Naman Shrestha
In the episode titled ‘On the Outskirts of Town’ of NBC’s ‘Dateline,’ the viewers are provided with a detailed account of the cold-blooded murder of 20-year-old Halee Rathgeber, whose unexpected demise sent shockwaves across the entire community and engulfed her loved ones in grief. Given the twists and turns during the investigation, the detectives were shocked when the identity of the killer was finally out in the open. The episode also features insightful interviews with the victim’s loved ones and officials directly or indirectly linked to the case and investigation.
Halee Rathgeber Was Found Dead at a Soccer Complex in 2017
On December 3, 1996, in Evansville, Indiana, Tharon Rathgeber and Heather Raber-Collins welcomed a little bundle of joy into the world in the form of Halee Denise Rathgeber. In the following years, Halee became an elder sister as her parents gave birth to a couple of more daughters — Emilee and Kylee Rathgeber. Growing up, she was surrounded by the love and care of her loving family members. While she was a student at Castle High School, she was a member of the National Honor Society and received the Presidential award twice. During that time, she was also employed at Donut Bank in Newburgh. After passing out of high school with Honors in 2015, she went to the University of Southern Indiana, where she was a Nursing student. Meanwhile, she worked with her Texas Roadhouse family.
Early in her life, Halee battled a disorder, which caused her to be in a coma. After surviving the life-threatening disease, she knew she wanted to become a nurse and save people’s lives. She had started to work towards her aspirations as she was already working in the community with St. Mary’s Hospital and the Veterans Administration. Her determination to succeed was one of the many reasons her sisters looked up to her and were inspired by her. Her contagious smile and laughter were enough to light up even the dullest of rooms, while her compassionate and empathetic nature made her a loving presence in the lives of others. With such a bright future ahead, Halee was looking forward to fulfilling her dreams and leading a successful life with her loved ones. Unfortunately, fate had other ideas.
On the morning of April 24, 2017, her mother, Heather Collins, heard in the news that the authorities had discovered a young woman’s body in the parking lot of the Alcoa Soccer Complex in Warrick County, Indiana. Concerned about her daughters, she got in touch with her other two daughters but couldn’t contact Halee, who did not answer her phone. It turned out that the person found near the soccer complex was the sophomore nursing student. Upon inspecting her body, it was reported that the 20-year-old woman had died of a gunshot wound to the back of her head. However, the investigators could not locate any murder weapon or bullet in and around the crime scene.
The Police Were Suspicious About Three Men in Halee Rathgeber’s Life
As the detectives dug deeper into the life of Halee Rathgeber in order to find out more about the people in her life and the circumstances under which she died, they were suspicious about two men in her life — her former boyfriend Isaiah Hagan, her friend’s boyfriend Thaddious Rice, and co-worker Jake Allen. After clearing the latter two’s names from their suspects’ list, they zeroed in on Isaiah. During his questioning, he told the authorities that he met with Halee the night before she was found murdered, and he dropped her off at the soccer complex. According to him, she gave him a couple of hundred dollars that night. Not entirely convinced by his story, the investigators analyzed the cell phones of the victim and the primary suspect.
They found out that both their phones traveled together on the fateful night, including at Halee’s residence. After that, their phones were traced all the way to the soccer field, where her body was found. Later, the suspect’s phone went towards Evansville, and after a while, Halee’s phone followed the same path. When they combined his cell phone movements with the surveillance footage they looked at, the detectives found multiple inconsistencies in his story. Upon talking to the suspect’s acquaintances, they learned that he had stolen or borrowed some money from his friends and family, and that could be the possible motive behind killing his former girlfriend.
Halee’s Killer Was Finally Brought to Justice More Than a Year After Her Demise
The final nail in the coffin was the fact that during their search of Isaiah’s house, the police learned that there was a gun missing from the gun collection of his father, Wandel. Thus, in 2017, Isaiah was finally arrested for possibly being involved in the murder of 20-year-old Halee Rathgeber. After the first trial ended in a mistrial in early May 2018, the second trial began at the end of the same month. When the defendant’s mother, Donna Hagan, took the stand during the trial, she testified that her son had confessed to her that he had accidentally shot Halee and got rid of the gun.
Making the most of her testimony, the prosecution doubled down and presented a series of other circumstantial evidence against Isaiah Hagan. On June 25, 2018, after several hours of deliberation, the jury returned with a guilty verdict and convicted him of murder, robbery resulting in severe bodily injury, and obstruction of justice. More than a month later, on August 2, 2018, he was sentenced to 60 years in prison for his crimes.
Read More: Isaiah Hagan: Where is Halee Rathgeber’s Killer Now?
