This week, your favorite cousins wrap up the crimes of Glen Ake and Steve Hatch.

Ake and Hatch were arrested in Colorado and returned to Oklahoma after being linked to the murders of Reverend and Mrs. Douglass, as well as related crimes in Texas. Six weeks after the killings, the manhunt ended on Thanksgiving Eve 1979; Oklahoma officials moved quickly to secure custody. Evidence against them included statements each man made, ballistic links, and testimony from eyewitness survivors Brooks and Leslie Douglass, and girlfriend, Ginger Keefe. Hatch was tried first, convicted, and sentenced to death; Ake’s 1980 trial resulted in death sentences for the murders and extraordinary prison terms for the attempted murders. Subsequent appeals, retrials, and legal rulings (including questions about Ake’s psychiatric evaluation) led to mixed outcomes.

Brooks and Leslie survived but endured repeated court appearances and years of retraumatization as appeals required them to testify multiple times. They rebuilt their lives: Brooks finished college, served in ROTC, attended law school, entered politics—winning an Oklahoma State Senate seat at 27—and championed victims’ rights, authoring the Oklahoma Victims Bill of Rights in 1992; Leslie completed college and graduate school, becoming a teacher and assistant principal. In 1995 Brooks met Ake in prison. The siblings later participated in the film adaptation of their story, and Brooks died in 2020; Leslie continues to live in Oklahoma with her family and the legacy of advocating for victims’.

Due to the brutal nature of the crimes, listener discretion is advised. 

Sources:

• Oklahoma Court of Criminal Appeals

• The Oklahoman; 2022; 2022

• Wikipedia

• Murderpedia

• Dateline

• Heaven’s Rain

• They Will Kill You