Cold Case Files: Inside the Bill Simmons story - How hypnosis during a revived investigation solved a sheriff's murder

In Cold Case Files, investigators took a look back at the murder of Deputy Sheriff Bill Simmons and how a witness's memories helped solve the case seventeen years later.

Bill Simmons faced a tragedy after he was killed while checking a reported stolen vehicle in March 1975. The case went cold for over a decade due to a lack of evidence. When detectives reopened the investigation, a witness's memories under hypnosis helped them create a sketch of a tow truck, giving them an important clue in the case.

Let's have a look at the Cold Case Files investigation and how this detail helped in solving the case.

Cold Case Files reveals how hypnosis helped solve Bill Simmons' murder

March 8, 1975: Bill Simmons is found dead

On March 8, 1975, Sheriff Deputy Bill Simmons was on patrol in Illinois, particularly at the Sangamon County west side. The time was reportedly after 9 p.m. when he found an abandoned car on the road, contacted dispatch, and requested a tow truck.

However, the night took a tragic turn when the sheriff was found dead, and the vehicle he had been checking was nowhere to be found. According to Barry Brown, another sheriff with the Sangamon County Sheriff's Department, someone was heard calling "mayday" multiple times that night. As revealed in Cold Case Files, it was a passing motorist who found Simmons dead. He had been shot twice in the head, leaving investigators with a murder case. The tow truck arrived at the scene around the time police arrived, after Bill Simmons was already dead, and this became the main clue later in the investigation.

Witness accounts give investigators clues

As reported in Cold Case Files, many witnesses came forward to share what they knew about Bill Simmons' murder. They claimed that they came across a Ford Torino that was left abandoned on the road, and the investigators thought that it must be the same car that Bill Simmons reported about.

During his patrol, an officer checked the license plate of a green Ford Torino parked on the west side of Springfield, Illinois, and learned that it was stolen. The investigators started to link it with Simmons' murder, but they still didn't know who had stolen that car.

Forensics experts searched the car for DNA, but they couldn't find any useful evidence. On March 14, 1975, officers spoke with Hugh Ferguson and his wife, Patricia, about the night Bill Simmons was killed. Patricia said she had come across a large tow truck on Jacksonville Road and tried to pass it but couldn't. She eventually drove away. Since her report left out seeing Simmons and his car that night, detectives thought it was the same truck Simmons had called for.

Tow Truck sketch becomes a main clue

In February 1981, Terry Castleman reopened the case and came across Patricia's statement. He reinterviewed her, asked about the tow truck, and learned that it was white. But since he was one of the first officers to arrive at the scene on the day Bill Simmons was found dead, he clearly remembered the color of the tow truck that came that day, which was red.

They later asked if she was willing to be hypnotized to seek more information, and she agreed to it. During the hypnosis, she made the sketch of the tow truck. The authorities used the sketch to find a similar tow truck and found that the truck belonged to the thief, Ronald Edwards, who was skilled at burglaries and robbery. This became a very important clue going forward.

Terry Castleman visited Ronald Edwards in prison after investigators identified him as the thief linked to the case, and he revealed that he drove it that night and it was his truck. However, as reported by Cold Case Files, he stopped talking to the police in 1982 after he was released from prison, causing the case to go cold.

The 17-year-old murder case is finally solved

In May 1992, Ronald Edwards was already serving a 20-year sentence in Arkansas for a burglary spree. That was when he decided to speak with detectives about the case. As shown in Cold Case Files, he revealed that after learning that Simmons had already called for the tow truck, he got a pistol, went back to Simmons, and shot him. He was sentenced to 40 years in prison, according to Cold Case Files.

Trending

Also Read: Swipe Right on the Devil: Inside Sydney Loofe’s chilling murder case and its dark cult connection

×

Was this article helpful?

Thank You for feedback