One afternoon in February of 2007, a man walked across an icy parking lot to the front door of a police station in Maraville, Indiana.

Next to him was a police officer whose job it was to make sure this man actually went inside the station.

Now, this man was very nervous. There was a warrant out for his arrest on a drug charge, and he'd been brought

here to get questioned and then processed. But he hoped he'd actually get to leave again

right away because he had critical information about this murder case from four years ago,

and he intended on trading that information for his freedom. And he was sure this was going to work,

since what he knew was not just a tip. This was a bombshell. But before we get into today's story,

if you're a fan of the Strange, Dark, and Mysterious, delivered in story format, then you come to the

right show, because that's all we do. So if that's of interest to you,

please invite the follow button to the most expensive restaurant in town and have this amazing five-star meal.

But make sure you leave before the bill arrives.

Okay, let's get into today's story.

Okay, let's get into today's story. On the afternoon of April 17, 2003, 33, 33-year-old John Parker Jr. sat at his desk in his office at

J&J Parker Industries in Mariville, Indiana. He was looking over some paperwork and hoping he would get

at least a few minutes without any interruptions to finish reading it.

Because in John's world, a few minutes were hard to find. John was the owner of J&J, which was a consulting company dedicated to training people to sell high-end vacuums.

Now, vacuums were not glamorous, but his company was really successful,

and running it was a lot of work. He was on his feet all day managing about 25 employees and

solving constant problems, and he usually did not get much quiet time to do things like paperwork.

And even though John did complain about this, the truth was he actually loved

being busy. He'd always been a very hard worker. He'd started in the vacuum business as a

door-to-door salesman, and even though everyone told him there was no money in vacuums, he'd prove them

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