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or you can get all of History Daily plus other fantastic history podcasts at into History.com. It's August 14th, 1978 in Kansas City, Missouri.

James Lewis is hard at work at his home office.

As a 32-year-old accountant, his life is a constant stream of receipts, pay stubs, and forms.

The heat of the Midwestern summer doesn't make his work any less tedious.

Every few seconds his electric fan stirs the thick air and sends the corners of his papers fluttering.

James is finishing up work for one of his clients when he's startled by a knock on his front door.

Getting up, he heads down the hallway to answer it.

And on his front porch are two police officers.

This is an unusual sight, but not totally unexpected.

A few weeks ago, James was invited down to the station

to answer some questions about a friend who'd gone missing, Raymond West.

James happily submitted to the interview and told the police plenty of what he knew about Raymond.

Now he assumes they've come to give him an update on the case.

But James isn't even finished greeting the officers

before they tell him they're placing him under arrest for murder.

The police put James in handcuffs and lead him to the squad car.

As he's guided into the back seat, James looks back at his house, his thoughts racing.

He retraces his steps trying to piece together how he got into this mess.

He doesn't know what the cops have on him, but it must be something big.

...