This photograph conceals a deeply disturbing secret. The smiling girl in the background is four-year-old Heidi Jones. She is standing in front of a crime scene, very close to the outline of a body. This is the spot where she found her mother, Loretta, murdered, just days before this photograph was taken. On July 30, 1970, the same night Heidi’s mother was killed, ten-year-old Lori Kulow was attacked by a man just three blocks away.
When Lori screamed for help, the man ran off in the direction of Loretta’s house. On August 31, a month after the murder, a man named Tom Egley was arrested after his affair with Loretta became known to the police. He was the sole suspect in the investigation. Three months later, Tom Egley was released.
For over 40 years, the circumstances surrounding Loretta Jones’ murder remained a mystery—unless her daughter Heidi could solve the case, unaware that the key to identifying the killer lay in this picture all along. “They noticed that Loretta’s hand was in a pool of blood.”
“I couldn’t even imagine what she was thinking as she lay there dying. My mother took her last breath and left clues.”
“I said, ‘That only happens in movies.’ She said, ‘It was right there, in plain sight.’ Loretta wrote the killer’s name in blood.”
The year is 1970. Loretta is a single, unmarried mother who is doing everything she can to provide for her four-year-old daughter, Heidi. They lead a happy life together in their home in Price, Utah.
“It was just my mother and me. She sewed an incredible number of clothes for me. She made me dolls. She created some wonderful memories with me. For me, she was the best mother.”
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July 1970. It’s a warm summer night. Heidi gives her mother a goodnight kiss before going to bed, unaware that this will be the last time she sees her.
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July. At 11:40 a.m., police are called to 468 East 4th Street. They find 23-year-old Loretta Jones murdered by stab wounds. They learn that her only daughter, four-year-old Heidi, is with a neighbor, frightened and alone.
“The sheriff kept calling my mother, and finally my father came home, very upset and in shock. The first thing my mother asked was, ‘Where is Heidi?’”
While the police continue their investigation, Heidi is placed in the care of her grandparents. Since the murderer is still at large, Heidi fears that she might be his next target – as do the police officers. As it turns out, there had been another attack the previous night.
This time the victim was only 10 years old. Around 9:30 p.m., little Lori Kulow was attacked just three blocks from Loretta’s house. Police are convinced the two crimes are connected, and the entire Price community is beginning to worry about the safety of their own children.
“A large part of the city was simply afraid that this guy who had killed my sister and also grabbed a little girl that night was there. Everyone was wondering: Where is this guy? What happened to him?”
A few days later, Heidi finds herself at her mother’s funeral and looks at her mother lying in the coffin.
“She was wearing a blue dress. It had an extremely high collar so that no one could see where her throat had been cut. But I remember looking at her in the coffin, and to me she looked exactly like Sleeping Beauty.”
“It was really hard to see Loretta, and there was her daughter Heidi, who was just crying and realizing that her mother was now gone.”
In the months following Loretta’s murder, few arrests are made, and no suspect is ever convicted. In 1971, a year after Heidi’s mother’s murder, the case goes cold, while the killer remains at large.
As Heidi grows up, one thought haunts her every night. She doesn’t remember her mother screaming for help or making any loud noises while she was being stabbed. Heidi realizes there’s only one explanation.
“How could someone not make a sound in the face of all that? Not scream for help? She endured it because she didn’t want anything to happen to me. How could I just let it go? My mother was my hero that night.”
While living with her grandparents, Heidi feels she can no longer talk about her own mother. She doesn’t want to forget, but everyone tries to tell her to let it rest.
“I remember being upset a lot and crying a lot. Every time I tried to talk to my grandma about my mother, it only made her cry. She would say, ‘Why don’t you just let it go?’ And I would say, ‘Because I can’t let it go.’”
Over the years, Heidi continues to be plagued by guilt that her mother’s killer is still out there and no one is willing to bring justice to Loretta. She feels compelled to take matters into her own hands, but how?
“I know she would have gone to extremes to do whatever was necessary for me, and she proved that on the night of her murder. I owed it to her to do something about it.”
In 1989, Heidi turned 23, exactly the same age her mother was when she was murdered. Inspired by a television program called “Unsolved Mysteries,” she began a massive letter-writing campaign, contacting the Price City Police Department, the Carbon County Sheriff, and the FBI, but no one responded. Nevertheless, she persevered, writing letter after letter.
“If I could keep the conversation about my mother alive, then perhaps I could help to solve her case.”
Years pass, still without a reply from anyone. Nearly 36 years have gone by, and the killer is still at large. Shortly before her 40th birthday, Heidi makes a courageous decision: She leaves everything behind and returns to her hometown of Price, Utah, with the sole intention of solving her mother’s murder. There, she is confronted by her grandmother, who urges her to let the matter rest.
“My mother just wanted Loretta to rest in peace. I honestly had mixed feelings, but the other part of me thought, ‘Where is the guy who killed Loretta?’”
In 2009, Heidi reconnects with a childhood friend, David Brewer, by chance when he comments on one of her social media posts. She learns that David is a detective. Heidi tells David everything she can remember from that night.
“Oh, I poured my heart out to him. I just needed help.”
Their story begins on July 31, 1970.
“What I vividly remember is hearing a dull thud. I went to the bedroom door, looked through the keyhole and saw something lying on the floor. At first I just thought it was a pile of laundry.”
Four-year-old Heidi bursts through the door, only to find her mother Loretta lying in a pool of blood. Heidi is in shock and unable to comprehend the scene before her. She staggers hastily out of the house.
“My next vivid memory is of being out on the porch and my neighbor digging for worms. He says, ‘Heidi, come here. I have something to show you.’ And I said, ‘I can’t. I think my mommy is dead.’”
When David Brewer hears Heidi’s story, he cannot believe that he never knew about Loretta’s murder and that Heidi never spoke about it at school.
“That a child has to witness something like that, seeing their own mother lying there, is simply unimaginable.”
“I told him everything I possibly could about my mother’s case. I told him every rumor, every story.”
Although Heidi expects David to reject her, given the unlikely likelihood of the murder being solved, David is moved by his story. He realizes that she is still deeply shaken after all these years. David Brewer, a police officer in Carbon County, reopens the 1970 murder case of Loretta Jones. His first step is to review the original case files. But David is immediately confronted with a serious obstacle that threatens to halt the investigation entirely: the case files no longer exist.
“I quickly discovered that I had no evidence whatsoever and no case file at all, which is unusual since murder cases are kept for life.”
Apart from old newspaper clippings, David obtains written witness statements from the first responders at the scene of Loretta’s murder.
“They found Loretta lying on her side with her hand in a pool of blood. They and the doctor found 17 stab wounds in her back and two in her chest.”
First responders found no signs of forced entry. This could indicate that Loretta knew her killer. Detective Brewer then makes another shocking discovery. It appears that, according to the medical examiner, Loretta offered no resistance.
“Someone who is stabbed multiple times would definitely show defensive wounds in a typical case.”
The question is astonishing: Why shouldn’t Loretta have fought for her life?
“I believe that Loretta remained silent to protect her own child because she was afraid that her daughter might run out and also get hurt.”
Although Brewer now has details about the crime, he still lacks evidence from the crime scene and any trace of the suspect. The probability of solving this case is close to zero. David confronts Heidi empty-handed. Without forensic evidence, there’s little more he can do.
“David said to me: ‘It’s a shame we don’t have any photos from the crime scene.’”
Heidi is immediately reminded of a box of belongings her grandmother had kept all these years. In it, she had collected everything related to her daughter’s murder. The most striking item was a photograph of Heidi standing close to the outline of her mother’s body.
“Why did they take a picture of her right where her mother died? The bloodstain was still there, but this picture was the only crime scene photo we had.”
Along with the photo is a newspaper clipping of a man named Tom Egley accompanied by a police officer. As David understands, Tom was the only suspect in the murder case. He was held in custody for three months but was released by the judge due to a lack of incriminating evidence.
“The judge dismissed it at the preliminary hearing stage. Tom Egley was apparently just a guy who happened to be in the wrong place at the wrong time.”
While reviewing the other newspaper clippings, David makes a shocking discovery. On the night Loretta was murdered, there was an attempted kidnapping just three blocks away. David Brewer knows this can’t be a coincidence. It’s likely the crime was committed by the same man who killed Loretta Jones.
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July 1970. Around 9:30 p.m., Lori Kulow and her brother were riding their bikes in front of their house. As darkness fell, Lori noticed that her brother had already gone inside. Quickly deciding to go in as well, Lori dropped her bike and headed for the door, but she wasn’t alone. Just before she reached the safety of her house, a man attacked her. He put his hand over her mouth to prevent her from screaming. As she desperately tried to escape, the man’s hand slipped away from her mouth long enough for Lori to scream for help. According to Lori’s statement, the man ran off in the direction of Loretta’s house.
Detective Brewer knows that Lori saw the killer that night. He has to get in touch with her. She’s his best chance of finding a real suspect. Meanwhile, Heidi makes a deeply shocking discovery. While going through her grandmother’s box, she finds a diary in which her grandmother documented every single word that four-year-old Heidi said after that fateful night. The first entry was written on the very night Loretta was found dead.
“Heidi said it was Tom who killed my mommy. It sounds like Tom. I had a bad dream. I heard footsteps and he said, ‘I’m coming to kill you. When I’m done with you, maybe your daughter too.’ I heard a thud, a noise. Mommy fell over. She was dead. I saw him through the hole in my door.” She meant my keyhole. “Why did this Tom kill Mommy? He was always slapping her, hitting her. He was mean to Mommy.” It was such a terrible time in my life, and to know that I was there and witnessed so much more than I actually remember.”
The long-hidden memories resurface as she reads, and Heidi finally remembers the last thing her mother said to her.
“That night my mother came into my room and said to me, ‘Don’t come out.’”
The words are harrowing. To think that Loretta knew something terrible could happen, and yet she still wanted to protect her child. Since Heidi can’t remember anything else about the man named “Tom,” David Brewer sets out and meets Lori Kulow, the girl who was attacked the same night Loretta was murdered. His best lead would be her description of the man she saw that night.
“Brown hair, lighter eyes, about 1.78 m or 1.80 m tall, something like that. He wasn’t really tall, but not short either.”
As Lori David recounts her version of events, one detail catches his attention. Lori was later called in by the police to identify the suspect.
“When we arrived at the police station, they practically let me peek around the corner and look at him, and they asked, ‘Is this the guy?’ I felt like I was going to throw up. And I said, ‘Yes.’”
Lori identifies her attacker from a lineup. The man’s name: Tom Egley – the same man who had already been arrested in 1970.
“I knew that Loretta once went on a blind date with Tom Egley. She didn’t like him and wanted nothing to do with that guy. Heidi always stuck to the same story. You know: ‘Tom killed my mommy.’”
Although he’s certain he has the right suspect, Detective Brewer knows he doesn’t have enough evidence to convince a judge to go to trial. And if he doesn’t get a confession, his only option would be a DNA test. After consulting with forensic experts and other qualified detectives, David Brewer has a crazy idea: if he wants to find DNA evidence, it can only be in one place—inside Loretta’s body. The thought of exhuming Loretta’s remains is distressing. Nevertheless, David calls Heidi to ask for her permission, as they’re both running out of options.
“Give me the shovel, I’ll help dig, because if that’s what’s needed, I’ll do it. I’ll do what I’ve always had to do.”
Investigators in Carbon County say they are closer than ever to solving the question of who raped and killed a young mother almost five decades ago.
“I would hope that no one ever has to exhume their own mother.”
It’s June 2016. On the day Loretta Jones’s body is exhumed, Heidi collapses. In her mind, it’s as if she’s losing her mother all over again, but everything hinges on the outcome of this exhumation. The trial is in the public eye, and those involved make sure the news reaches Tom Egley’s home. David Brewer receives a call from a friend of the Jones family. Someone saw the exhumation on television.
“She said, ‘Hey, I have some information for you that you might find interesting. Did you ever know that Loretta wrote the murderer’s name in blood?’ And I said, ‘How would you even know that?’ I mean… She said, ‘I was living with Heidi’s grandmother back then and went to school.’ She said, ‘I saw it there with my own eyes.’ We got a crime scene photo back. We looked at it, and with a little color retouching on that photo, it’s as clear as day. She writes this ‘T’ and this ‘O’.”
“I had never heard of that. I was more than thrilled. I mean, my mother, taking her last breath, writing a ‘T’ and an ‘O’ and leaving clues behind.”
Forty-six years ago, Loretta ensured her murder would be solved, yet she never received the justice she deserved. For Heidi, it’s more crucial than ever that Tom Egley be put behind bars. Everything hinges on the exhumation results. But when the lab results arrive, they’re hit with the worst possible news: no trace of DNA was found. Despite their plan failing, they maintain their composure on television. Their last resort is Plan B: the bluff.
“New things have come to light, and things that may not have made sense a year ago now make sense.”
The idea is to make Egley believe they have found something and to see how he reacts.
“Hendrick said it was too early to publicly name the person investigators are targeting in this crime. However, he told me that this person is still alive and that detectives are actively working to arrest and prosecute them.”
Finally, a breakthrough. A woman calls and claims she knows Tom Egley as her neighbor and that he came to her after the exhumation and asked for her help.
“Tom came to her house and said, ‘Hey, can you look after my dogs? The cops are coming to get me very soon.’”
They arranged for the woman to record her conversations with Egley, but never expected to receive a full confession.
“He did it. He really did it. After all these years, he finally confessed.”
“Words cannot describe what it was like. I said, ‘We have your husband. Your mother can rest now.’”
A 76-year-old man is on his way to prison for a murder he committed in Carbon County in 1970.
“I can’t believe it. I can’t believe this day is finally here. In my statement in court, I told Egley how he took my mother away from me. She missed my dates. She missed me getting my driver’s license. She missed me getting married. She missed everything in my life.”
It’s the end of a long road for Heidi Jones-Asay. This afternoon, Egley was sentenced to ten years to life in prison for this crime.
“He’ll be 96 years old when he goes before the parole board, and I’m going to make sure he doesn’t get out. People say it’s closure, but for me it wasn’t closure, it was justice. I don’t even know how to put into words what David Brewer means to me.”
“Her persistence. I honestly believe there were times when she lifted me up. Without her drive and support, I don’t think the case would have been solved.”
“Some heroes wear capes. Mine wears Kevlar. Yes, he is my hero. My mother was important. My mother’s life was important. She was the most important thing to me. For me, it was always about: ‘Never give up, never give up!’ As long as there is hope, there is a chance. I have learned to believe in the impossible.”
This was such a big part of Jones-Asay’s life. She says she’s not sure what she’s going to do now. She simply says she’s going to keep her mother’s memory alive.
