In 2011, 74-year-old high school sweethearts Bill and Peggy Stephenson were found murdered inside their Kentucky condo on Memorial Day weekend. Nothing valuable appeared to be missing, but the crime scene was so strange that detectives wondered whether the killer was trying to leave a message. For years, the case pulled investigators in every direction — until one piece of evidence, mailed across the country more than a decade earlier, finally got a hit.
Duration
47m
Broadcast on
10 Aug 2026
Audio Format
other
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In 2011, 74-year-old high school sweethearts Bill and Peggy Stephenson were found murdered inside their Kentucky condo on Memorial Day weekend. Nothing valuable appeared to be missing, but the crime scene was so strange that detectives wondered whether the killer was trying to leave a message. For years, the case pulled investigators in every direction — until one piece of evidence, mailed across the country more than a decade earlier, finally got a hit.
If you have any information on the murders of Bill and Peggy Stephenson, please contact the Boone County Sheriff’s Office’s tip line for this case at 859-334-8496, or you can reach out to us by emailing [email protected].
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Hi, crime junkies, I'm your host Ashley Flowers, and I'm Britt. And the story I have for you today is a case that haunts everyone who touches it. The kind of case that most detectives only ever see once in their career. It's become a local lore around Boone County, Kentucky. Once word leaked that there could be ritualistic elements to the murder of a retired couple in their home, you can just imagine the rumors that spread. And more so, in the void of information left by police, they have been incredibly tight with the details about this case. But today, for the first time, they're sharing some never-before-released case information with us, including the crime scene evidence that has recently led them to a man out west. And now, investigators believe that they may finally be closer than ever to solving the murder of Bill and Peggy Stevenson. [Music] May 29th, 2011 is a hot Sunday in Florence, Kentucky. That's also Memorial Day weekend. Many people have the next day off, so their Sunday routines are changing a bit. Family get-togethers, a day at the lake, maybe a road trip to get out of town. But not for Beth Victor, because even though she plans to take her daughter to do some shopping to celebrate her graduation, they're still going to church first. Today always means church for their family. That was ingrained in Beth by her own parents, Bill and Peggy Stevenson. But when Beth and her family take their seats in the pews, her 74-year-old parents aren't there. And she knows that something is up immediately. Bill's a deacon, and Peggy plays the organ. They are there every single Sunday, like clockwork. So when the service starts, it's not just Beth who was like looking around trying to see what's going on. The whole congregation notices their absence. And I can imagine Beth just like sneaking glances at the door, expecting them to sneak in at some point during the sermon, but they never do. And after it wraps up, people are coming up to Beth, asking if she knows anything. And this is when she learns that it wasn't just this service that was missed. Her dad Bill had this like truck stop ministry where he gave church services inside an old truck trailer earlier in the morning. And a few of his church friends volunteered there as well, and they said that Bill didn't show up to that either. Beth spoke to her parents the day before at her daughter's graduation, and they were fine. But clearly, something happened between now and then. So she asked her husband Claude to stop by her parents on his way home, and she had already promised her daughter that she was going to take her shopping. No problem, right? So he heads over to their condo complex. Claude lets himself into the building's main entrance and makes his way to the front door of their unit on the first floor. But when he knocks, no answer. He tries again, still nothing. So he walks around to the back of the condo building because there is a sliding glass door that opens directly from their unit to the outside. He notices that the screen door is closed, but it looks like the glass door isn't.
Transcription truncated.
In 2011, 74-year-old high school sweethearts Bill and Peggy Stephenson were found murdered inside their Kentucky condo on Memorial Day weekend. Nothing valuable appeared to be missing, but the crime scene was so strange that detectives wondered whether the killer was trying to leave a message. For years, the case pulled investigators in every direction — until one piece of evidence, mailed across the country more than a decade earlier, finally got a hit.
