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You are now listening to True Murder, the most shocking killers in true crime history and the authors that have written about them Gasey Bundy, Dahmer, The Nightstalker DTK. Every week another fascinating author talking about the most shocking and infamous killers in true crime history. True Murder with your host journalist and author Dan Zupansky, Good Evening Under the Trustle is the true story of the most compelling murder
case in Virginia history. In nineteen eighty, Beautiful Gina Renee Hall, a Radford University freshman, went to a Virginia teen nightclub on a Saturday night. She was never seen again. Her abandoned car was found parked beneath a railroad trestle bridging the New River with blood in the trunk. The investigation led police to a secluded cabin on Claytor Lake, where there was evidence of a violent attack. Former Virginia Tech football player Stephen Epperley was charged with murder, despite the
fact that Gina's body was never found. In Virginia's Trial of the Century, prosecutor Everett Shockley presented an an entirely circumstantial case. Key witnesses against Epperley included his best friend, his mother, and a tracking dog handler later believed by many to be a fraud. Three former Virginia Tech football players testified, including a Hokies quarterback once featured on the
cover of Sports Illustrated. Would Epperley become the first person in Virginia history convicted of murder without the victim's body, an eye witness or confession, And would authorities ever find the body of Gina Renee Hall. Book they are featuring this evening is Under the Trestle, the nineteen eighty Disappearance of Gina Renee Hall and Virginia's first nobody murder trial, with my special guest, journalist and author, Ron Peterson Junior. Welcome to the program, and thank you very much for
agreeing to this interview. Ron Peterson Junior.
Well, thank you, Dan, it's great to be here.
Thanks, thank you very much, very very very interesting and unique case. And we'll get to that. First off, I want to ask you how you came to want to write this, how you came to be in a position to write this book. Under the Trestle.
Well, good question, Dan. Interestingly enough, I attended Radford University in the nineteen eighties. I got there about four years after Junior Rene Hall's disappearance, and as I was a student there there there was a rumor, or an urban myth, that there was a former student buried somewhere either on
campus or around town in a clandestine grave. And I was always curious about the case, and as I approached my senior year, I did did a little bit of research on it and actually referenced it in an article in the student newspaper. My senior year, I was an editor in the student newspaper and just briefly mentioned it. And then over the years, you know, it's one of those cases. It's so fascinating. It never never left my mind.
And as I got a little older, I became a father myself, I was a little more interested in the case emotionally, and you know what Gene Hall's family went through and that part of it. And after researching the case online over over a period of several years, about two years ago, I started doing detailed research. Actually found the public record of the court transcript at the seven day trial. There was also audio recordings of the murder
trial itself. Took the time to listen to that, and then reached out to Gena Hall's family and just to see if they would be okay with me writing a book.
Met with one of Gena Hall's family members and they gave their blessing on the project, only asked that I tell this story accurately, and then went from there to interview the prosecutor in the case, the lead state police investigator, the defense attorneys, as well as witnesses in the murder trial, even a few of the jurors, as well as friends and family of both Stephen Epperley, the killer and Gina
Renee Hall, the victim. I interviewed a totally about one hundred people that were involved in the case.
Yes, incredible job. Let's talk about Stephen Epperley, but first tell us a little bit about Radford, its location, population, sort of what kind of place it really is. Let's talk about the background of Stephen Epperley, how he grew up, and before we talk about Gina Hall.
Sure this sounds good. Radford is a small town in southwest Virginia, at a population of ten thousand. It's known by most as a college town. Radford University is now has grown since nineteen eighty, but at the time, Radford had about four or five thousand students. And Radford was a typical southwest Virginia working class town and it's alongside
the New River. The town is actually located in a bend of the New River, which is a river that flows actually from North Carolina through Virginia into the Ohio River and then eventually into the Mississippi. So Guests could best be described as just a scenic small town, you know, like a lot of small towns in Virginia, just a lot of folks with good family Christian values that live in the town.
Right, Let's talk about Stephen Epperley and his upbringing and the kind of person he becomes. It's very important to as you do, paint a picture of who this person is, and you really do fantastic job of doing that. Let's talk about Stephen Epperley, his upbringing, what he has, his aspirations to become, and what actually happens before we get to July twelfth, nineteen eighty and claytor Lake.
Sure well, Steve Epperley at the time of the murder was older than Gina Hall. He was twenty eight years old. He was originally from the town of Radford and still still lived in the town. He's what college kids would call a towny, and a lot of college towns. Eply and high school friends describe him as generally a fairly normal guy, although a lot of friends used the same phrase to describe him that he had a screw loose.
In his younger years in high school, he was an accomplished athlete football player, was in All Conference football player at Rapid High School and eventually went on to play football at Fareham College and later at Virginia Tech, graduating from Virginia Tech in nineteen seventy eight. It was interesting to interview people that knew Apperly and you just see a pattern of deviant behavior from the time of his senior year in high school, when there were some incidents
when he was violent with family members. On at least one occasion, the police were called to the house when he struck his sister and became physical with family members, and then the summer after senior year, there were accounts from friends, for example, going on a double date with Epperly and everything seemed to go okay through the evening, but then the next day they'd hear account of Eppley more or less forcing himself on his date, you know, and what would later be known as a date rape
kind of situation. And also along with that accounts of just a just a violent guy, a lot of fights, a lot of bar fights, and not just you know, just beating people up, but beating them up very badly and in a number of incidents and around the small town of Radford.
He also is a person that again likes to likes to go on dates and sorry, he's a person that's interested in women. He's interested in hunting, fishing, and sports. Tell us what he looks like and what you talk about him being in the in training and then bulking up one summer twenty five pounds of muscle. Tell us a little bit about some of this and its effect. And he used this in his dating, in his relationships with women.
At the time of the murder. Was he was about six feet tall, was an athletic guy, you know. He was described as a guy who lifted weights before lifting weights was was cool, you know, if you can imagine that back in the seventies. Graduated from high school in nineteen seventy and had aspirations of playing college football. It was a bit undersized though. He wasn't fast enough to play a skill position you know, on offense like wide receiver or running back, and then wasn't big enough to
be alignman. So he went to a junior college, went to Fareham Junior College, and there, over the course of two years, he was able to bulk up quite a bit, which a lot of college football players do. You know, their first few years in college. There was a pretty steady regiment of lifting weights, you know, eating in the school cafeteria, a lot of things that football players did
then to beef up and get bigger. So within about two or three years of being in college, he was a was a pretty big guy, you know, certainly had the look of a college football player, and is described as people, you know, as someone who certainly had an
intimidating appearance. And as I mentioned, you know, there were many accounts of violence and fights, and he's described as someone in his post high school years in the the eight or nine years leading up to the murder that just had an expectation that any woman who was with him in a dating situation or a social situation, you know, was one way or another she was going to sleep with him.
Now, you also talk about his aspirations in football and those aspirations not being fulfilled, and this has to play into his psychology and some of the actions that happened afterwards tell us what happens and as opposed to some of the friends that he has, and again, how important this these aspirations in football were to him.
Yeah, that's a good question, Dan, and one that I tried to look into pretty deeply. He was very ambitious as far as playing football on the next level. The town of Radford is right next to Blacksburg where Virginia Tech is. Virginia Tech was then and is now, you know, a big time football program. So clearly Upperly's aspirations were to play to play big time college football. Several of his friends were on that track. They were more accomplished
football players than he was. And they were including his best friend Bill King, who he was with the Knight of the murder and who later testified against him in the trial, was one of several people that were from Radford who were within Epperley's network of friends who were more successful and more accomplished as college football players on what would be a you know, a big time division IE level, and there's many indications that Eperly was frustrated
with that. His parents, who were both you know, described as lower middle class folks. He had a lower middle class upbringing. His dad was working class, worked in the local arsenal there in town or right outside of town, and his parents sacrificed a great deal in order for him to go to college, to go to the junior college that he went to, and then later to transfer
to Virginia Tech. So there was just you know a lot of commitment from his family as well for him to reach his athletic goals, and those goals, unfortunately for him,
went unrealized. When he later transferred to Tech, he was on the football team there for one year, but did not get any significant playing time, and his playing career ended in about nineteen seventy five when he had used up all his college eligibility and it was certainly, you know, not a football career of note, and according to friends and acquaintances, he was really frustrated about that and in a lot of ways felt like a failure because of it.
After that, after that disappointment, what was the employment that he finally attained and what was his behavior like, we'll say just proceeding the year preceding July nineteen eighty in terms of his normal behavior, what was his attitude at that time? Like and from examples you give.
Well after about eight years of college after he finally graduated from Virginia Tech in nineteen seventy eight, and he was a business administration major, had no real job prospects when he graduated from Virginia Tech, spent the summer of nineteen seventy eight in Richmond, where a friend had a line on jobs than there successful living on his own en Richmond, moved back to Radford at the end of that summer, and then for the two years prior to Juna Hall's murder, he went for a variety of jobs.
Probably the best opportunity he had was in real estate at a local real estate agency in town, where the owner was well connected and certainly willing to support his career. That didn't work out for him. He worked as a
delivery person for an office supply company in town. Was also a substitute teacher at the nearby high school, Kulaski County High School, where there are a lot of accounts of him challenging the male students at the high school physically and then making inappropriate comments to the female students that he taught as a substitute teacher, many accounts of that.
And then at the time of the murder he was working as a landscaper on the campus at Radford University, just a grounds of labor doing that kind of thing. So certainly not the kind of Wark history you'd expect from a college graduate.
Yes, certainly. Now let's get to Gina Hall. She was eighteen years old and tell us she went to Colburn High School in Wise County. Tell us a little bit about Wise County in Colburn and the kind of person Gina was from the accounts from her sister, her father tell us about her life. What was she? Gina Hall?
Like, thank you? And really the real story with this is just the wonderful kind of that Gina Hall was. She was from the small town of Coburn, which is about an hour and a half two hours west of Radford, tiny little town nestled right in the heart of coal mining country in Wise County. Gina was most popular in her graduating class and in nineteen seventy eight from Coburn High nineteen seventy from Cobra and High School, GA. She was petite, very attractive young woman, had a variety of interests.
She was perhaps ahead of her time. She was very athletic. She played on the men's golf team and on most occasions she beat all the men on the team. Also did gymnastics and then was an accomplished tennis player as well. Went to the state championship at her high school in tennis and was noted for her skills as a doubles player because of her sense of teamwork and camaraderie. It's important to note Gina had suffered a childhood accident when
she was two years old at her house. She was wearing a pair of cotton pajamas and brushed up against a stove. The pajamas ignited and she had terrible burns on the right side of her body, covering about ninety percent of the right side of her body from her right arm down to just above her knee. These were third degree burns and she required required surgeries and excisions and skin grafts throughout her childhood up and up until you know, till her eighteenth birthday, shortly before she died.
So because of those scars, Gina was really modest in her relationships with men. Now she did. Every account is she did keep the scars covered up. Even in the summertime. She'd wear a pair of tights under her clothes, and she'd wear long sleeves and long pants, so she would, you know, she'd have the apparent appearance of an attractive young woman, which she she certainly was. But more importantly than that, she was she was just a wonderful person,
just had a had a bright future. She was active in her church, she volunteered with with teaching Bible school and uh teaching dance classes to you know, to young
girls in town. There and morally. There were character witnesses in her murder trial that stated she was the kind of person would would typically never have more than one alcoholic drink, in fact, usually drank a non alcoholic drink if she was out socially, and was certainly not the kind of a person to be promiscuous or as was later alleged, to leave a nightclub on her own with
another man, you know, for romantic reasons. So that's basically a little bit about about the kind of person Gena Hall was.
I think it's important to mention, as you do, that this extensive scarring that she experienced and she had and all these operation surgeries to correct that, still she was very modest and that would have factored into her decision to have relations with someone that she didn't know and
wasn't comfortable with. So that was part of what her sister Jlana said later that there certainly was that as a major factor in her being more inhibited than most people in terms of getting in to meet with someone.
Absolutely and and and uh yeah, Dan, that's that's important to note. She was, you know, with someone who would would most definitely not put herself in an intimate situation with the man. And her sisters even stated at the trial and afterwards that that, uh Gina was very concerned that that she'd ever even be able to conceive a child.
That was something she had she discussed with her mother and her sister because of this this scarring that she had, and and you know, that certainly contributed to her her modest behavior and in her romantic relationships. Any relationship she had with you know, with boys or men growing up, you know, was more more just friends. And that's kind of the way she was socially and romantically. Yes.
Another important thing is too you you talk about her athleticism, but also that she loved dancing and that that was one of her activities that she really enjoyed, was dancing. Let's talk about the Blacksburg Marriott. You say, on campus at Virginia Tech here, and what happens that she goes out dancing on that date, July twelfth, nineteen eighty.
Tell us about that circumstances. And one small correction, Dan, it was the night of her disappearance was June twenty eighth to nineteen eighty, so it was Gene was actually there. She was taking summer school classes with her sister Delana. They lived together in an off campus apartment. And being the summer, you know, there was not the night life was there was not as much going on as there
typically would be during the school year. As I mentioned, the town of Radford and Radford University is only only about ten to fifteen miles from Virginia Tech. So socially, students tend to, you know, Radford students would tend to travel to Virginia Tech to go to park using nightclubs and so forth, and on the evening of June twenty eighth, nineteen eighty, Grena had just finished a really challenging schedule
of midterm exams. She'd studied hard for them, you know, had pulled all nighters the week before, and Gina was in the mood to go out and blow off a little steam. And for her, that was was to go out dancing. All her friends, anyone who knew her said that, you know, Gina was, she was a great dancer. She loved to dance, and you know, was happiest when she was dancing. So she wanted to go out that night. Gina's sister elected not to go out with her that night.
Her sister, Delana, was was apparently you know, tired from studying for exams and elected to stay home. So Gina did something that night she had never done in her life, and tragically enough, she decides to go out by herself. She barred her sister's car, went to the Blacksburg Marriott Lounge, which in the nineteen seventies and nineteen eighty that was the place to go. That was, you know, the dance spot to go in in the town of Blacksburg where
Virginia Tech is. So Gina went there by herself that night and got to the club about about ten o'clock that night.
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Now you talk about Ronald and Betty Davis and the relationship they have with King, with Skipper King, Bill Skipper King, and he's a former Virginia Tech Hokies football player, kind of local star. Anyway, tell us about Ronald and Betty Davis and how it comes to be that their lake house is being able to be used by Bill King.
Yes, as we mentioned earlier, Bill King was one of Stephen Epplei's best friends and they've been friends since they were very young, played football together, then went to Virginia Tech together football there together. Bill King, as he said, was a much more accomplished athlete than Epley and it's still still really well known in that area. And Bill King's parents, his mother and stepfather had a lake house on Clayter Lake, which is a resort lake about three
miles from Radford. It's a twenty one mile long lake that's formed where the New River is is impounded with a dam, and ron and Betty Davis being out of town, they asked their son and stepson Bill King to keep an eye on the house, just you know, to keep an eye there. So earlier that day, Bill King picked up Stephen Eppley. They went to the house, kind of
looked around Gavid the once over. Everything looked good, and then there were plans later that night if Epley wanted, you know, he was certainly had cart wantche to come back to the house if if he had a date or you know, anything along those lines. So Bill King and Stephen Eppley left the lake house that that King was house sitting and then went to the blacksburd Marriott Lounge. They arrived there at the Marriott Lounge at roughly the
same time Gina Hall did. In fact, as tragic fate would have it, they parked right beside her, and Gina Hall walked in the nightclub at about the same time as Stephen Epperley, Bill King and then three other male friends of King and Epperley.
What was the arrangement with these best friends, Bill King and Steve Epperley. Steve Epperley living at home with his parents and this lake house, and you do mention in the Ron and Betty Davis are familiar with Bill King with their stepson's best friend or a friend Steven Epperley, so they're aware of him. Tell us the relationship of the arrangement that they have in case something fortuitous happens for Stephen Epperley.
Well, according to Bill King's court testimony in the murder trial, approximately six months after the evening in question, Bill King had made it clear to Steve Apperley that if Epperley had female accompaniment, that he was more than welcome to to bring a date back to the lake House that night.
And you know, that arrangement was understood between them, and according to King's testimony, he was perhaps even expected that if things went according to plan, that that Steve Epperley would would bring a date back to the lake House later that night.
Now, by by witness accounts, what happens in the club that night to this conservative Gena Hall or between conservative Gena Hall and Stephen Epperly ten years older.
Yeah, well, they they entered the night club about the same time. It was crowded. You know, you can picture nineteen eighties era disco music playing. You know, one of the number one song at that point was celebrate by Pooling the Gang, and that kind of kind of described the whole vibe of the evening that night. So as they entered the club, Gina Hall saw a group of friends that she knew she was acquainted with. They were
sitting at a table near the dance floor. Gina sat down with them, started socializing, and then Epperley and Bill King and their three friends gathered nearby at a stand up circular table, ordered drinks and you know, began talking. After a short amount of time, Gina Hall caught Steve Epley's eye. Apparently Steve Eppley said hello, introduced himself to Gina Hall and asked Gina to dance. And of course, Gina, you know someone who loves to dance just for dancing sake.
Every indication is that you know that she went to dance with Epperley, probably not for a romantic reason, but just because she wanted to get out on the dance floor and dance. They danced together for three or four songs and then came off the dance floor and went through separate ways, Gina back to her group of friends and Epery with his group of friends. There's varying accouncil what happened later that night, but it's agreed they you know.
Over the next forty five minutes or an hour, there was not a lot of conversation between Gina Hall and Steve Eppley. But then close to midnight, Epley came back to talk to Gina and according to court testimony, invited her to come back to the lake House at Clayter Lake. And there is also evidence and testimony from Bill King that Epley gave Gina the impression that there was a group of people going back to the lake House at
Clayter Lake. He didn't give her the impression there was going to be any kind of one on one romantic interlude with him and Gina, that the entire group of people that were in the nightclub, at least one of which that Gina knew as well as her friends, that they were all going back to the nightclub. Around midnight, Gina left with Steve Eppley and Bill King. Bill King
went out to his car got the key. According to King's court testimony, he got the keys to the lake house, gave them to Epperly, at which point Epley turned to Gina and said you can drive right and Gina said, you know, she agreed to drive, And according to Bill King and Steve Epperley's well, Bill King's testimony and Steve and Steve Epperley's witness statement. At that point, Epley got in the car with Gina Hall since he was familiar
with the route. He drove Gena's car back to the Lake House, and then Bill King went back into the nightclub rejoined his friends. And that's what happened over the you know, over the course of the evening.
There you talk about, Delena asleep, decided not to go to to the nightclub with her sister Gina. She gets a phone call. Tell us about that phone call.
Exactly about one o'clock or one point thirty that night, the phone rings at Delana's apartment, at the apartment she lives in with Gina, and Delane answers the phone. It's Gina on the other line. Delana later testified in court that Gina's voice sounded nervous, uneasy, and out of character, and when Delanne asked her where she was, Gina said, I'm at de Lake. Delana said who are you there with.
She said, I'm with Steve, and Delana said, well, get home right away, and shortly after that the line abruptly went dead. Deleyna being awoke in the middle of the night, she went back to bed, and then fast forwarding a little bit ahead, she woke up early the next morning, remember the phone call, was immediately concerned for her sister, checked her sister's bedroom, Gina was not there. Looked out in the parking lot of their apartment complex, and Gina's
car was not there. And that was sadly, that was the last that that Delana Hall heard or her sister Gina.
You say in the ensuing panic and growing panic that she tries to call her father, but back in the day, even before answering machines are really popular, she can't even get a hold of her father at that time, can she?
She can't. Yes, Delena spent that morning up until about noon, just you know, getting friends together that she knew, calling around looking for Gina, you know, and you think about it, and so often in a college town, it's not unusual for someone to you know, to not come home the next morning and and you know, to be missing for a little bit. But nonetheless, Delena was worried immediately. She spent the morning looking for Gina, calling around, asking friends
to help. And then it wasn't until the afternoon. Actually that she called her father, was unable to reach her father, and finally got in touch with him later later that night.
Let's go back to Bill King and his friend that he ends up at the lake house. Later Robin Robinson tell us what they witness when they go to the lake house and speak with Stephen Epperley.
Okay, going back to the night or the evening in question, the evening before, so after the phone call from from Gina, about three and a half hours later, about three o'clock three point thirty that morning, Bill King comes back to the lake house. Bill King's evening that night, he stayed at the Marriotte Lounge, closed it down with his friends, and then they went to a party at an apartment
near Virginia Tech. Bill came connected with an old girlfriend there, invited his girlfriend to come back to the lake House with him. Her name, as you said, was Robin Robinson. She agreed to come back and go for a swim. So they get back to the lake house about three o'clock three thirty in the morning, depending on whose account it was, they walk in the in the door of the lake house, and according to Bill King's court testimony,
he deliberately made a lot of noise. He knew that that Everly was, you know, was there with the young ladies, so he deliberately made noise so as not to interrupt anyone. And they walked in the lake house at three level house. They entered on the main floor, which was the second floor, and as they walked into the kitchen, they heard Steve Beverley's voice coming from down in the bottom floor, which was a wreck room down there. Steve Beppley said, Bill,
is that you. Bill said, yes, what are you doing? And Steve said, well, you know I'm here. We're getting ready to leave it a little bit. Bill said you don't have to leave, Steve. We're just going to go swimming, and Steve's Steve Epley said no, she's got to be getting home from Then. Bill King and his date and Robin Robinson they got towels. They walk out the back door of the lake house. They go down to a lock doc just right at the end of the backyard.
They go out to the pier. Robin Robinson goes swimming. Bill King does not. He sits on the edge of the pier with his feet in the lake, and after five or ten minutes, Steve Epperley apparently blinks the lights on the back of the house. They both turn around and look and Steve says, okay, we're leaving now, and you know they Bill King did them farewell, and that
evening that was the last day they saw of Steve Epperley. Now, one thing I left out before they left, As Bill King and Steve Epperley were having sort of a blind conversation with Bill King on the second floor at the top of the stairs, Steve Eppley down on the first floor in darkness, Robin Robinson did get a glimpse of Steve Epperly. She did not see Gena Hall, but she saw Steve Epperley. He was standing shirtless with a blue towel,
apparently drying himself off. And while Robin Robinson saw Steve Eppley, Bill King did not. And it's important to know that both of them they heard Steve Epperley's voice, but at no point that night did they see or hear Gina Hall.
You mentioned one other thing that's important later that they do notice that they don't recognize as anything other than in terms of the carpet in the rec room. When they finally do go down there? So what happens? What does the experience later?
It's important right, Well, later that morning, after Steve Eppley had left the lake house, Bill King and Robinson, Robin Robinson were on the first floor where Epperley had previously been and Bill King noticed a wet spot on the floor. He stepped in it with his foot, and then later that night, when he and Robin were actually laying on the floor with some pillows, he commentates to Robin, my foot is in something wet. So that, as we'll later talk about, that was turned out to be noteworthy.
Now what happens also with Bill King in terms he still has access obviously to this lake house and it's a luxurious place, and he has a bunch of buddies that he's been friends with forever and they have the time off. So what does he do and tell us about Stephen Pepperley's behavior that next day?
Well, the next day, as we talked about previously, Gina Hall's sister Delana is frantically looking for Gina along with friends that are helping out. And meanwhile, back at the lake house, Bill King is hosted a gathering, a cookout or an afternoon party with Steve Eppley invited, as well as the three other friends that were there that evening. Well,
I'm sorry two of the three friends. One was a man named Jan Fisher, the other was man named Bucky Cochran, and both of them were in their their mid to late twenties as well. So they're at the lake House. They're throwing horseshoes down by the lake. Some of them are swimming and going into lake. You know, it's a nice June June afternoon. Assumingly, they're talking about the evening before, and at one point Steve Epperley asks Bill King, Hey, Bill, can I go up and get a drink? Get a soda?
And Bill King says to him, sure, Steve, you know where they're at the side note is Steve Eppley has been coming to the lake House with King for years, so he knew the layout and the lay of the land there. So Steve Eppley goes back in the lake house apparently to get a soda, and he's gone for longer than it would take to get a drink. He's gone. King later testifight in Corty's gone for about ten minutes. In fact, you know he leaves the party for so long that Bill when he gets back, Bill King says,
what happened to you, Steve? Did You're falling a hole? And Appley says, I couldn't find an opener. So it was noteworthy that Appley did go back in the lake House for an extended amount of time while you know, while they were cookout or barbecue was going on the next day.
Now, meanwhile, you talk about the effort with the Delana to contact her father and people that are quickly gathering and organizing to be able to look for her in any conceivable way they think that she may be found. Tell us what she does, which is very very interesting with the radio station K ninety two in the PSA.
Exactly well. As and it goes on, the search for Gina becomes more and more urgent. The police are contacted, and as you probably know there, you know, she's told that she can't officially file a police report until Gina has been missing for twenty four hours, But just the same, since it's not in her nature to be missing, you know, they were going to keep a lookout. The next mister Hall gets home late that night. He'd been out at a corporate golf outing. He agrees to come to town
the next morning. Is obviously worried to death about his daughter. So the next morning, which would be Monday morning, there's still no sign of Gina. Mister Hall gets to town early that morning. There's many volunteers both from the campus of Radford University as well as friends from back home at Coburn, and mister Hall, John Hall, has mobilized the effort. He's got some people out looking for Gina, other people, you know, calling on the phone to talk to people.
And Delena realizes the need to get the word out in the region throughout that area, which is called the New River Valley. You know that there's that there's a missing person. So she calls a radio station which is out of the Roanoke area, which is a larger town about forty five minutes away. Delanna calls them and asks them to make an announcement on the radio station, and the just the receptionist politely tells Delena, you know, listen, if we made every announcement people asked us to do,
we wouldn't have any time to play music. So Deleana gets in her car drive or gets in another car, makes a beeline for the radio station, basically gets there and talks to the manager and insists that right away he does a public service announcement to be on the lookout announcement announcing a missing person. So that goes into the rotation of the radio station playing you know, every every hour at the top and the bottom of the hour, and this announcement is going out to get the word
out that that Gena Hall is missing. And as Monday turns to Tuesday, the search continues to intensify. By now the police are involved and there's an act of all out search in the region for missing Gina Hall.
To lend credence too, that she wasn't the kind of person that would go and be irresponsible, if we can call it that, in that there was a friend, the person that she'd had a long distance relationship with that was scheduled to meet her at seven point thirty in the morning the following day. Gina tell us about this person, and of course that person has to be eliminated as a person of interest once it's decided that she is absolutely missing.
Exactly, and this person was initially viewed by the police as a potential suspect. His name was Greg Bass. He was from near Gina's hometown and they've been friends for several years. And Greg Bass, after high school, went into the Air Force while Juna went to college. He went into the Air Force, and they'd had had a long distance relationship mostly you know, back then, the pre internet era, it was mostly phone calls and or more so letters
and then the occasional overseas phone call. And Greg Bass had been stationed in Italy and was home on leave and he and Gina had agreed that he was back home visiting friends and on his way back to Baltimore to fly back to Italy. He was going to stop in Radford that morning and spend Sunday with Gina. So they had plans to meet early that morning that Sunday morning at eight o'clock and Greg Bass came by the house. Gina was not there, so just like Gina's sister Delana,
Greg was upset. He knew how out of character it was for Gina, you know, she was a really she was a responsible person, and so he was concerned as well. And Greg Bass eventually helped with the search and later on that we he was actually he took a polygraph test the police wanted just to make sure to rule him out of the suspect, and obviously he aced the polygraph as having no knowledge of Gena's disappearance or her whereabouts.
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Let's talk about the look or the search for her car and what happens and also how Bill King eventually hears about Gina Hall missing and what is his reaction is as a result.
Well, the Monday after Gina's disappearance, there's still no sign of Gina and just is disturbingly no sign of the car she was driving, which was her sister's car, but Gena and Elena shared the vehicle Finally, about midday on Monday, two young men who were from the town of Cobra and were out searching and they're driving down a road called Hazel Hollow Road and they see Gina's car. They see it interestingly enough, the trunk is open and her
car is parked directly underneath the railroad trestle. It's parked under the trestle, which is part of the inspiration for the name of the book, under the Trestles. So these two people immediately notify police. Police and the state police come to the car. The car is tested for fingerprints. The trunk had been left open, and disturbingly, there was blood and there was hair in the trunk, fresh blood, and the blood was later later learned to be a match for Gina Hall. Now this was pre and a
pre DNA, this was nineteen eighty. DNA didn't come on the scene un till nineteen eighty six. The blood in the trunk was type O blood. It was fresh blood and it matched genus blood type.
Now we talk about Bill King and how he hears about this and his reaction. What does he do, What does he say to Steve Epperley? What does Steve say in reaction to that tell us about that.
Exchange right well. According to trial testimony as well as as police interviews, Bill King and Steve Apperley, neither one had any knowledge that the Gina had disappeared until Tuesday. Until the day after her car was found. On Tuesday, Bill King heard the radio announcement on the radio station about the missing girl about Gina Hall, and although Bill King was not well acquainted with her, he had just met her briefly that night. Immediately he knew that this
was the girl that Steve Epperley was with. So Bill King somewhat frantically goes to find Steve Epperley. He finds Eppery on the campus at Bradford University working on a grounds maintenance group. Epperley gets in the car with Bill King and Bill King says, listen, Steve, I just heard that girl you're with Saturday night is missing. You need to notify the police right away that you were with
her Saturday night. Otherwise they're going to think you had something to do with it, you know, or something to do with her missing. And he pretty much tells Epperly, you know, hey, you need to get out in front of this right away. So that you know, so that the police won't think you had anything to do with it. And every indication was that that at this point Bill King did not suspect Steve Epperley had anything to do
in a way of foul play with Gina's disappearance. And at this point she's still a missing person, she's not believed to be dead yet.
Now what is his reaction and what does he do in regards to his friend's request or demand or what his friend has said he should do.
Well, that's a good question. And at that point, when Bill King tells Epperly about that Gina is missing, Epley makes the first of about five disturbing statements that are they're not confessions, but they're what attorneys would later call implied admissions. There's something that something that an innocent person would not say. That's just inappropriate. So when Bill King tells Epperly that that Gena Hall is missing, Epiley's reply was, well, Bill,
who else knows about this? And Bill King says, well, I was just back down at the gym at the weightlifting club they both went to, and Bill King says, everyone there knows about it, and they're all taught talking about it. And Appley has a request for King. He says, well, Bill, will you go down there tell them to talk it down and not broadcast it. So Bill King leaves the meeting with Apperley sort of scratching his head, you know, wondering why his friend would would make a request like that.
Yes, certainly. Now you introduce a couple of main characters in this in terms of the police investigation and prosecution. He talk about Austin Hall, of course, no relation to John Hall and Captain Williams. So tell us about, interestingly, how Austin Hall becomes involved with this despite not seemingly have the enough experience to be able to lead this investigation. Tell us how he comes to be the lead investigator here, and tell us about Captain Williams as well.
Sure well, Austin Hall was a Virginia State Police officer, and they had joint their jurisdiction in the search for Gina along with the Radford Police Department. Austin Hall's typical duties were to patrol Interstate eighty one and the state routes in Pulaski County and the surrounding county. So percent of Austin's Hall job ninety percent of Austin Hall's job was traffic enforcement. When Gina's missing car was found, there was another murder on the far end of the county
that the state police investigators were working on. So Austin Hall came to investigate the missing vehicle, and then as it turned into murder investigation, because he was already working the case, and because quite frankly, he did a really good job in the investigation, especially in the early stages, Austin Hall was appointed as the lead investigator. So he took the point in the investigation, won in the search for Gina Hall, and then it became a murder investigation.
He was the lead investigator in that now. Later that day, on Tuesday, Steve Epperley, at Bill King's request, when he got off work, he went to the state Police station in the nearby town of Dublin. Trooper Hall. Austin Hall met with him there and took Epley's statement. Epley told Trooper Hall that he was in fact the guy that was with Gina Hall that Saturday night. According to Epperley's statements, they danced together, they left the night club at midnight.
Gina left willingly. According to Eperley, she went back to the lake house with him willingly, and in Eperley's account, they went out to the lake. Epley went swimming, Gina did not. And then when they came back in, Epleley said he made a sexual advance toward Gina. Gina declined it. According to Eperley, Gina's statement was she'd once had a bad experience with a man, so she did not, you know, did not want to to go any further with Epperly. And according to Eperley, he told police he was quote
unquote fine with that. And Epley said that then after seeing Bill King and Robin Robinson that night, which by the way, according to his account, both King and Robinson they both saw and heard Gena Hall, and Epley then gave Gena Hall a riot or they left the lake house in Gena Hall's car, Gina driving this time, and she dropped Epperly off back at his house about four in the morning, at the house he shared with his parents. He said, said good night, and they parted ways amicably.
And according to Epley's story, that was the last that he saw Gena Hall.
You talk about his demeanor and police normally are trained, well not normally, they are trained to look for the signs of deception. But there is that one exception, and that's the true psychopath. What was his demeanor threw out any kind of questioning.
Yes, well, according to Trooper Austin Hall, especially in that first interview, Appley absolutely gave the impression of someone who had had nothing to hide. He was his appearance, whose clean cut, He was not nervous in the least, you know, was very calm, cool and collected. His account of the evening was very matter of fact. There was no doubt in his account. And according to Trooper Hall's written statement, Appley gave the impression of someone who had absolutely nothing
to hide. But at the same time, Trooper Hall, certainly, with the experience he had, he knew, you know, knew to take a closer look at Epperley and certainly not to rule him out yet.
Now this is a fast moving case and as a result they an investigation is worked the same way. Then an extension, an exhaustive search was conducted. Tell us about the magnitude of the search that was conducted for Gina.
Well, the search and this certainly says a lot for the good folks that live in that part of the state. In Radford, Blacksburg, Christiansburg, and the New River Valley. There were hundreds of volunteers who assisted in the search. They searched the New River corridor, you know, the two or three mile stretch between Clayter Lake and Radford. There were volunteer scuba divers who came and searched both the lake and the river, as well as people searching a lot
of the private land in that area. A lot of people volunteered, were people who gave up their vacation time from work, their family vacations to look for Gina. And the search went on. This was June twenty eight, whence you went missing. The search continued through July and through August, and you know, people were still out looking. There was alsolaw enforcement as it goes in these types of investigations,
from surrounding counties and even surrounding states. There were many searches where there were you know, were one hundred or even a couple hundred law enforcement agents searching on weekends for Gina.
In the course of this. It's very interesting all the people like you say that joined in the search. Even Gina's boss at the movie theater went for a week with his boat searching and then eventually found something of evidentiary value. But the person that didn't go on any of the searches with Stephen Epperley tell us about some
of the evidence that they eventually find. It takes a while and extensive searching, but tell us some of the things that they find in these searches from these volunteers.
Well, the day after Epley gave his police statement that night, Trooper Hall took him to the lake House. House was locked. Bill King was not there, you know, being in the age before cell phones, they were unable to get in touch with Bill King to get into the house or
to get a search warrant. So it wasn't until the following day, that Wednesday, after Genie's disappearance, the police were finally able to get Bill King's permission to search the lake House and inside the house, at first glance, or you know, to a layman, someone not trained in investigation techniques, there was there was no sign of anything out of the way except for a large stain on the carpet
on the first floor. It appeared to be a blood stain about the size of a large watermelon that someone had tried to clean up. Was faded pink. There were also when then when investigators and this was Troop Austin Hall as well as Gerald Williams, who was the head of detectives in the town of Radford, along with some other officers. When they got down on off flours and started searching, they found evidence of blood splatter, just a little small areas where there were splattered blood and certainly
signs of an attack. It was also clear there had been attempt at cleaning up a lot of the blood. Like there had been a fairly substantial amount of blood. But for example, one of the areas where there was blood evidence was on a refrigerator door in that first floor there was any utility room and it appeared that someone had cleaned up, had wiped the blood off, but at the bottom of the refrigerator there was blood congealed
at the bottom. Police that Wednesday they took over thirty thirty samples of blood and of hair evidence from the lake house and disturbingly there was also an ankle bracelet that Gina had worn that night. It was a favorite ankle bracelet, one that she always wore when she went out dancing. It was found on the stairway of the lake House going down to the first floor. So once all those pieces of evidence were gathered and taken into evidence, became clear that there had been a violent attack at
the lake House. Of course, Stephen Epperley and Gina Hall were both both identified as being in that room, and when the blood and hair samples were tested, they were a match with Gina Hall's blood type and as best could be matched in nineteen eighty you know, the hair
was consistent with Gina Hall's hair as well. Then in terms of supplemental evidence, as they searched the river area, there was two towels were found, including one towel that appeared to be similar to the towel that Robin Robinson had seen Epperly drying himself off with. There was blood on that blood on another towel that was missing from the lake house, and both of those towels were found along the New River on the opposite side of the
railroad trestle from where Gina's car was found. And disturbingly, the clothing that Gina had worn that night before her outfit was found tied together into a bundle with a considerable amount of blood. Owner outfit and both of her shoes were later found in the vicinity of the Radford side of the New River as well.
Now, in this investigation, what we talked about in the opening, again very unique case and story, is the reluctance from prosecutors and that being Attorney Shockley, for their reluctance to try to prosecute a case without finding Gina's body. Without
finding a body, it becomes incredibly difficult. And you mentioned the precedent in other states, and you mentioned in the US and in the world even so tell us a little bit about this very interesting factor in this case, the idea that no body, no conviction.
Well, that's a good point, and it's important to note first that as evidence continued to mount against Stephen Epperley, it was just an overwhelming, circumstantial case in terms of the evidence. There was witness testimony, and then there were also several other statements that Epley had made that were implied in missions. They weren't confessions, but they were things
that an innocent person would not say or do. And as well as Epley's background, were two police reports of sexual assaults by Epperley that were certainly similar to the situation with Gina, and in both of them, he had choked or strangled the victims, one to the point of unconsciousness. So, given Eperley's background as well as the evidence against him, prosecutor and the investigators were one hundred percent sure that
Epperly was their man. Now, as you just said, they were missing the biggest piece of evidence, and that was Gina Hall's body. As the summer progressed, it was August. She'd been missing for over sixty days. Was totally against her character her. You know, they knew she was not someone who would disappear or run away or choose to live life in absentia. So Shockley, the Pulaski County Commonwealth Attorney, was a young, ambitious prosecutor by the name of Everett
Shockley Schockolet was only twenty nine years old. He had just been elected in the past year in a very close election, and was a young graduate from law school with the College of William and Mary. And interestingly enough, one of the cases he studied in a criminal law course in law school was no body murder cases, and up until that point, there had been four three other cases in the United States where someone had been convicted of murder without a body, without a confession or without
an eyewitness. So Shockley and his assistant commonwealth attorney, Francister Williger, they spent some time studying the president for those cases, one of which was a landmark case in California in the nineteen fifties, and Chocolate became convinced that he could take this case to trial even though it had never been done in Virginia, had only been done three times around the country, and that with the circumstantial evidence he
had he could he could get a murder conviction. Now, the advice Shockley got from his peers, from fellow commonwealth attorneys in other counties and around the state, as well as a judge who often gave him advice, was not to indict Eperly for murder. The big fear was double jeopardy that Everley would get an acquittal, and then even if Gina's body did show up, that they could not hold him accountable because he'd been tried for the for
the murder once and found not guilty. So, after spending the latter part of the summer pondering it, finally Everett Shockley, basically risking his career, he decides to indict Steve Eppley for murder. In early September, Trooper Austin Hall goes before a grand jury. And an interesting note is even getting a grand jury indictment is no slam dunk. You know, they were concerned that a grand jury would not indict
without the body. Everett Shockley went before the grand jury, which in Virginia it's more like a boardroom presentation than it is a you know, a trial or a testimony. So Austin Hall by himself just went in with a grand jury. He calmly and in an understated fashion, just laid out the facts of the case that Gina was missing, she was most certainly dead, and then he laid out all the circumstantial evidence against Epperly, and the grand jury
voted unanisdently to indict Eperly for murder. And on September the eighth, Epley was arrested in Roanoke, Virginia, where he had moved to escape death threats that he was receiving in Radford, and he was arrested and taken into custody, charged with first degree murder.
Now you also talk about that it's very interesting too that there's a prosecutorial advance in certain states and virgin is closer to New York than say, Texas. Tell us about that little bit of an advantage again, a little bit of quite a bit of a factor in this exactly well.
With regard to discovery law, states vary on the amount of information that the prosecution is required to disclose about their case to the defense. And at one end of the spectrum is a state like Florida, which is a very friendly state to a criminal, where the prosecution's case is pretty much an open book and you're you know, if you're charged with the crime, your defense attorney gets every bit of information they can from the from the prosecutor.
You know, it's basically an open book. The other end of the spectrum would be New York, where the prosecutor is only required to disclose just the smallest amount of information to the defense, which makes it easier to get a prosecute. Now, on that spectrum, Virginia would be closest to New York, you know, not not as extreme, but certainly with regard to discovery law, Virginia is a much more prosecution friendly state. Now, come off, attorney, Ever, Shockley
very wisely took advantage of that. If he could have just gotten a murder charge through a magistrate, he would have had to have disclosed a lot of the information, a lot of the evidence that he had against Epperly, which would give Epley's attorneys plenty of time and resources to prepare their defense. But having gone the grand jury route with a grand jury indictment, there was only a minimum amount of discovery information that Everett Shockley was required
to disclose to Epley's defense attorneys. And it's interesting to note Epley did not have the money for an attorney. His parents due to the fact that they had you know, had paid for his college education and had also paid for attorneys for his defense and the two Great trials, they were not only did they not have money to pay for an attorney for their son, but they also
were unable to pay bail for him. So for much of the fall of nineteen eighty Epley stayed in jail and was unable to make bail, and he was appointed two public defenders who were both Kulaski County attorneys. One was Woody Lookabill and the other was David Warburton. These were two very very capable attorneys, you know, good attorneys.
But it's also important to note they did not have experience in defending someone in murder charges, much less a murder of this magnitude that every indication it was going to be the trial of the century in Virginia.
Now you talk about Austin Hall and his crucial role in this, and you talk about again that Bill King testified at this and even Stephen Epperley's mother sadly tell us what challenges that were at this trial that the characterized it and tell us a little bit more about what occurs at this trial.
Great question. Well, the biggest challenge for the prosecution was it was as if they had to prove you know, they actually had three trials. One they had to prove that Gina Hall was in fact dead. Two they had to prove that she was murdered, and then three they had to prove that Steve Apperley did it all without any direct evidence, no eyewitness testimony, and you know, without Gina Hall's remains to prove that she was dead. So in the trial, the first thing that the Commonwealth was
allowed to do was to call character witnesses. And in Virginia, interesting to note, in a felony trial, character witnesses are typically not allowed, but in this case. Given the unique nature of the no body prosecution, the judge allowed character witnesses to testify to speak to Gina Hall's character. So uh three of Gina's friends from from college and from high school testified as to you know, to her good nature,
to how much she valued her friends and family. Her father testified that you know, what a what a great child she had been, and that she had not had any emotional problems growing up. And then her sister also testified at the very beginning of the trial, also testifying to her sister's character and to the to the kind
of person she was. So once those six character witnesses had testified, another witness was a someone from church, their minister's wife who had worked closely with Gina in church, and so at the end of their testimony the very beginning of the trial, the feeling was that the jury came to understand that if Gina had not been heard from, there was no other alternative that that she was dead.
The probably the most damning testimony at the trial came from from Epley's good friend Bill King, who King laid out Epley's whereabouts on the night in question, talked about coming in that you know that day or that evening of the murder, and then talked about Epley's behavior the next day. And Bill King also testified that about five days after Jena's disappearance, he asked Epley point blank. He
asked him, said Steve, did you kill her? And Epley's reply, you know, you think what your reply would be if you were innocent someone asked you that question. Epley's reply was, I don't know. Bill will have to see. So that was another one of the implied admissions from from Epery. Now the witness and the trial that got the most that's been talked about the most interestingly was a tracking
dog handler. About about two weeks after Jeane had been missing, Everett Shockley he contacted a tracking dog handler in Pennsylvania who had a German shepherd who was nationally renowned for tracking scent and known as a man tracking dog. The dog was brought to Radford. He was scented on a pair of Steve Epley's underwear, and the dog was taken to the area where Gena's abandoned car was found under
the trestle. The dog alerted on Epley Scince from the underwear and tracking dog followed a trail up an embankment to the railroad track, followed the railroad track across the trestle, over the bridge over the New River into the town of Radford, and then followed about a mile circuitous route
through the town of Radford. Went up to the front door of the house, alerted on the front door and sniffed the front door knob, and when the dog handler said who lives here, the answer was our prime suspect, Stephen Epperley. The dog handler's name was John Preston, testified to that, and also a few other trials that the dog had done that pointed to Epperley. Interesting to note that in later years three years later, dog handler was found to be a fraud in other cases and was disgraced.
That would later give Epperley grounds for appeal in this case, although not to get ahead of our conversation, but those appeals the conviction was upheld.
One more implied admission, as you describe it from a friend, this is bizarre, again, very movie esque. A guy named William Cramwell tell us about William Cramwell and what Epperly and his friends, well, what Epperly asks of William Cramwell and who William Cramwell is in relation to John Hall.
Sure. William Cranwell was a businessman. He was older than Eperley. He was in his forties. He lived in Blacksburg and was a good friend of Epperly's and was also the kind of person as a successful businessman who was still pretty down to earth, had a reputation as someone who you could go to if you were in trouble and he would would give you advice or maybe put you in touch with someone to you know, to help your situation.
So Epley went to him two nights after Gina disappeared, before before Gina was believed to be dead, when she was still just you know, just missing. And Epperly asked William Cranwell, whose brother happened to be an attorney in the town of Roanoke. He asked Cranwell, He said, Bill, would your brother represent me? And Cranwell said no, he would he not represent, you know, represent you in a in a murder case like this, He would touch it. And Epley said, well, will you do me a favor?
And Cranwell said sure. He said, next time you see him, ask them if there's anything they can do. To me if they don't find her body, and Cranwell kind of shrugged it off, you know, didn't answer the question. And then a short time later he walked Epley and his friends out to the car, and Epley cornered him again and said, he said, and Bill, I'm serious, ask your brother what they can do to me if they don't find the body. So Cranwell was taken aback by the question.
Epperley left his house. Cranmwell goes back in the house, picks up the newspaper to read a little more about this missing person case and comes to realize that Gina Hall's father, John Hall, was his former roommate and football teammate at Virginia Tech. So just an interesting, amazing coincidence there. Cranwell's next phone call was to the police. He told the police about Afterly's disturbing statement. And Cranwell also testified
in the trial. He was the last witness. And I listened to the audio the trial testimony, and when Cranwell shares that information, there's an audible gasp in the courtroom. It's like the air is sucked out of the courtroom. So that was clearly a very very damning statement. In testimony from Cranwell, you.
Talk about the verdict and the unanimous decision or recommendation by the jury and then the judge guilty first degree murder. And then he talked about the appeals and the rarity of a person going all the way to the US Supreme Court with those appeals. And yet that's what he did. Just tell us the conclusion of this in terms of where he is now and a little bit about the legacy of Gena. Hall and this trial.
Sure well as a trial concluded. The jury only deliberated for about two hours. It was a unanimous verdict. According to jurors that I interviewed, there was not a lot of debate. It was very straightforward vote. Once they reviewed the evidence, the vote was unanimous. He was guilty. The jury recommended life in prison. The judge affirm that Epley was sentenced to life in prison. He's been in prison the last thirty nine years and the conviction. Eperly immediately
appealed it. He took it on direct appeal to the Virginia Supreme Court. He was appointed two new attorneys that represented him, and the general feeling was that he had a pretty good chance to win his appeal again. Because of the unique nobody nature of the case, he was convicted of first degree murder, which means the prosecution had to prove both malice and premeditation. Now, because no one witnessed the murder there was you can make a case that,
you know, you can't prove that it was premeditated. You can't prove that there was malice a forethought involved. But that was a jury's verdict and that was what the you know, the judge confirmed. So the appeal went to the Virginia Supreme Court. The conviction was upheld, at which point Epily filed a habeas corpus appeal, also in Virginia Court. Again, the case was heard again by Virginia Supreme Court justices, the verdict was upheld. Then his appeals were then taken
in the federal court. In nineteen eighty six, a federal habeas corpus appeal trial was held in Radford and again the verdict was upheld. It then went to another appeal at the federal level. The conviction was upheld again and Everly's next move. By now about thirteen years had gone by. It's now the early nineties, nineteen ninety three and took the appeal to the U. S. Supreme Court, and the U. S.
Supreme Court declined to hear the case. So at that point Epil's appeals were exhausted, and interestingly enough, the next year, in nineteen ninety four, he became eligible for parole. He was denied parole. The par board gave three reasons for denying the parole. Among them was that this was a person who not only killed a young lady, but continues to punish her family by not disclosing what he did
with her body. Beverly has never told. He's insisted on his innocence the whole time he's been in prison, and since ninety four he's come up for parole every three years and he's been denied each time by the Virginia Parole Board. Now, like I said, he hasn't disposed where Gina Hall's remains are. In recent years, the search for Gina Hall's body was reopened. Current Radford police lieutenant by the name of Andy Wilburn has been actively searching for
Gina's remains. They believe to be somewhere in a Clindestine grave, either in Radford or the surrounding area, and he's used things like ground penetrating radar, candaver sniffing dogs, and modern
search techniques to find her remains. And interestingly enough, I've spoken with Lieutenant Wilburn quite often since the last month since the book has been out, and according to him, he's gotten a lot of new phone calls and a lot of fresh leads by people who have read the book and realized that maybe they they saw or heard
something that might be relevant to this case. So there's a hope that someone out there has an age old lead that could, you know, could tell where where Gina's remains are and they'll be able to finally find her and give her a burial. And you know, her family after thirty nine years, they they still want closure, you know there. As I mentioned earlier there, they're good folks, Christian folks, and you know want to want to give
her a burial. So there's there's hopes that all the publicity from the book might lead to the discovery of Gina.
Well. I think it's a real fitting and honorable tribute to gina or family and also all of the police and volunteers involved in this incredible case. I want to thank you very much, Ron for coming on and talking about Under the Trustle, the nineteen eighty disappearance of Gina Renee Hall and Virginia's first nobody murder trial. For those that might want to see either work or find out a bit more about this book, is there a Facebook site or a website that they might refer to?
Yes, indeed, Dan, thanks for asking. There's a website which is under the trestle dot com and the Facebook site and Twitter is at under the Trestle. And then probably the easiest way to get the book is on Amazon. It's available on Amazon both in Kendall ebook format and in paperbook paperback.
Yeah. Well, thank you very much. It's been an absolute pleasure. Ron Peterson Junior. Under the Trustle, the nineteen eighty disappearance of Gina Renee Hall in Virginia's first nobody murder Thank you very much. You have a great evening. Good night.
Well, thank you, Dan, you have a great evening as well. Thanks.
Good night,