Desperate Measures

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Now in your filial. All of you. But who does filial? Across is a very beautiful community. It's a college community.

A lot of tourism with the Mississippi River. There is minimal amount of crime. So in a situation where you have a homicide, it's rare.

May 24th, 2010, starting out with the same as any other day.

I've got up at about quarter to seven. And I've got a phone call. It was from the school.

“Mom was supposed to be teaching that day.”

She enjoyed her job as a teacher. She was outgoing, fun-loving. A great mom. I called my mom a cell phone. And there was no answer.

So I called my dad's phone and he didn't answer. I knew my father was supposed to be working. I did not know my father had not shown up for work. I got in the vehicle and headed out there.

Drive up the road to the house.

I opened the door and saw my dad before. And I'm yelling, "Dad, do you know?" Okay. What's going on? I feel your mom breathing.

Dennis and Murna Kula were found yesterday morning by their son. What? Both of them. Somebody shot mom and dad in the head. What I see is...

Devastating. My parents, Dennis and Murna Kula were murdered in their own home. Who could do something like that? Does this look like a burglary gun bad or in assassination to you?

It was in assassination. It's a true cult of tough questions, actually. One of the questions that came to our mind was why. Why? Someone would want to kill them.

This was somebody that was lying and weighed for them. Prepared to execute them. When lead investigator John Christopherson arrived at the Colahouse Hold on May 24, 2010, his mind was spinning.

“What in the heck could have happened in a situation where two people are dead?”

Because this is an affluent neighborhood. And crime is very limited in this part of the county. Standing outside the house in the yellow hat was Son Erikaola, who had discovered the chilling death scene. It's an understand why they're like this.

It's a great people. And only. Only God. And we're entering from the three car garage into the kitchen slash mud room area. Christopherson, a special agent at the time with the Wisconsin Department of Justice,

was assisting the lacrosse sheriff's department. He takes a step by step through the Colahouse Forbidden Home. I walk into the kitchen area. I notice an elderly male lying prone on the kitchen floor, face down. A pool of blood around him.

He was shot the moment he walked in the door. Dennis Colah was 68 years old. A wealthy businessman, he once owned a chain of pharmacies and a four dealership in town, which he sold in 2006. Up until when we sold the dealership, I worked with my dad, six days a week.

Side by side. Describe your relationship with your parents. Oh, very close. So close, in fact, Dennis gave Eric hundreds of thousands of dollars to start a career as a day trader, buying and selling stocks from a computer in his house.

Cindy Cowell, Eric's younger sister, also received money from their dad, but it was just a pittance compared to her brother.

They work hard workers.

“He says her dad could have retired long ago, but he still worked part-time.”

My dad often joked it would be better for me to go to work at the pharmacy and get paid for it.

Then stay at home because your mom will have me working for nothing. Eric and Cindy, each married with families of their own, have been close since childhood. The bond with their parents was even closer. One more. One more baby girl.

What do they might be an owner on your car? They both lived within minutes of their mom and dad's house. One of the last conversations I had my father. He told me that I could count on him.

I'm always there for you.

Love you, honey. Bye. And now we're going into the computer room where Marna is located. Marna is slumped over the computer. Her left arm is still on the key pad. Her right arm is resting on her right knee. Or what is that suggestive of for you?

That she was not startled. She was comfortable sitting there. She died almost instantaneously and she did not know what was coming. Murna was 65. Like her husband, she loved to work. Murna was a substitute teacher. She especially like teaching junior high. She was outgoing, fun-loving. She loved Christmas because of the expression on everybody's faces when they opened presents.

“She would always want to talk about anything. I think going out of your life, talk about the kids.”

The morning of May 24, Murna was scheduled to work at nearby West Salem Middle School. When she didn't show, Eric received a call from a concerned school secretary. I called my mom's cell phone and there was no answer there. I was weird. I don't call my dad. So I called my dad's phone and he didn't answer. Dennis should have been on his way to work at the pharmacy.

We had a car accident. He said, "Well, it just doesn't sound like them. Something's not right." He said, "I'll run out there and see what's going on." Eric hit the road. It's about a 10-minute drive to his parents' house. I drive up the road to the house and I see my dad's truck out in the front. I look inside and see my mom's mountain here in the garage. Puzzled, Eric walks through the garage and enters the house.

I opened the door and I see my dad in the floor and I grab my dad's leg.

“Jacob, doesn't respond. What do you say anything? Anything back?”

Eric dials 911. Eric, can your father alive? Eric, we're talking to the lady on the phone. You're asking various questions. You can't have her there last time. You're my breathing. And it's nice on my mom and the computer room on the corner.

And her head was down in the keyboard. I missed him so much. Is this an ambush? These two killings. Possibly, it could have been. Or certainly somebody that they knew who came up behind them lying in weight.

As Christopherson continues touring the crime scene, I see electronics. I see a wallet that's undisturbed. I see a purse that is undisturbed. A computer sitting out. He struck that so many valuables have been left untouched.

I see credit cards and cash in closets and and dresser drawers that are undisturbed. I see jewelry boxes that haven't been touched. And something else catches his eye. The dresser drawers. An individual who's going to burglarize a place is going to open up the top drawer,

shuffle through it, close the drawer, and then look into the second drawer.

If you look at this, they're indicating that they go to the bottom drawer first. Pull it out, shuffle through it, then pull out the next drawer, and so forth going up. Who does that? Nobody that I know of. And the kids, Eric and Cindy, go into the residence and they're telling us that there's nothing stolen from the residence.

At this point, we don't know. There's nobody that stands out. Investigators would not have to speculate long. Just days after Dennis and Murna are found dead in their home, a neighbor.

Steve Burgess, a president at a local bank, provides the first lead in the case.

Steve Burgess came forward to the sheriff's department stating that he had been receiving threats, and they were distinctly death threats. Burgess is suggesting there may be a case of a stake in identity that someone out to kill him, killed the coalesce instead. Yes.

“But how could such a fatal mistake have been made easily if the killer used the internet?”

In fact, when you Google Earth, Steve Burgess has addressed the zoom into the house, goes to the coalesce house. Not to Steve Burgess's house. Yes, and now we've got a lot of work to do because whoever committed this homicide certainly has a jump on us. It has all the markings over. We hit that and told. I can't imagine a real hit there.

Start it and test it out today to fill in one of their promonate. Of shopify.de/recorded. Eric Kohler and Cindy Cowell had been turned into orphans in the same instant. It's been said that you and your father were best friends, is that true? Yes, we're.

That's true, can't believe they're gone. It's difficult to say which sibling took their deaths harder. Cindy was completely distraught. She was emotionally wrecked. For my parents to die the way they did, is just... It's the most bizarre twist of fate.

For two people who were so against violence, they'd been brutally shot. It just boggles my mind. Two people with no-known enemies had been assassinated in their home. Where does this investigation begin? With family and friends, we need to formulate a timeline to figure out exactly when Dennis and Mourna died,

so we can put together the pieces of the puzzle.

A crucial piece of that puzzle came from Mourna.

When she was shot, her left hand came to rest on the computer keyboard. We had a forensic computer expert, take a look at the computer that Mourna was on, and her last keystroke on that computer was at 541 pm on May 21st. Friday, May 21st, three days before Eric discovered his parents' bodies. The cops kept that time of death a secret.

So no matter what timeline individuals provide to us for their alibi, we now have a precise time that we can relate to as to whether or not they could have committed the crime. Investigators pieced together Dennis and Mourna's last day of life. Mourna was doing research on the home computer. Dennis had left the pharmacy around 5pm.

“It takes about an hour to drive home. I believe she died first,”

and then Dennis, he was shot as he was coming in the door. Christopherson says they were both shot once with a 22 caliber rifle.

Investigators began chasing their first intriguing lead.

The death threats to that banker who lived up the road. They found the culprit who made the calls, but hit a dead end. The individual that we believe was responsible for those threats would not have been able to carry out the homicides because they had a legitimate alibi at the time that Dennis and Mourna were killed. So deputies began looking at family members.

As it happened, the day Eric's parents were murdered was his 16th wedding anniversary. That afternoon, Eric was helping his friend Mike Gens do some home improvement. We were doing a tile surround on a shower, which, you know, the walls. How late did you work that day? I left there about 5.30.

“When he left the job that day, where did he tell you he was going?”

He told me he had to go get a plant for his wife, for their anniversary, and then they were going to eat.

He said, "Well, I'll go jump in the shower and then we can get going because it's a little bit later."

“Christine and Eric headed to dinner and later celebrated with friends.”

Investigators also questioned Eric's son, Dexter, who was just 16 when his grandparents were killed. Was it scary? A little bit, yeah. I was, it's starting getting a little heavy towards the end where I was afraid I was going to break down in front of them. I don't know.

It was difficult. Deputies then turned to Eric's sister Cindy, who had an alibi for that day. My time stamp at work proved that I got done at 445. I ran some errands and video taped on surveillance cameras at local stores. And then I arrived home with the only vehicle we had.

Patrick is Cindy's husband. Were you able to prove you at home? Yeah, they took the Xbox machine and timeline that I was on a video game machine at certain times. Then while the family is in mourning, the case takes a shocking turn. Four days after the Cole's body is discovered, Eric Cole finds a note in his mailbox.

We're not to get the mail. I opened a mailbox, brought the note back in and he opened it up and he saw the letters and he was very upset. What did the letters say? Fixed you. Six to you.

Yep. And how did Eric react to that? He was very upset. Christine calls 911 right away. A deputy goes to Eric's residence to get the note from him and Eric is destroyed.

He's stumbling, he's obviously upset. Fixed you. Suggest that there's a killer out there who killed his parents to somehow get back at him. Is that the notion? Yes.

“And also, is this just the start of the family being killed?”

The parents are now gone. Now are they looking at Eric? You're thinking could we be next? Yeah. The investigation into Dennis and murders deaths takes on new urgency.

Following protocol, deputies examined the bank records of all the family members. That's when they find something very strange in Eric's account. On Saturday, after his parents were killed, he had deposited a $50,000 check into his account. $50,000. $50,000.

And who had signed this check? Dennis Cola. Dennis Cola. Eric's dad.

This was the first investigators' new of any money Dennis had given his son.

And I know it looked terrible. I got in this check from my dad several days ago.

“I went and cashed it on Saturday and all they did.”

And my dad was the one guy that can back me up on this. And he's not here to do that. You know, I know it. I have to eventually explain check and talk about it. And I could.

And I would. Investigators wondered, if Eric failed to tell them about the check, what else wasn't he telling them? That's when they took a closer look at his entire story. Starting with that panic-stricken 911 call.

It doesn't stand out at first. But once you take the time to listen to the 911 call,

you realize that Eric never asks for help for his parents.

911 is the answer today. I was caught this morning because it might have been coming over. Okay. It's been going to answering this call this weekend. It's like we love the threat, I don't miss it.

Normally, it's, oh my god, get somebody over here right away. Help me help me. And he doesn't do that. Yes, why isn't anybody here yet? What can I do to help my parents?

And Eric did not display that at all during the call. But the biggest break was about to come. We take a closer look at his financial situation. And we discover. Eric Kola is broke.

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The cemetery was a quarter mile from where we lived.

I went through almost every day.

“After their buried, put flowers on their grave.”

I just miss them. It was a dark time for Eric financially as well. His parents had given him nearly $700,000 over the years to fund his career as a day trader. Back in 2007, 2008, you had hundreds of thousands of dollars

in your bank account, correct? Yes, I did. But what happened to that money? We went through one of the worst stock market episodes

since the Great Depression.

I lost it. That stock market dropped. Combined with Eric's incompetence, left him broke. And in more than $150,000 of debt to creditors, including the IRS, Eric turned to his father for help.

“Just one day before his parents were murdered,”

Eric says his father gave him a signed blank check. Eric now admits he, not his father, filled that check out for $50,000. You know for an outsider it looks terrible. The day after your parents are killed,

you're depositing a check in your account for $50,000. It looks like you are cashing in on your parents' murders. It may appear like that, yes. But that's not the truth. It's not the truth.

Investigators continue digging. They questioned some of Dennis' co-workers at the pharmacy where he'd been just an hour before his death. You're the last person to see Dennis. I love the last person to see my life except for the person I've shot him.

Helen Van Rue worked as a pharmacy tech alongside Dennis. She knows firsthand how generous he could be. When my husband lost his job, he told me if you ever need something. I'll help out. He was like my dad. He drew me like a daughter. But Helen says there had recently been a change in Dennis's attitude towards his own children.

I know he was given Cindy and her husband money for the mortgage. And he says I gotta put a stop to that. Helen recalls a conversation she had with Dennis just days before his murder. He had told me that day that he was telling his kids that week that he was going off his kids. You think that he told Eric.

But I'm sorry. I'm cutting you.

“I think he did the day prior to the murder.”

Which was the same day Eric says he received the sign blank check from his father.

Troubled by the coincidence investigators decided to take a second look at Eric's alibi

and where he was at the exact time his mother died at her computer. Where were you? At five, forty-one in the afternoon. He there was unwrought to Shopco or was at Shopco. Shopco is a general merchandise store.

And Eric says he was there looking for a plant and anniversary gift for his wife. I went to two Shopcoes that day and when I bought my plant at 2nd Shopco, I had a receipt that had saved in case my wife didn't like the gift. Time stamp on that receipt reads 615 p.m. But deputies could find no record of Eric going to the first Shopco.

No evidence that he was shopping when his mother was murdered. Shopco has a security camera. And somehow that day you're invisible, you're not on that security camera. Why is that how do you explain that? I was at that Shopco.

We see a lot of shoppers, a lot of purchases, but we don't see Eric. We don't see him. We don't see his truck. We see no sign of him. How significant is that?

It's significant in that it now opens up that period of his timeline. Where he has the opportunity to get to his parents' house and kill them. Eric was now the target of the investigation even though he didn't know it. For two months authorities quietly gathered more evidence before bringing him in for questioning. Oh, thank you for doing that.

I've been doing it. We've looked ahead of the deal surveillance over and over again.

And I'll say, I mean, I don't know if this is a lie, but...

And I was here. And then Chris Dawverson moves on to that $50,000 check. He gave me a check. And we see that he signed it right. Eric doesn't know a handwriting expert has determined that his father's signature is a forger.

We did know that you filled his house, and we also know that your dad didn't sign this. It's a recreation of this signature. Eric now knows where this questioning is going. I'm telling you what's going on. What do you think?

I know that you went out of it.

“And that's why you wanted to make sure that they weren't quickly.”

And that, do this. I know you didn't want it to be. I didn't do it. I told you I wasn't there. Eric is allowed to leave the interrogation room.

But minutes later, his life changes forever. Today we're satisfied to have made an arrest in the case. Deputies slapped on the cuffs in the parking lot. Eric Kola arrested the day on two counts of first degree intentional homicide. What?

For Eric's wife Christine, the idea that Eric could harm his parents is simply absurd.

“He has never hit or hurt another person in his life ever.”

I've never seen my father angry enough where he would strike anything,

or raise his voice to the point where he would consider it yelling or screaming. It would take two years for Eric's case to wind its way to trial. Investigators had uncovered that $50,000 check. Eric's large deaths and a shaky alibi. I began putting thoughts together in my head.

So that they have the right person. He did commit this crime. He did do this act of evil. Finally, in June 2012, Lacrosse County District Attorney, Tim Grinky, begins the case against Eric.

“And the truth is the defendant's guilty of murdering his parents.”

We wanted to lay out for the jury that Eric was a man of secrets. He's not who appears to be. He's somebody that has a desperate financial motive for the crime. Co-prosycutor Gary Freiberg says that desperation led Eric to kill the two people who had long financed his life. Why would he kill the goose that laid the golden egg for him?

Well, I think it's because the goose was saying no more eggs. In a risky move, Eric takes the stand. You wanted to get at the money that you knew was going to be or should be your someday, right? No. You wanted to speed up that inheritance process, didn't you?

No. But after being confronted with indisputable evidence, Eric is forced to make a devastating admission. That he, in fact, signed his father's name to that $50,000 check. He didn't tell investigators at the time because he thought it would look bad. I've signed my dad's signature on hundreds and hundreds of checks.

From personal, paying bills at the house at the store when we had double signature checks, hundreds and hundreds of times. I mean, it's absolutely something Dennis would do to give that check. To him, sign it himself and fill it in. But soon, shocking evidence has presented that could send Eric to prison for the rest of his life. And it comes from Eric himself.

Eric's signature. You know what dad? He was always there. And we're all doing something, building something, father's on time.

You're getting emotional talking about your father. What is that? Because I miss him a lot.

“Are these tears that we see crocodile tears?”

No. Did you wait for your father to come home? And when he entered the home, shoot him in the back of the head. No, I did not. I swear on their honor.

That I did not kill him, mom and dad. It's been two years since Dennis and Mernacola were found murdered in their home.

Keith Belser, one of Eric's defense attorneys, says this case should never have seen the inside of a courtroom.

There's no evidence. There's no DNA. There's no fingerprints. There's no fiber evidence. There's no hair evidence.

My gosh, the guy that hole after noon was doing grouting of a bathroom. There's no grout. Now, one thing. Link's Eric Kohler to those armsides. Prosecutor Tim Grinky admits, his case is circumstantial.

It's curious that we didn't find any of his DNA fingerprints there. But the fact that we don't have it doesn't mean he wasn't there.

There's nothing there that says I was there.

Because I wasn't there. In retrospect, you've thought about that over time. But during the trial, the defense drops a bombshell.

“Remember that fixed you note Eric found in his mailbox, which he said pointed to the real killer?”

I wrote the note. I put it in the mailbox. That's right. Eric says he planted the note after investigators questioned his 16-year-old son, Dexter. I just wanted them to leave me and my family alone.

And get who killed my mom and dad. I know what it was really stupid. And so sorry to that. But the prosecution says it's one more sign of Eric's guilt. I think he panicked and decided he needed to do something to get the focus off of him.

And this is what he came up with. Investigators say you lied and you manipulated. You did? Yes, I did lie. I lied about my father signing the check and I lied about the note.

It's correct. And I did not mean to manipulate. He's a murderer and he's a liar. Jim Kobe, Eric's lead defense attorney, says name calling is dominating the trial. The focus of the prosecution's case over and over and over is going to be

a liar, liar pants on fire to get a gutter overall response from a jury, hoping that a jury just buys into the lies. They'll ignore the evidence or lack they're up. But the prosecution says it does have other evidence against Eric. Most notably his growing financial crisis.

The old or 52,000 dollars. Once a accountant, Mary Joe Werner says Eric's assets had dwindled to nearly nothing. The prosecution then calls Dennis Cole's brother, Eric's uncle to the stand. Lee Roy Cole says just days before the murders, Dennis told him he was cutting his kids off financially. He surprised me because he just said, "I'm all done giving to the kids."

That's all he said. But there is no hard evidence Dennis had actually told his son that he was cutting him off.

I would never kill anybody for money, never.

But Lee Roy also says what the defense and Eric have claimed from the beginning. Father and son were close.

“You believed it to be the nature along the lines of best friend. Isn't that right?”

I guess I guess all. The defense says given that tight family bond, it would have been impossible for Eric to kill his parents and conduct himself normally just hours later. Did you have any concerns about Eric's demeanor? Close friend Joe Breyer met Eric and Christine for drinks the night of the murders.

He's probably a little more jovial and neutral because it was his anniversary and they were celebrating. But it was just Eric, it was usual. If Eric had just come from his parents' house, would he have been able to present himself like that to you, do you believe? Absolutely not. There is no way. Because I know when there is something wrong.

The defense resurrects a theory investigators had rejected. That Dennis and Merna were mistakenly murdered by a hired gunman who went to the wrong address. Would you tell us your full name for the record, please? Stephen Robert Burgess.

He's the one who had received death threats.

“Did you receive threats such as your time is limited?”

Yes, I did. Did you receive threats that your days are numbered? Yes. We don't know who killed Dennis and Merna Koala. What we know is that the crime scene certainly suggests somebody who was well planned, who knew what they were doing.

You ain't the forensic data sources. Bullstering their hitman theory, the defense then calls forensic expert Max Scott. He specializes in reconstructing and investigating violent crime scenes. I think it's an organized scene. Scott says the death scene at the Colise house is the work of a pro.

We think it was well planned, rehearsed with experienced doers who knew how to do this type of thing. And most importantly, not leave any evidence. Some evidence. The prosecution finds the hitman run a muck theory ridiculous. The professional killer wouldn't go upstairs and open the drawers and make it look like a burglary.

Take the time to do that. Did you tell us what they are? The defense attacks that alleged motive of financial desperation with Deb Thompson of forensic accountant. They had enough money on hand to pay all their June bills. Correct.

We had all of our bills paid. Our cars were paid off. We had a mortgage payment. We had other payments, but we were on top of everything we were fine. And we were tight, but we were doing okay.

What do we arrive at in terms of total assets? 246,825 dollars. And the defense contends the fact that Eric deposited that $50,000 check. The day after the murders is actually proof of his innocence. What sort of an idiot would put a check in the bank the morning after they killed their parents,

knowing that bank records are easy to get. After 14 days spent listening to the testimony of 57 witnesses, the jury gets the case. I'm confident that he will be found innocent. There's no doubt in my mind. I'm not a killer.

Did not kill him. The jury in Eric Colis case deliberates 20 hours over three days. As Eric braces for the verdict, he acknowledges he played a role in placing himself at the defense table. I did two dumb things, yes. I wrote that note, and I said that my father signed the check.

“But will the jury see Eric's lies as dumb or devious?”

We, the jury, find the defendant, Eric Colis, guilty of first degree,

and tensed a homicide of death. Eric is found guilty of killing both his parents, as well as an additional charge of forging his father's name on that $50,000 check. I just couldn't believe it. I don't know how they arrived at that. You know, hear a guilty, guilty, guilty over and over and over from each of them.

And like I didn't do it, I didn't do it. It just reverberates in your head. My heart just stopped for a second there. It's like, wow. Eight million thoughts through your head, Mom and Dad are dead.

Their killer's going to prison. He was found guilty. Wait a second, that killer's my brother. Eric's wife, Christine, was dumbfounded. Total injustice.

Absolutely total injustice. Have you ever had a moment of doubt?

None, ever, never, never, ever.

No. I want people to know that this evil, cruel man that they've heard about that killed his parents is not my father. And that he had nothing to do with this never has, never will. He didn't see my parents as parents.

He saw them as an ATM machine. And when the ATM machine was out of cash on his debit card,

“he did the only thing he thought was what he could get away with.”

Cindy also knows that one faithful last act by her mom helped convict her brother by punching a hole in Eric's alibis. Placing an afake note. In fact, that when your mother died, she did touch that keyboard.

Your mother played a role in his conviction.

By hitting that key. Yeah, she did. She did. He brought justice for her and dad. You can speak either from the council.

“Two months after the guilty verdict, Eric is back for sentencing.”

Cindy addresses the court.

You're 100? Life is not fair. All he can ask for is justice. Eric also chooses to speak seeking one last chance to be believed. I've been convicted of this crime, your honor.

That I did not do.

I did not kill my mom and dad.

“And I'm going to go on and continue to fight for me.”

And prove that I'm innocent. To show people that I did not do this. I will not quit. Who is responsible for this? It's still out there.

Judge Scott Horne hands down Eric sentenced. You took the life of the two people who gave you life. And you'll spend the rest of your life incarcerated. Eric is sentenced to life without the possibility of parole. I'm on my dad.

Cindy Cowell has justice but little piece. It's evil and it's still hard for me to believe that someone who wants to kiss me on my head when I was a baby could turn around into the mother and the father.

“Who are responsible for giving them life in the first place?”

I was content court ruled that Eric could not inherit any of his parents estate. It assigned college share to his two children instead. When beloved family patriarch Gary Ferris went missing, his family looked everywhere on their property until they came across something horrifying. Absolutely.

The blame game in this family went round and round. This is bloodesticker, the Ferris wheel. I would don't see how anyone can look at this story and think they were happy. Binge the full series, bloodesticker, the Ferris wheel on the free Odyssey app or wherever you get your podcast.