Broken Trust | FULL EPISODE | The FBI Files

the south carolina house fire conceals evidence of a contract killing when a second death is discovered police connect the two incidents and suspect a group of businessmen who will kill to protect their interests and settle scores agents must use their own tricks and their own criminal contacts to uncover the truth and stump the cutthroat conspirators [Music] [Applause] [Music] murder for hire is a complex crime solving it means finding the killer and whoever paid for the hit in south carolina a death first route accidental was no accident but that was just the beginning i'm jim calstrom former head of the fbi's new york office agents discovered greed betrayal and shady dealings and found that sometimes family ties can strangle [Music] florence county south carolina lies at the heart of the state an area where farmland meets swampland and the working poor lives side by side with the wealthiest families most residents of the small town of atlanta lead quiet rural lives 25 miles from the city of florence but in the late 80s a hidden danger began to disrupt the quiet on the morning of june 10th 1987 the volunteers of the atlanta rural fire department responded to a farmhouse fire outside of town by the time they reached the scene the house was engulfed in flames it was the home of william graham a wealthy tobacco farmer well known in the small community the firefighters struggled to control the flames knowing the elderly graham lived alone and might be inside [Music] after 90 minutes they finally extinguished the blaze investigators searched the gutted house and in the bedroom found graham's body lying in his charred bed [Music] after the body was removed arson investigators searched for the cause of the fire [Music] burn patterns showed it began there in the bedroom [Music] chemical tests on the furniture floor and walls indicated that no accelerant was used to fuel the blaze near the fire's point of origin were several electrical outlets the investigators believed it had been an electrical fire caused by faulty wiring in the farmhouse [Music] they ruled the blaze accidental [Music] at autopsy a pathologist noted massive burn injuries and evidence of smoke in the victim's lungs deciding there was no need for x-rays he concluded graham's death was a result of asphyxiation due to carbon monoxide poisoning county prosecutor dudley celibi read about the case in the local papers even though the autopsy had not indicated foul play and even though there was no manifest evidence of arson there were rumors throughout the atlanta community that mr graham had died as a result of foul play sheriff's investigators followed up on the rumors interviewing graham's neighbors and friends some mentioned graham had lately become paranoid about a murder plot against him but police found nothing solid to prompt a homicide investigation last night we had a good time after checking every lead the sheriff's office closed the case then seven months later in january 1988 a hunter in nearby clarendon county spotted a mound of dirt in a field checking it out he made a grim discovery human remains he called police investigators determined the body had been placed in a grave only 10 inches deep and likely unearthed by scavenging animals there was no evidence nearby to indicate who the victim was or how he died the pathologist used dental records to identify the victim as darnell rhodes reported missing a month earlier rhodes had been shot once in the back twice in the face and five times behind the left ear a brutal murder especially in this quiet community at the time no one had any reason to connect it to the farmer's fiery death seven months earlier [Music] the county sheriff's department wanted to bring in more resources since the violence was so extreme so they called the south carolina law enforcement division known as sled lieutenant gary martin one of the investigative experts at sled headquarters in colombia knew to be ready for anything i always expect the unexpected things aren't always the way they appear and there can always be additional circumstances involved in the case sled agents and sheriff's detectives began by visiting area hangouts the victim darnell rhodes was known to frequent many knew the man [Music] and said that around the time of his disappearance rhodes was usually seen with a friend named charles mcrae [Music] the rumors were that rhodes and mcrae were professional henchmen committing crimes for wealthy businessmen in the area [Music] investigators wanted to know who these men were but no one would offer any names numerous people in the atlanta community stated that they had seen charles mcrae with rhodes the day before he was reported missing investigators learned that after roads went missing mcrae hinted that he had killed him to get the truth behind the rumors investigators needed to talk to charles [Music] mcrae at about the same time someone filed burglary and assault charges against mcrae that were unrelated to the rhodes case clarendon county detectives decided to arrest him on those charges hoping they could get him to talk about roads against the right to talk to a lawyer at sled headquarters investigators explained the witness statements they had regarding mccray discussing the murder of rhodes you want to relate that to us right now the suspect said he might be willing to cooperate if he could protect two family members who helped him after rhodes was dead according to sled agent james gamble so he gave me the contract he said his nephew helped him dispose of the body and that he used his sister's automobile and that he didn't want his family being in involved or accused of any part of this murder because they were not guilty we'll do whatever we can to keep them from being involved when they agreed not to prosecute the others mcrae admitted to shooting roads to keep him quiet he explained rhodes had been talking to people about the murder of tobacco farmer william graham initially the response from law enforcement was no there's no indication that that was a homicide but then he gave them information which indicated that it was a homicide and which reopened the entire investigation mcrae claimed he had been hired to kill graham and burn his house down he said he broke into graham's home late on the night of june 9th 1987. [Music] mcrae found graham asleep in the bedroom [Music] he used a small caliber handgun point blank behind the ear mcrae stole the pistol graham kept for protection [Music] to cover the crime he stuffed newspapers under the bed and lit them [Music] as he left he turned the lights on to make the growing fire less noticeable from a distance mcrae sold both the gun he stole and the murder weapon to a friend the agents asked who put him up to the killing [Music] at first he was afraid to say did these two guys tell you why they want you to kill william but eventually he cracked mcrae said it was two men bill prince and larry marshall business partners of graham prince and marshall hired him through an intermediary it's gotta look like an accident okay fire i'm thinking they offered him 20 000 for the hit the agents knew of bill prince and larry marshall prominent local businessman both millionaires they also knew that if they went up against the pair before a local jury they would need more than mccrae's word to prove a murder conspiracy and they worried prince and marshall might get to macrae and make him change his story [Music] on april 18th 1988 10 months after william graham's death agents secured a warrant to exhume the tobacco farmer's body law enforcement needed to look for evidence that somehow escaped them the first time that graham had been shot to death x-rays taken during the second autopsy revealed two 32-caliber slugs in graham's skull and a small entrance wound behind his left ear [Music] a pathologist removed the projectile so they could be compared to the murder weapon [Music] sled agents recovered the gun mccray sold to his friend ballistics examiners noted similarities between the grooves etched into the slugs and those in the pistol's barrel they determined that gun could have fired the bullets that killed graham more evidence implicating charles mcrae but investigators also needed evidence on the men who allegedly hired him graham's former business partners larry marshall and bill prince prince's involvement with the victim went well beyond business graham had been his father figure bill prince had been raised by william graham from the time he was a teenager they became business partners and as a result of being business partners they took out a 500 000 insurance policy out on each other prosecutor celibi worked with the sled agents developing the insurance motive we found out that mr prince had contacted the insurance company many times immediately after mr graham's death wanting to know how quickly he could collect the proceeds in fact he even volunteered to fly up to where the company was located and collect the check investigators learned that bill prince made half a million dollars off william graham's death prince had also tried to control graham's burial proceedings we talked with a funeral home that handled mr graham's burial and found out that mr prince had offered to pay for the the burial if the body was going to be cremated which of course would probably have destroyed the evidence of the projectiles that were still in his corpse authorities made no effort to hide their investigation of bill prince and larry marshall and discovered that the men had lost four hundred thousand dollars to graham in a recent lawsuit and two weeks before he died graham had filed a second suit against them a compelling financial motive yet it was only circumstantial evidence against two millionaires not easily intimidated by the law no one was charged other than mr mcrae initially because the only indication we had that others were involved were from mr mcrae there were no corroborating witnesses there was no physical evidence then investigators early fears were realized the one witness they did have backed down mr mcrae soon recanted his story and refused to cooperate so there was nothing to support what he was saying about others being involved perhaps someone had gotten to mcrae and convinced him not to cooperate in any case investigators needed a new break in order to pursue prince and marshall [Music] in december 1988 that break would emerge in a south carolina cemetery in 1988 south carolina law enforcement division agents investigated an arson an alleged murder for hire in the death of william graham when charles mcrae confessed to the killing he said that millionaire businessman bill prince and larry marshall hired him for the hit but then mcrae recanted and the investigation stalled eight months later a lawyer asked sled agents to meet him in a local cemetery yes he said he represented a man named fred peachy andrews who had information on the case that he knows who killed mr graham he's very nervous the first thing he wants is protection sled agent james gamble the lawyer explained to us that mr andrews was fearful of his life because he uh knew a good bit about the murder mr william graham the attorney said andrews wanted to talk to authorities discreetly so they set up a meeting in a parking lot the next day fred andrews spoke with sled agents james gamble and gary martin he said he used to run an illegal gambling operation out of his office and through that operation bill prince and larry marshall came to him about a contract killing they had approached peaches to either kill or find someone to kill william graham because they they thought peaches had all these underworld contacts because he was running these poker houses and he going back and forth to las vegas things of that nature and they got some other he said prince offered twenty thousand dollars for the hit but later told him that charles mcrae had been hired instead when mcrae started talking to the cops larry marshall and bill prince began calling andrews threatening him to keep quiet [Music] prosecutor dudley saleem he was threatened not to reveal what he knew that had the opposite result of sending him to law enforcement andrews agreed to help get more evidence against prince and marshall and set up a tape recorder on his home phone if the men called again he would be ready it wasn't long before bill prince did call [Music] you know who this is once again prince brought up the graham investigation he said he heard andrews was talking to sled and he and larry marshall needed to be sure he wasn't ratting on them but this time it was caught on tape that kind of talk and get a person killed will prince stated to fred andrews that if it's true what i hear that you're saying to law enforcement a lot of people could get hurt [Music] to me that implied that for his own safety he should not cooperate with law enforcement it appeared prince was willing to kill his father figure for money and any witness against him to keep them quiet sled agents and prosecutors put together their case against prince and marshall they had the original statement of the alleged hitman charles mcrae [Music] physical proof that graham had been shot to death the statement of fred andrews that prince and marshall ordered the murder and the tapes of calls threatening andrews not to cooperate with police in the investigation we gathered all the information that we could we went to the florence county grand jury presented the case and they were indicted for the death of william graham investigators secured arrest warrants for the two businessmen on april 6 1989 deputies and agents arrested bill prince outside a real estate office he was charged with solicitation of murder conspiracy and accessory before the fact of murder [Music] when larry marshall heard of prince's arrest he tried to run sir can you step out of the car please what's this all about but another arrest team found him driving out of town they arrested him on the same charges in connection with graham's murder [Music] on may 6 1991 at the florence county courthouse the trial of bill prince charles mcrae and larry marshall began conversation did you have with mr prince the state's key witness was fred andrews he said someone needed to be killed and he said that man was william grant he testified about prince and marshall approaching him about killing graham and then threatening him after mcrae was arrested thank you no more questions for this witness you may step down the jury heard about the two businessmen warning andrews not to talk to police about the murder no further witnesses at this time on may 14 1991 the local jury convicted bill prince and larry marshall of accessory before the fact and solicitation of murder they also found prince guilty of murder conspiracy but it wouldn't last the jury convicted charles mcrae of burglary and conspiracy but then surprisingly they acquitted him on the murder and arson charges attorneys for the millionaires jumped at the apparent legal contradiction they argued that since mcrae was acquitted of graham's murder their clients should be granted new trials the judge agreed overturning the jury's verdict and released prince and marshall on one hundred thousand dollar bond the florence county solicitor's office appealed to the state supreme court asking that the guilty verdict stand after two frustrating years of delays the south carolina supreme court delivered its opinion in december 1993 [Music] the court granted larry marshall a new separate trial citing insufficient evidence against him alone showing intent to have graham killed prosecutors decided not to pursue a new trial there was more evidence showing bill prince actively sought a hitman to kill graham to the supreme court prince did order the murder legally it did not matter who carried it out ultimately south carolina supreme court upheld mr prince's convictions for conspiracy for solicitation and accessory before the fact of murder which carries a life sentence prince's bond was revoked on august 29 1994 a team of investigators went to his home to take him into custody [Music] he was to be held to await sentencing but his wife said he had been gone for days agents searched the house but found no sign of him or where he went prince's truck was also missing and investigators learned he had liquidated 190 000 worth of property he had a head start and plenty of money with which to run and plan his next hit after being found guilty of murder for hire south carolina millionaire bill prince jumped on before sentencing days later a south carolina state trooper responded to a call about an abandoned vehicle [Music] when he ran the plates he learned it belonged to the fugitive bill prince it was sitting by the woods near lake santee south carolina on the way to georgia two major interstates 95 and 26 intersect in the area an easy escape in any direction [Music] believing prince had fled the state authorities contacted the fbi field office in columbia south carolina special agent joe younger was assigned the case the sheriff's office said that they had contacted his friends and his relatives and they did not know where he was once we obtained federally an unlawful flight to avoid confinement warrant then we started looking for mr prince throughout the united states they needed to narrow the scope of the search i learned at that time that bill prince had a brother don prince who lived in wilmington north carolina and was an insurance businessman and he had taken over some of the business affairs for bill prince they believed he might also be helping to hide his brother we decided not to interview don prince because we did not think we would get his cooperation instead wilmington agents developed cooperating informants in his neighborhood when they knew dawn was at work they interviewed neighbors and explained they were conducting a federal investigation that required discretion yeah that's my neighbors several recalled seeing bill prince with don and agreed to help give me a call and they knew don prince's cummings and goings where he went to work where he lived and proceeded to watch this and report to the fbi in wilmington within days the plan worked [Music] one neighbor spotted the prince brothers outside don's house as promised he contacted the fbi the wilmington fbi office notified me that this lookout had seen actually seen bill prince there at the house at the residence yes yeah they're down in dijon by time the fbi got the information he was gone the many waterways of wilmington would provide escape routes few would notice agents maintained surveillance on don prince hoping he would lead them to his brother but catching up with the millionaire fugitive wasn't easy bill prince was harder to catch than the usual fugitive because he had virtually unlimited resources bill prince and don prince were both successful businessmen they had money they had cars they had boats and they had airplanes they had offshore contacts and they moved around and once bill prince was able to solicit his brother's help in hiding him this caused it to be a more difficult fugitive case the fbi received information that bill prince may be in puerto rico maybe in the bahamas he may be in wilmington north carolina he may be in florida [Music] agents responded to every reliable sighting in these areas accessible by boat and small plane but each time bill prince was gone when they arrived [Music] soon the fbi learned bill's brother don was doing more than hiding him [Music] we also received information that don prince had contacted witnesses who had testified against bill prince trying to get these witnesses to recant their testimony so that bill prince could get a new trial i'm an associate of mr prince an intermediary for the princes tried to get witness fred peachy andrews to sign an affidavit swearing to new testimony testimony at mr prince's trial it might be in your mind but andrews had no interest in changing his story i don't want to sign anything has anything to do with any of you guys you got that it really might be in your best interest you need to take a look at this yeah i hear you his testimony would stand the don prince convinced 20 other witnesses against his brother to sign the affidavits andrews was the holdout by december 1994 bill prince had been gone from atlanta south carolina for four months several times his people had reached out to pg andrews to get him to recant finally on one chilly december night someone tried to eliminate him peachy informed the florence county sheriff's office that someone had shot at him at his residence this was a consequence we suppose of him testifying against bill prince however no one was ever captured no arrest was ever made after the attack on andrews larry marshall came to the fbi asking for protection fearing prince would have him killed agents needed to find the fugitive before anyone else in the community got hurt [Music] the fbi developed an informant close to prince who was afraid to be seen talking to cops so they slipped him the phone number to a dedicated answering machine at the field office asking him to leave any tips he had on the machine in august 1995 the informant called in hey i got a number form it's a pager four two three five five the page's billing address was a motel room in knoxville tennessee the knoxville fbi office sent a surveillance team to the motel they set up outside the room and waited after several hours they spotted a man resembling prince he had changed his appearance from the way that we knew bill prince he was wearing a straw hat he had a suntan and he had on a casual shirt and the agents realized that this was the fugitive bill prince he first said that he was not bill prince but then once they started talking with him he acknowledged the fact who he was and they arrested him after a year on the run bill prince was finally going to prison but even prison would not stop his orders for violence [Music] after 52 year old millionaire fugitive bill prince was captured he was sentenced to life for murder for hire at the lee correctional institution in bishopville south carolina bill prince would not be eligible for parole until he was 72 years old his brother don often visited [Music] authorities had no idea what the two discussed what they were planning they only knew that bill prince wanted out and that his attempts to get a new trial had failed prince wasn't willing to give up two months into his sentence he began talking with a fellow inmate about revenge and murder the inmate said he could orchestrate murders for hire through his contacts on the outside prince wanted five men killed fred andrews the main witness against him larry marshall his former co-defendant agent james gamble who helped put him away an elderly man on whom he held life insurance and even his own son whom he thought was conspiring with marshall to take over his fortunes but prince made a critical mistake that inmate was an informant for the fbi he worked for special agent rob weisenhofer of the fbi's columbia south carolina field office having informants in the prison system is is almost as important as having them out on the on the street it's paramount to have as much information coming out of the prison system as we can get so it's important to maintain good contact inside and they talk to the other inmates in in the institution a lot of times we'll find out what happens from talking to an inmate source the source told weisenhofer about prince's request for five contract killings the story was something that was hard to believe because it was so incredible and something that you'd really see on television or read in the paper but not really an everyday thing weisenhofer spoke to special agent joe young and her in florence to ask about prince's history [Music] joe right away said that all fits with everything that's happened and i would not doubt that this guy's trying it again the informant was scheduled for knee surgery so the agent met him in the privacy of the infirmary weisenhofer was not surprised to hear bill prince had his brother's help in the murder for hire plots bill prince is willing to pay a hit man and the payment would come through his brother dawn prince the informant said the brothers wanted to start by killing andrews we asked the prison informant to play along with bill prince because we needed to corroborate what he was telling us we were concerned that bill prince was attempting to find a hit man we didn't want him to do that before we could intercept him from there and so we decided to play the role of the hitman the informant would orchestrate the hit on andrews then arrange a meeting between the fake hitman and don prince where they could complete the payoff and plan the other murders agents from sled in the fbi prepared for the sting bill prince was just as dangerous inside the prison walls as he had been outside as long as don prince was out there willing to do anything to help his brother investigators needed to stop the two by securing clear evidence of a murder conspiracy according to sled agent billy chastain bill and don prince were not only brothers they were true partners in crime we needed to build a case not only against bill prince but against his brother who was not incarcerated and had never been incarcerated for any serious crime before and we felt like we had to tie the two in a conspiracy to make it work the informant met with prince and told him he had found a man for the job he said that the hitman was a member of a motorcycle gang and that for five thousand dollars the hitman would kill pt andrews and bill prince took him up on the offer the informant said he only needed to know where andrews lived bill actually drew a map for the informant we then had that map mailed to us by the informant when we checked that it was real the map led agents directly to fred andrews house more circumstantial evidence of the brothers conspiracy mr andrews the agents met with andrews and told him about the hit ordered against him [Music] they offered andrew's protection and requested his help with the sting operation we needed something that would spur a conversation between the informant and bill prince and we decided that the way to do that would be to tell bill that the hit had taken place andrews agreed to help provide proof he had been killed agents staged a photograph of andrews as the apparent victim of an execution they would get the photo to bill prince with the story that the hitman took it after the murder then andrews would go into hiding further supporting the story of his death at the prison infirmary agents gave the photo to their informant they also wired him for his meeting with prince they wanted to get prince on tape making arrangements to pay the hitman through his brother so far they had very little incriminating dawn prince we had to prove to bill that the murder had indeed taken place so he can pass that along to his brother who was really the hidden man in this whole deal because he was slick and he always worked under the table the informant met with bill in the prison yard handing off the staged murder photo but there was a problem prince said he did not believe it was peachy andrews in the photo claiming his beard looked different that's what that looks like one more complication in a frustrating case south carolina investigators faked the contract killing of government witness fred peachey andrews trying to catch brothers bill and dawn prince in the first of five murder for hire plots [Music] a prison informant showed bill prince the picture of the hit but reported to agents that prince did not believe it was andrews in the photo special agent rob weisenhofer had to convince prince and get it on tape bill prince had asked several questions one what type of ring was um peachy andrew's wearing and what did his uh the tags on his car um say let's do it again agents gave the informant the details he needed and sent him back to meet with prince the informant told prince he just spoke with the hitman by telephone he gave him the information requested about the ring in the license plate prince was still skeptical he told the informant he needed more to be convinced frustrated special agent joe youngener decided to add one more ruse to the investigation and planted a rumor that might help joe younger over in florence mentioned to a newspaper reporter there that he should check the the police impound lot in florence county when the reporter went by the impound lot he noticed peachy andrew's car was there mr andrews is sort of a local character and in that car was well known around florence so when the reporter saw that car he put two and two together and realized that the um that peachy andrews who had been an important witness in the bill prince trial was missing conducting interviews the reporter learned fred andrews had not been seen for over a week and people were beginning to talk that something had happened to him what he did not know was that andrews was holed up in an fbi safe house on december 14 1995 the reporter published a story about andrew's disappearance when don prince read the column he brought it to his brother bill they were huddled together in the meeting room and it was apparent they didn't want anyone else to hear what was going on it looked like bill prince was finally convinced that andrews had been murdered thanks now he would set up the payoff through the prison informant in a conversation taped by the fbi dawn prince left the institution and traveled on i-20 to a rest area about 65-70 miles from lee correctional institute where he was told to look for a biker-type individual at the picnic area that biker type was in fact a sled agent we had placed the undercover agent out of the table by himself so he'd be away from any traffic we weren't sure how don prince was going to react when he was arrested and we'd heard he always carried a gun other agents watched from nearby to videotape the meeting and make the arrest the rendezvous time was 5 p.m the pre-arranged code was for don prince to ask directions to turboville the town across the state at 5 20 the subject pulled up don prince walked down and asked him where was kerbyville [Music] special agent weisenhofer posed as a motorist using the telephone agent chastain and the others prepared to move on his signal our code was when a special agent wise and offer dropped the phone then everybody would approach mr prince the undercover agent said he was ready to do the next hit against larry marshall but prince said they wanted to wait until things cooled [Music] down specialization wise i've dropped the phone and confronted prince as i arrived don prince put his hands up initially and put his left hand toward his pocket and at that time i brought him down to the ground and then we affected the arrest after we arrested don prince and put him in handcuffs we picked him up off the ground and as i was bringing him up off the ground he said the things you do for your brother and was coming to the realization what had happened to him at that point agents recovered don's gun from his car his brother bill was expecting to hear the payoff had taken place but instead would soon learn don had been arrested and their days of ordering contract killings were over the prince brothers are the most vicious individuals that i've i've ever been around bill and don prince are cold-hearted murderers in our eyes and uh and obviously into in the court's eyes too bill prince already serving a life sentence was convicted of conspiracy to commit murder and sentenced to an additional 22 years in federal prison his brother don was sentenced to 17 and a half years for his role in the murder for hire plot it was a huge team effort um between sled and and the fbi and we were actually able to save some lives but it's really gratifying when you when you realize at the end of the day that people probably would have been killed if we weren't there bill prince was moved to administrative segregation no more unmonitored visits no more murder plots [Music] you

Channel: The FBI Files

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Keywords: FBI, FBI Files, FBI Documentary, Documentary, Crime, Crime Documentary, Crime Patrol, True Crime, True crime daily, Unsolved, Crime Stories, Crime Documentaries Full Episodes, Full Episode, unsolved true crime, fbi files full episodes, we got him, mystery, solved, investigation, police, criminal, prison, jail

Id: sMCWmfJmfJ0

Length: 49min 23sec (2963 seconds)

Published: Sat May 01 2021