Since 1992, the murder of Susan Woods was the cold case which was investigated in the town of Stephenville in Texas. Susan, a thirty-year-old women who succumbed to serious marital issues thus leading to her death through suicide by taking her life in her bathroom in July 1987. Her ex-husband, Michael Woods was the first suspect as his rage at the marriage breakdown and his departure from the house leaving behind obscene tapes and foul-mouthed abuse notes. However, for all the town to know, Michael Woods was alibi’d and anyway his finger prints did not tally with those found in the scene of the crime.
Over the years, the case was never solved, and the rumour persisted in the town that it was Michael who committed the murders. Under the pressure of suspicion he stressed his innocence, regretting his early leaving of home which he considered to be the cause of Susan’s murder. The investigation was always in the back of his mind, following him like a shroud was draped over him during his waking hours.
In a moment of weakness in October, Woods told a friend about his concerns and the friend decided to report this to the Stephenville police. This led Lt. Don Miller to reopen the investigation, to incorporate new techniques of handling Forensic evidences, unknown in 1987. One of the pieces of evidence that were reviewed include the cigarette butts which were taken from the crime scene but never analyzed because it was beyond technological means.
Miller went out for other angles and finally exonerated Michael Woods, after instances found were negated by DNA report that the victim’s biological material did not match with Woods. That achieved, Miller directed his attention back to the evidence, in particular, the fingerprints that Woods had tried to pin on Rourke. This time, a match surfaced in the state’s Automatic Fingerprint Identification System: Joseph Scott Hatley the man who has been into the system because of a previous armed robbery charge.
Through additional police records about Hatley it was discovered that there are more offenses. One year after Susan’s kill, another girl 16-year-old Shannon Myers had accused Hatley for sexually and physically abusing her. Still Hatley was never arrested but according to Myers, Hatley was threatening her, telling her that he had killed someone before. That Myers threatened the victim with a gun then fired shots, and that Hatley had a prior conviction for attempted murder with a gun, also supported the charges.
Kamau Hatley, was arrested for interrogation on 6th of June 2006. He confessed in his interview of visiting Susan’s home but he denied killing her saying that they had spent the night drinking. However, this led to revelation of mistreatment of Hatley’s wife and his match of the DNA found on the scene of the crime.
When Susan’s family and friends learned about Hatley’s involvement they were also dismayed. Michael Woods whose character changed throughout the entire series finally found himself vindicated but at the same time lost many years to unwarranted suspicion.
Precisely, Hatley’s conviction saw him get a 30 year prison term but was released after 11 years in August 2018. He passed on in 2021 in what was said to have been cancer related ailment. Despite such victory, many questions about his motive were left unanswered, however after his death Hatley wrote some very dark literary works.
This came to light when Miller got a called from a gentleman who had bought the trailer which belonged to Hatley after he was dead. Inside they discovered other documents written by Hatley which Miller later read, they are very disgusting. These writings depicted a very negative background of Hatley, child abuse by his mother, thinking of violence, he has even said on the record that he has been brutal to Susan Woods.
In his writings, Hatley said he was tempted by a new perverse authority: one day, mistaking Susan’s flirtatiousness and then a slap, he overpowered her in an orgy of violence. He narrated the circumstances of the crime in sombre detail, and showed any remorse in rare flashes.
His writings also described Shannon Myers whom he had sexually assaulted and labeled her as one of his monstrous creations. These revelations offered Myers the final piece in what she required to move on from Hatley’s horror and thereby recover her self.
An investigative report of this case in the “20/20” airing on the 19th of January at 9 p. m. ET and available for streaming the following day on Hulu will reveal Hatley’s 260-page confessional writings for the first time. The episode seeks to explain the sinister substratum of one of the most eerie cases from Texas.
