The Trail Went Cold - Episode 58 - The Mathis Family Murders

The Trail Went Cold

Robin Warder

True Crime, Tv & Film

4.5 • 3.2K Ratings

🗓️ 7 February 2018

⏱️ 46 minutes

🔗️ Recording | iTunes | RSS

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Summary

September 8, 1981. Mount Vernon, South Dakota. 30-year old John Mathis contacts police to inform them that he has been shot in the arm after a struggle with a masked attacker on his farm. When police arrive, they discover that John’s wife, LaDonna Mathis, and their two children, four-year old Brian and two-year old Patrick, have been shot to death. While John claims the masked attacker was responsible, investigators find a number of discrepancies in his story. John is eventually charged with murdering his wife and two sons, but when he goes on trial, the jury acquits him. Were LaDonna, Brian and Patrick actually killed by an unknown assailant? Or did John Mathis get away with the murder of his family? We examine both sides of this harrowing and controversial case on this week’s episode of “The Trail Went Cold”. Additional Reading: http://www.mitchellrepublic.com/news/crime-and-courts/1538088-mathis-murders-30-years-later-some-authorities-remain-convinced-john http://www.mitchellrepublic.com/news/crime-and-courts/1538125-surviving-mathis-child-says-father-innocent-murders http://rapidcityjournal.com/twenty-years-later-mathis-case-still-unsolved/article_299e6074-bda0-5dc0-aa19-1eb0ab8f0728.html https://www.upi.com/Archives/1981/09/09/Survivor-of-multiple-slaying-making-sense-sheriff-says/8257368856000/ “The Trail Went Cold” will be appearing on podcast row at CrimeCon 2018 from May 4th-6th at the Gaylord Opryland hotel in Nashville. Listeners can receive a 10% discount on their ticket purchase by using the code “TTWC”. The Trail Went Cold is produced and edited by Magill Foote. All music is composed by Vince Nitro.

Transcript

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0:00.0	September 8th
0:02.0	1981
0:04.0	Mount Vernon, South Dakota
0:08.0	30 year old John Math has contacts police
0:11.0	to inform them he has been shot in the arm after a struggle with a mass attack. attacks police
0:13.7	to inform them he has been shot in the arm after a struggle with a mass attacker on his farm.
0:16.7	When police arrive, they discover that John's wife,
0:19.8	Ladonimathis, and their two children, four-year-old Brian and two-year-old Patrick, have been shot to death.
0:27.0	Well, John claims the masked attacker was responsible.
0:30.0	Investigators find a number of discrepancies in his story and he is eventually charged with murdering his wife and two sons.
0:37.0	However, John is acquitted of the crimes at trial, so the mathis family murders officially remain unsolved.
0:45.0	After that, the trail went cold. Oh, uh, yeah. Oh, uh, uh,
0:55.0	uh, and uh, and uh,
0:56.0	and uh,
0:57.0	uh,
0:58.0	uh, uh, uh, uh,
1:01.0	uh, uh, uh, uh, uh, and uh, uh, and uh, uh, yeah. Ah, uh, uh, uh, uh,
1:14.0	uh, okay. Oh, uh, Hello everyone and welcome to the latest episode of the Trail went cold.
1:30.0	I'm your host Robin Warder and today we will be covering a particularly horrific crime, the
1:35.7	1981 murders of Laudana Mathis and her two sons, Brian and Patrick.
1:41.6	This is actually the first episode we've done about the unsolved murder of a family, and it's a pretty unique story.
1:47.0	The patriarch of this family, John Mathis, claimed that he got into a struggle with an unidentified assailant who killed his wife and children, but the authorities did not buy his story and charged him with the murders.
	...

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