U.S. Court of Appeals, 7th Circuit. Herbert Whitlock's 1995 appeal of his conviction in Karen Rhoads's murder. Here are Eric Zorn's columns on the case. But the blood indicates that it wasn't the blaze that killed Dyke and Karen Rhoads. A local drywall contractor with a dubious past finds himself with top police officials, and a story begins to take shape.
Police love it.
But it stretches the bounds of believability. This small town of 9,000 remains a regional hub for drug-dealing, making Paris not an unlikely place for intrigue. A key witness recants, and recants, and recants.