In a homicide investigation, determining the identity of the victim is an obvious and crucial step in the pursuit of justice.

Without knowing whose murder they're investigating, authorities can't really

bring anyone to trial or even fully investigate.

In the case of 34-year-old Vermont veteran Ronald Rogers, a family member positively ID'd

his body, found shot and on fire on a July night on Killington Mountain in 1971. But the accused killer's defense team aimed to convince the jury

that the identity of the deceased man wasn't an indisputable fact. If you haven't yet, listen to part one of Ronald Roger's story on

Dark Down East. It's the episode just before this one. In the conclusion of his story, you'll hear the wild court proceedings, the shocking evidence,

and the alternate theory about what happened as the defense attempted to convince the jury and the public that maybe

Ronald Rogers was actually the killer himself. I'm Kylie Lowe and this is the case of Ronald Rogers part two on Dark Down East. It was 10.30 p.m. the night before the 4th of July in 1971 when a father and son discovered the badly burned body of a man down over an embankment off

Roaring Brook Road in Killington, Vermont. A family member later identified the man

as 34-year-old veteran Ronald Rogers.

Further investigation and an autopsy revealed

that he had been killed by several shotgun blasts

and the fire was set after his death. His death was ruled a homicide from the very

beginning and the search for potential suspects started in earnest.

Detectives released limited information about the evidence, including the stomach contents of the victim, in hopes of tracking Ronald Rogers' last movements on the night of his death.

But the case stalled out for several years until new information brought to light in 1974 led to an

arrest warrant for a man named Robert Goshay, a former taxi driver in Rutland, Vermont.

Although the arrest warrant was a promising development in the homicide investigation,

authorities had to locate Robert Goshay first.

It took three more years to track him down in Texas

and get him back to Vermont to stand trial.

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