The Peggy Hettrick Case - Part 2
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What is the background of the Peggy Hettrick case?
This special two-part edition of 48 Hours continues. Drawn to murder.
February 11, 1987. I was walking through a field on the way to catch a school bus. I saw a body. I didn't believe it was real. I thought it was a mannequin and that someone was playing some kind of sick joke on me.
Peggy Hetrick, a woman who lived in Fort Collins, was found brutally murdered in a field. When the Fort Collins police began to investigate the case, they looked at a number of suspects. One of those suspects was a 15-year-old, Tim Masters, who lived next to the field. He had gone up to the body that morning, hadn't reported it.
Why was Tim Masters considered a suspect?
Tim was very introverted and very shy and very quiet. Didn't have a lot of friends.
They went to his house, and they found very graphic drawings and writings, as well as a large knife collection.
Would we bring you in here without some kind of proof?
Right away, they started saying, I know you did this. She's dead. We thought the right thing to do was to cooperate with the police.
Tim was branded the lead suspect in a horrific sexual mutilation and murder at age 15. Tim has not had a life since age 15.
Through the years, they focused on Tim Masters.
How was Tim Masters convicted without physical evidence?
I think that the lead detective, Detective Broderick in this case, was so obsessed and so convinced of Tim Masters' guilt, he was willing to do anything to get a conviction of Tim Masters in this case.
The real hope was that there'd be some physical evidence. There'd be a fingerprint. There'd be something that we'd come up with that would match up with him. And that just didn't happen.
He works for 10, 11 years.
There were obviously other avenues that should have been explored that were not. They got an arrest warrant for Mr. Masters and charged him with first degree murder of Peggy Hetrick.
I really did not think Tim Masters could pull this off and leave not a single shred of physical evidence.
Much of the prosecution's case is expected to come from a psychologist.
The doodles are the evidence. I never thought there was a chance in the world that they would convict me without evidence. But they did. It was just totally surreal. How could this happen? How could I end up in here for something I didn't even do?
After being pursued for years, Tim Masters now was in prison for life without parole.
Geez, how do you describe that to someone who hasn't experienced it? It's just unbelievable.
At his lowest point, he says he even considered suicide. But it just seemed too much like giving up.
I didn't do this. I couldn't let him win that easy. I couldn't leave my family like that.
He appealed his conviction. He lost. He appealed that. He lost again. Finally, in a last-ditch effort, he appealed again, this time claiming ineffective counsel.
Every day, I'd work on it a couple hours a day. People would be walking past my cell on the way to chow, and there'd be papers and books spread all over my bed. But I didn't expect anything to come from it. But then Maria got appointed.
This is actually one of my first post-conviction cases.
Who is Maria Liu and how did she get involved?
Then 36-year-old court-appointed attorney Maria Liu says that when the gigantic master's file landed on her desk in 2003, she had no idea what to think.
So you sort of have to unravel the mystery, basically, as to whether or not this person deserves a new trial.
she hunkered down and started reading. And I didn't think he was innocent right off the bat. Then she watched those police interrogation tapes.
You shot the hell out of everybody. I believe it was five different police officers tag-teaming him, doing everything, good cop, bad cop, military cop, nice cop.
You did it? What the hell did you do?
I don't know what I did. I didn't do anything.
That's when I was like, oh my God, he is innocent. And then when I met Tim in the prison, he was more focused on us proving his innocence than he was on getting out, which to me says a lot.
You're pretty much Tim Master's only hope at that point.
Right. What's that like? Stressful. It's really overwhelming because you know in your heart that somebody is wrongfully convicted.
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Chapters
7 chapters
1
What is the background of the Peggy Hettrick case?
0:01–0:53
2
Why was Tim Masters considered a suspect?
0:53–1:32
3
How was Tim Masters convicted without physical evidence?
1:32–3:46
4
Who is Maria Liu and how did she get involved?
3:46–7:23
5
What role did Dr. Richard Hammond play in the case?
7:23–10:07
6
How did new evidence and theories challenge the conviction?
10:07–20:37
7
How does DNA evidence factor into reopening the case?
20:37–44:04
Speakers
19 identified
Susan Spencer 18 min
Tim Masters 5 min
David Wymore 3 min
Unidentified Speaker 2 2 min
Detective 2 min
Eric Fisher 2 min
Maria Liu 2 min
Richard Eichlenbaum 1 min
Selma Eichlenbaum 1 min
Tom Hetrick (Peggy's Brother)
Court Official
Barry Goetz
Dutch TV Host
Interrogator
Narrator
Jocelyn's Family Member
Witness
Prosecutor
Dr. Reed Beloy