The Receipt (PODCAST EXCLUSIVE EPISODE)

0:00On the afternoon of March 24, 2006, an employee at a moving truck rental company in Ohio opened his desk drawer and grabbed a wad of cash. It had been a slow day, so the employee was using his downtime to organize a few recent payments. The money he had just grabbed was from an all-cash deal that had happened a few days ago. At the time, the employee had been super busy, so he'd just taken the cash from the customer, flipped through it quickly to make sure the amount seemed right, then shoved the money in the drawer to deal with later. Now he was actually counting it properly, and he really hoped the customer had not shorted him or he would have to track them down to collect the rest.

0:36But as the employee counted the bills, he paused. Not because the amount wasn't right, but because there was something on the money that caught his attention. For a second, he wasn't sure what it was, so he looked closer. And then, all at once, he understood what he was seeing. He stopped counting the money and just began flipping through it as quickly as he could, and he kept seeing the same thing on almost all the bills. With his heart racing, the employee just dropped the money, grabbed the phone, and called the police. But 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.

1:18So if that's of interest to you, please offer to cut the follow buttons grass for them, but set the blades so low that it just obliterates the grass and leaves only dirt. Okay, let's get into today's story.

1:52Exterior Remodels, Inner Monologues Brought to you by Power The house looks good Like, really good That siding? Stunning. The roof? Elevated. Windows? I mean, wow. The process? Smooth. The neighbors? Jealous. Choose Power Home Remodeling and remodel how you think about remodeling. Schedule your free quote on windows, siding, roofing, and doors at powerhomeremodeling.com. Power. Our work shows. Auto insurance should not be one size fits all. Especially for people whose lives definitely aren't. That's why USAA Auto Insurance offers coverage designed for the military and their eligible families. When your life demands precision, USAA gets the details right, like helping you find savings on auto insurance when you switch.

2:41Visit usaa.com slash auto quote to see how much you could save. Membership eligibility and product restrictions apply and are subject to change. USAA means United Services Automobile Association and its affiliates, San Antonio, Texas.

3:02On the evening of Thursday, March 9, 2006, a 50-year-old woman named Karen Divalbliss sat in the passenger seat of her car. Her husband, 71-year-old Jim Divalbliss, was behind the wheel, driving them through downtown Lancaster, Ohio. Karen looked out the window and watched as they passed historic buildings, shops, and restaurants. Every once in a while, Jim slowed down and waved at people on the sidewalk, because he and Karen knew practically everybody in town. So, Lancaster was a small suburb of about 36 ,000 people, and it was generally a friendly, blue-collar place. Karen and Jim had lived there for over a decade, and they were well-known in the community, mostly because of their business ventures.

3:44They owned multiple rental properties around town, and also a store where they sold electronics, toys, and hobby supplies. The properties and the store had not only made Karen and Jim a lot of friends, but also a lot of money. They had a reputation for being very wealthy, but also very generous. They went out of their way to help people who were down on their luck, especially friends and family. Karen's former sister-in-law, whose name was Deanna Smith, had actually been living in one of their rental properties for a long time now. And Karen's son was an employee at their store. But even now, with all of their success and their kindness, Karen knew that a lot of people in town viewed her and Jim as kind of an odd couple.

4:23They'd both been married before and had kids from their first marriages. And on paper, they didn't seem like obvious partners. Jim was 21 years older than Karen, and he also tended to be pretty quiet and reserved. Karen, on the other hand, was usually the loudest person in the room. But despite their differences, they just worked. And really, that was all that mattered to them. Just then, Karen felt the car slow to a stop. She looked out the window and saw that they were at their first stop of the evening, the hobby store that they owned. There was a big sign outside that said the store's name, D &D Sales.

4:57The sign looked exceptionally bright and clean, which should have made Karen happy. But in reality, it actually made her feel kind of annoyed. The sign had recently been repainted by Karen and Jim's regular handyman, and he'd done a great job with it, and Karen had paid him what she owed him for the work. But then after she paid him, he kept demanding more money. Now, Karen prided herself on being generous, but she'd felt like the handyman was now trying to take advantage of her. So she had told him that if he wanted to earn more money, she could give him another repair job. Now, ultimately, he had agreed to do another job, but he'd made it very clear that he was not happy about it, and things had been tense between him and Karen ever since.

5:39But luckily, the handyman was not at the store that day. Karen was actually here to see somebody else, her 27-year-old son, Jeremy Moore. She could see him inside the shop through the window, manning the front counter. He was tall, skinny, and had dark hair and earrings. Jeremy was her only son from her first marriage, and they usually got along really well. When Karen and Jim first opened D &D sales, they'd given Jeremy a job, and he'd been a great employee. Karen had felt like she could really trust him, and she'd given him a lot of independence. But then, that all changed. because Jeremy had started getting into serious trouble.

6:15He'd never really been a troublemaker, but it was like all of a sudden he had gotten arrested for stealing. And when he came back to work after that, his performance had majorly slipped. He'd started showing up late or not showing up at all. And on top of that, some of Karen and Jim's other store employees had begun complaining that they didn't like working with him because he was moody and angry. And so this had put Karen in a pretty awkward position because she loved Jeremy and she wanted him to succeed. And family or not, she just wasn't in the habit of firing people or leaving them high and dry when they were having a hard time.

6:49But at the same time, she also didn't want Jeremy's attitude and performance to affect her business. So she had sort of made it a point to check in on him while he was working. Karen told Jim she'd be right back, and she got out of the car. She went inside the store and asked her son how he was doing. And he seemed annoyed to be asked and just told her that, you know, everything was fine. So Karen did a quick sweep of the store to make sure all the shelves were stocked and the aisles were clean. Everything looked good, so she went back to the front counter and told Jeremy she loved him, and then headed back outside to the car.

7:25A few minutes later, Karen and Jim pulled up to their second stop of the evening, their favorite bowling alley, which was called Tiki Lanes. In addition to being business people, Karen and Jim were avid bowlers. They were in three different bowling leagues and came to Tiki Lanes at least a few times a week. In fact, they were so serious about bowling that they'd even hired a coach who they met with for weekly lessons. But for tonight, they were just here to meet with their friends for a couple of casual rounds. Karen and Jim parked the car, walked inside, and went straight to their usual lane.

7:58A bunch of their bowling friends were already sitting around tables nearby, and when they saw Karen and Jim, they got up and hugged and said hello. At some point, Karen sat down, put on her bowling shoes, and took several expensive rings off her fingers and stuck them in her pocket so they wouldn't get damaged. Then she got up and got ready to play. Throughout the evening, Jim kept the table stocked with snacks and drinks for the whole group. They ate, they drank, they played, and they talked with their friends. And by the time they were all done, Karen was exhausted. She put her rings back on, changed her shoes, and all she could think about was getting home and going to bed.

8:36So she and Jim said goodbye to everyone. Then they went outside, hopped in their car, and headed home.

8:45About 10 minutes later, they pulled into their driveway. They lived in a big brick house in a rural area north of town. So the neighborhood was quiet and scenic. Karen got out of the car and was about to walk to the door, but she stopped when she heard a voice call out to her from behind her. She turned around and she gasped.

9:31to see tire test results, tire ratings, and consumer reviews. And be sure to check out all the special offers. TireRack.com, the way tire buying should be. There are moments that define who you are and who you're becoming. And when those moments arrive, what you drive should rise to meet them. The Range Rover Sport commands attention from the very first glance. Every line, every detail, engineered for impact. Inside, refinement takes over with sculpted 22-way heated seating with available massage and a 13.1-inch touchscreen that puts everything within easy reach. But the Range Rover Sport isn't just about luxury.

10:09It's about uncompromised performance, too. Delivering a powerful, agile drive that feels as confident as it looks. And with nearly endless ways to personalize, from interior finishes to wheels to unique colors and accessories, your Range Rover Sport becomes unmistakably yours. For those who expect more from every moment, there's a vehicle designed to meet it. The Range Rover Sport. Exclusive offers available now. Explore further at RangeRover.com. Need a lesson in savings? Who doesn't? That's where Burlington comes in for back-to-school style. Because those school lists get long, but your receipts shouldn't.

10:48Find backpacks and sneakers to sweatshirts and jeans. Burlington has them all from the brands your kids keep begging for. Why choose just a few looks? With our prices, just get them all. Burlington. Deals. Brands. Wow.

11:15Four days later, around 9 a.m. on Monday, March 13th, Karen's son, Jeremy, pulled up outside his mother and stepfather's house. He parked his red sedan, then got out and walked towards the front door. So normally, at this time, Jeremy would be opening up the family store, D &D Sales. But he'd asked another person to keep an eye on the store because he needed to go see his mom. He had a routine of calling her every morning when he got to work. But that morning, when he'd called, she hadn't picked up, which was unusual. And then, Jeremy realized that he actually hadn't spoken to his mother that entire weekend.

11:52And normally, they spoke just about every day. So the whole situation made him feel confused and sort of concerned. Jeremy went to the front door and he knocked. But he didn't hear anything inside. Nobody came to the door. And he called out for his mom, but he didn't hear anybody calling him back. So eventually, he reached down and tried the handle. And he discovered it was unlocked. And when he swung the door open, nothing happened. Which was also unusual. Jeremy knew his mom and stepdad never left their door unlocked. and they also had an alarm system. So the alarm at this point should have been going off right now, but it wasn't.

12:28Once Jeremy was inside, he looked over at the living room, and he saw it had been completely ransacked. Furniture was overturned, and papers and random items were scattered all over the floor. At this point, Jeremy's heart was racing because obviously something was wrong. Instinctively, he just ran down the hallway to his mother and stepfather's bedroom, but when he got there, something inside of him told him not to go all the way into the room. Instead, he sort of peered around the doorframe to barely look inside. And when he did, he saw it was a mess, just like the living room. Drawers had been pulled open and there were clothes and empty jewelry boxes all over the floor.

13:05But also on the floor, in the middle of this mess, Jeremy saw a big red puddle that he immediately knew was blood. And in this puddle, he saw two feet. And even though from his vantage point, peering into this room barely, you know, Jeremy couldn't really see anything except those two feet, he just had this immediate gut feeling that the feet belonged to his mother and that she had been murdered. Jeremy turned, sprinted out of the house, and called the police.

13:41A few minutes later, a young, stocky detective named Scott Jones arrived on the scene, along with several other police officers and a team of forensic investigators. There were so many first responder vehicles crowded around the area that he had to park a squad car a little ways down the road. Detective Jones got out of his car and began walking towards the big brick house he was here to investigate. He'd worked for the county sheriff's office for about four years, and in that time, he had investigated homicide cases. And he knew how important it was to approach every crime scene with a very open mind, so he was coming in with zero preconceived notions.

14:18All he knew at this point was that a few minutes ago, a young man named Jeremy had called in to report the murder of his mother, Karen Divalbliss. He also knew that the big brick house belonged to Karen and her husband Jim. But right now, Detective Jones didn't know where Jim was. Jeremy hadn't said anything about him when he'd called in the report. As Detective Jones walked, he noticed that in the midst of all the emergency response vehicles, there was also a civilian car parked on the road. It was a red sedan, and there was a thin man with dark hair and earrings sitting inside of it. Detective Jones assumed it must be Jeremy.

14:55Detective Jones took note of this and just continued towards the home's driveway. There, he met up with a slightly older detective with a handlebar mustache, whose name was Andy Roberts. Detective Jones and Detective Roberts shook hands, and then, together, they approached the front door. Detective Jones noticed that the door did not look damaged at all, like it had not been pried or broken open. In fact, there were no signs of forced entry anywhere. To Detective Jones, this meant that whoever killed Karen, either had a key to the house or Karen had let them inside. And so this suggested that she had some kind of personal relationship with her killer.

15:32Still, Detective Jones reminded himself not to jump to any conclusions. He and the other detective went inside and right away saw the living room had been totally ransacked. It looked like a robbery. But again, Jones didn't want to form an opinion before seeing all the evidence. Because the house was so big, the detectives agreed to split up and examine rooms of the house separately. Detective Jones took the bedroom, where he already knew was where the body was located. And when he got there, he saw the room was a total disaster, just like the living room, and on the floor, he saw Karen Divalbliss lying face down in a pool of blood.

16:07The detective could see her body was covered in dozens of stab wounds, and when Jones leaned down for a better look, he saw that she also had cuts all over her hands. This told the detective two things. First, whoever killed Karen did so in a particularly violent and aggressive way, which suggested they were extremely upset with her. And the defensive wounds on Karen's hands suggested that she very likely fought back against her attacker. And so at this point, Detective Jones began to wonder about Jim, Karen's husband. He knew that, statistically, women were most likely to be killed by their intimate partners.

16:43So it seemed possible that Jim might have murdered Karen, then staged the house to look like it had been robbed, and then he fled. Detective Jones began asking the crime scene techs to take photos of Karen's body, as well as the empty jewelry boxes all around the room. And as he was doing this, suddenly, he heard Detective Roberts call out to him from a different part of the house. He sounded startled, and he yelled for Detective Jones to hurry. Seconds later, Detective Jones was standing by Roberts as they both stared down a set of stairs into the basement. And lying at the bottom of those stairs, they could see there was a second body.

17:19When they went down the stairs, the detective saw that the body belonged to a man. He was on his back, and he had also been stabbed dozens of times. And he was just around the corner from a closet, which had an empty, open safe inside of it. Detective Jones realized that they had just found Karen Divalbliss' husband, Jim. And so this made his earlier idea that maybe Jim had killed his wife Karen seem highly unlikely. And even though he still didn't want to jump to conclusions, a theory was already beginning to take shape in his mind. Based on the missing jewelry, the open safe, and the ransacked home, this was most likely a real robbery that had gone horribly wrong.

17:58But Detective Jones was hung up on one detail. There was no evidence of forced entry into the house. So, the perpetrator either had access to the home, possibly with a key, or Karen or Jim had opened the door for their killer.

18:19After he was done investigating the crime scene, Detective Jones went outside to speak to the 911 caller, who was sitting inside of his car. The man, who appeared very shaken, confirmed that his name was Jeremy Moore and that the woman inside was his mother. Detective Jones informed Jeremy that his stepfather, Jim, was also found dead inside of the home. And when Jeremy heard this, he just went silent and kind of stared off into space. Detective Jones couldn't tell if he was shocked or just pretending to be. So he asked Jeremy why he'd come to his parents' house that day. Jeremy said that when he'd gone into work that morning, he had called his mother to check in, like he always did, but she hadn't answered.

18:58He also said the last time he had seen his mom was four days earlier, on Thursday evening, when she and Jim had stopped by the hobby store on their way to go bowling at Tiki Lanes. Detective Jones then asked Jeremy about the contents of the house and what might have been taken. Jeremy told him that his mother did have a lot of jewelry, but he didn't know where she kept it all. And he also said he had no idea who would have done something like this. Detective Jones knew that it was way too soon to confirm or eliminate Jeremy as a suspect. He also didn't know when the couple had died, so he couldn't determine if Jeremy had an alibi yet.

19:32So for now, he told Jeremy he was free to go. Detective Jones watched Jeremy drive away, then he went back to the driveway to speak with Detective Roberts. They both agreed to keep an eye on Jeremy, but they also wanted to send a team of investigators to speak to neighbors and ask if anybody had seen or heard anything strange over the last few days. And while they did that, Jones decided he would go check out the bowling alley that Jeremy had mentioned.

20:00Later that day, Detective Jones walked inside of Tiki Lanes. He hoped the staff there would have some information for him, because so far, the investigative team had not gotten much from Karen and Jim's neighbors. Everyone they had spoken to had said they hadn't seen or heard anything weird, and they also hadn't seen Karen or Jim all weekend. Detective Jones went up to the front desk and explained why he was there, and a few of the employees said that they did know Karen and Jim, and they agreed to sit down with the detective and answer his questions. From these interviews, Detective Jones learned that Karen and Jim were regulars at Tiki Lanes, and they were avid bowlers who'd hired a coach to improve their game.

20:37He also found out that Karen typically wore a lot of rings on her fingers, which was actually pretty significant to him, because she wasn't wearing any rings when she was found. Whoever had killed her very likely had taken them right off her hands. Lastly, everyone Detective Jones spoke to at the bowling alley said that the last time they'd seen the couple was Thursday night. That was also the last time that Jeremy reported seeing them as well. So for now, Detective Jones decided to operate under the assumption that Karen and Jim had been killed Thursday, sometime after they had bowled at Tiki Lanes.

21:10And so based on that, he decided to call Jeremy in for a formal interview to ask him what he had done after he had left work on Thursday evening.

21:22The next day, Detective Jones sat in front of his computer inside of his office at the police station while he waited for Jeremy to show up for his interview. He was preparing for the interview by doing some research about Jeremy. Based on interviews the rest of the investigative team had done with Karen and Jim's friends, neighbors, and family members, Detective Jones had already learned a couple of very interesting things. First, Jeremy had reportedly stolen money and other items from Karen in the past. Second, Jeremy was in Karen's will and was going to inherit a lot of money now that she was dead.

21:54In the detective's mind, this seemed like a pretty clear motive for murder. It also struck him as very suspicious that Jeremy had been the one who found Karen's body and called the police. Detective Jones knew that it wasn't uncommon for murderers to return to the scene of a crime and to literally insert themselves into the investigation. Now, on his computer, Detective Jones pulled up Jeremy's criminal record and scanned through his previous charges. He saw that Jeremy had been arrested for theft. Now, the detective knew there was a big difference between stealing and committing murder, but the fact that Jeremy had a documented history of theft and the fact that he was going to inherit a lot of money after his mother died looked really bad for him.

22:37So, when Jeremy finally came in for his interview, Detective Jones was very eager to talk to him. He led Jeremy into an interview room and then sat down across from him. And just like the last time they had spoken, Jeremy struck the detective as seeming nervous and emotional. Detective Jones started by asking Jeremy what he had done on Thursday evening, after he'd gotten off from work. And Jeremy said he'd gone straight home. But when Detective Jones asked if anybody could verify that, Jeremy said no, no one could. So, Detective Jones began pressing him much harder, asking him directly about his history of theft and also his mother's will.