Ashley Flowers

But even in the small town, no one could name this mystery man.

So with all the gossip swirling around, investigators did what they often do.

A week after Tom's death, they asked Dawn to take a polygraph.

She did.

And she failed.

Questions about whether she knew who shot Tom or if she had any role in planning his death registered as deceptive.

When investigators confronted her, Dawn broke down and said, quote, well, they'll just have to prove it.

Then she walked out.

She hasn't spoken to investigators since.

Detectives kept their suspicions about Dawn under wraps, at least publicly for the time being.

Because the truth was, no matter what their gut was telling them, the physical evidence was telling them something else.

There were unidentified prints collected from the Mather home.

And I know everyone says now that they're suspicious of the fact that Dawn's feet weren't cut up more.

But at the time, it seems like nobody even bothered to confront her about this.

There's nothing in the case file and transcripts that we've seen.

And when our reporter asked former Sheriff Whitlatch if Dawn was ever questioned about this, frustratingly, the answer was, I don't know.

They also couldn't locate a gun in the home or anywhere else that matched what Tom was killed with.

And in all their canvassing of the neighborhood, they actually had a number of conversations with locals, including neighbors and people who drove through the area, some of whom relayed a number of stories about an unidentified man who was in the area the night of September 30th.

For example, one witness reported seeing a tall, slender man in tan overalls near the Mather home.

Another report came from the Mathers' closest neighbor.