02x17 - Second Thoughts
Posted: 02/20/24 19:58
on December 17th 1981 a woman in Oakwood village Ohio noticed something strange
at her neighbor's house when I took my kids to school my son said mom
Alma's doors open I don't know how long the door had been open the snow had
bloated I kept calling her name I saw her laying there on the bed facedown and
they could get response from her she was
only 29 years old right Alma nove singer was a single law with three children and
probably what was bought in the state's places in the country she was a tiny little thing - five foot three hundred
oh sweet little Alma who shouldn't have had an enemy in the world somebody one
introduced Anthony and then I suppose it would make them so measure they would
b*at her to them like that 932 years this will be a challenge
because the case was originally investigated by the local law who did their best at the time but this was
before forensics as we know it today he had worked a lot of m*rder cases they don't have that many here it's good for them yeah we're not read the case it
scared me because it's 32 years old that's a lifetime and how many witnesses can still be alive and still be locals
it only takes like two good witnesses to make a case you don't have to have that you say we want 56 don't speak to it
they're good that's all you need so now we have to try and figure out who had the anger and the means to m*rder poor
Alma and leave those babies without animals [Music] it has been 16 years and still no
consider her k*lling a cold years later the Kapus dilemma there are so many cold
cases out there just waiting to be stalled the crime scene ultimately tells
the story of the m*rder we want to bring judgment for these victims
[Music] nice cool little PD huh yeah very nice
to meet you boy you're tall yes I'm glad
you guys are here how are excited the size of our office it kind of limits us to work these cold cases so means a lot to us and we
appreciate it I'm sure the family does as well parties a small community we're rule we don't have a lot of homicides here and
we don't want to back in 1981 I was in elementary school growing up I heard
about almost cased the fact that someone was brutally m*rder*d in our area in
fact it a great deal of people so it's not only some closure potentially for the families but it's also closure for
our community so you got to place that up first oh yeah I got a woman back here if you won't follow me the Paulding County Jail is only seven years old I
love it make us feel right at home huh but because it's not currently in use it's gonna serve as our workspace this
week finally where y'all belong in jail Alan brown Rob Garcia Rob Brian Hanna
crap right I'm excited helping Yolanda and me out this week is Alan brown don't
want to sit down start talking about the case you are Alice come in on this case because we're working with deputy Rob
Garcia who really wants to learn and Alan is very patient and he likes teaching so that ought to be a good
combination you wanna start and tell us about the case it's a homicide of Alma nursing she
was a single mom and three kids from two marriages divorced twice December 17th of 1981 about 9:20 morning
EMS got a call of a body they found Alma on her bed face down arms underneath her
and her head had been obviously hit with something and it was bloody and there's blood all over
no signs of forced entry the door was actually open nothing was stolen there was no signs of sexual as*ault or
anything like that this was an extremely brutal crime the medical examiner reported seven strikes to the head but also that her
hands were black and blue one hand was even broken and she had puncture wounds to her forearm the date of our m*rder is
well that's gonna either be the 15th or 16th but the 17 is when she's found yes Emma's body was discovered on Thursday
the 17th but she was last seen alive just two days prior by her neighbor because the medical examiner was unable
to establish a specific time of death all we know for sure is that she was k*lled somewhere in that three day time
span okay y'all want to start with this suspect first who's this rob David Otto
senior David Delgado is Alma's first ex-husband and the father of her two oldest children Debbie and Davey she had
recently given custody of those two children back to him he's still involved in her life even though she turned over
their kids to him recently it was still kind of a raw fresh thing she was regretting it they were adjusting there could have
been some resentment going on with that yep she had given custody back to David for a reason so we need to look into
that relationship to figure out why that could have been there's no better motivator for getting people fired up in
a divorce in custody and all that and then also he's under the influence of Maria Alma and David had been divorced
for a little while he had moved on he was sending a lady named Maria David and
Maria eventually got married but back then Maria had some serious issues with
the fact that Alma was still around in the world of David she hated each other
Alma was a thr*at to her Elmas always calling with every problem she has David's always helping her new
girlfriend doesn't like that too much she thinks we're too much of an attachment there Alma had been sending David cards let's get back together I'm
missing you and that was threatening to Maria her next move is to go to state Maria go to Steven who's Alma's second
husband and chosing these cards that Alma had been sent and David and the cards implied that halma wanted
I mean a lot of girls hate the ex-wife but she actually took our amm*nit*on to
Steve and Jose I'm trying to cause trouble that was more of a [ __ ] move than most women would do yeah Maria
wasn't suspect in the original investigation she failed her polygraph the polygraphs are not admissible in the
courtroom which makes it even more important that we go and talk to her again and ask for all of our questions so the last suspect is Steve na singer
Steve na finger is Elmas most recent ex-husband the two had met while working
together at a meat processing plant called the dinner bell they married and had one son named Ryan when he would sue
they got divorced and she gained custody he was making an effort at the time to try to reconcile he was very jealous
apparently he's definitely committed to that relationship she's not he wasn't over her she was over him all right
correct Oreo starts a pot almond Steve started getting separated divorces bond
gets final pretty fast and seven months later she's dead so Alma had two
ex-husbands and one of them is with a very jealous woman who those crazy be even talks to her I can't tell you how
many cases are prosecuted therefore because of the divorce those issues between people never go away our first
stop is to visit the members of Alma's family we want to go meet them and see how they've dealt with this horrible
tragedy hello hi so nice to meet you it
has been very trying not knowing who did it and that they're still out there this case has been open
for 32 years it's time tell us the stories about Alma when she was a little
girl what was she like aw just quiet she was very quiet she was very very
caring I'm 71 she was seeing David they met at the high school here in
defiance and she got pregnant with her first child they had gotten married and
didn't tell anybody what seemed like she was really in love with him at the time yes yes was she a good mom
yes she was she adored David I talked to her almost every weekend okay it was
just how are the kids you know and she ever give you any hints about never going on I never kept it all to herself
and when you first heard would that do to your mom and dad devastated you guys
showing up that's happening now I think
about her every day every day and everybody else us too we're gonna try
our very hardest and try and find everybody we can to put all the little pieces together okay
[Music]
we're investigating the death of Alma nove singer who was m*rder*d in her bed while she was sleeping in 1981
welcome to the mock crime scene because we no longer have access to Alma's home we've set up a mock crime scene my hope
is that it can still teach us something about the case the blue lines would be
your walls so this will at least give you a visual since we can't go back 32 years Alma was found facedown in her bed
dressed in a nightgown and a robe the pillows and mattress were soaked with blood other than a couple of pillows on
the ground nothing else seemed out of place which tells us whoever k*lled Alma was able to sneak in silently and
approach her undetected all while Alma was sleeping I know in these pictures you see a lot of blood when you look at
her you got blood from the waist up which would indicate someone's sitting on her yeah and hit me if I'm on top of you and I'm trying to hold you down say
I am striking you and you're trying to get up you're moving hard you're moving your face around that pillar those
sheets everything she literally has abrasions on her chin so what's hitting
her head we're not seeing anything distinctive here like a hammer will leave that realm our impression that you
can see no w*apon was found in this case whatever was used as a w*apon wasn't
anything heavy enough to cause the skull to completely cave in now she does have
skull fractures so I would probably gear more towards a material like wood because metal caves and wood doesn't
tend to do that she also has on her arm a small 1/8 inch in diameter puncture
wound both of her her hands are so swollen and black and blue and in fact
her left hand is broken but remember when she was found she actually had hairs recovered from her hand at the
time yes her own hair not the k*ller's hair what do we always do when someone's striking you you bring your hands up
because it hurts and you're trying to protect yourself although Emmy accounts 7 distinctive
to her head that's not many times she was hit a lot more than 70 if her hands were taking some of these blows to the
point that one growth that tells me that she was hit far more than what we can tell just when you have those blows
directed like the face in the head area that's like a personal att*ck and how angry the person was how they had to
know who it was how they had to know where they were going and then and that's not just I meant to k*ll her that's I'm mad and I mean to k*ll her
otter age we need to find out which of our three suspects David Maria her Steve could have hated
Alma enough to commit this brutal m*rder we're gonna start by looking at the person Alma was closest with her first
ex-husband David Alma Beal David ended up a bit two kids and she said it was
foolish that she gave them up I mean she was really upset after marrying Steve
and having Ryan Alma gave custody of her two oldest children Debbie and Davey jr. back to their father David it's possible
that this was still a point of contention between Alma and David's team did I only have a good relationship with
Dave her first husband yes the kids and everything I never saw nothing out of control or you know seeing Stephen here
kind of trying to get back together of course Dave's girlfriend Maria didn't like the idea how many times I met her I
had heard she was a very jealous woman when Jill is over Alma coming around and being around Maria has motive because
Alma is attempting to get back with David David has motives because he's moved on with his life he's got his kids
he's got his girlfriend and then here comes Alma get in the way so either David or Maria could have been upset
enough with the Alma that they would be willing to k*ll her
[Music] so y'all are headed to the airport like around noon yes and we're hoping to talk
to them tonight while y'all are having fun we'll be taking care of business here I Brian all right we'll be in touch
David and Maria ended up getting married and live out in the Houston area so Alan and Rob we're gonna go to Texas to talk
to them what I always try to do my good on these deals is trying to figure out
something new to add Alan brown yeah we
don't talk a lot of your time is Maria here too can we talk to her and then maybe talk to you sure do you have any
cross words with Alma at all do you
remember when Alma signed the custody papers over and gave her kids full custody to David I was just told about
it tell us about the cards that were being sent and you found oh you know
thinking of you cards we interviewed Maria roughly an hour and
we were very pointing our questions because we wanted to know if she was angry enough to k*ll her element so when you find these cards and you go to Steve
how does that transpire we met downtown and defines and I told
him why Selma sending David these cards you know I should have never so he
wasn't happy about that yeah to me now it seems challenged I mean just by showing Steven off singer those
cars that caused a rift and Steve and Alan's marriage she basically got this ball rolling which caused the divorce
well we appreciate your time to me Maria has motive but it's very light
and she was very straightforward I got no vibes from Maria that she had any intention of ever harming Alma
so knowing Alma you're her first ex-husband yeah for many years so she came to find me or whatever you know she
appears to be a good mother gets person in exact would that be your opinion ever true so what point did she like really
start trying to get back with you when she was pregnant she comes to me I'm sorry I just can't you know I didn't
know she don't want to go down well that
sounds like Michael no he hasn't according to David Alma had confided in
him that she didn't even want to marry Stephen she tried to back out she went through with it because she was pregnant
with him Ryan she knew she made a big mistake but she related to you that the reason for giving the kids custody to
you was because of Stephen yes and what he was doing to history it's not like
her and talking to David it didn't appear he had any kind of grudge towards Alma over the children or anything else
we appreciate your time thank you
did you miss us actually yeah when your honor I were playing that long we could even miss you guys
we've learned that Alma nove singer gave up custody of her children Debbie and Dave jr. because of problems with her
second husband Steve that's a big sacrifice for a mother to make and that tells us that things must have been
really bad with Alma and Steve does anybody still feel like David Delgado and Maria Delgado need to be on the
suspect board all right let's take them down with David and Maria cleared this is a case of one suspect Steven Hawkings
[Music] David this is lieutenant Hannah pad at
the Paulding County Sheriff's Office how are you David jr. was 10 years old when his mother was m*rder*d but he lived
with Alma and Steve before she gave up custody when I was little so I don't remember a lot he was never nice to be
my sisters we weren't his real kids you know like Ryan was but he definitely would get physical with my mom when I
went into like the family room one day and Steve was like oh my mom by the arms
and grabbing her real hard and stuff and you know me being loved to like leave my mom alone you just know that means he was like you
want me to break her arms right here right now Alma never found any police reports of domestic v*olence which means that if
Steve is Alma's k*ller anything that Debbie and David jr. saw with their own eyes or heard with their own ears could
be crucial to this case can you talk a little bit about what if anything you remember about your mom they don't have
a lot of memories I was pretty young right growing up without a mom was difficult and it wasn't until I had a child of my
own that I realized you know probably have difficult things were for my mom it's still hard so it's really hard to
to did not have her what do you remember about Steve I don't have that many
memories of him just that it was not a really nice guy he would yell at me a lot and you would definitely favor my
half-brother right okay so not a lot of fond memories there then of Steve no I can't make it one what
about you and Ryan we didn't grow up together he started talking to him when we were in high school I just knew that
he was my brother and so I wanted to have a relationship with him I had asked him was growing up did he know that we existed and he said that you know in
pictures yeah my brother would be in them but his dad I told him that we were neighbor kids she didn't tell them that
you know he had a brother a sister you hear that story and I mean I lived in a
small town I went to a high school like that how do you grow up in a town this size and never know that on the other
side of town are two people that are your blood that are your brother and your sister how can that happen unless
someone is diabolically manipulative and trying to keep it from you for some
crazy reason what about you and Ryan today okay
thank you for all your help okay dad II thought that we don't want to talk to
Ryan right now because he's still close to Steve but we've managed to track down another witness that could be really
valuable and next that Steve was with 17 years after Alma's death we'll go
through two or three coffees and then bring her out here our witness live with
the her opinion for anything Steve might have told her about Alma could tell us
what kind of man were dealing with he said he was a widow that she was an
undercover cop and was k*lled in a car accident that it seemed like he was
affected by it he said I'll always love her she'll always be in my heart
several weeks to a month maybe past I went to the public library and I got a
pose I
[Music]
he said when are you coming home I said
she might not have suffered the same physical abuse that Alma did but this woman was smart and brave and strong
enough to leave as soon as she did I remember him saying you know buddy
Oliver take that away that's the same thing he told you about how I felt about almond look what happened to her yes
[Music] as we expand our investigation to the
people who were close enough and Steve's life we come to his family there's not
much from them at all in the case files so they could have some new information Jim you may have some information for us
on this homicide case well I was worried Steve's sister what can you tell me about it
I remember hearing that he done it that was the the atmosphere amongst the
family had to die did you have any first-hand knowledge of that I remember hearing that there was a nightstick or a
stick he had in the car inside the driver's seat Steve had a club in his car yeah like when he was hunting or
whatever to hit the animals if they wasn't dead this kind of stuff a wooden Club could have caused most of Alma's
injuries especially the type of damage seen in Alma skull it's worth trying to find out more about it the delay never
say she would she stick up for Steve when she tells her true feelings oh yeah
we talked to your ex-husband Jim and do you remember Steve and Eric
carrying a club in his car like three
feet two and a half three days they would hang up a beep on it dinner bell okay my been hanging out happen beeps like
that's taken in a favor hang on it this smoke stick could possibly match Alma's
injuries but it only helps our case if we can prove that Steve had it at the time of the m*rder what he carried for
protection did he still have it in the timeframe of when all this transpired but you've already gotten rid of why did
he get rid of it oh he Maxim bit Ryan when the pilot and Brian play with it okay because Steve
got rid of the smoke stick it's impossible that we'll find it thirty two years after the fact all of a sudden the stick was missing after the m*rder and
he comes up with wife's doin tryin playing with it that's a [ __ ] excuse the smoker stick would be a perfect
w*apon but without it it's a bust we got nothing without a m*rder w*apon
we still need insight that can connect Steve no singer to the m*rder of his ex-wife Alma so we're on our way to
question Steve's sister Cheryl and her husband Tom she is his sister so you
have that bond or being a sibling and they don't want to tell you no they don't want to be the one that says I put my brother in prison at first it appears
they don't want to talk to him and then Tom tells us the whole family's scared of Steven off center he's violent and
he's odd so Tom tells me that Steve nob singer had a wife before Alma and they
had a son that was stillborn and that after that Steven was never the same when it came to Stevens first
living son Ryan he didn't care about Alma he didn't care about the divorce he's here at anything Ryan
when you work on cases like this you always want to try and figure out why someone would commit such a horribly
brutal m*rder so the question is because they've lost his first child does the
possibility of losing Ryan become the trigger for him brutally murdering
almond and going through all the divorce paperwork I found this they thought for the divorce then they try to reconcile in
the middle of the counseling time period this says honor about the 8th day of March while at their home the plaintiff
that's Steven he's the one that fought for the divorce did physically abuse her by grabbing her by the arm and throwing
her to the ground and threatening to break her arm so there's two incidents at least two yeah and this is when
they're supposed to be getting back together again he did his best to convince her to stay with them and that's what happened five months later
John said this is what he says in his affidavit violent for divorce my wife
departed the marriage will DOMA sell Thursday January 29th 81 I fear that if my wife is granted custody of the child
and she will be a child for me and I will never see the child again it's looking to me like Steve was going to go
along with divorcing Alma but when he wasn't going to get custody of ryan he could not handle it when Steve went to
court he got custody and complained in his name it says in here for the reason that the child's natural mother d*ed on
December 16th 1981 that was kind of funny it's pretty interesting that Steve is peaking such a specific day because
law enforcement never actually determined which day she d*ed they didn't stuff the day right what y'all think
yeah because if you k*lled someone you're not gonna forget you can fail him even the police are confused exactly
when she d*ed be apparently you're not only don't for sure is that Alma d*ed
sometime between Tuesday the 15th and Thursday the 17th because Tuesday is the
last time Alma was seen alive by her neighbor Mary Schaefer so Mary Schaefer who were going to see says that she was
standing at her kitchen window saw i'ma drive in her driveway didn't see anyone get out of the car doesn't know if Brian
was with her not only was Mary the last person to see Alma alive she was also the first person to discover Alma's body
on Thursday morning I guess we never seen her laying there on that bed she
was such a good person and such a good friend and I think about it a lot
[Music] what do you remember about Steve or anyone else involved Steve was a hothead
before I had even met Elmer she clove to my house when I pour down rain and she
said that her and Steve had gotten into a big fight I said you wanna call the cops and she said no so she was
distraught enough to run out and go to somebody's house she's never been to right I know she was scared
how was Alma as far as lettin Steve had the baby on his off days she would let
him have whenever you wanted him when is the last time you talked to elle m'a the Monday just before she was k*lled
he just called me and told me that Steve was all upset and they got in a big argument about it stuff and she told
Steve that he wasn't going to get Brian anymore other than regular visitation
we may have just found the trigger that pushed a sick man over the edge she is
going to be the DA's number one so legs yeah I've worked a lot of cases where a
divorce is the motivating factor I had a case where a woman left her husband and
he pulled up to her house got out of the car with the bat and b*at her upside the head with that baseball bat over and
over and over again you see that kind of anger and rage and it tells you who the k*ller is just like in this case we need
to always ask ourselves who won and Alma did I think it's time to prepare for a face-to-face confrontation with Steve we
have the Defiance County Sheriff's Office ready to go as far as we can tell he was potentially home yesterday
afternoon he has a white Ford f-150 registered in his name which was there
yesterday we've got the unmarked units ready to go we've got the security
detail set several blocks away it's a big day I'm hoping he'll talk to
us freely what's the plan just telling them we reopened Alma's case we'd like
to talk to him don't say if you have time because they and kind of gives people an out Rob and Alan Butler says
the trucks in the driveway but it doesn't see any movement we're here from
what I've learned about Steve it's possible he has quite a g*n collection so we got to be careful there they are
there's no doubt about where he stands on burgers yeah
you see him down there I see him
he only has one vehicle that we know of right
beware the owner a guy with sounds like that probably
doesn't interest or very easily because of those signs on the door and because of people telling us how opinionated he
is and how odd he is I thought he was home he just wasn't answering the door boss walk around see it was open a
minute ago that was yeah please home alright we're gonna call him because I
think he's in here Stephen officer you
know where the Defiant Sheriff's Office's
there's a very good possibility he's in I guess we go the Sheriff's Office
good morning everyone this is him so
yeah home right now huh yeah all right if I take me 10 or 15 minutes to get over there but you're at home right
he says he's home he has to stay there and watch the dog he's always been home he's always been home I told him did I
take me 10 15 minutes even off singer calls back and says you know what on second thought I'm not coming down there
y'all can come to my house if you want to talk to me I'm gonna asking why she likes just about being in the mall cuz he's a freaky man but no but I answer
his door so you know you got to do what you got to do we load back up and go
back towards his house Steve is running us around town he wants this interview to happen on his time at his place it's
gonna be his way that's right Showtime Steve agrees to talk to Alan
and Rob in his home meanwhile we're all outside listening to every word and right off the bat Steve's acting like he
barely even remembers Alma last time he says we're live and he doesn't remember he was in a city would I'm sure the last
time you saw your brother for the last time I saw my mom exactly and we didn't do anything wrong they asked him every
question we have about Alma about Ryan about the abuse his answer to nearly
every question is I don't remember he's pretty smart he just won't say anything he's starting to get comfortable and
closed down in me that's happened between cold cases all the time he said I don't remember the Vince
[Music] over two hours later Robin Ellen have no
choice but to just walk away when things became uncomfortable to Steve if I had a question for him that he didn't seem to
like hit a drink he'd drink from it and he'd get up and walk off say oh let me go over here and get a towel and he'd
wipe the kitchen table come back my feeling is Steve was calculating and thinking of the answer the right answer
that he wanted to give I mean he
selectively chose to remember what he wanted to write but he was pretty good at coming up with follow-up BS Steve
doesn't add much to our case but you don't prepare circumstantial evidence cases by hoping for a confession because
it doesn't usually happen you have to build a probable cause that can stand all by itself and that's what we hope we
did this week okay so we've pretty much
done talking to witnesses at this point everything else on the board all these
points have now been addressed and corroborated and strengthened with live
witnesses who can testify in a courtroom the evidence that we found this week specifically shows a case that wasn't it
there it wasn't a r*pe it was personal we have a tremendous amount of blood and
how angry the person was how they had to know who it was how they had to know where they were going and a suspect with
a history of domestic abuse just yelled at me to break her arms right here who
concealed the truth about Alma's death and the people that were closest to him he said that she was an undercover cop
and was k*lled in a car accident the witnesses and the evidence in this case clearly shows that Steve had motive he
was upset about his divorce from Alma and most importantly in the days before her m*rder they fought and she tried to
take away from Steve the thing he cared about most in the whole room his son Ryan he told me that he wasn't going to
get Ryan anymore what we have is a probable cause it shows that Steve was so desperate to keep Ryan in his life he
elevated his abuse to m*rder with all these factors with all the witnesses of all the do you feel like there's enough to talk
to your DA absolutely Rob yes Brian my heart 100% I believe that we're on the
right track Paulding County has never
had to work on a cold case before so as Brian Rob and Jayson bring in the prosecutor and present the probable
cause to him it's a chance to solve one for the first time at this point we've accomplished quite a bit this week my
belief in what we have today based off of all of our evidence all of our interviews based off of the original
incident report the crime scene photographs and a multitude of people that are willing to come to Paulding County and testify under oath to the
truth as they remember it Steve nob singer is responsible for the m*rder of his ex-wife
[Music] okay we're dying to him all right so
here's the deal we laid things out boring that's how I want you to be honest with me give me your honest opinion we take this to grand jury or
can't we and he said that he will take this to grand jury oh that's awesome good for him beautiful whole new
perspective on how to work cases and all these little things how important their I'm very grateful for the help that
Kelly and Yolanda and Alan have been able to bring the Paulding County this is my first cold case and I did learn a
lot to me it really opened my eyes their talent their knowledge it's just been an
awesome experience and to bring some sort of peace or closure to Alma and her
family and her friends is a feeling that's beyond words we can't wait to go tell Danny and CeCe
the good news usually it's kind of a nervous day but this is gonna be a good
one good mornin and Alma's oldest two children and Debbie and Davey drive in
to hear the news - well we had a very busy week yesterday the sheriff set up a meeting with the DA Joe Burkhart and
then he said that he is very excited to take the case to a grand jury to ask
them to indict Steve non-singer for the m*rder of your mom yes
[Music] after 30 years my good ending to all
this my mom very happy yeah and I think
that when a jury of people here in this county hear it one day they're not gonna have any trouble finding him guilty I
know it's a lot to take in I think their son yeah yeah I kind of given up
hopefully she'll get justice and closure and be at peace and and the family will
too and that we'll see her someday again y'all don't have any contact with Ryan right now you might reach out to him
when you feel ready he's lived his whole life with a certain version of the truth in his mind so sometimes it takes all
the way to the trial when they hear it the very first time the best thing you can do is just be patient yes there's
just lots of moments in my life where I needed a mom and didn't have her so that's peace has always been missing I
feel bad for Ryan because he didn't have a mom either and you know this is his
dad and so this is something that he's gonna have to deal with and it can't be easy so I know there's like a lot of
celebration and a lot of you know happiness for us but I can't imagine what he's gonna have to go through it is
really nice to be able to tell them good news that 32-year patience has finally paid off there all this time
that's a great day
prosecuting attorney Joe Burkhart convened a special grand jury in the case of Steve non-singer grand jury in
Paulding County Ohio indicted Steve for the capital m*rder of Alma on August the
1st 2014 Steve not singer who is arrested by the Paulding County Sheriff's Office and he currently awaits
trial
at her neighbor's house when I took my kids to school my son said mom
Alma's doors open I don't know how long the door had been open the snow had
bloated I kept calling her name I saw her laying there on the bed facedown and
they could get response from her she was
only 29 years old right Alma nove singer was a single law with three children and
probably what was bought in the state's places in the country she was a tiny little thing - five foot three hundred
oh sweet little Alma who shouldn't have had an enemy in the world somebody one
introduced Anthony and then I suppose it would make them so measure they would
b*at her to them like that 932 years this will be a challenge
because the case was originally investigated by the local law who did their best at the time but this was
before forensics as we know it today he had worked a lot of m*rder cases they don't have that many here it's good for them yeah we're not read the case it
scared me because it's 32 years old that's a lifetime and how many witnesses can still be alive and still be locals
it only takes like two good witnesses to make a case you don't have to have that you say we want 56 don't speak to it
they're good that's all you need so now we have to try and figure out who had the anger and the means to m*rder poor
Alma and leave those babies without animals [Music] it has been 16 years and still no
consider her k*lling a cold years later the Kapus dilemma there are so many cold
cases out there just waiting to be stalled the crime scene ultimately tells
the story of the m*rder we want to bring judgment for these victims
[Music] nice cool little PD huh yeah very nice
to meet you boy you're tall yes I'm glad
you guys are here how are excited the size of our office it kind of limits us to work these cold cases so means a lot to us and we
appreciate it I'm sure the family does as well parties a small community we're rule we don't have a lot of homicides here and
we don't want to back in 1981 I was in elementary school growing up I heard
about almost cased the fact that someone was brutally m*rder*d in our area in
fact it a great deal of people so it's not only some closure potentially for the families but it's also closure for
our community so you got to place that up first oh yeah I got a woman back here if you won't follow me the Paulding County Jail is only seven years old I
love it make us feel right at home huh but because it's not currently in use it's gonna serve as our workspace this
week finally where y'all belong in jail Alan brown Rob Garcia Rob Brian Hanna
crap right I'm excited helping Yolanda and me out this week is Alan brown don't
want to sit down start talking about the case you are Alice come in on this case because we're working with deputy Rob
Garcia who really wants to learn and Alan is very patient and he likes teaching so that ought to be a good
combination you wanna start and tell us about the case it's a homicide of Alma nursing she
was a single mom and three kids from two marriages divorced twice December 17th of 1981 about 9:20 morning
EMS got a call of a body they found Alma on her bed face down arms underneath her
and her head had been obviously hit with something and it was bloody and there's blood all over
no signs of forced entry the door was actually open nothing was stolen there was no signs of sexual as*ault or
anything like that this was an extremely brutal crime the medical examiner reported seven strikes to the head but also that her
hands were black and blue one hand was even broken and she had puncture wounds to her forearm the date of our m*rder is
well that's gonna either be the 15th or 16th but the 17 is when she's found yes Emma's body was discovered on Thursday
the 17th but she was last seen alive just two days prior by her neighbor because the medical examiner was unable
to establish a specific time of death all we know for sure is that she was k*lled somewhere in that three day time
span okay y'all want to start with this suspect first who's this rob David Otto
senior David Delgado is Alma's first ex-husband and the father of her two oldest children Debbie and Davey she had
recently given custody of those two children back to him he's still involved in her life even though she turned over
their kids to him recently it was still kind of a raw fresh thing she was regretting it they were adjusting there could have
been some resentment going on with that yep she had given custody back to David for a reason so we need to look into
that relationship to figure out why that could have been there's no better motivator for getting people fired up in
a divorce in custody and all that and then also he's under the influence of Maria Alma and David had been divorced
for a little while he had moved on he was sending a lady named Maria David and
Maria eventually got married but back then Maria had some serious issues with
the fact that Alma was still around in the world of David she hated each other
Alma was a thr*at to her Elmas always calling with every problem she has David's always helping her new
girlfriend doesn't like that too much she thinks we're too much of an attachment there Alma had been sending David cards let's get back together I'm
missing you and that was threatening to Maria her next move is to go to state Maria go to Steven who's Alma's second
husband and chosing these cards that Alma had been sent and David and the cards implied that halma wanted
I mean a lot of girls hate the ex-wife but she actually took our amm*nit*on to
Steve and Jose I'm trying to cause trouble that was more of a [ __ ] move than most women would do yeah Maria
wasn't suspect in the original investigation she failed her polygraph the polygraphs are not admissible in the
courtroom which makes it even more important that we go and talk to her again and ask for all of our questions so the last suspect is Steve na singer
Steve na finger is Elmas most recent ex-husband the two had met while working
together at a meat processing plant called the dinner bell they married and had one son named Ryan when he would sue
they got divorced and she gained custody he was making an effort at the time to try to reconcile he was very jealous
apparently he's definitely committed to that relationship she's not he wasn't over her she was over him all right
correct Oreo starts a pot almond Steve started getting separated divorces bond
gets final pretty fast and seven months later she's dead so Alma had two
ex-husbands and one of them is with a very jealous woman who those crazy be even talks to her I can't tell you how
many cases are prosecuted therefore because of the divorce those issues between people never go away our first
stop is to visit the members of Alma's family we want to go meet them and see how they've dealt with this horrible
tragedy hello hi so nice to meet you it
has been very trying not knowing who did it and that they're still out there this case has been open
for 32 years it's time tell us the stories about Alma when she was a little
girl what was she like aw just quiet she was very quiet she was very very
caring I'm 71 she was seeing David they met at the high school here in
defiance and she got pregnant with her first child they had gotten married and
didn't tell anybody what seemed like she was really in love with him at the time yes yes was she a good mom
yes she was she adored David I talked to her almost every weekend okay it was
just how are the kids you know and she ever give you any hints about never going on I never kept it all to herself
and when you first heard would that do to your mom and dad devastated you guys
showing up that's happening now I think
about her every day every day and everybody else us too we're gonna try
our very hardest and try and find everybody we can to put all the little pieces together okay
[Music]
we're investigating the death of Alma nove singer who was m*rder*d in her bed while she was sleeping in 1981
welcome to the mock crime scene because we no longer have access to Alma's home we've set up a mock crime scene my hope
is that it can still teach us something about the case the blue lines would be
your walls so this will at least give you a visual since we can't go back 32 years Alma was found facedown in her bed
dressed in a nightgown and a robe the pillows and mattress were soaked with blood other than a couple of pillows on
the ground nothing else seemed out of place which tells us whoever k*lled Alma was able to sneak in silently and
approach her undetected all while Alma was sleeping I know in these pictures you see a lot of blood when you look at
her you got blood from the waist up which would indicate someone's sitting on her yeah and hit me if I'm on top of you and I'm trying to hold you down say
I am striking you and you're trying to get up you're moving hard you're moving your face around that pillar those
sheets everything she literally has abrasions on her chin so what's hitting
her head we're not seeing anything distinctive here like a hammer will leave that realm our impression that you
can see no w*apon was found in this case whatever was used as a w*apon wasn't
anything heavy enough to cause the skull to completely cave in now she does have
skull fractures so I would probably gear more towards a material like wood because metal caves and wood doesn't
tend to do that she also has on her arm a small 1/8 inch in diameter puncture
wound both of her her hands are so swollen and black and blue and in fact
her left hand is broken but remember when she was found she actually had hairs recovered from her hand at the
time yes her own hair not the k*ller's hair what do we always do when someone's striking you you bring your hands up
because it hurts and you're trying to protect yourself although Emmy accounts 7 distinctive
to her head that's not many times she was hit a lot more than 70 if her hands were taking some of these blows to the
point that one growth that tells me that she was hit far more than what we can tell just when you have those blows
directed like the face in the head area that's like a personal att*ck and how angry the person was how they had to
know who it was how they had to know where they were going and then and that's not just I meant to k*ll her that's I'm mad and I mean to k*ll her
otter age we need to find out which of our three suspects David Maria her Steve could have hated
Alma enough to commit this brutal m*rder we're gonna start by looking at the person Alma was closest with her first
ex-husband David Alma Beal David ended up a bit two kids and she said it was
foolish that she gave them up I mean she was really upset after marrying Steve
and having Ryan Alma gave custody of her two oldest children Debbie and Davey jr. back to their father David it's possible
that this was still a point of contention between Alma and David's team did I only have a good relationship with
Dave her first husband yes the kids and everything I never saw nothing out of control or you know seeing Stephen here
kind of trying to get back together of course Dave's girlfriend Maria didn't like the idea how many times I met her I
had heard she was a very jealous woman when Jill is over Alma coming around and being around Maria has motive because
Alma is attempting to get back with David David has motives because he's moved on with his life he's got his kids
he's got his girlfriend and then here comes Alma get in the way so either David or Maria could have been upset
enough with the Alma that they would be willing to k*ll her
[Music] so y'all are headed to the airport like around noon yes and we're hoping to talk
to them tonight while y'all are having fun we'll be taking care of business here I Brian all right we'll be in touch
David and Maria ended up getting married and live out in the Houston area so Alan and Rob we're gonna go to Texas to talk
to them what I always try to do my good on these deals is trying to figure out
something new to add Alan brown yeah we
don't talk a lot of your time is Maria here too can we talk to her and then maybe talk to you sure do you have any
cross words with Alma at all do you
remember when Alma signed the custody papers over and gave her kids full custody to David I was just told about
it tell us about the cards that were being sent and you found oh you know
thinking of you cards we interviewed Maria roughly an hour and
we were very pointing our questions because we wanted to know if she was angry enough to k*ll her element so when you find these cards and you go to Steve
how does that transpire we met downtown and defines and I told
him why Selma sending David these cards you know I should have never so he
wasn't happy about that yeah to me now it seems challenged I mean just by showing Steven off singer those
cars that caused a rift and Steve and Alan's marriage she basically got this ball rolling which caused the divorce
well we appreciate your time to me Maria has motive but it's very light
and she was very straightforward I got no vibes from Maria that she had any intention of ever harming Alma
so knowing Alma you're her first ex-husband yeah for many years so she came to find me or whatever you know she
appears to be a good mother gets person in exact would that be your opinion ever true so what point did she like really
start trying to get back with you when she was pregnant she comes to me I'm sorry I just can't you know I didn't
know she don't want to go down well that
sounds like Michael no he hasn't according to David Alma had confided in
him that she didn't even want to marry Stephen she tried to back out she went through with it because she was pregnant
with him Ryan she knew she made a big mistake but she related to you that the reason for giving the kids custody to
you was because of Stephen yes and what he was doing to history it's not like
her and talking to David it didn't appear he had any kind of grudge towards Alma over the children or anything else
we appreciate your time thank you
did you miss us actually yeah when your honor I were playing that long we could even miss you guys
we've learned that Alma nove singer gave up custody of her children Debbie and Dave jr. because of problems with her
second husband Steve that's a big sacrifice for a mother to make and that tells us that things must have been
really bad with Alma and Steve does anybody still feel like David Delgado and Maria Delgado need to be on the
suspect board all right let's take them down with David and Maria cleared this is a case of one suspect Steven Hawkings
[Music] David this is lieutenant Hannah pad at
the Paulding County Sheriff's Office how are you David jr. was 10 years old when his mother was m*rder*d but he lived
with Alma and Steve before she gave up custody when I was little so I don't remember a lot he was never nice to be
my sisters we weren't his real kids you know like Ryan was but he definitely would get physical with my mom when I
went into like the family room one day and Steve was like oh my mom by the arms
and grabbing her real hard and stuff and you know me being loved to like leave my mom alone you just know that means he was like you
want me to break her arms right here right now Alma never found any police reports of domestic v*olence which means that if
Steve is Alma's k*ller anything that Debbie and David jr. saw with their own eyes or heard with their own ears could
be crucial to this case can you talk a little bit about what if anything you remember about your mom they don't have
a lot of memories I was pretty young right growing up without a mom was difficult and it wasn't until I had a child of my
own that I realized you know probably have difficult things were for my mom it's still hard so it's really hard to
to did not have her what do you remember about Steve I don't have that many
memories of him just that it was not a really nice guy he would yell at me a lot and you would definitely favor my
half-brother right okay so not a lot of fond memories there then of Steve no I can't make it one what
about you and Ryan we didn't grow up together he started talking to him when we were in high school I just knew that
he was my brother and so I wanted to have a relationship with him I had asked him was growing up did he know that we existed and he said that you know in
pictures yeah my brother would be in them but his dad I told him that we were neighbor kids she didn't tell them that
you know he had a brother a sister you hear that story and I mean I lived in a
small town I went to a high school like that how do you grow up in a town this size and never know that on the other
side of town are two people that are your blood that are your brother and your sister how can that happen unless
someone is diabolically manipulative and trying to keep it from you for some
crazy reason what about you and Ryan today okay
thank you for all your help okay dad II thought that we don't want to talk to
Ryan right now because he's still close to Steve but we've managed to track down another witness that could be really
valuable and next that Steve was with 17 years after Alma's death we'll go
through two or three coffees and then bring her out here our witness live with
the her opinion for anything Steve might have told her about Alma could tell us
what kind of man were dealing with he said he was a widow that she was an
undercover cop and was k*lled in a car accident that it seemed like he was
affected by it he said I'll always love her she'll always be in my heart
several weeks to a month maybe past I went to the public library and I got a
pose I
[Music]
he said when are you coming home I said
she might not have suffered the same physical abuse that Alma did but this woman was smart and brave and strong
enough to leave as soon as she did I remember him saying you know buddy
Oliver take that away that's the same thing he told you about how I felt about almond look what happened to her yes
[Music] as we expand our investigation to the
people who were close enough and Steve's life we come to his family there's not
much from them at all in the case files so they could have some new information Jim you may have some information for us
on this homicide case well I was worried Steve's sister what can you tell me about it
I remember hearing that he done it that was the the atmosphere amongst the
family had to die did you have any first-hand knowledge of that I remember hearing that there was a nightstick or a
stick he had in the car inside the driver's seat Steve had a club in his car yeah like when he was hunting or
whatever to hit the animals if they wasn't dead this kind of stuff a wooden Club could have caused most of Alma's
injuries especially the type of damage seen in Alma skull it's worth trying to find out more about it the delay never
say she would she stick up for Steve when she tells her true feelings oh yeah
we talked to your ex-husband Jim and do you remember Steve and Eric
carrying a club in his car like three
feet two and a half three days they would hang up a beep on it dinner bell okay my been hanging out happen beeps like
that's taken in a favor hang on it this smoke stick could possibly match Alma's
injuries but it only helps our case if we can prove that Steve had it at the time of the m*rder what he carried for
protection did he still have it in the timeframe of when all this transpired but you've already gotten rid of why did
he get rid of it oh he Maxim bit Ryan when the pilot and Brian play with it okay because Steve
got rid of the smoke stick it's impossible that we'll find it thirty two years after the fact all of a sudden the stick was missing after the m*rder and
he comes up with wife's doin tryin playing with it that's a [ __ ] excuse the smoker stick would be a perfect
w*apon but without it it's a bust we got nothing without a m*rder w*apon
we still need insight that can connect Steve no singer to the m*rder of his ex-wife Alma so we're on our way to
question Steve's sister Cheryl and her husband Tom she is his sister so you
have that bond or being a sibling and they don't want to tell you no they don't want to be the one that says I put my brother in prison at first it appears
they don't want to talk to him and then Tom tells us the whole family's scared of Steven off center he's violent and
he's odd so Tom tells me that Steve nob singer had a wife before Alma and they
had a son that was stillborn and that after that Steven was never the same when it came to Stevens first
living son Ryan he didn't care about Alma he didn't care about the divorce he's here at anything Ryan
when you work on cases like this you always want to try and figure out why someone would commit such a horribly
brutal m*rder so the question is because they've lost his first child does the
possibility of losing Ryan become the trigger for him brutally murdering
almond and going through all the divorce paperwork I found this they thought for the divorce then they try to reconcile in
the middle of the counseling time period this says honor about the 8th day of March while at their home the plaintiff
that's Steven he's the one that fought for the divorce did physically abuse her by grabbing her by the arm and throwing
her to the ground and threatening to break her arm so there's two incidents at least two yeah and this is when
they're supposed to be getting back together again he did his best to convince her to stay with them and that's what happened five months later
John said this is what he says in his affidavit violent for divorce my wife
departed the marriage will DOMA sell Thursday January 29th 81 I fear that if my wife is granted custody of the child
and she will be a child for me and I will never see the child again it's looking to me like Steve was going to go
along with divorcing Alma but when he wasn't going to get custody of ryan he could not handle it when Steve went to
court he got custody and complained in his name it says in here for the reason that the child's natural mother d*ed on
December 16th 1981 that was kind of funny it's pretty interesting that Steve is peaking such a specific day because
law enforcement never actually determined which day she d*ed they didn't stuff the day right what y'all think
yeah because if you k*lled someone you're not gonna forget you can fail him even the police are confused exactly
when she d*ed be apparently you're not only don't for sure is that Alma d*ed
sometime between Tuesday the 15th and Thursday the 17th because Tuesday is the
last time Alma was seen alive by her neighbor Mary Schaefer so Mary Schaefer who were going to see says that she was
standing at her kitchen window saw i'ma drive in her driveway didn't see anyone get out of the car doesn't know if Brian
was with her not only was Mary the last person to see Alma alive she was also the first person to discover Alma's body
on Thursday morning I guess we never seen her laying there on that bed she
was such a good person and such a good friend and I think about it a lot
[Music] what do you remember about Steve or anyone else involved Steve was a hothead
before I had even met Elmer she clove to my house when I pour down rain and she
said that her and Steve had gotten into a big fight I said you wanna call the cops and she said no so she was
distraught enough to run out and go to somebody's house she's never been to right I know she was scared
how was Alma as far as lettin Steve had the baby on his off days she would let
him have whenever you wanted him when is the last time you talked to elle m'a the Monday just before she was k*lled
he just called me and told me that Steve was all upset and they got in a big argument about it stuff and she told
Steve that he wasn't going to get Brian anymore other than regular visitation
we may have just found the trigger that pushed a sick man over the edge she is
going to be the DA's number one so legs yeah I've worked a lot of cases where a
divorce is the motivating factor I had a case where a woman left her husband and
he pulled up to her house got out of the car with the bat and b*at her upside the head with that baseball bat over and
over and over again you see that kind of anger and rage and it tells you who the k*ller is just like in this case we need
to always ask ourselves who won and Alma did I think it's time to prepare for a face-to-face confrontation with Steve we
have the Defiance County Sheriff's Office ready to go as far as we can tell he was potentially home yesterday
afternoon he has a white Ford f-150 registered in his name which was there
yesterday we've got the unmarked units ready to go we've got the security
detail set several blocks away it's a big day I'm hoping he'll talk to
us freely what's the plan just telling them we reopened Alma's case we'd like
to talk to him don't say if you have time because they and kind of gives people an out Rob and Alan Butler says
the trucks in the driveway but it doesn't see any movement we're here from
what I've learned about Steve it's possible he has quite a g*n collection so we got to be careful there they are
there's no doubt about where he stands on burgers yeah
you see him down there I see him
he only has one vehicle that we know of right
beware the owner a guy with sounds like that probably
doesn't interest or very easily because of those signs on the door and because of people telling us how opinionated he
is and how odd he is I thought he was home he just wasn't answering the door boss walk around see it was open a
minute ago that was yeah please home alright we're gonna call him because I
think he's in here Stephen officer you
know where the Defiant Sheriff's Office's
there's a very good possibility he's in I guess we go the Sheriff's Office
good morning everyone this is him so
yeah home right now huh yeah all right if I take me 10 or 15 minutes to get over there but you're at home right
he says he's home he has to stay there and watch the dog he's always been home he's always been home I told him did I
take me 10 15 minutes even off singer calls back and says you know what on second thought I'm not coming down there
y'all can come to my house if you want to talk to me I'm gonna asking why she likes just about being in the mall cuz he's a freaky man but no but I answer
his door so you know you got to do what you got to do we load back up and go
back towards his house Steve is running us around town he wants this interview to happen on his time at his place it's
gonna be his way that's right Showtime Steve agrees to talk to Alan
and Rob in his home meanwhile we're all outside listening to every word and right off the bat Steve's acting like he
barely even remembers Alma last time he says we're live and he doesn't remember he was in a city would I'm sure the last
time you saw your brother for the last time I saw my mom exactly and we didn't do anything wrong they asked him every
question we have about Alma about Ryan about the abuse his answer to nearly
every question is I don't remember he's pretty smart he just won't say anything he's starting to get comfortable and
closed down in me that's happened between cold cases all the time he said I don't remember the Vince
[Music] over two hours later Robin Ellen have no
choice but to just walk away when things became uncomfortable to Steve if I had a question for him that he didn't seem to
like hit a drink he'd drink from it and he'd get up and walk off say oh let me go over here and get a towel and he'd
wipe the kitchen table come back my feeling is Steve was calculating and thinking of the answer the right answer
that he wanted to give I mean he
selectively chose to remember what he wanted to write but he was pretty good at coming up with follow-up BS Steve
doesn't add much to our case but you don't prepare circumstantial evidence cases by hoping for a confession because
it doesn't usually happen you have to build a probable cause that can stand all by itself and that's what we hope we
did this week okay so we've pretty much
done talking to witnesses at this point everything else on the board all these
points have now been addressed and corroborated and strengthened with live
witnesses who can testify in a courtroom the evidence that we found this week specifically shows a case that wasn't it
there it wasn't a r*pe it was personal we have a tremendous amount of blood and
how angry the person was how they had to know who it was how they had to know where they were going and a suspect with
a history of domestic abuse just yelled at me to break her arms right here who
concealed the truth about Alma's death and the people that were closest to him he said that she was an undercover cop
and was k*lled in a car accident the witnesses and the evidence in this case clearly shows that Steve had motive he
was upset about his divorce from Alma and most importantly in the days before her m*rder they fought and she tried to
take away from Steve the thing he cared about most in the whole room his son Ryan he told me that he wasn't going to
get Ryan anymore what we have is a probable cause it shows that Steve was so desperate to keep Ryan in his life he
elevated his abuse to m*rder with all these factors with all the witnesses of all the do you feel like there's enough to talk
to your DA absolutely Rob yes Brian my heart 100% I believe that we're on the
right track Paulding County has never
had to work on a cold case before so as Brian Rob and Jayson bring in the prosecutor and present the probable
cause to him it's a chance to solve one for the first time at this point we've accomplished quite a bit this week my
belief in what we have today based off of all of our evidence all of our interviews based off of the original
incident report the crime scene photographs and a multitude of people that are willing to come to Paulding County and testify under oath to the
truth as they remember it Steve nob singer is responsible for the m*rder of his ex-wife
[Music] okay we're dying to him all right so
here's the deal we laid things out boring that's how I want you to be honest with me give me your honest opinion we take this to grand jury or
can't we and he said that he will take this to grand jury oh that's awesome good for him beautiful whole new
perspective on how to work cases and all these little things how important their I'm very grateful for the help that
Kelly and Yolanda and Alan have been able to bring the Paulding County this is my first cold case and I did learn a
lot to me it really opened my eyes their talent their knowledge it's just been an
awesome experience and to bring some sort of peace or closure to Alma and her
family and her friends is a feeling that's beyond words we can't wait to go tell Danny and CeCe
the good news usually it's kind of a nervous day but this is gonna be a good
one good mornin and Alma's oldest two children and Debbie and Davey drive in
to hear the news - well we had a very busy week yesterday the sheriff set up a meeting with the DA Joe Burkhart and
then he said that he is very excited to take the case to a grand jury to ask
them to indict Steve non-singer for the m*rder of your mom yes
[Music] after 30 years my good ending to all
this my mom very happy yeah and I think
that when a jury of people here in this county hear it one day they're not gonna have any trouble finding him guilty I
know it's a lot to take in I think their son yeah yeah I kind of given up
hopefully she'll get justice and closure and be at peace and and the family will
too and that we'll see her someday again y'all don't have any contact with Ryan right now you might reach out to him
when you feel ready he's lived his whole life with a certain version of the truth in his mind so sometimes it takes all
the way to the trial when they hear it the very first time the best thing you can do is just be patient yes there's
just lots of moments in my life where I needed a mom and didn't have her so that's peace has always been missing I
feel bad for Ryan because he didn't have a mom either and you know this is his
dad and so this is something that he's gonna have to deal with and it can't be easy so I know there's like a lot of
celebration and a lot of you know happiness for us but I can't imagine what he's gonna have to go through it is
really nice to be able to tell them good news that 32-year patience has finally paid off there all this time
that's a great day
prosecuting attorney Joe Burkhart convened a special grand jury in the case of Steve non-singer grand jury in
Paulding County Ohio indicted Steve for the capital m*rder of Alma on August the
1st 2014 Steve not singer who is arrested by the Paulding County Sheriff's Office and he currently awaits
trial