The Murder Police Podcast
The Murder Police Podcast
18 Wheels and a Highway: The Murder of Myra Danette Stalbosky | Part 4
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A capital case turns on a quiet skill most courtroom dramas skip: building the right jury. We walk you through how careful voir dire, local insight, and patient strategy led to a strong panel—and why, eight days into testimony, the defense abruptly pled guilty and waived appeals. From there, the story jumps years ahead to a tense parole window, where two hours of focused testimony convinced the Kentucky Parole Board to impose life. What emerges is a real look at how justice isn’t a single moment but a chain of disciplined choices.
We also open the hood on defense tactics and the math of reasonable doubt, the penalty-phase mindset, and why judges’ tendencies can shape a case’s path. Sonny shares how the investigation—and a promise to a victim’s mother—reshaped his policing: trust trained intuition, chase the small lead before it dies, and never let pride outrun the work. You’ll hear about a partial, lawyer-shaped statement that skirts ownership, prior serious offenses that foreshadowed tragedy, and the haunting possibility of uncounted victims along trucking corridors where mobility creates opportunity and witnesses are scarce.
The conversation doesn’t stop at the criminal courtroom. We examine the civil suit that tested a carrier’s hiring practices and the realistic limits of employer liability, even as detectives weave weigh-station data, phone records, and witness timelines into proof. A striking moment—spotting a blue 1978 Ford F-250 after the parole hearing—feels like a closing loop, a nod to attention paid and a promise kept. If you care about true crime that respects victims, values craft over theatrics, and honors the grind behind big decisions, this story will stay with you.
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From Trial To Sudden Guilty Plea
Sonny BoggsThe final piece of this story is I want to talk about something that happened after I give testimony at that parole hearing. And this is this will make the hair stand up on the back of your head. So after going down and giving testimony about this case that had happened 25 years ago to the parole board, I left the uh Kentucky Justice Cabinet, which is in downtown Frankfurt near High Holmes and Miro Street. That's where it's at. And when I left there, I come back up and uh got on US 60 to come out back up toward uh Lexton to my office when I was done. And as I was driving up uh U US 60, um uh there in Frankfurt uh past East Main Street. There's a Arby's on the right-hand side, and uh there's like a McDonald's or something on the other side, and there's a center lane as I'm driving up right after that parole hearing, uh sitting in the center lane in close proximity to this Arby's restaurant.
SPEAKER_0018 Wheels in a highway. The murder of Myra Denet Stolboski. Only on the Murder Police podcast. Part four.
Sonny BoggsTry this as a as a capital case because you got your homicide and then you got the aggravated circumstance, right? So they decided to try as a capital case, and uh, we started uh the trial. It's Henry County, Kentucky, where we seed the jury out of, and I'll tell you, and I know that you understand this, but seating a good jury on a case means a lot. Oh, it's a lot of work. And Mr. Johnson and Mr. True are very wise and they're very good at what they do. Uh, we seated a very good jury for the prosecution. We had a good jury seated. And uh in about the eighth day of the trial, uh, Mr. Johnson and Mr. True um came in and said, Well, we're we're gonna plead. And uh the Commonwealth Attorney said, Well, we don't have nothing on the table. He says, No, we're pleading guilty to what he's charged with.
DavidCan I go back eighth day of trial? You testified in that eight days. Uh testified during that eight days, yeah. Yeah. How is that? Tell us what because you got you got those that A team.
Building A Strong Jury
Sonny BoggsYeah, they they did their job, they did it well. There we go.
DavidThat's a polite way of putting it.
Sonny BoggsThey they did their job, they did it well, and I'll tell you, I respect those guys.
DavidThat's that's an important part. TV again gives us a you know, that's what they're paid to do. And and I've always said that either we have our stuff together, Sonny, or we don't. Or we don't. And uh and that's what, again, that's what makes the justice system. So I always like to go back to that because when you're being examined by the prosecution, that's the walk. And then they sit down. And uh good attorneys, I always say we'll we'll attempt to leave about half our butt cheek in that chair when we stand up to leave. Yeah. And if I were needing an attorney, those are the people or those are the types I'm gonna hire.
unknownTrevor Burrus, Jr.
DavidAbsolutely. For sure. So I mean, that's what that's how this works.
Sonny BoggsThat's how this works. It is. But you know, uh they uh they uh w they work me over.
DavidAnd by the way, too, I meant to say too, the Department of Public Advocacy in Kentucky, DPA, and probably something similar in other states, they're not shabby.
Sonny BoggsNo.
DavidSo if we have beat DPA people listening, I want them to know that they have my immense respect because I had to be cross-examined by them more than once in my career. And and I know the family wanted to uh get Bill and Guthrie, but uh I will say DPA is some of the most passionate attorneys I've ever met in my life. Trevor Burrus, Jr. They they they are. Uh they do a good job.
Sonny BoggsThey do. They really do. But just the the the the name of Bill Johnson Guthrie Tree just made you shudder, you know. Like, oh no, they're gonna tear me up on me.
DavidI'll share a story. Ray the DA, Larson, rest in peace. I remember we were talking to him about a case early on in the podcast, and he had a case where Bill Johnson was the defense attorney. And if I remember how Ray said it, because Ray could be very antagonistic, they were in the courtroom before things started, and I think he said he looked over at Bill and said, Your name is Bill, and he said, Yeah. And he goes, Is that your first name or what you give the client when you're done? Big Bill. I think they called him Big Bill Johnson. And that was typical, no offense on b on Bill Johnson, but that was a typical Ray Larson. You know, Ray Ray got the fist up when he went into trial pretty quick and everything. But back to it again, uh, that's what makes the system spin. That's what makes the system spin.
Sonny BoggsAnd those guys are hired to find uh reasonable doubt. That's it. Yeah. We we want, you know, them defense attorneys like it, they they they look for reasonable doubt. And and and they really they really tried hard.
Why Reasonable Doubt Wins
DavidThey don't have to prove the person's innocent. They just have to they have to find reasonable doubt. That's right. Then you cast that into a group of 12 people with a couple of auxiliary drawers, and how many do you need? One. That's it. And that and it so if and that's why coming back to it, jury seating is so important. And there's actually specialists that attorneys can hire that uh that are expert in their field about identifying. But I had to jump in and add that.
Sonny BoggsYeah. So the expert that we had in our field of seating the jury for that was not an expert. He was a lay person, he was the sheriff uh Henry County who was, you know, would help us. Oh, okay. Good, good, good, good. Good, good.
DavidOh, yeah, he's he's in connecting. Yes, I'd never thought about that before, but he's really connected.
Penalty Phase Strategy
Sonny BoggsAnd and uh and a and I know that you uh know this is that on a jury on a uh on a penalty case or capital case, uh they do what individual Vorde or they're each intensive. Yeah, each yeah, each potential witness is is examined by themselves, you know. Uh that and we finally finally got a jury received eighth day of trial, he entered a plea of guilty to those charges and uh eight days in and they plead guilty. Eight days in and the trial. What was their rationale? Because that's out of the blue. Well, I I can't speak to the rationale, Mr. Jones, but I think I understand. Um in a penalty case, um anything short of a a client getting the penalty is victory for the defense. It really is. Oh, yeah. If you can save somebody's life, you know, even though we don't we don't do much death penalty stuff in Kentucky, we put a lot of people on the on death road, you know. But anyway, that's you know, and we had a judge, Dennis Fritz, good great guy, and I mean I get along with him, but they knew that there's no way that Dennis Fritz would give him the penalty on this. So the maximum penalty in a Commonwealth of Kentucky at the time and early 1997 when he finally went to trial was twenty-five years to life. Twenty-five years to life without the possibility of parole. And he waived all of his rights uh to any appeals and uh took twenty-five years to life and he was incarcerated.
WendySo he's still in today.
Sentencing And Waived Appeals
Sonny BoggsHe's still in today, so update. Um he would have become eligible for parole May 1, 2020. May 1st, 2020. April 30th and May 1st, 2020, he would have come eligible for parole. Uh I got a call that he was coming up for parole. And uh Commonwealth's I think it's Commonwealth's attorney called me. Um said, hey, he says this guy's coming for parole. Do you think the the family will come down and give testimony on this? I said, I don't know. I said, I I I I talked to him. I said, let me call and talk to him. So I called the father and spoke with him and asked him if he wanted to come and give testimony on this. And he says he just didn't feel like reliving it, and asked me if I would mind to go to the prol hearing and give testimony about you know what had happened. So uh pro hearing come. I, along with the Commonwealth Attorney for the 12th Judicial District of Kentucky, uh, which is not the Commonwealth Attorney at the time as a young lady, I can't remember her name, but uh, she showed up, brought the case file from the Commonwealth Attorney's Office, and we sat in and talked about it. And she and I put on about two hours worth of testimony to the Kentucky Parole Board. Um, so uh at the end, the Kentucky Parole Board could have granted him parole, they could have deferred him for another parole hearing in five years, they could have deferred him for another uh parole hearing in ten years, or they could have sentenced him to serve the remainder of his life in prison. And uh they sent, they they said, no, you're gonna serve the remainder of your life in prison. So he's still incarcerated, unless something changes, he'll be there until he dies in prison.
Parole Eligibility And Hearing
DavidUm that's got to be very effective for the family moving forward because that's a big frustration we've seen from other people where repeatedly going to the parole board and making the case while that family member was murdered and why justice. And we've covered some cases where eventually the people that made the murder were timed out and they weren't allowed to go for parole anymore. Trevor Burrus, Jr.
WendyWell, or even worse, they get out.
DavidOh, it's horrible.
WendyAnd the family has to live knowing that their person's killer is walking around out there.
Sonny BoggsYou know, I've always there was a case on point that just happened from out in the county where I live now. Yeah. With that six-year-old boy. Yeah. Yeah.
DavidWhat a travesty.
Sonny BoggsAnd uh it's unbelievable.
DavidWe may we may do a little bit on that case. I because a lot of people were upset that the guy got out, and now you've just I'm gonna hit this real quick. We have legislators in Kentucky that are saying we've got to fix that. I'm gonna go back and research who the legislators were that signed the first bill that got him out. That that's what ticks me off, is that it's probably not the same ones, but you know, these bad laws are made by people who aren't thinking about the community. That's all there is to it. Um but maxing these people out, but I've always there's no colloquial thing I've heard for years that the average life sentence in the Commonwealth of Kentucky is seven years. And I'm like, I think I believe that because in my career, and I've been out for a long time, I don't think that maybe a couple of the people that that I were let up front on cases, I'd maybe a couple are still in the can. And uh that's weird. Usually they're out in three or four years, which which is again bizarre for the family, Wendy, that that it's like what's it? It's just horrific.
WendyWhat a slap in the face that that they get out that quickly. It's just it's almost embarrassing, really.
Parole Board Says Life
DavidI I I remember you talking about you were with Louisville police. Yeah. And uh I was back in the 70s and uh I was in their police explorer program, and one night I did a ride-along, and we were out in Crescent Hill, kind of in toward Baxter, and uh the officer I was riding with pulled into a convenience store. Well, a year or two before, a friend of mine in high school uh was murdered. He he was underage, he slipped out of the house, went into a bar, and a guy snuck up behind him at a pool table and and stabbed him in a case of mistake and identity, but he killed Richie. And uh, but I remember pulling in the parking lot, and the I remember talking about it with the with the officer, and he he goes, see that guy with a payphone? I said, Yeah, and he goes, That's that's the guy that killed Richie. Not even three years. Not even three years. And and it's you know, Richie was like 16 years old. So without uh staying down that rabbit hole too much, I'm glad they timed him out. Yeah. And I'm sure the family will never get over this, but there is that sense. I think that appropriate justice like that helps people start to to to deal with it in a different way. They um remember the Turpins. I mean is is how often they had to go back and just it what's it like to beg a group of people to do the right thing over and over again?
Sonny BoggsSo I I've I've I've had you know, I was very pleased with uh what the Kentucky Pro Board done on this case. Oh, yeah, for sure. They they were they they listened, they sat there and listened intently as me and this Commonwealth attorney put on this case before them what it happened to.
DavidTo your all's credit, you you brought the di you brought what they needed. Because it couldn't happen if if you two didn't bring the right testimony for that amount of time to be overwhelmingly. There was no way that I was gonna say, No, I'm not gonna go give testimony.
Families And The Cost Of Parole
Sonny BoggsOh yeah, for sure. I I'm you know, and I'll tell you the mother of the victim. Um she said to me, she says, Promise me you'll see this through to the end.
WendyYou couldn't let her down.
Sonny BoggsI wouldn't. No. I would not. The final piece of this story is I want to talk about something that happened after I give testimony at that parole hearing. And this is this will make the hair stand up on the back of your head. So after going down and giving testimony about this case that had happened 25 years ago to the parole board, I left the uh Kentucky Justice Cabinet, which is in downtown Frankfurt near High Holmes and Miro Street, that's where it's at. And when I left there, I come back up and uh got on US 60 to come out back up toward uh Lexton to my office when I was done. And as I was driving up uh U US 60, uh there they're in Frankfurt uh past East Main Street. There's a Arby's on the right-hand side, and uh there's like a McDonald's or something on the other side, and there's a center lane as I'm driving up right after that parole hearing. Uh sitting in the center lane in close proximity to this Arby's restaurant was an old blue 1978 Ford F-250 with the same kind of wheels, the same kind of tires, the same thing, sitting right there in that middle lane. It's like we heard you. We seen you. That was strange.
DavidThat was odd. I was like, I think your whole case was full of things. That's why I was fascinated by it.
Sonny BoggsIs that uh this case without any doubt there was divine intervention this case may have been solved, may have been solved, but crucial pieces of physical evidence that was used to prove this case would have been gone had it not been for the initial discovery of the truck on the morning of April the twenty eighth, nineteen ninety-five, as it passed back through Oldham County, Kentucky. It's like somebody took me by the shoulder or by the head, hey, pay attention to this. This made this noise for this reason. Do your damn job.
DavidAgreed. Good triumph over evil. And you did and again, back to your credit, you paid attention and listened. You listened. Uh, because all that like you said, if we got busy and got distracted and were nonchalant about it. How did it uh so you continued to police and you police today after that case, even up until the point where you went to the pro board, did that change how you policed or how you dealt with people, how you looked at things, did it change you?
Divine Nudges And Detective Intuition
Sonny BoggsThat case taught me one th one one very important thing. Listen to your intuition, listen to your gut, listen to it, listen to it, pay attention. It means something. And it taught me don't just walk away to do your job. Somebody's waiting for you. Some victim somewhere is waiting for you to do your job. That's what you're paid to do. And if you don't want to do this job and you don't have the the the intestinal fortitude to move forward with something, you need to get out.
DavidWhat a great comment. Uh, because one of the recurring themes that we're seeing and Wendy's getting exposed to now when we meet victims families is every now and then, more often than we'd like to see, is uh we're departments and or detectives. I just hate to say it, Sonny, but they're not on board. And they're they're not communicating with some of these families, and I believe the families, and they're uh they're pushing a distance out there. Sometimes that distance happens if the family does some certain things. That's a whole nother show, very rare. But uh I'm the same way. I'm the same way. It's a humbling experience. Yes. Right? It has nothing to ego never survives in this business. And you made a good point about uh about how much emotional impact that has, that responsibility to that victim's family. And and how it feels when you don't clear one. That that there's cases that uh that nag me every I don't there's cases I think about every day when I'm out walking around about how we didn't clear them yet. Sometimes they do get cleared eventually.
Sonny BoggsWhat's the clearance rate on homicides in America today?
DavidLike probably 65 percent might be the top. Is that like a national average? I think it's in the 60s. Some cities still can hum around 80 or 90, uh, but um I th I think it's in the 60s to 70s. And anybody in the audience on YouTube or just feel free to correct me on that and throw that data out on a comment. I'd love to be accurate on that, but it's probably that, which means there's a lot of people who don't get even that taste of justice to get into a courtroom to see the process started.
WendyUm, I do want to ask, you said that you would tell, and I'm sure our listeners are so eager. What was Chris's recollection of what happened?
How The Case Changed Policing
Sonny BoggsOh, yes, yeah. It uh I don't have his statement with me. He did render a statement through his attorneys that was obviously crafted by his attorneys. Uh uh and the best I'll paraphrase. He remembers picking the girl up. He says he may have punched her. He remembers waking up on the side of the road hoping he didn't do something bad to the girl.
WendySo he never said I choked her.
Sonny BoggsHe said through investigation, all this stuff makes sense, and uh basically uh I'm likely responsible for her death and for her death and the rape.
WendyWow.
DavidThat he's so close to making an Alfred plea, but I guess in a capital case that probably wouldn't be a but lawyers can straighten me out on that too, but that's so close to an Alfred plea. It is talking about it.
WendySo but he never gave any recollection of he basically never had the balls to set up and say, This is exactly what I did to this girl.
Sonny BoggsHe said that he had been doing crystal meth, uh, which uh impaired his his his building and judgment to understand and he never told what he did to her.
unknownYeah.
DavidUh no. So he's got to throw the crystal meth in there as a mitigator. Yeah. Even though legally it doesn't mean anything. It doesn't. Yeah.
Sonny BoggsI have another case going on, a temperature case I'm working on right now. It's it's kind of a factory, and I can't talk about it, but it's oh yeah, yeah.
DavidYeah, it's kind of that just magically appears, right?
WendySo that's really horrific. I mean, I don't know if I mean I know the family knows what happened, but it's so frustrating that a person can do an act like this and can't even stand there and tell why or what they did. And I don't know that anybody would ever want to know what they did, but it's like you were horrible enough to do that. At least tell what happened.
The Confession That Wasn’t
Sonny BoggsYeah. You know, yeah, you know, there's there's a couple of things on this case that I haven't talked about, and I'll just touch on in just a minute. So we did a thorough background investigation on uh Baloo, and he had been charged with the number of offenses that culminated in this one. He had been charged with kidnapping before, uh, he had been charged with arson, uh serious assault, and so on and so forth, but he was always able to kind of wiggle out of those things down in uh uh east uh West Tennessee, where he was from. Um he was always able to wiggle.
WendyRight from lying on them dagon log books.
Sonny BoggsOh yeah.
WendyYou know, so and it makes you wonder, you know, you hear of these truck stops, and there's women of the night we'll call them that meander through there. It makes you wonder if there's other victims that nobody knows of it. Right.
Sonny BoggsWell, see, you know, uh when uh the VICAP, I know you're familiar, yeah. Correct. Uh when the VICAP was submitted on this case, the uh the behavioral sciences unit. Right. It was like, hey, you know, we want to talk this guy, and you know, with the FBI and you know, the agents locally, and this way, hey, you know, you're not gonna get talked to him. He's represented there, nobody's gonna get talked to this guy. Uh but there was a number of cases along the route that he trucked. Um and and I and I really, really hate this term, but I want to put it that some people may refer to him as throwaway victims. Sure. Uh truck stop prostitutes uh uh uh where the uh evidence in those cases could not be connected to him because the state of decomposition that the bodies were found in at the time, they could not collect any evidence that would connect to anything, you know, and don't know if he was responsible for him or not, but they sure were interested in him.
DavidOh, I have no doubt. And maybe down the road science and advancements and things like that, maybe maybe it makes you wonder how many other Chris Baloos of the world are there.
Sonny BoggsWell, if you if you do a little research on truck driver murders and stuff like that, there's a lot of uh not a lot, there's a number of uh serial killers uh that were truck drivers and were moving about the country.
Past Crimes And Possible Victims
DavidYeah, there's a guy I follow on social media named Phil Chalmer. So, Phil, if you're listening, hello. And uh but Phil uh has the ability to connect with these guys in prison and build a rapport and interview them. And it's fascinating. And they'll they to the best that they'll deal with Phil, they'll talk to him like they wouldn't talk to somebody that's sworn. And uh I remember listening to an episode one time, and one of the guys was an over the road truck driver, and he said it's actually almost like a subculture. And and and I think He was exaggerating a little bit, but I don't think he was exaggerating the idea that the the crime of opportunity element of that is all is incredibly good for these people, especially if you pick up or discharge somebody in a more isolated area where you're further away from things. Right. But good good skilled detective work, way stations, witness statements, and things like phone records can catch up with them. But uh I'd I would never say that tractor trailer drivers are serial killers. That'd be ridiculous. But absolutely not. But but but at the same time, it's one of those things that uh when they hunt, that they have a fertile field.
Sonny BoggsThey have a fertile field, and you know, because they move about the United States so much, you know, it's hard to track these individuals.
DavidOh, for sure. It's hard to track them. And no witnesses, no, as long as they don't tell anybody, it'd be that easy. So one last thing, just to cover kind of briefly, that was interesting in this case, it's my understanding that the uh the trucking company was sued in a civil law suit. Trevor Burrus, Jr.
Sonny BoggsYeah, they were. The trucking company they there was not a finding against the trucking company, but there was a finding against the uh Baloo. There's a I don't know what how much the amount was against him, but there's a a judgment in place against him.
DavidSo and I guess I guess the the operating theory probably from what the light research I did, it was did the trucking company have any liability and not thoroughly investigating who that is. But that's as a business owner of anything, I think I think there's a limit as to how much accountability we can have.
WendyUm Well, they could have uh years prior, he might not have had a record and developed it as it went on. So, you know, yeah, you're right. It is hard to build the business life.
DavidThey're not uh a business can't do a trip alive in CIC. That's not gonna happen. Um But I was curious about that. That's just interesting how that did work.
Trucking, Opportunity, And Serial Predators
Sonny BoggsI think the allegation in the civil suit against the trucking company was that did they engage in a hiring pattern and practice that that allowed this individual the opportunity to commit the crime against yeah, I think it was his um but there was a fighting against the suspect, you know, a civil fighting, you know, it stands today, but not the trucking company. It was just here we go.
DavidWell, fantastic work, Sonny. Fantastic work. It's like a that means a lot coming from a guy like you. Well, yeah, thank you. I'll write you a check for that comment. Exactly. I have to pay Wendy much more to talk kindly about me. Um but no, seriously, it it's it um it takes it's it's just fascinating again. I'll say it one more time. The planets align and there's a divine intervention.
WendyWell, and that that Sonny was open to it and he picked up on all that. You weren't distracted by anything outside, you really honed in on that, and you know, and if it all those things hadn't aligned, you my risk killer still would be a good idea.
Sonny BoggsSure. There was a lot of things that I could have been distracted by right there in that parking lot on that particular day. But something got my attention. Yes.
DavidWell I believe in that wholeheartedly.
WendyAnd I I really think that you know what you said about seeing that truck in that center lane, I almost think that was a final closing of thank you.
Sonny BoggsHey, I s we we we seen, and when I say we, I'm talking about the mother is now deceased, and obviously we we seen we seen you, we heard you. I believe that.
DavidI believe that.
Sonny BoggsI do too.
Civil Suit Against The Carrier
DavidWell thank you again. Thank you. Thank you for having me. Yeah, it's uh good. You guys are awesome. The last thing a comment I'll make is it's been a long time, but it is so stove so fresh on your brain that you sat here without any notes and took us through it perfectly in chronological order. Oh, yeah. I mean, I I I lived this thing for for yeah. It's inside your heart. Thank you so much. Thank you, Sonny. Thank you, Wendy. The Murder Police Podcast is hosted by Wendy and David Lyons and was created to honor the lives of crime victims so their names are never forgotten. It is produced, recorded, and edited by David Lyons. The Murder Police Podcast can be found on your favorite Apple or Android podcast platform, as well as at MurderPolice Podcast.com, where you will find show notes, transcripts, information about our presenters, and a link to the official Murder Police Podcast merch store, where you can purchase a huge variety of Murder Police Podcast swag. We are also on Facebook, Instagram, and YouTube, which is closed caption for those that are here impaired. Just search for the Murder Police Podcast and you will find us. If you have enjoyed this podcast, please subscribe for more and give us five stars in a written review on Apple Podcasts or wherever you download your podcasts. Make sure you set your player to automatically download new episodes so you get the new ones as soon as they drop. And please tell your friends. Lock it down, Judy.
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