Episode 9 - The Woods Gave Him Back

When 25-year-old National Guard veteran Tony "Bubba" Procell disappears from his Louisiana home, investigators quickly focus on a fellow Guardsman and police officer whose obsession had been growing for months.

What begins as a missing person investigation soon becomes a desperate search spanning multiple parishes, a high-speed chase, and a tense standoff. But even after a suspect is in custody, one critical question remains unanswered:

Where is Tony?

Five days later, deep within Louisiana's Kisatchie National Forest, a discovery changes everything. As investigators work to understand what happened in the woods near Saline Lake, an unlikely source of evidence begins pointing them toward answers.

In this episode of Dog Days of Murder, we explore the murder of Tony Procell and the remarkable role animal behavior played in helping investigators uncover the truth.

Because sometimes the smallest clues are the ones that refuse to stay buried.

Sources

News Coverage

•  KSLA News 12 – "Body Found in Kisatchie National Forest Believed to be Tony Procell" (Carolyn Roy, August 2013) 
•  KSLA News 12 – "Robert Barthelemy Indicted in Kidnapping, Murder of Tony Procell" (September 2013) 
•  KSLA News 12 – "Barthelemy Sentenced to Life in Prison in Plea Deal Following Guilty Verdict" (Carolyn Roy, October 2015) 
•  KTBS – "Body of Tony Procell Believed To Be Found in Winn Parish" (Jessica Crandall, August 2013) 
•  KTBS – "Guilty as Charged: Barthelemy Found Guilty of First Degree Murder" (Vickie Welborn, October 2015) 

Court and Case Information

•  Sabine Parish Grand Jury Indictment Records 
•  State of Louisiana v. Robert Barthelemy 
•  Trial testimony and sentencing proceedings 

Obituary and Family Information

•  Warren Meadows Funeral Home Obituary for Tony Lynn Procell (1988–2013) 

Forensic and Scientific Sources

•  Dr. Lauren Pharr Parks TEDx Talk 
•  Research and presentations by Dr. Lauren Pharr Parks regarding vulture scavenging behavior and forensic anthropology 
•  LSU FACES (Forensic Anthropology and Computer Enhancement Services) 

Background and Location Information

•  Kisatchie National Forest (U.S. Forest Service) 
•  Saline Lake regional and geographic information 
•  Sabine Parish Sheriff's Office public statements 

Click here to read more about Dr. Lauren Pharr Parks:

Lauren Pharr Parks ’02: A Love of Science Uncovers the Impact of Vultures

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Transcript

SPEAKER_00 0:05

Ayn. Ayn, drop it. What is it now? Drop it? You cannot have that rib bone. I don't care that you found it on the ground. There's another one. Oh good grief. Leave it. I know, I know. It's not fair that people leave their trash all over. You're a good girl. Sometimes animals find what humans leave behind. And sometimes what animals leave behind provides all the answers. This is Dog Days of Murder, where your love of animals meets your fascination with true crime. Hi everyone, I'm Paula, your host, and this is Ayn, co-host, supervisor, and finder of all things. Okay, stay tuned to the end of the episode for an exciting announcement about what's coming next week. Today's episode is The Woods Gave Him Back. I have to say that I was so intrigued by the research for this case. Nature is so incredible that I didn't even come up with a clever tag. I hope you enjoy this one. Before we begin, a quick note to the listeners. This podcast covers real crimes involving real people and may include themes of violence and loss. This case delves into human decomposition and suicide attempts. Listener discretion is advised. It may also include finding objects in the grass, I'm looking at you, Ayn, drool marks below the car window, and an occasionally tipped over trash can. You have been warned. The Kissache National Forest stretches across hundreds of thousands of acres of Louisiana wilderness. Longleaf pines rise toward the sky. Cypress trees stand in still water, their branches draped with Spanish moss. In late summer, the air is thick with heat and humidity, and the woods seem almost motionless. Near Saline Lake, tucked among the trees, there was a shallow grave. One arm was exposed. And then there were the feathers. Turkey vulture feathers scattered around the scene. That much made sense. What didn't make sense were the feathers forty yards away. In August of 2013, 25-year-old Tony Lynn Purcell was living in Manny, Louisiana, a town of just a few thousand people in Sabine Parish near the Texas border. To his family and friends, he was known as Bubba. Tony was born on April 23rd, 1988, to Tony B. and Trish Purcell. He grew up surrounded by family, including his younger brother Jeremy. He was known for his infectious smile, adventurous spirit, fun, loving personality, and easy-going approach to life. He was the kind of young man people enjoyed being around. The kind who could make friends almost anywhere. Like many young men from Western Louisiana, Tony joined the military. He served with the Louisiana National Guard and completed a tour in Iraq in 2010. When he returned home, he began looking toward the future. He enrolled at Nakatish Technical College, where he planned to study nursing and earn his licensed practical nurse certification. His family believed he was on the path to becoming a successful young man with the bright future ahead of him. In August of 2013, Tony was living with Louisiana State Trooper Joey Carroll, another friend from the National Guard. The arrangement seemed simple enough. Tony was attending school, spending time with friends and family, and looking ahead to what came next. But Tony wasn't the only veteran trying to build a life after Iraq. Among the men he had served with was Robert Barthelemy. Bartholomew was older than Tony. He had served in the same National Guard battalion and had risen to the rank of platoon sergeant. After returning home, he joined the Nakatish Police Department, where he had worked for approximately two years by the summer of 2013. The two men knew each other through the guard. They had served in the same military brotherhood, a bond that many veterans describe as lasting long after the uniforms come off. There was little reason to believe that anything was wrong. From the outside, Tony Purcell appeared to be doing exactly what he was supposed to do. He had served his country, he had come home, and he was building a future. Meanwhile, by the summer of 2013, Robert Bartholomey's marriage was already coming apart. The National Guardsman and Nakatish police officer had engaged in multiple affairs throughout the marriage. The latest involved a woman named Kelly. At one point, Bartholomew led his wife Sandy to believe the relationship with Kelly was over and that he wanted to repair the marriage. It wasn't over. Kelly believed Bartholome was separated. Sandy believed he was trying to save the marriage. Neither woman knew he was telling the other something different. Then came another blow. Kelly believed she might be pregnant. When Bartholomew told Sandy the news she was driving, distracted and overwhelmed, she crashed her vehicle into a tree. Days later, Kelly called Sandy herself and asked her to give Barthelemy a quick divorce so they could marry before the baby was born. Not long afterward, Sandy intentionally overdosed on pain medication and was admitted to a mental health facility. By then, she had accepted something she had spent years trying not to face. The marriage was over. Around that same time, she grew closer to a woman she had known through National Guard family support activities. Her name was Trish Procell. Years earlier, while their husbands and other family members were deployed overseas, the two women had kept in touch through military family networks. Now Trish stepped in again. She helped Sandy get to work. She opened her home to her. She treated her like family. And through that friendship, Sandy became closer to Trish's son, Tony Purcell. Their relationship wasn't long, but it was real. The two exchanged messages, they flirted, they spent time together, and they had been intimate on two occasions. And for the first time in a long while, Sandy felt seen. Then came Saturday, August 17th. Barthelemy had been scheduled for National Guard duty at Camp Beauregard. Instead, he returned home. That night Sandy was in bed texting Tony. Some of the messages were playful, some were sexual. Tony had asked for intimate photographs, and Sandy had sent them. Then Robert Barthelemy walked into the room and he took her phone. Everything changed. Bartholomew began scrolling through the messages. He saw the photographs. He saw the conversations, and he became enraged. He immediately tried calling Tony, but Tony didn't answer. Believing he was still communicating with Sandy, Tony continued texting. At 10 20 p.m., a message went out. I know that. This is Robert. And one minute later, got you now. At 10 30 p.m. Tony, you done. At 10 48 p.m. See you soon, sweetheart. At 11.01 p.m. You better man up and meet me. At 1117 p.m. Run, bitch. And a few more that I won't repeat, but they left little doubt about the anger behind them. The messages painted a picture of a man spiraling into anger. But Sandy would later testify that the texts were only part of what happened that night. She said Bartholome told her he was going to kill Tony. He said he would cut off his penis and bring it to her. Sandy tried to stop what she could see building. She promised she would leave Tony alone. She promised she would break off contact with the Procells. She told Bartholome she would do whatever he wanted. She even offered to return to him if that would make him leave Tony alone. But nothing seemed to matter. Meanwhile, another phone was receiving threats. Trish Procells. Bartholomew left a voicemail saying Tony would pay for sleeping with his wife. Then came the text messages. Trish, this is Robert. Your son Tony has been sleeping with Sandy. He is done. And then he is dead meat. And finally, I see you set them up. Great job. You better hope I don't catch him. But by Sunday, August 18th, the anger seemed to have cooled. At least on the surface. The family went to church. Life appeared to be moving forward. But behind the scenes, Bartholome was still searching. He wanted to know where Tony lived. He asked fellow National Guardsmen. He questioned people who might know. One guardsman later acknowledged that Bartholomew told him he intended to kill Tony. Another recalled Bartholome asking for help in finding him. One witness remembered Bartholome saying that if he killed Tony, it would be slow. Then came Monday. Trish returned home and found all four tires on her husband's truck slashed. It was the same truck Sandy had been borrowing. Trish immediately suspected Bartholomew. The next morning, August 20, she decided she wasn't going to wait any longer. She left home early and went to the Sabine Parish Sheriff's Office. She reported the threats. Authorities issued a forbidden to enter property notice against Bartholomew. Then she drove to the Nakatoche Police Department because Bartholome was one of their officers, and she wanted them to know what was happening. She was told Tony himself would need to file a complaint. So Tony's mother spent the morning trying to get help, trying to get someone to take the threat seriously, trying to stop something she feared was coming. What she didn't know, that was while she was making those reports, Robert Bartholomew had already found the information he wanted most. Tony's address. On the morning of August 20th, 2013, Tony Purcell was at home. He was living with Louisiana State trooper Joey Carroll in a double-wide trailer on New Hope Road in Sabine Parish. The two men were close friends. Earlier that morning, Joey had left for work. Tony remained at the house. At some point after 10 a.m., Robert Barthelemy arrived. Bartholomew told investigators he found the front door unlocked and walked inside. He claimed he wanted Tony to come with him so they could talk about the situation involving Sandy. But what really happened inside that home will never be fully known. What is known is what a surveillance camera captured. Joey Carroll had six cameras positioned around his property. Later that afternoon, when Tony could not be found, Joey began reviewing the footage. One clip stood out. It was timestamped at 10.01 AM. The video showed a man standing at the front door holding a handgun at his side. The door opened and Tony walked outside. At one point, Joey's small dog ran out of the house. Tony bent down, picked up the dog, carried him back inside, and set him safely in the house. Then he walked back out. The man holding the handgun kept the door open as Tony exited. The two men moved toward the white SUV parked outside. The armed man appeared to head toward the driver's side. Tony appeared to move toward the passenger side. A short time later, the vehicle left the property. Investigators reviewed that footage, and before the day was over, authorities believed they knew exactly who the armed man was. Robert Bartholomew. Simultaneously, Tony's disappearance was beginning to raise alarms. Joey had returned home around noon during break in his shift, but Tony wasn't there. That alone wasn't unusual. But Tony's vehicle was still in the driveway. His cell phone was still charging on the kitchen counter. Joey found that odd. When he returned again later that day and discovered Tony still hadn't come home, concern turned into action. He called Tony's mother. Trish Priscell had no idea where her son was. Joey reviewed the surveillance footage. Then he contacted law enforcement. By then, investigators already knew about the threats. Trish had reported them. They knew about the angry text messages. They knew about the voicemail. They knew Bartholome had been searching for Tony. Now they had video showing Tony leaving with an armed man. A search began immediately. While investigators worked to locate Tony, Barthelemy was carrying on with what appeared to be a normal day. According to Sandy, he picked her up from work that evening. He told her he had cleaned the house, dealt with a discipline issue involving one of their children, and picked the kids up from school. Nothing seemed unusual. Then Barthelemy's phone rang and he said it was police business. He grabbed his service pistol and left. The call had come after authorities reviewed the surveillance footage. Nyakutesh Assistant Police Chief Carrie Hargrove contacted Barthelemy and asked a simple question. Had he been in Many that day? Barthelemy said no. Hargrove informed him there was surveillance footage showing him and Tony leaving Tony's residence together. Barthelemy was told to come in for questioning. Instead, he returned to a location he'd been in earlier. And then he disappeared. Investigators began tracking him. Cell phone records helped establish portions of his movements that day. Surveillance cameras from businesses along highways and roads were collected and reviewed. Authorities followed the path of Bartholomew's white GMC envoy through multiple parishes. Along the way, another witness had an encounter with him. Retired Robeline police chief Mike Morbitt testified that he stopped Barthelemy for speeding on the same day Tony disappeared. Morbitt found the encounter strange. Instead of remaining in his vehicle, Barthelemy immediately got out and approached him. And he appeared nervous, distracted, unable to focus. Morbitt later said he suspected possible drug activity. But ultimately he let Bartholome go because Bartholomew was a fellow law enforcement officer. Morbitt didn't see Tony inside the vehicle. But he also acknowledged that from where he was standing, someone seated in the back seat might not have been visible. As the search intensified, Bartholome remained on the run. Investigators eventually used cell phone positioning data and other leads to narrow down his movements. Authorities later testified that Bartholome used his police radio to monitor law enforcement communications while trying to avoid capture. Late Tuesday night, the search finally caught up with him. Near Interstate 49 in DeSoto Parish, officers located Bartholomew. What followed was a standoff. During negotiations, Bartholomew threatened suicide, but eventually he surrendered. Now investigators finally had the one person who knew where Tony Purcell was. For the people searching for Tony, the arrest felt like a breakthrough. The man seen on the surveillance video was finally in custody. The man who had threatened Tony was finally in custody. The man who had spent the day driving across Louisiana while investigators searched for answers was finally in custody. Surely now they would find Tony. Surely now they would learn where he was, whether he was injured, whether he was hiding, whether he was waiting for someone to find him. Investigators had the one person who knew exactly what had happened after Tony stepped into that white SUV. All they needed was the truth. But they didn't get it. During lengthy interviews with investigators, including Detective Bradley Maher, Barthelemy insisted that Tony was alive. He claimed he had only wanted to scare him. He said he took Tony from the house, drove him into Kasatchy National Forest, and released him unharmed near Highway 117. He said Tony got out of the vehicle alive. He said he never touched him. I didn't lay a hand on him, he said. Again and again he repeated the same story. He'd been angry. He had wanted to scare Tony, but he had not hurt him. Investigators pressed Bartholomew. His story made little sense. Tony had vanished. No one had seen him. No one had heard from him. Still, Bartholome refused to change his account. For the next several days, while family, friends, volunteers, and law enforcement searched desperately for Tony Purcell, the one man who knew the truth continued insisting that Tony was somewhere out there alive. And for those who loved Tony, hope remained. Because until a body was found, there was still a chance. A small one, but a chance. For five days Tony Purcell's family waited. For five days, investigators searched. For five days, Robert Bartholomew continued insisting that Tony was alive somewhere in the woods. And for five days, the people who loved Tony tried to hold on to Hope. The search continued across multiple parishes. Law enforcement followed leads. Volunteers joined the effort. Texas Equisearch agreed to assist. The nonprofit organization had become known across the country for helping locate missing persons in high-profile cases, including Natalie Holloway and Kaylee Anthony. Tony's family was scheduled to meet with the organization on Monday morning, but they never got the chance. On Sunday afternoon, August 25th, something changed. Around 3.23 p.m., authorities received a report from Sand Point Road in Wynne Parish. Citizens had discovered what appeared to be human remains. Investigators responded to the area. A place where someone could disappear. Authorities believed an animal had disturbed a shallow grave and exposed the remains. Canaver dogs from Red River Parish were brought to the scene, and the dogs alerted. As word spread, hope began slipping away. Crime scene investigators from Caddo Parish arrived that evening and began processing the area. The body had not yet been formally identified, but investigators feared they already knew who they'd found. The discovery had not happened by accident. A member of Robert Bartholomew's extended family had gone looking. The area near Selene Lake was familiar to them. Bartholomew and family members had hunted ducks there before. While checking the property, something caught his attention. A shovel. It was covered in what was described as fairly fresh river mud, and it seemed out of place. Nearby, another item drew attention a pair of sunglasses. Sabine Paris Sheriff Ronnie Richardson later said they closely resembled the sunglasses that Tony Purcell was known to wear. Authorities were called. Within hours, investigators were working a homicide scene. The grave itself was shallow, very shallow, and scattered around the area were details that would become important later. A pair of sunglasses, a shovel, an exposed arm, and feathers. At the time, nobody knew exactly what those feathers meant. What investigators did know was that the body appeared to have suffered severe injuries. Injuries. An autopsy would reveal blunt force trauma to the head. The injuries were so extensive that specialists from LSU's Forensic Anthropology and Computer Enhancement Services, known as LSU Faces, were brought in to assist with identification and facial reconstruction. The discovery shattered the hope that had carried Tony's family through the previous five days. The search was over. But the questions were not. Investigators still needed to know what had happened at Celine Lake. How had Tony died? Where exactly had the attack taken place? And why were feathers lying in the woods nearly forty yards from where the body was found? Those questions would eventually lead investigators to an unlikely witness. Not a person, but a bird. The grave was shallow. So shallow, in fact, that something had already begun disturbing it. When investigators processed the scene near Selene Lake, they documented an exposed arm protruding from the grave. Nearby they found feathers. Not one, but several. And not just near the grave. Some were found nearly forty yards away. At first glance, it didn't seem important. A wooded area near a lake would naturally contain feathers. Birds live there, birds die there, birds lose feathers there. But one investigator wasn't willing to dismiss them. Detective Bradley Marr had spent years working criminal investigations in Sabine Parish. He knew the feathers were unusual enough to deserve a closer look. So he reached out to someone whose expertise was unlike anything most detectives encounter during a homicide investigation. Dr. Lauren Farr Parks. Parks is a forensic anthropologist, which means she studies human remains. But she also studies something else, vultures. For years, Parks had researched how vultures interact with human remains, how they alter crime scenes, and how the evidence they leave behind can help reconstruct what happened after death. Most people think of vultures only as birds circling overhead, but Parks knew better. In fact, one of the things she frequently teaches investigators is that vultures don't circle the way we're used to seeing in the movies. The reality is that being large birds, they catch wind currents in order to travel from one place to another. Actually, if you want to use a vulture to try to find a body, look for a vulture in a tree or on a fence post, she explains. The real clues are usually found on the ground. Feathers, bones, scavenging patterns. Tiny details most people would walk right past. When Parks reviewed the evidence from Selene Lake, one detail immediately stood out. The feathers. They belonged to the turkey vultures. That mattered. Turkey vultures are not hunters, they're scavengers. Unlike many birds, they can locate decomposition by smell. Once they find a food source, they land and begin feeding. And according to Parks, vultures are extremely heavy birds. When they don't know when or where the next meal is coming from, they don't waste energy. A vulture might move a short distance, a few feet, maybe a few yards, but forty yards? That was different. All the feathers investigators found were not lying beside the grave. Some were found near a pine cone stained with blood, 40 yards away. And that raised a question. Why would a turkey vulture leave a food source, travel 40 yards through the woods, and spend time in another location? Turkey vultures are not attracted to blood. The blood on the pine cone could not explain why a vulture had traveled that 40 yards from the grave and spent time in that location. Parks knew something else had drawn the bird there. She began working through possibilities. She thought about years of field research. She thought about time spent at forensic research facilities, often called body farms. She thought about the vultures she had trapped, tagged, tracked, and observed. And then she arrived at an answer. There were two things she knew could draw a vulture that far from a body internal organs and brain matter. Investigators already suspected Tony had suffered catastrophic blunt force injuries to the head. The bloodstained pine cone had been found in the same area as the feathers. Suddenly the scene began to look different. What if the assault had not occurred at the grave? What if the attack had happened forty yards away? What if Tony had been struck there near the pine cone and then moved to the location where he was eventually buried? The feathers suggested exactly that. The vultures had not been wandering. They'd been feeding. And in doing so, they may have marked the exact location where the violence occurred. If Parks was correct, the shallow grave was not the entire crime scene. The location where Tony Purcell was buried and the location where he was attacked were likely two different places. The vultures weren't attracted to the blood on the pinecone. They were attracted to what the head injuries may have left behind, brain matter. In other words, the birds may have been marking the very spot where Tony was struck. Not just where he was buried, but where he was killed. There was more. Parks also examined photographs of the exposed arm. The arm itself presented another puzzle. The exposed arm had been largely stripped of flesh. Yet portions of the body that remained buried still contained soft tissue. If decomposition alone were responsible, investigators would expect a more consistent pattern. Instead, the difference suggested scavenging. Something had focused on the exposed arm while the rest of the body remained protected beneath the soil. The arm had been pulled from the grave by a scavenging turkey vulture. The bird smelled the decomposition. It landed. It worked through the loose soil and pine needles, then it grabbed exposed tissue and pulled. The tearing pattern matched what Parks had seen before. The feathers near the arm supported that conclusion. What investigators had initially viewed as animal activity destroying evidence was becoming something else entirely. The animals were creating evidence. The vultures were revealing details that no witness could provide. They exposed parts of the body which led to the discovery, and they may have helped identify where the fatal assault occurred. Parks explained that vultures are often overlooked because they work so quickly. A body can become skeletonized far faster than many investigators expect. The birds arrive, they feed, they leave. And if investigators aren't paying attention, the clues disappear with them. But at Saline Lake, the clues remained. A few feathers, an exposed arm, a blood stained pine cone. Small things, easy things to overlook. Yet together they helped tell a story. A story that the killer could not change, a story that the woods had quietly preserved, and a story that would eventually be told in a courtroom. More than two years passed between Tony Prasel's death and Robert Bartholomew's trial. When proceedings finally began in October of 2015, prosecutors argued that what happened to Tony was not a crime of passion. It was a planned killing. Prosecutors argued that Bartholome's actions reflected planning rather than impulse. Evidence presented at trial suggested he chose a baseball bat instead of a firearm because he believed a gunshot would carry through the woods and attract attention. A bat was quieter, easier to conceal, and, prosecutors argued, easier to get away with. Again and again, prosecutors returned to the same point. This wasn't an argument that got out of control. This wasn't a sudden confrontation. Bartholomew had time to think, time to plan, and time to change his mind. He never did. The defense saw the case differently. Bartholome had initially pleaded not guilty. Later, he changed that plea to not guilty by reason of insanity. His attorneys argued that years earlier, while serving in Iraq, Bartholomew had experienced traumatic events that left lasting psychological wounds. The defense called military witnesses. Mental health experts testified. Jurors heard descriptions of combat deployments and the emotional toll that can follow military service. The defense portrayed Bartholome as a man suffering from severe post-traumatic stress disorder. A soldier damaged by war. A man who had become overwhelmed after learning that his estranged wife was involved with someone he considered a fellow soldier and friend. According to the defense, Bartholome believed Sandy was pregnant and believed Tony could be the father. The defense argued that he effectively blacked out, that what happened afterward was not premeditated murder. But prosecutors disagreed. They pointed to the threats, they pointed to the kidnapping, they pointed to the efforts to avoid capture, and they pointed to the attempts to convince investigators that Tony had been released alive. The jury also heard from Sandy, the woman at the center of the conflict. She described the messages, the threats, the fear, and the promises she made while trying to stop Barthelemy from carrying out what he said he intended to do. Then there was the forensic evidence. Among the witnesses called by prosecutors was Dr. Lauren Far Parks. By then, her analysis of the vulture evidence had become part of the state's reconstruction of the crime scene. The feathers, the pine cone, the exposed arm, the patterns left behind by scavenging birds. Details that might have seemed insignificant to most people had become part of the story that prosecutors presented to the jury. The trial lasted six days. Then the case was placed in the jury's hands. Robert Bartholomew had once been a police officer, a National Guardsman, a platoon sergeant. Now twelve jurors were deciding whether he would spend the rest of his life in prison. They deliberated for less than two hours. When they returned, the verdict was guilty as charged. First degree murder. For Tony's family, the verdict brought relief, but it did not bring Tony back. The trial then moved into the penalty phase. Jurors would have to decide between life imprisonment and the death penalty. Victim impact statements were presented. Tony's family described what had been taken from them. The prosecution approached Tony's family with a proposal. Robert Bartholomew would accept a sentence of life without parole, but in exchange, he would waive his right to appeal. No years of additional hearings, no decades of appeals, no possibility of future trials. The decision belonged to Tony's family. After everything they had endured, they accepted. Later, the family explained why. Unlike many families who spend years returning to courtrooms, they would not have to relive Tony's murder over and over again. There would be no endless appeals, no continuing legal battles. There would be closure. Robert Bartholomew was sentenced to life in prison without the possibility of parole. The case was over. But the story wasn't really about Robert Bartholomew. Not anymore. It was about Tony. In the end, the vultures were right. Long before investigators understood what happened in those woods, the birds were already pointing toward the truth. The feathers mattered. The exposed arm mattered. The pine cone mattered. What looked like random signs of animal activity turned out to be evidence. Evidence that helped investigators understand where the attack occurred. Evidence that helped tell the story of what happened near Saline Lake. But every piece of evidence led back to the same person. A young man named Tony Prosell. A son, a brother, an uncle, a friend, a National Guard veteran who served in Iraq. A nursing student who was planning his future. A young man whose family called him Bubba. When Tony disappeared on August 20, 2013, the people who loved him refused to stop looking. His mother reported the threats. His friends searched. Law enforcement searched. Volunteers searched. And even after Robert Bartholomew was arrested, hope remained. Because as long as Tony had not been found, there was still a chance. A chance that he was alive. A chance that he would walk through the door. A chance that somehow this story would end differently. It didn't. Five days after Tony vanished, searchers arrived at a shallow grave near Selene Lake. A vulture had exposed what someone had tried to hide. And little by little the woods began giving up their secrets. The grave, the sunglasses, the shovel, the exposed arm, the feathers. Each piece told part of the story. Not the story Robert Bartholomew told investigators, but the real story. A story written into the landscape itself. A story preserved by scavenging birds, disturbed soil, and details so small that most people would have walked right past them. But investigators didn't. Neither did Dr. Lauren Far Parks. The evidence remained, the science mattered. And because of that, the truth became harder to bury. A shallow grave was supposed to keep a secret. It didn't. The woods refused to keep it. The birds left clues. Investigators followed them. And in the end, Tony Purcell came home. The woods gave him back. Oh my gosh, this story was so layered. Obviously, I'm happy that the killer is being held accountable and that Tony's family, while not getting him back, at least got answers. And honestly, I'm now kind of obsessed with vultures. Who knew? I think I'm going to link an article in the show notes about Lauren Farr Parks that goes much deeper into her education and work. It's really worth the read. So I told you at the beginning of this episode that I had an announcement. Next week will be the release of episode 10 of my very first podcast season. Honestly, a few months back, this was all just an idea. And here we are, looking toward next week and episode 10. I am filled with sincere gratitude. However, episode 10 will be the finale of season one. Ayn and I will be taking a few weeks off to research, write, and create more to bring you. It won't be too long, I promise. I thoroughly enjoy bringing you these stories. But before we go, I have a surprise for next week, episode 10. Next week's episode is called Buddy, and it's the very story I was discussing with my friend Monica when we started throwing the idea of this podcast around. It's a local story, and we had a connection we didn't even realize we had. And, drum roll please, we will be joined by Monica herself and Piper. They'll be co-hosting this episode that brings it all home. Don't miss it. It's going to be good. Once again, thank you for being here with us. As always, a rate and review goes a long way toward keeping the show going. Follow us on Instagram. Send us an email. Do you have any questions to ask Ayn or me? That might be a between season episode idea. Dog Days of Murder is an angry hamster production, hosted and produced by me, Paula Quintana, and my trusty sidekick Ayn. Sources for this episode can be found in the show notes, along with links to the Instagram, our email, and the Buy Me a Coffee. Thank you so much to all of you listening. There wouldn't be a show without you. Don't miss next week. Until then, Ayn, Gabriele.