Listener request this week! Join us as Jess walks us through part 1 of the death of Heather Rich. 

Heather Rose Rich, a vivacious Waurika, Oklahoma high‑school sophomore and cheerleader’s body was found in Belknap Creek on October 10, 1996. Heather, known for her beauty, bubbly personality, and popularity, had been struggling with personal issues: family stress after her father’s severe workplace injury, self‑harm, eating‑disorder behaviors, experimentation with drugs, and the recent breakup with her boyfriend Randy Wood. She disappeared after a heated argument with her mother over an expensive phone bill; initial sheriff’s deputies dismissed the missing‑person report as a likely runaway case. As rumors about local drug activity and possible links to other troubled teens circulated, a rancher ultimately discovered Heather’s badly mutilated, gunshot‑wounded body in a backwater creek, and her father identified her by a gold heart‑shaped 

This week’s episode is situated around Heather’s death against the backdrop of Waurika and the Red River country—a small, tight‑knit town with a lawless past and a present marked by limited outlets for youth, drug problems, and social divisions. Key suspects quickly include ex‑boyfriend Randy Wood, a quietly troubled football player from a poor family, and Josh Bagwell, a wealthy peer with whom Heather had flirted; both were absent or evasive around the time she vanished and became persons of interest in the community’s gossip. The discovery of Heather’s body galvanized searches, rumors, and an escalating investigation, and the promise of justice. 

Listener discretion is advised this week. 

Sources:

• Wikipedia

• News Channel 6

• Find a Grave.com 

• ABC News

• Chilling Crimes.com

• The New York Times

• Texas Monthly.com 

• True Crime Line Site.com