Language links are at the top of the page across from the title. If so, who and for what reasons?\"Linda - \"Both Republicans and Democrats have exposure in the Mena /Iran /contra operation which is why they have been highly successful in the coverup. These cases are either quickly closed or still under investigation. Clinton also denied ever speaking with Black when confronted about it. I feel he came upon something tried to flee and he lost his life. Excellent book - tragic story - Beautifully Written! According to ID files, the day Duffey was hired, her boss, Gary Arnold, instructed her not to investigate any public officials. Years after the film was released, Clinton paid an out-of-court settlement to resolve the accusations made by Paula Jones in the movie. Mara Leveritt has covered this story since it first broke back in 1987. Reviewed in the United States on December 20, 2017. The Murders of Kevin Ives and Don Henry - Medium Thanks for sharing the real word, this cant rest until solved. Reviewed in the United States on December 27, 2021. My question is, who are the individuals you feel are the most responsible for the murder and cover up of the boys?\"Linda - \"Number one on the list as far as killers would be special prosecutor Dan Harmon who orchestrated the murders and cover up. "Vigils held at Capitol, courthouse 25 years after Ives, Henry deaths - The Saline Courier", "Arkansas mom's motion in bid to unseal files says DEA hiding crimes", "Judge orders agencies to review more information in 'Boys on the Tracks' FOIA lawsuit", "The Mysterious Deaths of Don Henry & Kevin Ives", "New Witness? The film alleged that Kevin and Don were killed after they accidentally witnessed a clandestine drug deal that involved top state officials. He was released in 2006 after helping prosecutors in a murder conspiracy case. In 1987, two teenage boys, Kevin Ives and Don Henry, were found dead on train tracks in Alexander, Ark. They believe that he found out about their investigation and named them as suspects in order to taint their credibility and hinder their investigation into him. Other medical experts and researchers stated that it was highly unlikely, if not impossible, for a person to pass out from smoking marijuana. Mara Leveritt told the story of the boys on the tracks as a journalist should: facts only and told in a narrative style. On June 3, 2021, Linda passed away at the age of seventy-one. The state medical examiner, Dr. Fahmy Malak, said they had been under the influence of marijuana and ruled the deaths accidental. Murder on the Tracks - The Massive Cover-up of Kevin Ives and Don Henry [12], The case was profiled on the television program Unsolved Mysteries.[13][14]. The locomotive engineer engaged the brakes while blowing the horn, but the train could not stop in time and rolled over the bodies. By all accounts, Kevin and Don were typical teenage boys who both loved to work on their cars and hunt. However, since he started working on it, he has carried one. Duffeys boss, U.S. Attorney Chuck Banks, concluded that the media whirlwind created by Harmon had made her ineffective, and decided to fire her. Seniors at Bryant High School, Kevin Ives and Don Henry allegedly witnessed a drug drop from Mena before they were murdered. Matrisciana was a video journalist who also filmed The Clinton Chronicles in the early 90s. Reviewed in the United States on November 10, 2016. The ensuing investigation unearthed an intriguing lead. I grew up listening to the stories my mom told me of her two friends who were run over by a train 29 years ago. Allegations include: The video was characterized by The Washington Post as a "bizarre and unsubstantiated documentary. Seal purchased his own plane, and as a part of the deal with the DEA, he rigged it with a hidden camera. I have not been able to find out anything since. She weaves profiles and events into a smooth and chilling whole, one that leads the readers to confront, along with Linda Ives, the events' profoundly disturbing implications. The documentary drew a line in the sand between Ives and Harmon. In the end, the objective of unseating the Sandinistas appears to have taken precedence over dealing properly with potentially serious allegations against those with whom the Agency was working.. Unfortunately no justice was done for the boys as there was corruption in high places. The two deaths have remained unsolved, but have sparked public interest in the morals and intentions of those we elect to represent and protect us. Hollenbeck and Thompson were willing participants in Harmons smear campaign against me and my task force, and neither reporter bothered to verify anything Harmon said; they just printed it lie after lie, article after article even when they knew Harmon was lying.. Their parents would not accept Dr. Malaks conclusion. Kevin Ives and Don Henry on Encyclopedia of Arkansas, Friends, Train Crew Subpoenaed In Investigation Of Deaths Of Teens, Malak Ruling In Train Deaths Of Teens Challenged By Pathologist, Jury asks FBI to probe train deaths in Newton County, Jury 'not completely pleased' with progress in investigation of two Bryant teens' deaths, Drugs cause of deaths? Update: August 23, 2019. Malak was known for asking police officers what they thought happened to a body, and then he would rule the death the way the officers told him to. I ordered the book immediately and devoured it over the course of about 2 weeks. While the film was directed by Patrick Matrisciana, who has a production company called Jeremiah Films, the production was credited to Citizens for Honest Government, a project of a Westminster, California organization named Creative Ministries Inc. that has connections to Matrisciana. The fate of Barry Seals plane It also helps the At first, I was turned off by the omniscient musings of Linda Ives in a non-fiction book. Kevin and Dons parents are determined to continue working on and investigating the case until it is solved. is a horrifying story from first page to last, and its most frightening aspect is that all of the story is true. Families don't accept explanation, Marijuana coma? However, Matrisciana successfully appealed the verdict, which was overturned in 1999. Spotlighting was a fairly widespread activity among the local boys. In March 1988, Dr. James Garriot of San Antonio offered a second opinion and was skeptical of the findings about marijuana. After facing all of these drug charges, it may not be so far-fetched that he was at the tracks when Ives and Henry were murdered. [5], To promote the film, Falwell aired an interview with Matrisciana, who was silhouetted to conceal his identity as he pretended to be a journalist who was afraid for his life. However, their bodies were found along train tracks in Alexander, Arkansas, approximately 120 miles (190km) to the east of Mena. Mena, Arkansas, Bill Clinton, Don Henry, Kevin Ives, Cocaine, Drugs, CIA, Conspiracy, MediaGiant Language English. I'm curious what the connection to Clinton is. True Crime. According to Stephen, they questioned the existence of the tarp. Neither of them was moving. The claims in the video are controversial; some have been discredited, while others continue to be debated. The appeal focused primarily on free speech and the ability to criticize public figures. True story of a parents passion to find justice for their sons killed on the rail tracks going by a typical small town, near the Metroplex of Little Rock. Even though the judges overturned the ruling of defamation, they were critical of the film in their ruling, saying it blurred the lines between fact and fiction. The story of Barry Seal reveals that the CIA, DEA and State Department have each been implicated in various drug trafficking operations that were used to illegally supply countries with weapons internationally. Shipping cost, delivery date, and order total (including tax) shown at checkout. Special prosecutor Ken Starr was assigned to investigate a number of incidents mentioned in the film. Gofundme.com/donhenry-kevinives - Facebook Several witnesses who testified before the grand jury were charged with drug trafficking and other offenses. Copyright 1999, Kirkus Associates, LP. When recalling the accident to local authorities, all the members of the train crew observed a tarp covering the bodies before they were run over. Imagine a true story that opens with two dead teenagers being run over by a train! They were best friends and popular seniors at Bryant High School. Harmon approached the Ives family with his friend deputy prosecutor Richard Garrett and convinced them that he and Garrett would stop at nothing to find those responsible for her sons murder. According to the documentary "The Mena Connection," Clinton was approached by prosecutor Charles Black, who wanted to fund an investigation about the Mena criminal activity. Guess who was the US Attorney for Western Arkansas for the entire time Barry Seal was operating out of Mena Arkansas, which is in Western Arkansas??? This is when witnesses began turning up dead, but no one connected that to Harmon at the time. I respect the mother's quest for justice and her investigation. I learned of this book while listening to a true crime podcast and was fascinated by the story. These Central American drug war/Cold War ops were run by Langley frat . To add the following enhancements to your purchase, choose a different seller. The Train Deaths: Don Henry and Kevin Ives Don Henry and Kevin Ives. Two police officers accused in that film of being involved with the murders of Ives and Henry attempted to sue Matrisciana for defamation. The Boys On The Tracks. Oh, and by the way Barry seal not only had a small FLEET of planes, he also has a helicopter, as well as boats with one that had a helicopter landing pad He also had 2 of most things important to him such as TWO C-123 Fairchild cargo planes(think Air America, which ironically enough is where they came from yep, the CIA) anyways, one was the one that was shot down by the Sandinistas that Eugene Hasenfus parachuted to the ground from, and it was completely destroyed and the other one is now a BAR IN COSTA RICA! On the night Kevin and Don died, witnesses again reported seeing a man in military fatigues. 10 various investigations into drugs, money laundering and so forth, in and around Arkansas, from the 1980s and 1990s, were all shut down with no results made public. They initially prevailed; however, lost the case when it was appealed. The Boys on the Tracks: Death, Denial, and a Mother's Crusade to Bring Police have been unable to locate him. Unsolved: The Mysterious Deaths Of Don Henry & Kevin Ives - YouTube Suspects: The man wearing military fatigues witnessed by police and others remains a possible suspect, but police have never been able to locate or positively identify him. Matrisciana created the Obstruction of Justice documentary to show the connection between the cover-up of Kevin Ives and Don Henrys murder, Mena drug trafficking and Bill Clinton. Today Kendall and Josh discuss the case of Don Henry & Kevin Ives. He also called the dispatcher. He believes the assailant(s) incapacitated one of them, and then, felt like they had to do something to the other one. Nearby were a .22 caliber rifle and a flashlight. I finally understood, Duffey wrote in a letter to the editor of the Wall Street Journal in 1997, To solve the train deaths case would be to expose the crimes of Mena, and no government agent who has come close to doing either has survived professionally., Prospective Online Copyright 2023 FLEX WordPress Theme by SNO Log in, Your email address will not be published. Don Henry and Kevin Ives: The Boys on the Tracks | Bizarrepedia Check out HelloFresh here! The Murders of Kevin Ives and Don Henry: The True Story of Arkansas Jeff Rhodes told his family that he feared for his life because he knew too much about Kevin, Don and McKaskles murders. Folks simply did not know the level of lawlessness in Saline and other counties nor did they know how high up or how low down it went. the dispatcher asked. It is likely that this is a direct result of Barry Seal running drugs out of Mena in the early eighties. On the same night the boys died, a similar-looking man dressed in military fatigues was spotted nearby. [8] The theory is that the boys came upon a drug drop from an airplane similar to Barry Seal's operations near Mena and were murdered. To learn that the child was murdered is worse. To calculate the overall star rating and percentage breakdown by star, we dont use a simple average. He believes that Kevin and Don stumbled on either drug traffickers or a drug lab that manufactured methamphetamine and that they were killed as a result. Prior to working on this case, Garrett never carried a gun. Bill Duncan, a former IRS agent who investigated the Mena accusations regretted appearing on the film, stating, "I would not have willingly been a part of it had I known where that footage would end up". In the months that followed, Ives's world darkened even more as she gradually came to understand that the very officials she turned to for help could not, or would not, solve the murders. It has been debated on why they were on the train tracks and whether it was a tragic accident, or something more sinister. This page is not available in other languages. Up until last year when I did a research project about the incident, I never thought twice about what happened to those boys. Location: Alexander, Arkansas More than 1,000 feet of the decelerating train crossed the point where the bodies lay before it came to a stop. Newly appointed prosecutor Richard Garrett had Kevin and Dons bodies exhumed for a second autopsy to be performed by a noted expert. She writes a column in the weekly. [10] Keith McCaskle, also implicated in the murder,[10] was stabbed to death by an unknown attacker[11] on November 10, 1988. [5] The parents did not accept this finding and conducted their own investigation. This was presented to a Grand Jury, which ultimately decided the case should be treated as a homicide rather than an accidental death. He does not believe Don would do that because he would not want the wood getting scratched. He took Curtis spotlight and took his own .22 rifle. Seal continued to smuggle drugs into the U.S. as an undercover agent until 1986, when he was gunned down by the Colombian Medellin Cartel. The locomotive engineer engaged the brakes while blowing the horn, but the train could not stop in time and rolled over the bodies. Malak, in fact, had direct ties to Jocelyn Elders, who was the head of the state health department, and Bill Clinton, who was governor at the time. The result is that what should be chilling ends up seeming merely fantastical. All rights reserved. I lived in Little Rock when the events described in Mara Leveritt's "The Boys on the Track" were unfolding. While the Starr Report accused Clinton of obstruction of justice in covering up an affair, and other players in the Whitewater controversy were charged and sentenced, Starr declined to recommend charges for Clinton over Whitewater and cleared Clinton of involvement with Vince Foster's death. However, no suspects were identified. Kevin Ives and Don Henry. is the story of a parent's worst nightmare, a quiet woman's confrontation with a world of murder, drugs, and corruption, where legitimate authority is mocked and the public trust is trampled. As Dan Harmons investigation pushed forward, many potential witnesses started to turn up dead. He believes that others were involved or have knowledge of who was involved. So when I saw that there was a movie filming called Mena, starring Tom Cruise, I was shocked. They have spent many hours at the spot where they were killed, wondering how it could have happened. 16-year-old Don Henry and a year older Kevin Ives were best mates. The picture made President Reagan ecstatic, and he went on national television with the photograph condemning the Sandinistas asdrug smugglers corrupting American youth.. Leveritt tells most of the story through the eyes of Linda Ives, Keith's mother, who pursues the medical examiner, the sheriff, then-governor Bill Clinton, the CIA and everyone else she thinks is blocking or slowing the progress of the investigation. In March 1990, Saline County deputy prosecutor, Jean Duffey, was assigned to lead a drug task force to investigate drug smuggling in Saline County. And cocaine is still just as easy to get as is was in the mid-1980s almost like once the taps were turned on, they were never shut off. This is a topic everyone in Arkansas should be informed on. Special Bulletin: Lost: Raymond Routte. Both Clinton and Elders had the authority to remove Malak from office after his false ruling, but they continued to support him and even gave him a $32,000 pay raise. Former wrestler claims he witnessed murders of Don Henry and Kevin Ives It is a tale of multiple murders and of justice repeatedly denied. He placed the train into an emergency stop position and laid down on the horn. [1], The movie helped perpetuate the Clinton body count conspiracy theory about a list of associates Clinton was purported to have had killed. Mara Leveritt has worked for twenty years as an Arkansas journalist. Seal used the Mena airport along with double agents, who were attempting to tie Bill Clinton to drug smuggling conspiracies, especially during his first four years as President. Later, another pathologist ruled that Don Henry's shirt showed evidence of a stab wound. Yet the further away from the murder she gets, the less compelling her story becomes. It had taken a screaming, screeching half mile. Baz | May 1, 2017 at 5:54 pm. In August of 1987, the bodies of 16-year old Don Henry and 17-year old Kevin Ives were hit by a train in Alexander, Arkansas. . Extra Notes: Results: Unresolved. After the film aired, she had her son's body exhumed and a second autopsy performed. The police discounted the statement and blamed the tarp on an optical illusion. One of the railroad employees stated as he pointed toward the tracks, I know it was some kind of tarp, and to my recollection they set it right over there.. The plane was ultimately sold to a company after Seal died that had connections to the CIA and was shot down soon afterwards. Fearing for his reputation, Harmon used the local newspapers to destroy Jean Duffeys character. In October 1988, shortly after the broadcast, the results were released. The authorities arrived soon after, and some claim this is when they began a massive cover-up. By 1982, Seal was making regular runs on behalf of the Medellin Cartel from Columbia, bringing tons of cocaine into the U.S. before moving his operations from Baton Rouge, La. It seemed difficult to believe that they would lay on the tracks without moving a muscle, while a huge freight train was hurtling towards them blaring its horn. The film mentioned that her son's death was controversially ruled accidental by an examiner who had a history of questionable rulings. So far, the run had been clear sailing, as engineer Stephen Shroyer approached the small town of Bryant, Arkansas. Date: August 23, 1987. He advocated for the case to be re-opened; however, the case remains unsolved.[9]. He was sentenced to 30 years in a Nicaraguan prison, but was replaced by a spy after serving only a few months. However, he repeatedly received resistance from authorities, who seemed unwilling to cooperate or change their opinions about the case. "[6] When it was found that Don Henry's shirt contained evidence of a stab wound to the back, and Kevin Ives' skull may have been crushed by his own rifle, the ruling was changed to "definite homicide. [4] The fact checking site TruthOrFiction.com states that "There is no credible evidence that any of the deaths is related or can be attributed to Bill Clinton". Our nation needs to know about this corruption and we need to clean it up. All evidence gathered from The Obstruction of Justice video documentary. Boonie Bearden, who was friends with Collins and Coney, went missing in 1989. Nicknames: Kevin (Larry); Don (Donald) The case remains unsolved, and Leveritt draws no conclusions. She has won several awards, including the White Award for Investigative Reporting. On one of his trips, he was able to capture a photograph of Pablo Escobar, a Colombian drug lord and drug trafficker, helping Nicaraguan soldiers load cocaine for shipment to the U.S. at the Managua airport. I told myself that nobody would befriend parents of a murder victim and then screw them over, but I was wrong, Ives said. The Real Cases That Inspired True Detective Season 3 | Time They're afraid you will learn the truth. It ranks as one of the most remembered cases in the entire series. Four men were possibly killed because of what they knew. Your email address will not be published. There are many people that know, in my opinion, especially within the FBI.\"Q - \"Can you share your favorite memory you have of Kevin?\"Linda - \"Kevin was so in love with his car which was a 1983 blue camaro with T tops. It has to be death.". Special Bulletin: Wanted: Jose Blandon. Clinton promised Black that he would get a man on the case, but never did. The list of those directly involved in the coverup not listed already includes deputy prosecutor Richard Garrett, then sheriff Jim Steed, detective Chuck Tallent, detective Rick Elmendorf, Judge John Cole and many, many others who have been willing to look the other way over the years.\"Q - \"Do you think the Clinton's and the CIA drug trade were involved in your son's death?\"Linda - \"We knew early on that there were drugs drops involved but assumed it was a small local operation. He does not believe that anyone could sleep through that kind of noise. A second autopsy by Georgia medical examiner Dr. Joseph Burton found the equivalent of one or two marijuana cigarettes, not 20. Prospective Online | The Murder of Kevin Ives and Don Henry The cargo plane carrying weapons that was shot down was the very plane that Barry Seal used to fly drugs in and out of the U.S. before he was killed. (Nov.), This book documents a long and tangled criminal investigation that began in 1987, when Linda Ives's teenage son and his friend were killed by a train near Little Rock, AR. They were lying exactly across the tracks; their legs were across the rails, their torsos were between the tracks, and their arms were straight down by their sides. However, I came to find them helpful in feeling Linda's utter frustration with trying to crack the veneer of corruption of the good ol' boys network in Arkansas. A must read if you care about justice for the innocent. The train driver attempted to stop and blew the horn, but the momentum of the train carried it over the bodies. Full content visible, double tap to read brief content. Follow authors to get new release updates, plus improved recommendations. In 1994 the University of Arkansas named her Arkansas Journalist of the Year. Don Henry and Kevin Ives case. by Hayden Jones - Prezi Who had covered them with it and why? After facing all of these drug charges, it may not be so far-fetched that he was at the tracks when Ives and Henry were murdered. According to ID Files, Harmon was convicted in July 1997 of racketeering, extortion and drug conspiracy, and sentenced to eight years in prison. Garrett then focused on the green tarp. The apparent murder in Saline County in 1987 of seventeen-year-old Kevin Ives and sixteen-year-old Don Henry has spurred ongoing controversy, including conspiracy theories tying their deaths to a drug-smuggling scandal. Leveritt, an award-winning investigative reporter, handles a mountain of details well and succeeds in making this convoluted story reasonably understandable.

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