March 25, 2026

Sneak Peak Of The First Episode of Murdered by Mistake

Sneak Peak Of The First Episode of Murdered by Mistake
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Season 2

You can listen to the entire first episode of Murdered by Mistake here. Find the rest of the episodes by searching for Murdered by Mistake from Voyage Media, anywhere you listen to podcasts.

Jill Houston's neighbor Pearl died tragically, in what the police ruled an accident, but Jill has spent decades trying to prove was a murder. Did men looking for Jill's home go into the wrong house? Was a fire set to cover their crime? This true crime miniseries presents the facts from both sides, and leaves it up to you, the listener, to decide. All episodes of Murdered by Mistake are available now.

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If you saw her walking her dogs in the Minnesota

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snow or shopping at Fleet Farm in faded jeans in

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a winter coat, you probably wouldn't think warrior. But Jill

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Houston has spent the last three decades doing something most

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people would have given up a long time ago, Like

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a modern day Don Quixote, tilting at windmills in the

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shape of courthouses and case files. Jill has chased justice

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for her neighbor Pearl, with nothing but her memory, her grief,

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and her relentless belief the Pearl was murdered. She's lost

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everything along the way, her health, her family, her peace

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of mind, but she refuses to let go. She's written letters,

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tracked down retired firemen, dug through forensic reports, and confronted

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county officials who'd rather the case stay buried. Not because

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she loves the fight, but because she believes there's still

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truth to be found. But what is truth and how

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do we know it when we see it? In an

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age of miss this information, conflicting memories and stories that

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bend depending on who's telling them. This podcast is about

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more than just what happened to Pearl. It's about the

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nature of truth itself. How it gets lost, how it

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gets buried, and what it takes, what it costs to

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dig it up again. I'm Ryan Dixon, and this is

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the true story of Jill Houston and her impossible quest

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to make the world. Listen from Voyage Media. This is

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Murdered by Mistake. It's December nineteen ninety three in crow

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Wing County, Minnesota. The ground is frozen solid, the roads

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are slick with ice. Smoke curls from chimneys and towns

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like Brainerd, Niswan Cross Lake. Out here people live by

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habit morning coffee, evening chores, church on Sunday. The kind

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of place where the days are short, the nights are long,

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and the cold creeps into your bones whether you like.

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It or not.

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Here's how crow Wing County Attorney Don Ryan, a major

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player in our story, explains it.

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Crowing County is located in central Minnesota. A lot of

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people consider us up north, but if you picture the

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state of Minnesota in your head, you be hard pressed

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to put a county more central than we actually are

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centralized in the state itself.

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We're a very.

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First area in the summers and action in the winters. Now,

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a lot of lakes that type of thing. Our base population,

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I believe is right around and our last census was

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right around sixty five thousand. But in the summer months

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or the big weekend months, that will triple, if not quadruple,

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with a lot of people coming up to enjoy the

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resorts and their cabins and stuff like that.

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Crow Wing isn't flashy, it's not loud. It's a county

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of stoic faces and tight lipped families. Problems get handled quietly.

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People don't go digging, and when something bad happens, folks

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look away or they pretend it didn't happen at all.

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That's the world. Jill Houston lived in. A nurse, a horsewoman,

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a mother twice divorce, scraping by but proud. Her farm

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sat on a quiet stretch of road just outside of town,

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one driveway away from her elderly neighbor, Pearl. Jill had

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seen a lot in her life, but nothing could prepare

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her for what she saw that night. Nothing could prepare

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her for what would be taken from her, or for

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how hard it would be to convince anyone to believe her.

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Because in Crowing County, truth moves slower than snowmelt. In justice,

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if it comes at all, comes quiet.

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The night of Pearl's death, I was driving home from

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the hospital after working a double shift. It was twenty

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five degrees below zero, and I was so thankful that

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my truck started going by my neighbor's house. I always

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looked after them, and I slowed my truck down as

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I came close to my driveway. When I went by

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Pearl's house, there was a flicker of light in the

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kitchen window, and that was odd. Her house was always dark.

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There also was a white car part behind a pine

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tree off of the driveway, which was unusual. The branches

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of the pine tree covered the windshill, but I could

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see the headlights of the car and they were rown.

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I thought at the time I should call Pearl's son,

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but then Pearl's granddaughter has a white car, and it

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was close to Christmas, and I felt that she was

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probably home for the holidays. When I got home, I

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put on my warm down clothing over my uniform and

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went out to the barn. I had two horses in

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a pin behind Pearl's house. They were the two stallions

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that I brought back from Oklahoma. They had blankets on

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and they needed to be fed. The horses' names were

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timber Buck and timber Chip. To the end of the

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shed there was the gate that went into their pen,

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and they weren't there. They're always waiting for me, But

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something was wrong. So I poured the buckets into the

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grain and I went looking for my horses, and.

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I found them. They were frightened, they were scared. They

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blew the air out of their nose.

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They were trying to smell the danger.

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Their tails were up, their heads arched, and I had

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to go and find out what was wrong, what it

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was that was bothering them.

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So I walked on down to the end of the

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fence line, and when I got to the fence, all

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of a sudden, the lights came on in the house

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and I.

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Could hear arguing. I could tell that it was a.

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Man and a woman, but I couldn't make out what

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they were saying. And this was totally unnatural, because this

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family was not confrontational.

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But I could hear, I could hear Pearl's voice, but

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I didn't know what she said. I had no idea

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what had happened. All I remembered was I was scared,

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but I did not know what I was scared of.

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Later that night, Jill set her alarm for nine am,

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just like she always did, but something felt off. There

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was a gap in her memory she couldn't explain. Thirty

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minutes gone vanished from her mind, and like smoke in

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the cold night air. She knew she'd come home, fed,

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the horses, walk the property, but between midnight and twelve thirty,

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there was nothing, just static, just silence, like someone had

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blacked out a reel of film. Yet, if she hoped

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sleep would silence or turmoil, she was very wrong.

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And it was my cousin. They had heard on the

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CBE radio that there was a fire at Pearl's house,

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and she called to tell me that maybe I should

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go over there and help. I'm trained in cardiac life support,

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and I told my cousin I can't go. I can't

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go over there, and she was furious with me why

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I wouldn't go, and I just kept telling her I

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couldn't go. And then then I saw the fire truck

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go by, and I told my cousin, while the fire

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truck is on the way, I hung up, and probably

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five ten minutes later, she called me back to tell

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me that Pearl was dead.

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Immediately after getting the news, Jill called her twin sister, Jane.

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I was living in Minneapolis and in an apartment and

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I got this phone call and Jill was just sobbing,

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just sobbing, and she said that it should have been me.

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It should have been me. I said, Joe, what is

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wrong with you? And she said it should have been me.

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It should have been me.

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Even now, Jill isn't quite sure why she told her

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sister this.

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I don't know. I don't know why I said that,

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but in my mind, I was uncomfortable and I just

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told him it was supposed to have been me. And

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I know I was really uneasy. When I went to

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work at noon, I was obsessed with trying to find

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out how Pearl died. And I talked to the secretary

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at the desk, asking her if she knew how Pearl

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had died. I had to know. There was something inside

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me that I just had to know how she died.

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And the next day I went over to the gas

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station and talked to Pearl's daughter in law and asked

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her write out how did Pearl die? And she told

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me that she was up baking and she had a

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heart attack and when she fell, her clothing caught fire.

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I felt an extreme sense of release. I didn't have

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to worry anymore, I didn't have to know anymore. It

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was just like the weight of the world was lifted

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off my shoulders. And from that point on I never

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remembered anything about Pearl until the end of me.

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We never really know the people around us, neighbors, friends,

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even the strangers we pass in small towns or buy

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things from. Any One of them can end up changing

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the course of our lives forever. Sometimes it's in ways

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we could never imagine. In this story, a single friendship,

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a chance encounter, even a simple exchange of trust would

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ripple outward, linking Jill Houston's life to Pearls in a

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way that would prove tragic. But before we return to

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Pearl's death, I want you to hear from the people

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who knew Pearl, because to understand the danger that crept

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into Jill's life, you first have to understand the woman

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at the center of it all and what she meant

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to those around her. Bill Kromitt was one of Jill's

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oldest friends and also someone who fondly remembered Pearl.

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Yes, Pearl was a relatively large lady, not obese, but heavy.

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Had terrible arthritis in her fingers, as I recall in

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her last years, and it was probably from kneading bread

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and making up all those pine desserts. She was a

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nice looking lady, always well kept. When I was about

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fourteen or about twelve, we moved. We had a summer

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cabin on Whitefish Slate, which was about two miles from

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where Pearl lived. Pearl was the pastry cook at Piney

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Ridge Lodge and the owners of the lodge had a

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son my age, so I spent a lot of time

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in the summers over at Piney Ridge Lodge, and that's

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when I first met Pearl. She would make extra desserts

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for the guests, and then my friend Mickey and I

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would sneak in the back door of the kitchen and

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Pearl would always have cinnamon rolls or pie or some

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kind of treats that she'd slipped to us unbeknownst to

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Mickey's mother, who was the owner of the lodge, and

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that I would say I met Pearl there when I

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was about twelve. I would describe Pearl as a very

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loving lady. She was a bit stoic. I would say

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to the outsiders, but if you got to know her,

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she was very sweet. As time went on and I

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got into high school and we'd moved out to a

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Whitefish Lake on a full time basis, and often when

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I'd go to and from town, I'd stop at Pearl's

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house because I knew she always had pastries on the shelf,

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and she was always always happy to give me a

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glass of milk and a pastry as I passed by.

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Jill's first encounter with Pearl was as a teenager when

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they worked together.

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I met Pearl just before my junior year in high school.

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I got a job at Tiny Ridge Resort, about ten

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miles from my home. Pearl was the head cook there

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and I was a waitress, and she helped me with

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my job. I had to memorize all of my orders.

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I couldn't write anything down and had to come into

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the kitchen and verbally give her all my orders. And

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I managed to get through that in the summer.

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According to Jill's twin sister Jane, as they continued to

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work together, Jill and Pearl's bond deepened.

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She was just a sweetheart, a sweet grandma. How I

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saw Pearl just a sweetheart, so soft spoken and would

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do anything for you, going to church and she's very sweet.

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There was nothing aggressive about Pearl at all. She was

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like Joe loved her.

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And there is no better moment that exemplifies the quiet,

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strong familial bond Jill and Pearl shared than this.

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One day, she made a whole gallon of mayonnaise. It

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took her all day to make it, and she asked

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me to take it to the cooler. I picked up

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the gallon of mayonnaise, walked to the cooler, and when

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I reached for the door, I dropped the mayonnaise onto

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the cement floor. I felt just terrible as I walked

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back into the kitchen and I just looked at her

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and she smiled and never said a word.

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After working together, Jill and Pearl lost touch until years

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later when they became neighbors.

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When I moved back to Pine River in May of

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nineteen eighty nine, I moved right next door to Peruy.

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She came over that week with a pan of her

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fresh homemade donuts and welcomed me to the neighborhood. I

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hadn't seen her for thirty some years, and it was

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so nice to see my former friend.

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Now older, Pearl still had her indomitable spirit, even if

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her body was fighting against the tide of aging.

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She had terrible arthritis in her fingers, as I recall

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in her last years, and it was probably from kneading

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00:15:31.519 --> 00:15:34.799
bread and making all those pine desserts.

237
00:15:36.320 --> 00:15:39.279
Despite living next door to one another, Jill and Pearl

238
00:15:39.399 --> 00:15:42.799
never redeveloped the bond they shared so many years ago.

239
00:15:44.960 --> 00:15:48.039
Even though Pearl and I were neighbors, she lived real

240
00:15:48.159 --> 00:15:51.320
close to me and I didn't get to see her much,

241
00:15:52.039 --> 00:15:56.799
but I did see her family, and I know that

242
00:15:56.879 --> 00:16:02.919
she was well respected in the neighborhood and greatly missed

243
00:16:03.000 --> 00:16:05.840
when she lost her life.

244
00:16:06.000 --> 00:16:09.200
And as dawn crept into that tragic night, Pearl's home

245
00:16:09.360 --> 00:16:12.519
was now a crime scene. One of the first officers

246
00:16:12.519 --> 00:16:16.000
to arrive was a young deputy named DJ Downey. At

247
00:16:16.000 --> 00:16:18.399
the time, he was just another uniform on the scene.

248
00:16:18.799 --> 00:16:21.480
The Downey wouldn't stay in the background for long. He'd

249
00:16:21.519 --> 00:16:24.519
go on to become an investigator and eventually one of

250
00:16:24.559 --> 00:16:26.480
the central figures in this story.

251
00:16:27.080 --> 00:16:30.559
So I was actually a patrolled deputy at the time,

252
00:16:30.960 --> 00:16:35.480
and we got to call in the morning because there

253
00:16:35.519 --> 00:16:37.080
was some kind of delivery guy I don't know if

254
00:16:37.120 --> 00:16:41.360
it was ups or something along the lines that went

255
00:16:41.399 --> 00:16:47.879
to the house and observed that there was something right there,

256
00:16:49.720 --> 00:16:55.240
and then he called it in and the fire department

257
00:16:55.320 --> 00:17:00.399
was called, but the fire was out. It wasn't active

258
00:17:00.399 --> 00:17:05.200
fire when we got there, and so that the fire

259
00:17:05.400 --> 00:17:10.039
was pretty much isolated to just the kitchen area of

260
00:17:10.079 --> 00:17:15.720
the residents. And I believe this was You'd think I

261
00:17:15.720 --> 00:17:17.319
would have even looked at the date, but it seemed

262
00:17:17.359 --> 00:17:22.039
like it was just prior to Christmas or right after Christmas.

263
00:17:22.920 --> 00:17:27.000
The information that we had was that Pearl lived there alone,

264
00:17:27.920 --> 00:17:31.960
elderly lady had been widowed. She had been with her

265
00:17:31.960 --> 00:17:35.880
family the night before, had kind of a family gathering.

266
00:17:35.880 --> 00:17:38.319
He had her over for dinner. She had been dropped

267
00:17:38.319 --> 00:17:40.839
off and had stated that it was her plan to

268
00:17:41.039 --> 00:17:52.279
be doing some baking that night. I would say, well,

269
00:17:52.440 --> 00:17:56.119
she would have been unrecognizable. I mean, her hair, those

270
00:17:56.160 --> 00:17:58.480
types of any hair on her body would have been burned.

271
00:18:01.000 --> 00:18:05.359
She was definitely not just circcumbed to smoke inhalation, but

272
00:18:05.559 --> 00:18:09.039
you know, had some some pretty bad burning to her body.

273
00:18:10.240 --> 00:18:13.480
While Jill would eventually challenge some of the circumstances of

274
00:18:13.519 --> 00:18:16.880
the investigation, even early on, there was one element that

275
00:18:16.960 --> 00:18:19.559
seemed strange to the officers on the scene.

276
00:18:21.880 --> 00:18:25.160
I think the fact that the fire didn't engulf the

277
00:18:25.279 --> 00:18:30.079
entire house. I mean, obviously, I'm not a fireman. I've

278
00:18:30.079 --> 00:18:32.599
never claimed to be a fireman, and you know, I

279
00:18:32.640 --> 00:18:35.759
am aware that you can have circumstances where the oxygen

280
00:18:35.920 --> 00:18:38.319
is it's all burned up by the fire that's there

281
00:18:38.359 --> 00:18:41.839
and it kind of puts itself out. Obviously, anytime there's

282
00:18:41.839 --> 00:18:44.880
a death in a fire, we haven't investigator. Investigators were

283
00:18:44.880 --> 00:18:51.559
called out fire marshal was involved. But I do know,

284
00:18:51.839 --> 00:18:54.880
like you know, the panel was in the oven with

285
00:18:54.880 --> 00:18:59.119
with the char broiled food that had been in there,

286
00:18:59.119 --> 00:19:00.960
like a baking something. I can't remember if it was

287
00:19:01.000 --> 00:19:04.599
cupcakes or cookies or something. I think at the time

288
00:19:04.680 --> 00:19:08.680
we thought it was possible there was like a can

289
00:19:10.039 --> 00:19:11.960
I can't remember for the can of bacon grease or

290
00:19:12.000 --> 00:19:14.519
something like that. Thought maybe she had been cooking something

291
00:19:14.559 --> 00:19:17.119
on the oven and was this a grease fire that

292
00:19:17.240 --> 00:19:19.279
just kind of got out a hand very quick on her.

293
00:19:20.119 --> 00:19:23.400
After Pearl's death, her body was sent for autopsy. The

294
00:19:23.480 --> 00:19:26.720
clinical next step in what the authority still considered an

295
00:19:26.759 --> 00:19:30.640
accident laid out on a cold table under fluorescent light.

296
00:19:30.799 --> 00:19:33.440
Her final story was meant to be read in tissue

297
00:19:33.480 --> 00:19:37.799
and bone, in smoke stained lungs and fragile remains. But

298
00:19:37.920 --> 00:19:41.160
even under the examiner's scalpel, the truth of what happened

299
00:19:41.200 --> 00:19:43.480
that night would not easily reveal itself.

300
00:19:46.160 --> 00:19:49.599
Death investigation one on one with fire dusts is is

301
00:19:49.640 --> 00:19:52.279
there trying or soot in the esophagus, which would tell

302
00:19:52.279 --> 00:19:54.319
you that the person was alive at the time.

303
00:19:54.119 --> 00:19:54.640
Of the fire.

304
00:19:55.640 --> 00:19:58.039
And because if they're alive at the time of the fire,

305
00:19:58.640 --> 00:20:02.440
then you have to have have either someone some kind

306
00:20:02.480 --> 00:20:07.480
of an injury that incapacity to them or a gunshot

307
00:20:07.720 --> 00:20:12.160
or suffocation. You know, you can even find petiki in

308
00:20:12.200 --> 00:20:15.759
the eyes, even on a burned body. So and in

309
00:20:15.799 --> 00:20:19.119
that case there was soot in the airway of pearl.

310
00:20:19.160 --> 00:20:23.920
And so in a case like that, we would kind

311
00:20:23.920 --> 00:20:27.200
of let the circumstances lead us to is this look

312
00:20:27.319 --> 00:20:30.440
like it's more accidental or is it something and someone

313
00:20:30.519 --> 00:20:31.599
intentionally set.

314
00:20:31.480 --> 00:20:38.279
So And unlike so many other ways to commit crime,

315
00:20:38.440 --> 00:20:41.039
there's always an elusive mystery to fire.

316
00:20:42.079 --> 00:20:44.920
I can tell you that every death in a fire,

317
00:20:46.160 --> 00:20:49.799
you can you can make it seem suspicious because fire

318
00:20:50.599 --> 00:20:53.839
does what it's gonna do. There's so many components oxygen,

319
00:20:54.720 --> 00:20:58.759
and you know what kind of things were the kindling

320
00:20:58.799 --> 00:21:00.799
for the fire and all those sorts of things. So

321
00:21:01.480 --> 00:21:05.680
fire deaths they're very tricky. It's not like you can

322
00:21:05.720 --> 00:21:07.880
ever say one dent unless you have a video of

323
00:21:07.960 --> 00:21:11.319
videoing someone, you know, when the fire occurs and them

324
00:21:11.359 --> 00:21:14.200
going down. You're always gonna have people say, well, there's

325
00:21:14.200 --> 00:21:18.599
a chance that someone else started with fire. So this scene,

326
00:21:19.279 --> 00:21:21.000
other than the fact that it didn't burn the whole

327
00:21:21.000 --> 00:21:25.279
house down, I don't remember anything standing out in my

328
00:21:25.359 --> 00:21:33.240
mind fall play. During the initial investigation, nothing was ever considered.

329
00:21:34.279 --> 00:21:37.240
At the time, the police dismissed Pearl's death as nothing

330
00:21:37.279 --> 00:21:40.440
more than a tragic accident. The case was closed, the

331
00:21:40.519 --> 00:21:44.599
questions buried, and life moved on. Jill tried to accept

332
00:21:44.640 --> 00:21:47.559
that version of events, pushing aside her unease the way

333
00:21:47.599 --> 00:21:51.079
one forces a door shut against the wind. For months,

334
00:21:51.119 --> 00:21:53.720
she spoke of it, little thought of it less. But

335
00:21:53.799 --> 00:21:56.799
four months later, during a chance encounter with Pearl's daughter

336
00:21:56.839 --> 00:22:00.680
in law, Carrol, the silence broke memories she had pressed down.

337
00:22:00.880 --> 00:22:03.759
Images she had tried to forget came rushing back with

338
00:22:03.799 --> 00:22:05.640
a force she could no longer ignore.

339
00:22:06.599 --> 00:22:13.920
And it wasn't until me of nineteen ninety four, when

340
00:22:13.960 --> 00:22:16.640
I went back to the gas station to fill up

341
00:22:16.680 --> 00:22:21.960
my truck that I said to her daughter in law

342
00:22:23.359 --> 00:22:26.599
that I was going to Missouri, and she said, we'll

343
00:22:26.599 --> 00:22:30.680
have a good trip, and I told her I would

344
00:22:31.000 --> 00:22:36.799
because I wasn't going near Rochester, where my ex husband lived.

345
00:22:38.799 --> 00:22:43.119
And she said, in her deep voice, does he know

346
00:22:43.279 --> 00:22:47.119
where you live? Does he know what color house you have?

347
00:22:49.240 --> 00:22:52.079
And that kind of threw me back, and I got

348
00:22:52.119 --> 00:22:55.720
into my truck, and as I was driving home, I

349
00:22:55.880 --> 00:23:00.160
was getting more agitated, and I was actually getting angry

350
00:23:00.200 --> 00:23:05.240
at Carol. And by the time I got home, I

351
00:23:05.400 --> 00:23:08.440
was crying, and I went to the phone and I

352
00:23:08.559 --> 00:23:11.319
called her up and I screamed at her.

353
00:23:12.240 --> 00:23:15.799
I said, you told me she died of a heart attack,

354
00:23:17.680 --> 00:23:23.200
and Carol said, no, Jill, we just wanted people to

355
00:23:23.359 --> 00:23:29.000
know that, so we told them that she was up

356
00:23:29.039 --> 00:23:33.880
baking and that she died of a heart attack. And

357
00:23:34.000 --> 00:23:40.079
from that point on, my mind was just engrossed in

358
00:23:40.359 --> 00:23:46.279
trying to remember what happened. And I made my trip

359
00:23:46.359 --> 00:23:49.240
to Missouri, and all the way down I was talking

360
00:23:49.279 --> 00:23:51.759
to my friend and then.

361
00:23:51.599 --> 00:23:54.559
It dawned on her there had been two men at

362
00:23:54.559 --> 00:23:58.200
Pearl's house that night. The memory was fragmented, little more

363
00:23:58.319 --> 00:24:01.480
than a flash, but it was under deniable. Two men

364
00:24:01.799 --> 00:24:04.319
that was all she could recall, Yet it was enough

365
00:24:04.359 --> 00:24:07.839
to change everything. When Jill returned home, the weight of

366
00:24:07.880 --> 00:24:10.720
it pressed so heavily that she knew she had to act.

367
00:24:11.119 --> 00:24:13.440
She needed to call the Sheriff's office to make an

368
00:24:13.480 --> 00:24:16.400
appointment with a deputy and finally tell someone what she

369
00:24:16.519 --> 00:24:19.240
remembered that there were two men at Pearl's house the

370
00:24:19.359 --> 00:24:23.400
night she died. Worse still, she suddenly realized she knew

371
00:24:23.440 --> 00:24:24.160
who they were.

372
00:24:26.640 --> 00:24:31.920
When I started to remember the two guys at Pearl's house,

373
00:24:33.440 --> 00:24:39.559
I gradually remembered the one in particular, the short guy

374
00:24:40.559 --> 00:24:44.200
was actually a partner of my husband's, and the other

375
00:24:44.319 --> 00:24:47.440
guy I had met, but I couldn't place him right

376
00:24:47.519 --> 00:24:54.519
at first, and I figured at this recognizing them, that

377
00:24:54.599 --> 00:24:57.640
it would have to have been my ex husband that

378
00:24:57.920 --> 00:25:02.000
sent them to Pearls Pearl's house When they went to

379
00:25:02.039 --> 00:25:03.240
the wrong house.

380
00:25:05.240 --> 00:25:09.079
Jill immediately leapt into action. From Carol, Pearl's daughter in law,

381
00:25:09.200 --> 00:25:11.119
she was told who was in charge of the case.

382
00:25:11.519 --> 00:25:15.359
Jill drove immediately to meet the investigator, but emotions soon

383
00:25:15.480 --> 00:25:17.000
overtook her.

384
00:25:17.599 --> 00:25:22.680
When we got to the police station, I couldn't talk.

385
00:25:23.880 --> 00:25:27.720
I sat there crying, and I must have made a

386
00:25:27.720 --> 00:25:31.799
fool of myself because I wanted to tell him so

387
00:25:32.039 --> 00:25:37.759
bad who was there? And I had so much trouble talking.

388
00:25:37.839 --> 00:25:39.319
I guess I was hysterical.

389
00:25:42.240 --> 00:25:46.039
But slowly, through tears and gasps, the truth Jill had

390
00:25:46.039 --> 00:25:48.799
buried surfaced.

391
00:25:48.960 --> 00:25:52.200
In the house. I recognized the voice of Pearl, but

392
00:25:52.359 --> 00:25:55.440
not the man that she was talking to. I could

393
00:25:55.480 --> 00:25:58.400
tell she was upset, but I couldn't make out what

394
00:25:58.480 --> 00:26:03.640
she was saying. And then a small man came out

395
00:26:03.680 --> 00:26:06.400
of the house, and he walked to the end of

396
00:26:06.440 --> 00:26:10.079
the deck and he lit a cigarette, and then he

397
00:26:10.160 --> 00:26:14.119
walked back towards the door the south on the south

398
00:26:14.200 --> 00:26:16.599
side of the house, and it was like he was

399
00:26:16.680 --> 00:26:19.400
trying to hear what was going on in the house,

400
00:26:19.440 --> 00:26:22.720
because he would walk back and forth towards the door.

401
00:26:23.440 --> 00:26:26.920
And then all of a sudden, there was a huge explosion.

402
00:26:27.480 --> 00:26:31.000
It was a crack, and the host guy lit up.

403
00:26:32.319 --> 00:26:35.920
It sounded like somebody had slammed a screen door.

404
00:26:37.200 --> 00:26:40.640
For the police, the case was settled. Pearl's death written

405
00:26:40.680 --> 00:26:44.079
off as a tragic accident, So when Jill suddenly returned

406
00:26:44.079 --> 00:26:47.799
with a news story, they were surprised, even suspicious. Why

407
00:26:47.839 --> 00:26:50.759
had she stayed silent for so long? Why did her

408
00:26:50.799 --> 00:26:54.799
memories change now? Crowing County Attorney Don Ryan says such

409
00:26:54.839 --> 00:26:58.680
occurrences aren't all that out of the ordinary, but.

410
00:27:00.240 --> 00:27:03.400
Say that we had had other cases where people had

411
00:27:03.440 --> 00:27:06.240
blocked things out, if you will, using my terminology, not

412
00:27:06.279 --> 00:27:09.720
the medical professionals terminology, and then at a later point

413
00:27:09.839 --> 00:27:14.440
will remember something, or they might remember a little bit upfront,

414
00:27:14.519 --> 00:27:17.519
and then they'll remember more later. And I know there's

415
00:27:17.559 --> 00:27:23.119
all kinds of debate about it, holl And there's evidence

416
00:27:23.119 --> 00:27:25.119
of support that, you know, you can change a person's

417
00:27:25.160 --> 00:27:27.519
memory or recollection based upon how you question it and

418
00:27:27.559 --> 00:27:30.160
you give them the data, and particularly if you're an

419
00:27:30.240 --> 00:27:32.440
expert in that kind of area and stuff like that.

420
00:27:33.359 --> 00:27:35.720
So I wouldn't say it's really common, but it's not

421
00:27:35.880 --> 00:27:38.839
unusual for someone to have delayed recollection as far as

422
00:27:38.880 --> 00:27:39.519
I'm concerned.

423
00:27:41.640 --> 00:27:45.119
But to DJ Downey and the other investigators, Jill's news

424
00:27:45.160 --> 00:27:47.880
stories seemed highly improbable.

425
00:27:47.559 --> 00:27:52.599
From reading the reports in the case file. Investigator Larson,

426
00:27:52.640 --> 00:27:54.799
who was the investigator at the time he's not retired.

427
00:27:56.240 --> 00:28:00.240
He was contacted by miss Houston, I want to say,

428
00:28:00.279 --> 00:28:05.960
four to six months after this fire occurred, and the

429
00:28:06.000 --> 00:28:08.839
information she had to share with us was all based

430
00:28:08.920 --> 00:28:18.759
upon a dream that she stated she had, And I

431
00:28:18.759 --> 00:28:22.119
can say that that's not necessarily the most credible thing

432
00:28:22.240 --> 00:28:24.960
that we have to go on when we're looking to

433
00:28:25.160 --> 00:28:28.640
open up a death investigation or reopen up a death investigation.

434
00:28:28.720 --> 00:28:31.680
But I do know that Investigator Larsen tried to take

435
00:28:31.720 --> 00:28:35.160
what she had to say, but weighed on the facts

436
00:28:35.160 --> 00:28:39.000
that she was giving at the time, and it was

437
00:28:39.039 --> 00:28:42.680
his determination, as well as the county attorney at that time,

438
00:28:43.240 --> 00:28:51.880
that nothing warranted for their investigation by our office until later. Obviously,

439
00:28:51.920 --> 00:28:59.440
with trauma, you can have repressed memories that will come out.

440
00:29:00.279 --> 00:29:06.759
But this isn't a situation where missus Houston said, oh,

441
00:29:06.799 --> 00:29:10.039
I didn't hear anything that night, or came forward that night,

442
00:29:10.160 --> 00:29:14.240
or had concerns that night, or it wasn't just a

443
00:29:14.440 --> 00:29:17.799
matter of her memory coming back to her. She inserted

444
00:29:17.799 --> 00:29:22.759
her into this, asserted herself in this investigation all of

445
00:29:22.759 --> 00:29:26.720
a sudden six months later and was like hey, and

446
00:29:26.759 --> 00:29:30.079
then again, it wasn't this is my memory. It was

447
00:29:30.359 --> 00:29:32.599
I had a dream that this was my memory.

448
00:29:33.559 --> 00:29:36.960
Jill's passionate belief that Pearl was murdered was not enough

449
00:29:37.000 --> 00:29:39.359
to move forward in the eyes of the law. According

450
00:29:39.359 --> 00:29:42.759
to Crowing County Attorney Don Ryan, will not the county

451
00:29:42.839 --> 00:29:45.640
attorney at the time of Pearl's death, he still sheds

452
00:29:45.720 --> 00:29:49.119
light on the steps taken to classify a death as murder.

453
00:29:49.640 --> 00:29:52.480
I need to, as the county attorney and the head

454
00:29:52.480 --> 00:29:55.039
prosecutor for crow and County, at least for felonies and

455
00:29:55.079 --> 00:29:59.480
things like that, make determination whether ethically we believe we

456
00:29:59.519 --> 00:30:02.079
can pros get someone because we have a sufficient evidence.

457
00:30:02.759 --> 00:30:07.799
Some of that will be a determination of the credibility

458
00:30:07.839 --> 00:30:11.119
of evidence, not necessarily the credibility of an individual. Just

459
00:30:11.119 --> 00:30:14.559
because we believe the evidence doesn't support what individual A

460
00:30:14.599 --> 00:30:17.519
is saying, but it's more supportable individual be a saying,

461
00:30:17.680 --> 00:30:21.200
for instance, doesn't mean that we're being negative in respect

462
00:30:21.240 --> 00:30:24.000
to any individual. But we have to weigh the evidence.

463
00:30:24.039 --> 00:30:25.799
What can we prove in court? Is there proof being

464
00:30:25.880 --> 00:30:28.119
a reasonable doctor prosecute.

465
00:30:27.839 --> 00:30:30.960
For the law enforcement of crow Wing County, Jill's story

466
00:30:31.000 --> 00:30:36.160
did not meet those markers. Pearl's death remained accidental for

467
00:30:36.240 --> 00:30:38.960
Don Ryan, dealing with people like Jill was just part

468
00:30:39.000 --> 00:30:40.839
of what came with being a prosecutor.

469
00:30:40.880 --> 00:30:43.839
It's not unusual for people to come in and push

470
00:30:44.079 --> 00:30:48.000
In fact, some of the hardest things for any county attorney.

471
00:30:48.079 --> 00:30:50.079
But for me to do is when I have to

472
00:30:50.079 --> 00:30:53.880
meet with someone and explain to them why I'm not

473
00:30:53.920 --> 00:30:56.720
going to prosecute the person that just ran their mother over,

474
00:30:57.200 --> 00:31:00.319
who was jogging at sunset in a dark suit farm

475
00:31:00.359 --> 00:31:02.640
of a car, and the person hadn't been drinking, wasn't

476
00:31:02.640 --> 00:31:04.920
on their phone, and just didn't have time to react

477
00:31:04.920 --> 00:31:09.079
in this the horrible tragedy, but it's not something that's

478
00:31:09.279 --> 00:31:12.440
a crime. So and I've done that way more than

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ever think about. Unfortunately, it happens. It comes with the territory.

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We've also prosecuted a lot of murders in my thirty

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years as well.

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But as unbelievable as Jill's story first sounds, could it

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be true. Could Pearl's death have been miscategorized as an

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accident instead of murder, and had her murderers gone to

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the wrong place a terrible mistake of address and chance

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00:31:39.279 --> 00:31:42.839
when their true target was Jill. Worse still, could the

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mastermind behind this murder be the person Jill had loved

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more than anyone, the man who had haunted her long

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00:31:49.359 --> 00:31:53.039
after their marriage ended, The one figure who terrified her

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00:31:53.079 --> 00:31:58.680
more than anyone else, her ex husband ed Next Time,

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00:31:58.960 --> 00:32:05.079
Unmurdered by Mistake, Men, lies, and money, How Jill's marriage

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00:32:05.119 --> 00:32:08.039
to Ed unraveled, and how the financial betrayal that nearly

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00:32:08.119 --> 00:32:11.039
ruined her may have set the stage for murderer.

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Murdered by Mistake is a production of Voyage Media. The

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00:32:17.799 --> 00:32:20.880
series is produced by Nat Mendel and Dan Benemore. Executive

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00:32:20.880 --> 00:32:25.039
produced by Jill Houston. Investigated lead, reported and written by

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00:32:25.079 --> 00:32:29.559
Ryan Dixon, Edited, sound design and mixed by Nick Misciti.

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00:32:30.079 --> 00:32:33.599
Original music by Derls Gonzales. If you're enjoying the show,

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00:32:34.079 --> 00:32:36.640
please give us a five star review on Apple Podcasts

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00:32:36.720 --> 00:32:39.839
or anywhere you're listening, and subscribe now for future episodes.

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00:32:40.440 --> 00:32:43.200
The podcast is based on Jill's book of the same name,

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00:32:43.319 --> 00:32:44.599
which is available on Amazon.

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00:32:45.000 --> 00:32:46.319
A link is in the show notes.

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Murdered by Mistake is based on the testimony a memoir

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00:32:50.960 --> 00:32:54.640
of Jill Houston, as well as independent reporting by Ryan Dixon.

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00:32:55.200 --> 00:32:57.480
At every step of the way, We've attempted to corroborate

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00:32:57.599 --> 00:33:00.240
Jill's account and you'll hear that in interviews with people

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00:33:00.240 --> 00:33:03.960
who disagreed with her version of events. Ultimately, the truth

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00:33:04.319 --> 00:33:07.440
is up to you, the listener. Our role is to

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give you all the information and let you decide