Jesse Valencia - 605
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How are you doing tonight, Aaron? I think I'm doing pretty good, but how are you today? I'm doing good. The people want to know. It's always a good day. And as we record this, I know this will come out much later, but as we record this, we're seeing all the Spotify wrapped info coming out for every account. So many people have followed us and listened to us all year long, and we're getting lots of love from the audience today. It's pretty nice. Yeah. Thank you so much. We have a lot of love from the audience.

We have some events coming up. I, myself, will be at AdvocacyCon in Indianapolis, Indiana, March 28th through the 30th in 2025. Yes, we're already almost to the next year. Go out to their website, advocacycon.com, and use code GYNY10. Also, Aaron and I will be in London June 7th through the 8th for CrimeCon UK. Use our code GYNY10.

Gen Y for your ticket. And just so you're aware, Justin, this is the new year, according to when this episode releases in 2025. But this is why we record ahead of time. So we are prepared. And if Justin comes down with COVID or I don't know, I go into a coma, then we're good for a while. And you'll still hear our soothing voices every week. We'd

We don't want to miss. Also, a little bit of sad news. Alex, who had an account on Instagram, True Crime and Snack Time, she was a big podcast listener and she loved Generation Y. We heard from her friend T that she sadly passed away in September of 2024, which at this point was just a few months ago. So a shout out to T and to Alex. And we're so very sorry to hear that.

So Aaron, tonight's case is a kind of a wild one. Suspect isn't somebody that most people would think of, go to. This case happened here in Columbia, Missouri, which is just, I don't know, an hour and a half from where we live. And it's a sad one that I did not know about until this week when we started researching and covering it. So what are we talking about tonight?

Tonight, we're talking about the June 5th, 2004 murder of 23-year-old college student Jesse Valencia in Columbia, Missouri. He was killed just a block away from his apartment.

Jesse Valencia was originally from Prairieville, Kentucky. At the time of his death, he was a junior. He was a history major at University of Missouri-Columbia. Jesse wanted to be a lawyer one day, and he had published editorial work in local newspapers.

Jesse's mother described him as a free spirit, a social butterfly. He talked to his mother about everything. They had a very close relationship, and Jesse was openly gay. His mother, Linda Valencia, told Dateline he was really outgoing and outspoken. He was the type of boy that would tell you exactly what he thought, and if you didn't like hearing it, he would try to sugarcoat it a little bit for you, but he would always tell you exactly how he felt about something.

Jesse was the first to go to college in his family. He did well in school and had a lot of friends. And like most college students, he enjoyed partying. And he would attend these parties with friends. There's a lot of photos out there with him. I guess they would dress up for a lot of these parties. They're like kind of masquerades or Halloween parties and stuff and themed parties, if you will. Seems like a really fun guy.

Since August of 2003, Jesse had been living in an apartment near the campus. On June 4th, 2004, Jesse's landlord spoke to him about his overdue rent. Now, Jesse left a partial payment in the mailbox and an apologetic note. He's trying to smooth things over. And he said he intended to pay the rest by June 18th.

But on June 5th, 2004, 23-year-old Jesse Valencia was found dead, partially clothed, and lying in the grass between two houses near the campus of the University of Missouri. And for those not familiar, University of Missouri, that is Columbia, Missouri. That's where it's at. And I've been there a number of times. Have you been out there, Justin? Oh, yeah. I know people out there.

So Jesse was found after 2 p.m. near Wilson Avenue and William Street, which was a block west of his apartment. MU student Matt Finnecon and a few friends were standing in a parking lot preparing to leave for a trip when he saw Jesse's body sprawled on his back. And this student said he was awake until 3.30 that morning, but never heard anything unusual outside of his bedroom window, which was just six feet from where Jesse was found.

That's scary, right? Normally, you can hear everything going on, especially on these apartments, college campuses. You know, you can't get any sleep because of the partying. But now he's found a body right outside his window, and he didn't hear anything. The police discovered that Jesse's apartment door had been left open. It appeared he was trying to flee.

He didn't have any clothes on. He was wearing only his boxers. So police assumed that he was chased down and his assailant grabbed him and cut his throat. Jesse's body was covered in bruises on his back, chest, and jaw. Jesse's neighbor told the police he heard an argument coming from Jesse's apartment around 4 a.m. Jesse was found wearing only boxer shorts. But

But witnesses said that he was fully dressed when he walked home from the party from another building in the neighborhood between 3 and 3.30 a.m. So obviously, he was disrobed or he had gotten home and taken his clothes off. So they're assuming that he was running from somebody.

Special prosecutor Morley Swingle, after hearing from the medical examiner, told Oxygen that the cut to Jesse's neck was so deep, the blade of the knife nicked his spine.

Now, a day after Jesse was found dead, a young man named Andy Schermerhorn was questioned by the police because he said he knew Jesse was having an affair with a police officer. In her report, Officer Letitia Stroher noticed that Schermerhorn was nervous and afraid of the officer involved in the affair. So he obviously is saying, I know stuff, but I'm afraid to speak because he knows he's giving information to an officer who probably is familiar with this other officer.

But of course, he's being told, look, this officer won't know your name. They're not going to see the report. So he went on to identify patrolman Steven Rios by looking through a department yearbook, meaning he didn't know his name, but he could identify him if he saw his picture, which he did. Schermerhorn explained that on May 14th, he was at Jesse's apartment and an officer showed up in uniform. He said the three of them had a consensual sexual encounter.

Afterwards, the officer said this had to remain a secret. Not only did he identify him from the department yearbook, but it said that when he went to the police department and was following the officer to report this, Rios walked by them and he recognized him in person in the hallway and it freaked him out.

Well, records showed that Rios checked police dispatch on June 5th. The prosecution would later argue this was evidence that he wanted to see whether someone had found Jesse's body. Now, of course, Rios, and we're getting a little ahead here, but we just want to set the scene. Rios argued that records showed he often checked dispatch records on his days off because he participated in various charities. Now, Rios did go to the crime scene to help identify the body because he previously arrested Jesse.

He told the sergeant on duty he knew the victim from a prior incident. Officer Rios volunteered to guard Jesse's body and the crime scene after the murder.

After a few days, the Crime Stoppers tip line received calls that raised suspicion. Witnesses said Jesse had a sexual relationship with a police officer. And it said that Jesse met Officer Steven Rios April 18th, 2004. Officer Rios was responding to a peace disturbance call at a campus party, like they do. And according to Oxygen, Jesse asked him for probable cause, like,

What are you doing here? I'm not going to let you in. And Jesse was arrested. One article by the Columbia Daily Tribune states that Stephen Rios joined the Columbia Police Department in 1999. This article also states that he worked as a safety officer at the Columbia Regional Airport until September of 2000. Another article states that he became a Columbia police officer in 2001.

Now, the thing to know about Stephen Rios is not only is he a police officer, but he's also a married man since 2002. And by 2004, he had a son who was just a few months old.

Now, at the time of the arrest, when Officer Rios had arrested Jesse, it was for obstructing a government operation, meaning, I'm here to investigate this loud party and you would not allow me in, so therefore I'm arresting you for obstruction.

During the drive to the station, Officer Rios asked Jesse very personal questions. And the following day, Officer Rios came to Jesse's apartment unannounced. He said he had more questions that needed to be answered, and this was the beginning of their relationship. Officer Rios had come to Jesse's apartment multiple times, sometimes while on duty for sexual encounters.

Jesse's friend, Joan Sheridan, confirmed that Jesse saw Rios multiple times, and he came to his apartment just for sex. So this is a very at-an-arm's-reach relationship here.

Jesse expected that his ticket would be dismissed because of his relationship with this officer, but it wasn't. And of course, Jesse got kind of pissed about this. Jesse told his friend Joan, the next time the police officer comes over, I'm going to tell him that I have a little secret the chief of police might want to know about. Because, hey, you arrested me. You're charging me with this crime. Now we're having a relationship. It's complicated.

kind of assumed, you know, I'm doing this so you'll help me out. And now Jesse's finding out that the charges are going through and that's not cool for Jesse. Yeah, I don't know if he's doing it just for that, but you would think, hey, we're having a relationship now. Wouldn't you look out for me? But that doesn't seem to be the case.

So he told his friend Patrick Rogers about the affair, but he wouldn't say the officer's name. But Jesse actually was like, hey, it's going pretty well. Because according to Jesse, this is a relationship and not just purely sex. When Jesse learned the officer was married, he then told his mother he knew the relationship was wrong and he wasn't going to see him anymore. He

He told his mother, Linda, he was afraid of this officer because he had become abusive and threatening. So Jesse is arrested by this man. Jesse starts a relationship. Jesse's not happy because the charges are still pending. Now Jesse's finding out that this man's married and he's cheating on his wife.

Now, there were other persons of interest. There were other potential suspects. A few days before he was killed, Jesse met a chef named Ed McDevitt at a local club. Now, Ed was questioned, and he admitted that he and Jesse had sex less than 48 hours before the murder. Friends saw them together at a party the night he died, but Ed insisted he was innocent.

Ed's roommate, Eric Thurston, was open about his dislike for Jesse, which also made him a person of interest. He said something like, I wouldn't care if he was dead. Another potential suspect was Zev, a 19-year-old son of a rabbi. Jesse's friends said he often referred to Zev as his boy toy. And Zev tried to call Jesse several times the night he died, but Zev insisted that they were just friends.

Ed McDevitt, he was on the police radar from almost the beginning because there were phone calls between him and Jesse. Zev was also on the radar from the beginning because he was the one calling Jesse the night of. There are mugshots of Ed out there. And I feel bad for McDevitt because I'm like, you have a relationship with somebody who's murdered

Now your face is out there forever, whether you are the actual murderer or not.

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Former Columbia police officer Randy Boehm said that when the tips first came in that Jesse was having an affair with an officer, he doubted it. He didn't think it was true. But that all changed when Rios set up a voluntary interview. That interview took place June 8, 2004. And there, Rios told Detective John Short he arrested Jesse, but he denied having an affair with him. But he was confronted with the fact that witnesses had identified him.

According to a report, Rios became visibly upset. His eyes began to water and he started to cry. And it's here that Rios admitted to the affair, but said his last contact with Jesse was over a week before June 5th. And of course, he denied committing murder. Rios explained that on the night of the murder, he worked his normal shift, had a beer with some other officers on the roof of the police station, and went home

around 5 a.m. And because there's no physical evidence at this point tying Rios to this crime, no charges were filed. When local news started reporting on the affair, Rios was forced to tell his wife.

Officer Steven Rios was put on paid leave in June of 2004. Chief Randy Boehm said Rios had been thoroughly investigated, and the Columbia PD had no evidence to indicate he was a suspect. And at this time, Rios decided to visit his father in Virginia. He had prior approval for this, but he missed his flight.

Apparently, he was having a breakdown. He went to a Walmart near Kansas City, purchased a shotgun, and threatened to kill himself. He called his mother-in-law, Suzanne Sullivan, and threatened to kill himself. He then spoke to a detective and said he did something really stupid. He also said, did you see the papers? I cannot work here. I have to leave the city. I hope the media all burn in hell.

Rios also called Captain Zim Schwartz and said he had done a bad thing and was in Kansas City and had purchased a shotgun. The captain pleaded with him to come back, and so Rios returned to Columbia and was taken into protective custody, and then he was put on a 96-hour hold at a mental facility.

It's June 11th, just a couple days later. Rios escaped protective custody and climbed onto the roof of a parking garage. He threatened to jump, but was eventually talked down. Less than two hours before Rios stepped down from the ledge, detectives finished searching his home. So Rios has essentially made two attempts on his life. His life is crumbling around him, and...

And you could say, well, he got caught having an affair, but he's already said, I did something really stupid. And he's trying to take his own life. Seems to be a little bit more to the story than just having an affair on his wife.

Yeah. And that's why Chief Randy Boehm came out and confirmed that Stephen Rios was the officer who tipsters were saying was having an affair with Jesse. And the captain said he only decided to release Rios' name after his recent actions, saying, I think it's very obvious that last night's incident is related. So now the chief is saying they're reevaluating his status in the investigation. They're not saying he's a suspect, but it seems like he's a person of interest.

Rios will resign from the Columbia Police Department June 16th of 2004 because he's pretty much being forced out. And he's maintaining his innocence. He's saying, I didn't kill Jesse. You have the wrong person. On July 1st of 2004, Rios was charged with first-degree murder and armed criminal action.

It turns out that Rios' DNA was found under Jesse's right fingernails, and several of Rios' arm hairs were found on Jesse's chest. The DNA under Jesse's fingernails also matched another suspect, but he was not being pursued. And I just want to talk about this real quick. There were multiple DNA profiles under his fingernails, but the arm hair on his chest was in blood.

So one time, Aaron, we were talking about another case and I said, hey, just because somebody's fingerprints are found at the crime, does it mean that they committed the crime? And you said, but what if their fingerprint is found in blood? And I'm like, well, that changes everything. And Rios' arm hair was found stuck to blood on Jesse's chest. That puts that arm hair at the scene of the crime when it happened.

Prosecutor Morley Swingle said Rios' DNA was also found on Jesse's bedsheets. According to a DNA expert listed in the probable cause statement, it is unlikely DNA would remain under someone's fingernails for more than a week if they washed their hands regularly. This was evidence that Rios had come into contact with Jesse outside of sex. However, in the CPD investigative report obtained by CoMU 8 News in 2012,

Kim Gorman from the Paternity Testing Corporation told investigators it would be impossible for her to speculate how long the DNA would stay under the nail. If we're talking about hairs found in blood, that's pretty unique, and it's something that will get investigators looking squarely at this officer.

And they were looking at the wounds on Jesse's throat. And in this probable cause statement, they included details that Rios often carried a clip-on folding knife. Investigators believe that this was the murder weapon used to cut Jesse's throat, but it was never found. And I heard it was a Spyderco knife, which is a pretty common utility knife that police officers buy and use. But

But they were looking at this known knife that he had owned and said, the cut marks could probably have been made with this knife. And it wouldn't be very likely, I would think, that that knife would just go missing. Obviously, a lot of police officers probably carry this type of knife, so that could bring in some doubt.

So Stephen Rios goes to trial May 17, 2005, and the prosecution argued that on the night of the murder, Rios went to Jesse's apartment. Jesse threatened to expose the affair, and it started an argument. Jesse ran outside to escape him, but Rios, who is obviously very angry, chased him down and put him in a chokehold that rendered him unconscious. Then he cut Jesse's throat and fled. Rios' DNA got under Jesse's nails during the struggle.

and Rios' arm hairs transferred to Jesse's chest when he used a common police chokehold on him. Officers in Rios' class were taught the unilateral vascular neck restraint. The medical examiner testified that Jesse could have died from his neck restraint.

It's a sleeper hold. It cuts off the blood flow to your brain, and it can render you unconscious within seconds. So this is the bruising on his chest and his back kind of appear to be somebody putting him in this choke.

Back to the knife, several officers had testified that Rios had worn this clip knife with a serrated edge. And obviously, prosecutors believed that this was the missing murder weapon. Prosecutors believe Rios had thrown it out after the murder. Rios claims a trace metal test shows he never wore that kind of knife, which...

I mean, test my belt. I never wore a knife on it. Maybe you kept it in your pocket. Maybe you washed and wiped down your belt. It's this weird kind of explanation of no evidence of it there, so therefore it never existed.

According to special prosecutor Morley Swingle, by June 8th, the police knew about the affair. This was when Rios set up his voluntary interview. At first, he denied having the affair and told a sergeant he suspected two other officers were having an affair with Jesse. He even named those officers.

Additionally, Swingle told the jury that Rios was not scheduled to work on June 5, 2004, but he visited a police substation to review the dispatch system. That's why a lot of people find that suspicious. He then went to the main station and told two sergeants he could positively ID Jesse Valencia. Sergeant Ken Smith drove him to the scene where Rios was assigned to security work. So he's involving himself immediately, and it seems like by design.

Yeah. Why would you go look up this case the morning of? Why would you even care? I mean, how did you know about it even? There's a lot going on there.

One of the most important witnesses at this trial was Christopher Ryan Kepner, who was Jesse's next-door neighbor. Kepner arrived in the early hours of June 5, 2004. He said that he couldn't sleep because he heard an argument next door in Jesse's apartment, and he clearly heard a voice say, No, I don't want to sleep in the car, followed by, Stop it. No, I'm not sleeping in the car. He then heard bumps against the wall.

In 2004, Kepner had told KOMU News, I heard the bumping on the wall, like all across the wall from here to here in the frame of about two to five minutes. Just bumping, like somebody stumbling and kind of bumping into the wall, like, oh, stop it.

Kepner said this occurred between 3 and 4.30 a.m. Now, Kepner himself didn't know Jesse that well, so he didn't know why he would be in an argument with anyone. He did tell the police that it seemed like someone was kicking someone else out of the apartment. And at trial, Kepner testified that he woke up the next day to find Jesse's apartment door partially open.

Now Rios's defense is going to rely heavily on his alibi. They say on June 5th, 2004, Rios was working the overnight shift, which ended at 3 a.m. He did not go home immediately. Instead, he joined four officers at the top of the CPD garage to drink beer and talk.

Rios was on the roof with officers at the time. Kepner claimed he heard the disturbance, this bumping going on in Jesse's apartment. Officer Jason Jones said that Officer Scott Young was the last of the group to show up on the roof at around 4.15 to 4.30 a.m. At that point, the group dispersed. Computer records show that Rios used the entry key at the Columbia PD at 4.37 a.m.

The other officers estimated that Rios left the garage at around 4.47 a.m., so this does put a little weirdness on the timeline. Rios said he went straight home, but investigators believe he stopped along the way to see Jesse.

His wife, Libby Rios, testified that she woke up at 5.15 a.m. because of the baby monitor. She sat in bed for two to three minutes to see if her son would calm down on his own, but he didn't. She said a few minutes later, Stephen walked into the house. He had no injuries or blood on his clothes. He washed up and they went to bed. She also said she'd never known her husband to carry a carry clip-on style knife.

So he's got somewhat of a valid alibi here of he's out with officers after a shift and then he drives home and is with his wife and she doesn't see any injuries on him. She doesn't see blood either.

But Officer Timothy Geiger timed the route from the Columbia Police Department to Jesse's address. It took two minutes and 42 seconds. From Jesse's place to Stephen's place, it took seven minutes and 17 seconds. So from 447 to 515 or 530, Rios would have had to drive a 10-minute route and stop in between to kill Jesse, discard his clothes, and the murder weapon.

But the prosecutor, Morley Swingle, noted, you're talking about four o'clock in the morning when there's no traffic and he's a police officer, so he doesn't have to abide by the speed limits. So the total trip with short pauses at Jesse's apartment and the crime scene was less than 24 minutes.

The defense asked if he counted stop signs and lights. He said he did not and did not time alternate routes. So the defense is questioning this timeline. They argued Rios wouldn't have had enough time to kill Jesse and dispose of evidence before arriving home. And no bloody clothes were found in Rios' house or his car.

Documents indicate that investigators screened the drain tap water for trace blood with negative results and found no blood in the hall bathroom. As mentioned, Rios' timeline does not match with Christopher Kepner's timeline.

At trial, Kepner said he was fairly certain it was dark outside when he heard the argument. However, he admitted he wasn't 100% certain the argument happened before 4.30 a.m. because he'd been drinking all night. Because that was the time when it said that Rios was up on the garage drinking with his fellow police officers.

Kepner could not tell the jury what he told the police officers or the papers in 2004 because of the risk of perjury. So in court, he said it technically could have happened between 3 and 10 a.m., which that's a very broad statement now. But again, it's dark out. You've been drinking all night. He knows he heard an argument, but he's just not sure what time that argument happened at.

Detective Jeff Westbrook testified that he interviewed Rios after his attempt to jump off the ledge of the parking garage on June 11th. He told Rios he wanted the truth, and Rios said he would kill himself if he killed Jesse. Criminalists testified that they tested clothing taken from Rios' home and hairs and nail clippings from Jesse's body. Rios' DNA and DNA from Ed McDevitt were found under Jesse's right fingernails. Three hairs on Jesse's torso were Rios'.

The shirt, pants, and hat taken from Rios tested negative for Jesse's DNA, and these were similar to what he was wearing on the morning of June 5th. Were they the exact same items? We're not sure, but they were thoroughly testing Rios' stuff, trying to find any trace of Jesse on him.

Jesse's friend Joan Sheridan testified that in May, Jesse was upset about a ticket he had received and told her he had a secret the police department might be interested in knowing about. She last spoke to Jesse on June 2nd. Jesse told her he was going to ask Rios if he was married or not because he didn't want to be with a married man. And that is motive that obviously is given.

giving Rios a reason to kill Jesse. Public defender Valerie Leftwich reminded the jury that their role was to consider the evidence for murder and not the affair. She noted that Rios said it had been six days since he had sexual contact with Jesse. Leftwich also said that Jesse was intimate with many men before he died, and an expert would testify that DNA could remain on a body long after exposure.

which we see McDevitt and Rios' DNA under his fingernail. So yeah, it can stay there for longer. Doesn't explain the hair, but it explains the DNA.

On the night of the murder, Jesse worked a 3-11 shift at the campus inn front desk, and then he walked home to change for a party. He was last seen around 3 a.m. walking home from that party. Jesse's ex-boyfriend, Jack Barry, testified that they dated on and off for two years and remained friends after they broke up. The night before the murder, they spoke on the phone about other guys they were dating. Barry went to bed around 1.45 a.m.

His phone rang seven times after 3.15 in the morning, and he heard a knock at his door. He knew Jesse was calling and was most likely the one knocking. He didn't answer and instead went back to sleep. Jesse talked to Ed McDevitt. This is the chef that he met just before he was killed.

At 3:15 a.m. to make plans for the following day, McDevitt saw Jesse walking home from the party they both attended. McDevitt's roommate was Eric Thurston, who was in jail for drug possession and stealing. When McDevitt testified at trial, the defense asked if Thurston could have left the apartment they shared after McDevitt arrived early that morning.

Thurston and McDevitt had a sexual relationship before they had become roommates. The defense's line of questioning implied Thurston could have been jealous. Both men testified there was no jealousy between them. So they're pointing the finger at this previous sexual relationship and possibly giving motive here. But the prosecutor produced a witness who said Thurston was at his residence from 3.30 in the morning to 10 a.m.

Rios himself, Stephen Rios, got on the stand on May 20th and admitted that he had lied about the affair to his wife, his friends, and the investigators, but he maintained that he did not kill Jesse. He said that he visited Jesse's apartment about six times, half of those times while on duty. He also admitted to having sex with Jesse while another man, Andy Schermerhorn, watched. He testified that on the morning of

And for anyone who's really young and doesn't know who that is, that was basically our president in the United States during the 1980s.

Earlier, an officer testified that during a meeting, Rios asked him for his knife sharpening stone. The officer told Rios it wouldn't work because Rios' knife was serrated. He saw a knife in Rios' hand during their conversation. Rios told jurors he borrowed the knife from another officer and returned it when the officer wouldn't let him use his sharpening stone. So this is tragic.

trying to show that he had this knife and he's asked for a sharpening stone.

Four other officers testified that they saw Rios wear and handle a clip knife. One officer saw it on a float trip that they were on. And during this trip, they talked about the tip regarding Jesse having a relationship with a married officer. And Rios testified that he made up an excuse about his baby being sick to leave the trip. So this officer is talking about this float trip they're on. He's talking about seeing the knife and Rios.

When they start talking about this anonymous tip of Jesse having a relationship with a cop, Rios all of a sudden has to take off and leave. This really bothers him. Rios returned to Colombia after this trip and told his wife about the tips that were coming in and said he was worried people would think he was the officer in question that was having an affair with Jesse Valencia. And so his wife encouraged him to talk to detectives, and he did that the next day.

On the stand, Rios explained that he threatened to kill himself on June 10th because of all the reporters flooding to his door asking about the affair. Libby Rios, his wife, also testified that after her husband told her about the affair, they attended counseling.

The prosecution eventually rests, and the defense questioned Professor Dean Stetler, who is a DNA expert. He did not disagree with the findings that Rios' DNA was found under Jesse's fingernails, but he did say the DNA could have come from Jesse's bedsheets and stayed under his nails for any length of time, and that the hairs found on Jesse's torso could have transferred from the sheets as well. That's one explanation, I guess.

In closing arguments, the prosecutor told the jury that the Hares placed Rios at the crime scene because the killer put Jesse in a chokehold before using the knife. He asked the jury to weigh the fact that Rios' Hares, not those of the last sexual partner, Ed McDevitt, were found on Jesse's body.

I think that's a very powerful statement there. The defense argued the DNA evidence did not prove murder and the timeline didn't work. She argued that poor evidence handling tainted an evidence box containing the hair. She suggested something suspicious happened when a single hair with blood on it, which was written in the first report, changed to eight hairs in December 2004.

The crime lab report, she's saying, oh, they only found one, but now months later, they have eight hairs. Where do all these extra hairs come from?

She argued the investigators were desperate to strengthen their case because the initial trace DNA under Jesse's fingernails were an extremely small amount, wasn't enough. So she's saying they needed more evidence against this police officer, so they found this hair. They found all of these other things to point to him, but look at his alibi, look at the timeline. His neighbor is saying this argument happened earlier in the night when he wasn't there.

There was multiple DNA profiles under the fingernail, and this hair could have been tainted evidence. On May 21st, 2005, former officer Stephen Rios was found guilty of murder and armed criminal action. Jurors had spent most of their deliberations discussing whether Rios had enough time to kill Jesse between leaving the police department and arriving home, and what he did with the knife. They decided that if anyone knew how to get rid of a murder weapon, it would be a police officer.

After the verdict, Morley Swingle revealed that some hearsay testimony was not admitted. And this is an interesting part of the case because we find out that several witnesses overheard Jesse referring to this officer Rios as Anderson because that's what Rios had told him his name was. And there's this suspicion that Rios went so far as to wear a false name tag. And so this was his way of trying to cover up the affair while carrying it on.

And we find out that there was another Columbia officer named Ted Anderson who was missing his name tag and it was never found. So did ex-officer Rios steal this man's name tag, put it on his uniform to kind of cover his identity while he was having this affair with Jesse? Connect the dots.

Yeah, it seems very possible. And by the way, for anyone who's interested in books, Morley Swingle these days, he's an author. He's got a number of books out. So if you are interested, check that out.

Swingle was not able to call four special witnesses who were waiting in a room in the courthouse because neither Rios nor the defense witnesses testified to the issue of his moral character or past incidents where he was involved with people he arrested. So you know how it is. There's got to be some context here. You can't just bring in whatever witness you want. And so if a certain subject isn't coming up, you just don't use these witnesses. But there were three women who were prepared to testify that Rios was

propositioned them for sex after he arrested them. So this shows a pattern of behavior. A deputy was ready to testify why Rios lost his job as a county corrections officer in 1999. He forged a friend's name on a storage locker rental application without telling the friend and put his personal property in a locker next to it. So how did the sentencing go?

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July 9th, 2005, Stephen Rios was sentenced to life in prison plus 10 years for armed criminal action.

Now, Rios would speak to KOMU in 2005 and said, I think some of the sensationalized aspects of the trial muddied the waters. It didn't have anything to do with fairness or the truth. It had to do with a show. And he's claiming that it was all about this affair. It was all about him being a police officer and just wanting to get the clicks and the headlines.

But the arm hairs and the blood, that wasn't important. That doesn't matter, right? The only reason I get a little upset about this quote from him is the fact that so many jurors take their job very seriously. They listen to all the evidence. They listen to the testimonies. And they have to make a tough decision. And this just sort of tries to discount that. And I don't appreciate it.

But he's been maintaining his innocence and appealing this verdict. He's saying that the first trial was unfair and that there was hearsay testimony that was very prejudicial to him and would have swayed the jury. So he appeals this. What happens, Aaron?

Well, on April 27, 2007, a three-judge panel of the Missouri Court of Appeals, Western District, vacated Rios' conviction and ordered a new trial. This is because the first hearsay statement concerned a statement made by Jesse that he was going to end his relationship if he found out Rios was married. The second statement made by Jesse was that if Rios did not take care of a ticket he issued, he had a secret that might be of interest to the police department.

So these two hearsay statements that witnesses talked about, they were prejudicial, according to this Court of Appeals.

They're considered hearsay because it's not Jesse telling the jury because obviously Jesse's not around. They consider it hearsay because it's other people saying, this is what Jesse said. I get it. Not sure if it held enough weight to vacate a conviction, but this three-judge panel decided, yeah, this hearsay evidence should not have been in there and it could have changed the outcome of the trial. Let's give them a new trial.

Stephen Rios' retrial began December 1st, 2008. Once again, DNA experts testified about the incriminating evidence against Rios, and similar to the first trial, the defense argued that the DNA could have gotten under Jesse's nails and on his chest from a sexual encounter days before the murder. We're talking about bedding containing hairs and DNA and being transferred to his body.

They also claim that Rios didn't have this knife, but the prosecution had an officer testify. He often saw Rios carrying a clip knife. He carried this knife both on and off duty. So they really harp on this knife because it's the murder weapon in the case.

But it seems likely that he did have it because they call this EDC. It's everyday carry. And there are certain people that happen to carry small knives on them quite often for various reasons. And I don't know if you have any, but I have some EDC knives and they're just kind of handy. And it's not like you wouldn't have them around if you had them. So I don't know. It just seems like they have other officers testifying that Rios was carrying a clip knife around.

whether he was on or off duty. It makes sense. And this next part was something I found interesting. We know that Jesse had this bruising across his chest, like up by his collarbone and bruising down his back. And this is assumed to be from a stranglehold technique.

There was a law enforcement trainer, Todd Burke. He did a defense tactic class where he taught this very hold and he demonstrated a defense tactic. Rios was taught at this law enforcement training institute back in 1997. An officer approaches from behind, applies pressure around the neck, which cuts off the blood flow to the brain and quickly renders them unconscious.

Now, the former Boone County M.E., Valerie Rau, testified that the bruising on Jesse's torso was consistent with this tactic demonstrated by Burke.

So this training officer is looking at this bruising, and he remembers Rios doing this class. And they go back through the records, and Rios was attending this class, and Rios failed this chokehold, this stranglehold. He did not pass. So it kind of adds to the idea that he was trying to take Jesse down,

And because he didn't apply the hold properly, Jesse was struggling to get away. And that's when he pulled out his knife to end the struggle. Raul also testified that a wound on Jesse's neck was caused by a partially serrated knife consistent with the sample knife presented at trial, which was one purchased by the police during the investigation. But it's supposed to represent the kind of knife that would have made the wound.

The court also heard that on the day Jesse was found, Rios twice went to a police substation and accessed a computer showing police dispatches. He was assigned to guard a basement entrance to Jesse's apartment. Now, Elizabeth Sullivan, Rios' ex-wife, testified that he got home at

5:15 a.m., five minutes earlier than she had testified at the first trial. She explained that she set up the clock near her bed five minutes ahead to help her get up for work on time. She did not disclose the actual time he returned home at the first trial because the previous attorney told her a five-minute difference would not matter as much and it would look like she was changing her story to make the alibi stronger. Now, I actually set my clocks ahead.

So I understand that. I don't know if that advice was great for her to not disclose that the time was five minutes earlier. I think that actually would have helped, but who knows? At this point, we don't know at what time the argument happened, but we do know that he probably had enough time from leaving the police station to stop by Jesse's place on his way home.

Yeah, and Libby or Elizabeth obviously left ex-officer Rios at some point here because by the retrial, she's an ex-wife. And for his part, Rios did not testify at this retrial. And it kind of makes you wonder why. And I would guess it's probably because his attorney said, don't. You're not going to help your case by speaking. It didn't help the first time. Why bother a second time?

But this defense is saying this timeframe is just way too short to commit this murder and arrive home at 5.15 a.m. And it is a very short timeframe.

If you believe that timeline of events, I mean, if you take all the witness statements, this timeframe could be a lot longer. And that's what the prosecution argues. They're saying there's a lot more time here for him to do all of this. And frankly, you know, as long as Jesse answers the knock, this wouldn't take long for them to have a short argument and then for this officer to kill Jesse.

Exactly. It seemed like it escalated very quickly. And then Jesse was trying to escape. And he's within minutes of his house, within minutes of the station. Minutes. It sounds like this whole situation probably went down within five minutes or less from the knock on the door to the time he's killing Jesse. I doubt five minutes had passed.

December 5, 2008, Rios was found guilty of second-degree murder and armed criminal action. The jury recommended a life sentence plus 23 years, which is what he received on January 16, 2009.

So there's an attempt here for Rios to get his conviction thrown out again. On June 12, 2012, the Missouri Court of Appeals upheld Rios' conviction. He had filed his appeal in March 2011, claiming that his 2008 lawyer was ineffective. He said Gillis Leonard refused to let him testify at trial, failed to call or sufficiently cross-examine witnesses.

and called an expert to testify despite knowing her testimony would harm the defense's case.

In his appeal, Rios pointed out that at one point, witness Christopher Ryan Kepner said he heard an argument when Rios was still on the roof after work. Now, this again is the confusion of the time frame we're talking about. When was he on the roof? When was he supposedly at Jesse's apartment? And so Kepner's original police statement raised the possibility of another suspect having an altercation with Jesse on June 5th.

2004. And of course, as we laid out earlier, there were multiple persons of interest because there was another man's DNA found under Jesse's fingernail. And that was the chef he had met days before, who was also someone that had seen Jesse alive just shortly before his murder. And had been actively communicating with him the day of by text or phone call. Yeah.

So obviously, we know what the evidence is in this case, and you can see how it would be difficult for a court of appeals to do something with this.

Rios, for his part, was also trying to deal with his suicide attempts. He said,

Well, and here's the thing is we cover cases so many times of husbands cheating on his wife and then he kills his wife so he can be with his mistress and live happily ever after. Now, I guess this just goes to show like don't have an affair. And then if one of the people that you're having an affair with is murdered, yeah, you're going to be the main suspect there. So this is just a whole problem with his story. He

He has a pattern of behavior of conning people. He has a pattern of behavior of cheating on his wife and lying. And it sounds like this retrial just really didn't go in his way because his new lawyer didn't hit on all of the points that he felt needed to be hit on. And then he claims he wasn't allowed to testify. No, you're allowed to testify.

And if your lawyer says you shouldn't, that's not disallowing you. You can stand up and ask the judge, hey, judge, I want to testify here. And my lawyer is telling me not to. And the judge will say, okay, we're going to do a little sidebar here and have a discussion. You can testify if you want. But the fact that his lawyer told him not to, the fact that his lawyer didn't cross-examine witnesses as well as he wanted them to be cross-examined,

He's saying that I had ineffective representation, and he's trying to appeal all this again. I mean, the attorney works for him. So I find these arguments to be pretty light. They don't mean anything.

Stephen Rios is incarcerated in Sioux Falls because he might not be safe in a Missouri prison. His ex-wife told KOMU in their 2013 special report on the case, there's an awful lot of people who cheat on their spouse every day. That doesn't mean they're capable of committing murder. It doesn't mean they should have their lives taken away from them. Seems like he's got support from his ex-wife. Libby's parents, John and Suzanne Sullivan, also believe in Rios' innocence.

Dateline covered the case in February of 2020, and Rios spoke to Dateline saying,

Now, Justin, hearing that his family supports him, that his ex-wife and her family supports him, what do you think about this? Does that weigh on you at all that maybe somehow they've got the wrong person? In my mind, the only way this wouldn't be him is if there's a whole department conspiracy where they took his arm hairs and planted them and claimed that these were

on Jesse the night of. It would take multiple people's actions to pin this on Rios. And why would they want to pin it on a fellow police officer when they have one or two other suspects out there who had interactions with Jesse? This is not the easiest route for them to get a conviction and prosecution. They probably could have gone after one of those two other suspects

with more lighter alibis than Rios. Rios actually has a somewhat solid alibi here. So I would have to accept that they want to go after one of their own so bad, and they have to plant evidence on Jesse's body belonging to the perpetrator or the person they want to pin it on. It's just, I can't get behind that. That doesn't make sense to me.

So I understand that there are some questions about this case, but that arm hair is indisputable. I can't get past that ever unless it was planted on Jesse, which come on, I'm not going to go for that. Yeah. And especially since we're talking about a guy and Jesse, you had multiple partners, even that very week. Why weren't there other hairs found in the blood?

It just makes sense to me. I would lean heavily towards Rios being the killer just because you have this idea that he had tried obscuring his identity. Then he was being told, I'm going to rat you out. And then he went there to have an argument to try and silence Jesse, the person he was having an affair with, and things went sideways. And I don't know, there's no other story here that seems to make sense. He's the one with the motive. He's the one that

given the timing of everything, had to go and talk to Jesse and tell him, you're not going to do that. And I'm sure Jesse said, I'm not having an affair with a married man. I'm going to tell the department because I'm not seeing any benefits from this.

He didn't cover for his ticket, and then he lied about who he was, saying he was single. So the way this adds up is Rios looks like the guilty party, and the arm hairs and the blood just seal the deal. I haven't seen anything else that approaches a strong case when it comes to other potential suspects.

Yeah. It would take a whole conspiracy to pin this on Rios for me to believe that he wasn't the guy. And I can't be on board with that. I will never accept that. His family, I think as much as they have their issues and their questions, they would have to realize that this isn't tainted evidence. This would be planted evidence. And they're in denial if they think that happened.

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