Case 298: Bonnie Hood AI transcript and summary - episode of podcast Casefile True Crime

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Episode: Case 298: Bonnie Hood

Author: Casefile Presents
Duration: 01:05:44

Episode Shownotes

On August 19 1990, the tiny mountain town of Camp Nelson, California was stunned when the owner of the Camp Nelson Lodge, Bonnie Hood, was found shot to death in her private cabin. Her handyman, Rudy Manuel, was also shot in the head during the attack. While various suspects and

theories emerged, it wasn’t until a separate shooting took place a little over a year later that the truth unravelled behind what some have called the strangest murder case in California's history. --- Narration – Anonymous Host Research & writing – Hugo Henry Creative direction – Milly Raso Production and music – Mike Migas Music – Andrew D.B. Joslyn A special thanks to Dave Kehlet for certain information provided in this episode Sign up for Casefile Premium: Apple Premium Spotify Premium Patreon For all credits and sources, please visit https://casefilepodcast.com/case-298-bonnie-hood

Summary

On August 19, 1990, Bonnie Hood, owner of Camp Nelson Lodge, was murdered alongside her handyman Rudy Manuel in a shocking incident that revealed deep-seated rivalries and mysteries in a small California town. Rudy survived the initial attack and provided vital details, including the involvement of local rancher Jack Burgess, leading investigators through a web of personal motives and illicit activities. The case took another turn with the identification of suspect Bruce Beecham, whose connections to Bonnie and her husband Jim Hood introduced further complications, including accusations of conspiracy and financial motives before ultimately leading to Jim's conviction for Bruce's murder, creating one of the strangest murder mysteries in California's history.

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Full Transcript

00:00:13 Speaker_00
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00:00:23 Speaker_00
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00:00:40 Speaker_00
At around 3am on Sunday August 19, 1990, 35-year-old Rudy Manuel was awoken by a strange sound.

00:00:50 Speaker_00
As the long-time caretaker of the Camp Nelson Lodge, a 42-acre bucolic retreat in central California's sprawling and isolated sequoia and redwood forests, Rudy was intuitively familiar with his surroundings.

00:01:06 Speaker_00
When horses in a nearby pasture began stirring restlessly in the middle of the night, Rudy sensed something or someone was out there. Rudy opened the door of the rustic cabin where he had been sleeping and looked outside.

00:01:23 Speaker_00
If something was lurking, Rudy couldn't see it through the pitch black darkness. He closed the door and locked it, turned off the lights, and crawled back into bed. Rudy wasn't alone.

00:01:38 Speaker_00
Lying next to him was 46-year-old Bonnie Hood, the owner and manager of the Camp Nelson Lodge. Five minutes later, the bedroom light suddenly turned on.

00:01:51 Speaker_00
It took a moment for Rudy's eyes to adjust and for him to realise that an unfamiliar person was standing over him. The intruder was aiming a snub-nosed .38 calibre revolver directly at Rudy's head.

00:02:07 Speaker_00
The man ordered Rudy to get off the bed and kneel on the floor. Rudy defiantly responded, if you want me on the floor, you're gonna have to put me down. Without hesitation, the gunman pulled the trigger, shooting Rudy in the forehead.

00:02:26 Speaker_00
As Rudy's body slumped to the ground, the gunman turned his attention to Bonnie Hood, demanding, where's the money? Bonnie replied in a panic, it's in the lodge. Bonnie was then shot as she cowered in bed.

00:02:45 Speaker_00
Even though the bullet had pierced Rudy Manuel's skull and left fragments in his brain, he was still alive. Blood ran down his face, his ears rang painfully, and the taste of gunpowder lingered in his mouth.

00:03:01 Speaker_00
Rudy pretended to be dead until the gunman left, then slowly crawled across the floor into the living area where he reached for a telephone. Using what little strength Rudy had left, he dialed 911.

00:03:42 Speaker_00
The history of the Camp Nelson Township dates back to 1886 when its founder, John Nelson, built a homestead on the land.

00:03:50 Speaker_00
Before long, his ranch became a popular destination for hunters, fishermen, and anyone else willing to make the journey into the mountains by horseback.

00:04:00 Speaker_00
By the early 20th century, Camp Nelson had grown into a thriving, albeit small community with a hotel and a general store that drew an influx of new visitors to the area. Bonnie Hood first visited Camp Nelson in 1952 when she was eight years old.

00:04:20 Speaker_00
By then, the centrepiece of the town was a massive stone and timber lodge built by John Nelson's grandson,

00:04:29 Speaker_00
Featuring a grand dining hall and an impressive great room with two enormous fireplaces, the magnificent Camp Nelson Lodge served as the town's de facto community centre for almost every important event.

00:04:44 Speaker_00
Bonnie and her family visited Camp Nelson every summer, and she carried on the tradition when she started a family of her own. However, as time went on, the lodge was plagued by financial woes leading to its closure in January 1981.

00:04:59 Speaker_00
In the summer of 1987, Bonnie and her husband Jim noticed a for sale sign out in front of the lodge. While the couple initially joked with each other about buying the property, they ultimately decided to make a serious offer.

00:05:19 Speaker_00
Their offer of $780,000 was accepted and by June 1988, Bonnie and Jim Hood were the new owners of the Camp Nelson Lodge.

00:05:31 Speaker_00
Even though Bonnie had been visiting the area since she was a child, many of the town's 180 residents viewed the lodge's new owners with scepticism.

00:05:42 Speaker_00
To them, the Hoods were outsiders, wealthy metropolitan interlopers who threatened to change the fabric of their community. Others were excited by the prospect of the lodge being restored to its former glory.

00:05:59 Speaker_00
In order to revive and operate the lodge full time, Bonnie relocated to Camp Nelson and moved into one of the cabins. Her husband Jim and their two teenage children remained at their home in Newport Beach, nearly four and a half hours' drive away.

00:06:17 Speaker_00
The unconventional arrangement drew judgement among townsfolk, as did some of Bonnie's other decisions. While the locals were initially thrilled when the lodger's restaurant and bar reopened, they were dismayed when Bonnie raised the prices.

00:06:34 Speaker_00
Others boycotted the establishment altogether when Bonnie kicked them out for being too rowdy. When Bonnie built fences for her horses, some of her neighbours complained they blocked access to their properties.

00:06:49 Speaker_00
She also caused a stir for being an outspoken environmentalist, working to expose what she believed were illegal logging practices in the area. As one employee who worked for Bonnie told the Fresno Bee,

00:07:05 Speaker_00
Bonnie answered to no one, and apologised to no one. But what upset locals most was Bonnie's plan to turn the lodge into a trendy venue for lavish destination weddings and a high-end luxury retreat catering to wealthy clientele from Los Angeles.

00:07:26 Speaker_00
In their view, the whole point of going to Camp Nelson was to get away from the fast-paced city lifestyle in the first place.

00:07:36 Speaker_00
While some felt Bonnie harboured a combative LA attitude that conflicted with Camp Nelson's breezy, carefree way of life, others were less critical of her.

00:07:47 Speaker_00
One local told the Fresno Bee that the majority view of Bonnie was that she was a cheerful, outgoing person who spent an enormous amount of time, money and energy bringing Camp Nelson Lodge back to life.

00:08:05 Speaker_00
On Saturday August 18 1990, a high society wedding and reception was held at the lodge. The bride was thrilled with the venue and wept tears of joy while complimenting Bonnie on how wonderful everything had been.

00:08:21 Speaker_00
It was welcomed reinforcement that Bonnie's vision for the lodge was coming to fruition While the wedding was taking place at the lodge, its restaurant and bar remained open to the public, making it far busier than a regular Saturday night.

00:08:38 Speaker_00
When live music started during the wedding reception, some locals at the bar joined in the festivities. The reception concluded just before midnight, but the bar stayed open serving locals until 2am,

00:08:55 Speaker_00
At the end of the evening, Bonnie pulled all the tips her waitstaff had collected during their shifts. Usually, she split the tips evenly before sending her staff home.

00:09:06 Speaker_00
But because there was much more money than usual, approximately $500, she decided to take the money back to her cabin. She promised to count it and pay out her employees the next morning.

00:09:22 Speaker_00
Just over an hour later, first responders arrived at Bonnie's cabin after receiving the 911 call from Rudy Manuel. They trepidatiously entered and turned on the lights.

00:09:35 Speaker_00
They immediately saw Rudy's body on the floor of the living room, covered in carpet burns and blood. He had been shot in the head. A trail of blood led from where Rudy lay and into the bedroom, ending by the bed.

00:09:52 Speaker_00
Laying on top, half covered by a blanket and sheet, was Bonnie Hood. She had been fatally shot in the head. It appeared her body had been posed afterwards, with her arms crossed over her chest as if she were laid in a casket.

00:10:11 Speaker_00
One of the screens on an exterior sliding door had been cut open. The same door featured pry marks indicating the killer had used a tool to force his way inside. In the dirt outside was a single shoe print left by the killer.

00:10:30 Speaker_00
Aside from this, the only other major clue was found inside the cabin. As Rudy Manuel had clung to life, he used his finger to scroll two letters on a wall in his own blood. J and B.

00:10:48 Speaker_00
Police were well aware of a near two decade long feud between Rudy Manuel and a local cattle rancher named Jack Burgess. Rudy was a Native American who had grown up on a reservation a few miles south of Camp Nelson.

00:11:06 Speaker_00
From the time he was a teenager, Rudy had been a thorn in Jack Burgess' side His cattle ranch bordered the reservation and Jack had accused Rudy of vandalising his property many times over the years. He also once accused Rudy of shooting at him.

00:11:25 Speaker_00
Rudy had a chequered history with convictions for horse stealing, vandalism, and assault. Struggling to find employment or a place to live, Rudy was given an opportunity to work for Bonnie Hood after she purchased the Camp Nelson Lodge in 1988.

00:11:43 Speaker_00
The following year, Rudy was arrested after trying to sell five of Jack Burgess' calves to another rancher. Facing a potential six month jail sentence, Rudy found a supporter in Bonny Hood.

00:11:59 Speaker_00
She paid for his defence attorney and the case against Rudy was ultimately dismissed. This angered Jack Burgess, who expressed his opinion that the police and judge were corrupt.

00:12:12 Speaker_00
Things only escalated when Rudy smashed the windshield of Jack's truck with a baseball bat. On Tuesday, June 19, 1990, exactly two months before the shooting, Rudy suffered an appendicitis attack.

00:12:30 Speaker_00
Bonnie drove him to the hospital and as she pulled into the parking lot, she noticed that Jack Burgess happened to be there too. Not paying him any mind, she took Rudy into the emergency department.

00:12:44 Speaker_00
Upon returning to her car, Bonnie noticed a handwritten note attached to her windshield. It read, It is your head, not your windshield that I will get. Payback's a bitch, like your sugar mama.

00:13:03 Speaker_00
Bonnie believed that Jack Burgess had left the note for Rudy. She suspected she was the sugar mama referenced in the note as she had previously paid for Rudy's attorney during his successful legal stoush against Jack.

00:13:18 Speaker_00
Bonnie filed a police report accusing Jack of authoring the note. Although Jack's fingerprints weren't found on it, detectives wondered if the shooting at Bonnie's cabin was the payback the note had forewarned.

00:13:36 Speaker_00
Miraculously, when first responders arrived at Bonnie's cabin after the shooting, Rudy Manuel was still alive. He was rushed to undergo emergency surgery to remove the bullet fragments from his brain.

00:13:51 Speaker_00
Right before Rudy was taken into the operating theatre, a detective questioned him about the attack. Drifting in and out of consciousness as he spoke, Rudy admitted that he and Bonnie were having an affair.

00:14:05 Speaker_00
After closing down the bar the previous night, Rudy said that he and Bonnie had gone back to her cabin and fallen asleep before they were confronted by the gunman. Rudy described the shooter as looking like a biker.

00:14:21 Speaker_00
He was a stocky white man in his mid-30s with long, curly blonde hair and a thin moustache. Rudy recalled he was wearing a neckerchief with the branding of US motorcycle company Harley-Davidson.

00:14:37 Speaker_00
Several witnesses who had been at the lodger's bar that night recalled seeing a man matching this description, but no one knew who he was.

00:14:47 Speaker_00
They recalled that at one stage, he requested a song from the musician at the wedding reception, and that he was the last customer at the bar come closing time.

00:14:58 Speaker_00
Most interestingly, the stranger was within earshot of a heated conversation Bonnie Hood had with one of her employees about not splitting the tips until the following morning.

00:15:10 Speaker_00
This meant he was aware that Bonnie was in possession of a large amount of cash that she intended to take back to her cabin. Yet, although Bonnie's cabin was found in a slight state of disarray, it didn't appear to have been ransacked.

00:15:27 Speaker_00
Several expensive items of jewellery were left in plain sight and $211 remained in her purse, which was visibly resting on a bar stool. Rudy Manuel claimed that the killer had demanded money, but nothing in Bonnie's cabin appeared to be missing.

00:15:48 Speaker_00
Prior to his surgery, Rudy expressed his own theory, He suspected that the killer was a professional hitman who had most likely been hired by his long-time rival, Jack Burgess.

00:16:03 Speaker_00
When Jack heard about the shooting, he immediately went to speak with police as he knew he would be considered a suspect due to his volatile history with Rudy.

00:16:13 Speaker_00
Wanting to set the record straight as soon as possible, Jack denied any involvement in the crime and expressed his willingness to cooperate fully with the investigation.

00:16:25 Speaker_00
Although Jack provided a solid alibi for the night of the shooting, it was possible that he'd hired someone else to carry out the attack as Rudy Manuel had theorised. Rudy's sister, Christina, worked part-time at the lodge.

00:16:46 Speaker_00
She recalled seeing the mysterious stranger at the bar the night of the shooting. Curiously, she had seen him the weekend before as well.

00:16:56 Speaker_00
She believed he had arrived at Camp Nelson to carry out construction work, specifically to put a new roof on one of the homes in town.

00:17:06 Speaker_00
As there were few residences in Camp Nelson and only one had a brand new roof, investigators immediately knew where to start this new line of inquiry. The home belonged to a local attorney who told police that he had hired two brothers to do the job.

00:17:24 Speaker_00
Their names were Mark and Matthew Stewart and they were from the Californian city of Fresno, Police tracked the Stewart brothers down and were discouraged to find that neither of the men matched descriptions of Bonnie Hood's killer.

00:17:42 Speaker_00
As this lead seemingly reached a dead end, investigators were surprised when a man arrived at the Stewart brothers' home. He was a near perfect match for the description of Bonnie Hood and Rudy Manuel's shooter.

00:17:57 Speaker_00
introduced himself as Rick Lomere and asserted that he had never been to Camp Nelson. Meanwhile, Rudy Manuel had undergone life-saving surgery and after three days recovering, he was able to hold a conversation again.

00:18:14 Speaker_00
However, his brain was swollen and he was delirious and heavily sedated. While Rudy couldn't offer investigators much at this time, he was shown a photo line-up that included an image of Rick Lomier.

00:18:30 Speaker_00
Rudy pointed to Rick's photo and identified him as the man who'd shot him and Bonnie. The problem was, Rick provided an ironclad alibi for the night of the shooting, proving he was nowhere near Camp Nelson. Rudy Manuel had identified the wrong man.

00:18:52 Speaker_00
As Rudy recovered, he provided another account of the night of the shooting, this time to a psychiatrist. His version of events differed from what he'd originally told the police prior to his surgery.

00:19:06 Speaker_00
When the psychiatrist asked Rudy if he thought he was capable of identifying the shooter, Rudy shocked him by replying, You are the man that shot me. When the psychiatrist explained why this wasn't possible, Rudy said, well, you look a lot like him.

00:19:28 Speaker_00
It was clear to detectives that Rudy wasn't well enough to be fully relied upon, but they began considering the possibility that he wasn't the intended target at all.

00:19:39 Speaker_00
Given Bonnie Hood's reputation with various Camp Nelson locals, it was possible that someone with a chip on their shoulder had targeted her.

00:19:49 Speaker_00
After all, the shooting had taken place in her cabin and very few people could have known that Rudy would be there. This also raised another possible scenario.

00:20:03 Speaker_00
Although several townsfolk had suspected the pair were having an affair, there was only one obvious person who might feel compelled to do something about it. Case File will be back shortly.

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00:24:06 Speaker_00
By supporting our sponsors, you support Casefile to continue to deliver quality content. Bonnie met her husband, Jim Hood, when they attended university in the early 1960s. They married in 1970 and both took up work in real estate.

00:24:34 Speaker_00
Jim sold commercial property while Bonnie specialised in helping out of state companies relocate to California. The couple were incredibly successful, becoming multi-millionaires with a beachside property, a boat, and luxury cars.

00:24:50 Speaker_00
By 1987, Bonnie had reached a point in her life where she was ready to go in a new direction, For as long as she could remember, she'd imagined living full-time in a small mountain town.

00:25:05 Speaker_00
When the Camp Nelson Lodge went up for sale, the Hoods saw it as a viable business opportunity. For Bonnie, it was also the fulfilment of her lifelong dream. The only downside was that Bonnie and Jim would have to live apart.

00:25:24 Speaker_00
Their children were enrolled in a good school and a gym had business ties in Southern California. Still, Bonnie remained in near constant contact with her husband and children while living in Camp Nelson.

00:25:38 Speaker_00
She spoke with them on the phone upwards of three times a day and helped her children with their homework almost every night.

00:25:47 Speaker_00
Twice a month, Bonnie visited Newport Beach to spend a couple of days with her family, and once a month, Jim and the kids spent a weekend at Camp Nelson. When investigators informed Jim Hood about his wife's murder, he appeared genuinely shocked.

00:26:06 Speaker_00
More so when he was told that Bonnie was having an affair with Rudy Manuel. Jim insisted that his marriage was solid and that Bonnie would have never been unfaithful.

00:26:18 Speaker_00
He knew that Bonnie had a close friendship with Rudy, but refused to accept that the pair were in bed together the night of the shooting. Jim was certain the person responsible was a Camp Nelson local who held a grudge against his wife.

00:26:36 Speaker_00
He claimed that Bonnie had recently confided in him that she feared for her safety In addition to investigating illegal logging in the area, she had allegedly stumbled upon a cannabis field while horse riding.

00:26:51 Speaker_00
Bonnie hadn't notified the police as she suspected several members of local law enforcement were involved in the drug operation.

00:27:01 Speaker_00
According to Jim, just two weeks before she was murdered, Bonnie said she'd uncovered information that could potentially impact the outcome of a major political election in California.

00:27:15 Speaker_00
Jim said that Bonnie had been keeping files on several members of the community who she suspected were involved in illegal activity. She had shown it to him during a recent visit and he knew she kept it in a locked filing cabinet,

00:27:31 Speaker_00
Police permitted Jim to enter Bonnie's cabin to collect the dossier. He went to her filing cabinet only to find it was unlocked and the file was missing. As the weeks passed, Rudy Manuel continued to make a steady recovery.

00:27:52 Speaker_00
After being released from hospital, he straight up confronted Jim Hood, asking if he'd hired a hitman to kill him and Bonnie in jealous retaliation of their affair.

00:28:04 Speaker_00
Rudy claimed that Jim broke down in tears, asking how he could even think such a thing. Investigators remained open-minded.

00:28:15 Speaker_00
They had collected all of the empty beer bottles from the lodge that had accumulated on the night of the killing and had them tested for fingerprints.

00:28:24 Speaker_00
If the elusive stranger seen drinking at the bar was indeed the killer, there was a strong possibility that he had a criminal record. The results revealed that several fingerprints belonged to a known felon named Bruce Beecham,

00:28:41 Speaker_00
His mugshot looked just like Rudy's description of the gunman. Rudy was shown another photo lineup, this time with an image of Bruce Beecham in the mix. Rudy confidently identified Bruce as the shooter.

00:28:58 Speaker_00
Employees at the lodge also unanimously agreed that Bruce was the stranger they'd seen drinking at the bar that night. 31-year-old Bruce Beecham was a drifter with biker ties who moved across the American West.

00:29:15 Speaker_00
He had convictions pertaining to selling cannabis, brandishing a gun towards children, assaulting his ex-wife, and driving under the influence.

00:29:25 Speaker_00
He'd recently settled in a city an hour east of Los Angeles where he worked as a maintenance foreman for a shopping complex called Mission Plaza. When approached by police, Bruce admitted he'd recently been to Camp Nelson.

00:29:41 Speaker_00
He said he'd gone there on the weekend before the shooting where he'd met a woman and the two had agreed to meet there again the following week. He returned on the weekend of Saturday August 18, only to find that the woman had stood him up.

00:29:58 Speaker_00
Bruce said he spent the night hopping between the only two bars in town on the lookout for her, while under the influence of alcohol and methamphetamines.

00:30:09 Speaker_00
After Bruce was kicked out of one bar for making an insulting remark to a woman, he remained at the lodge until closing time.

00:30:17 Speaker_00
He claimed that upon leaving the bar, he drove 232 miles south to a friend's house in the city of Fontana, arriving there at around 6am. Bruce's friend corroborated his story, stating that they spent the day visiting yard sales together.

00:30:38 Speaker_00
The timing was significant. The drive from Camp Nelson to Fontana took at least four hours. Bonnie Hood and Rudy Manuel were shot a little after 3am. Investigators replicated Bruce's journey to see if they could reach Fontana in under 3 hours.

00:30:58 Speaker_00
They drove as fast as they could and yet only managed to get there in 3 hours and 45 minutes. Either Bruce's alibi was wrong or he was not the killer. There was something else.

00:31:14 Speaker_00
When speaking with investigators, Bruce Beecham divulged a significant piece of information. He was surprised it had taken them so long to come and speak with him in relation to the crime.

00:31:27 Speaker_00
After all, it was his employer who had given him the idea to go to Camp Nelson in the first place, Jim Hood. Jim Hood co-owned the Mission Plaza shopping complex where Bruce Beauchamp worked.

00:31:46 Speaker_00
Bruce claimed that Jim always talked to his employees about Camp Nelson, encouraging them to go up there and have a good time at the lodge.

00:31:56 Speaker_00
With this revelation forming an unexpected connection between their prime suspect and Bonnie Hood's husband, police searched Bruce's home.

00:32:06 Speaker_00
They uncovered a pair of tennis shoes that were the same brand and size as the shoe prints found outside Bonnie's cabin on the night of the shooting.

00:32:16 Speaker_00
Bruce Beachum was arrested and charged with murder, attempted murder, attempted robbery, burglary, and assault with a deadly weapon.

00:32:27 Speaker_00
Investigators sensed they had only uncovered part of a larger narrative, with the prosecutor announcing at a pre-trial hearing, There is a very, very good possibility there is a criminal conspiracy. There may be other suspects."

00:32:45 Speaker_00
The other suspects point pertained to an individual already known to investigators. When Jim Hood was informed of Bruce Beecham's arrest, he appeared shocked.

00:32:57 Speaker_00
He claimed that he didn't think Bruce had ever met Bonnie or was the type of person to do such a thing. Despite this, it remained possible that Jim Hood had hired Bruce Beecham to murder his wife.

00:33:12 Speaker_00
Despite Jim denying any knowledge of his wife's affair with Rudy Manuel, the situation was a timeless motive for murder. Evidence failed to clarify the matter.

00:33:26 Speaker_00
While Bonnie had a $750,000 life insurance policy, ballistics on guns Jim Hood owned confirmed none of them had been used in the crime. There were no paper trails indicating that Bruce Beecham had recently received any large sums of money either.

00:33:46 Speaker_00
If the truth was held by either man, they weren't talking. Despite facing a potential death sentence, Bruce Beecham refused to implicate Jim Hood and continued to deny having anything to do with the crime. Investigators harboured their own doubts.

00:34:07 Speaker_00
After all, if Bruce had been hired to kill Bonnie, why would he visit Camp Nelson over two consecutive weekends, attend the local bars, and interact with various witnesses?

00:34:21 Speaker_00
Without any evidence emerging to the contrary, Jim Hood was officially ruled out as a suspect. Bruce Beauchamp went to trial in February 1991, six months after Bonnie Hood was killed.

00:34:41 Speaker_00
By this point, investigators had settled on the theory that the crime was financially motivated, after Bruce had overheard Bonnie talk about the large amount of tips collected from the bar.

00:34:54 Speaker_00
Given that Bruce knew Bonnie was married to Jim, he most likely assumed she would be alone in her cabin that night, thus an easy target to rob. Heavily intoxicated, Bruce headed to Bonnie's cabin only to discover another man was present.

00:35:14 Speaker_00
Bruce's plan quickly unravelled from there. He shot Bonnie and Rudy Manuel before fleeing the scene in a panic. The prosecution expressed doubts about the 6am alibi Bruce had given police, saying that it was unreliable.

00:35:32 Speaker_00
His friend that had vouched for him was either lying or mistaken. In the prosecution's words, it was, a simple case of robbery that led to murder and attempted murder. The prosecution's star witness was Rudy Manuel.

00:35:52 Speaker_00
When asked on the stand about who shot him, Rudy pointed to Bruce Beecham and announced, there's no doubt he's the one.

00:36:02 Speaker_00
But as soon as Rudy started giving his testimony, his story contained a number of markedly different details from the story he'd originally given police. Under oath, Rudy denied ever having an affair with Bonnie Hood.

00:36:19 Speaker_00
He claimed he had visited her cabin that night just to talk and had been sitting on the edge of her bed chatting with the lights on when Bruce Beecham suddenly burst through the door. Rudy recalled,

00:36:33 Speaker_00
told me I was a dead motherfucker and he was very rude about it. He said, get on your knees and face the floor. I didn't want to do it because I knew he would shoot me."

00:36:47 Speaker_00
Rudy claimed he tried to kick the gun out of Bruce's hand and that's when he was shot in the head. He explained, Then there was a struggle and two more shots. I think Bonnie stood up on the bed and at this time the defendant fought with her.

00:37:05 Speaker_00
This man right here jumped on the bed. I believe she was fighting for her life and there were two more shots." This was the first time Rudy had ever mentioned a struggle taking place.

00:37:21 Speaker_00
Prosecutors attributed Rudy's differing recollections to his severe head trauma. The defence, however, contended that he was making up new details to fit the physical evidence.

00:37:35 Speaker_00
During the trial, it had been revealed that Bonnie's fingernails indicated she had struggled with her attacker.

00:37:42 Speaker_00
The defence believed that Rudy was falsifying his story to suit this finding as well as other key evidence, including the fact that semen had been found inside Bonnie that couldn't be linked to anyone in particular.

00:37:58 Speaker_00
From the defence's perspective, the semen indicated that Rudy wasn't being entirely truthful about what he and Bonnie did that night. Testimony provided by the county coroner rebuffed Rudy's story further.

00:38:14 Speaker_00
The coroner held the opinion that Bonnie was killed elsewhere and then moved to the bed. He highlighted the blood spatter from the crime scene, specifically the neat trickle of blood that ran from Bonnie's ear, down her chin, and across her neck.

00:38:32 Speaker_00
The coroner claimed this didn't coincide with someone being shot while lying in bed, explaining, When a person gets shot, blood splatters all about. This is the tidiest homicide scene I've seen in 12 years as a coroner.

00:38:50 Speaker_00
This is too tidy, not what we see in violent death. It's not consistent with the struggle Rudy Manuel said occurred. The defence told the jury, the only conclusion you can draw is that Rudy Manuel is a liar.

00:39:10 Speaker_00
Something happened in that cabin that night he's not telling us about. After deliberations, the jury produced the first ever acquittal in a murder trial in the county's history. One of the jurors later told a reporter,

00:39:29 Speaker_00
We never ever, any of us, thought Bruce Beauchamp was guilty. There was not enough evidence to convict him." As for Rudy Manuel's testimony, jurors' opinions were overwhelmingly negative.

00:39:45 Speaker_00
While some considered his memory unreliable, others believed he was deliberately lying. Upon hearing the verdict, Bruce Beauchamp turned to his lawyer and said, thank God, thank God they believed us."

00:40:04 Speaker_00
Jim Hood remained staunch, telling reporters he would never give up looking for his wife's murderer. I will be pursuing it, he remarked, before adding somewhat ominously, but I don't want to say how.

00:40:24 Speaker_00
Upon his release from custody, Bruce Beecham started putting his life back together. He quickly married a woman named Sharon Spray, a convicted criminal whom Bruce became pen pals with while in jail.

00:40:38 Speaker_00
In an interview with the Porterville Recorder, in the months after his acquittal, Bruce claimed he had cleaned up his life and was completely sober. In reality, he and his wife had become frequent heroin users.

00:40:54 Speaker_00
The now unemployed Bruce admitted that he'd considered asking Jim Hood for his old job back, but didn't think that would go down well.

00:41:05 Speaker_00
Even though Bruce wasn't working, his friends and family noticed that he was rarely short on cash and was often seen counting out stacks of $100 bills. Even his wife had noticed this inexplicable flow of money,

00:41:22 Speaker_00
One day, when they were low on funds, Bruce told Sharon that he was going to pay someone a visit. 45 minutes later, he returned with an envelope containing $5,000 cash.

00:41:37 Speaker_00
In January 1992, a year and a half after Bonnie Hood's murder, Bruce Beauchamp recruited his brother-in-law, Gary Spray, to carry out a break-in. He told Gary his intended target was Jim Hood.

00:41:53 Speaker_00
Gary was apprehensive, but Bruce assured him they had nothing to fear. He said that even if they did get caught, Jim Hood would never prosecute them. According to Bruce, he had something over Jim that ensured his cooperation.

00:42:14 Speaker_00
The two men broke into Jim's office at the Mission Plaza shopping centre and stole $18,000 worth of construction equipment, which they then hid inside a storage facility.

00:42:27 Speaker_00
When the items were discovered to be missing, an advertisement was placed in the local newspaper offering $3,000 for the safe return of the stolen goods.

00:42:39 Speaker_00
Gary Spray called the number on the advertisement and spoke with Jim Hood's business partner, Pat, offering to return the stolen equipment for $6,000.

00:42:51 Speaker_00
Pat agreed and it was decided that the exchange would take place at the storage locker where the items were being kept. When Gary arrived at the locker, police were already waiting. As he was placed under arrest, he yelled at Pat, You messed up.

00:43:10 Speaker_00
Some things from the past will come out." After this, Jim Hood began receiving phone calls from Bruce Beauchamp demanding that the charges against his brother-in-law be dropped.

00:43:25 Speaker_00
On one occasion, Bruce left a message on Jim's answering machine that said, If you don't start dealing with me properly, I'm going to sink you. Despite these efforts, the charges against the Gary Spray remained.

00:43:43 Speaker_00
He pleaded guilty and was sent to jail for two months. But the saga wasn't over. Bruce Beecham continued his threatening calls against the Gym Hood, leading to Jim becoming so paranoid that he began carrying a loaded handgun with him at all times.

00:44:03 Speaker_00
He slept with it next to his bed, while also keeping a loaded 9mm Glock pistol in the drawer of his office desk. Monday March 2 1992 marked almost a year since Bruce Beecham's acquittal for the murder of Bonnie Hood.

00:44:23 Speaker_00
Bruce asked a friend to drive him to Jim Hood's office at Mission Plaza, The two men had spoken on the phone earlier that morning and Jim had invited Bruce to his office so they could sort things out once and for all.

00:44:39 Speaker_00
When Bruce entered the building, he moved past Jim's secretary and into the private office space where Jim was waiting. The door was closed behind them.

00:44:52 Speaker_00
Seconds later, two gunshots rang out from the office in quick succession, followed by a brief pause, then five more shots. Casefile will be back shortly. Thank you for supporting us by listening to this episode's sponsors.

00:45:19 Speaker_00
Thank you for listening to this episode's ads. By supporting our sponsors, you support Casefile to continue to deliver quality content. Police arrived at Mission Plaza to find Bruce Beecham dead on the floor of Jim Hood's office.

00:45:42 Speaker_00
He had been shot seven times. His right hand was clutching an unregistered blue steel .357 Magnum revolver. Jim Hood was immediately taken in for questioning and over the next 12 hours, he explained the deadly confrontation in detail.

00:46:04 Speaker_00
He said that over the past several weeks, Bruce had been making increasingly threatening phone calls to him. Jim began actively avoiding Bruce's calls. But that morning, Bruce called the office threatening to bury Jim.

00:46:21 Speaker_00
Fed up, Jim finally agreed to meet in person to sort their conflict diplomatically. He believed the conversation would be about the theft of the construction equipment and the recent incarceration of Bruce's brother-in-law, Gary Spray.

00:46:39 Speaker_00
Jim suspected trouble the moment Bruce entered his office. As Jim sat behind his desk, he noticed Bruce's hands were shaking, particularly the left one. His eyes were also bulging as if he were about to lash out.

00:46:57 Speaker_00
Bruce suddenly reached behind his back and pulled out a revolver. But before Bruce could fire a shot, Jim reached into his desk drawer, drew his own pistol, and started shooting.

00:47:11 Speaker_00
The first two shots struck Bruce in the chest and he immediately fell to the floor. Jim stood up and walked over to him. He noticed that Bruce's head and the arm he was holding the gun in were moving suspiciously.

00:47:28 Speaker_00
He proceeded to shoot Bruce several more times to ensure he was dead. If Jim's word was true, the situation was clearly self-defence. but investigators could tell from the get-go that not everything was as it seemed.

00:47:48 Speaker_00
Firstly, the friend who dropped Bruce Beecham at Mission Plaza said it didn't appear that Bruce had been armed with a gun.

00:47:57 Speaker_00
Bruce had told his friend that he suspected Jim had set a trap for him and he expected to be arrested when he arrived at Jim's office. was carrying a knife which he left in the car because he didn't want to be armed when the confrontation occurred.

00:48:14 Speaker_00
As far as Bruce's friend was concerned, Bruce exited the car with nothing more than the clothes on his back.

00:48:23 Speaker_00
While Jim Hood asserted that Bruce had been noticeably on edge and irritated when he arrived at the office, Jim's secretary described Bruce's demeanour as perfectly happy, even jovial. The crime scene itself also didn't align with Jim Hood's story.

00:48:42 Speaker_00
Firstly, the lead investigator's attention was immediately drawn to the way Bruce Beauchamp was still grasping his firearm.

00:48:51 Speaker_00
In all his years as a homicide detective, the investigator had never seen a murder victim still holding onto their gun after being shot and falling to the ground, especially on a concrete floor.

00:49:05 Speaker_00
Secondly, the revolver was in Bruce's right hand, yet Bruce was left handed. A smear between two pools of blood indicated that Bruce's body had been moved after his death.

00:49:20 Speaker_00
There was also blood on Bruce's right hand as well as on the floor underneath it, yet the gun itself was clean. If Bruce was holding the gun at the time of the shooting, this was an impossible feat.

00:49:36 Speaker_00
It was clear to investigators that the gun had been placed in Bruce's hand after he'd been shot. Gunpowder residue recovered on the palms of Bruce's hands showed he had his hands up in a defensive posture when Jim Hood pulled the trigger.

00:49:54 Speaker_00
With the Jim's story falling apart, he was placed under arrest for the murder of Bruce Beauchamp. Despite Jim's insistence that Bruce's death was in no way connected to Bonnie's murder, the complex case caused a media frenzy.

00:50:14 Speaker_00
Speculation ran wild that Jim had murdered Bruce as payback for killing his wife. Shooting survivor Rudy Manuel maintained that Bruce Beauchamp was the man responsible for attacking him and Bonnie. Speaking with the Porterville Recorder, Rudy said,

00:50:33 Speaker_00
Bruce Beecham died the same way as Bonnie, cold-heartedly and point blank. Our family can finally relax and not be fearful of strange cars in the driveway. But investigators weren't so sure that Bruce's murder was motivated by revenge.

00:50:54 Speaker_00
They had previously considered the possibility that Jim Hood had hired Bruce to kill Bonnie and he'd only been cleared due to a lack of evidence.

00:51:05 Speaker_00
At the time, police had opted to pursue Bruce first, thinking his would be an easier conviction to secure. They'd been convinced that Bruce would be found guilty and he would then confess to Jim's involvement in exchange for a more lenient sentence.

00:51:24 Speaker_00
One officer admitted, we were biting at the bit to find Bruce Beecham guilty so we could get on with the case. And we were prepared to do that.

00:51:36 Speaker_00
However, when Bruce was unexpectedly acquitted, it destroyed the possibility of Jim Hood facing any charges. If he was indeed involved, then all those responsible for Bonnie Hood's death had seemingly gotten away with murder.

00:51:55 Speaker_00
Two days after Bruce Beecham's death, his widow Sharon Spray told investigators that in the months after Bruce was acquitted for Bonnie's murder, she found an envelope hidden underneath the headboard of her bed. It contained $10,000 in cash.

00:52:14 Speaker_00
Sharon confronted Bruce, who said the money was linked to Bonnie's murder. Sharon had always believed in Bruce's innocence and was therefore stunned when she asked Bruce if he had killed Bonnie and he said yes.

00:52:31 Speaker_00
According to Sharon, Bruce claimed that Jim Hood had paid him $50,000 to murder Bonnie. Following his acquittal, Bruce faced mortgage stress and was in the throes of a heroin addiction.

00:52:46 Speaker_00
By 1992, he had blown through the bulk of Jim's money but realised he was in a unique position. Because of double jeopardy laws, he could never be tried for Bonnie's murder again, even if he confessed.

00:53:03 Speaker_00
He even sought the advice of a paralegal who confirmed this to be the case. Emboldened by this knowledge and motivated to profit on his story, Bruce consulted a freelance author about writing a tell-all book about what really happened in Camp Nelson.

00:53:22 Speaker_00
He knew that such a revelation would not only ruin Jim Hood's business and reputation, but likely result in Jim being arrested for Bonnie's murder. Bruce used this as leverage to squeeze more money out of Jim,

00:53:39 Speaker_00
He bombarded him with threatening calls trying to extort and blackmail him. He demanded that Jim make a wire transfer to his bank account, but Jim was reluctant to leave a paper trail.

00:53:53 Speaker_00
Instead, Jim told Bruce to meet him at his office to settle the matter there. In the lead up to the meeting, Bruce didn't know what to expect. He told his wife, Sharon, Jim either wants to kill me, set me up to get arrested, or pay me off."

00:54:17 Speaker_00
Sharon's story was corroborated by her brother, Gary Spray, who was involved in Bruce's campaign against Jim Hood. Gary added that Jim had initially agreed to pay Bruce $250,000.

00:54:32 Speaker_00
The $50,000 Bruce had already received was the first of what was supposed to be a series of instalments paid out by Jim every six months.

00:54:42 Speaker_00
It was when Jim failed to pay Bruce as promised that Bruce and Gary hatched their plan to steal the construction equipment from him.

00:54:53 Speaker_00
Investigators knew Sharon and Gary Spray's testimonies amounted to little more than hearsay and might not even be admissible in court. Given their criminal history and drug use, a jury would also be less inclined to consider them credible witnesses.

00:55:15 Speaker_00
Instead, they worked to uncover more evidence of their claims, starting with a solid motive. The obvious one was Bonnie's alleged affair with Rudy Manuel,

00:55:28 Speaker_00
Residents of Camp Nelson referred to the relationship as the worst kept secret in town, but investigators could only find one witness who claimed to have actually seen the pair acting intimately.

00:55:40 Speaker_00
A bartender from the lodge said he'd seen Bonnie and Rudy kiss on one occasion, hardly enough evidence to prove a long-standing sexual affair.

00:55:53 Speaker_00
While Rudy had initially admitted to the affair, he'd changed his story at Bruce's trial and denied it ever happened. If he changed his story again, it would mean admitting that he'd committed perjury in a murder trial.

00:56:10 Speaker_00
Although the truth about the affair remained up for debate, there was evidence that Jim and Bonnie's marriage was on the rocks. Several people close to Bonnie claimed that she'd talked openly about divorcing Jim in the days prior to her murder.

00:56:28 Speaker_00
According to Bonnie's bookkeeper, Bonnie had scheduled an appointment with a divorce attorney on Monday August 20 1990, the night before she was killed. Financial gain was another potential motive,

00:56:45 Speaker_00
Jim had always maintained that the lodge was breaking even financially, but a review of his tax records showed that the business had lost $550,000 between 1989 and 1990.

00:57:01 Speaker_00
Jim was also found to have been deliberately overstating the value of his various real estate holdings. Although he claimed to be a multi-millionaire, in reality, he was in a precarious financial position.

00:57:18 Speaker_00
Not long after purchasing the lodge, Bonnie Hood had received a $250,000 inheritance. The money would have gone a long way in covering the lodge's expenses, but Bonnie refused to put her own money into the business.

00:57:35 Speaker_00
Rumours had it that this became a major source of contention between the Hoods. In the aftermath of Bonnie's murder, Jim was the beneficiary of her $750,000 life insurance policy.

00:57:51 Speaker_00
It turned out that he'd also collected an additional $2 million from a separate mortgage insurance policy that he'd taken out on the lodge, bringing his entire windfall from Bonnie's death to nearly $3 million.

00:58:07 Speaker_00
With all of this information coming to light, investigators were certain of their long-standing theory that Jim Hood had hired a hitman to kill his wife.

00:58:18 Speaker_00
Further digging revealed that Bruce Beecham had previously proven himself willing and able to do Jim's dirty work.

00:58:26 Speaker_00
In 1989, Jim had apparently paid Bruce $9,000 to illegally cut down 35 trees to give passing motorists a better view of a Mission Plaza billboard.

00:58:42 Speaker_00
The Hitman Theory formed the basis of the prosecution's case against Jim Hood when he went to trial in October 1992.

00:58:51 Speaker_00
Although Jim maintained that he'd killed Bruce Beecham in self-defence, the prosecution argued that he'd murdered Bruce to bring an end to his extortion efforts.

00:59:03 Speaker_00
The problem was, investigators hadn't been able to find tangible proof that Bruce had received any money from Jim Hood, aside from his old paychecks from work.

00:59:15 Speaker_00
The defence accused Sharon and Gary Spray of making their story up so they could file a lawsuit against Jim for Bruce's wrongful death.

00:59:26 Speaker_00
Although Sharon denied this accusation on the stand, it was revealed that she had already consulted with three separate lawyers about filing such a lawsuit. Jim Hood took the stand in his own defence.

00:59:41 Speaker_00
He claimed not to know whether Bruce was involved in Bonnie's murder and asserted that any bad blood between the two men stemmed from the theft of his construction equipment and the subsequent prosecution of Gary Sprague.

00:59:57 Speaker_00
Jim maintained that he'd invited Bruce to his office to settle their differences peacefully and only gunned Bruce down when Bruce went to shoot him first.

01:00:09 Speaker_00
It took the jury 20 days to announce that they'd reached a verdict, only to change their mind the following morning and continue deliberations. In the end, they were at an impasse.

01:00:23 Speaker_00
Ten jurors had settled on guilty verdicts, one believed Jim wasn't guilty, and the remaining juror was undecided. A mistrial was declared, with a retrial scheduled for later in the year.

01:00:41 Speaker_00
Jim Hood's retrial commenced in September 1993 with the surprising revelation from the judge.

01:00:49 Speaker_00
He barred the prosecution from presenting any evidence suggesting that Jim had hired Bruce Beecham to murder his wife, making it clear that this trial would focus solely on Bruce's murder and not on the murder of Bonnie Hood.

01:01:06 Speaker_00
The prosecution therefore had no choice but to centre their case around the physical evidence from the crime scene in Jim's office. As for the motive, they could only go so far as to assert that Bruce was attempting to blackmail Jim about something.

01:01:25 Speaker_00
Jim had already admitted during the first trial that he'd paid Bruce to do illegal work for him in the past. This alone proved that Bruce was in possession of some knowledge that he could use against Jim.

01:01:40 Speaker_00
Jim Hood took the stand again, but he changed several critical details from his original testimony. In the first trial, Jim claimed that Bruce's hand and head had moved in very specific ways after he'd been shot.

01:01:56 Speaker_00
During the retrial, however, Jim denied that Bruce had moved at all, In order to show the jury that Jim had changed his story, the prosecution did something they believed had never been done in a California courtroom.

01:02:13 Speaker_00
They called jurors from the first trial to testify as eyewitnesses to what Jim's original testimony had been. One by one, the former jurors provided irrefutable proof that Jim had perjured himself on the stand, completely shattering his credibility.

01:02:34 Speaker_00
After six days of deliberation, the second jury returned a unanimous verdict. Jim Hood was found guilty of murdering Bruce Beecham and sentenced to 29 years in prison. Jim continued to maintain his innocence in the murders of both Bruce and Bonnie.

01:02:56 Speaker_00
His two children stood by him, believing he was wrongfully convicted and falsely accused for both crimes. In 2012, Jim's ongoing claims of innocence cost him the opportunity to be released from prison early due to good behaviour.

01:03:16 Speaker_00
He was considered a model inmate, having taken courses in stress management and conflict resolution. According to prison officials, Jim never once violated a single prison rule. However, in the words of the state governor,

01:03:33 Speaker_00
Until Jim Hood shows that he has genuinely explored and can give a credible account of the circumstance that led to his killing of Bruce Beecham, I cannot be persuaded that he would not commit future acts of violence if released from prison."

01:03:51 Speaker_00
The Governor's statements demonstrated the Catch-22 of prisoners who claimed to be truly innocent. Jim's refusal to confess meant he remained in prison for a further five years.

01:04:04 Speaker_00
He was ultimately released in 2017 after serving 23 years and has since kept a low profile. Authorities remain convinced that Bruce Beecham killed Bonnie Hood under Jim's order.

01:04:21 Speaker_00
In 1996, Bonnie's case was reopened after police received a package claiming to contain new information about her murder. What the package contained, or who sent it, has never been made public.

01:04:38 Speaker_00
Upon further investigation, the sheriff determined the new information wasn't enough to officially close the case. As of 2024, the murder of Bonnie Hood officially remains unsolved.