in the fall of 1983 four men set out to hunt deer in Virginia one of them would never return home authorities determined the Hunter's death was accidental but an insurance adjuster believed otherwise [Music] a year later the FBI had only one option agents had to get the suspect's confession on tape before their witness also became the Hunter's Target [Music] [Applause] thank you [Music] [Music] over a thousand hunting accidents are reported in the United States each year fewer than 10 percent of them are fatal but when one Hunter's death seems suspicious the FBI was called in to investigate I'm Jim calstrom former head of the FBI's New York office agents would have to determine if they're suspect was a grieving Father Figure or a man who murdered A Friend In Cold Blood [Music] on November 21st 1983 near Roanoke Virginia 41 year old David Fisher hunted deer with the three people who were closest to him 16 year old stepson his friend 22 year old Bobby Mulligan and 18 year old David Wilkie Wilkie looked up to Fisher as the father he never had [Music] the group had been hiking since the early morning but no one had spotted a deer fifty dollars was wagered on the first to shoot one Fisher's stepson was bored and asked to go off on his own he told him not to go far the teenager had little experience in the woods he walked a short distance when he heard someone yell dear then he heard a gunshot the boy ran back to see if anyone had won the fifty dollars foreign the group a few yards from where he left him sitting on the incline of a small hill 18 year old David Wilkie had been shot he was still alive but they were miles from the nearest phone Fisher told his stepson to run and get help [Music] 30 minutes later he reached Rescuers Lieutenant Michael Ashworth of Virginia's Department of Game and Inland Fisheries was called in I received the call from the Bedford County Sheriff's Department somewhere around 3 P.M stating that there had been a hunting accident I proceeded immediately to the scene it was on the south side of Bedford County off of Stone Mountain Road authorities were too late David Wilkie died before help could reach him the lieutenant asked the hunters to describe what happened Bobby Mulligan said that when they spotted the deer David Wilkie got excited and ran ahead I see it Mulligan and fish are falling behind as he started down the slope Mulligan explained that he slipped in the dry leaves his gun discharged when he hit the ground Lieutenant Ashworth it was clear that Mulligan was a novice with Firearms since he had made such a critical error Justin you know you would have hadn't had this firearm cocked and he said yeah I did I was carrying it cocked when I had heard the deer then I cocked the gun which was obvious he was you know very ignorant of safety basic safety rules about David Fisher told the lieutenant he saw the whole thing happen from the top of the slope [Music] he was behind the two younger men when the shot went off you saw Wilkie go down and rushed to the side of the Fallen teenager [Music] he told investigators he placed a rag over the wound in Wilkie's back in an effort to stop the bleeding [Music] the Father Figure tried to comfort his dying friend until help could arrive [Music] but after only a few minutes Wilkie stopped breathing [Music] investigators examined the surrounding area to determine if there was any physical evidence to corroborate this [Music] investigators found the spot where Mulligan had slipped [Music] the size of the wound in Wilkie's back seemed consistent with a gunshot fired from where the hunter had hit the ground nothing they could find contradicted Mulligan and fish's story [Music] officials then turned their attention to the weapon that fired the Fatal shot found that it had been undisturbed since it was last fired when the lieutenant opened the barrel he discovered the spent cartridge was still inside [Music] the men were not placed under arrest but investigators asked them to come to the Sheriff's Office for further questions authorities were still uncertain if they were going to press charges against the hunters [Music] Bobby Mulligans seem to be very sincerely remorseful he was crying at times and talking about the fact that uh he had hunted very little but it looked like that it was exactly as what it appeared to be a simple hunting accident and and we do have accidents that occur that way at the station the two men were interviewed once more in separate rooms their stories never changed unlike Bobby Mulligan David Lee Fisher remained composed and assured his stepson that everything would be okay [Music] since the Hunter's head inadvertently wandered onto private land they were charged with hunting on posted property fired the Fatal shot Bobby Mulligan was charged additionally with Reckless use of a firearm and hunting without a big game license sir being charged running without a permit the charges were misdemeanors Fisher and Mulligan would need to answer them in court until then they were allowed to return home to Charlotte North Carolina a standard procedure David Wilkie's body was autopsied the cause of death was determined to be a transaction of the aorta and lacerations of the lungs due to a single projectile [Music] in addition to the 12 gauge slug the medical examiner extracted cardboard wadding that had also been discharged from the shotgun shell [Music] examiners confirmed the slug was fired from Mulligan's rifle a month later Fisher and Mulligan defended their misdemeanor charges in Virginia's General District Court [Music] the judge gave Mulligan a suspended sentence and fined him 585 dollars Fisher was fined 220 dollars property officer returned the shotgun to the men and the case was closed [Music] two days later an insurance company received a claim on the dead Boy's Life Insurance the policy promised to pay one hundred thousand dollars in the event that Wilkie's death was accidental the Wilkie signature appeared on the forms he was not the policy's owner his close friend David Fisher was the owner and the sole beneficiary this wasn't illegal but it struck the agent as strange since Fischer wasn't listed as the boy's father nor is his business partner John the company decided to contest the claim on January 6 1984 they hired independent claims director Harlan Davis to determine if David wilke's death was in fact accidental they contacted our office and requested that we complete an investigation to determine the relationship between Bobby Mulligan David Fisher and David William Wilkie and also to check police records obtain a medical examiner's report and to to get in it and develop these circumstances surrounding this death Davis attempted to contact Fisher and Mulligan but the claims director was unable to reach them he was able to reach Wilkie's single mother in Florida this is Diane yes she told him that her son had left home for Charlotte North Carolina less than a year before the 18 year old had heard that his estranged father was in Charlotte visiting relatives Wilkie hadn't seen his dad since childhood [Music] his mother said that he caught up with his father briefly but his dad left Charlotte before they could become reacquainted the father wanted nothing to do with it that's when Wilkie met Fisher David Wilkie was looking for a father which he didn't have his father and mother were separated that they were distant from him he felt like he wanted to get to know his father and this is the the reason he really fell into a relationship with David Fisher was because he was looking for this Father Figure and and it became a friendship kid shortly after her son died Fisher called to tell her that the teenager wished to be cremated but had no life insurance [Music] the mother believed Fisher and ordered The Cremation since Fishers seemed to have been close with her son the claims director finally caught up with David Fisher to ask him why the policy had been purchased official replied that Wilkie had wanted life insurance because he was planning to get married his fiancee did not want insurance so the 18 year old turned to Fisher since Wilkie had no money Fisher gave him a loan and a job working for him to pay it off [Music] Fisher was the owner and operator of Fisher Services the small business that employed several people including Bobby Mulligan [Music] morgs and mortuaries called Fisher's Services when they needed a body transported to their facilities from accident scenes foreign Fisher and his men worked mostly after 11 pm he didn't get paid unless people died on a good week the work was lucrative but when there were no bodies to transport he needed other ways to get paid this is an interesting relationship the investigative questioned why Fisher had paid the insurance premium if Wilkie was making income the rescue guys thought the businessman replied that he only wrote the checks to the insurance company after Wilkie paid him first he shot someone and uh I don't know what else what else I can tell you Fisher had an answer for every anomaly in spite of fish's deflections the investigator managed to get an important piece of information from him the new address of Bobby Mulligan the man who fired the gun that killed David Wilkie claims director found Mulligan at a pizza parlor in Myrtle Beach South Carolina first of all would you give me your name your address Mulligan didn't have much to add to what Davis had already heard 100 Main Street the claims investigator concluded his inquiry in the spring of 1984. his firm gave their assessment to the insurance company we recommend it strongly to them that they not pay the policy and that further investigation be followed up to determine any any other information that might shed some light on onto this shooting that it was not exactly as it looked on the surface would you the insurance company sent the case to an attorney in Greensboro North Carolina Fisher signed an affidavit vouching that he had seen the deceased sign the policy the lawyer asked Fisher to describe the shooting one more time [Music] once again Fisher indicated that Mulligan was 15 feet behind Wilkie when the gun discharged [Music] the attorney confronted Fisher with the coroner's report you might like to take a look at it two pieces of cardboard wadding from the shotgun shell had been found inside Wilkie's chest for the wanting to have lodged there it was likely the shot had been fired from much closer than 15 feet the evidence was not strong enough to prove murder but it was strong enough to win a civil suit we are prepared to make you an offer he offered Fisher twenty five thousand dollars to settle out of court the amount the lawyer figured it would cost to defend the case Fisher accepted a fuel sign here please they were afraid that if they did not settle the claim for some amount that David Fisher would possibly sue them for not following uh the law in paying a claim when he had a legitimate claim David Fisher had just made twenty five thousand dollars from the death of David Wilkie his friend and employee the portion of that money he loaned to a friend would soon be paid back in ways he never expected on a hunting trip to Virginia eighteen-year-old David Wilkie shooting death had been ruled accidental the man the dead teenager had looked up to 41 year old David Fisher had been paid twenty five thousand dollars as the sole beneficiary of the boy's life insurance policy then a year and a half later in the spring of 1985. Special Agent Robert McDowell of the FBI Charlotte field office received a call from one of his informants early on in 1985 I had to source and one day he came to me with a story that a friend of his had been hired and refused to take the job to murder somebody for insurance money I at first didn't understand exactly why he was bringing me this information and why this individual is willing to talk about this now over the course of two more weeks the agent continued to speak to his source well the informant said his friend's name was bear and that bear's life was in danger agents wanted to speak to this person at the Charlotte FBI field office but the source said bear was reluctant since he was an ex-conference he would only meet them in a neutral place they agreed to meet in a park special agent James Lillard who's currently working undercover helped agent Bob McDowell develop the case working right beside Bob we asked me if I want to go out with him to interview his source and find out a little bit more about this information [Music] his partner was being bear arrived on schedule real name was Gerald stedham so stedham said that a man named David Fisher was threatening his life because stereowowed him several thousand dollars from a personal loan he also accused Fisher of murdering 18 year old David Wilkie more than a year earlier sure agents were skeptical when you hear something like that that initially sounds pretty fantastic and you kind of scratch your head you think in this is this for real or not instead of may have been exaggerating a little bit and maybe he exaggerated about the story in itself look I'm not wearing he hoped the FBI would protect him in exchange for information about his old friend David Fisher was willing to wear a wire to prove the story the ex-convict refused he'd had his run-ins with Law Enforcement Officers before and he pretty much said right from the very beginning that he didn't trust police FBI or anybody else so at that point it had a it was a it was a matter of trying to gain stedemus trust to the point that he would actually work with us and not back out of the situation once he started getting into it agent McDowell needed to find out more about Fisher the background check revealed that David Fisher had several aliases and 25 prior convictions for crimes ranging from larceny to forgery years earlier Fisher had testified in the trial of an underworld crime figure and was then entered into the witness protection program not long after his protection was removed since his continuing criminal Behavior was in violation of its rules agents also checked records in Virginia to confirm stedham's story yes there was in fact a a hunting accident where a gentleman fighting with David Wilkie was shot in the back supposedly accidentally so that in itself verified that this uh this definitely happened um then the next step is to find out uh if there are any motives here I mean you know why did this happen and if there was any other details McDowell arranged another meeting with stedham to find out more stedham refused to come to the FBI office instead he agreed to meet in the parking lot of a local restaurant once again stedham promised to tell the FBI anything they wanted to know about Fisher but refused to wear a wire to secure evidence [Music] if Fisher discovered the wire stedham believed he would certainly be killed he didn't trust that the FBI would protect him if his cover was blown they were interrupted before McDowell was able to convince him I was speaking to him when suddenly screaming and yelling came from a local restaurant and I realized that there was an armed robbery taking place at the time and I asked y'all Statham just to step off to the side the thief was stopped before he could flee stedem was speechless at first he wondered if the agents had staged the robbery to convince him to cooperate [Music] when he was sure the arrest was real his attitude towards the FBI changed and at that point I realized that I had gained his trust that somebody knew what he was doing so from that point on it was it was pretty easy to be able to get him to believe that we were going to protect them and be able to get the information that we needed how can I help you I really think it's meaning to help you out at last stedem agreed to meet with agents in the FBI offices for the first time agents learned the plan Fischer made to kill his young friend David Wilkey [Music] in the summer of 1983 Fisher suggested that he and Stephen his old prison buddy could make a hundred thousand dollars from a life insurance scam the ex-confict would take out a policy on their young friend David Wilkie if Statham would do The Killing despite working several odd jobs Wilkie was poor and estranged from his family Fisher believed no one would miss him his proposal was to let's take him out into Virginia let's take him out to an overlook and um we'll get him near the Overlook and I want you to push him off and that way he would die it would look like an accident and Fisher could collect the insurance money and which of course he would share with him if he did it well I'm worried about instead I'm told agents that he didn't take fishes seriously until he learned Fisher had obtained the life insurance policy on Wilkie and at a point Statham said he didn't want anything to do with it he backed out which again made Fisher absolutely Furious to the point of almost a hatred developing between his old friend Gerald steadom and David Fisher me one day I remember seeing this a few months later when stedham heard that Wilkie had been killed hunting in Virginia he knew the death was probably not accidental Statham told agents that fisher later offered him fifty thousand dollars to kill the Hitman Bobby Mulligan the informant believed that fisher would likely come after him next the unfortunate situation was is that fisher hated stedem at this point I mean he actually wanted would probably kill him so we realized that the only way we're going to be able to get at Fisher through Steadman was to have stedham tell him that he was sorry that he hadn't paid him back and that he wanted to pay him back even if it's only a hundred dollars a week a hundred dollars a week would give the FBI several opportunities to get Fisher friendly again Fisher didn't hate status enough to turn down the money eventually agents hoped Statham could then start reminiscing about what happened in the past [Music] since the FBI gave Fisher a reason to see their informant The Next Step was to get Fisher confessing on tape [Music] a few days later Fisher asked stedham to meet him at a coffee shop pick it up was nervous about the wire but finally agreed to wear it let's do it okay here we go she was terrified and um he was worried official at friskham he was worried that um Fisher might get suspicious so basically what we advised him to do was to just say look tell him that the insurance company is calling him and asking him about this that way it'll keep him off the trail of thinking that any law enforcement is involved under the watchful eye of Agents instead of met with Fisher briefly the murder suspect said little and avoided the incident in Virginia altogether Fisher had been an informant himself at one time and suspected stedem was wired outside the restaurant the mood turned ugly if agents moved in Now stedham's cover would be blown but if they didn't they feared the suspected murderer would kill again if he found the wire agents surveilled murder suspect David Fisher hoping that their wired informant Gerald steadom would be able to solicit a confession from his old friend Fisher arranged the meeting to receive money that stead emote him Fisher was suspicious of status to the relief of stedema and agent James Lillard Fisher never found the wire first time that we had wired stedem up and sent him in and talked to Fisher he was um a little too zealous and he was asking too many poignant questions so Fisher kind of got a little suspicious and actually frisked him fortunately um we had the recording device in a place where he wasn't going to find it unless Fisher called to meet stedem again special agent Robert McDowell and his team had no other means to get the evidence they needed to arrest Fisher for his two-year-old crime five days later Fisher called stedem to arrange another meeting agents were hopeful the cooperating witness tried to steer the conversation towards Fisher's past crimes but Fisher once again avoided the topic it was one of these situations where Fisher constantly would talk about the fact that he didn't trust anybody didn't want to talk about anything every time stedham would try to bring up the conversation about what happened back in those days he would be tight-lipped he wouldn't do it since Fisher said nothing to corroborate stedham's version of events it occurred to agents that perhaps steda may be lying since the ex-convict was reluctant to come forward in the first place yes the FBI conducted a polygraph examination to evaluate stedham's credibility yeah stedem admitted he lied about Fisher offering him fifty thousand dollars to kill Mulligan were you hired to kill Bobby Moore yes he insisted that fisher had asked him to do it but he could not remember the exact amount he'd been offered I can't really remember just answer yes or no one of the things we did in order to um to try to make sure we weren't just chasing our Tails was to um was to get uh steadily uh polygraph exam and the fact that it was non-conclusive could be that there may be some things that he's saying that he's maybe holding back but in general what he's stating is is pretty much going to be going to be correct so what I'm saying agents believe stedham was still their best hope of getting to Fisher since the case lacked any physical evidence but Fisher the delivery man for the morgues was extremely cautious particularly with status for the case to move forward the FBI needed another plan so what we're going to have to do is create a situation in Fisher's mind where he felt they were closing in on him one way or another to try to stir the conversation agents figured that fisher would relax his suspicion of being taped while inside his own vehicle on a day that fisher asked stedham to help him with a job agents decided that time was right the technology was just starting to come out where actually voices would come across on a beeper instead of had one so we had a female in our office make a phone call to stedham on his beeper telling him to call home immediately making believe that the voice that was coming over the pager was sedum's girlfriend so the car stopped instead of got out for appearances stedham briefly spoke to the agent back in the office to let her know the message was received it yeah instead I'm returned to the car he told Fisher that it was an insurance agent asking to meet stedem about an ongoing investigation Fisher told him that if he kept his mouth shut their new inquiry would go nowhere since the body had been cremated and that everyone said it was an accident he says I'm telling you right now if anybody tries to bring up anything any Witnesses pop their head above the water it's going to be and those are the sounds that came over to tape and we realized at that point what Fisher was doing was actually threatening the lives of War Witnesses involved in the investigation that took place the recording was good but it was far from a confession agents had hoped for more unfortunately over the next several weeks Fisher avoided stedem altogether [Music] agents pursued Mulligan instead on tape the shooter described a meeting he had with Fisher after the shooting [Music] happened Mulligan told him that he had written out the details of what happened and gave it to someone for safe keeping he work you're right give it if Fisher killed Mulligan those details would be mailed to authorities Mulligan refused to tell stedham what he had written or who held the letter [Music] just after midnight on June 16 1986 an anonymous woman called the FBI to report that a Hitman would be coming after status scramble to hide their informant at a remote location they suspected that fisher had made the threat investigators hoped they could secure an arrest warrant before the suspected killer got to Statham Fisher had arranged a killing before agents feared he would kill again [Music] while agents began to close in on murder suspect David Fisher the FBI received a death threat against their informant Gerald steadom to protect their key witness Statham was held in a remote location until agents could decipher the identity of the caller two days later agents reported their Discovery to step what is it the death threat had been traced to the residents of one of stedham's friends admitted that he had a female friend place the call but he emphasized that the threat was real he explained that his longtime friend David Fisher was suddenly acting like a stranger this could only mean one thing Fisher the man who transported bodies for the morgues was planning to kill him [Music] agents weren't happy with stedham's deception but AJ McDowell knew that the danger to steadom was genuine Sedum told me that fisher as a part of being a dealing with the morticians and the and all the different funeral homes had obtained a number of chemicals that he felt that could be injected into people without them ever knowing and and that they would die without any traces of whatsoever of what what caused their death the only way to assure US dedham's Safety was to get Fisher into custody before they could do that they needed more evidence in the fall of 1986 a year and a half after the FBI began their investigation agents finally Tracked Down David Wilkie's former fiancee they found her in Florida with a new married name what we'd like to do is just begin to tell me she told agents that she and Wilkie were engaged six weeks after they met and planned to move to Florida to save money the couple moved in with Fisher for a short time but after her fiance was killed she moved out immediately she told agents that she felt intimidated by Fisher never just before Wilkie's death Fisher had come to her with a proposition to kill the boy for insurance money like status she didn't believe Fisher was serious until Wilkie turned up dead what we want to do is he said it was give him a few drinks and then give him a good time once you lure him into the pool get him into the deep end and then I want you to drown him because he can't swim then again he'll run call a hotel security and it'll look like an accident there was something strange about him she believed Fisher was responsible for the killing but she had no way to prove it and feared she could be next well thank you very much you've been very helpful and we were very surprised so many people were aware that Fisher was looking for somebody to kill Wilkie that was incredible I we found it hard to believe that he had gone to that many people regarding some type of scam or some type of setup to murder somebody [Music] Wilkie's former fiancee had provided a few more pieces of corroborating evidence though special agent McDowell felt the case still had holes he believed they had to arrest Fisher and Mulligan before someone else was killed we were stretching our luck with David Fisher knowing the type of person he was to wind up reaching out and finally making up his mind and killing somebody we decided that it was time it would be best to go after him seek indictments and get him arrested and take him off the street as well as Bobby Mulligan on November 5th 1986 a Virginia grand jury handed down an indictment charging Fisher and Mulligan with first-degree murder [Music] the evidence they had a conviction was still questionable McDowell had one last chance to get the taped confession from Fisher that would guarantee a guilty verdicted trial I really wanted to try one more time to get Fisher to articulate in detail um the fact that he had killed Wilkie for money and I really would like to have heard a verbal confession from him and I felt that the only way we could do that was to uh you had to escalate his anger you had to get him to the point where he just lost control and then we'd start being truthful on the night of November 12 1986 three years after Wilkie's death agents wired Steno after he had baited Fisher with the promise of some easy cash told him that a bail bondsman whom they both knew had a lead on a suspect who had jumped bail foreign covertly working for the FBI would ride along there were several locations in which the trio would go and the plan was that the the third individual in the car would be able to get out of the car and leaving Fisher and set him alone and that in between each stop stedham would escalate the situation by confronting Fisher straight up everybody instead of needed to push Fisher to the brink in the hopes that he'd reveal his crime but if Fisher first discovered that stedem was an informant the FBI's key witness might end up dead the FBI plan to arrest suspected murderer David Fisher had been set in motion though agents were still uncertain whether they had enough evidence to convict well their last hope rested with informant Gerald steady wearing a wire stedem needed to convince Fisher to talk directly about the killing a bondsman who Fisher believed was checking leads on a fugitive was in fact working covertly for the FBI Mulligan when the bondsman left the car stedham provoked the suspected killer to react as agent McDowell had instructed he got overpaid him inside the car had had done his job he really tried to get him cranked up to the point where he would lose control and actually start talking but Fisher started reverting into that mode of being even more quiet and we knew at that point that what Fisher was doing was going into his planning mode to agents the risk had become too great if Fisher discovered Statham was wired the key witness the case and the arrest would be jeopardized plant at around 11 pm stedham suggested that they report back to the bond office that had supposedly hired them when they arrived FBI agents in Charlotte Police would be waiting once he got out of the car he pretty much said to instead of in knowing certain terms I'll see you later our units in the area were able to converge in on Fisher and had him pretty much surrounded he wasn't going to run members of the Charlotte Police Department's fugitive unit arrested Fisher Statham and the other bondsman they wanted to remove any suspicion that stead them in the bondsman that set Fisher up the other part of the plan that night was that we had surveillance teams out following Bobby Mulligan and we knew where he was going to be located so after the arrest the Fisher took place we immediately restaged and set up our arrest phase for Bobby Mulligan [Music] agents replaced the tape and the recorder Statham was wearing as instructed stedem had made arrangements earlier that evening to pick up Mulligan from a club where he worked part-time [Music] it was after midnight when the two of them arrived at a Tavern he persuaded Mulligan to sit at the bar where they'd be visible to the agents outside in case anything went wrong when units from the Charlotte Police Department arrived agents directed them to make the arrest Mulligan the under arrest put your hands are tough for their informant safety and to encourage Mulligans cooperation they arrested both men [Music] though Mulligan and his former employer David Fisher were now in custody agents still needed one of them to talk about the murder we wanted to set it up to the point where David Fisher would be within View of the fact that Bobby Brice Mulligan was being brought in and we wanted him to know and no one's knowing certain terms that we had him and we had to shoot her and hopefully to make him realize that he was had it didn't work Fisher declined to be interviewed without an attorney being present agents secured a warrant to search the room that fisher had been renting [Music] recorded in Fisher's diary they found a series of cash payments to Mulligan [Music] from a closet they removed two strong boxes agents hope that inside they would find the criminal evidence that could ensure Fisher's conviction agents obtained a search warrant and cut the locks inside the first box they found documents that held David Wilkie's signature they were likely Samples used by Fisher to falsify the insurance claims but the evidence was only circumstantial in the other they found only personal effects nothing of evidentiary value like agents would have little else to offer as evidence at trial a few days later agent McDowell got a message that 22 year old Bobby Mulligan wanted to meet so far both Mulligan and Fisher had remained planned but after a couple days of thinking about it and in consultation with his parents it was uh apparently Mr Mulligan's decision that he wanted to come clean about his participation in this murder and felt that it was to his best benefit to be the first to come forward with a confession start with uh agents interviewed Mulligan at an office in the jail he confirmed that David Wilkie's death was no accident s Mulligan said it all began with Fisher's plan to kill Wilkie's fiancee Fisher had funded Wilkie money to romance a young woman kill her then collect on her insurance but Wilkie fell in love and backed out Fisher was Furious straight into that shot to get the money back that he had invested in the teenager Fisher recruited Mulligan to kill Wilkie for his insurance Mulligan's story supported Stebbins agents finally had the corroborating evidence they'd been pursuing for over a year Mulligan added that he had tried to call the whole thing off but Fisher kept pressuring him to shoot Wilkie and get it over with he said Fisher brought his ex-wife's son along as a decoy Mulligan maintained that he actually did slip and fall Mulligan claimed that he hadn't intended to kill Willy only injure him he said it was Fisher who actually murdered the kid he believed that it was the finger of David Fisher going into the wound that killed Wilkie that his own gunshot didn't do it so he believed that fisher actually did this um but unfortunately there was no way of being able to be to be able to determine that forensically because Fisher convinced Wilkie's mother in a phone call at least two days after the incident happened that it was Wilkie's last request to be cremated what was the final contract come out right he said Fisher had promised him 38 thousand dollars to pull the trigger but ended up paying him only seven thousand dollars what's up David Fisher was tried for first degree murder conspiracy to commit murder and murder for hire Fisher got the death penalty Mulligan pled guilty to the same charges and was sentenced to life in prison [Music] I had been a law enforcement officer almost 13 years before I became an FBI agent and the one thing I did realize from this case is that people can be extremely extremely cold-blooded and evil and that there is no remorse whatsoever in their souls none and that anytime you hear a story about something not being right you have to listen to it you have to listen to them and hear what they have to say because you never know when something like that could be true eleven years later on March 25th 1999 David Lee Fisher was executed by lethal injection Pressure David Wilkie had considered Fisher his closest friend but to David Lee Fisher money was more important than friendship or even life itself on this day a corpse would need to be transported but this time it would be Fishers [Music]