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The brutal murder of Susan Woods in 1987 shocked the small town of Stephenville as she was found dead in her bathtub by her father. Woods had been absent from her work for two days when her father conducted a welfare check and found her dead in her home.
According to the Texas Monthly, Susan had been brutally r*ped and sodomized before she was asphyxiated to death. While her estranged husband, Michael Woods, had been considered a suspect for 20 years, the advanced DNA technology led to the real killer, Joseph Scott Hatley, in 2006.
The Dateline: Secrets Uncovered episode titled The Monster at Large showcases the horrific murder of Susan Woods as it airs on August 14, 2024, at 8 p.m. EST on Oxygen exclusively. The official synopsis reads,
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"When Susan Woods doesn't show up for work, she is soon discovered dead in her bathtub; as police search for answers, they find a trail of victims."
What happened to Susan Woods?
Susan Woods was born on April 6, 1957, in Texas, USA, but met with her tragic death on July 28, 1987. Woods was found murdered in her bathtub in her residence seventy miles southwest of Fort Worth in Stephenville, Texas. She was going through a contentious divorce at the time of her murder.
On July 28, 1987, Susan's father was informed about her absence from work for two days at the sandpaper factory. Her father, Joe Atkins, conducted a welfare check at her house when he found her dead in the bathtub with her hands tied behind her back. There were no signs of forced entry at the crime scene.
According to the Texas Monthly, Susan was attacked and suffocated before she was killed. As the medical responders arrived at the scene, they declared her dead, and the autopsy results showed that the cause of death was asphyxiation. Susan Woods had either been drowned or strangled in the process of r*pe.
Her family and friends suspected her estranged husband, Michael Woods, to be behind the horrific murder. According to ABC News, Susan's best friend, Cindy Hayes, also revealed that Michael had left behind a tape recording and handwritten notes filled with vulgarity about Susan's close ones.
Michael Woods was suspected of foul play in Susan's murder, and the police pursued him for years. Michael was considered a person of interest for 20 years at a stretch. As the case turned cold, it was reopened by Lt. Don Miller with the Stephenville Police Department.
Soon after, the authorities discovered the connection to Joseph Scott Hatley. Susan and Hatley, Cindy's first cousin, met at a Michael Jackson concert. The advanced DNA technology helped authorities identify Joseph from the leftover cigarette butts at the crime scene.
He had been in the database due to an arrest made in Las Vegas for armed robbery in 1988. Hatley was also behind the sexual assault of the 16-year-old Shannon Myer. Moreover, Joseph Scott Hatley's wife alleged that she had been subject to sexual assault as well.
The ABC "20/20" episode on the same murder case has showcased that Hatley confessed to visiting Susan at her house one day and having overstepped a boundary flirting, when she slapped him. As per ABC News, he went on to brutalize her and suffocated her with a pillow.
Catch all the details of Susan Woods' murder as the Dateline: Secrets Uncovered Season 13 Episode 11, The Monster at Large airs on Wednesday.
