Kenneth Doc Atchison, a 57-year-old White man, disappeared on the evening of February 8, 1993 after leaving an Eat-Rite Diner to go to Gary Muehlberg’s house. At the diner he spoke openly about trading his Chrysler LeBaron and $5,000 in cash for Muehlberg’s Cadillac, and witnesses noted he carried the money and seemed nervously eager. He decided to go alone.

Court records state that Atchison arrived at Muehlberg’s home that night and was killed there. Investigators later found his body concealed in a makeshift homemade coffin in the basement of Muehlberg’s residence. Authorities arrested Muehlberg after locating him across state lines in southern Illinois, and Missouri prosecutors charged the case as murder and robbery tied to the cash Atchison brought for the car deal.

At trial Muehlberg attempted to shift blame toward another man, an argument the court limited as hearsay unless Muehlberg testified. The prosecution secured convictions for first-degree murder and armed criminal action, resulting in a life sentence and an additional term for the armed criminal action conviction. Did anyone who knew Atchison or saw him on February 8 remember details about the intended car exchange or his movements that evening?