In May 2011, retired couple Bill and Peggy Stevenson were found murdered in their Florence, Kentucky condo in a elaborately staged scene that Detective Coy Cox calls a '1% crime' — overkill, ritualistic arrangement, and a killer who spent up to 8 hours inside. Twelve years later, a fingerprint card mailed to labs in all 50 states finally matched a man who knew the Stevensons and moved out of Boone County immediately after the murders, thanks to a lab tech who heard about the case on a podcast and manually re-ran the print for years.
Key Moments
Ashley Flowers
“Plus, investigators find a quote timed device indicating that the killer was there for as many as 8 hours or they like left and came back again.”
Ashley reveals a key detail from the crime scene about how long the killer spent inside the Stevensons' condo.
“He thinks he walked into the scene that the killer or killers wanted him to find. So, he's not completely certain that the evidence wasn't planted by the killer.”
Ashley explains Detective Cox's foundational suspicion about the crime scene from the moment he arrived.
“Detective Cox says that he just cannot square like this idea that like a random killer would leave this crime scene. The arrangement of the items, the comfort that the killer had spending time in the condo. To him it feels personal.”
Ashley relays Cox's reasoning for why the trucker theory never fully satisfied investigators.
“What's so weird is when Stevie is in custody, he will not talk about Lee, but he tells the Indiana State Police that he will talk to Cox about Bill and Peggy.”
Ashley describes the bizarre moment when the Stevensons' nephew, charged with a separate murder, specifically requests to speak with Detective Cox about his aunt and uncle.
“She printed out a copy of the fingerprint card and kept it at her station as a reminder to keep rerunning those every so often. And she put in the work. Every time new print came into their system, she would manually check it against the print from the Stevenson case.”
Ashley describes how a lab technician in a western state, motivated by hearing about the case on a podcast, personally kept the cold case alive for years.
Crime Junkie is a weekly true crime podcast hosted by Ashley Flowers and Brit Prawat. Known for its clear, no-frills storytelling, the show covers murders, disappearances, and cold cases from across the US and beyond. It consistently ranks among the most-listened-to podcasts in the true crime genre.
Takeaways
1
Fingerprint breakthrough came from podcast listener A lab technician in a western state heard about the Stevenson case on a podcast and spent years manually re-running the partial print against new entries in her state's database. In 2023, 12 years after the murders, she found a match — proving that broadcasting cold case details to wide audiences can yield investigative breakthroughs long after initial coverage fades.
2
Suspect's print was on file for non-criminal reasons When the partial fingerprint was finally matched, it led to a man with ties to Boone County who knew Bill and Peggy personally and moved out of the area immediately after the murders. Critically, his prints were not in the system from prior crimes — meaning standard criminal database searches would never have found him.
3
Nephew Stevie later convicted of unrelated murder using kitchen weapons Charles 'Stevie' Stevenson, the only family name thrown out as a possible suspect, was later charged and convicted of beating a 67-year-old woman to death with a pepper grinder and a skillet — kitchen items, echoing the Stevenson scene. Despite repeated DNA and fingerprint comparisons, he was never matched to his aunt and uncle's murders.
4
Partial prints mailed to all 50 states — a manual cold case strategy Because the partial print wasn't sufficient for automated AFIS searching, Detective Cox mailed physical fingerprint cards to crime labs in all 50 states in 2011 and asked them to manually compare against future entries. This low-tech, labor-intensive strategy ultimately worked — but only because one technician personally chose to keep doing it.
5
Staged ritual scene misled investigators for years The Vidocq Society and the FBI's Behavioral Analysis Unit both concluded that the ritualistic staging at the Stevenson scene was almost certainly manufactured, not a genuine ritual killing. Experts like Dr. Don look for internal consistency — whether symbols, object placement, and body positioning form a coherent pattern — and found none here.
6
Killer likely spent up to 8 hours at the scene A 'timed device' found at the scene indicated the killer was present for as many as 8 hours, or left and returned. Combined with postmortem wounds and elaborate staging across every room, investigators concluded this was a deliberate, unhurried crime — not opportunistic.