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Authors: M. William Phelps
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grief-stricken father, Nick Catterton, came out and told a local-television news station, “somebody needs to find out who this guy is.”
Nick thought he knew the perp personally, but he wasn’t saying it publicly. He’d tagged Danny Hembree as the guy—that creep who’d been hanging around Nick’s house and taking off with his daughter, Nicole. She had since returned from Florida with Danny, telling her father he was crazy for thinking her boyfriend was a serial killer.
As Nick began to consider the chilling reality that Heather’s and Randi’s killer was sticking close to him and his family, he thought back to how Danny had offered to help carry Heather’s casket during her funeral, but then he bailed out on the service at the last minute.
For a serial killer, there can be no other high than hanging around the family of one of his victims. In law enforcement’s view, as one detective standing on the periphery of this case for the time being, later told me, there were good reasons for this behavior: “He wants to know what the family knows. Keep track of the investigation from the inside out. Be one step ahead at all times.”
CHAPTER 20
E arly in the morning, November 17, YCSO investigator Alex Wallace called Danny Hembree. There was a feeling among investigators that they had to scratch him off their list, or put him at the top. There were too many coincidences surrounding Danny Hembree to simply write him off: his connection to Heather and his overall life of crime. He had alibis for both cases and was open to talking to police. But how much of what Danny was saying turned out to be truthful? And who could verify his alibis besides him and his girlfriend, Nicole?
“Listen, Danny . . . how are you?” Wallace said, opening up the conversation. Danny was familiar with Wallace and the YCSO.
“Good, good,” he responded. “What can I do for you?”
“I’d like to know if you’d come on into the sheriff’s office and take a polygraph for me and clear some things up. We just want to confirm some information we have.”
The main thrust of the YCSO asking Danny Hembree to take a polygraph was based on the information they had regarding him being the last person to see Heather on the night of October 18. The YCSO had heard this from a credible source.
“I’ve been forthcoming with information,” Danny explained. He was clearly a bit agitated. “I’m getting pissed now, though. Y’all got me fired from my job.”
The YCSO had put some pressure on Danny Hembree since Heather’s disappearance. They followed him and asked around town about him. They’d questioned some of his friends and party buddies.
“How so, Danny?”
“Y’all went up there to my work site and talked to my boss.”
Wallace tried to say something.
Danny interrupted, speaking over him: “My mom is thinking of kicking me out of the house, too.”
“Come on, Danny—” Wallace started to say, but he couldn’t get a word in. Danny was on a roll.
“Y’all went to my momma’s house and you done told her I was smoking crack!”
“We never went to your job site, Danny—and we did not tell your momma anything that she didn’t already know.”
Danny took a moment. Then he got loud; pure rage spewed out of him: “Fuck you! Don’t call me again!”
He hung up.
CHAPTER 21
T im Gause claimed to have nothing to hide. On Wednesday, November 18, the YCSO approached Tim and asked him if he was willing to take a polygraph. There was something about the guy that investigators just didn’t like. He seemed sketchy, acting odd during those immediate days after finding out the woman he claimed to have loved had been found murdered, her body torched. The key here for investigators was that Randi’s body had been burned, meaning that her killer was desperately trying to hide evidence. This indicated that perhaps Randi knew her killer. Or was worried his DNA could be traced easily back to him.
“I have nothing to hide,” Tim
Nick thought he knew the perp personally, but he wasn’t saying it publicly. He’d tagged Danny Hembree as the guy—that creep who’d been hanging around Nick’s house and taking off with his daughter, Nicole. She had since returned from Florida with Danny, telling her father he was crazy for thinking her boyfriend was a serial killer.
As Nick began to consider the chilling reality that Heather’s and Randi’s killer was sticking close to him and his family, he thought back to how Danny had offered to help carry Heather’s casket during her funeral, but then he bailed out on the service at the last minute.
For a serial killer, there can be no other high than hanging around the family of one of his victims. In law enforcement’s view, as one detective standing on the periphery of this case for the time being, later told me, there were good reasons for this behavior: “He wants to know what the family knows. Keep track of the investigation from the inside out. Be one step ahead at all times.”
CHAPTER 20
E arly in the morning, November 17, YCSO investigator Alex Wallace called Danny Hembree. There was a feeling among investigators that they had to scratch him off their list, or put him at the top. There were too many coincidences surrounding Danny Hembree to simply write him off: his connection to Heather and his overall life of crime. He had alibis for both cases and was open to talking to police. But how much of what Danny was saying turned out to be truthful? And who could verify his alibis besides him and his girlfriend, Nicole?
“Listen, Danny . . . how are you?” Wallace said, opening up the conversation. Danny was familiar with Wallace and the YCSO.
“Good, good,” he responded. “What can I do for you?”
“I’d like to know if you’d come on into the sheriff’s office and take a polygraph for me and clear some things up. We just want to confirm some information we have.”
The main thrust of the YCSO asking Danny Hembree to take a polygraph was based on the information they had regarding him being the last person to see Heather on the night of October 18. The YCSO had heard this from a credible source.
“I’ve been forthcoming with information,” Danny explained. He was clearly a bit agitated. “I’m getting pissed now, though. Y’all got me fired from my job.”
The YCSO had put some pressure on Danny Hembree since Heather’s disappearance. They followed him and asked around town about him. They’d questioned some of his friends and party buddies.
“How so, Danny?”
“Y’all went up there to my work site and talked to my boss.”
Wallace tried to say something.
Danny interrupted, speaking over him: “My mom is thinking of kicking me out of the house, too.”
“Come on, Danny—” Wallace started to say, but he couldn’t get a word in. Danny was on a roll.
“Y’all went to my momma’s house and you done told her I was smoking crack!”
“We never went to your job site, Danny—and we did not tell your momma anything that she didn’t already know.”
Danny took a moment. Then he got loud; pure rage spewed out of him: “Fuck you! Don’t call me again!”
He hung up.
CHAPTER 21
T im Gause claimed to have nothing to hide. On Wednesday, November 18, the YCSO approached Tim and asked him if he was willing to take a polygraph. There was something about the guy that investigators just didn’t like. He seemed sketchy, acting odd during those immediate days after finding out the woman he claimed to have loved had been found murdered, her body torched. The key here for investigators was that Randi’s body had been burned, meaning that her killer was desperately trying to hide evidence. This indicated that perhaps Randi knew her killer. Or was worried his DNA could be traced easily back to him.
“I have nothing to hide,” Tim
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