Transcript of Dernell Stenson

Every good true crime story has a twist. DraftKings Casino has a spin. Flex Spins let you spin your way. Didn't see that coming? That's because Flex Spins are exclusive to DraftKings. New casino players pay $5 and get 1,000 total Flex Spins, including 100 Lightning Link spins. Unlock 50 spins a day at varying values for the first 20 days. You decide where the story goes next. Download the DraftKings Casino app, sign up with code TCAT, and spin your way. The crown is yours. In partnership with DraftKings Casino. Gambling problem? Call 1-800-GAMBLER. In Connecticut, help is available for problem gambling. Call 888-789-7777 or visit ccpg.org. Please play responsibly. 21+. Physically present in Connecticut, Michigan, New Jersey, Pennsylvania, and West Virginia only. Void in Canada. Eligibility restrictions apply. Non-withdrawable spins issued at 50 spins per day for 20 days, valid for select games only, and expire each day after 24 hours. Spins values vary. See terms at casino.draftkings.com/promos. Ends November 22nd, 2026 at 11:59 PM Eastern Time. Hello everyone and welcome to episode 543 of the True Crime All the Time podcast. I'm Mike Ferguson, and with me as always is my partner in true crime, Mike Gibson.

Gibby, how are you?

Hey, I'm doing, uh, as you would say, awesome. Awesome.

It's good to hear.

Yeah,

because I usually, uh, almost always am doing very, very

well. Yeah, life is so fabulous, man.

Okay, now you're laying it on a little thick, but, uh, hey, I like to hear it. All right, you ready to get into this episode of True Crime All the Time?

Absolutely.

So we're talking about Darnell Stinson. After spending years playing in the minor leagues, outfielder Darnell Stinson was called up to the major leagues in August 2003. But just weeks after finally making his debut, he was murdered in what appeared to be a, a carjacking. And we'll talk about it right as we go through the story, but Yeah. there are a lot of people who dream of playing Major League Baseball.

Of course.

Or Major League anything, right? But baseball has a very rich history of this minor league system.

Yeah.

And it's tiered. You know, they've got Single-A, Double-A, Triple-A. And there are a lot of people who spend their entire careers in the minor leagues and they just never make it. To the majors.

They get close.

They can get closer. They can come up for a little bit and they just never do anything and then they get sent back down. But you think about this guy or anybody like him, you're working essentially your whole life because you start playing baseball probably when you're 6, 5, 6, I don't know, T-ball. And at some point you start to get that dream of playing in the major leagues.

The closest thing to the MLB that I can think of is the MLC that I was part of, the Major League Chess. They also have the minor leagues and you work so hard in those chess games to eventually go from the single-A to the double-A, the triple-A, and then Hoping, hoping one day for

the major leagues

you get pulled up, you know. But why?

I remember that time you played that lady, uh, from the whatever, The Queen's Gambit.

Oh yeah, yeah, yeah. I

mean, she stomped a mud hole in you, but

she did. But

you put up somewhat of a good fight.

I mean, it lasted more than a few minutes, so, you know.

So Durnell Stinson was born on June 17th, 1978 in LaGrange, Georgia, to parents James and Cora Stinson. Darnell was the youngest of 8 children. He was a standout baseball player at LaGrange High School and attracted the attention of MLB scouts. I think that's the other difference, right, about baseball.

Right.

Is, you know, unlike football, basketball— you used to be able to do it in basketball, you can't anymore— you can go from high school straight to the pros.

Just boom.

You can be drafted right out of high school. You can sign a contract. Now, most people don't play right away, but you can go right to the minors and, you know, earn money, get a big contract, and eventually be called up.

I feel like this is like a scene from Moneyball.

Yeah, maybe a little bit. I mean, when I played high school baseball, I had a couple of guys that I played with. Nobody was there looking at me, but there was a couple of guys on my team who were really good. One who ultimately did pitch in the majors, and it was not unusual to have major league scouts at our high school baseball games.

Wow.

Um,

talking about pressure.

Yeah, not for me. I knew I wasn't gonna play in the major league.

You're like, I'm still gonna throw my shitty, uh, pitches and all that stuff. Don't matter.

Yeah, I might throw 80 or whatever it was. I don't even know if I reached 80. I certainly wasn't throwing 95, 96. The Boston Red Sox selected him in the 3rd round of the 1996 MLB Draft, which was 91st overall. So nothing to sneeze at.

No, not at all.

Uh, Darnell moved quickly through the lower levels of the minor leagues, but it was a long path to the majors, and it is for a lot of people. Like I said, he made it to AAA, and that's the highest level right before you get to the majors. He spent parts of 4 seasons with Pawtucket, the Red Sox top minor league affiliate.

I guess that's kind of like the Dayton Dragons here, aren't they?

No, they're AA. I mean, they're single-A.

Oh really?

They're the lowest.

Oh, so there's— they got a couple notches to go

before they get Yeah, the, the Reds AAA is, um, I forget, there's one in Chattanooga that might be AA.

Okay,

they're triple. There's also one in Louisville. I get them confused.

Okay, but there's definitely some hurdles you have to jump.

Oh yeah, but you know, you think about the Dayton Dragons where we live, a lot of the guys who, you know, ultimately make it to the Reds, we— they come through here.

Yeah. So you really got to work hard.

Yep, it's just part of the process. He left the organization as a 6-year minor league free agent. In August 2003, Durnell was called up by the Cincinnati Reds.

Whoa, how about that?

Yeah,

big red machine.

Big red machine. But you know, they had kind of, uh, lost their luster by that point, you know. The Reds haven't been super good since what, I was in high school? I think the year I graduated high school was the last year they won the World Series. But in the '70s, the Reds were—

Oh, dominated, didn't they?

Yeah, they were pretty dominant.

Pete Rose.

Is that the, the one person you know?

Pete Rose and Johnny Bench.

Yeah, there was, you know, Joe Morgan. They had, they had some good teams. Yeah, they did. the Big Red Machine. So Durnell made his major league debut on August 13th, 2003 against the Arizona Diamondbacks. 3 days later, he collected 3 hits in his first major league start against Houston.

Pretty impressive.

It is, you know, 3 hits in, in a game. That's a good feat, especially if it's your first start.

Yeah.

Pretty amazing. Later that season, He helped ensure the Reds' victory over Montreal with 3 catches in left field. A lot of people don't even remember that Montreal had a Major League Baseball team at one point.

I kind of forgot that myself.

The Montreal Expos. I used to love them.

Yeah,

they had, uh, like, uh, some really big stars. Andre Dawson.

Oh yeah, Andre Dawson.

Pedro Martinez was there before he, you know, went on to be really, really good with the With the Red Sox. And then ultimately, I mean, I think now they're the, uh, the team in Washington. I think they moved from Montreal to

Washington,

if, if I'm thinking correctly. I, I could be wrong. I, I very often am. Yeah. But during his brief time in the MLB, Durnell would play 37 games for the Reds. His batting average was .247. He hit 3 home runs and recorded 13 RBIs. Now, a .247 batting average isn't great, but it's not the worst, right? 200 is kind of the demarcation line. If you're below that, they actually call it the Mendoza Line.

Really?

And it's named after some guy named Mendoza for whatever reason. I don't know why.

Wouldn't you hate to be him?

Yeah. Yeah. Forever, he'll be kind of immortalized as this guy that hit 200 or something, I think.

Oh, you're the, you're the, the terrible, uh, baseball hitter guy.

Although I don't know that he was terrible. He maybe he just hit it one year. I don't know why they named it after him. I really don't know. Durnell hit his final home run on the last day of the 2003 regular season, September 28th, giving Cincinnati its final run of the year. And then he moved to Arizona to continue playing in the Arizona Fall League. Which is an offseason league designed to showcase and develop young talent.

That's smart. Keep them playing.

Yeah. You know, guys that are still trying to really, really make it.

Yeah.

They, you know, they play in that. He wasn't supposed to go there originally. He went only after another teammate was granted his, his wish to play in the Dominican Republic. Per the Arizona Republic, Darnell planned on spending the offseason in Indiana. with his pregnant girlfriend.

Well, that Dominican Republic, they have a lot of good, uh, ballplayers there.

Yeah, the Dominican Republic actually turns out an amazing number of baseball players.

Yeah,

they take baseball very seriously in the Dominican Republic. You know, it's like some of the, the teams overseas that are, you know, so into soccer,

right?

They turn out

amazing,

a ton of soccer players. For whatever reason, the Dominican Republic is very into baseball. Former MLB pitcher Mike Gallo said about the Fall League, every organization after every season, they have a chance to send 3 to 4 representatives there. You're playing against the best of the best. You get asked to go, you go. That's how pretty much everyone looks at the Fall League. If you put up your numbers there, you got your badge to play at the big league level.

Wow. Okay. So it's definitely a thing you don't want to turn down.

No. But you know, if you're a superstar, you're not going to the fall league.

No,

this is for, uh, people that the organization is high on. You know, they want to give them a chance to get more experience, more bats, whatever it is. It's

like a development thing.

Yeah. Durnell joined the Scottsdale Scorpions alongside Mike Gallo during the fall league. He had a .394 batting average over 18 games.

Oh, that's pretty good.

That's amazing. Um, you know, I, I think only once or twice has somebody over the course of a, a year batted over .400. That's like nearly impossible.

Okay.

To do that. On November 5th, 2003, just 84 days after his Major League debut, Durnell was found dead in the 2200 block of West Butler Street. in Chandler, Arizona. Police found his body around 1:45 AM after responding to a call of shots fired in the area. Durnell's hands and feet were bound. He was shot in the head, chest, and abdomen at close range and run over by his own vehicle, which was missing.

Wow.

According to one criminologist, there was a 1,000-yard blood trail. showing that the killer or killers had to stop the vehicle and forcibly dislodge Durnell's body before driving off. That is horrific.

It really is.

I mean, we already have a murder where the, the victim is bound, shot multiple times, right, at close range. But then to think that they ran over his body And dragged it for 1,000 yards.

Like 10 football fields.

It is. It's— that's a very long distance.

Wow.

And then had to get out and kind of remove his body so that they could drive on. Investigators found .380 shell casings at the scene, as well as fiber and biological debris.

Yeah, I hate to see some of the things that they found after dragging a body for 1,000

yards. Yeah, there's going to be quite a bit of biological debris, and it's, it's not going to be pretty, right? This is not going to be a pretty scene in any way. Now, you and I talk about shell casings a lot in the different episodes that we do. We talk about calibers of guns a lot. .380 is a relatively small caliber. You know, it's bigger than a .22, smaller than a 9mm. It's still lethal.

Yeah.

Obviously, a .22 can be absolutely lethal, but it is a smaller caliber.

Typically used for what, like just self-protection?

Yeah. Yeah, I mean, today, the ballistics on these bullets, the way they're made, a .380 is better than it used to be.

Okay.

So some people carry .380s, but I think by and large, Most people use 9 for self-defense, but some people use .38. They're easier to shoot. They have less recoil.

So maybe that's why people will use 'em.

Yeah. Yeah, that could be. A witness was able to provide a detailed description of the vehicle that fled the scene. Durnell's SUV was located at 3:45 AM in Mesa, Arizona, which is 10 miles from the crime scene. So, you know, let's just talk about it a little bit. Somebody didn't just shoot this guy, right? He was bound. So this wasn't, uh, obviously wasn't a drive-by.

No.

It wasn't they were looking for him or just happened to find him and jumped out of a vehicle and shot him. Somebody subdued him. And let's keep in mind This is a Major League Baseball player,

right?

Those guys are in great shape.

Yeah, they should be able to fight back.

They're, they're strong. They work out. They're, you know, obviously in good shape. So they were able to subdue him, able to bind, you know, him, and then shot him multiple times and then drove away in his vehicle.

So with him attached to it for a little bit.

Yes, which is, uh, pretty rough detail. Authorities found 43-year-old Kevin Riddle behind the wheel and held him for questioning. Okay, not good.

No,

to be found behind the wheel of a murder victim's car who we know was dragged by this car after being shot.

Certainly not going to be good for you, right? I mean, the police pull you over, what kind of story are you going to come up with?

Yeah, I mean, this guy claimed the vehicle had been abandoned in an apartment complex parking lot. He described himself as a transient from Indiana, where authorities learned he had an arrest warrant And said he was looking for a place to sleep. When he walked into the parking lot, he was huddled behind an AC unit when he heard tires screeching. He witnessed 2 occupants of a truck taking things from the SUV. After they drove off in the truck, he took the SUV and drove away from the lot. He was stopped by the police because Mesa recognized the vehicle from a description. of an alert that was put out by the Chandler police.

But, you know, why would you get into a— one, it's not your vehicle.

Yes.

Why are you getting into it? But if you are going to get into it, don't you feel like maybe this one I might want to stay away from because something might be up with it?

Yeah, I mean, it's a, it's a strange story. Could it be true? Yeah, you'd have to say it could be. Yeah, you know, if this guy is really, uh, you know, a transient. He doesn't have any place to sleep. He sees this vehicle. He's like, okay, that's a place for me to sleep.

Yeah.

It's a story, but is it a good one? Is it a truthful one? That we don't know. Late on November 6th, police arrested Reginald Riddle of Harvey, Illinois, the half-brother of Kevin Riddle, on suspicion of murder, kidnapping, and armed robbery. And right off the bat, you think, okay, they find this guy Kevin Riddle. He says he's a transient. He was just taking this car to sleep. But then when, you know, you find out that they arrested his, uh, his half-brother, you have to believe, right, that this story wasn't truthful, didn't pan out.

Yeah. And then you remember that, uh, Durnell wanted to be in Indiana, right? Because that's where his, uh, girlfriend was.

She was pregnant. Yeah, and they talked about that.

This guy was also from— had ties to Indiana. So

maybe possible connection.

Possible connection.

According to police, the Riddles arrived in the valley 2 weeks before the killing. They drove from Chicago. Police also announced they were looking for 20-year-old David Griffith. A resident of the Salt River Reservation in Maricopa County. David had been released from prison in March 20th, 2003, after serving 21 months for attempted car theft. What authorities still didn't know though was why Durnell was in Chandler so late at night. He was living in an apartment just 2 miles away from the stadium where he played, uh, in this fall league.

Yeah,

remember, he wasn't from Arizona. He was just out there to play in this fall league. Teammates reported seeing him at a bar in Scottsdale called Sugar Daddy's about 11:30 PM on November 4th.

Interesting name for a sports bar, huh?

Well, yeah.

Sugar Daddy.

I don't know.

Who's your sugar daddy?

Yeah, not something you should ever say. I actually, I don't think anybody, uh, should ever say, but—

Never say.

Specifically something you should never say. Darnell's friend Mike Gallup said that after a day game on November 4th, Darnell went out with teammates to have a few drinks. Darnell called Mike and asked him to come, but Mike didn't answer the phone. He also said it was a mystery how Darnell ended up in Chandler, which is several miles From the clubs the players frequented in Scottsdale.

I mean, something obviously made him want to go that direction, or someone—

Or someone forced him,

right,

out there. Well, Mike Gallo said there's nothing out there. He had to be forced into doing it. So he's basically saying, right, there's a lot of bars in Scottsdale, that's where everybody hung out. There's nothing out in Chandler, so the would've been no reason for Darnell to go out there on his own. The baseball world was shocked and saddened by the murder. The Arizona Fall League suspended play for 2 days. And on November 7th, Darnell's teammates held a moment of silence in his honor before they took the field. And I'm sure that would be tough.

It would be tough.

You know, to have any type of teammate, um, be murdered You know, in a sport, your teammates become your family. You're with them all the time.

Right. Because your family can't really travel with you and things like that. So

especially at that level where that's your job, you are with these people more than your family in some instances. Scorpions bench coach Gary Ingram, who played with Durnell for 2 years and was one of his closest friends on the team. said he knew something was wrong when Durnell wouldn't return his calls. Durnell was always someone he could count on. Later that day, Ingram was the one who identified Durnell from the graphic police photo.

How rough, man.

Yeah, I mean, somebody's got to do it, but it's a terrible thing to have to do.

Yeah,

especially after the scene that we described. You can only imagine what these photos were I don't

even know how you get that out of your head later.

No, it'd be tough, especially about someone you cared about, someone you, uh, you know, shared a locker room with, had a camaraderie with. Ingram told the Arizona Republic, Darnell is a quiet kid, always kept to himself. I guarantee you could go back in the past 10, 15 years and find out he did nothing troublesome. That's why it's so shocking for a kid like that of his stature to be killed in this manner.

Yeah. So, I mean, you're thinking, okay, so what kind of trouble could he got himself into? I mean, he's a good kid. So why did someone pick him to do this to?

Well, that's probably part of, you know, the shock, right, that everybody was going through. Not that they wouldn't be shocked about anyone, but But I'm sure there are some people who, you know, maybe are known to get themselves involved in riskier behavior. Maybe it wouldn't be as shocking.

Yeah.

Because, you know, they're out buying drugs or they're out doing other things every night, late at night. You know, I'm not saying they would deserve it, but obviously, you're putting yourself at risk if you're doing some of those things.

If you bring that type of past with you.

There was fear that Durnell was targeted because he was a pro athlete. The MLB dispatched counselors and security officials to talk with Fall League participants about self-preservation.

I mean, it's a good thing to do.

Well, you know, you think about being a professional athlete. We all know how much these guys make.

Yeah, big money.

Now, Darnell wasn't making hundreds of millions of dollars.

Right.

He wasn't a star or anything like that. But you think about not just regular players are making millions and millions of dollars. They're signing contracts for $5, $10 million a year. And these are guys that are just maybe don't even play every day. There's a lot of money in Major League Baseball.

They're not the superstars.

Yeah. I mean, they're signing 10-year contracts for $700 million or some outrageous contracts. But you think about being famous or even semi-famous and walking around. Okay. People know you have money. Does that make it a little more likely that if they recognize you, they They know who you are. They might want to, you know, try to get something out of you. Yeah, potentially.

Yeah. You're a target, right? You know, he's got some money in the bank. How much can we get out?

You got to be careful.

Yeah.

Got to be even more careful. However, the Arizona Republic noted that Durnell lived in what they called a modest complex, and he drove an Isuzu Rodeo, which according to the paper were not the trappings of great wealth.

No, that's true.

Yeah, and the Isuzu Rodeo is, is not a Mercedes or some Lamborghini that, uh, you know, some of these guys might drive.

It was a fine SUV.

I don't know. I don't know if it was or not. I didn't have one. On November 9th, 2003, police arrested 32-year-old Robert Lee May, a cousin of the Riddle brothers, and charged him with hindering the investigation. Reginald Riddle was charged with homicide, armed robbery, kidnapping, and burglary. Kevin Riddle was charged with possession of stolen property. David Griffith was held on suspicion of auto theft.

So they got a handful of guys now.

Yeah, well, we knew that the Riddles were kind of in this, right? Police identified them pretty early. Heck, you know, Kevin was found behind the wheel of, uh, Durnell's SUV.

Yeah.

Didn't make him look good at all. And then it seems as though police started putting all the pieces of the puzzle together and, and, you know, got the names of some of the other people who were involved. It was reported that the Riddles and Griffith were facing additional charges, including first-degree murder.

Well, that's probably the most important charge here.

Yeah, it's the biggest one for sure. The Chandler police classified the murder as a carjacking and a random killing.

Random, man. Of all the luck, right? I mean—

Well, and we just mentioned it, the guy drove an Isuzu Trooper Rodeo or whatever it was. I mean, nothing against anybody that has an Isuzu. Do they even still make those?

I don't think so.

I don't think they do either, but That doesn't scream carjacking material. Now I get it, you can be carjacked for any car, right?

Yeah.

But like I said, it's not a, a Porsche, a Lamborghini, some expensive Land Rover, or, you know,

something you're gonna make some big money on in

the market. Yeah. I mean, you're not gonna make a ton of money off of that. Investigators believe Durnell was shot as he attempted to escape the car. Although his hands were bound, he struggled against his captors inside the vehicle. Police didn't say at the time how many of the suspects were involved in the robbery and subsequent struggle. A few days later, it was reported that Robert Lee May posted bail on November 13th after being charged with hindering the investigation. He had since disappeared.

Uh-huh.

I, I don't know, does that shock anybody?

No.

Right? He's in some way wrapped up in this really horrific murder. Now, he at that point was only charged with hindering the investigation. It's not murder, but, you know, maybe he had a little bit more to do with it than police were able to charge him with, and he thought, I'm not waiting around to find out if they charge me, uh, with some other stuff.

I'm out of here.

He took off. May, though, it turned out, was starting a new life under the federal witness protection plan.

Oh, okay.

So now, obviously, they're not going to report that, right? They're going to report that he disappeared.

Yeah,

he's taken off. Maybe he's on the run. 2 top-level investigators speaking on the condition of anonymity told the Arizona Republic that May came to the Valley 5 months earlier after testifying for the prosecution in a case against key members of the Gangster Disciples in Chicago.

Okay.

Big gang.

Oh yeah.

I've heard of that gang.

Yeah.

But this is interesting, right? So he comes out to Arizona Already part of the Witness Protection Program. And then what, he gets involved in this while in Witness Protection, and then he disappears, and they're reporting that he's either still in it or now has gotten a new identity as part of something else, maybe?

I'm thinking maybe he called and said, hey, this is not working out.

Can we do this again?

We gotta— you gotta move me. You know,

it could have been. May was accused of trying to rent a motel room for Reginald Riddle shortly after the killing. So he wasn't considered a suspect in Durnell's death, but federal authorities wanted to question him about possible probation violations. He was eventually rearrested on November 20th on a federal warrant for probation violation. So maybe I had that wrong, right? Maybe when they said that he was in witness protection, it was just the reason for him being in Arizona. Oh,

I see what you're saying.

Maybe not so much that, um, that he was in witness protection after he was— he disappeared on bail. Which I made it sound like.

Yeah, yeah, I got you.

It could be. In late November, it was reported that authorities were trying to piece together whether Durnell's ex-girlfriend and $11,182 in cash seized by federal drug agents in Missouri had any connection with his murder. So now we have another kind of angle.

Yeah.

That police are working on. And it involves, uh, his ex-girlfriend, possible drugs, and quite a bit of money in cash.

Maybe these guys were thinking, we'll just go after her, her ex-boyfriend, cuz he's a big-time ballplayer. Maybe we can get some money out of him.

Maybe, maybe money they lost. Yeah. Or yeah, possibly. Friends and family confirmed Durnell's ex had harassed him across several states for at least 18 months.

That's a long time to be harassed.

It is. She allegedly claimed she was pregnant with his child, miscarried, was pregnant again, and miscarried again. At one point, per Durnell's agent, she faked her death to try to force him to call her, which seems like a very strange way to get somebody to call you. Why would you try to call someone you believe is dead?

Yeah, that doesn't really make much sense.

But that's how it was reported. On October 21st, 2003, just 2 weeks before he was killed, she sent Durnell a death threat via text. The message said, you better pray I never see you again. I swear, Durnell, you are worth a murder charge. For, and that is all you're worth.

Well, obviously.

I don't know why I'm laughing. Uh, part of it is because I don't understand how people think you can just send texts

like that,

like that, and it's not going to come back on you,

right?

And then she sent another one like a minute after this death threat that read, if you ever want to do something for me, Then please choke slow and painful and die.

It's, it's not funny, but it's like, why are you sending these text messages? And, and obviously she was very upset with him.

Oh, she hated this guy. Yeah.

Yeah.

I mean, you don't send texts like that to somebody that you're just miffed about. I mean, you really hate this person.

And it's not like, not like he's gonna be like, hey baby, I didn't mean to get you so upset. We're good, right? Let's get back together.

Well, especially if she's been harassing him for the last 18 months. He's obviously trying to get away from this woman, and that's why she's harassing him.

Yeah.

And she's sending him these awful texts.

Clearly she's not getting the hint.

No. It was said that he was so upset by the messages that he filed a complaint with the Scottsdale Police Department. A police report identified his ex-girlfriend as Jennifer Gaddis of Indianapolis.

Well, it's on the record now.

Well, I, I think that's a smart move.

Yeah, I think so too, right? I mean, you, you can't take that risk when things like that are being said. You kind of have to assume maybe she might try to follow up on it.

Yeah, but a lot of people might blow that off. They might be worried about it, but they might not take the step of actually reaching out to the police because I don't really think the person is going to follow through. So that's why I say, I mean, to me, it's a good thing because of what happened, right? To have that on the record.

I also wonder why people don't just get a new phone number, you know?

Oh, that's a good point too.

People are so married to their phone numbers today.

Yeah, but do you realize how many people have your phone number and how much of a pain in the ass it would be to—

I get it.

Contact all these people and say, here, I have a new phone number.

But if I had someone crazy calling me all the time,

well, then, you know,

I'd be like, ah.

I never experienced that. So I, you know, I would never have thought about it. Durnell told officers he dated Gaddis for about a year and they broke up a year earlier. After that, he started dating another woman in Syracuse, New York, whom he had a child with, according to an article by the East Valley Tribune. During a phone interview, Gaddis admitted to Scottsdale investigators that she sent a message saying she'd be happy if Durnell died, but denied writing any of the 3 text messages that he showed police.

Okay,

so somebody somehow has your phone and they're writing these awful threatening text messages, but it wasn't you. Somebody else.

Somebody else got to hold your phone. Yeah,

but you did send one that said you'd be okay or you'd be happy if he died.

Yeah, that's a weird thing, you know? It's like, hey, how you doing? By the way, if you die, I'm gonna be okay. Yeah.

Again, it— yeah, you're right, just really strange. Gaddis told investigators that she started legal proceedings to get child support from Durnell. She claimed he was the father of her 8 month-old child and that she was 11 weeks pregnant with their second. In a previous interview, Gaddis said they'd been dating on and off for several years. In his October 21st interview, Durnell said he hadn't spoken with Gaddis since they broke up. In a follow-up interview later in the day, he admitted he had recently seen and called Gaddis and declined to press charges against her.

Okay, well,

so, you know, first of all, you'd think, well, he can't be the father of this second child because he hasn't seen her in over a year. But then he admitted that he had.

Yeah.

So that brings that possibility back into focus.

So then you think, okay, was this woman justified in some way of sending some of the text messages? Not saying that she wanted him dead, but like, Yeah, I don't

know how you could say she would

be justified. Maybe she was just fed up with the games that she felt like maybe he was playing with her.

No, I get that, but that still doesn't mean you should say you're worth a murder charge.

No, no, no, you're never worth— no, no.

Something like that.

But just the frustration. Sometimes when people are frustrated, they say things they really don't mean.

Oh yeah, I mean, she could have, uh, felt as though she was being strung along or something like that. But like you said, right, Still no reason to send those type of messages. The day after Durnell alerted police, October 22nd, Kevin and Reginald Riddle were stopped by authorities near St. Louis, Missouri, on suspicion of unrelated drug activities. And I mentioned it earlier, investigators believe the Riddles had been driving to Arizona from Illinois. weeks before the killing, they were released after being forced to surrender this $11,182 in cash they were carrying. I think a lot of money in cash to be carrying around.

I think so too.

While you're driving.

Maybe buy money or something like that.

Yeah, I mean, you know, most people are going to think you're doing something illegal. According to the Arizona Republic, The bizarre swirl of menacing messages, cash-carrying drug suspects, and a disappearing federal witness was an unlikely postscript to Stinson's mostly quiet life and personality. By all accounts, he was a clean-living, dedicated athlete. Darnell's former agent Stanley King told The Republic, I've never heard him raise his voice, not once. When he was with Boston, One of the faults the team shared with me was that they wanted him to show more emotion. He was very quiet, almost to a fault.

So, I mean, it just sounds like one of those quiet, I'm just here to do my thing, play baseball, be the best I can.

Yeah.

I don't want a lot of off-field drama.

But being quiet sometimes in team sports can be a bad thing, right? Especially in basketball. certain positions, you need to talk a lot. You need to communicate while you're on the field. And in most sports, you need to communicate. So if you're one of those people who doesn't want to talk, doesn't want to speak up, okay, I could see how the ball club would say, you know, we need you to show a little more emotion, be more communicative, stuff like that.

Even off the field, probably, you know, just in the dugout and, you know, maybe practices, you know, communicate, you know, we're a big team family here.

King also said Durnell's ex-girlfriend haunted him repeatedly during the 2002 season when he had a batting average of .250 and nearly ended his career. Well,

that can be a lot, you know, when you have an ex haunting you and stalking you and doing things like that.

Well, neither one of us have played professional sports, but

yeah,

I can imagine that some really tough off-the-field issues, it has to bleed over into your job.

Yes.

It does for everybody. But if you're a professional athlete, okay, people are going to notice it even more because you're on a— you're on this huge public stage.

That's right. Yeah, you got something going on in your head, it's not going to play well out in that field.

It sure doesn't help you.

No.

Right. According to King, she called and left an emergency message at the stadium saying she killed herself or died.

I guess she—

I know we're laughing about stuff that's not funny, but it is funny in this context, right? Because I— what I said earlier, she's saying it because she wants him to call her back because He's not picking up the phone,

right?

That seems like the weirdest way to try to get someone to call you back.

And when they don't, I mean, shouldn't that tell you everything you need to know?

Well, then she turned around and called and said she was pregnant. So you go from what, I've died,

yeah,

to I'm gonna hurt myself, and then all the way to, oh well, now none of that happened, but I'm pregnant. And this was just one week after she had called to say she had miscarried. And these are conversations she had with this guy, right? This is King. He's saying, so I'm not relating anything from a third person.

It's bizarre.

Her actions are bizarre.

It's harassment for sure.

Jurnell's mother Cora said over the phone that she didn't know what kind of relationship her son had with Gaddis. She also said she didn't know whether her son and Gaddis had a child or not. An obituary published in the Indianapolis Star on May 29th, 2002 identified Jayden Durnell Gaddis Stinson as the infant son of Durnell Stinson and Jennifer Gaddis. The obituary said that the child died on May 18th of that year. Officials in Indiana failed to return the Republic's phone calls asking whether a a birth or death certificate had ever been filed under that name. Stanley King said, I'm not a mystery writer, but this is just bizarre. One thing I can tell you, this is not a robbery gone bad. There has to be more to it. I hate to say it, but I don't think there's a coincidence that he filed a complaint saying his life was being threatened and then he turns up dead. And that's why I kind of said I, I thought it was a smart move. Right, to contact police. And some people might not. They might not think it's that big a deal. The person's never going to carry through with it.

They don't want to bother the police. But because he later ends up dead, it's that much more important.

Yeah, if it was me back then, I don't know what I would have done.

I don't think anybody does, right? Until you're really put into that situation, and nobody wants to be in that situation, I don't think you know exactly how you're going to handle it.

But anymore, I think you can't take the risk. You've got to go ahead and report it.

Oh, you mean now? Like you're saying now versus your younger self?

Yeah.

Yeah, I think you're right with that, right about that. I, I think I would do things differently now than what I would do when I was 20, 21, 22 years old, in my early 20s. On November 21st, Arizona detectives Search— served a search warrant and spent most of the day questioning Jennifer Gaddis, whom they considered an investigative lead in the case. Authorities in Arizona and Indiana avoided calling her a suspect and emphasized she was not under arrest.

Just looking into her.

Well, and how can you not want to talk to this woman? Just look at the text messages that we talked about. Those are Threats of the highest degree.

They are.

I'm gonna kill you. You're worth a murder charge. And the next thing you know, this guy ends up dead. You're gonna get a visit from detectives.

Yeah, yeah, you're getting a knock on your door.

Yeah, there's no way around that. Jennifer Gaddis, who previously worked in the HR department at the Indianapolis Star, refused to speak to the media and issued a statement through the paper that she had nothing to say. In an article published that day, the Arizona Republic also provided more information about the baby named Jayden Durnell Gaddis Stinson. Officials at the Marion County Health Department confirmed that they received forms allowing the transit of a body identified as Jayden Stinson in May 2002. Those forms said the baby died in Ohio. Ohio officials contacted by The Republic confirmed a fetal death certificate was issued for Jayden Stinson on May 18th, 2002. The cause of death was listed as complications from labor and noted the fetus was premature. So it does sound like at the very least she did have a miscarriage.

Yeah, yeah, it sounds like it.

At the request of Chandler police, detectives in Indiana executed a search warrant on November 26th at the Indianapolis Star office, and they confiscated Jennifer's work computer. The Republic reported that she was no longer employed by the Star at that time. So kind of interesting that she worked at a paper.

It is.

In February 2004, a Chandler police spokesman said that The investigators found no conspiracy between the men accused of killing Durnell and Jennifer Gaddis.

So no connection.

Which is kind of shocking, to be honest with you. Spokesman Mark Franzen said, it seems like this was a random act. Because the more that we talked about her, the more it seemed as though, all right, she might have had a role in this.

Yeah.

So for them to come out and say that they don't believe she did and this was more of a random act not connected to her, um, is, is very interesting.

I mean, she said some things that made you think maybe she was involved, but—

Well, they were brutal. They were hateful.

Yeah.

Franzen noted that Gaddis continued to cooperate with investigators. He also said The motive was to take his vehicle. And you kind of touched on that early on, right? Carjacking, right? Isuzu Rodeo, not a bad vehicle, but not the most stolen vehicle, not the most desirable vehicle. But any vehicle can be carjacked.

Of course. Yeah. Even Ford Fiestas.

I knew you were going to come back to Fiestas. Somehow, some way, on October 22nd, 2004, Kevin Riddle waived his right to a jury trial and pleaded guilty to vehicle theft and impeding prosecution. On December 3rd of that year, Kevin was sentenced to 8 years and 9 months in prison. Prosecutor Catherine Hughes said that Riddle wasn't offered a plea agreement, so she could still charge him with Durnell's death. if there was sufficient evidence. And that's pretty, you know, interesting, right? They know they got him on this, right? But they don't know at this point in time whether he was actually involved, or, or at least they can't prove it maybe, uh, in Durnell's death. But it's still open, right? The possibility is open that if they got that evidence later on, they could charge him. On the day of sentencing, the Arizona Republic published some details about authorities' theory of the crime. They believed Darnell was kidnapped from a bar by Reginald Riddle and David Griffith, shot and thrown from his car. The pair called Kevin for help, and he was apprehended before he could dispose of the vehicle.

So that's why he was in the vehicle. He was Plan on taking it somewhere to get rid of it.

And makes a lot more sense than a, a person without a home or a place to sleep just happening to see this vehicle being, um, abandoned.

Right.

Right. And deciding, well, um, you know, I'll get in it, the keys are in it, and this will be a, a place to sleep. Damn. No, that just didn't make a lot of sense. at the time. On January 26th, 2006, Reginald Riddle dodged a possible death sentence by accepting a plea agreement for first-degree murder. And I think a lot of people do that, right? That comes up in a lot of the, the cases that we look into. It's a big carrot that the prosecution has.

Oh yeah.

If they have a ton of evidence against you that Possibility of the death sentence can get some people to plead guilty.

Yeah,

by removing it.

It's either we can keep going down this path, guys, but once you're found guilty, you're going to get this, or just go ahead and plea it and we'll just make sure that you just get life.

Yeah, and a lot of people do. In December 2007, David Griffith was sentenced to life without parole After pleading guilty to murder, armed robbery, and kidnapping, robber Lee May was cleared of all charges. On January 25th, 2008, Reginald was sentenced to life in prison with the possibility of parole after 25 years. According to information from the Arizona DOC inmate data search page, both Reginald and David remain incarcerated in Arizona. Which they should be.

Absolutely.

I mean, you know, as we wrap this one up, there's a lot of mystery in this case. I think most of it kind of centered around Durnell's ex-girlfriend, right? It was said that she was stalking him for like a year and a half. She obviously left some very disturbing text messages.

They were.

But in the end, authorities just didn't think she was involved in this thing in any way, that all of that was just kind of random when it came to his murder.

Yeah, yeah, just unfortunate things that she said in the timing.

And the timing, right, was bad. But it turns out that these guys were just looking for, you know, someone to carjack and I don't even think it had anything to do with him being a, a pro baseball player.

No,

they were just maybe looking for some easy money.

They wanted that Isuzu.

Yeah, but they were willing to kill this guy.

Not only kill him, but then also drag him.

In a horrific way. And I know we keep talking about the Isuzu rodeo. That's just how senseless, you know, not that it would be better if they got a Lamborghini out of this thing.

No, but I mean, you're, you're killing somebody over a vehicle.

Yeah. You're taking away someone's life. Uh, you're devastating the lives of all of his family, friends, coworkers over what? A vehicle that's worth, I don't know what that would have been worth in 2008, $20 grand, let's say if it was new. I don't know, it just, it shocks me. It really does. In 2004, the MLB established the Darnell Stinson Sportsmanship Award, honoring the player who demonstrates perseverance and humility, because that's what a lot of people said about him,

right?

Right. That he was a, he was a really good guy. Darnell was only 25 years old when he was murdered after spending years in the minor leagues. His dream of playing in the MLB finally came to fruition. After a successful first season, he was looking forward to his future, but his life was tragically cut short by what turned out to be, you know, kind of this random, deadly act of horrific violence.

Yeah, 25 years old, man.

That's so young.

So young. Yeah.

And actually, you know, uh, you can play longer in baseball than some other sports.

Oh, really?

Yeah, there's guys that play into their 40s.

Ty Cobb.

Well, there's guys like even today that still play in their late 30s. Um, now there are some quarterbacks like Tom Brady still played at a very high level and he was in his early 40s.

He really did.

He was still amazing. But, uh, that's the exception, right? It's not the norm. But, you know, this guy had just made it and we, we talked a lot about He was only 25, but how many years? He'd probably worked 20 years towards this goal. Yeah, exactly. He'd probably been playing since he was 5 or 6 or something like that. And he just attained this thing he'd been wanting for so long. And then presumably through no fault of his own, he just happened to be targeted by these guys and killed. So just, just a shocking story, really is.

Just never know.

You never know. But that's it for another episode of True Crime All the Time. So from Mike

and Gibby,

stay safe and keep your own time ticking.