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The murder of the Stephenville resident, Susan Woods, led the investigators down a long road before they discovered the real killer in the case, Joseph Scott Hatley. Hatley was Susan's best friend, Cindy Hayes' cousin, who had met Susan during her divorce.
The case of Susan Woods' murder was reopened in 2006, and Hatley was arrested, per ABC News. He took a plea deal and confessed to r*ping and suffocating Susan to death. Joseph Scott Hatley was released 11 years into his sentence due to good behavior. Later, he passed away due to bladder cancer in 2021.
Titled The Monster at Large, the Dateline: Secrets Uncovered episode details Susan Woods' murder and airs exclusively on Oxygen on August 14, 2024, at 8 p.m. EST.
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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," reads the official synopsis.
Why was Joseph Scott Hatley arrested?
On July 28, 1987, Joe Atkins found his daughter, Susan Woods' body in her bathtub with her hands tied behind her back. Susan Woods had been r*ped, sodomized, and suffocated to death with a pillow. As the officers arrived at the scene, they found no signs of forced entry indicating that Susan had been murdered by someone she knew personally.
The case turned cold for 20 years, with the primary suspect as Susan's estranged husband, Michael Woods. Michael claimed his innocence over the years and was finally relieved when the DNA technology led to the real killer - Joseph Scott Hatley.
Hatley and Woods were acquaintances who had once attended a Michael Jackson concert with other friends, including Susan's best friend, Cindy Hayes. Hatley was Cindy's first cousin, and she met Susan while she was going through her divorce from Michael.
Per ABC News, Joseph Scott Hatley had reportedly visited Susan in a drunken state and had tried to get too friendly when she slapped him. He r*ped her in a rage and suffocated her to death before he drowned her in her bathtub.
The set of fingerprints and palm prints that had been recovered from the crime scene did not lead to a murderer in the 1990s due to the inferior DNA technology. However, the used cigarette butts from the scene were tested and resulted positive against Joseph's DNA sample.
Where is Joseph Scott Hatley now?
The authorities collected all the necessary evidence for Joseph Scott Hatley's arrest. After his arrest, he was scheduled for a murder trial, but he ended up confessing to the crimes. Hatley took a plea deal but never revealed the reason behind the murder.
Joseph stated that he had killed her in a drunken frenzy while he had visited Susan Woods' home in 1987. Joseph was sentenced to 30 years behind bars on October 2, 2007. He was incarcerated at the Huntsville Unit in Texas, where he turned into a religious man.
Hatley was diagnosed with bladder cancer in 2017 and, thus, was offered early release due to his condition and good behavior. He had served 11 years of jail time and eventually found work in oil field truck repair in Texas.
As he lost his employment during the pandemic, Joseph moved into an RV park. While Susan's family and friends were enraged by his early release, he was found dead in his RV on December 9, 2021.
Tune in to NBC to watch Susan Woods' murder mystery on Dateline: Secrets Uncovered as it airs on Wednesday.
