Hell and Gone Murder Line: Doug Janis Part 1

On December 13, 2020, in Hemphill, Texas, police in Sabine County got a call about a houseboat on fire.  The houseboat was docked behind 322 Echo Ridge, off of Cedar Grove Road on Highway 21 in the Pendleton area of Toledo Bend. And the scene very quickly descended into total chaos.  The firefighters had trouble getting out to the remote location, and by the time they got there the boat was engulfed in flames. Firefighters and paramedics rushed to the boat but it was too late. By the time they got there the walls had caved in. And then, when they dug through the remains of the boat, they found the body of 64-year-old Doug Janis.  At first, they thought that the fire had been some kind of accident and that Doug had died as a result of a propane leak. But then, they took Doug's body in for an autopsy, and they found two bullets in his head.  Doug Janis had been murdered. And his much younger wife April Mae Janis was nowhere to be found. But Doug’s death was just the beginning of a story that goes back twenty years and involves sex, allegations of corruption, and multiple murders. If you have a case you’d like Catherine Townsend to look into, you can reach out to us at our Hell and Gone Murder Line at 678-744-6145. See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

Hello Hell and Gone listeners! We'll be back on September 26th with brand new episodes of Hell and Gone Murder Line.  If you have a case you’d like Catherine Townsend to look into, you can reach out to the Hell and Gone Murder Line at 678-744-6145. See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

Hello Hell and Gone listeners! We'll be back on September 26th with brand new episodes of Hell and Gone Murder Line.  If you have a case you’d like Catherine Townsend to look into, you can reach out to the Hell and Gone Murder Line at 678-744-6145. See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

Hello Hell and Gone listeners! We'll be back on September 26th with brand new episodes of Hell and Gone Murder Line.  If you have a case you’d like Catherine Townsend to look into, you can reach out to the Hell and Gone Murder Line at 678-744-6145. See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

New episodes of Hell and Gone Murder Line start September 26th! In the meantime, if you have a case you’d like Catherine Townsend and her team to look into, you can reach out to the Hell and Gone Murder Line at 678-744-6145. See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

Hello Hell and Gone listeners! We'll be back on September 26th with brand new episodes of Hell and Gone Murder Line.  If you have a case you’d like Catherine Townsend to look into, you can reach out to the Hell and Gone Murder Line at 678-744-6145. See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

On Friday, December 12, 1980 at approximately 6: 45 in the morning, the Mississippi County Sheriff’s Department got a call about a female body lying on the side of Highway 181, just south of Highway 158.  The woman was dressed in a striped red colored dress and velveteen jacket and was five foot five. She weighed around 115 pounds.  It wasn’t hard to figure out the cause of death - Barbara had massive holes blown into her body by a shotgun. The shots were so violent that pieces of her hair and skull were found 20 feet away.  And just like in Amanda Tusing’s case, there were suspicions that a police officer may have been involved - and the murder is still unsolved. See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

On Tuesday July 25 1989, 18 year old Dana Stidham went home to do some laundry. She drove from her home in Centerton to where her parents Lawrence and Georgia lived in Hiwasse, Arkansas.  After she put her clothes in the wash cycle, she headed out to run an errand for her dad. His stomach was upset and he needed some medicine.  She left the Phillips food store - which is now a Harp’s grocery - in Bella Vista at 3:17 pm.  We know this because the receipt was later found in her car, and the cashier and a lot of other people working in the store confirmed that she was there that day - she knew them because she worked there for three years in high school. We’re going to explore some theories that have come up over the years and ask - was  this someone Dana knew, or a stranger, maybe even a serial killer? See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

On July 25, 1989, 18-year-old Dana Stidham had just graduated from high school in Gravette, Arkansas and had her whole life in front of her. Dana had moved out on her own for the first time to Centerton where she was living with her older brother Larry and a cousin. She was starting her life and excited about the future, but on that day, she had to do some laundry and like a lot of kids that age, she was going to do her laundry at home. And she was a little homesick; she wanted to spend some time with her dad.  Her parents Lawrence and Georgia Stidham lived in Hiwasse, an unincorporated area in Benton County about a ten minute drive to where she liveD. So Dana drove home. She started doing a big pile of laundry with her dad. And then her dad said he was not feeling well, so he asked Dana to run some errands for him and she said yes. She was planning on coming right back. She had clothes in the wash cycle, and her dad said that he would put them in the dryer if she wasn’t back by then. There has been a lot of publicity about this case, but no real answers.  We're going to try to relive the last day of Dana Stidham’s life and see if there's anything that was missed that can help get us closer to finding out what happened to her and who killed her.See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

On June 14, 2000, there was a huge storm brewing in northeast Arkansas. It had been raining heavily all day and according to local weather data, tornados had hit. Over 100 trees were downed, power lines were down and homes were destroyed.  Twenty year old Amanda Tusing was hanging out with her fiancé, Matt Ervin, at his apartment in Jonesboro. Amanda lived 40 miles away in Dell, Arkansas, which is in Mississippi County, with her father Ed, her mother Susan and her twin brother, Andy. She also had an older brother who worked out of state.  Matt didn’t want her to go home that night. It was about a 45-minute drive on a good day, and the weather was bad, but Amanda wanted to get home. So she left Jonesboro at around 11:30 pm and should have gotten home around 12:30 at the latest. Amanda told Matt that she would call him from her parents landline as soon as she got home. She did have a cell phone but never kept it charged. But Matt never got that call and by 1:30 he was concerned. Matt called Amanda’s mother, Susan Tusing, and woke her up. She went to check to see if Amanda was in bed, and when she went into her bedroom, she saw that the bed had not been slept in and that Amanda was not home.  This was totally unlike her, and they knew something happened. So her dad and brother drove toward Dell, and Matt left his house in Jonesboro and started driving down Highway 18 in the opposite direction. Their plan was that they would meet in the middle and hopefully see her or her car along the route.   Matt saw her 1992 Pontiac Grand Am parked under a streetlight on the shoulder of AR Highway 18 about a mile west of the small town of Monette. It was on the side of the road and looked like it was parked there intentionally - not like she randomly swerved over. Matt got out of his car, walked over and looked inside.  If you have a case you’d like Catherine Townsend to look into, you can reach out to us at our Hell and Gone Murder Line at 678-744-6145. See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.