The Murder of Ronald Rogers Part 1 (Vermont)

VERMONT, 1971: It was 10:30 p.m. the night before the 4th of July in 1971 when a family returning to their cottage near Killington Ski Resort in Vermont discovered a fire down over an embankment. When the father and son got close enough to douse the fire with water they made a grim discovery. It was the badly burned body of a man.

A family member would identify the man as 34-year old Veteran Ronald Rodgers, but as the case developed over the course of an entire decade, that basic fact would be challenged.

This case begins two years before his body was discovered, with an armed robbery in Rutland, Vermont. This is a story of possible mistaken identity, of investigative missteps, and maybe, the story of a so-called perfect crime.

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Dark Downeast is an audiochuck and Kylie Media production hosted by Kylie Low.