The murder of Susan Woods in 1987 in Stephenville, Texas, was solved in the ABC 20/20 show “There Is A Monster In Me.” The murder happened in a small town with a scary history. The case remained a scary mystery for twenty years until new investigative technology and hard work by detectives revealed who the real killer was. Susan’s sad story is a scary example of how justice can be delayed but not ignored.
Nearly twenty years of investigations led to Joseph Scott Hatley being the main suspect in Susan Woods’ murder. Joseph Hatley was born in Hico, Texas, on December 20, 1965. Hatley became notorious through his many illegal records. His fingerprints were found at the scene of the crime in 2006. His past included being arrested for armed robbery in Las Vegas in 1988. This was a key part of solving the cold case.
Where is Joseph Scott Hatley’s Victim Shannon Myers Now?
In 1987, Susan Woods’ father found her dead body in a horrible way that shocked the close-knit town of Stephenville, Texas. Susan Woods died in her own home. She was 30 years old and was going through a split with Michael Woods. It was clear that she had been killed because she was found naked in a bathtub full of black water with her hands tied behind her back with a tank top. The body showed signs of rape and sodomy, which proved how horrible the crime was.
As the police went through the crime scene, they found cigarette butts in the living room and two sets of fingerprints and palm prints in the bathroom. For a while, Michael Woods was thought to be responsible, but there wasn’t enough direct proof to prove it. Even though there was a lot of physical evidence, Susan’s murder stayed a chilling cold case because DNA analysis wasn’t ready to make the breakthrough that was needed for years.
It is said that Shannon Myers reported Joseph Scott Hatley to the police for abuse less than a year after Susan Woods’ death. Shannon Myers is a survivor who went through a terrible event with Joseph Scott Hatley. She met Hatley in the parking lot of a laundromat. Their meeting went violent, and they were beaten badly for six hours. In the ABC 20/20 show, it is said that Myers told the police about Hatley’s alleged statement during the attack, where he supposedly said he had killed someone before.
Where is Susan Woods’s Killer Joseph Scott Hatley Now?
After almost 20 years, the case came back to life when cold case officers looked into Susan Woods’ tragic death again. DNA testing of cigarette butts found at the crime scene cleared Michael Woods, who was once thought to be guilty. Because of this important new information, a new candidate, Joseph Scott Hatley, became possible.
In 2006, Hatley was arrested and, in 2007, his agreement to a plea deal. Because he raped and killed Susan Woods, Hatley got 30 years in jail. Hatley was freed in 2018 after spending only 11 years of his sentence for good behavior. He moved into a halfway house in Midland and got a job fixing oil field trucks. When he lost his job at the start of the coronavirus pandemic, he moved to an RV park outside of Abilene to be close to Amanda, one of his children.
Hatley was told he had bladder cancer in 2017, which made his already rough life even worse. On December 9, 2021, a year later, he was found dead in his trailer home in Texas, USA. He left behind a lot of violence and unsolved questions.
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