The Late Shift (PODCAST EXCLUSIVE EPISODE)

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1:16That's shopify.com slash mrballin. In June of 1980, a car jolted to a stop in a parking lot on the outskirts of a small Utah suburb. The car door opened, and a man stepped out into the darkness, and he stumbled across the parking lot towards the large building where he worked. He'd been drinking, and he was definitely feeling it. So he stood outside the building for a minute and tried to collect himself. He knew this might be the last moment of peace he, or anyone in his community, would have in a long time. Because he knew something that nobody else inside that building would even imagine. He knew for a fact that someone had just committed the first murder ever recorded in this safe, quiet Utah town.

1:57But before we get into that story, if you're a fan of the strange, dark, and mysterious delivered in story format, then you've come to the right podcast because that's all we do and we upload twice a week, once on Monday and once on Thursday. So if that's of interest to you, please set a fake crack screen wallpaper on the follow button's new phone and watch them panic. Okay, let's get into today's story.

2:28The End

2:50On the night of Thursday, June 5th, 1980, 25-year-old Karen Strom pulled her yellow Camaro into the front driveway of her two-story house in Woods Cross, Utah, a small suburb of Salt Lake City. Karen and her husband Steve stepped out and approached the house, which was yellow like the car. And that was not a coincidence. Karen just really loved yellow, and Steve had been more than happy to go along with her when they bought the place. The two of them had just come from dinner, and when they were all dressed up for a night out, some people found it hard to believe that Karen and Steve were just this average couple who lived in a small Utah suburb.

3:26Instead, they thought the pair looked more like a Hollywood couple. Karen had long blonde hair and light eyes, and she always looked right at home behind the wheel of her sleek sports car. Steve was tall with red hair and a red beard, and whenever they had their photo taken together, it was like they knew exactly how to pose. However, despite what some people thought about them based on their good looks, those who actually knew Karen and Steve understood that they were just like most young people in the area. They worked hard at their jobs, they talked about starting a family one day, and they loved living in the safe, secluded neighborhood not far from the beautiful Wasatch Mountains.

4:02Karen and Steve headed inside the house, and Karen turned on the TV, and then both of them sat down on the couch to watch. But while Karen leaned back and got comfortable, Steve couldn't seem to settle down. They'd gone out to dinner to celebrate both Steve's 27th birthday and also their 7th anniversary. Now, Karen was ready to relax for the rest of the night, but she knew Steve couldn't really do that. Because he still had to go to work that night. He had a late shift at a local factory that went all the way until 7.30 the following morning. So as Karen sat there, Steve tried to sit for a little while, but then just began getting up and collecting things he would need for work, and then he would come back to the couch, but would be anxious and get up again and get something else that he would need for work.

4:45Now Karen knew that Steve would much rather finish the birthday and anniversary celebration at home with her than go to the factory. But the truth was, Karen actually couldn't wait for Steve to go to work. Because even though she'd gone out with Steve to celebrate and she was now laughing and chatting with him on the couch, in reality, Karen didn't want to even be in the house with her husband anymore. And she'd felt this way for months. Karen and Steve had been high school sweethearts, so they'd been together since they were teenagers. Back in school, Karen had been outgoing and extremely popular, while Steve had always been quiet and a bit shy.

5:21But when they'd met at school, they'd gotten along right away, and they had fallen in love fast. So in 1973, not long after they'd graduated from high school, they got married. And then they moved into a small apartment together and began their lives together. And for a time, the marriage had been everything Karen had dreamed of. She and Steve weren't rich by any means, but they were smart with their money. And they had eventually saved up enough to move out of their first small apartment and buy the yellow house that Karen had loved so much. And back then, the two of them had seemed like partners in everything.

5:52They had the same goals, and they truly supported each other. But the longer they stayed together, the more Karen had begun to see a side of Steve that was nothing like the reserved, caring man she fell in love with. Because Steve had begun drinking a lot. In fact, there were some nights when Steve and Karen would go out with a couple they were friends with, and Steve would get so drunk that Karen and the other couple would have to literally carry him out to the car. And then they'd have to carry him from the car to his bed when they got back to the house. But as much as that upset Karen, she didn't even consider those nights to be the worst nights.

6:27Because sometimes when Steve drank, he didn't just get sloppy, he got angry and aggressive. And when Karen's sister and friends had started to worry that Steve might be getting violent with her, Karen would defend Steve, saying he was a good guy who just had some bad nights sometimes. But finally, about three months before their seventh wedding anniversary, Karen couldn't take Steve's heavy drinking and mood swings anymore, and she'd made what she considered to be the hardest decision of her life. She told Steve that she wanted a divorce, and she'd started spending most nights at her stepmom's house.

7:00Even though they were now separated, Karen still went out with Steve sometimes. She still came by the house to see him, and she would even sleep there with him some nights. She knew Steve hoped that that meant they could maybe patch things up, but in reality, she just didn't see any hope for their marriage anymore. Back at the house, Karen continued to watch TV, anxiously waiting for the moment when she could be alone and go to sleep by herself in her old bed. And a little after midnight on June 6th, Steve finally said it was time for him to go to work. So Karen got off the couch, walked with him to the front door, and Steve gave her a kiss.

7:34Karen told him to have a good night at work. She said she was going right to bed and she would see him in the morning when he got home. And once Steve was gone, Karen did head right down the hallway to the bedroom, changed out of her clothes, and climbed into bed. However, she had so many things running through her mind that she couldn't sleep. As upset as she was about Steve's alcohol issues and her crumbling marriage as a result of those issues, this relationship was basically all she'd known since she was a kid. And part of her did still really love Steve. She knew that was why she had not been able to fully walk away yet.

8:07But as she lay in bed, Karen felt sure that even if leaving Steve for good would be challenging, it was something she just had to do. And she just had to finally make a clean break and stop staying at this house altogether. She had to start living her own life somewhere else.

8:27About eight hours later, around 7.30am on June 6th, 1980, Steve unlocked the front door of the yellow house, walked inside, and headed right to the bedroom. Steve felt exhausted from his overnight shift, and he couldn't wait to get some sleep. He'd called Karen before he left work, but she hadn't answered, and he'd seen her yellow Camaro still parked out front, so he figured she just hadn't woken up yet. However, when he opened the bedroom door, he froze right there in the doorway. The room was completely trashed. The small TV had been knocked off its stand, one of the bedside tables had been pushed over, and the bed's brass headboard was broken.

9:04Then Steve looked down at the floor and he began to scream, because there, on the ground, sticking out behind the bed, was Karen's feet. Steve ran into the room hysterical, shouting Karen's name, but when he got to her, he saw that she was totally motionless, just laying there in a t-shirt and her underwear. He crouched down and tried to get her to wake up, but he could tell very quickly that she must be dead. Steve stood up and the room felt like it was spinning. He stumbled outside, made his way to the phone in the kitchen, and dialed 911.

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13:08Later that morning, Detective Clarence Montgomery of the Woods Cross Police walked towards Karen and Steve's front door. He was responding to a call that had come into the station that said a young woman, Karen Strom, had been found unresponsive inside of her home. As he approached the door, Detective Montgomery saw a uniformed officer standing in the front yard, along with a red-haired man who had his face buried in his hands. Montgomery walked past the red-haired man and the uniformed officer and walked into the house. There, he connected with another uniformed officer who'd arrived first at the scene, who would tell Montgomery that Karen was deceased.

13:43And then he led him down the hallway to the bedroom. At the threshold of the bedroom, Montgomery slipped on a pair of gloves. Then he walked inside, and right away he noticed the TV on the floor and the broken bed. Then he walked around the bed and crouched down over Karen's body, and he saw there were deep purple bruises on her neck and throat. And Montgomery just couldn't believe it. Because he figured that these bruises were a clear sign that Karen had been murdered, strangled to death. But Woods Cross, Utah, where Montgomery had worked as a cop for a decade, was a very safe and quiet town.

14:17And in the 45 years since the town had been founded, there had literally never been a reported homicide. Montgomery stood up and told the other officer to radio in for a forensics team. While Montgomery waited on the forensics team, the other police officer, the one who was first on the scene, radioed the station to have them inform the medical examiner's office about the case, and then that officer left to go contact Karen's family to tell them about her death. So while that was happening, and while Montgomery was just waiting, he just did a complete sweep of the bedroom on his own. Now, despite having never handled a homicide case before, Montgomery knew instinctively that for the room to look like this, to be in complete disarray, could indicate that perhaps a robber was here and had ransacked the place, in addition to, you know, killing Karen.

15:07However, after doing the sweep of the bedroom, Montgomery did not come to that conclusion. Instead, he believed someone had come into this bedroom with the sole intent to kill Karen. And the broken bed and the TV on the floor meant one thing. Karen had put up a real fight for her life. So Montgomery went back to Karen's body, and what he saw now seemed to support his theory. The detective found scratches on Karen's arms that looked like defensive wounds, and he also saw that parts of her fingernails had broken off. Not long after Montgomery had fully searched the room, the small forensics team arrived and they did the same thing.

15:44And they came to the same conclusion that Montgomery had, that very likely this was a targeted attack on Karen and that Karen had fought back really aggressively. And so they thought that if that was the case, very likely her attacker then had physical marks left on them from Karen. The forensics team dusted the room and the entire house for fingerprints. They also clipped parts of Karen's fingernails and took blood samples from her clothes to save as evidence for possible testing at the crime lab. So in 1980, DNA testing was still in its earliest phase, and it would be years before police departments would use it in investigations.

16:21Still, forensic technicians were aware that advances in investigatory technology could happen fast, so they would often collect evidence that they knew they couldn't really test yet, in the hope that maybe at some point in the future, if a crime remained unsolved, new technology and testing would make that evidence viable.

16:43As the forensics team continued their work in the house, Detective Montgomery headed outside to speak to the red-haired man he'd seen when he first arrived. The man Montgomery now knew was Karen's husband, Steve. Montgomery could immediately see that Steve was a mess. He was sobbing and looked like he was struggling to catch his breath, Montgomery honestly felt bad for him. However, in a case like this, the spouse was the first suspect. So, after approaching Steve and introducing himself, he began by asking him where he'd been that morning and also where he'd been the night before. Through tears, Steve told Montgomery about his and Karen's dinner, how he'd left her to go to work at the factory around midnight, and that he'd gotten back home around 7.30 that morning.

17:25Steve said he'd unlocked the front door, gone right to the bedroom, and found Karen. As Montgomery heard this, he immediately focused on the part where Steve said he unlocked the front door. Because Montgomery had not found any evidence of forced entry into the house. But if Steve was telling the truth about the door being locked when he got home, Montgomery thought whoever attacked Karen had to have a key. Or it had to have been someone Karen would open the door for late at night. But before Montgomery could question Steve further, he heard the sound of a car screeching to a halt right outside the house.

17:58The detective looked up, saw the car door fly open, and watched as a young woman, who was maybe 20 years old, marched towards him. And this young woman pointed right at Steve and shouted, he finally did it! He killed her! Steve stammered, and Montgomery rushed over to the young woman, trying to keep the situation from getting out of hand. Montgomery tried to calmed this young woman down, but it clearly was not working. She said that she was Karen's little sister, Coco, and she'd rushed over as soon as she had gotten the news about her sister's death. And she said again that she was sure Steve had killed her.

18:30However, as Montgomery was trying to keep Coco separated from Steve, something happened that made Coco break down even more. The front door of the house opened, and members of the medical examiner's staff wheeled Karen out in a black body bag. And Coco saw it and just crumbled. She started sobbing uncontrollably, and then she told them not to do that, not to take Karen away. Everything about this was new for Detective Montgomery. He'd never dealt with a murder case, and he already felt like the situation at the house was spiraling totally out of control. He knew he needed to act fast before things got worse, so he called an officer over to stay with Karen's sister and to make sure she was okay.

19:09He had no idea if there was any truth to the accusations Coco had thrown at Steve, or if it was just how she was dealing with her anger, shock, and grief. But that didn't matter right now. Montgomery marched back across the yard and told Steve they needed to talk down at the station right now. Not long after that, Detective Montgomery led Steve into a small office at the police station. And once they were sitting down, it was clear Steve was still visibly shaken. Montgomery asked him a few basic questions about his and Karen's marriage. He wanted to know if they'd been fighting or had been experiencing any financial problems, anything like that.

19:47Steve admitted that he and Karen had hit a rough patch recently, but he said they were working things out. They'd been in love since they were teenagers, and they were both committed to trying to make the marriage work. He said they'd just gone out the night before to celebrate their anniversary, and then Steve said again that after that he'd gone to work right around midnight, and he said everything seemed fine. and that Karen had told him she would see him in the morning. As Steve spoke, Montgomery made a note of Steve's work schedule. Then, he asked if there was anyone other than family that Karen might open the door for late at night.

20:19Steve nodded and gave Montgomery a list of some of their closest friends. After that, the two men talked for a bit longer, and then eventually Montgomery told Steve he could leave for now. However, the police would soon follow up. After Steve left, Montgomery sat alone for a while, thinking through Steve's story. It'd be easy enough to follow up on his work alibi at the factory, but right now, Montgomery had no idea of Karen's actual time of death. For all he knew, Steve was her killer, and maybe he killed her before he even went to work, and everything he said about discovering Karen's body could just be a complete lie.

20:54However, for the time being, he had no evidence pointing directly at Steve, or really anybody else. So, he looked down at the list of friends that Steve had just given him, and he saw one name that might help him verify Steve's alibi and allow him to learn more about Steve and Karen's marriage all at once. The man's name was Ed Owens, and he was Steve's co-worker and one of the couple's friends.

21:22Late in the afternoon on June 6th, so several hours after Karen's body had been discovered, Detective Montgomery sat down with Ed Owens in an office at a factory in town. Ed sat there in silence for a minute, with a stunned look on his face. He couldn't believe the news Montgomery had just given him about Karen's murder. He said it didn't make sense. People loved Karen. She was beautiful and kind and caring. Montgomery acknowledged that, but he stayed on task, and he asked Ed if he'd seen Steve the night before. Ed told him that they had briefly crossed paths at the factory, but he and Steve had worked different shifts, so they didn't really talk or anything.

21:59Then Montgomery asked about Steve and Karen's relationship. And at this, Ed began to shift a little and got an uncomfortable look on his face. Eventually, he said that he and his wife were good friends with Steve and Karen, and they would go out together, and usually things were great. But sometimes Steve would drink really heavily, to the point where they would have to literally carry him out to the car and even carry him up to his bed on occasion. But Ed was quick to say that despite his alcoholism, Steve loved Karen more than anyone, and that Steve really was a good guy. After Montgomery finished with the interview, he tracked down Steve's manager, who did have a record of Steve clocking in and clocking out at the times he had said.

22:39And also, several other employees vouched that Steve had worked the late shift. But again, this didn't really prove anything to Montgomery. He needed to know a time of death to know if Steve showing up for work really was an alibi or not, like he could have killed her before he showed up for work. Over the next couple of days, Detective Montgomery and his small investigative team interviewed Karen's friends, family, and co-workers. And a pattern quickly started to emerge. Almost all of them said similar things to what Karen's sister Coco had told police. They had worried about what Steve might do to Karen after he'd been drinking.

23:14And some of them said they'd even seen bruises on Karen that clearly she had tried to cover up. This felt like a big discovery to Detective Montgomery. If he could prove that Steve had a history of violence towards his wife, well, he could then connect that to the violent attack that led to Karen's death. And in addition to that, Karen's friends all said something else that also made Steve look bad. They told Montgomery that no matter what Steve said about the marriage, Karen had genuinely been ready to end the marriage. In fact, they told Montgomery that Karen hadn't just brought up divorce and gone to stay with her stepmom, she'd actually started dating somebody else, a car mechanic whose name was Buff Bangetter, and Steve knew all about it.