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1:40

up to. Last Thursday

1:42

was National DNA Day, and in

1:44

honor of that special day, we

1:47

collaborated with another female owned Indianapolis

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business, Ash and Elm Cider Company,

1:51

to produce our very own limited

1:54

edition cider, Cheers for Chuck. Not

1:57

only does it taste delicious, I actually helped pick the flavor

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of Audiocheck's proceeds will be going

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2:05

Season of Justice. As

2:08

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2:10

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2:14

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them and to possibly make a donation straight

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to them. There'll be a

2:43

link on the Cheers for Chuck site, but

2:45

you can also go directly to seasonofjustice.org to

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learn more about them or to donate. Just

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one donation makes a big impact

2:52

for the families that are tirelessly

2:54

searching for answers. Just like

2:56

the family of our victim today. So

2:59

our first card this week is

3:01

Timothy Zimmerman, the 8 of

3:03

spades from Indiana. 57-year-old

3:06

Tim was a popular guy who was loved by

3:08

many. He spent his days brightening

3:10

other people, loving those around him and

3:13

making a difference in his community. But

3:15

on one cold Thursday evening in

3:17

2007, someone decided to brutally put

3:19

an end to all of that.

3:22

And although no one has ever been

3:24

charged with his murder, investigators have long

3:26

suspected their killer has been right in

3:28

front of them the entire time. I'm

3:32

Ashley Flowers, and this

3:34

is The Deck. It

4:00

was around 3.30 in the afternoon on April 12, 2007, and Jim

4:02

Zimmerman had just gotten home

4:13

from work when he got a call from his brother

4:15

and business partner, Tim. Tim

4:17

was calling to let him know that he was about

4:19

to meet with a prospective tenant who'd expressed interest in one

4:21

of the units that they owned and managed. It

4:24

was a vacant one-bed, one-bath unit that was part

4:26

of this little fourplex in the heart of Fort

4:28

Wayne, Indiana. And this specific

4:30

fourplex was an old home that had been

4:32

converted into four different apartments, two on the

4:35

second floor and two on the first. And

4:37

the vacant unit he'd been showing that day was on

4:39

the second floor. But

4:42

right away, something fell off

4:44

to Jim. This guy, the

4:46

prospective tenant, was more than interested in

4:48

this unit. Tim said the

4:50

man had already toured the apartment twice before.

4:54

I said, well, that sounds a little fishy. What's

4:57

going on? And he says, well, he wants to show it to

5:00

his girlfriend. I guess she's going to

5:02

move in there too, and he wants to make sure

5:04

that she likes it before he releases it. Okay,

5:07

that's fair. Probably a good idea

5:09

for both tenants to take a look at the property before

5:11

signing a lease. But going for three

5:14

separate tours, I don't know about you, but

5:16

I've never exceeded two. And

5:18

one was usually plenty. So

5:21

putting myself in Jim's shoes, I would have had

5:23

the same nagging feeling in that moment. Tim

5:26

assured him it was fine, so he didn't

5:28

protest any further. After that

5:30

call, Jim went on with his day. But when

5:32

late evening rolled around, he decided to reach out

5:34

to his brother to see how everything went. I

5:37

called and he didn't answer. I

5:40

thought, well, he was going to dinner with his

5:42

girlfriend. So I didn't

5:44

bother him. A lot of times he wouldn't answer his

5:46

phone if he was busy doing something else. That's

5:49

the way Tim was. Tim's

5:51

longtime girlfriend was Cynthia Peterson.

5:53

And it was after all her birthday. So

5:56

it would be logical that they might have

5:58

plans. So Jim didn't really worry. But

6:00

the following day, as Jim continued

6:02

phoning Tim and continued getting nothing

6:04

but voicemail, he began to

6:06

grow concerned. Not only were Jim

6:09

and Tim brothers and business partners, they

6:11

were also best friends. I mean, they pretty

6:13

much talked on the phone every single day,

6:15

oftentimes multiple times a day. And

6:17

yes, Tim was a very busy guy. Not

6:19

only we see the landlord of a dozen

6:21

plus units in Fort Wayne alongside Jim, but

6:24

Tim was also a pretty active realtor. So

6:27

he had plenty of reasonable excuses for not answering

6:29

the phone. He pretty

6:31

much spent the whole day waiting for a

6:33

callback. But around 6 p.m., when the phone

6:35

rang, it wasn't Tim. It

6:38

was one of their tenants, specifically

6:40

one of the tenants who lived in that fourplex

6:42

that Jim had been showing the day prior. We

6:46

got a call from Miss Virginia. She

6:48

lived in the downstairs apartment. She

6:50

called me and said that his

6:52

truck was there all night long

6:54

and parked out in front of

6:57

him next to the apartment house

6:59

and didn't know what's going on.

7:01

She didn't hear any noise upstairs

7:03

or anything. So I

7:05

said, well, I'm sure he's probably out in one

7:07

of his buddies parking truck there and went out

7:09

with one of his buddies the night before drinking

7:12

or something and stayed at their place. But

7:14

Jim wouldn't be able to hold on

7:17

to that half-baked assumption much longer because

7:19

a few moments later, Miss Virginia called

7:21

right back. Then she

7:23

called back and said the police were there and

7:25

they wanted to get in the

7:28

apartment downstairs. They wanted the keys to it

7:31

because it was the only empty apartment. Jim

7:34

wasn't sure what was going on, but he

7:36

knew it couldn't be anything good. With

7:38

a pit in his stomach, he and his wife Sue

7:40

drove the 30-some minutes from their home

7:42

to this little apartment property to unlock

7:44

the door and figure out what was

7:47

going on. And that had to

7:49

have been one of the longest half-hours

7:51

of Jim's life, questions swirling in his

7:53

head. But when he finally got

7:56

to the fourplex, police started Filling in the

7:58

picture for him. They said they. It.you're missing

8:00

Persons Report. On him from his

8:02

girlfriend senior. Centers. Discrepancy here with

8:05

my sources about when she actually made that

8:07

call cause Fort Wayne Police Detective Brian Martin,

8:09

who we spoke with for this episode said

8:11

that it was earlier that same day and

8:13

there's an article from the local paper back

8:15

in the day that agrees with the timeline.

8:18

The gym told us that he recalled policing

8:20

Cindy a place to call the did the

8:23

for which would have been Thursday evening on

8:25

her birthday and a force wouldn't you know

8:27

it they were actually to old. Newspaper

8:29

reports agree. With that narrative

8:31

to but whether it was Thursday.

8:34

Or friday the details of what Cindy

8:36

A told police winning the says. She

8:38

said that she was concerned because she and

8:41

him had planned for her birthday that she

8:43

had completely missed out on without so much

8:45

as a call. Cindy and Can had been

8:47

dating for the past five or six years.

8:50

They've lived together so when he didn't come

8:52

home that night either, he reported him missing.

8:54

And props for props are do because instead

8:56

of getting the usual he's an adult season

8:59

go missing if he wants to response that

9:01

we typically see in cases like this Portland

9:03

Pd. Actually started investigating right away, starting

9:05

by going around to some of

9:07

his rental properties. And that's when

9:09

they found his trust at the Four Plex. One

9:13

gym understood what was happening. see

9:15

of. Course agreed to lesson in and

9:18

take a look around. Now. In

9:20

order to get to the they can either upstairs

9:22

you had you the key to unlocking exterior. Door

9:24

on the first for. Then walk up

9:26

and interior set of stairs then open

9:28

the unit door at the top of

9:30

the staircase. but we're part was when

9:33

Jim went to that first door he

9:35

was already unlocked. Without

9:37

up to the doors. Upstairs

9:40

and. Change

9:43

the case of. Trailer.

9:46

Got it? I don't. Ginger

9:48

says case for. His

9:51

arrival has set a case of

9:53

the whole artists as wonder church

9:55

so I backed up turn around

9:57

and try to keep it open.

10:00

I guess I one big enough small

10:02

in a larger placements. He did the

10:04

same. Say that some sort of all

10:06

right or am. I

10:09

follow the officer in that sector door

10:11

open. It was dark

10:13

when we went in theaters firefly it

10:15

on him he turn right around and

10:17

pushed me out. So this is a

10:19

crime scene you get our everybody stay

10:22

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10:24

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10:26

police were uncovering with more

10:28

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the best price. Detective

13:09

Brian Martin wasn't there that day,

13:11

but through reading the reports of those who

13:13

were, he's gotten a clear understanding of just how

13:15

shocking that scene was. Tim

13:18

was located on the floor. He

13:21

was covered in blood. The apartment

13:23

had blood on the walls, on

13:25

the furniture, on the floor, in

13:28

nearly every room. A lot of

13:30

it was blood spatter, which

13:32

would be indicative of some kind

13:34

of very intense wound that would

13:36

cause blood to then come out

13:38

of the body. And just like

13:40

I sound splatter, there

13:43

were smudges in blood from what

13:45

appeared to be arms and clothing.

13:47

And it appeared that there was quite

13:49

a struggle that had happened. Tim

13:52

had some pretty massive injuries to

13:54

his head and neck area, as

13:56

well as his torso and chest

13:59

area. what we call defensive

14:01

wounds on the arms and hands. It's

14:03

very common during a knife or

14:05

sharp edge weapon attack that

14:08

the assailant will also be cut because

14:10

the nature of that kind of assault

14:12

is down and dirty, if you will,

14:15

and oftentimes blood can be very slippery

14:18

and when stabbing someone it will cause

14:20

the hand on the knife or edged

14:22

weapon to become bloody and then slip

14:25

down onto the blade itself. So the

14:27

perpetrator or assailant oftentimes will cut their

14:29

hand. Technicians collected

14:31

numerous samples to be sent off for

14:33

tests. Meanwhile, investigators were

14:35

looking at another piece of evidence,

14:38

something they don't usually get in

14:40

cases like this. One

14:42

thing that was very noticeable to us

14:44

next to Tim's body were he had

14:46

been bleeding. Somebody had stepped

14:49

and left a shoe impression. They

14:52

later learned that the shoe was a size 12 Nike

14:55

pump style shoe. And in addition

14:57

to the print, investigators were also able

14:59

to find some helpful context clues. We

15:02

saw that Tim's glasses appeared to be on a

15:05

table. There's an ink pen laying

15:07

on the table in close proximity to the

15:09

glasses and there was a

15:11

rental agreement that was laying right there

15:13

as well. The glasses were laid

15:15

on the table in such a way that

15:18

it didn't appear that they were knocked off

15:20

of Tim or thrown down from Tim. It

15:22

appeared that they were sat there and

15:24

with blood spatter that was on them it appeared

15:27

the glasses were sitting on the table prior

15:29

to the attack taking place. I

15:32

know what you're wondering and no, the

15:34

rental agreement had not been filled in

15:36

or even signed. There was no tenant

15:38

name on it at all. Would have been

15:40

nice though, right? So in all likelihood

15:42

any name on it might not have been real. Because

15:45

this whole thing seemed planned.

15:49

Like Tim had sat down with the

15:51

rental agreement, taken off his glasses, then

15:53

been attacked from behind. Investigators

15:56

could tell that the assault that ensued was not

15:58

only violent but would have been long

16:01

and loud, meaning someone had

16:03

to have heard it, especially

16:05

considering the apartment was surrounded by

16:07

three other occupied units. But

16:09

when police went and talked to those tenants

16:12

in those occupied units, no one

16:14

had heard a peep, which to investigators

16:16

meant that none of them could have been

16:18

home at the time of the attack. Which

16:21

also draws your mind to wonder, is

16:23

that a coincidence that no one

16:25

else was home? Is it just dumb

16:27

luck for the perpetrator? Because

16:30

an assault like this had to

16:32

have been very noisy, very violent, a

16:34

lot of yelling, a lot of slamming

16:36

around on walls and furniture being knocked

16:38

over. So it makes

16:41

your detective brain wonder, was this somebody

16:43

who knew well enough that

16:45

no one else would be home when they scheduled

16:47

this time to go look at the apartment, you

16:50

know, to be a potential renter? Was

16:52

this a ploy to draw Tim into

16:54

the apartment knowing that no one else

16:56

would be around to hear and see

16:58

what was happening? It makes you

17:01

think about a lot of different things and

17:03

a lot of different possibilities. Was it coincidence?

17:06

Absolutely, it kind of meant coincidence. Was

17:08

this planned? Well, if it was

17:10

planned, somebody had to have known schedules or at

17:12

least been doing a little bit of surveillance and

17:14

homework of their own to know that the other

17:17

occupants of the home were gone. Because

17:19

no one had witnessed or heard anything, police couldn't

17:21

know for sure when exactly the attack

17:23

took place. But pulling from the

17:26

account of a next door neighbor who said she

17:28

saw Tim outside Thursday morning doing artwork

17:30

and Jim's knowledge of when Tim

17:33

was meeting with that prospective tenant

17:35

and presumably when other tenants arrived

17:37

home, investigators estimated Tim's murder occurred

17:40

between 5 and 7 p.m. on Thursday.

17:42

But that wasn't the only info that they

17:45

gleaned from talking with tenants, neighbors, and Jim.

17:48

Investigators quickly found themselves a person of

17:50

interest, too, one tenant in

17:52

particular who had been feuding with Tim.

17:55

Detective Martin said the tenant in question had been

17:57

late on rent a few times and that's what

17:59

caused the risk. But Jim told us

18:02

that their issues ran even deeper than that. Apparently

18:05

this tenant's boyfriend, let's call him

18:07

Corey, had been living at the

18:09

fourplex with the tenant. But about a month before

18:11

all of this, Tim and Jim found out that

18:13

Corey had had some run-ins with the law and

18:15

the dude was actually dealing drugs out of the

18:18

apartment. So, naturally, Jim and Tim

18:20

wanted him out of there. So,

18:22

I went up there with Tim, and

18:25

Tim told him he had the latest. He started getting

18:27

smart, so I said something to

18:29

him. I said, you better get your butt out of

18:31

here. I said, you're not messing with Tim.

18:33

Jim said the guy didn't move out right

18:35

away, and when he eventually did, he didn't

18:38

wind up far, maybe a mile, mile and

18:40

a half away. Now, whether or

18:42

not police knew about that specific run-in at this point,

18:44

I don't know. But what I do

18:46

know is that they zeroed in on this guy

18:48

Corey quickly. So quickly,

18:50

in fact, that before the night was over, investigators

18:52

had a search warrant for his place, and they

18:54

were sitting down to speak with him face to

18:56

face. He couldn't provide a

18:58

whole lot of information. He wasn't

19:00

there at the time when it happened, and

19:03

he had heard through the grapevine, through his

19:05

girlfriend, that police were investigating Tim's murder, and

19:07

that's all he really knew. They

19:09

didn't end up finding anything incriminating at his

19:11

place either. So, police

19:14

were back to square one, or what

19:16

probably should have been square one, trying

19:19

to identify that prospective tenant who was

19:21

meeting with Tim. Jim

19:23

told investigators that when he'd spoken to Tim

19:25

on the phone Thursday, Tim had given him

19:27

a name. But now, for the

19:29

life of him, Jim couldn't

19:32

remember the name. But

19:34

investigators weren't too worried, because they

19:36

were sure that Tim must have written

19:38

the guy's name or number down somewhere,

19:41

especially since the guy had viewed this place

19:43

two times before. Detectives

19:45

tried to go through his calendar in

19:47

his books, but found nothing indicating who

19:50

he was meeting or a time and

19:52

date of a meeting. unclear,

20:00

but they were able to pull a full list

20:02

of the numbers that he'd interacted with leading up

20:04

to his death. I know

20:06

that the numbers that were located

20:08

were thoroughly vetted and those individuals

20:10

are talked to and no information

20:12

came from the numbers. One

20:15

of one or two of the numbers were actually written on

20:17

like scratch paper or post a note that we were able

20:19

to investigate and they didn't

20:21

come back to anything. Just business

20:24

dealings from other parts of Tim's

20:26

life. This is one

20:28

of those times in a case where I tend

20:30

to spiral because the answer feels like it has

20:32

to be right there, right in front

20:34

of our faces, right? Because whoever

20:36

this prospective tenant was, they had

20:38

to have been communicating with him

20:40

somehow. If it wasn't

20:42

through phone calls or text messages, maybe

20:45

email, but that also would have been

20:47

an easy thing to track down. I

20:49

mean, maybe they had a verbal agreement to

20:51

do this third tour at the time of

20:53

the previous tour, but even still wouldn't there

20:55

be some digital record of their communication at

20:57

some point. We tried to

21:00

follow up with detective Martin after our interview

21:02

to get a more clear understanding of what

21:04

had been done back then versus recently to

21:06

track down any digital communications, but

21:09

he declined to comment on that. So

21:11

back then desperate for leads in

21:14

the following days, police did more interviews

21:16

with those closest to the case and

21:18

Tim's girlfriend, Cynthia, in particular, noted something

21:21

odd that had been happening to her

21:23

the day that Tim went missing. She

21:26

stated that on Thursday, she

21:28

had received numerous hang up calls. Like somebody

21:30

had been calling her phone and then not

21:32

speaking, but as soon as she would answer,

21:34

they would just hang up. She said it

21:37

happened a crazy amount of times. It

21:39

came up private on caller ID. So therefore we

21:41

don't know who that number is. Detective

21:44

Martin said that these calls were happening

21:46

throughout the day Thursday. He

21:48

didn't know specific times. So I don't know if

21:51

the calls started happening after Tim was believed to

21:53

have been killed or if they were truly going

21:55

on all throughout the day Thursday. Detective

21:57

Martin also wouldn't comment on whether or not.

22:00

there were private numbers on Tim's phone,

22:02

either incoming or outgoing. Now,

22:04

if this kind of thing were to happen today, police would

22:06

not be able to track down the call-in. But

22:09

with this being 2007, Detective Martin

22:11

said that that just wasn't an

22:13

option. So all investigators could do

22:15

was document it and then move

22:17

on. Cynthia didn't get

22:19

any more calls like that, and while

22:21

these could have been just innocent prank

22:23

calls, the timing was eerie. Especially

22:26

when you consider what the implication

22:28

is. If it was

22:30

Tim's killer. And that's a big

22:32

if, but if. Then they knew

22:34

Tim well enough to have his girlfriend's

22:37

phone number. Not something I assume you

22:39

normally pass out to every future tenant.

22:42

While police were continuing on with

22:44

their investigation, Jim was doing his

22:46

own asking around, and growing suspicious

22:48

of one person in particular. 18-year-old

22:51

Destin Taylor, who just

22:54

happened to be Cynthia's son. Now,

22:57

Jim knew that Tim and

22:59

Destin had a rocky relationship,

23:01

to say the least. Destin

23:03

didn't live with Cynthia and Tim at this point, but

23:05

that didn't ease the tension between the two of them.

23:08

Their fighting went further than the usual

23:10

father, figure, and teenage son bickering, though.

23:13

Jim told us that things had escalated to a

23:15

scary level. He threatened Tim

23:17

several times. He was going

23:19

to kill Tim while he's sleeping, slash his throat.

23:22

He took all the knives out of the house

23:24

and hit him. And the kid says, well, that's

23:26

okay. I'll just take a ball bat and beat

23:28

you to death when you're sleeping. What

23:31

exactly they were fighting over when those threats

23:33

occurred, Jim didn't know. He told

23:35

us that they'd fought at least once over how

23:38

Destin treated his mother. And I know Destin did

23:40

have frequent run-ins with the law, so maybe that

23:42

had something to do with it. But

23:44

standing out in Jim's mind more than the

23:47

threats at this point was something that happened

23:49

the night that Tim's body was found, something

23:51

he couldn't shake. Jim said

23:53

that he was standing outside the fourplex that

23:55

night behind the yellow tape, waiting for an

23:57

update from law enforcement. When all of his sudden,

24:00

Destin showed up. He

24:02

was all scratched up in his face. And

24:04

then I started thinking,

24:07

I wonder why his face looks like that. Jim

24:09

confronted Destin about his injuries and Destin

24:12

just brushed him off. He said that

24:14

the scratches were from a slap fight

24:16

with a friend, which as

24:18

I understand it, a slap fight is where you

24:20

take turns slapping each other across the face with

24:22

an open hand. So I don't really understand how

24:24

you get scratches doing that, unless

24:27

Destin was being sarcastic. Like maybe he was implying

24:29

that he and a friend had a full on

24:31

brawl and he was just joking, labeling in a

24:33

slap fight, who knows? But

24:35

obviously those scratches could have been from

24:38

something much more sinister. And

24:40

that's exactly what was going through Jim's head. Especially

24:42

now that he had had time to process something

24:45

else that wasn't quite adding it. Jim

24:47

told our reporting team that Cindia and

24:49

Tim didn't have the healthiest relationship. Like

24:52

I mentioned earlier, they'd been together for the past

24:54

five or six years and they lived together, though

24:56

it wasn't unheard of for Tim to not come

24:58

home for days at a time because they'd gotten

25:01

into a fight and Cindia had locked him out

25:03

of the house. In fact, he

25:05

always carried a pillow and a blanket in

25:07

his vehicle because he wanted to be prepared

25:09

in case he couldn't go home. And

25:12

in all those instances of Tim

25:14

being gone for days, not once

25:16

had Cindia reported him missing. But

25:18

remember this time she reported him missing

25:20

within hours or at least within 24

25:23

hours, depending on which timeline

25:25

is true. And now that

25:27

Jim was really thinking about it, why

25:29

hadn't Cindia taken the most basic step

25:31

of calling him to see if he

25:33

knew where his brother was before reporting

25:35

him missing to police? I

25:38

mean, she knew that Tim and Jim were

25:40

almost always together or at the very least,

25:42

Jim almost always knew Tim's whereabouts. Now

25:45

to be fair, as far as we know, they

25:47

weren't in a fight that night and

25:49

they did have birthday plans. So

25:51

maybe this time was different from all the rest.

25:54

But it left Jim wondering if Cindia just

25:56

had a gut feeling that something was wrong.

26:00

maybe she knew something was. Even

26:03

weirder than all of that, though, was what

26:05

one of the tenants told Jim they saw

26:07

a few hours after Tim's body was found.

26:10

They claimed to have seen Destin and one

26:12

of his friends prowling around the fourplex and

26:14

attempting to get into the vacant unit. You

26:17

know, the crime scene. Supposedly,

26:19

the tenant confronted Destin about this and Destin claimed

26:21

that he was just investigating. Also,

26:24

Jim told us that police said the

26:26

shoe print found at the crime scene

26:29

was size 15, which

26:31

he says is Destin's shoe size. But

26:34

again, I do want to point out Detective Martin told

26:36

us the shoe print was size 12. And

26:39

then Detective Martin wouldn't confirm for us

26:41

what Destin's actual shoe size was. So

26:43

I don't know. Regardless, Jim

26:46

wasn't the only one growing suspicious

26:48

of Destin. Police were on to

26:50

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29:10

His mother provided an alibi for

29:12

him on the night of the

29:14

homicide or the day of the

29:16

homicide, but also

29:18

indicated after further questioning that she

29:20

couldn't say 100% that he was

29:22

there. At

29:26

her house, the entire timeframe of

29:28

the homicide that he could have left

29:30

for a period within there and she

29:33

would not have known. Which

29:35

happens a lot of times. We'll have somebody say, nope,

29:37

they were here. I know they were here. Well, how

29:39

do you know they were here? Well, they were here

29:41

when I left and they were

29:43

here when I woke up or they were here at this point

29:45

and they were here at this point. So they were here the

29:47

whole time. And then obviously we'll do

29:49

further questioning and try to get a little bit

29:52

more specific. And it was

29:54

during that more directed questioning

29:56

when his mother, Dustin's

29:58

mother, advised. that there

30:00

was a period of time that he could have

30:03

very easily left and she would not have known.

30:06

Suspicions and a shaky alibi aren't usually enough

30:08

to pin a murder on someone, or at

30:10

least they shouldn't be. I know we've seen

30:12

it all in true crime at this point.

30:15

But it wouldn't be long before investigators

30:17

had a little more. By now, they were

30:19

starting to get some DNA results back from items

30:22

tested at the crime scene. And on

30:24

one of Kim's socks, they had been able

30:26

to pull a male DNA profile. Now,

30:29

Detective Martin said that he's pretty sure that

30:31

didn't come from blood, but

30:33

he didn't know what kind of biological material

30:36

provided it. Either way,

30:38

when they compared the profile to

30:40

Destin, it was a match. Now,

30:43

don't get me wrong, this was a

30:45

huge development. But it still

30:47

wasn't quite the clear-cut proof police

30:49

were hoping for. If it

30:51

had come from blood, I mean, I think that

30:54

would have been one thing, or if Destin was

30:56

a complete stranger and his DNA was found at

30:58

the scene, that's a thing too. But Destin

31:00

was essentially family with Kim. I

31:03

mean, like I mentioned earlier, even though they didn't live in the same

31:05

house at this point in Destin's life,

31:07

they had before. And his mom

31:09

still lived with Kim. So it's not totally

31:11

far-fetched that some of his DNA could have

31:14

somehow ended up on that sock in an

31:16

innocent way. For example, did

31:18

Destin do his laundry at Tim and Cindy's?

31:21

I don't know, but those are the types

31:23

of innocent explanations that we should be considering,

31:25

certainly ones that a defense attorney would be

31:28

considering. Now, police tried to

31:30

talk with Destin and confront him about their

31:32

suspicions. Basically, they cornered him at

31:34

Cindy's place trying to get some information out

31:36

of him, but their timing was bad. He

31:38

didn't want to chat with police because he

31:40

claimed he was trying to sleep. Investigators

31:43

did eventually get their timing right at a

31:45

later date. They caught Destin when he wasn't

31:47

sleeping, and they chatted a little with him.

31:50

But Detective Martin didn't want to talk

31:52

about that interview. He wouldn't even say

31:54

whether or not anything incriminating was uncovered

31:56

during the conversation. This is

31:58

all he would say about the information. that was used. It

32:01

kind of made you say, hmm. Whatever

32:06

investigators learned in that interview wasn't

32:08

enough to lock Destin up. So

32:11

they continued on with the investigation,

32:13

chasing down every viable lead that

32:15

came in. This

32:17

is a case where a lot of

32:19

people provided information and

32:21

had theories as to what could

32:23

have happened. But

32:25

the initial detectives in this case

32:27

did their due diligence. They were

32:29

all over. They were in Indianapolis.

32:31

They were at the different prison

32:34

systems interviewing individuals who could

32:36

possibly have knowledge only to keep

32:38

coming up kind of dry, so

32:40

to speak, with no real

32:43

solid information. It

32:46

was dead end after dead end. And

32:48

before anyone knew it, sadly, Tim's case

32:50

went cold. But that didn't

32:52

mean Tim was forgotten. He was

32:54

well known in the community, so it seemed like

32:57

the entire city of Fort Wayne and beyond was

32:59

mourning. A friend told

33:01

the journal Gazette, quote, everyone knew

33:03

Tim and Tim knew everyone. That's

33:06

why this whole city will miss him. We'd

33:09

go to Canada fishing and he'd run

33:11

into people he knew up there and

33:13

down in Florida we'd be walking around

33:15

and he'd say, hey, Joe, you know,

33:17

here's this guy named Joe. He's right

33:19

there, one of Tim's friends. Just

33:22

wherever we were, it seemed like he ran into somebody

33:24

that he knew. Aside from being one

33:26

of the friendliest people you could ever meet, Tim

33:28

was also generous with his time. He

33:30

did a lot of volunteer work around Fort Wayne and he

33:32

was always willing to help support anyone who needed it.

33:35

The saying goes, take an in straight

33:38

dog. He was very generous to

33:40

anybody that was down under luck. You

33:42

know, he was just that type of guy. For

33:45

all the people who cared so much about

33:47

Tim, the wait for answers was agonizing. And

33:49

month after month, year after year,

33:51

their hope of closure dwindled. And

33:54

then on December 3rd, 2010, more

33:56

than three years since Tim's murder, investigators

34:00

When their lead suspect, Destin, passed away in a motorcycle

34:02

crash. If

34:04

he was their guy, it was very possible that all

34:06

the answers died with him. With

34:11

the silence that followed in the months and years

34:13

afterward, that seemed like the case. Until one random day

34:15

in 2015 when police got a tip. Hey,

34:21

there's bloody clothes that

34:23

belong to the perpetrator in the attic of

34:25

427 Greenlawn. Somebody got after the assault, they

34:27

got into the attic, they ditched their bloody

34:29

clothes, and you guys need to

34:32

go in there and find it. 427

34:34

Greenlawn is the address of the

34:36

fourplex where Tim was killed. There's

34:40

no information today on who this tipster was

34:42

or if they ever identified themselves at all.

34:44

And Detective Martin doesn't know if

34:47

the attic of the fourplex was ever searched back in 2007. But investigators

34:49

in 2015 weren't passing up on one of the only solid

34:51

tips to come across their head. By

34:55

that point, Jim no longer owned the building, so police

34:57

had to get a warrant to conduct the search. And

35:00

that warrant paid off big time. When

35:04

they finally got up

35:06

there, sitting there in the middle of

35:08

the attic, just like the tipster said, were clothes with

35:10

suspicious stains. Investigators

35:13

collected the clothes as

35:15

evidence and sent them off for testing, but the results turned

35:17

out to be less exciting. Whatever

35:20

the stain was on those clothes wasn't blood.

35:23

In fact, I don't know if they ever determined what

35:25

the stains were, but I know that after those results,

35:27

they quickly dismissed this whole tip entirely. And

35:30

since then, things have been quiet in Tim's

35:32

case. In 2021,

35:34

Destin's mother, Cynthia, passed away, and his

35:36

sibling passed in 2009. So

35:42

again, if Destin was their guy, figuring that out now is a

35:44

million times harder than it was in 2007. I think the largest

35:47

challenge in solving Tim's case is the fact that he's

35:49

been in the house. And

35:52

in his case is the fact that so

35:54

many individuals who were either

35:56

witnesses or persons of interest are

35:59

now deceased. and

36:01

those challenges are just

36:04

that's what they are. Some of our information

36:06

is simply not there. There's not follow-up

36:08

to be done because those people are no

36:10

longer with us. But

36:12

that doesn't mean Detective Martin is ready to give

36:14

up. For you, what do you think

36:16

the next steps are in the investigation? Just

36:19

to continue evaluating evidence to

36:22

see if there's any of the blood that

36:24

was within that apartment that can be

36:26

tested or retested to see if we can

36:29

pick up a perpetrator profile mixed in

36:31

with the victims. Our

36:33

reporting team asked Detective Martin that if that should

36:35

happen, and if they come

36:37

back with some of the blood being destined,

36:40

would that be enough for them to close this

36:42

case by death of a fender? It

36:45

would definitely put us in a unique situation where

36:47

we would want to sit down with the prosecutor's

36:49

office and do a review and

36:51

get a second set of eyes or

36:53

someone else to look at the case to give

36:56

their opinion and for us to

36:58

sit down and have a serious conversation

37:00

with our local prosecutor's office. But

37:03

for the time being, Detective Martin is trying

37:05

to keep an open mind. I

37:07

feel that Dustin is a very

37:09

strong suspect, but I also have

37:11

to, as an investigator, keep

37:14

an open mind and not become

37:16

so focused on one individual that I

37:18

overlook something else. Now,

37:20

I don't know about you, but I still have a

37:22

million questions. There are so many

37:24

loose ends here. Like,

37:26

for one, why wouldn't the key work when

37:28

Jim was trying to open the unit door? Had

37:31

Jim changed the locks and not told

37:33

him? So why? Or was

37:36

Jim nervous and his hand shaking so he just

37:38

couldn't get the key to work? And

37:41

who in the world was that prospective

37:43

tenant Tim was supposed to be meeting

37:45

with? If the whole

37:47

Dustin angle holds any water, how

37:49

does this guy tie in? Was

37:52

it some kind of accomplice? Was Dustin

37:54

the prospective client? Was that

37:56

why there's no record of a mystery person contacting Tim? Like,

37:59

I just can't wrap up. my head around it. And

38:01

investigators can't either. So they're

38:04

kind of stuck. And they'll continue

38:06

being stuck if someone doesn't speak up.

38:08

Detective Martin says he hasn't gotten any tips

38:10

recently at all. But he's

38:12

hoping that this episode will change

38:15

that. We would love to

38:17

have somebody come forward that was obviously an

38:19

eyewitness or who observed something

38:21

that day that they forgot to or

38:23

just haven't told law enforcement. Anybody

38:26

who's had a conversation with

38:29

someone who has direct knowledge of this case

38:32

or seen, somebody who

38:34

knows more than what you would think

38:36

the common our average person would know,

38:38

that would be huge for us. It

38:41

would maybe point us in the right direction. If

38:43

you know anything about the brutal murder of Timothy Zimmerman

38:46

in 2007, now is the time to

38:49

come forward and say something. Call

38:51

the Fort Wayne Crime Stoppers at 260-436-7. That's 260-436-7867.

38:57

You will remain completely anonymous.

39:07

The Deck is an audio Chuck production with

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theme music by Ryan Lewis. To

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learn more about The Deck and

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our advocacy work, visit thedeckpodcast.com. So

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