Stuti Gokhale
The residents of the quiet village of Murdock, Nebraska, were jolted when couple Wayne and Sharmon Stock were found brutally murdered in their farmhouse in April 2006. As the detectives began looking for possible suspects, they soon realized the couple had become victims of a gruesome crime spree. NBC’s ‘Dateline: In The Dead of Night’ chronicles this shocking case and how the investigation finally led the police to the killers.
How Did Wayne and Sharmon Stock Die?
Born on July 4, 1947, Wayne Stock tied the knot with Sharmon Stock (born on July 25, 1950) in August 1968. The former left the military after years of service and returned to his farming roots, while his wife was a teacher’s aide for 17 years and also ran a cake business from home. The couple had three children, Andrew, Tammy, and Steve, and settled in their farmhouse in Murdock, Nebraska. Loved ones remember the Stocks as simple people, who doted on their grandkids, worked hard on their hay business, and loved spending time outdoors.
Moreover, Wayne and Sharmon were well-respected in the community, making their tragic deaths all the more shocking. On April 18, 2006, 27-year-old Andrew arrived at his parents’ secluded farmhouse at 9:00 AM to meet them. However, he immediately felt something was off, as his father’s newspaper still lay untouched on the porch, and he was not up and about as usual. Worried, Andrew went upstairs to see if the latter was in his office, only to witness a horrific sight.
58-year-old Wayne lay dead, face down in a pool of blood in the hallway, with his face badly disfigured. Petrified, Andrew ran outside to his truck and rang the police, who arrived and found 55-year-old Sharmon lying dead in the bedroom between her bed and the wall. An autopsy later revealed that the couple had been fatally shot the previous night with a 12 gauge shotgun. While Wayne had been shot once each in the knee, right eye, and the back of the head, Sharmon had been shot once in the eye.
Jessica Reid and Greg Fester Was Convicted for the Murders
Investigators noticed that the Stocks were barefoot and in their pajamas, which indicated that they had likely been woken from their sleep and shot dead. In addition, Sharmon had the telephone in her hand, suggesting that she had been trying to call someone for help during the attack. The police also noticed none of the valuables were missing, but a window in the laundry room had been forced open. Based on the pattern of blood splattered on the walls, they theorized that at least two people attacked the victims.
Apart from the bullet casings, a marijuana pipe, and a flashlight were retrieved from the crime scene, seemingly left behind by the perpetrator. Not just that, the investigators soon received a crucial tip from a local couple, who stated they saw a strange car speeding about a mile away from the Stocks’ farmhouse the night of the murder. The witnesses had allegedly been passing the area on the night of April 17, 2006, when they crossed the said vehicle on the road, about the same time as the murder happened.
In the meantime, the police questioned the victims’ family and realized they had been in conflict with their nephew, Matthew Livers. The 28-year-old had reportedly argued with his uncle and aunt over money matters, making him a likely suspect in the murder. When brought in for questioning, Matthew denied involvement in the murder, but his subsequent polygraph test showed that he was allegedly lying; after several hours of grueling interrogation, he confessed to killing his relatives but named his cousin, Nicholas “Nick” Sampson, as his accomplice.
Matthew claimed that he and Nick had conspired to murder Wayne and Sharmon two days earlier and entered their home on the night of April 17. They absconded after shooting the couple dead and continued with their daily lives. Based on his confession, Nick was arrested and the investigators allegedly retrieved a 12-gauge shotgun and a bloodstained pair of jeans from his home. While he claimed he had borrowed the gun from his grandfather, it resembled the weapon used to kill the Stocks.
Later, the police discovered that Matthew’s car perfectly matched the witness’s description. Furthermore, the vehicle had reportedly been detailed and cleaned just a few hours after Wayne and Sharmon were shot dead. But when the detectives found a blood stain matching the crime scene under the car’s steering, it cemented their suspicion about Matthew and Nick being the killers. While they were jailed and charged with first-degree murder, a new piece of evidence soon turned the case on its head.
Upon searching the Stocks’ farmhouse again, a detective found an engraved gold ring lying on the kitchen floor, presumably having fallen off someone’s finger. The engraving read, “Love Always, Cori and Ryan,” along with the name of the New York-based jewelry company. The police immediately contacted the said company and, after a challenging search, traced the ring’s owner to be a man named Ryan from Beaver Dam, Wisconsin.
When questioned, Ryan reported his red pickup truck with the ring in it had been stolen a couple of days before the murder. Through recent records, the investigators found 17-year-old Jessica Reid and her 19-year-old boyfriend, Gregory “Greg” Fester. The two were out on bail for stealing the car and when brought for questioning, Jessica denied any connections to the double murder in Nebraska. However, once shown Matthew and Nick’s pictures, she gradually changed her story.
As per the show, Jessica alleged that she and Greg had met Nick and Matthew at a bar in Murdock while passing through town, and the latter two had taken them to the Stocks’ farmhouse. While she and her boyfriend claimed the two cousins had shot the victims, the police found shell casings from a 12-gauge shotgun matching the murder weapon at Greg’s house. On top of it, they discovered he had also stolen a shotgun from Ryan’s farmhouse.
Detectives discovered a letter from Jessica indirectly confessing that she and her partner had committed the murders. After being grilled for the same, she finally admitted falsely naming Nick and Matthew. Jessica revealed that she and Greg had stolen the truck under influence of drugs and had gone on a robbing spree across three states. While passing Murdock, the couple randomly broke into Wayne and Sharmon’s farmhouse to rob it. But when the farmer woke up in alarm, Greg shot him in the knee.
Wayne and Greg got into a scuffle, ending in Jessica shooting the victim in his eye and her partner shooting him in the back of his head when he tried to escape. After gunning down the 58-year-old, Greg shot his wife in the eye, immediately killing her. Based on their confessions and the evidence against them, Greg and Jessica were arrested and charged with first-degree murder. Meanwhile, all charges against Matthew and Nick were dropped; the former’s IQ test revealed his confession was unreliable.
After much deliberation and delay, Jessica Reid and Greg Fester accepted a plea deal and were convicted of second-degree murder. In 2007, Jessica was given two consecutive life sentences without parole. Her boyfriend was given the same sentence and an additional 10 to 20 years for using a firearm to commit a felony. Currently, the former is incarcerated at the Nebraska Correctional Sentence for Women in York. On the other hand, Greg is serving his prison term at the NDCS Reception and Treatment Center in Lincoln.
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