Summary of Events Feb 11th, 1987 - Peggy Hettrick’s body was discovered in a large field in the 3800 block of S Landings Dr. in Fort Collins, Colorado. A cyclist, Linwood Hodgdon, was on his way to work at approx 7:00 am when he noticed what looked like a mannequin in the middle of the field. Hodgdon slowed down and stopped next to the curb and was looking at the figure when he noticed a pool of blood along the curb and a blood trail that led from the pool to the figure. This is when Hodgdon said he knew it was a body and that it was beyond all help. He cycled back the way he had come to a nearby friends house and dialed 911.
The police department arrived shortly after the call was placed and began to approach the body. The first detective on scene walked towards the body at an angle, in an attempt to avoid damaging evidence left along the blood trail. The officer looked at the body of the 37 year old female and noticed that her shirt and jacket were pushed up to her chest and her pants were pulled down. Her arms were positioned up and to the side and large purse was on her left shoulder. She was fairly small and stood 5’2” and weighed 110 lbs. Further investigation would reveal that she had a single knife wound in her back near her left scapula. Her left nipple had been cut off and someone had performed a female circumcision on her. The officers went through the contents of her purse and were able to rule out robbery as a motive because she was still wearing jewelry and there was cash in her wallet. A few other items of note in her purse include a handwritten note to an ex-boyfriend, a library book, and cigarettes.
Detectives began retracing the movement of Hettrick the night before. They know that she left work at the Foothills Mall at approx. 9:00 pm. Hettrick lived in nearby apartments and did not own a vehicle. She is believed to have walked home after work and when she arrived she noticed that she had been locked out of her apartment. Hettrick had given her keys to a temporary roommate, Sharon Deconick. Deconick had been drinking already that night and was passed out and could not unlock the door for Hettrick. Hettrick was upset and went to a nearby bar, The Laughing Dog Saloon, perhaps to try and find Deconick. While at this bar witnesses said she had a drink and was talking about how she was locked out and angry. Hettrick and the bartender made several calls to her apartment in an attempt to wake Deconick. After about fifteen minutes Hettrick left the saloon and walked to another close bar, The Prime Minister.
At The Prime Minister, Hettrick had another drink or two and continued to rant about being locked out of her apartment to witnesses. She made more calls into her apartment and still did not have any luck. Hettrick again was only at this bar for approx. fifteen minutes and then left on foot. Hettrick was not seen again until midnight. Her activities between 10:00 pm and midnight are speculated, but based on evidence it is believed she walked to her ex-boyfriend’s house.
Matt Zoellner was Hettrick’s ex-boyfriend and he lived close to the Prime Minister and Hettrick’s house. It is believed that Hettrick walked to Zoellner’s apartment, but he was not home. Neighbors report seeing a woman that matches Hettrick’s description loitering outside in the parking lot for a while smoking. A small pile of cigarettes that match Hettrick’s brand were found in the parking lot. The handwritten note that was found in Hettrick’s purse said, “ Matt, I’ve been locked out of my apartment. Don’t get grumpy if I come knocking around 2.”
At around midnight Hettrick finally did get inside her apartment. A neighbor reported seeing her around this time and she was pounding on the door. Deconick told investigators that she had made it into the apartment also around this time. After Hettrick changed clothes she left her apartment again and a passerby told investigators she saw a woman matching Hettrick’s description walking on the road just south of her apartment building and walking in the direction of the bar.
Hettrick arrived back at the Prime Minister sometime around 12:30. As Hettrick was walking into the bar she ran into Matt Zoellner. Zoellner told police that he was meeting another woman at the bar, but he and Hettrick talked and were friendly with each other. The other woman arrived and she and Zoellner moved to another table and spent the evening talking to each other. The other woman, Dawn, told police that Zoellner kept looking over at Hettrick and watching her. She also said that he kept getting up and going to the bathroom. Dawn also noticed that Hettrick was talking to a group of men all night at the bar.
Zoellner gives some conflicting reports. He says that he offered Hettrick a ride home and that she refused and there was a small argument. Zoellner also says that when he offered her a ride she initially accepted, then he went to the bathroom and when he came back out Hettrick gave him a dirty look and walked out of the bar. Zoellner and Dawn both say they would estimate that Hettrick left between 1:00 and 1:30, but neither of them could be sure of time or if she left alone. Zoellner took Dawn back to his apartment and she stayed until approx 3:00 am and then drove home.
Coroner’s Report Dr. Allen performed the autopsy on Hettrick and had also responded to the scene. Based on the position of Hettrick’s arms and the apparent drag trail from the curb to the location of the body, Dr. Allen determined that Hettrick had most likely been dragged by her arms with the killer walking backwards. The autopsy took place the same day the body was found and Dr. Allen found several things of note.
First, Hettrick had several linear abrasions on her right cheek that ran upwards, from the chin towards top of the head. There was also a small abrasion on her right fourth finger. The coroner was able to determine that these wounds happened before death due to a degree of redness around the wounds. The coroner also determined that these were not defensive wounds and no defensive wounds were found.
Second, the coroner noted that the left areola complex, the brownish skin of the breast, had been neatly excised. There was also an area on the cut that was caused by either a practice mark or a hesitation mark and the knife had to be repositioned. To cause this sort of wound you would need a very sharp instrument, like a scalpel and it is believed that the killer would have needed to have some degree of skill to perform this. The coroner said in court transcripts that a procedure like this would not have been difficult for someone like him and would have only required less than one minute to finish. This cut was made after death.
Third, the coroner began to exam the vaginal region and noted that an excision had taken place here as well. Skin had been resected from the upper portion of the genitalia. An inverted V shape cut caused by a very sharp instrument had removed the clitoris and labia minora. The coroner said this was a very symmetrical cut that would presumably require a certain amount of skill. This cut was also made after death.
Fourth, the wound that ultimately killed Hettrick was a stab wound on the back. The wound was on the left side of the back in the shoulder-blade region and was 35 mm in length and 2 mm in width. The wound went from the left side of her body towards the right and upwards at a slight angle. On the blunted edge of the knife wound there was a tear indicating that the knife used may have had an irregularity like a saw edge on the knife or perhaps it was caused by a twisting motion from the killer. This stab wound penetrated the chest cavity and the hilar region of the left lung. This region houses all of the blood vessels and airways that supply the lung. This wound caused massive blood loss and Hettrick’s chest cavity filled with blood and collapsed the left lung. Her chest had approx. 1.5 quarts of blood pooled. The knife continued to travel through the body and penetrated a left rib and splintered it.
The knife used to stab Hettrick would had to have been at least five inches long and perhaps have had an irregularity on the blunt edge. Obviously there was bleeding from the wound, but there would not have been a lot spurting and Hettrick’s coat absorbed a lot of the blood. Therefore it is expected that the killer would have little to no blood on him from this wound. The killer also likely used a second knife for the excisions. It needed to be smaller and sharper, like a scalpel. The knife that caused the stab wound would be too large for the cuts that were made. There is also speculation that the killer may have been left handed given the position and angle of the stab wound.
A toxicology examination was also completed, but because Hettrick had lost almost all of her blood the coroner could not perform a blood-alcohol test. Instead he took some vitreous fluid from her eye and determined that she was slightly above the legal limit to drive in Colorado. The results of this test do not translate exactly like a blood-alcohol test, but it is safe to say that Hettrick had been drinking, but was not excessively drunk.
Finally, the coroner determined a time of death base on a few different methods and put the range of death at 6:30 in the evening to 4:30 in the morning. Hettrick was seen up until approximately 1:00 am, so it could not have been before then. The coroner could only confidently say that she had died in the early morning hours of February 11th. Hettrick would have died within minutes of being stabbed.
Footprints One major area of investigation and a large piece of evidence are the footprints surrounding Hettrick’s body. There are a number of footprints next to the blood trail that face the curb. This indicates and agrees with the coroner’s assessment that someone was walking backwards as they were dragging her body. A police officer investigated these prints and was able to determine that they are Thom McAn shoes. These are a style of dress shoe worn by men and likely would not be worn by a transient or a drifter. The police could not find any of these shoe prints facing away from the curb. This means that after the killer dragged Hettrick away from the curb and mutilated her, he walked back the way he had come. The only other footprint of significance was a sneaker print that faced the body.
Tim Masters Tim Masters was 15 years old at the time of the murder. He live with his father in a trailer that overlooked the field where Hettrick’s body was found. Every school day Masters crossed the field to walk to his bus stop. This morning was no different and when he was walking to the bus he noticed what he believed to be a mannequin. He walked up to Hettrick and left a sneaker print in the ground. Masters turned around and continued to his bus believing that someone was just playing a trick on him.
Police later that day interviewed Masters and he admitting to seeing the body and regretted not reporting it, but that was because he did not think it was real. He did not see the same pool of blood along the curb that the bicyclist saw. The police searched Master’s trailer and found a collection of knives and some strange, violent drawings. The drawings depicted scenes of horror and murder. They also later found a drawing of what looked like a man dragging a female body. The police searched for DNA inside the trailer and even checked the drains, but did not find a single thing. Masters had no DNA on him and his DNA was not found on Hettrick. Masters insisted he was innocent and had nothing to do with the crime.
Ten years later Masters was moving on with his life, but the police were not moving on from him. There are instances of harassment against Masters and during this time two arrest warrants were issued for him. The first was taken back because of misinformation, but the second stuck. Masters was arrested and subsequently convicted of the murder of Peggy Hettrick. The theory was that he had been upset about his mother who died almost exactly two years prior to the murder and that Masters had seen Hettrick who allegedly resembled his mother walking in the area. He killed her with one of his knives and dragged her into the field where he could look upon her body from the trailer. There was no physical evidence that any of this had occurred.
Masters spends close to ten years in prison before lawyers are able to get him a retrial based on new DNA evidence. Touch DNA, which in this case are skin cells left on Hettrick’s body, were found on her underpants. The DNA was tested and was not a match for Masters, but do match that of the ex-boyfriend, Matt Zoellner. Masters is acquitted of murder and released.
Final and Interesting Thoughts 1) It is said that since Zoellner and Hettrick were intimate in the past, it is reasonable that his DNA could still be on her clothes. Officers did search his apartment where they also found a knife collection, but no indication a crime was committed. They also searched his vehicle the next morning and again found no evidence. Zoellner has been cleared as a suspect in this case.
2) A knife was later found near the same home the bicyclist rode to where he called 911. The son of the family found the knife while playing near a body of water next to the house. The knife was rusty and investigators said it had to have been there for some time and was not related.
3)There is so much more to this case and more information can be found at the following link. All the information above can be found here. You can see crime scene photos, court transcripts, and some of Tim’s drawings. Spending a lot of time on Tim’s story is just a distraction from what really happened at this point. So only a brief summary was given. This also tells his whole story if interested.
http://freetimmastersbecause.blogspot.com/ 4) This article also summarizes the case and mentions a prominent serial killer that could have been in the area around the same time of the murder.
https://www.denverpost.com/2011/12/17/key-questions-linger-in-prominent-cold-case-the-killing-of-peggy-hettrick/