Brazen Stupidity, Or Criminal Insanity?

Dry Prong is a tiny town of 454 people in Grant Parish, in the middle of Louisiana, and this episode tells two unrelated stories from it. The first is the murder of Marlin Keith Smith in 2004. The second is the bombing of a horse farm in 2015. James spends the opening part of the show on the town itself: its 1945 incorporation, the sawmill family who gave it its name when the creek powering their mill dried up every summer, the Colfax riot of 1873, the reviews, the overwhelmingly white population, the low incomes and the cheap houses.

this part of the story is covered for now Through the 1990s she had a habit of writing cheques for money she did not have. details of the account remain covered until revealed the rest of this account is covered until you choose to reveal it this part of the story is covered for now details of the account remain covered until revealed the rest of this account is covered until you choose to reveal it this part of the story is covered for now She was out around 2002, when she met Marlin Keith Smith, a 49-year-old man who went by Keith, and moved in with him and his mother, Barbara Smith.

Police were soon alerted to forged cheques drawn on Barbara Smith's bank accounts. details of the account remain covered until revealed During the investigation Barbara began to feel ill, with slurred speech and difficulty standing, and was in and out of hospital for about a month. Doctors could find nothing wrong until a toxicology screen showed high levels of Ambien, hydrocodone and other opiates. the rest of this account is covered until you choose to reveal it In November 2004 Barbara moved out to a relative's house.

Keith's family then realised they had not heard from him for weeks. On 12 November 2004 he was reported missing. this part of the story is covered for now Phone records showed no calls at all between the house and New Mexico between 1 October and 17 November. On 15 December 2004 a body was found in a storage unit in nearby Colfax: a man who had been dismembered and neatly wrapped and packaged. DNA testing through his mother identified him as Marlin Keith Smith. Family members then mentioned a suspicious new hole in the back garden. Police found a six-foot by four-foot hole with a pungent smell, small pieces of human remains inside it, and three pillows, two of them apparently bloodstained.

details of the account remain covered until revealed She also said she had got rid of Keith's gun, though not by shooting him with it. the rest of this account is covered until you choose to reveal it this part of the story is covered for now Dr I. C. Turnley said she had multiple deep-seated personality problems and a personality deficiency rather than a brain defect such as psychosis or schizophrenia; he said treatment would not take long, and that she wanted the victim dead and knew it was wrong but wanted to do it anyway. Dr Kenneth Binns said she could tell right from wrong, though she showed antisocial tendencies and some depression and anxiety. details of the account remain covered until revealed

the rest of this account is covered until you choose to reveal it this part of the story is covered for now details of the account remain covered until revealed the rest of this account is covered until you choose to reveal it this part of the story is covered for now details of the account remain covered until revealed The house where it happened, at Fairfield Church Road, was sold in November 2005 and was worth about $107,000 when the episode was recorded.

the rest of this account is covered until you choose to reveal it this part of the story is covered for now He also kept a horse of his own, Charlie, boarded at the farm. Charlie became sick with colic. details of the account remain covered until revealed the rest of this account is covered until you choose to reveal it He then fell into a deep depression which turned into a seething, vengeful rage against Dr Hewlett, whom he blamed for Charlie's suffering and death. He kept a diary full of hatred and wrote about what the Hewletts deserved.

this part of the story is covered for now While the Hewletts were out of town he went into the house, crawled into the subfloor and placed one bomb directly under each side of their bed. The Hewletts came home on 19 December 2015. At about 3 a.m., believing they would be asleep, he detonated both devices. The blast blew a hole up through the bedroom floor and through the box spring, but a high-density foam mattress absorbed enough of it that both were thrown clear of the bed and physically unharmed. Tracy Hewlett later needed counselling for PTSD. Shrapnel was embedded in objects around the room and had punctured plumbing pipes beneath the floor.

Investigators recovered pieces of galvanised steel, exploded PVC pipe, deformed aluminium sheet metal, wire with alligator clips, a modified extension cord with hot glue, burnt electrical tape and a destroyed timer; residue tested positive for TATP. details of the account remain covered until revealed His phone showed he had researched bomb making and rocket igniters, and had looked up past bombing events to see what worked; he had also bought materials and photographed the whole process step by step. His diary said he could not wait to blow the Hewletts up in their bed while they slept for killing his horse, and his phone notes covered Charlie's illness and death and his murderous intentions towards Dr Hewlett. Interviewed on video, he admitted he had previously worked on the insulation underneath the Hewletts' house, that he held Dr Hewlett responsible for Charlie's death and that he wanted revenge.

the rest of this account is covered until you choose to reveal it He moved to dismiss his appointed public defender, saying the man would not fight for him as he needed, and chose to represent himself at 56, despite having only a high-school education, no legal training, no law library and no experience of representing himself. this part of the story is covered for now details of the account remain covered until revealed the rest of this account is covered until you choose to reveal it this part of the story is covered for now details of the account remain covered until revealed