like George and I were the main people in the investigation, even after we explained that we were the ones handing out the leads and it was the other guys who were actually doing the legwork,? he said. ?They said they had to do it this way (focusing on two people) because of time. So, in the filming, we?re doing things we didn?t really have any part in.?
Coon said a Virginia Beach, VA, actor was hired to play Middleton, with the resemblance basically ending with the fact that both men have long hair and mustaches. He wasn?t exactly familiar with how a methamphetamine-using murder suspect would act, Coon said, although after seeing a picture of Middleton, he had a better of idea of who his character was. Coon also said a scene in which Middleton is interviewed by Coon and Martz was not exactly true-to-life.
?We didn?t really interview Middleton because he immediately told us he wanted to speak with his attorney. I was real uneasy talking to this actor, trying to get information from him (during the scene). It wasn?t anything like when we talked to Middleton because Middleton was adamant that he wasn?t going to talk to us,? Coon explained.
Coon said the director wanted him to pretend that he received a call about the discovery of Pinegar?s body and went to the scene with red lights flashing and the siren wailing. Coon had to explain to the crew that it had happened a little differently.
?I tried to explain to them that I wasn?t at the Harrison County courthouse when I found out. I was at the sheriff?s department in Trenton and I didn?t go with lights and siren on. The victim was already dead and there wasn?t anything I could do about it at the time.?
The crew did go to the actual scene of where Pinegar?s body was found, but due to miscommunication between Martz and the production crew, no one had asked the farmer who found the body if he could play himself. As it turns out, he was out of town, so a Harrison County resident volunteered to play the farmer. A dummy was used for the body.
If you watch the show, Coon said you might see some inconcistencies, including Coon driving a 2002 police car in a segment that supposedly occurred in 1995. Coon also said that in one scene during the re-enactment, he is giving instructions to two officers. In the next scene filmed, Coon said he is shown doing what he told the officers to do. In the scene showing Middleton and Hodges being arrested, officers go to the door and knock, then arrest them. In real life, an entry team was used because of the volatile nature of Middleton. The actual rural Spickard house burned some time after the arrest, so the crew used a Harrison County house in the segment.
There is also a scene in which officers go to a Bethany hardware store to question employees about Middleton purchasing the ammunition used during the Pinegar murder. Actually, the ammunition was purchased at the Bethany Wal-Mart store, but store officials declined to have the filming done there because of the publicity the case has already generated.
While television may seem exciting, Coon said it was somewhat tedious.
?We might film the same thing five times and by the time we?d get to the last time, I couldn?t remember how I had said it the time before. In one scene, I answered the phone 10 times, so they could shoot it from different angles. When I was driving down the road to where the body was found, they filmed me from the back seat, from the passenger seat, driving toward me, you name it. They got it from every angle,? he explained.
Of course, the entire body of film will be edited and much of the conversation taped will be covered over by narration.
Coon said the crew included a French-Canadian director, a cameraman from Cleveland, a sound man from Atlanta, a production assistant from Kansas City and the actress who played Ms. Hodges, from Kansas City. They spent a day in Jefferson City, where lab tests were run on the evidence; two days in Harrison County, filming Coon and Martz; and will spend a day in the studio in Virginia, all for what Coon was told will be about 15 minutes of air time.
On Friday, several local residents went to Bethany to the Harrison County courthouse, where they portrayed members of the North Central Missouri Major Case Squad. Among those portraying the officers were Wendell Lenhart, Greg Dalrymple, Trenton Police Sgt. Rex Ross, Trenton Police Sgt. Kris Schmidt, Grundy County Deputy Rodney Herring, Brandon Gibler and Chad Smith, a probation officer in Harrison County. How many of them will show up on the show is anyone?s guess.
Coon said he had a good time filming the show, which will be shown sometime next fall, and he feels it was a unique experience. He isn?t ready to quit his day job, though, for acting.
?It was fun, but I wouldn?t want to do it again next week,? he said.
An announcement about the air time of the program will be published in the Republican-Times late this summer.
by Ronda Lickteig